Notes from a Veterans-in-the-Arts Symposium

MEA2 event organizer Jason Poudrier, MEA founding president Travis L. Martin, and
current MEA president David. P. Ervin celebrate a successful veterans-in-the-arts
symposium  conducted May 14-17, 2015 at Cameron University, Lawton, Okla.
PHOTO: Military Experience & the Arts

More than 100 military veterans, writers, artists, scholars, therapists, and others assembled in the second Military Experience & the Arts Symposium (M.E.A.2.) May 14-17, 2015. The event was held at Cameron University, Lawton, Okla., near the Fort Sill military installation. Participants attended nearly 75 workshops, performances, meet-ups, and seminars on the communication of military experiences through expressive arts, including music, writing, dance, painting, and more.

The first such event was held 2012 in Richmond, Ky. Each symposium has been under the banner of Military Experience & the Arts, a Kentucky-based non-profit organization.

News reports about the event included this broadcast from ABC affiliate KSWO-TV Channel 7: "Veterans Create, Display Art." (See text, video at link.)

The Cameron campus was lush and green, the dirt red, and the weather relatively cool and blustery. (Wind conditions kept me off the on-campus disc golf course.) The region has gotten plenty of rain this year, and flash flood concerns were often as high as local waterways. Some friends from Wisconsin had to find hotel rooms at the last minute, after the cabin they'd reserved on Fort Sill turned about to be high and dry, but surrounded by a moat impassible to anything but tactical vehicles.

Still, to update that old Army saying about the weather and training: "If it's raining, we're still painting!"

While it was impossible to participate in every workshop or experience, I hope the following notes provide some sense of the talents and topics available at MEA2.

DAY 1:

Saw lots of friends from MEA1. Met friends I didn't know I knew already. ("Who I am depends on who you are and where we are ...") Met entirely new friends. Even friends who'd said they'd gotten published via venues identified at the Red Bull Rising blog. Oklahoma, in short, is a very friendly place. 

In the evening, former Marine and poet Suzanne Rancourt read from her work in a theater setting, and made me cry. And then, former Marine Roman Baca's Exit 12 Dance Company took the stage, and performed a ballet about motherhood and separation and deployment. They also made me cry. 

When the lights went up, the mother who commissioned/choreographed the piece was suddenly in the audience, as well as one of her two sons, who is stationed at nearby Fort Sill. And later, the troupe re-purposed a dance to an impromptu Native American flute performance by Albert Gray Eagle. 

"Magic" does not adequately describe all this.

DAY 2:

Made DIY comic books with Steve Gooch and Marc DiPaolo of Oklahoma City University, then learned about contemplative photography from Buddhist and Army veteran Tif Holmes from the non-profit Engage the Light of Lubbock, Texas. 

Wrote about the homefront through prompts suggested by Amber Jensen of South Dakota State University, a writer and Army National Guard family member, whom I first met back at Great Plains Writers' Conference 2014. 

Then, dinner with the jazz musicians of 77th Army Band ("The Pride of Fort Sill!"), followed by provoking insights about Military Sexual Trauma issues from Miette Wells, Phd., an Air Force veteran. 

Finally, video presentation from Ben Patton, grandson of WWII Gen. George S. Patton, and founder of "I Was There" Film Workshops. The latter uses digital film-making as a collaborative therapeutic intervention for people diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

So much energy here! So many sparks!

DAY 3:

Got the gouge on self-publishing from MEA president David P. Ervin (author of "Leaving the Wire: An Infantryman's Iraq"), then learned about flash non-fiction techniques from Rob Roensch of Red Earth MFA in Creative Writing at OCU. 

After lunch, Tara Leigh Tappert of The Arts and the Military blew my mind by academically connecting the Arts & Crafts movement with the origins of occupational therapy as a profession, and the establishment of craft shops U.S. military installations in the '50s, '60s, and '70s. Scholarship like that puts veterans and arts organizations such as MEA into historical context. "All this has happened before, and all this will happen again." 

Evening performances included readings of flash fiction by Veterans Writing Project Managing Editor Jerri Bell (from whom I learned lots of new sailor slang. Household-6 will be very pleased), and physical comedy (Masks! Mime! Puppets! Juggling!) from Hoosier Doug Berky. Berky's re-telling of the Korean fable, "The Tiger's Whisker," is a family-friendly tale of one family's journey of healing from PTSD. I hope to invite him to Iowa someday.

