Haiku North America 2017 (Santa Fe, New Mexico)
Haiku North America 2017 took place in Santa Fe, 'The City Different', from September 13-17, 2017. It was one of the biggest HNA conferences, with 225 registered attendees.
On Saturday, I was part of the panel on French Canadian Haiku with Maxianne Berger and Claudia Coutu Radmore.
During the event, I was the official cartoonist-in-residence. I was taking photos and videos, and making comics so I could present an overview of the conference on Sunday.
Here are some comics and photos from the HNA 2017 conference in Santa Fe.
Day 0 | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |Day 5 | Bandelier Monument | Video
Tuesday September 11
I landed in Albuquerque Sunport airport. To reach Santa Fe, I had the choice between taking the airport shuttle or the Railrunner commuter train. Master Kawazu took The Roadrunner, the official state bird of New Mexico, who can run up to 20 mph and eats rattlesnakes.
Bonus feature: read my blog post about how I desperately tried to catch a glimpse of a roadrunner during my trip to Santa fe
I arrived at the beautiful Santa Fe Hacienda and Spa, a beautiful adobe architecture.
After some rest, I had dinner at the Hotel Santa Fe restaurant with some haiku friends. We were intrigued by the salt and pepper shakers: you could shovel salt onto your food!
The battery-operated candle (a flashlight reflecting light on an oscillating piece of plastic) was totally mesmerizing. "Now we know what to get you for Christmas" joked Deborah Kolodji.
Hotel Santa Fe
The hotel was quite nice. At the entrance, the words Mah-Waan, Mah-Waan (Welcome) were greeting us inside Hotel Sante Fe, the only hotel owned by Picuris pueblo.
The hotel had free shuttles: London Taxis and Big Barney.
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Wednesday September 12 (Day 1)
Before the conference began, I woke up early to explore Santa Fe.
The hotel shuttle took me up Museum Hill. It was a terrible idea to start on the highest point of the city when you are just getting use to the altitude. When I walked at my regular (fast) pace, I found myself out of breath and had to slow down.
Browsing the collection of the Museum of International Folk Art, I quickly got dizzy.
I slowed down and had a much better time exploring the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture.
I had lunch at the Museum Hill Cafe with a beautiful view of the mountains.
I took the free Santa Fe shuttle to come down Museum Hill for a quick look at the city, starting with Canyon Road.
Canyon Road
Canyon Road is a street lined up with hundreds of art galleries. I only did two blocks and found a kinetic art garden I fell in love with.
Loretto Chapel
At the Loretto Chapel I admired the beautiful spiral staircase built by a mysterious carpenter (believed to be St. Joseph).
Santa Fe's Oldest House
Santa Fe's Oldest House was located in a small street (almost an alley). You had to move when a car was passing through.
San Miguel (Oldest church)
Right next to the Oldest House was the San Miguel Mission, the oldest church.
Basilica Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi
Santa Fe Plaza
Architecture
I enjoyed the different architectural styles of Santa Fe, especially the adobe.
Burro Alley
I visited historic Burro Alley. There was a sculpture of a burro and various artwork in the tiny street.
Georgia O'Keeffe Museum Group Tour
At 2pm I walked to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum where I was scheduled to join the group tour at 3pm, but when the tour started, I had alread been in the museum for an hour and was too tired to follow along. I took a few pictures, and skipped the tour to explore the city some more.
Breakfast Burrito
Did you know breakfast burritos were invented in Santa Fe? At the Burrito Co. I ordered a breakfast burrito with green chile. I couldn't help take a picture of the frog that was on the counter.
Nice New Mexico sun
Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico. It's located 7,000 feet over sea level. It's a high desert. Very close to the sun, so it's important to wear sunscreen and a hat.
Chile peppers are everywhere in Santa Fe. You can't escape them. In restaurant, they ask you the national state question of New Mexico: Red or Green? Meaning, do you want red or green chile in your food. If you want both red and green, you say 'Christmas'
Registration
At the conference registration desk, we picked up our badge and a bag full of Santa Fe goodies.
Reception
The conference attendees got together for a reception and delicious tamales at the beautiful Amaya restaurant.
Weathergrams
In the courtyard, there were weathergrams hanging from trees. Later, they announced that the first sixty haiku to be submitted to the anthology were transformed into a beautiful weathergrams.
Ghost Ranch
no need
for a dreamcatcher
- Lidia Rozmus (Earthsigns: HNA anthology 2017)
global warming
a stamp from Mars
on the envelop
- Fay Ayogi (Earthsigns: HNA anthology 2017)
Kaleidoscope Reading
The first Kaleidoscope reading took place featuring Bill Kenney, Brad Bennett, Charles Trumbull, William Scott Gallaso, Kathabela Wilson, Penny Harter (reading for Terry Ann Carter).
Glass cover frog
At the Hotel Santa Fe, I was excited to see a frog on the glass cover. I told my roomate: 'Check this out. They knew we are here for a haiku conference, so they put a frog on the glass cover!'
My roomate turned the glass around. 'It's not a frog, she said. It's a deer!'
Turns out the deer was the symbol of the hotel.
But once I'd seen the frog, I was unable to see the deer again and kept seeing the carton frog.
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Thursday September 13 (Day 2)
Breakfast
A continental breakfast was included with the room at Hotel Santa Fe.
Opening and Blessing
Blessing by Craig Quanchillo, Governor of Picurís Pueblo.
Welcome by Michael Welch, Sondra J. Byrnes, Charles Trumbull
Anthology reading
Reading from Earthsigns, the HNA Anthology featuring sumi-e by Lidia Rozmus. Copies can be ordered on CreateSpace and on Amazon.
