HAIKU NORTH AMERICA

Medicinal Musing: This afternoon, right after I started getting annoyed at the Rite Aid pharmacy aide for asking me prematurely about getting a Flu Shot, I realized that in two weeks: it will already by mid-October, and I (now undeniably a Senior Citizen) will be among scores of folks from all over the continent and globe, in all kinds of spaces and social interactions. Since we're often told it takes two weeks to ensure the full effects of a flu shot, I got all schmoozy and left soon thereafter with an updated immunization card and a small bandaid on my upper left arm.

​Just sayin'.

  Today, September 29, is the deadline to receive the HNA 2015 group rate at the Desmond Hotel. See the Conference Accommodations Page.

Individuals must make their own reservations and identify themselves as members of HNA 2015 when the individual is making the reservation. Group ID #12B430.

      Phone - Local # 518-869-8100 and/or the toll free # 800-448-3500

      Online Booking Link: http://tinyurl.com/HNA2015Booking
     Attendee Code is 6615

The Local Organizing Committee for HNA 2015 is looking for a good collective noun for a very large group of haiku poets. Suggested collective nouns for the generic category of poets just don't seem to fit: e.g., iambic, rhyme, obscurity (see Wikionary), or even stanza.

Perhaps "a breath of haiku poets" could work for a small gathering, but we are pleased to say that HNA 2015 will not be a small gathering of haiku poets. With the Conference taking place three weeks from now, we have well over 120 registrants. 

Thanks to all who are planning to join us in Schenectady at Union College for HNA 2015, and to those who are about to register to join our big bandwagon and celebration of haiku. If you have a suggestion for an appropriately inspired collective noun, please leave a comment to tell us

If you have been trying to decide whether or not to hop on our Foliage and Art Tour Bus, here are two more reasons to catch the pre-Conference bus at 9:30 AM on October 14, 2015, for the fifty-mile ride from The Desmond to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. 

1. According to YankeeFoliage.com, the week of October 11, 2015 will see peak foliage in Massachusetts and most of New England.  See detail of the Map above. 
2. Just as exciting for art and haiku lovers, haiga master Ion Codrescu says he will enjoy the Foliage-Art Tour to the Clark Museum along with fellow HNA 2015 attendees. 
   

Our posting "come early for foliage and art" has images and more information about the 50-mile, scenic foliage drive and the Clark Art Institute. 

Tour Add-on. If you have already registered for the Conference, but did not initially reserve a seat for the Foliage/Art Tour, you may still do an Add-on Tour reservation.  To do so, send your check for Fifty Dollars per person to HNA 2015, c/o Prof. Tann, Music Department, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308. Make the check out to "Union College, HNA 2015" with "Art/foliage tour" in the memo line. 

• Reminder: see our posting below with a slideshow tour of Ion's haiga exhibit at the Mandeville Gallery.

John Stevenson is preparing a memorial presentation for HNA 2015 and seeks assistance from the haiku community for the following materials:

Favorite haiku by: Tei Matsushita Scott, Tony Virgilio

Photograph of: Charles D. Nethaway, Jr., Sandra Fuhringer, Tony Virgilio

Birth year of: Kat Creighton, Verica Zivkovic, Francis “Fran” Masat, Sandra Fuhringer, Gene Warren Doty, Tony Virgilio, Miriam Chaikin

Please contact John at [email protected] if you can supply or direct him to any of these. Thank you!

To see the scheduling and description for each of the presentations and events we've been lining up for HNA 2015, click on the pdf. file HNA 2015 Conference Schedule [Draft], which is our plan for the Conference as of today, September 4, 2015.

Although it is our hope that there will be no need to change the schedule (for reasons as yet unforeseen) we cannot guarantee that this draft will be the final one.  However, when you review what we have in mind, we are convinced that you will want to be part of the unfolding celebration.  Come and be part of it!  

• If you've missed the recent post on the advantages of being on the Union College campus, please click here for a list of pluses, plus links to many photos of its exterior and interior beauty.
• Jackson's Garden is one special highlight at the Union campus. Click here for a description, photos, and links. And, see the collage below for a look at the entryway to the Gardens as it appeared earlier this week.  That much-beloved gingko tree is right near the front entrance and has been a favorite meeting spot for students, professors, alumni, and friends and lovers for a very long time. 

 GREAT NEWS! Thanks to a generous contribution from Upstate Dim Sum, the journal of the Route 9 Haiku Group, the 20% pricing increase for HNA 2015 scheduled to begin September 5th will be waived for the first 20 registrants after 9/5. 

Of course, as the Local Committee for the Conference, the Rt. 9 Group encourages everyone planning to attend HNA 2015 to register as soon as possible, to help with our planning, ordering, and expensing. But those who cannot register before September 5, will now have the chance to avoid the fee surcharge by being among the first to register this weekend and beyond. [Click for the Conference Rates & Registration Page.]

• By the way, if you are waiting to see the full Conference schedule of presentations before deciding to attend for one or two days, we plan to have that schedule online on Friday evening, Sept. 4. update: The "final" pre-conference schedule (dated Oct. 11, 2015) is now up, go to our Conference Schedule Page. 

 Living right down the road from Union College gave me the luxury of taking a quiet stroll around the Mandeville Gallery's Ion Codrescu Haiga Exhibit yesterday afternoon, in a preview of the experience awaiting those who attend HNA 2015 in mid-October. As expected, the entire visit was a treat for the eye and soul, with 30 haiga paintings installed around the second-floor balcony of the gorgeous Nott Memorial, and the building's dome and two other levels adding colors, light, and depth. Codrescu's Chinese ink-brush painting and calligraphy have a beautiful synergy with the haiku poems he incorporates into his haiga. 

Here is a slideshow that does the circuit around the Codrescu Exhibit. The shaded semi-circular windows add a shoji-screen effect. Although I enjoy playing with the shadows and reflections off the framed paintings, you'll be able to view each piece from several perspectives when here in person, including glare-free angles.