Bottom line: The Military Experience & the Arts Symposium 2 provided a unique opportunity to exchange insights on expressive arts techniques, tools, scholarship, advocacy, and healing on veterans issues—and encouraged veterans, students, educators, and arts practitioners to try new things.

Godspeed, and God bless! I can't wait to see what happens next!

Eight Ways to Share Your Military Story, Part II

Editor's note: Much of the following appeared in my classroom materials for an April 2013 military-writing workshop. Fellow writer and journalist Doug Bradley and I presented workshops regarding online-journaling and military-blogging. This version is hyperlinked for easy reference.

For Part I, which first appeared on the Red Bull Rising blog Tues., May 7, 2013, click here.

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6. LITERARY MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS

Literary magazines and journals are periodicals, and are often published by academic and arts programs. Depending on mission, they may publish fiction, non-fiction, essays, poetry, and visual art. While general-interest journals may devote a single issue to military themes (recent issues of Epiphany, The Iowa Review, and So It Goes, for example), there seems to be a growing number of journals specifically targeted toward such topics.

The literary journal of the Veterans Writing Project, O-Dark-Thirty is an online journal of lightly edited military-themed fiction, non-fiction, interviews, and poetry (“The Report”); and a more curated quarterly print publication (“The Review”). The publication accepts submissions year-round.

For a 2012 Red Bull Rising interview with Veterans Writing Project founder Ron Capps, click here.

Part of a growing family of campus-based publications started with The Journal of Military Experience at Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kent. Published in 2011, Volume No. 1 included non-fiction, fiction, poetry, and visual arts. Published in 2012, Volume No. 2 included academic papers and scholarly research. Editors continually emphasize the process as much as the product, and look forward to working with new and aspiring writers. In 2013, editors have announced The Blue Falcon, which will focus on military fiction; and The Blue Streak, a journal of military-themed poetry.

For a 2012 Red Bull Rising interview with The Journal of Military Experience's founder Travis Martin, click here.

Founded in 1990, War, Literature & the Arts is an international journal of the humanities published by the Department of English and Fine Arts at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo. The annual journal is published both in print and online.

For a 2013 Red Bull Rising profile of the WLA Journal, click here.

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7. ANTHOLOGIES

Anthologies are one-shot collections of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and/or visual arts.

Published by the Warrior Arts Alliance and Southeastern Missouri University Press in November 2012, "Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors" is currently accepting submissions for its second volume of military fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Deadline is July 1, 2013.

For a 2012 Red Bull Rising interview with "Proud to Be" editor Susan Swartout, click here.

Other examples of military-themed anthologies include:

• "How to Not Tell a War Story," edited by Michael Lund
• "Remembrances of Wars Past: A War Veterans Anthology," edited by Henry F. Tonn
• "Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War," edited by Matt Gallagher and Roy Scranton

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8. ORAL / WRITTEN HISTORY PROGRAMS

A number of websites offer to repost short anecdotes or descriptions of military service. Always make sure to understand the copyright acquired by such sites. If a given site fails to be able to describe the copyright relationship it wants to establish with you and your work, it’s best to avoid them altogether.

Real Combat Life republishes combat narratives from all eras. Successful participants receive a T-shirt.

Reminisce magazine, and its companion Reminisce EXTRA magazine, are published bi-monthly by the same Greendale, Wisconsin-based company that produces Reader’s Digest and The Family Handyman magazines. “Reminisce helps readers ‘bring back the good times’ through true stories and vintage photographs,” the mission statement reads. “Any appropriate photo or memory is welcome, as long as it originated from 1900 through the 1970s.”

The editors look for a first-person, conversational voice, as well as the possibility of supporting artwork or photography. It does not purchase freelance material, but instead relies upon reader submissions. Submissions are usually 700-words or less.

In addition to oral histories, the Library of Congress Veterans History Project accepts other historical items and records, including biographies of 20 or more pages (5,000 words or more).

