Hello to all,
My name is Maxwell Snelling and I have the privilege of being the first intern of the Gloucester Writers Center (GWC). As the first I am also the first writer for this here “Intern’s Blog,” but I hopefully will not be the last. Henry Ferinni and Annie Thomas, the Co-Founders and Co-Directors of the GWC, have asked me to write up a blog on my experiences as an intern and so I am and this is it!
In my first week here at the GWC I have done quite a lot, however, my tenure here truthfully began this summer with the Tony Millionaire event, which proved to be a lovely night of cartooning and laughs. I also helped out at the Life is A Poem birthday bash for Vincent, and attended the Fancy/Funny Hat party at the Rocky Neck Cultural Center to promote the GWC, both of which happened during the summer. This last week, however, marks the official beginnings of my day-to-day involvement with the Center.
On my first official day I arouse slightly before the sun and drove into the Center where I had a nice introduction to the place and a run down of what I plan to do here and what Annie and Henry plan to have me do here. I am happy to announce that our visions of this internship are very similar and this will surely be a bountiful experience for all! By the end of the first day I was updating mailing lists like a boss, and navigating the web of contacts and volunteers that make this Writers Center tick.
After that first day I began work on setting up this blog and another blog for the visiting writers, and I began trying to build the Center’s social media presence so that we can more easily remind all of you of the great events happening here. I've also been asked to write press releases for the Center's many events, and of course I am helping out with all of the events and upkeep of the Center.
On Wednesday I helped out with the Linda Hanley Finigan (A Cape Ann Native) reading and sampled some pizza from Espresso: Italian Grill and Pub, which is right next door to the center (we even got a free second pizza due to a mistake!). Ms. Finigan gave a superb reading and there were lots of new faces in the crowd, or so Annie and Henry tell me… Honestly most of the crowd’s faces were new to me since this is only my first week here…
Ms. Finigan has just completed her first book titled Love and War (Yes, she says the title was inspired by Leo Tolstoy) which deals with the Vietnam War era and the youth growing up in it. Annie read the book and says it is a real page turner, and I would have to agree from the excerpts that Ms. Finigan read aloud. Before the excerpts, Ms. Finigan told the crowd how the book has taken three decades to complete, and how it had actually started out as a screenplay, which is a good thing to note as I am an aspiring author and I clearly have my work cut out for me… Y'all should definitely check out the book though.
On Thursday, Henry and I performed funeral rites on the old refrigerator for the Center. It had unfortunately developed a leaking problem, and thus we had to part ways. For temporary use we have brought in a nice little refrigerator from the shed, but this does not have a freezer. (If anyone in the area has a large working refrigerator or knows where we can get one please let us know as we would be very happy to have one again.) I also gave the Center a quick vacuum and got acquainted with both the printers here at the center.
To close out the week, I spent some wonderful alone time with the Center. During said alone time I updated the mailing list further, while also sending out more emails to various people involved with the center. The Center is really a neat spot when you’re alone in it (of course it is also neat when other people are there…), it felt so kind and inviting that I had to wonder if the ghost of Ferrini wasn't watching over it and emanating his presence and creativity. I can see why this place is a great for writers looking to write, it practically oozes creativity!
It really is an honor to be working with this Center and in this city, which I have admittedly already fallen for. I could try to wax poetically here about Gloucester but I feel like far too many poets that are far better than I have already done just that, so instead I’ll end with a quote from the Hermit in the Clouds (and perhaps the ghost in the Writers Center…), Vincent Ferrini.
“All’s here in one Home: the lost Facts of Art and the
Sleeping Beauties we are surrounded in and consume in front of
and behind Divine Cape Annie.
Our eyes in this instance: the Historical Museum.
This Birthhouse Quarries dreamt of and the Fishes.
The ingenuous primitives who cut through locked-in beds of
Durable meditations, denizens of iron labors in the bowels of
Embryonic pyramids for the Stoned Light of the Sun and the
Moon.
That Breakwater, our Egyptian innerlife, as a bonus from the
workers who built it together, that Almighty Arm of Fishtown,
the Signature of what we do when we work in unison…”
(An excerpt from Vincent Ferrini’s “Relics of Distinctly Gloucester” page 27 of The Indweller)
I believe this quote is actually about the museum but I think it has the right feel for Gloucester itself.
Until next time, cheers to all and thanks for all the great opportunities!
-Maxwell