Haute Dish Reads

-- N. Jeanne Burns

Over 50 people attended Metropolitan State University Voices, a reading by Haute Dish writers and editors on Saturday, Dec. 2nd at The Riverview Café in South Minneapolis.

Senior Matt Spillum, now an alumnus, served as emcee and introduced 18 students and alumni who read fiction, non-fiction and poetry.

The readers included two people from Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) who write for MCTC’s literary magazine, Jambalaya.

Staff attending the reading included Donna Blacker, Michelle Filkins, Anne Aronson and Suzanne Nielsen, who is faculty advisor to Haute Dish.

Alumnus and professor, M. Laurel Walsh, editor of Double Dare Press said, "It was truly one of the best readings I’ve been to and I’m thrilled that I was in the audience. No wonder Haute Dish packs a crowd: It is stellar writing."

Nielsen was pleased with the turnout and the quality of the readings. "The readers’ voices captured the cafe patrons who came for a feast and left well-fed," she said.

"It was my first time reading my work publicly," said Joshua Fisher, a senior at Metropolitan State. "I’m just glad I didn’t throw up."

Many reported that Fisher pleased the crowd.

Seeing her classmates read their work impressed senior Michelle Bean. "It is a truly wonderful experience to see classmates out of the standard element of the classroom," she said.

Haute Dish hosts readings for Metropolitan State writers and alumni each semester.

Visit the Haute Dish Web site, http://hautedish.metrostate.edu, for an announcement about the upcoming spring reading.,