- [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(bright music) - "R-Town," the show about Rochester, meets Rochester's poet laureate.

And we catch up with the new director of the Rochester Civic Theatre.

We also get the latest from the RCTC campus.

All that and so much more coming up next on "R-Town," the show about Rochester.

(bright music continues) (bright music continues) Coming to you from 125 Live in Rochester, Minnesota, "R-Town."

(bright music continues) We are joined today by Jean Prokott, Rochester's poet laureate, here to tell us all things poetry and her work in the community.

Welcome to "R-Town," Jean.

- Thank you.

- So can you tell us what is a poet laureate and how were you selected?

- So a poet laureate in Rochester is a person who is meant to support the community.

We do readings and we organize events in Rochester.

And I was selected from a committee.

So I'm the third poet laureate.

The position was created in 2012, and it is inspired by what happens in the country.

So the United States has a poet laureate, Ada Limon, and they've had one since 1937.

Minnesota has a poet laureate, Gwen Westerman, and there are poets laureate from different states.

Most states have one.

So my job, I have a four-year term, and I am expected, with Rochester, to organize an event every year, but I've been doing things more than that.

So it's to bring the community together with readings and activities every time I can.

- I love it.

And this is your second year?

- It is my second year, so I go until April of 2027.

And then when someone else wants to be poet laureate, they have a call for it and then people can apply.

So they fill out an application and submit a body of their work.

And then, I don't really know who's on the panel, but they have a panel of people, and that group kind of presents to the mayor, "here's who we would like to recommend," and the city council votes on the recommendation.

- Can you talk a little bit about the role poetry has had and writing poetry has had in your own life?

- Yes, my master's degree is in creative writing.

So I went to MSU Mankato for three years, and I wrote my thesis in poetry.

So I studied poetry before I became a teacher, and I met my closest friends while doing that.

So I know poets and I'm very involved in the community.

And after that I spent 10 years writing a book.

So my book came out, and then I just continued to publish, which is why I decided to apply for the poet laureate position.

I also, just every day, I feel like I live a waking life as a poet.

So I brought a poem to read, and I thought I could talk about the process of it.

I feel like that's maybe a better way.

- That would be fantastic.

- So the poem is actually one I wrote last weekend.

So it's very fresh, yes.

- Fresh.

- And it is based on an experience that... Well, I'll just read it.

So it's called "First Poem of the Resistance."

"I'm eating complimentary eggs and trying to be happy, but the world is hard.

And a woman chokes on her continental breakfast.

Her husband stands behind her, pulls her to him in three angry thrusts, and the bagel that wanted to kill her is dislodged.

Always, there are intimate or dangerous scenes in the middles of rooms.

Moments when you meet strangers' eyes in the thick of chaos and are equally unsure of what to do next.

So you scrape your dry muffin and fatty bacon into the trash, stack your plates like dirty moons into the busboy's bin.

And because it's wrong to stare, catch the woman in your peripheral, she is breathing.

Her husband holds her hands across the table and kneads that tender valley between thumb and pointer.

He speaks low and soft.

Oh, how we want to eavesdrop, how we need the poetry of their exchange.

How we too must be assuaged.

Someone new to this lobby has no idea a room of strangers is nurturing a victory.

Just wait, when you are called to action, it can be anything.

It can be a cupped fist to a diaphragm.

Is it the Heimlich or forcing the first note of a song?

Maybe he saved her from choking.

Maybe he was tuning an instrument."

So this poem started with just like an observation.

It was at a hotel, and I experienced this, sorry.

And so I just took a note, just like I carry my phone around and take little notes.

Sorry.

- Poetry is emotional.

It is.

- Yeah (laughs), it's weird.

And so I had that in my phone for a bit.

And then it's just kind of like you find it in your phone, and you're like, okay, what does this mean?

And so you just kind of just pull it out when something new happens.

And then really what new is happening is just the political situation right now.

And so I kind of scroll my phone through the events that I've collected, and I'm like, well, what is this a metaphor for?

And just reading the news I thought, okay, here's this woman who is choking.

Here's kind of how I feel right now in my life.

And so I just kind of match those things up.

And that's what it means to be a poet.

I guess you're just crying all the time.

- (laughs) I think that's apt.

- Yeah, I mean, that's what makes sense.

It's not always these sad things.

So I feel like I'm just walking through metaphors my entire life.

And I call it the poet's curse.

I have a student, I had a student recently who just is very, like, "I want to be a writer and it hurts all the time."

And so I'm like, oh, you have the curse.

