Haiku Society of America

HSA ELECTIONS

Electronic Voting-November 5, 2013


Dear HSA Member


This year, not only to save money and trees but also hopefully to improve voter participation, the HSA election will be done online for all members who have an email address. The few members without email will receive paper ballots like always.

You will receive the electronic ballot from Election Buddy on November 5th. Please mark your calendar. If you don't receive an email from Election Buddy with a secure link to the ballot, check your Spam folder. You will have a two-week window to vote, up until 12:55 p.m. Pacific Time on November 19th.
 
The paper ballots must be returned to Angela Terry, our HSA Secretary, by November 30th. Angie will add the results of the paper ballots to the Election Buddy tallies, and announce the results.

I'm excited that several people rose to the call for service, filling in several blanks on the ballot and, in two cases, creating the opportunity for members to choose between two highly qualified candidates for a single position.

Below is a preview of the candidates along with their profiles. On the electronic ballot, there will be a "profile" link next to each candidate's name, in case you would like to review their bios before casting your vote. The profile will open in a window, and after reading it, you can close the window by clicking the red X in the upper right-hand corner. By the way, it's OK to abstain from voting for an office if you choose. And, like always, there is a write-in option for each position.

Speaking of write-ins, if you live in the Mountains and Plains region and know of a good candidate, please feel free to write in his or her name. This is the only position for which we have no nominees. Of course, any write-in candidate must agree to serve before taking office.

Finally, I would like to thank the Nominating Committee for their hard and productive work: Jeannie Martin (chair), Peg McAulay Byrd, Debbie Kolodji, and Aubrie Cox. I also want to acknowledge with a deep bow the great effort of volunteer Jim Sullivan, who handled the technical aspects of setting up the online ballot. And I thank our HSA Secretary, Angela Terry, who put together the official ballot of candidates and profiles.


A PREVIEW OF THE CANDIDATES


HSA President

David G. Lanoue

David G. Lanoue's profile

This first year as your president I participated in national quarterly meetings in NYC, Seattle, and Evanston; in December I'll host the fourth in New Orleans. I represented you at the American Literature Association meeting in Boston, the HNA in Long Beach, and conferences in Germany and Bulgaria. I spearheaded: (1) an international outreach to sister haiku organizations with publication exchanges; (2) a mentoring program; (3) a membership renewal drive that raised our numbers to over 800; and (4) a move to online elections to save money and trees. I appointed the editor for this year's members' anthology, which came out on time. Next year, I'd like to organize more educational outreach, provide mini-grants for local and regional activities, make our 2013 members' anthology available as an e-book and as a print-on-demand paperback, and help finish our longstanding project to create a logo. I welcome this opportunity to continue serving!

 
First Vice President

Michael Dylan Welch  OR  Mike Montreuil

Michael Dylan Welch's profile

Michael Dylan Welch has been an HSA member since 1988, serving as vice president multiple times. He's also a director of the Haiku North America conference, board member of the Washington Poets Association and the American Haiku Archives (also webmaster), and founder and past president of the Tanka Society of America. His haiku have won first prize in numerous contests, and have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies. He also served as Haiku Northwest coordinator for two years, where he started the group's website and its annual Seabeck haiku retreat. He has recently been named the Poet laureate for the city of Redmond, WA. Michael's personal website is www.graceguts.com

 
Mike Montreuil's profile

Having served both HSA and Haiku Canada, I am uniquely qualified to bring a multi-cultural perspective to the job. I am adept at effectively working with poets as a team leader, and motivating them through my love of haiku. I will work hard to encourage regional coordinators to be actively involved and will help them retain members and seek new members.
Three things that I would like to have the Society tackle in the upcoming year:
1) Since the primary function of the First VP is to work with Regional Coordinators, I hope to encourage greater team dialogue between Coordinators and the First VP. I believe that a strong team of Regional Coordinators and First VP can bring more growth and value to the membership of the HSA.
2) I will continue to work on the mentoring program for new haiku poets. New poets need to be mentored and brought "up to speed" by established poets, if the society is to grow.
3) I will explore the possibility of having members research and produce small chapbooks from past and deceased members of HSA. This way, members can read and study the past and learn about the evolution of haiku.


