Contributors

This blog is in memory of your friend, my Father.
Please feel free to send me your memories, anecdotes, pictures and eulogies for posting.
Remember, you are Voices Of Change. Voice the changes you want to see and it shall be.
Thank you.
In Loving Memory, Stephen


Please support Robert McDowell's KickStarter campaign to produce a DVD documentary--conversations with George Hitchcock, legendary poet, editor of Kayak, painter, sculptor, actor, director, playwright, mentor/teacher, Emeritus Professor at UC Santa Cruz, novelist and extraordinary raconteur. George was one-of-a-kind. He lived life large, and his story is amazing. Please go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1869534146/george-hitchcocks-one-man-boat-a-film-biography and give what you can.


"I gladly acknowledge a considerable debt to George Hitchcock and Kayak. He dealt with me kindly and generously, and I had the pleasure of his company several times. I even gave a reading with him, once -- in, I think, Lexington, Kentucky. George read first, and I read second. It was impossible. George read his poems from loose sheets and threw them over his shoulder as he finished with them. By the time he was done, the show was over. To follow him, I needed to be a talking dog." ~ Wendell Berry

EUGENE MEMORIAL: Oct. 3, 2010

 by Jeff Baker, Oregonian; Wednesday, October 06, 2010, 2:05 PM

George Hitchcock, the influential writer and editor, is remembered at a memorial service in Eugene

George Hitchcock led a long, productive, distinctly Oregon life. His death Aug. 27 was remembered around the country, and some of his friends gathered in Eugene Oct. 3 to remember him. Joseph Bednarik, who works at Copper Canyon Press and contributes to The Oregonian's book section, sent this report:


    A memorial reading for George Hitchcock took place on Sunday, October 3, at Tsunami Books in Eugene. Hitchcock’s bright oil-crayon paintings hung throughout the store, and his many books were displayed, including "One-Man Boat: The George Hitchcock Reader."

    Hitchcock was born in Hood River in 1914, died in Eugene on August 27.  He was 96. Hitchcock received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oregon Book Awards in 2003.

    Hitchcock was best known for his literary magazine kayak, which from 1964 through 1984, launched the careers of a generation of poets. As Hitchcock’s obituary in the New York Times stated, “It made an immediate impact. Mr. Hitchcock had a strong personality, visual flair and a keen eye for writing talent.”

    Poets and friends who read Hitchcock’s work at Tsunami Books included Clemens Starck, Cecelia Hagen, Hitchcock’s publisher Robert McDowell, Erik Muller, and Northwest Review editor emeritus John Witte.

    Hitchcock’s longtime partner, Marjorie Simon, read two poems that Hitchcock composed at age 95 during a six-minute writing prompt.

    McDowell noted that the event was “one of celebration, not saddness” and that Hitchcock had lived many rich and accomplished lives. “He was a journalist, labor organizer, playwright, poet, editor, teacher, novelist, painter, and sculptor. He lived the richest, most creative life of any person I’ve ever known.”

    After a short break for food and wine, store owner Scott Landfield played a recording of Hitchcock reading his poem “Solitaire,” which concludes:

    So I said goodbye to the foxtrot
    And to badminton in the park
    I shuffle the deck and deal out
    Snowflakes in the dark

    Eugene writer Kit Siebert ignited laughter by presenting highlights from Hitchcock’s brave and infamous testimony before the Un-American Activities Committee. Jerry Gatchell did a stirring presentation of the poem “In This Third Year of a Useless War.”

    The evening concluded with Eugene poet Robert Hill Long reading the  elegy “In Heaven,” which he wrote for George Hitchcock.