Writing Seminars

How quiet, up here in the bell-tower room in Gilman Hall. Far below, maybe a few sunbathers on the grassy Beach, or bowl, of Johns Hopkins' Homewood campus. Across Charles Street, high in Wolman Hall (once the Cambridge Arms), see those four apartment windows? There, in 1935-1936, F. Scott Fitzgerald lived and wrote. Gilman's tower-room view of downtown is good too, but those who peer out raptly, in other seasons, or who slump around the big table, in three-hour critiques, are writers themselves -- grad students in the university's Writing Seminars.

Dr. Eugene R. Barenburg, a retired optometrist who practiced in downtown Baltimore for many years, died of lung cancer Oct. 4 at Sinai Hospital. The Mount Washington resident was 84. Born in Baltimore and raised in Highlandtown, he was a City College graduate and attended Georgetown University, where his studies were interrupted by his World War II service in the Navy. He attended Villanova University during the war and was stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital. During the war, he met his future wife, the former Janet Lingg, at a USO dance in Philadelphia.

Four decades ago, an 11-year-old girl sat up front during a play at Center Stage. It was an English-language production of Moliere's comedy Tartuffe, and Mary Jo Salter reacted to the proceedings the way other girls her age might to the latest Nancy Drew mystery. "I was in the second row center, and people were speaking in rhyming couplets," says Salter, now 53. "I'd just never had so much fun in my life."

Four decades ago, an 11-year-old girl sat up front during a play at Center Stage. It was an English-language production of Moliere's comedy Tartuffe, and Mary Jo Salter reacted to the proceedings the way other girls her age might to the latest Nancy Drew mystery. "I was in the second row center, and people were speaking in rhyming couplets," says Salter, now 53. "I'd just never had so much fun in my life."

Novelist Robert Stone is leaving a teaching position at Johns Hopkins University to become writer-in-residence at Yale University, the writer said yesterday. He leaves after teaching only two semesters in Hopkins' Writing Seminars.Rumors that the National Book Award-winning novelist had accepted the Yale position had been circulating around the Homewood campus this week. Yesterday, in a telephone interview from his winter home in Key West, Fla., Mr. Stone confirmed he had accepted a position as Rosenkranz Writer-in-Residence at Yale, starting next fall.

Mark Strand, the former U.S. poet laureate who was lured to the Johns Hopkins University faculty four years ago amid much fanfare, is departing for the University of Chicago with a bitter blast at Hopkins, its administration and even Baltimore.On April 1, Strand, 63, will begin teaching literature at Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, an interdisciplinary think tank. He said his salary will be nearly doubled, from $82,000 to $146,000, and Hopkins made no counteroffer."Had Hopkins made some kind of gesture, even for a lower salary, I would have considered it," Strand said yesterday.

Mark Strand, the 1990-1991 American poet laureate and former winner of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," will join the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University as a senior professor of poetry in July 1994.Mr. Strand's appointment was a significant addition to the Writing Seminars, the second-oldest university writing department in the country (it was founded in 1947; the University of Iowa's began in 1939).A professor at the University of Utah since 1981, Mr. Strand, 59, has won numerous awards, including the MacArthur grant in 1987 and the prestigious Bollingen Prize for Poetry this year.

Dr. Eugene R. Barenburg, a retired optometrist who practiced in downtown Baltimore for many years, died of lung cancer Oct. 4 at Sinai Hospital. The Mount Washington resident was 84. Born in Baltimore and raised in Highlandtown, he was a City College graduate and attended Georgetown University, where his studies were interrupted by his World War II service in the Navy. He attended Villanova University during the war and was stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital. During the war, he met his future wife, the former Janet Lingg, at a USO dance in Philadelphia.

Jane Alexander, chairwoman of the National Endowment for the Arts, will appear at the Maryland Arts Day rally for the arts Jan. 26 at St. John's College in Annapolis.The bi-annual arts advocacy day, sponsored by Maryland Citizens for the Arts, promotes increasing public education and recognition for the arts. Maryland Citizens for the Arts is a statewide arts advocacy organization, which has helped increase annual state arts funding from $400,000 in 1977 to its present $7.8 million.This year's program includes a luncheon with state legislators and arts workshops with panel discussions on the role of arts in technology, social services and education.

When students at Dundalk Community College are accepted into one of Dr. Bernadette Low's new writing seminars, they're advised to bring more than books, note pads and pencils when they come to the honors class.What else will they need? A comfortable pair of walking shoes.That's because every week the students will be on foot exploring Canton, Fells Point, Federal Hill and other Baltimore neighborhoods. The excursions, called learning expeditions, are a technique aimed at generating enthusiasm for writing -- as well as helping the students polish their skills.

