Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Martin Farawell, Program Director, Poetry

Toi Derricote’s amiable demeanor belies the intensity of the inner searching at the core of her poem, “Invisible Dreams.”

Only a poet determined to give voice to whatever she discovers about her most secret self could write the lines:

I have to make a
place for my body in

my body.  I’m like a
dog pawing a blanket

on the floor.  I have to
turn & twist myself

like a rag until I can
smell myself in my myself.

Derricotte makes this look easy. It is not. Such poems are written by sheer force of will, a refusal to turn away from what she sees, regardless if what is seen inspires anger, fear or shame. To call her poems fearless is to diminish the achievement. They are forged, not without fear, but in spite of it.

Galway Kinnell has said that part of the poet’s task is to go deeper than the “merely personal” into the “profoundly personal,” to that inner space where we discover the universal and the personal are one. Derricotte takes us there in poem after poem.

But the journey has not been easy. Although she started writing poems at the age of ten, she showed them to no one but one cousin when she was fourteen. His response was so negative that she didn’t show her poems to anyone again until she was twenty-seven. By then, she had given birth to her first son in a home for unwed mothers, gone on to complete a degree in special education and launched her teaching career. Having kept her writing life a secret for many years, she earned her master’s degree in English and creative writing from New York University at the age of 43.

Since then, she has garnered many awards for her writing; co-founded Cave Canem, a workshop retreat for African American poets; and published the poetry collections Tender (1997) which won the 1998 Paterson Poetry Prize, Captivity (1989), Natural Birth (1983) and The Empress of the Death House (1978), and The Black Notebooks, a literary memoir. She teaches at the University of Pittsburgh.

The text of “Invisible Dreams” can be found in Tender.

Be sure to return for upcoming Poetry Fridays, when we will feature many poets from past Dodge Poetry Festivals in the weeks ahead, including Jorie Graham, Tony Hoagland, Taslima Nasreen and others.

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David Grant, President and CEO

I have been reading Michael Sandel’s book Justice, which stems from his popular course of the same name at Harvard.  In between chapters over the weekend, I have been reading proposals from nonprofit organizations seeking funding from Dodge in the new year.

In both cases, the predominant question on my mind has been Sandel’s subtitle: What’s The Right Thing To Do?

The book, by the way, would be a great holiday present for anyone you know who appreciates having his or her assumptions challenged.  Just when you think you know what “the right thing to do” is, Sandel asks you to look at it another way.

He begins with some fascinating questions of judgment and, inevitably, politics, using real life situations.  Should there be laws against price gouging in the wake of natural disasters?  Should Purple Hearts be awarded for psychological injuries?  Should the CEO’s and top executives of banks bailed out with taxpayer money get bonuses?

And he uses hypothetical situations.  If you were the engineer on a runaway train, with five people working on the track in front of you, and you could turn onto a side track where one person was working, would you?  Most people say yes.  If you were watching the runaway train from a bridge and could push one person onto the tracks to save the five people working further down them, would you?  Most people say no.  In each case, there is a choice: either one person will die or five people will die. Yet we make different judgments.  It is not just about numbers and outcomes.

Sandel’s theme is that there are three main ways to think about justice: maximizing welfare, respecting freedom, and promoting virtue.

I began to cast the proposals to Dodge in these terms and realize our social investments of limited resources require us to reflect on these matters.  How shall we compare a local arts group with a local soup kitchen, for example? Do we support the educational organization that brings freedom of choice and opportunity to a small number of underserved students in a dramatic, transformational way?  Or do we back efforts to incrementally improve an educational system that affects thousands of students?

Sandel unpacks that last idea: the utilitarian idea of “the greatest good for the greatest number” – both its strengths and its weaknesses. That chapter helps me understand why at some gatherings of foundations, there are strong pleas for the whole field to drop everything except a focus on mitigating climate change.

At Dodge, we use the themes Creativity and Sustainability as if they were virtues.  But I imagine Sandel countering: “Do you value the creativity it takes to create a new weapon?  Is everything worth sustaining?”

Clearly not.  I appreciate how Sandel frames the process of responsible moral judgment as “a dialectic between our judgments about particular situations and the principals we affirm on reflection.”  It reminds me again of the importance of “Quadrant II” time in organizations – that precious time we set aside and protect for important matters that are not urgent.  It is our time to reflect on lessons learned from action and guiding principles for future decisions.

It is both disconcerting and liberating to understand anew through reading Justice that the right thing to do is not always clear to a single individual, let alone a group, no matter how much thoughtful attention you pay to a given situation or choice.  But as he writes, “Thinking about justice seems inescapably to engage us in thinking about the best way to live,” and for us at Dodge, that takes us to the heart of our mission of fostering a more livable world.

We will never, in Sandel’s words, “resolve (our) disagreements once and for all.”  But these discussions “can give shape to the arguments we have, and bring moral clarity to the alternatives we confront.”

Another cycle of grantmaking is underway.

Michelle Knapik, Environment Program Director

I spent last Friday afternoon at the latest in the series of Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) Food System Stakeholder meetings.  This one focused on the indicators of a sustainable food system.  What that means in less wonky terms is what are our “food values” and how do we measure them.  Put another way, if we, as individuals, are what we eat, our food system is a reflection of what we value  . . . or is it?  I’ve written in past blog posts (link here , here and here)  about the disconnect between agri business and what we eat, and whether we know much at all about where our food comes from, how it was produced, and what impacts it has on the earth.  But in this meeting on indicators I came face to face with food values. (more…)

Martin Farawell, Program Director, Poetry

Listening to Kevin Young read at the 2008 Festival, we discover “the tradition” can have many meanings and be vibrantly alive in a very contemporary poet.