Second Vice President


Sari Grandstaff

Sari Grandstaff's profile

Sari revived her childhood interest in haiku and has published her work in several journals and anthologies since 2005. She is a member of the Hudson Valley Haiku-kai.


Frogpond Editor

Francine Banwarth

Francine Banwarth's profile

Francine Banwarth has been an HSA member since 1989 and served as second vice president from 2008-2011. She has guided workshops and helped organize events in Dubuque and Mineral Point, Wisconsin. In 2012, she was appointed editor of Frogpond. Her work has been published in a variety of contests and journals.


Treasurer
 
Paul Miller

Paul Miller's profile

Paul Miller has served as Treasurer of the HSA since 2004. Widely published under his haigo 'paul m.', he most recently co-won the 2012 Kanterman Award for his collection Few Days North Days Few (Red Moon Press). He is the current editor of Modern Haiku.

 
Electronic Media Officer

Randy Brooks

Randy Brooks' profile

Dr. Randy Brooks is the Dean of Arts & Sciences at Millikin University. He teaches courses on haikai poetry traditions. His students' work is featured online at: http://performance.millikin.edu/haiku. He and his wife, Shirley Brooks, are publishers of Brooks Books and co-editors of Mayfly haiku magazine. Randy has served on the Executive Committee of the HSA as the Electronic Media Officer for several years. He also serves as the webmaster for Modern Haiku Press and as web editor of Modern Haiku magazine. He is on the editorial board for the Red Moon Press Haiku Anthologies. He has won many awards for his haiku including 1st Place in the Harold G. Henderson Award. A collection of his haiku, School's Out, was published by Press Here. He is co-editor of the Global Haiku Anthology published by Iron Press (England) and Mosaic Press (Canada) and co-editor of the Midwest Haiku Anthology.


HSA Newsletter Editor

Adrienne Christian
 
Adrienne Christian's profile

Adrienne Christian is an author and editor. Her prose has appeared in Heart & Soul, Today's Black Woman, and Jolie magazines. Her poetry has been featured in Frogpond, Obsidian, Silk Road, Falling Star, Miller's Pond, Cliterature, and dozens other literary journals. Adrienne is the recipient of the University of Michigan's Five Under Ten Young Alumni Recognition Award, an honor awarded to five outstanding alumni who achieved remarkable professional success in less than ten years after graduating. Her latest book, 12023 Woodmont Avenue (2013), is a collection of poems about her childhood in Michigan. Adrienne is the editor of the newsletter, Ripples, for the Haiku Society of America. She is also copy editor and content editor for Aquarius Press.


Secretary
 
Mollie Danforth

Mollie Danforth's profile

Mollie Danforth resides in Alexandria, Va., and has a second home on the Potomac River in rural Virginia. She survived a major stroke in 2007 and began writing haiku in 2010. She is married to Steve Colangelo and has two children and two grandchildren with a third on the way. She served on the Alexandria School Board for 12 years. She is currently a member of the Alexandria Commission on Persons with Disabilities.

 
For the Regional Coordinators (RC), vote only for a candidate in your region.

 
RC for Alaska

Billie Wilson

Billie Wilson's profile

I discovered haiku in the late 1960s, and writing haiku-shaped poetry became a very enjoyable, but solitary, activity for the next 20 years. Thereafter, through discovery of the worldwide haiku community -- and learning that haiku had evolved considerably since my introduction to it - haiku has become a central part of my life. I try to reach other haiku poets in Alaska through our website (http://home.gci.net/~alaskahaiku/index.html), and look forward to more Alaskans joining HSA.


