CHRIS ARVIDSON words and art - Early Order Period Ending Soon

2024 Citizens of the Free Nation of Shabazz

Email me (see contact tab) for information on purchasing my art work. This piece Atlantic Beach Fall will be the cover of my upcoming book of poetry "Nobody Cares What You Think" due out January 2025.

Sat May 4 - Writing Workshop - Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library

Writing to Art: Using Visual Images to Prompt Beginnings
Saturday, May 04, 10:00am–12:00pm
South County Regional Library
In this workshop, led by local artist and poet Chris Arvidson, we'll use art to create a series of promising starts to your writing. Writing to art or "ekphrastic" writing can help open avenues to your projects, spark surprising starts…

Registration closes May 1 at 12:00am (13 spots remaining)Register for event
Writing
Adults
New Adults (16-24)
Older Adults
Teens (12-18)

"Looks Like Trix #3" oil on board, 4x4" - painted in Benzie County, Michigan, last week of October, 2023. Private Collection.

Look at that list of fantastic artists and writers!

Leslie, Chris & Cole

Storied Charlotte Blog - 12 for 2022

I made Mark West's "Storied Charlotte" list of 12 of his favorite books of 2022! Click the link above to read Mark's list.

Winston-area friends -- come on out!

Park Road Books

Click here for Park Road Books - they have copies or you can order from them online.

Check out the newly designed Charlotte Readers Podcast with it's 301st episode out today. Landis Wade has added a couple of hosts and put together a great format for readers and writers to enjoy -- including book recommendations. I got more than one shout-out for The House Inside My Head in this episode, and you can hear me read two poems from the chapbook at 48:05. Thanks to Landis, Sarah & Mark for the support.

Finishing Line Press

Click here to order THE HOUSE INSIDE MY HEAD direct from the publisher.

Amazon also carries THE HOUSE INSIDE MY HEAD.

a box full of books title "The House Inside My Head" poems by Chris Arvidson

You can read about the Earth and Sky exhibit in this article from the Charlotte Observer. Clink the link below:

October 24, 2021, The Charlotte Observer

Photo: Jessica Wilson

My essay "Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Please" has been published in Nine: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture, Vol 28.1-2, from University of Nebraska Press.

Photo Cassondra Greer

Triplets at 6 months. It's hard being one of those in grandparent jail!

I loved these guys!

Click here to listen to the Charlotte Readers Podcast, featuring The Love of Baseball

The Charlotte Readers Podcast, with Landis Wade, Ellyn Ritterskamp, Caroline Kane Kenna, and Chris Arvidson. Recorded April 3, 2019.

Podcast

Click here to get to The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara interviewing Chris Arvidson

A recent WV newspaper feature article Abiut the anthology “Unity” has been picked up across the country in major newspapers. Here it is: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/features_entertainment/wv-writers-collaborate-on-coming-together/article_f456fc15-546c-505a-bf1e-e3e8ac029e49.html

I have a poem in the book and it's available from Mountain State Press and Amazon.

https://inside.uncc.edu/news-features/2017-10-13/fall-classic—essayists-contribute-tribute-baseball

Click here for a story about the UNC Charlotte writers above who appear in The Love of Baseball.

CHRIS ON KNBR

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO CHRIS TALKING BASEBALL LOVE ON KNBR the San Francisco Giants broadcasting home.

And guess what happened yesterday? We had such powerful wind gusts, my flag AND the mount got yanked on the post here. Gotta go get a new mount today. Can't be without my Tiger flag! Photo Cassondra Greer

The first morning's picture -- off we went!

The beech wood along the trail.

Broadway Tower on The Cotswold Way.

Me and my Henry at the Roman Baths... in Bath.

At Elton House with Emma, Nick, Chris, Joan, Philip and Kevin.

Beth Macy and me. I can only aspire to be as badass as she.

Available now - Henry's new CD. CDBaby.com, Amazon, Spotify, iTunes.

COMING SPRING/SUMMER 2015

At Wordkeepers in August.

Henry in Jerusalem at the UNC Charlotte acheological dig site where we eventually worked three summers in the past decade.

