St. Paul – Many Fronts: Poetry and Memorials at the Capitol Mall

Many Fronts: Poetry and Memorials at the Capitol Mall provides participants an opportunity to reflect on the experiences and perspectives of service members, Veterans, and civilians in how we understand the nature of military conflicts, and how the public remembers and interprets the experience of war and service through memorials, monuments, and ekphrastic poetry. The program will include an interactive writing activity and participants will have the opportunity to share their stories and experiences. Facilitators will guide participants through the writing activity and there will be time for group discussion about monuments and memorials on the Minnesota State Capitol Mall.

Participants will meet in the Veterans Service Building and then walk to the Lower Capitol Mall, where most of the program will occur. Most of this event will take place outdoors, weather permitting. In case of inclement weather, the program will be conducted indoors at the Veterans Service Building.

About the Facilitators
Jessi M. Atherton is a mother, healer, Veteran, poet, lover of scrabble and charcuterie. Her writing touches on lived experiences and themes of motherhood, military, mental health, grief, healing, and humanity. Jessi is a Minnesota Humanities Center 2019 Veterans Voices awardee, a member and facilitator of Warrior Writers, a board member of the League of Minnesota Poets, and the Minnesota Assistant Counsel for Veterans. She is a 2023 Pat Tillman Scholar and US Army Veteran who served in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Jessi’s work has been published throughout the years with Nodin Press, The Cuddy Foundation, Iliad Press, McGregor Publishing, the International Library of Poetry, and Middle West Press. Her first full collection, “The Time War Takes,” came out in April 2023 and received honorable mention in Senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole Inaugural Biennial Award for Distinguished Book in Veterans Studies, 2024 and made Community of Literary Magazines and Presses must read for Women’s History Month, 2024. Jessi is the mom to three amazing daughters, a mental health nurse, and recently graduated as a Psychiatric Mental Health nurse practitioner.

Paul Van Dyke holds a BFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University. He is an Army Infantry Veteran of Iraq, and a recipient of the Purple Heart. His work has appeared in journals such as Water-Stone Review, Upstreet, Hippocampus, O-Dark-Thirty, “War, Literature & the Arts,” and Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors. Paul is the founder and lead instructor of Veterans Telling Stories, an arts nonprofit which teaches free creative writing courses to Veterans and their family members.

This event is presented in partnership with Veterans Telling Stories – a Minnesota-based nonprofit dedicated to teaching creative writing to military Veterans and their family members – and Warrior Writers – a national nonprofit whose mission is to create a culture that articulates Veterans’ experiences, build a collaborative community for artistic expression, and bear witness to war and the full range of military experiences.

Registration

This event is free, however registration is required. K-12 educators can receive 2 clock hours for attending.

Registration Questions: registrations@mnhum.org

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