David Torneo And Adrian Matejka
Just a quick tip today.
Make sure to catch Dave Torneo’s interview with Indiana University faculty poet Adrian Matejka. today at noon on WFIU’s Profiles. Matejka teaches the metric arts in IU’s Creative Writing Program. His book, The Big Smoke, is a smash in the poetry publishing world. Matejka was a 2014 Pulitzer Prize finalist as well as a 2013 National Book Award finalist for the collection.
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A side note about Torneo — he’s the last of a breed. Should you ever run into him at a coffeehouse or any other place where he can sit and he has a writing surface before him, he’ll likely as not be writing a letter. Put that in perspective: when’s the last time you wrote an actual letter? On paper? With a pen?
Torneo (l) & Matejka
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Anyway, I’ll put up the link to the Torneo/Matejka podcast as soon as it become available.
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Indeed David Toreno is one of a kind. Many don’t know, that Dave was a standout varsity basketball player in the 70’s at La Habra High School in Orange County, CA — playing for the Late Great Tex Wallace. He was also the true shadow and sidekick of the ledgend – Doug Foreman. How many people do we know that grew up in the sunshine of Orange County – studied onthe beaches of Santa Barbara with the temptation of all those golden tanned co-eds, and then left it all for a stint in New York followed up by his settling in Bloomington, Indiana. WOW!!! Dave really is a contrarian unlike his high school mates that aspired for money, fame and a life on Newport Beach.
Thank you Dave – you are a national treasure and we wish you continued good health and good wealth in life!
– Don Loper