Henry and James Tabor, with the rain and storm about to begin. This is the site of the Jesus Tomb which James writes about in his book "The Jesus Discovery"

KAKALAK FALL 2024

Very honored to be included in Kakalak's latest -- so many wonderful writers and artists to be seen with! https://kakalakanthology.com/news-events/

My studio at the Charlotte Art League

Across the Divide, oil on canvas. 20x24"

SOLD! a mixed paint and photo transfer piece called "Time to Go Home" - Contact me for information on mixed media/photo transfer pieces available for purchase chris@chrisarvidson.com.

Evolution of Words and Art at the Charlotte Art League March 10-April 6. See Charlotteartleague.org for gallery hours.

Thanks Goucher for featuring my poetry in the New & Notable section of this winter's magazine. Good company!

Painting with my sister Lorie out at St Pierre Road Arcdia Marsh property, part of the wonderful preserved forever lands of the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy. Click on the "ART" tab above to see other works from that day.

My poem "Dear Frances Crockett" leads off this wonderful double issue on women and baseball.

Charlotte Lit

I've just joined the board. First meeting for me, June. Let me know if you've got interest, suggestions, contributions to make to this fabulous organization.

Charlotte Writers Club

Venerable. Good contests. And some nice opportunities to read your work out loud to an audience.

Quick Links

E-mail the author

McFarland Publishers

Available Now! The Love of Baseball. You can also buy Reflections on the New River from the publisher by clicking here.

Wildacres Retreat

Check out Wildacres' website for more information on their wonderful programs.

See information about the Creative Non Fiction MFA program at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland.

Authors Guild

Early Order Period Ending Soon

Henry and Edith and Me

April 23, 2011

Photo by Tom Jones.

This is my next door neighbor, Edith. (And my Henry, of course.) Actually, she's not our neighbor right now, she's at the local assisted living place these days. She came out with her son for a visit the other day. The flowers here are bulbs I planted across the street at the city park. They're in the "Edith Jones Flower Garden" planter. I put them in last fall since Edith isn't around to do it herself. Read More

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Cleaning Up, Cleaning Out

April 22, 2011

Stuff. Everywhere. Inside the old concrete block walls, table after table in the old elementary school gym was stacked with stuff. Good stuff, stupid stuff, old stuff, new stuff, what-the-hell? stuff and five car loads of stuff I'd brought, too, were arrayed in a vast organized mess of stuff. By the day of the sale, all of the stuff I'd help arrange and price had gotten up my nose and given me a massive allergy headache.

The last of the stuff from the leftover remains of Henry's mother's house made up the five car loads I'd contributed, providing a decidedly gilt-encrusted theme to the stuff displayed. Read More

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Blank Square Days

March 31, 2011

Travis the cat is teaching me to make best use of the blank square days.

The end of March brings completely crap weather around here. One day it's 60 degrees and the very next I'm turning on the heated car seat and it's snowing. OK, well not snow in the sense that you have to shovel it, but enough that the top of Mt. Jefferson is white, the deck out my window is dusted, and school in Ashe County is going to be meeting on yet another Saturday to make up for a snow day.

Meanwhile, my crocus are blooming, the lawn guys have done the heavy work ripping up the old landscape fabric and the mulching is done. We've put the bright red cushions out on the newly stained and spruced up outdoor furniture on the porch, and, thus far, on the warm days we've resisted buying any fragile plants. Read More

9 Comments

Comments

Mar 31, 2011 4:45 PM EDT

Like!

- Dee Ann

Mar 31, 2011 7:57 PM EDT

Chris, you turn on the heated seats for a thrill no matter what the temp. You can't kid your friends about that one.

(Used to be, only Republicans had heated seats. But that's a whole 'nother thing.)

Seriously, come to DC soon.

- Brooks

Apr 01, 2011 3:40 AM EDT

Lovely essay. I se myself in that blank square category. I have learned to love those days. Today is pick up taxes, go to creative printing, go to sharing center, on to Lowes, then the dump and cards at 6:30. Retired??

- Jane J

Apr 01, 2011 3:56 AM EDT

Maybe soon -- will keep you updated, Brooks. I just bought a new/used car and it does have heated seats...

