What I Learned During My Summer at Penn State
I was sitting at Whiskers when the verdict was returned. Whiskers is a neat little pub off the lobby of the Nittany Lion Inn, the historic, colonial-style hotel on the campus of Penn State University, seemingly the place to be if you didn’t want to deal with the crowds of onlookers at the real place to be – the Centre County Courthouse, ten miles to the northeast in the little town of Bellefonte. Thirty minutes before, I had asked the bartender for my check. It was 9:30, and I had a solid half-hour walk back to my apartment on the south side of town. For the second day in a row, it...
Read MoreShort Film is the New Fable: Society’s Honest Voice
Still from “To This Day” The form of the short film has always been a deep draw for critics and art lovers, especially the ones found in places like Wild Violet. Something about the medium gives it a depth that isn’t always created on full-length feature films, which devote themselves to following a predictable narrative building up to an action-packed ending in mainstream cinema. Oddly enough, the restrictions which short film-makers face — duration, budget, and resources — help create a finished piece which is obsessively conscientious...
Read MoreFeatured: Week of June 24 (Back in Time)
This week, Wild Violet’s contributors take us to different time periods: In Patricia Polak’s poem, “Zum Zum,” a German restaurant in Manhattan evokes memories of the 1960s. In Barbara Kussow’s story, “1984,” the arrival of a computerized card catalog causes trouble for a closeted lesbian couple. In Judy Bebelaar’s poem, “Stern Grove,” a concert-goer is reminded of previous concerts, decades ago. In Robert C. Hargreaves’s essay, “Mississippi Freedom Summer – 1964,” he recalls a summer spent...
Read MoreMississippi Freedom Summer – 1964
In my Army days a black sergeant told me that if he had a choice between a house in Mississippi and a house in hell, he’d take the house in hell! In 1964 I had the chance to go to Mississippi as a civil rights worker and see for myself. I wanted to be a missionary and considered this a good opportunity for cross-cultural experience. I was totally unprepared for what I found. It wasn’t just segregated buses and drinking fountains. The whole society was segregated from top to bottom, with blacks getting nothing but leftovers. Hospitals and ambulances were segregated. Even the Red Cross...
Read MoreFeatured: Week of June 3 (Film Criticism)
This week, our contributors take a probing look at film, featuring: Radmila Djurica’s write-up of the Gijon International Film Festival Alexandra Coker-Schwimmer’s essay about the process for finding movie extras, “I Am Iron Fan” Stephen Lee Naish’s essay about the metaphorical meaning of night in the city, “The Nighttime Metropolis on...
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