We celebrated Charles Bernstein the other night at the Kelly Writers House, marking the occasion of his birthday and of his retirement from teaching at Penn. Lots and lots o’ BBQ, a case of whiskey (not quite all the whiskey in heaven), and much else—and many, many colleagues and friends, some of whom traveled from as far away as China, Australia, Canada’s Hudson Bay, Los Angeles, Austin TX, Iowa, Berkeley. Here are some of the photos I took.
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PROJECTS:

Convener/teacher, “ModPo.” an open online course on modern & contemporary U.S. poetry—overview of the course ][ intro video
Publisher of Jacket2 magazine—my Jacket2 commentary series ][ "First Readings"
Producer/host, PoemTalk podcast series—co-sponsored by Kelly Writers House & the Poetry Foundation
Director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing—Creative Writing ][ RealArts internships ]
Co-founder & co-director of PennSound—50,000 files ][ 15 million downloads annually
Teacher & host, "Kelly Writers House Fellows"—since 1999 ][ Susan Sontag, John Ashbery, Jamaica Kincaid, Laurie Anderson, Adrienne Rich, Joan Didion, John Edgar Wideman & more
Teacher, "Representations of the Holocaust"—a course on survivor testimony ][ my holocaust site