According to the website:

The focus of the Veterans History Project is on first-hand accounts of U.S. veterans who served in World War I (1914-1920), World War II (1939-1946), the Korean War (1950-1955), Vietnam War (1961-1975), Persian Gulf War (1990-1995) or the Iraq-Afghanistan conflicts (2001-present). Those U.S. citizen civilians who were actively involved in supporting war efforts (such as war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors, medical volunteers, etc.) are also invited to share their stories. The project greatly values and appreciates veterans' stories from additional combat arenas and those received will be processed as resources allow.

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Good luck, and keep writing!

And, like the Red Bull says: "Attack! Attack! Attack!"

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Note: This Red Bull Rising blog-post about military writing is sponsored by the Red Earth MFA program at Oklahoma City University. This Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program requires 10-day residencies twice a year, in January and July. The program encourages explorations in all forms of creative non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and literary and genre fiction. The program has been approved for post-9/11 G.I. Bill funding, and Oklahoma City University appears on Victory Media's 2013 list of Military Friendly Schools.

Eight Ways to Share Your Military Story, Part I

IS THERE A BOOK IN YOU? One of more than 25 "BookMarks" statues 

that were displayed in public venues throughout the Iowa City, Iowa metro area
from June to October 2011.

Editor's note: Much of the following appeared in my classroom materials for an April 2013 military-writing workshop, at which fellow writer and journalist Doug Bradley and I presented workshops regarding online-journaling and military-blogging. This version is hyperlinked for easy reference.

Part II of this content will post on the Red Bull Rising blog Thurs., May 9.

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First thoughts:

The word “blog” is a contraction: “web” plus “log” equals “blog.” It’s an overly limited term, and, in an age of other forms, formats, and technologies, may have outlived some of its original vitality and utility. (For you're interested, here's a quick history of mil-blogging, and you can keep to date on currect practitioners at Milblogging.com).

Another way to describe the activity is “online journaling.” Writers have used journals and notebooks to explore ideas since long before there was an Internet, and they’ll continue to do so long after current forms of “blogs” have been replaced.

Today’s technologies allow writers to share their thoughts, ideas, and words more widely; to engage with others in discussions and dialogues; and to build more awareness of their works.

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Second thoughts:

One model for an “ideal” blog-post is to be no more than 500 words, illustrated by at least one picture, and relate through first-person narrative a unique experience, insight, or topic. As you write over time, you may be able to detect ways these posts might interconnect into larger, longer work. You may also detect recurring themes or topics.

Regardless of whether you make the contents of your online journal available to the public, to just a few friends and colleagues, or only to yourself, remember to periodically revisit and review your blog as a source for topical targets and publishable products.

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1. LEGACY LETTERS

Some troops write final letters home to be sent to their families in the event of their deaths. Others write letters to their future selves, or to their sons and daughters, briefly describing their actions, impressions, and memories of military service. Write such a letter. Put it somewhere safe. Put it where it will be found.

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2. NEWSPAPERS

Take it from a former newspaper editor: Do not call these “articles.” Do not call them “editorials.” Instead, they are “op-ed essays,” “guest opinions,” or “letters to the editor.” (The term “op-ed” comes from the traditional placement of such content opposite the editorial page in a newspaper. It's pronounced "AHP-ehd.") Query the editorial page editor, usually around 30 days prior to significant dates such as Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Pearl Harbor Day, anniversaries of U.S. involvement in a given country. Usually, it’s best to have the article written prior to query. Aim for 500 words. Offer pictures if available. Be prepared with a current mugshot of yourself. Sometimes, newspapers offer a token payment ($25-$75) for guest opinions.

Here's an example of an Memorial Day op-ed, which I wrote for the Iowa City (Iowa) Press-Citizen for Memorial Day 2012. Here's another, penned by Doug Bradley for Veterans Day 2012.

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3. LOCAL AND REGIONAL HISTORY PUBLICATIONS

Many regions offer multiple venues for writing on historical topics, including military history. Some publications focus on an educational purpose, while others seek to entertain. Still others blend the two.

In Iowa, for example, there is Iowa Heritage Illustrated, formerly The Palimpsest, published quarterly by the Iowa State Historical Society. The editors seek well-researched work of 1,250 to 5,000 words, presented in an accessible, non-academic voice. Payment ranges from $50-$500; author also receives 5 free copies, a 40% discount on additional copies; and a one-year subscription.

Published by Pioneer Communications in Des Moines, Iowa, The Iowan is a consumer newsstand publication focusing on people, events, topics, and places of interest to Iowans.

