Cowboy Poet Laureate

Hello folks in cyber-land, and thanks for checking in to the blog. Things will begin to pick up here pretty soon with the college's production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" set to go in a few weeks.

In the meantime, The Roswell Museum of Art had a big Gala celebration last Friday to officially open a new exhibit. For those of you in town, or coming to town, it is definitely worthwhile to take an hour out of your schedule and check it out. And...I am not just saying that because I am on the board of trustees either!

During that celebration there was a fancy-schmancy black tie dinner followed on Saturday by a festival. Yes...these small towns do love there festivals. Not only did I get to help set things up for these events, but I also attended them. The festival, that celebrated skills, arts and crafts of the southwest got off to a slow start, but business picked up. Of course there were the usual suspects there: the vendors selling funnel cakes, popcorn, burritos and the usual carney fare. But, the nice thing was that the people at most of the booths were not selling things, the were showing things and teaching things.

Two of the highlights for me were our own Doc Bender manning the Historical Society booth churning butter. That's right, good 'ol Doc was standing there for hours turning a handle and wondering if it would ever become butter. For all the ribbing he took, a couple of hours and viola! Butter. I was a bit afraid to taste it, but I did and it was good. I washed it down with some apple cider that I watched be made straight from the press!

The second highlight was getting to listen to and to meet Waddie Mitchell, the Cowboy Poet Laureate. He was the main attraction. This guy is great. He's been everywhere and done everything and his poetry is everything you would want: thought provoking, entertaining, funny, engaging. I can't say enough about him. The best part is, he was such a nice guy. I got a chance to meet him at the Gala and we talked for a few minutes about the importance of poetry and theater and the arts in general. He excused himself for a minute in our conversation and I thought he probably was just moving on to other more important people, but, instead, he walked back and handed me a drink and continued where we left off.

I think there is a picture of us out there and I'll post it when I get it. One of my colleagues took it and said to Waddie, "how about a picture of the two poets...East coast meets West coast". It was a thrill and honor to be even mentioned in the same sentence with Mr. Mitchell.

So...that's my excitement for the week...Remember: "The Importance of Being Earnest" at ENMU-R, November 17-19 at the Performing Arts Center! It's free, so unless you are more then 1000 miles away...you have no excuse!