Legendary Oklahoma Poet Dorothy Alexander Reading at Del Mar College
Article by: Rosa Linda Reynoso
Interested in poetry? Then make plans to attend Del Mar College’s (DMC) Poetry Series Fall Poetry Reading on Wednesday, Nov. 1, with Oklahoma poetry legend Dorothy Alexander. Interested individuals will have two ways to hear the poet. Either join other poetry aficionados on campus or watch Alexander read from her collection of work from the comfort of your home or office during a live webcast.
Sponsored by the College’s English and Philosophy Department, the DMC Libraries and the DMC Poetry Series, the free poetry reading begins at 2 p.m. in Room 514 of the White Library located on Del Mar College’s East Campus at Naples off Kosar at Staples. Alexander also will serve as the featured reader during the College’s free Open Mic session scheduled for 7 p.m. on the same date and location. Both readings are open to the public. For more information about either activity, contact Alan Berecka, DMC Professor of Learning Resources, at 698-1933 or aberecka@delmar.edu.
Del Mar TV will webcast live the poetry reading beginning 15 minutes before the 2 p.m. event starts. To view online, go to www.delmar.edu/webcasts.
Some say poetry is life distilled down, and Dorothy has led the most fascinating life I have ever encountered. She has packed three lifetimes into her 80-plus years. Her poetry covers her childhood as an Oklahoma dirt farmer’s daughter to a career as a lawyer and then judge and every stop in between, including one as a member of the first storm-chasing team at the University of Oklahoma and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Storyteller, poet and publisher Alexander has created six collections of her own poetry since 2002: The Dust Bowl Revisited, Borrowed Dust, Rough Drafts, Lessons From an Oklahoma Girlhood which combines visual art by 20 Oklahoma women artists created in response to Alexander’s poetry, The Art of Digression, a memoir in poetry and prose and her latest book, Leaving My Father’s House.
She has performed for the Chiron Review Poetry Rendezvous in Great Bend, Kan.; the Langdon Review Writing Festival in Granbury, Texas; the Modern Language Association in San Antonio; the Writers League of Texas at Sul Ross University, Alpine, Texas; the Southwest Popular/American Culture Conference, Albuquerque, N.M.; Community College of Dodge City, Kan.; the Teatro Paraguas and Op Cit Bookstore, Santa Fe, N.M.; and for gatherings in Arizona and Oregon.
Del Mar College empowers students to achieve their dreams. We offer quality programs, individual attention, outstanding instruction through faculty with real-world experience and affordable costs to credit and noncredit students in Corpus Christi and the South Texas Coastal Bend area. Nationally recognized while locally focused, we’re ranked in the top two percent of community colleges in the country granting associate degrees to Hispanic students (Community College Week). Del Mar College focuses on offering our students programs that match current or emerging career opportunities. Whether students are interested in the fine arts, sciences, business, occupational or technical areas, students get the education they need for the future they want at Del Mar College.