The Iowa History Journal is also a newsstand publication, published in Newton, Iowa.

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4. GENERAL-INTEREST HISTORY MAGAZINES

Investigate general-interest history magazines to find opportunities to tell first-person stories, or to pitch longer form explorations a particular time, place, or object. Query publications such as The Smithsonian, American Heritage, and American History through an engaging letter or e-mail message, one that describes your idea, and your relevant expertise and experience. Submit your work only after receiving a positive response from an editor.

From American History magazine, here's a creative example connecting histories past and present. The writer follows a U.S. veteran of the war in Afghanistan on a trip to the European cemeteries of World War II.

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5. MILITARY HISTORY AND OTHER SPECIAL-INTEREST MAGAZINES

There are special-interest magazines that cover military history from a variety of first- and third-person angles. This shotgun-list is only intended to illustrate the breadth of titles out there:

There are publications that focus on particular conflicts, such as Vietnam and World War II magazines.
Military History and MHQ: Military History Quarterly cover all eras.

Strategy & Tactics, Modern War, and Armchair General are newsstand history magazines that also cover war gaming.

There are technology-specific titles, such as Aviation History and Smithsonian’s Air & Space magazine.

Skirmish is a magazine that serves living history practitioners and military reinactors. Depending on your local newsstands, you may find these titles various displayed in history, hobbies, transportation, and even lifestyle sections.

Here are two examples from Air & Space magazine, each of which illustrates how history can be compellingly communicated in the first-person voice: The first regards memories of flying the F/A-18 "Hornet" aircraft; the second is a "you are there" MEDEVAC piece written by a former U.S. Army National Guard helicopter pilot.

COMING IN PART II: Writing for literary magazines and journals, anthologies, and oral/written history projects!


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Note: This Red Bull Rising blog-post about military writing is sponsored by the Red Earth MFA program at Oklahoma City University. This Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program requires 10-day residencies twice a year, in January and July. The program encourages explorations in all forms of creative non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and literary and genre fiction. The program has been approved for post-9/11 G.I. Bill funding, and Oklahoma City University appears on Victory Media's 2013 list of Military Friendly Schools.

Notes from a Veterans Writing Workshop

Dr. Jon Kerstetter of TheSoldierDoctor.com conducts a seminar
on "Writing the Monster"—writing about difficult times and topics.

How was the military writing conference in Iowa City, Iowa last weekend? Maddening and gladdening. Tearful and joy-filled. Inspiring. Intimidating. Full of surprises, promise, and opportunities.

Like any good happening related to the practice of writing, this past weekend's "Writing My Way Back Home" conference on the University of Iowa campus instilled two dichotomous urges. The first, to linger over conversations and concepts, drawing out the last ounces of various seminars and connections. The second, to immediately isolate oneself, to hunker down and find a quiet place to write.

The exercise of memory, after all, is a fickle and random process. Even when it comes to things that just occurred to you.

In writing about military writing, I have begun to suspect that the endeavor is something of a moveable feast. We are fellow travelers, fellow veterans, fellow writers. More than a few of us have met before. There were cast members of "Telling: Iowa City" and "Telling: Des Moines." There were alumni of previous "Writing My Way Back Home" workshops, as well as from the 2012 Military Experience and the Arts Symposium held on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kent.

Army aviators say that "any landing you can walk away from is a good one." Thinking along those lines, any writing conference you can walk away from, along with fresh approaches, new friends, and renewed acquaintances is a good one.

The free event was held over three days, starting on Friday night and ending early Sunday afternoon. Sessions were open to current and past military service members, and family members. Hour-long work classes included those on description, writing about difficult topics, poetry, character description, point-of-view, and more. There was even a seminar on blogging and journaling techniques.

There were approximately 30 to 40 participants and volunteer support staff. A number of attendees were from central and eastern Iowa, as well as Wisconsin. Mil-blogger Amanda Cherry, of the Homefront United Network, traveled the furthest distance. She's currently based out of Portland, Ore. The former Iowa Army National Guard public affairs NCO is now the muse behind "Military Martha," a comedic persona she describes as "the love child of General George Patton and Martha Stewart." Y'all can check her out on YouTube here.