RC for California
 
Naia
 
Naia's profile

A fifth generation native Californian, Naia attended college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Her poetry and haiga have appeared in books, anthologies, e-journals, newsletters, and magazines in the U.S. and internationally. Naia belongs to a number of haiku and tanka poetry associations and is a founding member of Haiku San Diego. She edited two regional haiku anthologies and an HSA anthology, co-hosted two HSA regional meetings, and co-chaired HNA 2013.

 
RC for Hawaii/Pacific
 
Brett Brady
 
Brett Brady's profile

Brett Brady has lived and worked in many places both domestically and abroad, working as a teacher of the gifted, talented, deaf, and multi-handicapped. He taught grammar school, high school and university, and had a Montessori school when his daughter was of an age to attend it. He attended USC and received his postgraduate degree from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. He is an accomplished musician, poet, director, and author. His poetry and songs are award winning and many of his haiku and senryu are published worldwide. He currently serves as the Hawaii/Pacific Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America.


RC for Mid-Atlantic

NO NOMINEE; write-in only

 
RC for Midwest
 
Charlotte Digregorio

Charlotte Digregorio's profile

Charlotte Digregorio is an award-winning poet of many forms, and has been a Pushcart Prize nominee. As Midwest RC since 2010, she has worked tirelessly to spread the word about haiku. She invites people to join HSA through haiku programs, extensive media publicity, and outreach to schools, libraries, writers'/cultural organizations, and the Japanese Consulate. She believes publicity is essential. Further, on her own, she gives haiku workshops and readings, judges contests, and publishes essays in various journals.
Digregorio's poetry has been translated into five languages and has been displayed in galleries, libraries, botanic gardens, wine shops, supermarkets, apparel shops, restaurants, and on public transit. She hosted a radio poetry program on public broadcasting, and has been interviewed on 'Poetry Today,' a Chicago T.V. program.
Digregorio is the award-winning author of four non-fiction books: You Can Be A Columnist, Everything You Need to Know About Nursing Homes, Beginners' Guide to Writing and Selling Quality Features, and Your Original Personal Ad. She's a media guest throughout the U.S. Her books are sold in 38 countries. She holds graduate degrees in Italian/French Literatures, and has been on university faculties teaching languages/writing. She is a writer-in-residence at universities, and speaks professionally about mass communications/publishing.


RC for Northeast/Metro

Rita Gray

Rita Gray's profile

Rita Gray has lived in Manhattan for 22 years, and she works with children as a teacher and a therapist. she has published four books for young children: Nonna's Porch (Hyperion, 2004), The Wild Little Horse (Dutton, 2005), Easy Street (Dutton, 2006), and Mama Mine, Mama Mine (Dutton, 2008). She also edited a poetry anthology for children for Charlesbridge entitled One Big Rain.

 
RC for Northeast/New England
 
Wanda Cook
 
Wanda Cook's profile

Wanda Cook, a member of HSA since 1991, has been the organizer/coordinator for numerous haiku events/contests. She co-edited the 2007 HSA Members' Anthology and the Anniversary Anthology for the Haiku Poets' Society of Western Massachusetts. Her own work appears regularly in journals and juried anthologies and a chapbook of her western poetry was nominated for a Pushcart Award.
Wanda has served as coordinator of HPSWM since 2001 and as NE Regional Coordinator since 2011. As coordinator she has tried to develop a sense of community among NE poets and sends out New England Letters to help keep them connected.


RC for Washington State

Angela Terry

Angela Terry's profile

Angela Terry has been an HSA member since 2005. Her work has been published in a number of print and online journals, and has won awards in contests in the United States, Canada, Croatia and Japan. She has served on the Executive Committee of the Haiku Society of America for the last 4 years as secretary. With the structure of the haiku groups in Washington in the process of significant change, she is excited to represent the Washington region as HSA regional coordinator.

