BSR Show of the Week: Writer’s BlockCast

Every week of programming we will be highlighting the Black Squirrel Radio Show of the Week

This week’s show is Writer’s BlockCast

Writer’s BlockCast is a very special program on BSR. Not only is it a literary-themed show but it’s also a collaboration with several student leaders from Luna Negra, Brainchild, and the Wick Poetry Center! Our hosts Carrie George, Cameron Gorman, and Nina Palattella spend each week discussing various themes on writing while frequently having in guests. Tune in every Tuesday from 2-4pm for Writer’s BlockCast!

Describe your show:
Carrie: Writer’s BlockCast is a show by writers, for writers. We talk about all things writing and feature guests doing great things in the writing community.
Cameron: All things writing! We talk about the writing life, the writing process and the writing community.
Nina: Three writers, with occasional guests, talking about writing, reading, literary magazines, and everything peripherally related to writing as well.

How did you come up with your show concept:
Carrie: This is a concept that many people have been working toward for quite some time now. Nina, Cameron and I took those ideas and finally brought the show to life.
Cameron: It was in the works for a while as a collaboration between BSR and some of the campus lit mags. We finally launched it in the fall 2018 semester!
Nina: It had been floated between multiple people in a group chat for a long time, so Carrie, Cameron, and I decided to buckle down and make it a reality.

What do you do in your free time:
Carrie: In the very little free time I have, I like to write poetry, watch Netflix, and play Pokemon Go.
Cameron: I read, write poetry, draw, walk and listen to podcasts.
Nina: Read, write, listen to music, work on my thesis, watch Peaky Blinders, sleep

Who are some of your favorite bands/artists:
Carrie: I love The Mountain Goats, Bad Bad Hats, and Upstate.
Cameron: Talking Heads! Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, JR JR.
Nina: 9TAILS/sewerperson, guccihighwaters, nothing,nowhere., Fall Out Boy

What are some of your favorite movies:
Carrie: Heathers is the best movie of all time.
Cameron: This is a tough one. I don’t know that I have a favorite movie. I like all kinds.
Nina: Dunkirk, Free Fall; the best movie I watched recently was probably the Netflix Fyre Festival documentary if I’m being perfectly honest

What was your favorite show moment:
Carrie: Fall semester, we had Michael McKee Green on our show. He was the winner of the Wick Poetry Center’s first book prize. He read some excerpts from his book on our show, and one of those excerpts required a second reader to read one column of text while he read another column simultaneously. The result was two voices–Michael’s and Cameron’s–reading two different parts of one poem at the same time. It was very cool.
Cameron: When we interviewed Michael McKee Green, the winner of the 2017 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize!
Nina: Interviewing Michael McKee Green

What is your favorite thing about BSR:
Carrie: I love that BSR supports all kinds of arts and media. Radio feels like a beast that can only be accessible to music lovers, but BSR supports writers, artists, and pretty much everyone and everything else.
Cameron: I love being able to hear the voices of others.
Nina: It’s a platform for all kinds of interesting topics and people!

Who are your favorite writers:
Carrie: My favorite writers are Mahogany L. Browne and Lynn Melnick.
Cameron: Joyce Carol Oates, David Foster Wallace, Sharon Olds. Just a few!
Nina: Chad Harbach, Gillian Flynn, John Updike

Any advice for those with writer’s block:
Carrie: A high school teacher of mine used to tell me that writer’s block isn’t real. I don’t know if I agree with him, but I agree with his advice: Just start writing. You can edit bad writing, but you can’t edit no writing at all.
Cameron: Haha. A good question for us. Take a walk! Moving your body helps to move your mind.
Nina: You can always edit a page of writing, no matter how poor; you cannot edit a blank page. (I need to take my own advice much more often).

If you could have any writer living or dead on the program who would you want and why:
Carrie: I would love to have Seema Reza on our show. I admire her as a poet, but I especially admire the work she is doing in the community, using poetry to help Veterans heal.
Cameron: I think I’d like to have Edgar Allen Poe on so we could ask him how he died.
Nina:  I have two answers: Maya Angelou, because I’ve watched interviews with her and she seems like such a dynamic and inspiring woman and author, or JD Salinger, because we would be not just the only college radio show to interview him but also some of the only people to talk to him at length ever.

Tune into Your Writer’s BlockCast every Tuesday from 2-4pm!