A colleague sent me a humorous, but dismal, article on the reading habits of an Indiana man from The Onion, the United States-based parody newspaper published weekly in print and daily online (according to Wikepedia). To read the article, click here .

Curiously, when I Googled “Philip Meyer Indiana reading,” I came up with this bit on the “real” Mr. Meyer. Click here to see who might have been The Onion’s inspiration for the story.

What my colleague might not have known was that in November, the National Endowment for the Arts published a 98-page report, “To Read or Not To Read,” about “the nation’s reading trends and – perhaps more important – their considerable consequences.”

The essence of the report is that although young Americans seem to be prolific readers, teenagers – and adults – are not. Rather than give my interpretation of the report, you can read it yourself by clicking here .

Whatcom County poet Jim Bertolino tells me that he and his partner, graphic artist Anita K. Boyle, decided on New Year’s Eve that their “single-word mantra” for 2008 is “Hurrah!” – This because the Espy Foundation in Oysterville recently awarded Jim an artist residency for the month of March.

Anita, coincidentally, received the same award in 2003. To anyone who’s been in that sleepy rural area on Willapa Bay, it’s easy to understand how that inviting atmosphere can inspire a writer or visual artist to produce prodigious and plentiful works. For more on the Espy Foundation and to see the wide variety of folks who’ve worked there, click here.

In addition, Jim says that the Cortland Review in New York City published online an extensive interview with him, conducted by poet Matthew Campbell Roberts, as part of their Winter Feature. To read that inteview, click here.

A number of well-known poets are coming to Bellingham in the next month or so, including Emily Warn and Thomas Hubbard in the first Whatcom Poetry Series: The Poet as Art, sponsored by (who else?) Jim and Anita, on Jan. 26 at the Lucia Douglas Gallery in Fairhaven.

Following that, poetry-lovers have the opportunity to hear Washington State Poet Laureate Sam Green, Calyx Press poets Margarita Donnelly and Sarah Lantz, WWU’s Carlos Martinez, Alaska’s Haley Bell, Fairhaven grad Carol V. Davis and Bellingham’s Richard Widerkehr.

Hurrah, indeed!

Sumas author Jo Dereske, creator of the librarian-sleuth Helma Zukas, offers a workshop on the creative and business aspects of mystery writing at 6 p.m. Jan. 23 at Village Books in Fairhaven. Here’s what Jo says about the workshop, which costs $40: “My agent told me that she decides within two minutes whether to read a submission any further. So authors have to know how to best present their hard work. Mysteries are one of the most popular genres, and they take cold-hearted scheming to construct. In these times, a writer has to put an unprecedented amount of energy into the less glamorous aspect of their work.”
To find out more, go to her Web site, or call Village Books, 671-2626.

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