- Chris Arvidson

Apr 01, 2011 6:01 AM EDT

Love the "blank square days!" I always have. Maybe, that's the problem? I am glad that you don't feel guilty about them. It is healthy to enjoy your leisure time. Lord knows, you have earned them!

- Carleen Jones

Apr 01, 2011 6:41 AM EDT

Yes, Travis could teach us all a thing or two! I'm foolishly spending my blank square days spring cleaning. But how nice it will be when it's all done. And then I can get into serious fun stuff! And those snow flurries have amounted to a little more up at 4000' -- today not so much but two days ago, several inches. It's April, Mother Nature!!!

- Lynda McDaniel

Apr 04, 2011 6:13 AM EDT

BLANK SQUARE. What a wonderful name for these days, rare as they are! They're perfect for catching up on "the list." Even better, and it seems to take most of a lifetime to learn this, is letting "the list" lie dormant, and doing absolutely nothing.

- Mary Olive

Apr 04, 2011 8:48 AM EDT

Exactly, MOJ. Leaving them blank is the thing to learn.

- Chris Arvidson

Apr 23, 2011 4:19 AM EDT

Jim, Henry has a gigando world map in his office now. I got it for him since he has been talking to people on Skype that he wouldn't know where the hell they were with out it. So many "--stan" countries, so little time...

- Chris Arvidson

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Back from El Salvador

February 24, 2011

Tags: Habitat for Humanity, El Salvador, Santa Ana, Candelaria de la Frontera

I made it back from the Habitat building trip to El Salvador very early on Monday morning, about 1:00 a.m. It was a great trip. Believe it or not, no whiners! Good folks all, including especially the masons and the homeowner families. No one got hurt. And, we accomplished quite a lot on the two homes we worked on.

I had a momentary panic attack when I found out that one of the team members was a Lutheran pastor. Shit. How was that going to work? Read More

10 Comments

Comments

Feb 25, 2011 4:09 AM EST

Gotta love Chris. I can think of few people I have met who have not changed in 30 years -- that's how long we have known each other. You tell it like it is and always have. I can remember a petite, attractive, young blond woman whose choice of words would have made Rahm Emanuel blush -- that's still the case.
Thanks for the report on your trip.

- Michael Fraioli

Feb 25, 2011 4:50 AM EST

Yup. Blush and laugh! Thanks for the report on El Salvadore -- but tell us about the spa experience too!

- Kathy Finnie

Feb 25, 2011 5:01 AM EST

About that other Chris, your new-found Lutheren pal. I don't know the guy, but maybe it'll do you some good to rub elbows w/ a little piety. I mean, your natural habitat is a world of (impro)piety, right?
Do you really plan to behave at Wildacres?

- Sam Watson

Feb 25, 2011 5:48 AM EST

Jimmy Carter spoke the truth when he got excoriated for saying "Life is not fair." I'm aware of that every day here on the reservation. It's not so much the material goods: there's a safety net if people will use it wisely. What I've come to value most is what my parents gave me: safety, high expectations, education, ingenuity, rich experiences, solid values...the intangibles that make all the difference. With those things, we can make the material happen.

Like you, I had occasional bumps with evangelical Christianity at Habitat, but the attitude of rolling up the sleeves, getting down in the dirt, and creating inspiration was unsurpassed by any other organization I ever got involved with. Rest in peace, Millard Fuller. Wherever you are is a joyful place.

I really hate missing the El Salvador trips, but the body ain't up to it, and I'm not one one for standing around in the heat. It's hard to believe it's over 20 years since we built that first women's house in Charlotte. Some said we couldn't get the job done, but YES WE DID! I'm no end of proud to see the tradition carrying on, and glad to see Beth still leading the pack.

- Mary Olive Johnson

Feb 25, 2011 7:52 AM EST

next time you go i wanna go too! i don't have many gal friends i can sling the f-word around with!

- diana jones

Feb 25, 2011 12:46 PM EST

Mikey, I will take your comments as compliments for sure. I don't think I ever made Rahm blush...maybe gave him a few pointers?
Diana: OK, put February 2012 on your calendar!
Sam: no doubt the "other" Chris would agree with you. I WILL behave at Wildacres, no drunken dirty-word scrabble, well, maybe just dirty-word scrabble...

