On Sunday, March 11th at 2 p.m., author/educator David Martin will make a presentation based on his newest collection of essays and poems entitled Facing the Blank Page. Martin is the creator and editor of Fine Lines, a literary journal he began in 1992 with a mission to, as he puts it, “provide a beacon of hope for the misunderstood, share a global vision of improved literacy, embrace the passion of human diversity, understand the need for clarity in all communication, and create the lives we desire through the written word.” Surely a set of sentiments Neihardt would have readily shared. The literary journal is a nonprofit, nationally read quarterly publication highlighting the work of writers and artists and photographers of all ages and interests.
The endeavor began in 1990 when Martin was teaching an English class to “at-risk” inner-city high school students. His most difficult task, he thought, was how to teach them to write essays, read literature, and learn poetry. Using The Song of Hugh Glass from Neihardt’s A Cycle of the West, he brought out the themes of “defeat and victory, rejection and acceptance, revenge, and forgiveness.” The students responded and began to enjoy writing, leading to a class newsletter, and later to a chapbook style magazine, and on to this larger publication. As Martin shared, “What began as a classroom motivator to encourage marginal students has become a publication used today in all grade levels in schools across Nebraska and beyond.” The Neihardt Site library subscribes to Fine Lines.