 
RC for Oregon

an'ya
 
an'ya's profile

an'ya is a well established haiku poet and a permanent resident in the bountiful state of Oregon. Her works have been published worldwide. She is a past HSA Regional Coordinator, and currently the principal Editor for 'cattails collected works of' the United Haiku and Tanka Society.


RC for Plains and Mountains

Al Ortolani OR Chad Lee Robinson

Al Ortolani's profile

Al Ortolani's poetry and reviews have appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, New Letters, The Midwest Quarterly, The English Journal, Modern Haiku, Frogpond and the New York Quarterly. He has four books of poetry, The Last Hippie of Camp 50 and Finding the Edge, published by Woodley Press at Washburn University, Wren's House (haiku), published by Coal City Press in Lawrence, Kansas, and Cooking Chili on the Day of the Dead from Aldrich Press in Torrance, California. He is an editor for The Little Balkans Review and is on the Board of Directors of the Kansas City Writer's Place.
 
Chad Lee Robinson's profile

Chad Lee Robinson has been writing haiku and related forms since 2002. His poems have appeared in more than forty journals and in ten countries, and have won a number of awards including a Modern Haiku Award for best senryu, a Pushcart Prize nomination from Modern Haiku, Readers' Choice Poem of the Year at The Heron's Nest, and a Touchstone Award for Individual Haiku from The Haiku Foundation, to name a few. Chad's haiku have also been included in two Norton anthologies, Baseball Haiku (2007) and Haiku in English (2013), as well as A New Resonance 4 (Red Moon Press, 2005), Haiku 21 (Modern Haiku Press, 2011), Montage: the Book (The Haiku Foundation, 2010), and in nine editions of the annual Red Moon Anthology series. He has two chapbooks of haiku, Pop Bottles (True Vine Press, 2009) and Rope Marks (Snapshot Press, 2012). From 2006-2011 he served as the Plains & Mountains Regional Coordinator for the HSA. He was born and raised in Pierre, South Dakota where he continues to live with his wife and son.

 
RC for South
 
Carlos Col�n
 
Carlos Col�n's profile

Carlos Col�n, of Shreveport, Louisiana, has published more than 1000 poems and is the author of Haiku Elvis: A Life in 17 Syllables (or Less) as well as 12 poetry chapbooks. His work has appeared in Modern Haiku, Writer's Digest, Louisiana Literature, and in two recent anthologies: The Southern Poetry Anthology (Texas Review Press, 2011) and Haiku in English (W.W. Norton, 2013). Col�n is also included in Tazuo Yamaguchi's Haiku: Art of the Short Poem, a DVD documentary. He has been a member of the Haiku Society of America since 1993 and served as a Gerald Brady Award co-juror in 1998 and 2005. He also hosted quarterly HSA meetings in Shreveport in 2007 and 2012. Col�n hopes to continue and expand the progress made by former South Region Coordinators Howard Lee Kilby and Johnye Strickland.

 
RC for Southeast
 
Terri L. French

Terri L. French's profile

Terri L. French is a poet/writer and Licensed Massage Therapist. She and her husband have four grown children and three cats and reside in Huntsville, Alabama. Terri is the current editor of the senryu journal, Prune Juice. She is a member of the HSA, the Alabama Poetry Society, and Recording Secretary for the Alabama Writer's Conclave.


RC for Southwest
 
James M. Applegate

James M. Applegate's profile

Jim Applegate is a retired research engineer and chemist. He was born and grew up in Cedar City, Utah where he graduated from Southern Utah University and did grad school at BYU. He and his wife Beth Ann have four grown children and fourteen grandchildren. Jim is currently a docent at the Roswell Museum and Art Center, and past president of New Mexico State Poetry Society. Jim first started to write poetry in high school and at SUU, and took up writing again when he retired. Since then he has had published more than 200 poems. In the past four years he has edited and published the annual Small Canyons Anthology for the Southwest region and invited anyone interested to submit. This year is #8.