Category — In the Spotlight

www.francesrichey.com

Poetry is a type of writing that requires more skill than other forms of writing. A poet has to convey a message in about 100 words, whereas a novelist can take 350 pages to say the same thing. On Veterans Day, our class was invited to the Macaulay Honors College building to hear from the poet Francine Richey. [Read more →]

Source: www.stevenkasher.com

He walks into the room, momentarily addresses the class, and swiftly proceeds to installing his collection of photographs into the projector.  As if trying to avoid attention, the man works silently until his work is ready for display, only voicing his concern for the abundance of light.  Once the projector turns on, he simply switches from picture to picture and they themselves incite the questions that follow.  If you were to see a man of such simple demeanor toying with his camera in some Manhattan district, you would fail to realize that you are bearing witness to Jeff Mermelstein, worldwide authority on street photography, contributing to an art that is as much his as anybody’s. [Read more →]

At first, I didn’t know how to respond to Jeff Mermelstein as he began to prepare his old-fashioned slides for our class. He seemed a little confused and I was nervous that he was going to turn out to be a grumpy old man. I was half-expecting a boring presentation, one slide after another with a few monotonous descriptions of when and where each photograph was taken. Then, Jeff Mermelstein began to describe, with fervor, his experience with being a street photographer. All of my predictions were proven wrong. His use of language was vivid as he spoke of his love of color photography. He mentioned how seductive color photography is to him, like “colored M&M’s.” [Read more →]

Who is Jeff Mermelstein? Some who accidentally notice him in the street with his Leica lense might think he is a tourist and yet others might even think of him as an invader of their privacy. The fact is though that Jeff Mermelstein is a street photographer, and definitely a passionate one. He takes pictures of anything that catches his eye, whether it is fruits and vegetables, animals, or people. Vivid color is his main criteria, and this makes his photographs absolutely ravishing. [Read more →]

As Jeff Mermelstein displayed his collection of photographs, all went silent except for the old-fashioned whirring sounds of the projector. At times, he stopped at a photo and briefly gave a caption. The class burst out in laughter at some of his photos: a model’s almost-naked photo shoot, a woman’s badly sun-burnt back, a yawning businessman, and the behinds of elephants. Mermelstein’s photos were amusing and filled the room with laughter. Not only did he share his collection of street photography, but he also displayed his humorous personality. [Read more →]

Street photographer Jeff Mermelstein arrived at Baruch College last Thursday to generously share with us several collections of his work. His main objective, he explained, is to photograph the world’s gritty under-netting – that which makes America American. He has found the prime examples of this realism in the streets of New York City.

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http://www.marionettlinger.com/images/gallery/30-prose.jpg

            “She was so beautiful and doomed and she had a death wish” no, this is not Francine Prose but Myra, an insane character from “Hansel and Gretel”; one of her short stories from the collection “The Peaceable Kingdom”. The real Francine Prose held the audience captive during the reading with her soft, deep intonations. Her hair curtained her face as she drew it back occasionally to reveal the intelligence and wit written not only in her story but also on her face. She peered up to regard the audience that was intentionally shocked into attention by the image of Hecuba and her cat.

                During the talkback, Prose stated she started writing stories as an indirect result of the unruly children she had to babysit as a child. Her face drew back in a smile when she recalled she “did a lot of ghost stories” to entertain the children. Her use of logic and sense of humor led her to discover that if they were scared they might be less restless. Many of her ideas for novels including “Hansel and Gretel” came from personal experience. Prose explained, “As a child I was a huge reader”. She readily cited the highly relevant Hans Christian Andersen and Little Women by Louisa May Alcott Her influences were a revelation. Hans Christen Andersen’s tales even though irreverent, sometimes have dark undertones just like her work. Alcott’s novel is an almost biographical account of a female writer who falls into “vortexes” and “writing fits” and supports herself with them. Francine Prose’s character is such that she remembers staying up all night to start a novel. Initially to her writing was not so much about the freedom of expression but also her livelihood. She admitted she could not “imagine doing anything else” and “just didn’t have a chance for writer’s block”. Her approach to her profession is not only realistic it is admirable

 Her independence is admirable and her spirit shows in her book “Reading Like A Writer”. Prose emphasizes the importance of reading not just for plot but also for the originality of the writer. In opposition to the nature of a short story, a novel focuses more on the character development.  To Francine Prose writing is a novel is “scarier” because there is a chance that it might not go anywhere”. When questioned about her writing methods,” I just write on sentence after another” Her approach at writing maybe considered unorthodox. Yet when she writes, every word is deliberate, and every thought is concise, even at times humorous, just like her. 

www.billcharles.com

          The room was filled with the anxious air of anticipation. Eighteen college students were sitting in the classroom – waiting for a legend to arrive. They knew of his many accomplishments – having won the European Publishers Award for Photography and having his work displayed in over fifteen exhibitions. Then, he arrived and Jeff Mermelstein was a regular man wearing regular street clothes, but like his photography of ordinary people, there was something extraordinary about him – his passion for taking pictures. [Read more →]

            After a grueling five week long tour promoting her new book “Goldengrove” it is understandable that Ms. Francine Prose would want to take a break and do a reading of another one of her pieces. The short story that Ms. Prose read, entitled “Hansel and Gretel” is very amusing and fantastical story. The main character, Polly, is in a very bizarre situation, to say the least. It is surprising that it was actually based on a situation that the author was in. The title and the beginning of the story do not seem to match. It is not until later that the audience understands the connection to the children’s story of “Hansel and Gretel”. [Read more →]

http://www.stevenkasher.com

Street photography is something that has always fascinated me. I really enjoy looking at books and albums of photographs. Last week Jeff Mermelstein, a street photographer, came to our class to speak about photography and show us some of his pictures. Some people go out to photograph a specific theme or idea, while Mermelstein prefers to shoot everything he finds interesting and then choose a theme later. [Read more →]