Tuesday, April 8th (7:00PM)

COLLEGE MARKET

Host: Jeff Pearson
Readers: Carlen Donovan, Erin Gray, Karen Homstad, Joan Juskie, Joshua Mayes, Eli McCormick, and Jeff Pearson

Carlen Donovan lives and works in Pocatello.

Erin Gray: After working in a bookstore in Kirkland Washington and receiving fleeting recognition in Seattle's coffeehouse scene Erin retreated to his ancestral farm in Kuna, Idaho and spent almost two years reading & writing in isolation when not working in the most corrupt industry imaginable, horse racing. Eventually, isolation sucks. Erin came back to Pocatello so he could hang out with true friends, finish his education, and get a cushy trophy job @ KISU. In the summer of 2005 he wrote, produced, directed, and edited his own Noir radio drama, Record City Killers, for almost two years with a cadre of talented writers. If you heard it, you know.

Karen Homstad: After 8 years working as a waitress and bartender, Karen Homstad turned 30. She took a good look at her female colleagues in the industry no longer in their 20s. Their sweat suits, chain-smoking, and overly made, worn out faces troubled her. So she said goodbye to mad cash tips and free booze on shift. The decision was bittersweet. She currently works as a headhunter in the biotech market where—if a potential candidate is difficult—she relies on her previous skill set: pretending they are drunk and don't know any better.

Joan Juskie started writing poetry when she was twelve years old, eventually got really serious about it and went for an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, Poetry at Eastern Washington University. Her poetry has been published in a number of literary magazines and a few anthologies around the country and in Idaho, including Black Rock & Sage, Ethos, Redneck Review of Literature, cold-drill, the white clouds revue, Idaho's Poetry: a Centennial Anthology, Loonfeather, Calapooya Collage, Dragonfly, Plainsongs, and more. She has had two articles in The Writer magazine. She did a Pocatello Blend chapbook, "Starbook's Librarian Latte" with Kathy Watson from Marshall Public Library for a co-author. She works as a library assistant at Eli M Oboler library at Idaho State University.

Joshua Mayes is a junior majoring in English at ISU. As far as writing experience is concerned he has completed two creative writing classes and is currently participating in a third. He has been published in the literary 'zine Leg Over Leg, and the ISU literary journal Black Rock & Sage. There was also the week he smoked cigarettes with Ron Carlson on the front porch of the Ezra Pound house in Hailey, Idaho. He enjoys reading books from a wide array of writers but lists Ron Carlson, Raymond Chandler, Russell Edson, Denis Johnson, Charles Bukowski, Anton Chekhov, and Stephen King among his favorites.

Eli McCormick graduated from ISU approximately three years ago with a BA in Communications. He sometimes writes poems and is in the process of completing his first novel. He works as a copywriter in Salt Lake City.

Jeff Pearson is a self-realized, celebrity. He publishes a zine entitled legoverleg every other month or so. He is also the editor for the forthcoming magazine Oregon Short Line released by The Walrus and the Carpenter Bookstore. Coke bottled in Mexico is better than American Coke.