Loose Leaf Notes

Many of the best moments in my life have happened spontaneously. Last weekend at Floyd Fest was no different.
Julie Hauserman, a Florida-based journalist and radio personality (pictured here), happened to be camping across the path from the Floyd Fest Poet Tree, a volunteer soap box stage for spoken word readings, located under an apple tree, and staffed by members of the Floyd Writers’ Circle, in particular, my friend Mara. When Julie wandered over early in the weekend and introduced herself, Mara asked if she might be inclined to do a reading at some point. But Julie wasn’t interested. She was on vacation, there to enjoy the music scene.
I fulfilled my volunteer hours in exchange for weekend tickets via my essay that was printed in the Floyd Fest program and by giving a poetry reading on Saturday. On Sunday, the last day of the festival, the reader’s line-up was slim because one of the scheduled readers had to cancel. I arranged to check in with Mara at 3:00 to see if she needed any help. It was then that I met Julie, who was sitting on stage talking to Mara, and Mara’s Poet Tree assistant, Leah.
What ensued for the next 45 minutes could only be described as an impromptu workshop, as Julie shared her life as a writer, gave us pointers, and answered our questions. It couldn’t have been a more perfect line-up. Julie is a regular essayist on NPR’s Weekend Edition. I’ve been reading my essays on our regional NPR radio station, and Mara wants to break into this medium.
You know how when you tune into a TV show that you barely ever watch and they’re airing a re-run of the one and only episode you’ve already seen?
“Did you do an essay recently about making a baked Alaska?” I asked Julie about 15 minutes into the group conversation. It might have been the first time I had heard a Weekend Edition essay.
“Yes!” she beamed. It was her.
My husband heard the essay first and played it for me from the NPR website. Always my cheerleader, he said, “Listen to this. She does what you do. Maybe it’s time you should submit your essays nationally.”
Julie is also an environmental activist and writer. By the time she was sharing her involvement with the Red Hills Writer Project, a poet named Brittnie, drawn by our dynamic conversation, wandered over and joined in.
The Red Hills Writers Project is a group of writers who produced the anthology “Between Two Rivers.” The book is a grassroots effort featuring a collection of essays about place, in this case the Aucilla River and the Apalachicola River, which define the Red Hills and Gulf coast regions of northern Florida.
With Julie describing the ins and outs of how the group enlisted well known writers (such as Wendell Berry), how they drew in local voices, did fundraising, and marketing, it wasn’t long before Mara and I were fantasizing about our own Writers Project for building an allegiance to our area.
Whether or not our fantasies will manifest, I enjoyed being inspired by the possibilities, and meeting Julie, a working writer, willing to share her writer’s journey.

Post note: Scroll down for more Floyd Fest photos.