LIUFF Arts and Leisure

Jul 25, 2014 by M. Ghriga

Oxford circa 1964 by Liz Rudey. Clay, 2006

LIUFF member Liz Rudey is an artist whose work is often about memory related to family, place, clothes/shoes, and objects in her life. She is a ceramic artist and has always made many types of clay pieces including sculpture, narrative tiles, functional pottery and jewelry.  More work can be seen at https://sites.google.com/site/lizarudey/.

 

STRANGE AFTERNOON DREAM

By Barbara Henning

 

Strange afternoon dream

about an English department chair—

the old time male type—

who hires me to take his place.

Apple could hire 3,000 foreigners

overnight and convince them to live

in dormitories. It’s full steam

ahead for Mickey Mouse in India.

A slippery rich politician is selling

a bill of goods. Just answer my

correspondence, and see to my

appointments. Need a new mattress

to go with that TV? You’re in

the right place. I forget something

outside, a cabinet now covered

with mud. While I’m scraping it,

the chair’s watching me from

another window, shaking his finger.

There’s always been disagreement

on these American shores as to

just what the “best” English is.

I’m thinking, oh this is how it’s done

and then I’m piloting an airplane

out of there. Falling asleep now

with my pen resting on its side

and this little blob of ink, growing.

“Strange Afternoon Dream” (previously published by Talisman: A Journal of Contemporary Poetry and Poetics) is part of a collection of poems, A Day Like Today, forthcoming from Negative Capability Press in 2015.  Barbara Henning is retired Professor Emerita at LIU, still teaching part-time, in the English Department.   She is the author of three novels and nine books of poetry and prose, as well as editor of a book of interviews, Looking Up Harryette Mullen and The Selected Prose of Bobbie Louise Hawkins.

 

 

The Straight Horn of Africa: A Path to Liberation is a new recording by soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome. On this innovative new CD, Mr. Newsome creates a very personal sonic realm that combines jazz improvisation and microtonal textures, laced over diasporic African grooves created on the soprano saxophone, using multi-track recording. The release date is October 1, 2014. For more information, please visit www.samnewsome.com. 

 

Julio by Cynthia Dantzic (pencil). Cynthia Dantzic is an art professor at LIU-Brooklyn and a strong supporter of LIUFF. She served on the union’s Executive Committee for multiple terms, was editor of the newsletter and designed the LIUFF logo.  Of her drawings, Cynthia says that she tries “to capture the humanity as well as the appearance of each person I draw.” Cynthia specializes in 2D and 3D Design, Chinese Calligraphy, Color Interaction, Drawing, Painting, and Western Calligraphy.

 

Calling all LIUFF Artists and Writers: LIUFF wants to showcase your work. Please send photos of your art or short poems, essays and fiction to [email protected]