Bill Vartnaw's Blog

• David Bromige 1933-2009

  June 17, 2009

  •  I first met David in January of 1972.  I had graduated from Davis the preceding June and had moved back to Sonoma County sometime in November, after failing to enjoy a Tahoe autumn where the temperature hit 26 below.  The only thing that was holding me together, if I was indeed whole, was my writing; but I needed an outlet, so I went to Sonoma State to see if there was a place I could read my ...
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• Petaluma Poetry Walk 10-Year Anthology

  April 23, 2009

  • The idea for the Petaluma Poetry Walk came about when Geri Digiorno, the Sonoma County Poet Laureate from 2006-2008, was having lunch out in Petaluma (California) with Judy Stedman in the '90s.  They got into a conversation with a couple from California, Pennsylvania who told them about a poetry walk in their town.  Geri thought Petaluma would be perfect for a walk.  "Everyone said, 'Why ...
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• carol lee sanchez (message bringer woman)

  March 20, 2009

  • I first met Carol Lee Sanchez in 1973.  She was running the Coffee Gallery Open Reading in North Beach in San Francisco, living with the poet, Paul Vane, and raising two of her three children.  The Coffee Gallery was home to Jack Micheline, A. D. Winans, Ruth Weiss, Eugene Ruggles and H. D. Moe among a host of others, who read there almost every Wednesday night.  Bob Kaufman, at this time, was ...
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