- Chris Arvidson

Feb 26, 2011 5:06 PM EST

Great work Chris.Glad you had a safe and productive trip.I am sure you were nominated as the group comedian!

- Grace

Feb 27, 2011 4:37 AM EST

No way, Grace. I was only among a pack of very funny people!

- Chris Arvidson

Feb 27, 2011 3:25 PM EST

Way cool, 'Iss! I am proud of you for doing this again, and happy that you took care of yourself afterwards! Can't wait to see you!

- Love, iss

Mar 03, 2011 6:55 AM EST

Hey Chrissie, just sent your blog on to a friend who might want to go with us next year-MOJ-come on, there is plenty you can do sitting down! Thank you so much Chrissie for the baby jesus's-can't wait to take them to Alex's Sunday School class on Sunday-ha ha ha

- Susanna

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Here's my "wordkeepers" essay from Saturday.

January 18, 2011

Tags: soap operas, soaps, General Hospital, All My Children, One Life To Live, television, Dark Shadows

My reading at “wordkeepers”
Saturday, January 15, 2011

More Viewing Confessions, by Chris Arvidson

Those of you who joined us here at Wordkeepers in November will remember my confession regarding the viewing of both crappy and excellent Christmas movies. Today, here and now, I’m going to make a further heinous confession. What I reveal to you here however, holds the promise of redemption. Read More

3 Comments

Comments

Jan 18, 2011 8:34 AM EST

Erm, I'm worried (just a bit). What has happened in your life recently to bring about this cataclysmic reassessment?
On a more serious note - the rehabilitation of soap opera as a serious artistic form is way overdue. We live in an exponentially accelerated entertainment culture where most people's experience of anything other than their own lives is reduced to the crack cocaine-like reward hit of video gaming or skimming a few pages of a short story on the bus into work. (The latter being the 3 people left in our society who actually read fiction . . .). Soap opera offers complexity of plot, exploration of social issues, long-term development of character and continual dramatic & emotional engagement. All the stuff the novel was supposed to do in the 19th century in fact . . .
(Reasoned arguments against the above proposition very welcome, by the way).
So, I hope you're putting all that time to good use by revisiting Bleak House and Middlemarch and Return of the Native . . .

- Nick

Jan 18, 2011 9:30 AM EST

Holy crap, Nick. Now I understand my attraction to the soaps. It wasn't a guilty pleasure, but rather a high-minded recognition of dwindling entertainment attributes. Shit. Well, it is true that I have replaced the time I would normally spend watching these shows with reading...albeit not the classics you mention!

- Chris Arvidson

Jan 20, 2011 5:46 AM EST

Glad you're "taking the cure," painful though it may be. May I suggest substituting different addictions. I'm struggling to break a powerul Sudoku habit with knitting.
Television-wise, I highly recommend crime, especially murder. Forensic shows have a lot to offer: thoughtful searching for truth, patience, dogged determination, and reserving judgment until all the facts are in. They're presented in soothing, matter-of-fact voices, utterly lacking in hysteria. Families of victims speak with genuine emotion. Other than the lightning speed of DNA results, they're very real.
There's an element of fantasy, too. In the end, everybody gets justice, better than the average soporific for getting a good night's sleep.

- Mary Olive

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"wordkeepers" this Saturday

January 12, 2011

Tags: writing, reading, listening, West Jefferson, Bohemia, Ashe County, Watauga County, Avery County, Allegheny County

Come on out to Bohemia Gallery in West Jefferson, NC, this Saturday (1.15.2011) for our next "wordkeepers" salon, 4:00 p.m. See our groovy poster at right.

We'll be featuring Julie Townsend reading from her new novel "Seafood Jesus," which is coming out in March. We'll also hear from me, Scot Pope, and folks on our open mic portion of the program. Read More

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The Pressure's On

November 12, 2010

Tags: writing, writers, reading, West Jefferson, Ashe County, Allegheny County, Avery County, Watauga County

There is no end to how I can pressure myself. I have successfully done it again royally.

