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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2007 PAGE 3 Chatting with Whiting Writers' Award winner and UWG professor Paul (iuest By Danielle Davidson Stuff Writer ddavidsl @ west go .edu Paul Guest, a visiting professor at the University of West Georgia, recently received the Whiting Writers’ Award for his work in poetry. His two books, “The Resurrection of the Body and the Ruin of the World” and “Notes for My Body Double,” won the 2002 New Issues Poetry Prize and the 2006 Prairie Schooner Book Prize, respectively. Guest joined the UWG faculty last semester, and the West Georgian had a few questions for this nationally recognized professor. UWG's 'A Taste of Opera' leaves pleasant after? By Ellis Smith News Editor ellisthered@gmail.com The University of West Georgia has the most active and prestigious student opera program in the University System of Geoigia, “Much more than the University of Georgia,” according to Dr. Larry Frazier,director of music, stage, and opera workshop at UWG. The Opera Workshop puts on performances for students at UWG and the surrounding community throughout each semester. A highlight for opera lovers is called “A Taste of Opera,” which was held at the Maple Street Mansion last Tuesday. Frazier, who presided as narrator, master of ceremonies, and accompanist for his talented students, summed it up this way: “You get a chance to taste some great food and also enjoy a taste of opera. The whole idea is to take opera away Iran the concert hall - where sometimes it may seem intimidating -and bring it into the kind of atmosphere where people are eating and drinking and having a good time. It’s a tfeieran from page 1 Kentucky, June of ’67. Our division deployed to Vietnam in December of ’67 and I stayed there up until I was wounded on May first of ’68.1 went to the hospital in Okinawa after being in a Vietnamese hospital, and then got transferred to America. I stayed in the hospital for about five months and then they discharged me. Q: What type of injury did you sustain? A: Multiple shrapnel wounds in both legs from an Rocket Propelled Grenade. Q: Can you tell us the story? A: There were eight people in our squad, right around the time of the Tet Offensive. On April 28, we were told we were being sent back to our base camp for some R&R for a few days. As soon as we choppered in, all the officers and NCOs went into a meeting. When they came out, they said, “Ok Q: You recently received the 2007 Whiting Writers’ Award. How does that affect you and your career as a poet? A: It’s a big deal. I was well aware of it previously. When I got the call, I knew someone who had won once, so it’s a big deal. I know don’t how to make of it. but it’s just a really big deal. Q: How did you come down this path of poet and professor? A: I started off first as a poet, and 1 started writing when I was 17. I knew that was what 1 was meant to be, like sometimes you just fall into something you’re meant to be. As for _ipri_ - I gfl m ■ w p^hhi r 2*45* IE. flag a f liMB J9T JUhLJmMm I \ JB BvH inßr hKS 3m H * V| ok B I jk TW W SP JX m Mi ■ wn EBBr " t 1 IW-.:, Photo hy Kim Hahn perfect place for opera.” Theworkshopperformers presented pieces by Verdi, Beethoven, Mozart, Strauss, and Lehar. Frazier said of the composers he chose, “I was trying to chcxrse pieces that would involve every one of the singers. And that’s a challenge since the singers have varying levels of ability. Some are beginners, and others are grad students. So I try to find works that involve everybody. After 1 finished, guys, start drawing all the grenades, guns, and ammo you can carry. We’re goanna go out in about two hours. We went out, we went into the village, which was about a seven-minute flight, and there was a battalion of the NVA in the village. Within the next two days, Gomez, Lutz, and Daley were killed, Whites, Allen and I were wounded. Only two guys made it out. We took a lot of casualties. Those were the NVA, not the Viet Cong. The battle lasted about three days. Q: Where did this take place? A: It was right outside of our base camp, “LZ Sally”, located northeast of the ancient city of Hue. Our Company had just been given orders to make a combat air assault into the village of Phuoc Yen, located along the Song Bo River, which was only about a seven-minute flight. The village was occupied by elements of the Bth Battalion, 90th Regiment of the North Vietnamese Army. teaching, 1 know it’s kind of cliche, but I love it and enjoy it,and I can’t imagine doing anything different. Q: Asa visiting professor, what are your thoughts on UWG? A: I’m really happy, I love it here. Q: What made you decide to come here? A: I’d given a reading so 1 knew some people who taught here, so it seemed like a natural lit. I was on the job market. It just tit. I’m really happy here and I really like it; I hope to stay here for a while. Q: I’m sure we’ll want to have you as long as 1 discovered that there Is a Viennese connection between every composer.” The meal, provided by S&R Catering, included fruit, pork, roast beef, cheeses and vegetables, spinach dip with chips, and a full bar. The room provided by the Maple Street Mansion was cavernous, fitting more than 100 people inside easily, with room for 100 more. The high ceilings made for stunning acoustics, which enabled attendees to Q: What are some specific memories from that day? A: I have a photo that shows me and members of my squad as we were preparing to board our helicopter, a Huey D model, with its name painted across the nose, “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.” With me in