Vietnam War and Desert Storm veteran Lem Genovese brought along his guitar, an amp, and his book of original songs about the military experience. In addition to a couple of compact discs, such as "Righteous Reconnaissance," he's penned a 500-page travelogue that covers times in Vietnam, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Honduras, and more. During Operation Desert Storm, Genovese served as a combat medic with the Iowa National Guard's 209th Medical Company, then attached to the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (2-1st Inf. Div.). Although he now resides in Wisconsin, he definitely "has guitar, will travel."

In our own workshop session, fellow mil-blogger and journalist Doug Bradley and I were moderately successful in convincing participants that "blogging" is just another name for "online journaling," or even "online journalism." Inspired on Bradley current writing and research, regarding the music of the Vietnam War, we asked those present to name the song or music they most associated with their military experiences.

The Vietnam-era veterans, for example, agreed that The Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" ranked pretty high on their lists. So did Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction" and The Doors' "The End."

Miyoko Hikiji is a former member of the Iowa Army National Guard's 2168th Transportation Company, and an Iraq War veteran. Her book, "All I Could Be: The Story of a Woman Warrior in Iraq," is due to be released later this month. Because it relates to the National Guard, her book has been on my personal radar since earlier this year.

When I finally had the pleasure of meeting her, however, I garbled her biography somewhat. For some reason, I'd thought she had been a Military Intelligence (M.I.) soldier, rather than a truck driver. "MICO?" I asked, thinking she'd been in the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division's M.I. company, which is called a "MICO."

"No," she said, patiently. "Miyoko." I didn't catch on the first couple of times. It was a little Abbot and Costello "Who's on First" for a moment or two.

Dr. Jon Kerstetter has also written a book, although he's still shopping it around to publishers. The former Iowa Army National Guard flight surgeon has been recovering from a Traumatic Brain Injury (T.B.I.), and says he's not as not as quick as his prose. Some agents, he says, have expressed concerns about his ability to turn around edits in a timely fashion, citing his brain injury. He no longer practices medicine.

Kerstetter taught a workshop on writing about trauma called "Writing the Monster," which was based a chapter in his manuscript. Written over the course of a few years, his creative and compassionate words are delivered with clinical precision and graphic detail. For a tale of sadness and decorum, check out his chapter titled "Triage." For a more bittersweet tale, in which the behaviors of boys from Iowa and Iraq are compared, check out his chapter "Date Palms":

I tell him [an Iraqi man] about my kids and their chokecherry fights and he laughs loudly. We find ourselves laughing together. We tell each other stories of childhood. He talks about how he used dates to pummel his school friends. He laughs even louder and his eyes water.

The date trees ripen in late summer—just like the chokecherries. The terrible heat of August, he explains, is needed in order to ripen the dates. “If no heat, no ripe,” he says. “No hot—no sweetness.”

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Note: This Red Bull Rising blog-post about military writing is sponsored by the Red Earth MFA program at Oklahoma City University. This Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program requires 10-day residencies twice a year, in January and July. The program encourages explorations in all forms of creative non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and literary and genre fiction. The program has been approved for post-9/11 G.I. Bill funding, and Oklahoma City University appears on Victory Media's 2013 list of Military Friendly Schools.

Independent Journal Publishes War-themed 'Epiphany'

Founded in 2003, the independent literary magazine Epiphany recently published its twelfth issue. The Winter/Spring 2013 issue was guest-edited by U.S. Army veteran and contemporary war poet Brian Turner, and the entire issue focuses on a theme of war.

"Literary magazines are among the best choice for giving us access to a personal truth," reads the publication's Facebook page, "in a media-saturated age of blasé impatience, they are still the best equipped of any format to tell the truth slant."

Epiphany is published twice yearly, in spring and fall. The non-profit publication's mission statement reads:

Epiphany publishes fiction, non-fiction, poetry and visual media from both established and emerging writers and artists. We believe that artists and writers reflect the society in which they live and publishing crisp and imaginative writing is of utmost value to any society. Poetry as well as narrative helps people to reflect and understand themselves. 

To ensure success it is critical to support continuous practice, collaboration and careful editing of the written form. Epiphany supports and honors the determination of writers and artists by publishing and marketing their work.

The 200-page war issue is available via subscription ($20 annually; 25 percent off until March 31); direct sales at Barnes and Noble stores; and via the publication's website.