So you are just unable to separate what the universe is trying to tell you.

And it also really, I think the job of the poet is to interpret all of that for people.

And it's really fun actually to say, "Hey, look at all of these connections that you maybe wouldn't otherwise see.

I want to put it into language that's accessible for you.

And I'm just gonna tell you what I think it means, and maybe you can understand that it means something different too."

So it's a way to pull the community together.

We all see these things around us, but maybe I can offer a common language for us to understand.

- What do you think that the role of poets and poetry play in sort of community, cultural and civic life?

- Poetry is doing the same thing that art is doing in the community.

So it gives us a chance to all come together to celebrate, and sometimes even grieve the moments that we have as a culture, as a society.

- You are the recipient of a 2024 American Academy of Poets Fellowship, and I'd love for you to share a little bit about what this fellowship is and what it's going to allow you to do as a poet in our community.

- Yeah, I'm really excited about the fellowship.

So the fellowship is for $50,000, and it's for poets laureate in the United States.

So $15,000 of it is for a grant that I wrote.

And the grant is to fund other poets and artists in Rochester.

And we are putting together an exhibit at the Chateau.

And so we'll have a reading on April 26th.

And for the month after, so for May, which is Mental Health Awareness Month, we will have an art exhibit that is created by the poets and the artists, where they have created work that reflects mental illness.

So I wanted to have them produce work to overcome the stigma of mental illness.

So the focus is mental health, but also pulling the community together for healing and expression.

- I love that, and I love the combination of, it's not even a combination, 'cause poets are artists, artists are poets in their own way, visually, of putting those two together.

I know you mentioned a little bit before that you're an educator.

Can you talk a little bit about, as an educator, how you connect and engage your students through poetry?

- Yeah, I have high school, and so actually students are used to not liking poetry in high school.

And I don't think it's their teacher's fault.

They think sometimes it's like a puzzle they have to figure out, or it's hidden behind this like velvet rope or it's not for me.

So what I like to do is start with contemporary poets.

I don't start with Shakespeare or Frost or the cliche things they know.

We don't start with "Xanadu" or anything.

So I give them narrative poems.

I have us writing just as much as we're reading.

So if we read a poem, we do a pastiche of the poem, so a copycat.

So it's almost Mad Lib, but not quite.

I try to find poems that speak to their experience.

And I like to let them choose their poem, like what they want to read as well.

So I'll give an example.

I teach a concurrent enrollment class at Century, and I have started to use this metaphor of dating poems.

So they write a poetry paper that's based off of a poet, the Poetry Unbound podcast by Padraig O Tuama.

It's like a eight-minute thing where he reads a poem and then he just dissects it.

He's like, "I love this poem.

Let's look at what's under the hood, what the poet did to make me have a good time when I read it."

So that's the paper they write.

So they read a bunch of poems.

I'm like, okay, that's your first date with the poem.

If you read first three lines and you don't like it, just stop, pick another one.

Just find some that you like.

Once they find five, they write journals.

I say, okay, pick two and take them on a second date.

Ask the poem a couple of questions, see what it has to offer.

And then once they ask some questions, like find the poem you want to marry, or I guess take it to the next stage; so annotate it, ask more questions, just really, really get to know this poem.

So I don't give it to them.

They get to experiment a little bit more.

And just like a writer finds their voice, as readers they can find what they like too.

So I think it eases them into it a little bit more.

'Cause, I mean, I don't love every poem in there, or something like I don't get this one.

I feel like I've spent a lot of time reading poems I don't like because I thought I had to, and I had to get all of the poems.

Do you yourself have any favorite poets that you find yourself turning to again and again?

- Yes.

Okay, there are lots.

And it kind of depends on the mood I'm in.

so I'm always turning to poet Ross Gay.

- Yes!

- Yeah, isn't he great?

- I love Ross Gay.

- Because he writes about joy in a way that is not cheesy.

And his nonfiction too.

Like, he has a cowritten book with Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and so I really like her work too.

And also Andrea Gibson, a spoken word poet.

And so they're fantastic.

So I read their work a lot online, but I also watch their work.

And they're the poet laureate of Colorado, and they also got the Academy Award this year, so that's pretty neat.

Tony Hoagland is the poet who made me realize that poetry can be narrative and funny.

And so just reading his work opened a lot of doors for me.

Mary Oliver, when I just kind of need a quiet moment of nature poetry.

I read this book almost two years ago, but I still pull it out.

It's called "Good Grief, the Ground" by Margaret Ray.