the photo are Sgt. Gomez, SP/4 Lutz, SP/4 Daley, SP/4 Whitesell, SP/4 Cole, SP/4 Allen Tingwald (my best friend), and SP/4 Purvis. Within the next two days Sgt. Gomez, SP/4 Lutz and SP/4 Daley were killed. SP/4 Whitesell was hit by four AK-47 rounds piercing his left shoulder and left lung. When he was hit, we were all hugging the ground as automatic weapons fire was coming about a foot or two over our heads. Sgt. Gomez was behind me a few feet and shouting, “How many down?!! How many down?!!” I hollered back at him, “Two down! Two down! Two K’s (dead)!” Lutz was dead and I thought Whitesell was too. He hollered, “I’m not dead. possible. Do you have any words of advice for prospective poets? A: For poets— read a lot, write a lot, and don’t worry about being bad because you’ll never be good without being bad first. A lot of my students are scared of being bad and I say, “No, everybody’s bad at first; in fact. I probably still am.” (laughs) But if your heart is in it, and that’s what you want to do, just don’t give up. Q: And, finally, what’s the one thing you want to say to the university? A: What a question. Thank you. They’ve been very good to me and I’m so happy to be here. hear each singer individually, even during pieces that featured several performers singing at once. Talented voices filled the room and full bellies were happily sated by the combination of beautiful music and exquisite narration by Frazier. Between each piece, he told stories, shared jokes, and generally put the audience in the nxxxl to enjoy another taste of opera. Because each oix-ra is a damn it!” 1 then shouted, “Doc up front!” Ed Barbour, our medic, crawled up to Whitesell and had to do a tracheotomy while lying flat on the ground. Two of our Huey gunships on station came in low over us and fired rockets into the North Vietnamese positions giving us cover and time to pull back. SP/4 Daley was killed on May 1. I was also wounded on May 1. After 1 was medevaced out, Allen was hit by grenade fragments in the back. Within two days, out of our eight-man squad, three were dead and three wounded, leaving only two combat-ready. This past January, Allen died from Agent Orange cancer. Cole is still around and goes to all of our reunions. I don’t know what ever happened to Ronald Purvis. He was from San Francisco. Now that I’m retiring, I plan on devoting my time in trying to locate him. I hope he’s still alive. Q: How do you keep up with the men that you served with? Tl II WI M < ,1 < tfd ,1 \ # Visiting UWG professor Pan! Gue -t >.v the Whiting Writers’ Award for his complete story , it helps when performing only a snippet from an entire performance to fill the audience in on the story, emotions, and characters they are about to experience. Frazier did so with gust* >, Debbie By nJ. a graduate student at UWG and the most senior performer in the opera ensemble, has been with the program for a long time. She appreciates the opportunity to test her skills in front of a live audience, and she is cmietul A: We have an organization. it’s the 101 st Airborne Division Vietnam Veterans Organization, we just had our last reunion in Charlestown, S.C., where we were guests of the Citadel there. Every other year, we have reunions at Ft. Campbell. Q: What did you do alter the Army? What made you want to return to UWG? A: After I got out of the hospital, I was discharged. There were a lot of jobs, this that and the other. 1 thought I’d come back to my Alma Mater. I have a B.A. Degree from West Georgia. 1 came back to the campus and it changed considerably. I came in as a freshman, and there were only about 800 students, back in the mid ‘6os. Nothing existed behind back campus drive. A lot of construction had begun about that time. Q: What do you remember from your days as a student at UWG? When did you decide you wanted to join the Airborne? to I ra/iei f> ■ chance to l> worksh< ip. “It’sa>■ 1 M r. •■,.!>, t., perform atv l it . |a , it’- Byrd said I at > )rieni; , !t' 1 • = • ■ 1 everyone to i 'in. l on- of the ones who • tin : tip. id I’ve been i ever since While-then ■i ■ (tying levels i>t ! ; !i i 1 • | O'-m e evident itt !l) ivtiomten i ■■■■<'. and the audiet appreciation v- rtfi repotted sustained apnlnu' Numotot! I \\ <l l !• ult>. & stall vet in a" dr as well as -veta! tudt nt ti> show theit np| v■ i ill,, t■. st student op'ia pp'"ntu in the state Students intere ted in opera hoe I t •! >n-K let Ilic Atlanta f )p < it the C’obb I nen", * 1 for the Perfonnin!' Nit '.inch is cut rent ly perf orm !! ■ & Gretel !h (X'llonnance features the o.nimota <;ij. tal- oits ot tlie Jim I len >a < '< -tupanv and is condu'; I fv. the -.<aid famous >t>d I i.’vi fonner music direct' ■< ■' tit vtlanta Symphotn t >ti I’ tc A: As lai a my la\ lice, back then it v.a a inane! of just studying. ! onmuiied. I’ve lived in 'levvnan all my life, and I irpmtled. several of us v mild carpool back in th : It \ as just a matin of minim: over here and (oming to class, sometimes ,tay me in the library to study fot a c< mple of hours lhe library bad then was in Stanford Hall, the Ingram l.ibrarv didn't exist at all So where the President < '"■■■ then was the library We didn’t have parking p< nnits, we just found a -pa and parked. It was gret a different world We had a good time, but in 1965 in S pt ;mber, the Ist ( ah n > 1)i ision was deployed to Vietnam that was the first large division to be deployed to Vietnam. Of course, at the time, we were on the quarter system, and it was I -'all quaitci. tn. flies went i battle in the la Drang Valley, and they had a heck of a fight there for about three days, lost a lot of people. see Veteran ,