On Saturday, November 20, a couple of writer pals here in the neighborhood are getting together with me to do readings of our latest stuff. Read More

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And So it Goes

November 4, 2010

Tomorrow is my mother-in-law's funeral. I'm not much for funerals. Then again, who is? Some people appreciate them I suppose, and even say they find them comforting. Not me.

Henry is sadder than I think he expected to be. His mom was 86 and for the past 2 and a half years, she has lived with us in this duplex in West Jefferson. Read More

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CHECK OFF THAT JOB FROM THE LIST OF STUFF TO DO

October 18, 2010

Tags: writing, writers, Nc Writers Network, workshop, Conference

Today I mailed off a set of excerpts from my manuscript "No I Don't Want to Hold Your Baby." Along with those 20 pages was a newly constructed cover letter and a one-page synopsis. The package with its two crisp and clean copies is now on its way to the NC Writers Network Manuscript Mart folks. They will assign them to an agent who I'll meet with for an assigned half hour at the upcoming NCWN conference in Charlotte. Read More

7 Comments

Comments

Oct 19, 2010 4:50 PM EDT

Good Luck!!!!!

- Susan

Oct 20, 2010 8:27 AM EDT

Chris - good luck. This sounds like a sensible & productive way of going about getting it in front of someone actually capable of taking a decision (always an appallingly hit-and-miss thing in this busness for some reason . . .

- Nick

Oct 25, 2010 4:06 PM EDT

Chris, I'm so glad to read about your "writingness" and your excitement about the conferences. It's a refreshing thing to read, especially for an old-timer who sometimes forget what a gift he's been given (that sounds conceited, but you know what I mean). "Keep up the work, whether it's good or not" is a rule I learned a long time ago, and gladly pass it along. Another one, if I may be so bold (as the creepy waiter said to Jack N. in "The Shining"), is to take what you think you need from a critique and to heck with the rest. Many times critiques are a mixed bag: some excellent advice, combined with dumb-as-hell incomprehension. Don't let it get to you, it's the same for everyone. No critic or manuscript guru or what-have-you can ever really get inside you to know which parts of a text you feel especially attached to. In other words, if the guru misses something in your text that's obvious to you, or misunderstands something you meant to say, it's not his/her fault, as they are not you. But don't ditch the whole page, or idea, or joke, or whatever just because they didn't get it. Just re-write it in different ways until you're pretty sure your point is clear. Hey, I ought to be getting paid for this!

- Lil Johnny Grooms

Oct 25, 2010 4:12 PM EDT

Lil Johnny, thanks for the wise words. After all, some of my doing this is all your fault anyway for giving me a chance way back in the olden days!

- Chris Arvidson

Oct 28, 2010 1:51 PM EDT

I'm so proud of you Chris! I just sent a little something off myself...and it is scary...especially when you don't hear back from the immediately (ah, perspective). I'll keep my fingers crossed.

- Nicole

Dec 20, 2010 3:31 PM EST

That's great! You have been writing. I hope it goes well in Charlotte.

- Lynda

Mar 31, 2011 5:53 PM EDT

How exciting! I love the title and relate so well to the subject, seems so prevalent they should leap at the chance to publish it. I hope you get an advance. I've been published and have self-published. If at all possible the former is better.

- Emily Weinstein

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Tire Trip

October 2, 2010

Tags: New River, NCNR, National Park Service, New River Gorge National River, VISTA

Staff road trip! I drove up to West Virginia the other morning, right before the weather turned back to fall and summer finally got left behind. With me went Carol, George, Courtney, and Twelve Grain from the National Committee for the New River staff. It was a Courtney organized clean up affair. I was the designated driver, not because of heavy alcohol consumption, but because I had the car the we'd all fit in that day.

We met up with NPS rangers from the New River Gorge National River, a new area VISTA worker, and got wet and dirty and nasty pulling tires out of the river and off the shore. We ended up with three rafts full for the day.

What, I ask you, is the deal with people dumping tires in the river? They don't belong! Is it a Southern thing? I sure didn't see any in the Betsie River in Michigan a few weeks ago? Read More

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