And it was just one of those collections that I read in one sitting, so it was fantastic.

Yeah, so those are some.

- How can communities, community members learn more about you, stay connected with your own work as poet laureate and as a poet?

- Most of it actually would be through Southeastern Minnesota Poets.

On their Facebook page, they post all of the readings and events.

And they do most of the work of organizing what's called like our Bright Lights reading.

And so they have that at the Chateau quarterly.

So yeah, every couple of months.

And people can sign up to read their own work and/or read the work of poets that they love if they don't feel comfortable reading their own work.

So those readings are open and free to the public.

On my website I have like posted some of my poems, and I have information about the fellowship and like the readings and when the exhibit will be opening.

So I'm updating that as more information comes through with that.

So yeah, mostly through the Chateau Theatre, we'll post when we have those readings, and Southeastern Minnesota Poets.

- Thank you so much for joining us, Jean.

And thanks for being our poet laureate.

- Yeah, of course.

It's a pleasure.

(bright music) (bright music continues) - Be sure to stick around.

We have much more coming your way on "R-Town."

We meet the new director of the Rochester Civic Theatre ahead of the new upcoming season at the theater.

And we also catch up with what's new on the RCTC campus in this week's Our Future segment.

(dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) (dramatic music continues) - What's the problem?

Everybody!

- Jeff, come back!

- Stay out of it.

- Jeff!

- Go home!

- So I for the last 13 years was a theater faculty member at Riverland Community College in Austin, and that's what brought me to the region.

And in 2022, I auditioned for and was cast in "Into the Woods" here at Rochester Civic Theatre.

And I had such a wonderful experience on that show I kept coming back and kept auditioning, and I was able to perform in a few other shows since then.

So then this past summer I was brought on as the educational programs director.

I started that in July.

And then the previous managing director, Misha Johnson, announced that she would be departing the theater.

And so I was able to fortunately move into the artistic director spot starting this past January.

- Back working on your speeches for the trial?

- Don't remind me.

- Well, maybe Tim wasn't really mad after all.

Maybe he was just full of fleas, and Atticus just shot him dead.

- If that Tim was still coming up the street, maybe you'd be singing a different tune.

- Hah, well, maybe I would.

I guess I have to admit that I did feel safer when I saw Atticus take that rifle.

- Okay.

- So basically, I'm in charge of overseeing all of the artistic portions of what we do.

Primarily, that's our production season, so right now I am working on picking the shows for next season, putting together a really exciting offering of plays and musicals and plays for young audiences.

Then during the season I direct a couple of the shows.

I'm also just in charge for maintaining the overall artistic standards, working on the branding for the theater, our marketing campaigns, helping to find guest artists, our guest directors and designers that come and work with us.

And then I'm still managing the educational programming here as well, which includes classes that we offer for children and adults and our summer camp programs.

We hire fantastic directors here.

And so really I want to make sure that they have room to explore their creative vision.

It's not my job to tell them how to do their job.

I just want to make sure that everybody has the resources that they need, that they're supported, and that they're able to work to their best ability.

So rehearsals are underway right now for "To Kill a Mockingbird."

And I'm not involved in the day-to-day rehearsal of the show, but I'll drop in every once in a while.

I might attend a production meeting.

And again, just make sure that we have a great team of people on board, that we have everything that the show needs to be a success.

- Tim saw Matt.

- Oh no, no, no.

I didn't see.

you see him.

No, no, that was fine.

The timing is fine, but it just... And it'll come, all right?

So I'm not worried, but right now it's just you saying the line 'cause it's great.

I don't get the sense that you see him.

- Hey, Mrs. Debose.

Did you see my father?

- Don't say hey to me, you ugly girl.

You say good afternoon, Mrs. Debose.

You should be in a dress and camisole, young lady.

If somebody doesn't change your ways, you'll grow up waiting on tables.

A fish waiting on tables at the Okay Cafe.

Oh!

- What's the matter with her?

Why is she so hateful?

- We always love having new people get involved.

If you've thought about getting involved in theater, whether on stage or behind the scenes, we love hearing from people.

So you can go to our website, rochestercivictheater.org, and reach out, let us know, come to our auditions, volunteer.

This theater wouldn't exist and wouldn't be possible if it weren't for our community that supports us.

I want our audiences to know that when they come to see a show at the Civic Theatre, that they are going to be seeing the best quality theater that Southeastern Minnesota has to offer, that they're gonna be seeing entertaining shows that are thought-provoking and funny, and that they're gonna come in and have a really satisfying artistic experience here.

