Editors’ Choice: Jade Ramsey

Eden Contraction

With tone, narrow
shoulders and loose-leaf
skin, the old, dying man
leans back like cobweb
carpet, catching the June
Bug in his mouth
so wings will
flutter his cheeks
from inside and still
he bends backward;
his knees look
toothless— lippy
mouths in nursing
homes gumming the jell-o
between the jell-o
and naming the beetle
he swallows Woman.

Jade Ramsey holds an MFA from Bowling Green State University. Her works can be found or are forthcoming in Gargoyle, Stone Highway Review, REAL, Concisely, and many others. She currently teaches at Heidelberg University in Tiffin OH.

Editors’ Choice: Adriana Páramo

Oil Spills Remind Me of Him

The moment we walked into a trendy club in the upper-class party strip in Bogotá, 
the women stopped talking. Their heads turned in our direction and their smiles 
got silly flirty. He smiled back, did this thing with his spiked-up hair, winked with a 
slow flutter of his eyelashes and waved at the ladies with his free hand.

I was holding the other one.

Claiming as mine this 6’2”, blue-eyed, Anglo Saxon, 30 year-old demigod. Burying 
my fingernails into his palm until I left crescent moons along his life line. Soon, he 
quickened his strides and I began to trail behind him until I was left at the bar alone 
with my miniskirt, my high heels, and a black garter belt set with seamed stockings 
underneath; an ensemble I had put together exclusively for him.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him. The moment I lowered my guard, he exchanged 
phone numbers with women on the dance floor behind a curtain of Marlboro 
smoke; he vanished in the vapor of a whiskey martini and went to kiss the blonde 
sitting at the bar, to slow dance with the brunette while her boyfriend took a leak 
in the gent’s. I gave him cold stares from across the club, past naked shoulders 
and cleavages; I called his name but my voice drowned in a pool of expensive 
fragrances I had never smelled before.[more]

Adriana Páramo is a cultural anthropologist currently pursuing a graduate degree in creative writing. She also volunteers as a transcriber for Voice of Witness, a non-profit book series. She is a women’s rights advocate who did extensive work among undocumented women farmers in Florida. She co-produces LOL, Life Out Loud, a nonfiction reading series.

Thank You

It is with a heavy heart I report that despite the efforts of the dedicated students, faculty, and staff, the Board of Trustees of Chester College of New England last evening announced its decision to close the college. Without Chester College, Compass Rose will no longer exist in the way you’ve come to know in the past 12 years. It no longer will be edited by the undergraduates at Chester College and I will no longer serve as its associate editor.

I am happy to say that this blog will publish our Editors’ Choice feature for several weeks this summer and that it is quite possible that many of the Chester College students and I will all land at the same place in the fall to create a new journal with the same high standards we’ve developed for Compass Rose.

Thank you so much for your support through your submissions, your comments and simply for reading.

Regards,

Jenn Monroe

Caution: Fundraising Ahead

Compass Rose friends, contributors, and followers: Most of you know that Compass Rose is edited, designed and basically made possible by the undergraduate students at Chester College of New England. I am proud to be able to lead them in this effort every year.

The school’s motto is “Artists – Writers – Thinkers.” I teach there and edit this magazine (the creation of which is an actual class) not for the pay but because it’s a privilege and pleasure to work with such astonishingly talented writers and artists. Despite its small size (100-odd students) and youth, students keep winning national awards (e.g. The Lyric‘s poetry award three years in a row) and attracting visiting authors such as Nick Flynn, William Giraldi, Steve Almond, Mary Gaitsgill, George Saunders, and Sharon Olds among many others.

I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been reading student work and thought, “Damn! I wish I’d written that.” I have no doubt that Chester College will have some famous, award-winning, and perhaps bestselling alumni in the future.

But first, they have to graduate. A bad economy and a couple years of low enrollment (the current junior and senior classes) placed a huge burden on the young school’s small budget and modest endowment. So students, staff, and faculty have embarked on our biggest ever fundraising effort to make sure Chester stays open and independent for the fall semester.

About 10 years ago, the school renamed itself and switched its focus to writing and the fine arts. The students love the “Artists – Writers – Thinkers” theme and really, really don’t want to close or, perhaps worse, merge with a different school that would change our focus and programs.

Which brings me to my plea: If you’d like to be a patron of the arts and help support some amazing up-and-coming writers and illustrators, contributions of anything from a buck to $20 to $100 or more are very, very welcome and appreciated.  Even purchasing a couple copies of Volume XII would help. There’s an acute short-term need to raise funds to keep our core faculty and programs, and to avoid a closing or forced merger.

The donate button is down on the bottom, right-hand side of our homepage: Chester College of New England. Tax-deductible!

For big donations from wonderful kind rich people, the talents of the Chester community are being put to work to provide some fabulous tiered “gifts,” much like during a PBS fund drive. Get a bust of yourself by one of our talented sculptors! Or a big, suitable-for-framing watercolor portrait of you or your kids or pet, painted by a future Aponovich or Monet. You can even have a building named after you, or a scholarship in your name.