Epiphany is currently seeking submissions for the Spring/Summer 2013 issue. For more information, click here. Details include:

• Submit one story or essay at a time.
• Submit no more than five poems at a time.
• Submit no more than two times per year.
• Submit artwork files in pdf and photographs in jpeg.
• Tell us if you're submitting simultaneously to other publications.

Thanks to the staff of the War, Literature & the Arts journal for the tip!

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Note: This Red Bull Rising blog-post about military writing is sponsored by the Red Earth MFA program at Oklahoma City University. This Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program requires 10-day residencies twice a year, in January and July. The program encourages explorations in all forms of creative non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and literary and genre fiction. The program has been approved for post-9/11 G.I. Bill funding, and Oklahoma City University appears on Victory Media's 2013 list of Military Friendly Schools.

Beat Your Words into Ploughshares' Writing Contest

The editors of Ploughshares magazine have announced they are accepting poetry, prose, and non-fiction submissions to an annual "Emerging Writer's Contest" until Apr. 2, 2013.

While the contest is not specially targeted at military writers, one would hope that some soldier-writer could beat their warrior words into ... well, you know the well-worn phrase to which we refer.

There is a $1,000 prize in each category. Affiliated with Emerson College in Boston, Mass., Ploughshares is published in April, August, and December. Winners are notified in the fall, and their works appear in the winter issue. The contest began in 2011. Click for a short history of the literary magazine. Or, if you prefer, here is a longer one.

The contest defines "emerging writer" as "someone who has yet to publish a book, including chapbooks, eBooks, and self-published works, in any of the content genres: creative nonfiction, poetry, or fiction. No book should be forthcoming before April 15th, 2014, the date when the Winter issue will be off the stands." Persons with current affiliations with Emerson College should also not submit.

Further contest rules include:

• Submitted work must be original and previously unpublished in any form.
• Fiction and non-fiction entries should be under 6,000 words.
• Poetry entries should contain 3-5 pages of poetry. For poetry, editors will be reading both for the strongest individual poem and the general level of work, and may choose to publish only some of the winner's submitted poems.
• Writers are allowed to submit only one entry to the contest, per year.

A list and samples of past winners is available here. Still other selections offer further sense of Ploughshare's editorial spirit and character. The publication's pedigree is both varied and vaunted:

Each issue is guest-edited by a prominent writer who explores personal visions, aesthetics, and literary circles. Over the years, guest editors of Ploughshares have included Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott, Rosellen Brown, Raymond Carver, Tobias Wolff, Sherman Alexie, Russell Banks, Lorrie Moore, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Richard Ford. Guest editors have been the recipients of Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, National Book Awards, MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, and numerous other honors.

Past issues of the magazine, such as the Fall 2012 issue, are available on Amazon Kindle format. The $24 contest entry fee includes options for either a one-year print or online subscription.

Submissions must be made through the magazine's designated web-based portal. E-mail and hardcopy submissions are not accepted.

You can submit to the contest here, and sign up for news alerts and notices here.

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Note: This Red Bull Rising blog-post about military writing is sponsored by the Red Earth MFA program at Oklahoma City University. This Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program requires 10-day residencies twice a year, in January and July. The program encourages explorations in all forms of creative non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and literary and genre fiction. The program has been approved for post-9/11 G.I. Bill funding, and Oklahoma City University appears on Victory Media's 2013 list of Military Friendly Schools.

Vietnam POW's Story Finds New Life as Opera

When military reporter Tom Philpott first encountered the tragic story of an Army family that lost its way during the wartime capitivity of its patriarch, Floyd James "Jim" Thompson, he could hardly have predicted the journey would include more than a decade of reporting; publishing his work not as journalism, but as oral history; and, most recently, as an opera next slated for performance in Fort Worth, Texas, in April and May 2013.

Thompson, the longest-held U.S. Prisoner of War (P.O.W.) in American history, spent 9 years in North Vietnamese captivity. The first five were in solitary confinement. He attempted to escape five times. He came home in 1973.

"He dreamed in his mind of building this dream house when he got home. It turns out that his wife was living for eight or nine years with another man, who was posing as the father of the children," says Philpott. "The boy, who was the only boy of four children, born the day after he was shot down, was called in at 9-years-old and told, 'This is not your dad. Here's a picture of your dad. He's coming home.'"