- You take it Mr. Finch, you do it.

- Don't waste time, Ed.

Go on.

- Mr. Finch, this is a one-shot job.

- Don't just stand there, Ed.

- Look where he is, for God's sake, Mr. Finch.

I can't shoot that well and you know it.

- I haven't shot a gun in 30 years.

- I'd feel mighty comfortable if you did now.

(dramatic music) (dramatic music continues) Ah!

Got him!

- [Director] Hold a second.

- [Announcer] For more information about this story and other "R-Town" features, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter at KSMQ#RTown, or ksmq.org/rtown.

(slow funky music) (slow funky music continues) (slow funky music continues) (slow funky music continues) (slow funky music continues) (slow funky music continues) (slow funky music continues) (slow funky music continues) (bright music) - Phi Theta Kappa, also known as PTK, is a national honor society who has a chapter at RCTC.

Who qualifies to be in PTK, and what does the club do?

How can being a member benefit students?

We caught up with the club advisor and the officers at a recent induction ceremony to find out what Phi Theta Kappa is all about.

- Phi Theta Kappa is a nationally, internationally recognized honor society for two-year colleges.

So all the students here have achieved a GPA of 3.4 or higher and completed a certain number of credits in the community college.

Tonight we're having an induction ceremony, so we're celebrating the roughly 200 members that have joined at RCTC since the 2024 to 2025 school year began.

So we've had all these students that have met the requirements and are here to be formally inducted into the society and be welcomed as new members.

- I am the current chapter president.

Our chapter is the Omicron chapter.

And I just got elected into regional office.

So I'm one of four regional officers that help coordinate our regional events here in the Minn-Kota Region.

We've got a lot of new people joining, and we're starting to really foster that sense of community and pride within the honor society, and I'm really excited.

- A couple of weeks ago we went to Hutchinson, Minnesota for our regionals, our spring regionals.

And that was a really good experience for me, because it really gave me a sense of like how PTK is as an organization, as a society, as a community.

People were really enthusiastic to be there.

They were very involved, and like everyone was so willing and so, more than just cooperative; everyone was excited to have a chance to collaborate with others and listen to everyone else's stories and be supportive of one another.

It was really good to see.

- So I have Esme Gassfield.

(attendees applauding) (attendees applauding) (facilitator faintly speaking) Landon Justice.

(attendees applauding) And, let's see, Corinne Vaskey.

(attendees applauding) PTK has tons and tons of scholarship opportunities for students that join.

It's a great thing for them to have on their resume.

They get a certificate for joining and all of that.

They get the honors tassels and all of that.

But more importantly, they get lots of scholarship opportunities.

So there are hundreds even within the state of Minnesota that offer a direct transfer scholarship for PTK members if they're transferring to a four-year university.

They have competitive scholarships, need-based scholarships, and these are all eligible for PTK students only.

It's something I definitely encourage students to put on their resume.

It can help them increase their chances of earning a scholarship here at RCTC or elsewhere.

It just basically demonstrates their commitment to academic excellence.

- The RCTC Art Gallery is stuffed to the brim with student artwork completed in various media.

This student-judged exhibit is the largest of the year and includes the best of the best that RCTC art students have to offer.

- This is the Juried Student Show.

It's an annual exhibition of students enrolled in art classes here at RCTC.

And it's a big deal.

This is a big deal for us as a department.

It's a big deal for the students.

They come and they bring their friends and their family and they dress up.

And the gallery's packed like it is in no other exhibition here over the course of the year.

For many of them, this is the first time that they've participated in an exhibition, and it's a little bit scary and exciting.

- Usually I'm on the other end of just like walking by and like seeing other people's work.

And there's always really cool stuff in here.

So it feels nice to be on the other end of it.

- I was so proud (laughs).

I was like, there's no way.

Like, I was expecting like no piece to make in, because there are so many like good artwork here.

And like hearing that two out of three of the piece that I turn in like got chosen, and I was like, oh my God.

It means so much.

- It's an exciting event for us here in our department at RCTC and for our students, and a way to celebrate all the hard work that they're doing.

- The show runs for the third week of April.

For "R-Future," I'm Macy Lee.

- Thank you for joining us today.

I hope you learned as much as I did about all that's going on in our city and all the wonderful people making it happen.

For more content produced right here in Rochester, please be sure to check us out on Facebook and Twitter at #RTown.

I'm Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, host of "R-Town," the show about Rochester.

We'll see you next time.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music ends) (bright music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(birds squawking)