Announcing The Glen Workshop
"Bringing Home the Work: The Artist and the Community"
August 3-10, 2003
Image's annual Glen Workshop is an innovative and enriching program combining the best elements of a workshop, an arts festival, and a conference. Add to this the intimate setting at St. John's College and the rich cultural, spiritual, and natural resources of northern New Mexico and the result is an unforgettable experience. This year's theme-"Bringing Home the Work: The Artist and the Community"-will provide a focal point for reflection over the course of the week. Daily classes will be taught by nationally known authors and artists, and will be small enough to allow the faculty to give close attention to each participant-to beginners as well as those advanced in their craft. The Glen also offers a retreat option for those who wish to join us for meals, readings, and worship, but prefer to spend mornings working, exploring the area, or in contemplation, instead of attending a workshop. Each participant selects either a workshop or the retreat option. Workshops are held concurrently each morning. Afternoons and evenings feature readings, lectures, and concerts. Each day will conclude with a worship service incorporating the arts. Free time (including a full free day) will offer all participants opportunities for conversation, hiking, visiting the many museums and sights in and around Santa Fe, and exploring the stunning scenery around the St. John's campus. Here in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, you will encounter a stimulating and inspiring environment saturated with the spirituality of Hispanic and Native American cultures.

In current issues of ImageUpdate we are presenting short features on individual workshops/faculty and other aspects of the Glen - stay tuned!

NOTE: Please be aware that certain workshops will fill rather quickly. We're not just using marketing language when we urge you to register early!!!

For more information, workshop descriptions, and to register online, visit the Glen page on the Image website.

Surely as Birds Fly
H.L Hix
H.L. Hix has been lauded for his previous books Perfect Hell and Rational Numbers; and the praise is unlikely to end soon for this T.S. Eliot Award winner. Hix's new book Surely as Birds Fly is composed of three sections. The first, "A Study of Thermodynamics," is a narrative dirge for every part of the body. The stories in these poems are often shockingly carnal, at times brutally violent. The second section, "Thistle, Clover, Rape" finds Hix stretching his lines. This central section allows the reader some breathing room, through distance, in both form and content. Hix won't let the distance created release his speakers from the frightening reality they exist in, "Suffering passes from hand to hand and kiss to kiss," he remarks in "Riga." The final section, one long poem, is titled "A Manual for Happiness." In this concluding piece, Hix's vision amalgamates into unlikely revelations. In the terror of the book's earlier stages, redemption seemed nearly impossible. In the rare moments God might have previously entered, He could be located only in his absence. In "A Manual for Happiness," however, God and heaven are found intact and present, in the often painful present of Surely as Birds Fly. Hix has conjured amazing grace in his third book. These poems forgive, just as they refuse to forget.

Visit the publisher's website for more.

Arvo Pärt
Classical composer Arvo Pärt, featured in Image #2, is back in the spotlight. Though Pärt's popularity has steadily increased ever since his 1976 work, Tabula Rasa, the recent release of new material (Orient and Occident, ECM 2002) and a feature in The New Yorker have served to enhance the general public's awareness of his wondrous and haunting music. Born in 1935 in Estonia, Pärt grew up playing a piano that was missing a middle register and was thus confined to creation at the extremes of both high and low. After studying music at Estonia's national conservatory, he worked his way through a vast array of forms until, in 1976, settling into an understated style-now called tintinnabuli, from the Latin word for bell. Inspired by the polyphonic composers of the Renaissance, tintinnabuli "involves the interweaving of two voices, one of which moves by melodic steps while the other rotates through the pitches of a major or minor chord" (Alex Ross, The New Yorker). Subsequent works-Arbos, Miserere, Te Deum, Litany, I Am the True Vine-continued using this signature style and were imbued with a deep sense of Pärt's Russian Orthodox faith. Critics have often categorized him as a minimalist, a term he understands but dislikes, yet in recent times (Kanon Pokajanen, 1998, and his latest release, Orient & Occident, 2002) a shifting towards expansive, more luxurious instrumentation is apparent. When Alex Ross, interviewing him for The New Yorker, mentioned this in regards to Orient & Occident, Pärt smiled and said, "Yes, I got a little crazy, didn't I?"

Try this site for a comprehensive look at Arvo Pärt and his music.

Free Bird
Greg Garrett
When you name your first novel after the most well-known song of one of the most road-bound rock and roll groups in history, you've got some big shoes to fill. In Free Bird, Greg Garrett has set his character on a course of epic travels. Clay Forester travels from wealth, family and the esteem of his colleagues to despair, poverty, and loneliness. He is also compelled to travel across the country. This journey is both physical and psychological for the character as his road trip from North Carolina to New Mexico requires him to leave the crumbled life he's known in search of a more whole picture of the father he never knew. Forester's travels are populated by copious adventures with the unlikely characters that abound on American highways. Garrett's love for music also shines through in this novel. Countless anecdotes and memories are brought on by song. Garrett has crafted an essentially American tale about loss, second chances, family, and the road.

More from the publishers...

Re:generation Quarterly Forums
Re:generation Quarterly is a thoughtful magazine founded in 1995 by a group of former InterVarsity types from Harvard. So you know they're smart and intense and a little bit obsessive about thinking through things like the social and cultural implications of Herodotus, Beck, tooth whiteners, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Serious people. And used to the public intellectual square. The Harvard/IV background comes through in the magazine, which deals substantively with current events as well as timeless questions, social justice, movies, local activism, game theory, sculpture, whatever. And RQ lives out its community-oriented ideals by sponsoring projects that create connections among its readers.

One such project is the RQ Forums, discussion groups of diverse, smart, interesting young people who meet in living rooms and coffee shops around the country to discuss topics related to Christianity and contemporary culture-including books, movies, and current events-all springboarding from the pages of RQ. Recent Forum topics include class conflict, 9/11, sexuality, evangelism, as well as a slew of local issues. The magazine is oriented toward young Christians, but all ages and perspectives are emphatically welcome. Visit the RQ site to look for a forum near you.

As well as the RQ Forums, the same organization also runs an annual retreat for young Christian leaders, the Vine. See their official website for more.

Share ImageUpdate with a friend (or two)
Know someone who might enjoy receiving our newsletters as much as you do? Forward your copy and let them decide if they would like to subscribe.

Image Study Guide
We are delighted to introduce a new feature to our website: The Image Study Guide. Perfect for use in high school and college classrooms, or for a reading or discussion group, this guide allows users to take a deeper look at the material in Image. The guide is based on material found in five recent issues of the journal. The guide has three main gateway pages: by issue, by genre (or art form), and by theme. The five themes are: The Artist as Prophet, The Body, Christian Humanism, The Individual & the Church, and Suffering & Grace. The genres covered are fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and visual art. Each page of the study guide contains questions for discussion, activities, and resources for further study (including books and websites). One of the issues covered in the guide is our special issue on the tragedies of 9/11. Discounts are available for bulk orders of Image. We happen to think that the guide will also be enriching for individuals who simply want to stop and reflect on some of the outstanding art and writing that we've been honored to publish. Have a look and expand your mind.

Go to the introductory page of The Image Study Guide.

You can order back issues, in bulk or just one at a time.