Then a reporter for the Army Times, Philpott first wrote a magazine-length article about Thompson in 1986. Thompson had suffered a stroke in 1980, and was living alone in Key West, Fla. To get past his expressive aphasia, Thompson played for Philpott a tape recording of a local media interview he'd given after his return.

Philpott ended up interviewing more than 150 people to further flesh out the story. "I didn't want to just tell his story," he says. "I wanted to tell about the impact of his captivity was on his whole family." The book-length oral history was published in 2001, with each friend's and family-member's recollections presented in their own words. Inspired in format by a 1982 book titled "Edie: American Girl," which relates from multiple perspectives the story of one of Andy Warhol's constellation of personalities, Philpott's book reads much like the script of a play. Or, as it turns out, a libretto.

"I had tape-recorded everything," says Philpott. "When I was writing the book, I found that the voices were so powerful and poignant and truthful—and the story was so unbelievable—I thought that if I wrote it as a single-narrator, people just wouldn't believe it. It would lose the poignancy of what they were telling me."

Following the publication of "Glory Denied: The Vietnam Saga of Jim Thompson, America's Longest-Held Prisoner of War" as a book, composer Tom Cipullo contacted the author regarding the possibility of presenting the narrative as an opera.

While in development, portions of the 2006 work were presented by the New York City Opera at an annual festival. The Brooklyn College Opera Theater put it on. Then, the Chelsea Opera Company "got some really beautiful talent behind it," says Philpott. "That attracted review in the New York Times." The work was subsequently performed by Urban Arias, Arlington, Va.

Presented in two acts, the 78-minute opera is written for two sopranos, a tenor, a baritone, and a small orchestra. The males respectively play the younger and older versions of Jim Thompson, while the females depict the younger and older incarnations of his wife, Alyce. Reviewers note the opera's interwoven narratives, brute-force emotions, and a modernist angularity that isn't afraid to occasionally carry a tune.

"It was only in the Arlington performance that I heard the entire libretto—the instrumentation didn't overwhelm it for the first time," says Philpott. "I could understand everything that was said. [Cipullo's] choices were all from the book—he had used all these oral histories, the words from these people, who had said them to each other. It was masterful."

Philpott credits the opera with reawakening interest in his book, which was re-released as a trade paperback in 2012. He is currently a syndicated newspaper columnist on military topics.

Thompson died of a heart attack in 2002. He was 69.

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Note: This Red Bull Rising blog-post about military writing is sponsored by the Red Earth MFA program at Oklahoma City University. This Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program requires 10-day residencies twice a year, in January and July. The program encourages explorations in all forms of creative non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and literary and genre fiction. The program has been approved for post-9/11 G.I. Bill funding, and Oklahoma City University appears on Victory Media's 2013 list of Military Friendly Schools.

Low-Res MFA Program Sponsors Red Bull Rising

The Red Earth Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) in creative writing program, a low-residency course of study located at Oklahoma City University, is the second official sponsor of the Red Bull Rising blog. The school is approved for post-9/11 funding, and appears on Victory Media's 2013 list of Military Friendly Schools

"The low-residency model is suitable for both traditional and non-traditional students: You can keep your job and keep up with your family responsibilities while studying for your MFA," says Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, acting director of the Red Earth MFA program.

Notably, the program bills itself with the tagline: "Write in the middle of it all."

Red Earth MFA students attend classes at the university twice each year, during 10-day residencies in January and July. Between sessions, students work from home, reading and writing toward their respective research objectives. They also participate in online workshops. The MFA program can be tailored to fit most any genre of interest, Mish says, including fiction, creative non-fiction, screenwriting, and more. It can also be targeted toward either the teaching or practice of writing.

Students complete 12 hours of course work each fall and spring semester for two years, for a total of 48 hours. During a final, fifth residency, students present a thesis project—a manuscript-length creative work in a genre of their choice. An MFA is considered a terminal degree.

For a helpful article regarding the utility of low-residency MFA programs, click here.

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Disclaimer: This Red Bull Rising blog-post about military writing is sponsored by the Red Earth MFA program at Oklahoma City University. This Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program requires 10-day residencies twice a year, in January and July. The program encourages explorations in all forms of creative non-fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and literary and genre fiction. The program has been approved for post-9/11 G.I. Bill funding, and Oklahoma City University appears on Victory Media's 2013 list of Military Friendly Schools.