If you or anyone you know would like to donate big bucks, or start a scholarship, or get a building with your name on it, please contact Laura Ives, Vice President of Academic Affairs, who is working on this day and night. Her number is 603-887-7404 and her email is laura.ives@chestercollege.edu.

Thank you for your support of Compass Rose. It is my sincere hope that we will be making our call for Volume XIII (and XIV & XV, etc.) very soon.

Sincerely,

Jenn Monroe
Associate Editor

P.S. Thanks to Eric Pinder for allowing me to “borrow” so much of his heartfelt language for this message.

Volume XII Available Now!

Compass Rose is pleased to announce Volume XII is available. We would like to thank all of you for your patience and we hope you enjoy this collection of poetry, prose, and artwork as much as we do. You can buy Volume XII here.

You Can’t Erase An Idea – An Interview with Edward Stapel

Edward Stapel’s exhibition “You Can’t Erase an Idea” is displayed at The Gallery at Wadleigh Library on the Chester College of New England campus. The exhibition will run from February 1 – March 8, 2012, with a reception on Wednesday, February 15 from 5 – 8 pm.

Edward Stapel - "You Can't Erase an Idea"

Meg Cameron: When did you first come upon the idea for this series?

Edward Stapel: I tend to make photographs until a particular image, or group, pops up and becomes a working title or concept. For this series, that would be the image of the “You Can’t Erase an Idea” graffiti.

Methuen, MA (You Can’t Erase an Idea)

MC: Which image started it all?

ES: I’m not sure if any particular image started anything, but if I look at dates, the photograph of the condom on the fire hydrant was the earliest (November 2008).

Ward Hill, MA (aka the condom pic)

MC: How long did you work on the series?

ES: The first image was taken in late 2008, just prior to the birth of my son. Then, two years disappeared with intermittent image making. Over the last year, my brain started to return to me and the series began to present itself.

MC: Did you mostly stumble onto these subjects, or would you ever go seeking them out?

ES: A little of both.

MC: What was it about these places and things that struck you to photograph them?

ES: They all seemed broken, or sad, or whimsical, or pathetic, or just silly.

MC: How do you feel about the series as a whole?

ES: I’m pleased with the series but it also makes me feel a bit broken, sad, whimsical, pathetic, and silly (mostly whimsical and silly).

Maquette Cover

MC: When and how did you know the series was complete to make the book?

ES: Last summer, shortly after making the graffiti image mentioned above, I began to sense that I needed to edit all of the photographs that I had made. I made a stack of prints (roughly 80) and started going through them looking for a common thread. Many of the prints were edited out and have become separate projects. Ultimately, I narrowed the group down to 40 prints and I made a maquette to see how they felt as a book. After living with that sequence for a couple of weeks, I decided that I didn’t like the cover image I had chosen, as it made the series feel a bit paranoid. I changed the cover image and slightly altered the overall sequence for the final edit.

Maquette

When it came time to consider the images for the exhibition, I looked at the gallery space and determined that 12 prints would be manageable. I pulled 12 images from the overall series and sequenced them for the exhibition.

You can view the entire series on Edward Stapel’s flickr site: “You Can’t Erase an Idea” and please visit his website for more information: edwardstapel.com

Subterfuge, Snapshots & You Can’t Erase an Idea

The following are previews of the current shows in the Gallery at Wadleigh Library. They will be showing through March 8th, 2012, with a reception on February 15, at 5:00 P.M. 

 

Kimberly Kersey Asbury: Subterfuge (Mock Battle #2) 

Ms. Asbury’s show includes a series of photos of plastic army men and the molds they come from. Her photographs bring them to life in silent explosions of motion and color. One photo’s atmosphere drew me in so fully that I cupped my hand to my ear and leaned closer, so I could hear what one little figure seemed to be saying to another. My favorites were green marine’s portrait, blue turns on the viewer and radio man ignores shadows (I have made up all these names for the photos, but it will be obvious which I am describing when you come view them yourself). I was delighted by my reactions to each delicate, precise arrangement.

Check out more of Kimberly Kersey Asbury’s work on her website.

 

Christina Renfer Vogel: Snapshots 

Ms. Vogel’s show consists of small canvases showing unusual portraits of semi-fashionable people. Some have their backs turned or faces otherwise excluded, but each gives a sense of personality via the colors and attitude of each position. My favorite is Joel (which can be viewed on Christina Renfer Vogel’s website along with the rest of Snapshots and various other work), because the lines are so delicate and perfect. There seems to be no unnecessary complication involved in her work, which is a pleasant break from the chaos in our daily lives.

 

Edward Stapel: You Can’t Erase An Idea 

Mr. Stapel describes this show as, “…a somewhat apathetic lament about our current American cultural and political climate.” His photos keep that sentence honest by juxtaposing strong symbols of America as we perceive it with imagery of confusion and disrepair. My favorite is Lowell, MA, which shows a row of Market Basket paper bags slumping by a stone wall beside an abandoned television and a scooter.

You can view images and read more about Edward Stapel on his website.