How quiet, up here in the bell-tower room in Gilman Hall. Far below, maybe a few sunbathers on the grassy Beach, or bowl, of Johns Hopkins' Homewood campus. Across Charles Street, high in Wolman Hall (once the Cambridge Arms), see those four apartment windows? There, in 1935-1936, F. Scott Fitzgerald lived and wrote. Gilman's tower-room view of downtown is good too, but those who peer out raptly, in other seasons, or who slump around the big table, in three-hour critiques, are writers themselves -- grad students in the university's Writing Seminars.

The Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie thinks of Baltimore as "an old woman who's resigned and not very happy, who used to be very beautiful and is aware she no longer is very beautiful and is not very happy about it." Adichie lived here on University Parkway for about a year while she worked on getting her master's degree in creative writing from the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars. She'll be back in the area tonight, reading from her much-acclaimed debut novel Purple Hibiscus at Barnes & Noble, at the Avenue at White Marsh.

The Rev. John A. Mote's life of conscience, compassion and commitment would seem beyond reproach. But a single word -- "poor" -- scrawled on an "other than honorable" Army discharge nearly 56 years ago still echoes in his memory like a false alarm struck only this morning. "Character ... Poor." It's a description probably no one has ever used to describe Mote except the U.S. Army. Mote is 82 now, and the label still stings. He's a Methodist clergyman who only really retired a couple of years ago. He served mostly at impoverished inner-city churches in Baltimore and Washington.

John Barth, the Maryland novelist and dean of post-modern American writers, was honored yesterday with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the private Lannan Foundation.The honor carries one of the largest purses in literary circles -- $100,000. It has been given annually since 1987 by the Santa Fe-based foundation to signal excellence in English-language fiction, poetry and nonfiction.Barth, regarded as a master technician of the language as well as a distinguished storyteller, established himself in the 1960s by breaking out of the bounds set by modern writers such as James Joyce.

Mark Strand, the former U.S. poet laureate who was lured to the Johns Hopkins University faculty four years ago amid much fanfare, is departing for the University of Chicago with a bitter blast at Hopkins, its administration and even Baltimore.On April 1, Strand, 63, will begin teaching literature at Chicago's Committee on Social Thought, an interdisciplinary think tank. He said his salary will be nearly doubled, from $82,000 to $146,000, and Hopkins made no counteroffer."Had Hopkins made some kind of gesture, even for a lower salary, I would have considered it," Strand said yesterday.

Russell Baker's name has been invoked at least once to defend programs such as the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater. If writing majors can produce writers like Baker, the argument goes, they must be doing something right.One small problem: Baker didn't actually attend the Writing Seminars. Do the math. He graduated with a B.A. in English literature in 1947, and has been invited back this week to speak as part of the program's sedate 50th anniversary celebration.

Kurt Vonnegut was in a mood to talk about writing yesterday. That was a good thing, since seated around him were about 30 students in the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars -- and nearly all could not find a single question to ask one of America's esteemed men of letters.There was a time, maybe 20 years ago, when college students would have peppered him with questions about the writing of his classic novel "Slaughter-House Five," about his mordant short-story collection "Welcome to the Monkey House," about his satirical style or his observations on America's cultural decline.

London -- "You can't drink wine with crabs?" asks Julian Barnes.No."Really?" says the acclaimed English novelist.Absolutely. In Baltimore, you order wine with crabs, and waitresses start looking at you like you're from Washington. Crabs. Beer. End of discussion.Mr. Barnes absorbs the advice with a sigh and a smile as he makes final preparations for his trip to Baltimore, where he will spend the fall semester as an instructor at the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars. In the next three months, the author with a global reach and reputation will supervise two classes of writers, start on a book set in England, live in a West University Parkway apartment, and sample the pleasures of a brawny city with its own literary niche.

Tobacco BanIn a letter Aug. 22, Arthur Laupus cited the number of people who would lose income, if tobacco were banned for sale. . . Mr. Laupus may not be aware that the Philip Morris Co. has interests in many products other than tobacco. This knowledge may ease his financial concerns.Sol DanoffBaltimoreSweeping ClaimsWith due respect to Diane Scharper who is a talented poet, there are a number of misconceptions in her July 23 article about the current poetry scene in Baltimore.She conflates "performance poetry" with the poetry that is written and read in Baltimore in the current resurgence, when, in fact, performance poets have always been a distinct minority in Baltimore's poetry-reading circles.