Young’s  careful shaping of language as a poet and reader shows a keen appreciation for poetry’s oral tradition. These poems are meant to be heard aloud. He reads them as he must have composed them: with meticulous attention to the sound of words and the rhythm of speech.

His poems also reveal his strong ties to the traditions of his Louisiana family. He is a poet aware of his roots and willing to explore how  family and birthplace can continue to shape our perceptions and sense of self.

Young is also a devoted student of the American musical tradition. His shaping of the line owes much to his feeling for a good jazz riff, and “Flash Flood Blues” is only one of many poems he’s written influenced by the structure of the blues lyric. It’s not hard to imagine that music has had as strong an influence on Young’s sense of poetic form as literature has. And yet we know only someone deeply immersed in the literary tradition could have written “Ode to Pork” and “Ode to Boudin.”

Young merges these many traditions seamlessly, and with such warmth and good humor it is easy to forget his achievement requires not only great craft, but great erudition.

“Aunties,” “Flash Flood Blues,” “Ode to Pork and “Ode to Boudin” can be found in Dear Darkness, Kevin Young’s most recent collection. Visit the 2008 Dodge Poetry Festival Poet Pages for a biography of Kevin Young.

Be sure to return for upcoming Poetry Fridays, when we will feature many poets from past Dodge Poetry Festivals in the weeks ahead, including Jorie Graham, Tony Hoagland, Taslima Nasreen and others.

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Wendy Liscow, Program Officer

I don’t know about you, but as soon as the Thanksgiving leftovers are crammed into the refrigerator, I start to think about two things: sending year-end donations to my favorite nonprofits and tackling my holiday gift list.  I have come to dread the latter task, not just because I hate crowds and making gift decisions, but also because I don’t want to spend money on more “stuff” that people don’t really want and that will ultimately end up in a landfill.   I am part of a growing number of people who want their purchases to reflect their values.  In fact, one of New American Dream’s holiday polls revealed that 82% of Americans would rather receive a photo album filled with memories than a gift from a store.  New American Dream offers a great list of ideas on how you can make more socially responsible choices.

I’ve committed to using my purchasing power for dual purposes:  delight the gift-receiver and support New Jersey’s nonprofits.  Just a little bit of brainstorming will reveal a plethora of ways to do this.

How about giving your friends and loved ones tickets to a concert, play, or dance?  Or even better, consider a subscription.  How about a class at your favorite community arts center or nature reserve?  Or a membership at a museum.  Or check out a New Jersey Audubon birding tour and workshop or a Hackensack River Eco-Cruise. Or consider a donation to your friends’ and family members’ favorite charity/nonprofit in their name!

If you are thinking that you would prefer to give your lucky family members and friends something more tangible that they can unwrap and keep, why not consider a gift that also supports the herculean efforts of a nonprofit organization and  bolsters the livelihood of an artist.  For example, you can help ArtPride NJ raise $10,000 to support the Arts in our state by bidding (before December 11, 2009) on almost 70 items of memorabilia, travel packages, and tickets to cultural events at their online auction.

I have found some of the most unique, one-of-a-kind gifts at museum stores and holiday art sales.  This weekend there are some fabulous events at some of the greatest art centers in our state.  Be sure to check these out:

On December 5^th and 6^th you can catch Millville’s WheatonArts holiday happening which features some excellent discounts.  Make a day of it and watch artist Deborah Czeresko and her team create an amazing large-scale blown-glass snowman and other holiday related pieces.  According to Dodge Foundation President and CEO David Grant, who witnessed this artistic feat several weekends ago, it is something you won’t want to miss.

Princeton’s D & R Greenway has a history of bringing the arts and environment together, and Sunday December 6^th their Winter Green: Gifts of Nature holiday sale will showcase watercolor calendars featuring creatures of the wild, jewelry and wearable art, ceramic works, photography note cards, and mosaics and tiles.   35% of the proceeds support D&R Greenway’s preservation and stewardship efforts.

December 3-6 you can visit the GlassRoots studio in Newark for demonstrations, studio tours and holiday shopping.  GlassRoots is also participating in a range of other holiday sales events at New Jersey Performing Arts Center and PSE&G.  A purchase of these beautiful glassworks made by Newark youth makes it possible for young people to learn a distinctive craft and develop entrepreneurial skills.

Museum shops have become one of my favorite shopping haunts.  In fact, this past spring I made lots of graduating teens happy with unique gifts made from recycled materials from the Newark Museum Shop.    Morris Museum kicks off their holiday sale and special events this weekend and you can use a special 10% off coupon for Montclair Museum’s Holiday Sale on December 3-6.  If you are in Oceanville, NJ be sure to stop in at Noyes Museum.  The Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions at Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick is offering fabulous art at “ridiculously low prices” at their holiday blowout on December 14 and 15^th.

These ideas represent only the tip of the iceberg of possible gift ideas that will please the most finicky people on your list and make for a more socially responsible holiday season.  So, help us out, and please share your ideas  for supporting nonprofits while tackling that holiday list.

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