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In the past year, MFA candidate Carrie Lorig has published four poetry chapbooks, the latest, Labor Day, her second collaboration with poet Nick Sturm. This explosion of writing owes not a little to funding she received through the O'Rourke Travel Fellowship. "Performance and community are a huge part of my work and practice as a poet," describes Lorig. "O'Rourke + careful planning + the generosity of the poetry community has enabled me to travel all over the country for the past three years, giving readings, seeing other poets reading, and collaborating."I'm 100 times the poet and artist I was when I entered the program," she declares, "in large part because of these experiences."
Michael and Tuny O'Rourke started the O'Rourke Travel Fellowship because, Michael explains, "we have a shared belief that English should be the centerpiece of any educational curriculum, especially in this age of high tech communication." Tuny taught in the Minneapolis public school system. Michael, after receiving his BA and JD from the University of Minnesota, was a member of the adjunct faculty at the U Law School, a state district court judge, and the general counsel of First Bank System (now US Bancorp). Later, he returned to the U to take Creative Writing courses; he is the author of two novels, The Ordeal of Riley McReynolds (2000) and O'Banion's Gift (2003), which was a finalist for the Minnesota Book Award."The 'U' always provided a welcoming environment," O'Rourke acknowledges, "but this was especially so with English and Creative Writing. We were delighted, and in full agreement, when the department suggested that Fellowship funds be used to enable MFA candidates to attend programs that involved travel and provided the students with direct exposure to distinguished scholars and writers in their chosen specialties."
Many students use the funds to attend the annual conference of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs for panels, readings, and networking with agents and publishers. Some enjoy more idiosyncratic pursuits. MFA student Carl Peaslee used his O'Rourke Fellowship funds to travel to New York last fall. "First, I visited a number of schools as a part of my continued reflection on my experience as a member of Teach For America," he reveals. "Second, I visited a professional Magic: The Gathering tournament as part of an interest I've sustained in the unique subculture of competitive trading card players. The experiences from the tournament ended up being invaluable during the writing process for a piece of flash fiction I wrote a few months after my trip." Peaslee's story was later voted the People's Choice Award Winner in the Vita.mn Summer Story Contest.
These are the kind of success stories Michael and Tuny O'Rourke have heard since students first began receiving the award a decade ago. As Michael notes, "We treasure the many thank you notes we receive, which are informative, heartfelt--and, of course, beautifully written."
Besides Labor Day, Lorig's chapbooks include NODS (Magic Helicopter Press, 2013), rootpoems with Russ Woods (Radioactive Moat Press, 2013), and Nancy and the Dutch with Nick Sturm (NAP, 2013). "The O'Rourke," enthuses Lorig, "has changed my life."