Keynote Speech
Skin tones are earth tones was the title of the keynote speech by Ruth Yarrow.
One of the funniest moments of the conference happened when Ruth finished reading a haiku and an electronic voice broke the silence, loud and clear, saying:
I'M SORRY. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.
The audience erupted in laughter. 'I am not going to acknowledge this tricker' playfully replied our keynote speaker Ruth before continuing her speech.
Turns out it was someone's phone who went nuts right after Ruth finished reading her haiku. It was very funny.
The State of Wonder: Land of Enchantment, by Scott Mason
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Workshops
This year, there were beginner workshops on writing and revising haiku.
(Old Man Gloom is the Zozobra, a giant puppet that people stuff with negativity - such as divorce papers - and then they burn it at the Santa Fe Fiesta that takes place on Labour day weekend.)
Weathergrams
During lunch, members of Escribiente, The Albuquerque Calligraphy Society, were calligraphing haiku on paper.
Sumi-e workshop
Lunch
Mexican Haiku: Tradition, Translation, and Transgression, by Cristina Rascón-Castro
New Mexico Haiku, Miriam Sagan
Haiku Performance, by Jim Kacian
Jim gave us tip to perform our haiku. His objective was to: 'inspire you to consider what haiku performance is and what it might be, and to make of it something that someone besides your mother would enjoy.' (HNA17 program)
Book table
The number of haiku books at this HNA conference was impressive. This was probably 'The most haiku books ever in one place', mentioned the organizer Charles Trumbull.
There was bout $15,000 in sale were made during the event. HNA doesn't keep a cut of the sale, so 'It's all you exchanging money amongs yourselves.' said Charles.
Freebie table
Bonus material: a blog post reviewing the trifolds of HNA 2017 (posted October 11, 2017)
Auction
Altitude sickness
After 4pm, I left the conference to go rest since altitude sickness hit me pretty hard that afternoon. Altitude sickness feels like you're going to have the flu (headaches, body aches, etc.). Just the touch of my clothes or bed sheets against my skin was painful. Even though I was in bedrest for 12 hours, I only managed to sleep 3h 45 minutes. Insomnia and restlessness are also part of the altitde sickness symptoms.
Bonus feature: read my blog post about altitude sickness.
Kaleidoscope reading
I missed the kaleidoscope reading but found an extract from Jim Kacian's book after image on the internet.
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Friday September 14 (Day 3)
The sunrise over the Sangre de Cristo mountains (view from my hotel window).
African American Haiku (panel discussion)
John Zheng, Meta Schettler, Tiffany Austin, & Ce Rosenow gave an academic presentation.
Prior to the conference, I had been so excited to learn more about African American haiku that I went to the library to borrow books, including a book edited by John Zheng that included a lot of haiku by Richard Wright, James Emanuel, Sonia Sanchez, Lenard D. More.
How was amazed that I've never heard of Richard Wright before. He wrote 4,000 haiku in the last 18 months of his life. How did I not know about him?
Georgia O'Keeffe & the Haiku Aesthetic
It was a popular talk by Lidia Rozmus & Charles Trumbull
Lunch
Bizcochetos
For desert, we had bizcochetos. They are the national state cookies (New Mexico is the only state with a national state cookie). These cookies made of lard, flour, anis, cinamon, sugar, were delicious!
Haiga Gallery
There was a one-hour electronic screening of haigas created by participants of the haiga panel (Linda Papanicolaou, Melissa Allen, Terri L. French, Kris Moon (Kris Kondo), Patricia J. Machmiller, Carole MacRury, and Alexis Rotella.
When I entered the room, there was a pleasant voice narrating the slides. I thought this was part of the presentation but it turned out Sandi Pray (who was sitting in the front) was reading the haiga for those who couldn't read the haiku in the back. This was a pleasant addition to the slideshow.
Cover to Cover: Writing and Publishing a Book of Haiku
The panel featured Deborah P Kolodji (host), Brad Bennett, Paul Miller, KJ Munro, & Alan Pizzarelli
Native American Haiku—A Conversation
A beautiful multimedia presentation by Donna Beaver.
Forest Bathing
While the Native American Haiku session was taking place, in the other room, there was a workshop by Michael Dylan Welch about the art of Forest Bathing. This sparked my imagination.
Altitude sickness
4-5pm I skipped a session to get to the closest pharmacy to get Vitamine C and an extra supply of acetaminophene for my headaches. In the hotel shuttle bus, I met a participant who spent the morning in the emergency ward because his eye was bleeding. Altitude sickness is affecting a lot of participants. We were warned before hand, but I never thought it would be so bad.
HNA Memorial reading
5pm I made it back on time to attend the HNA memorial reading.
Dinner
Had a red chile cheeseburger at the Shake Foundation, just 3 minute walk from the hotel.
Altitude sickness
At 6pm, I retreat to my room. I managed to sleep 6 hours which is pretty good. No headache or body aches, but signs of bronchitis.
Sunset on Sangre de Cristo mountains.
People from Santa Fe called these mountains Sangre de Cristo mountains because at sunset the mountains are red like the blood of Christ. Glad I got to see this from my hotel room.
(This photo was taken shortly after a thunderstorm. Yes, it rained in the desert. There was even thunder!)
Kaleidoscope reading
I missed the kaleidoscope due to altitude sickness but found extracts from the books Seven Suns / Seven Moons (Tanya MacDonald and Michael Dylan Welch), Between Waves by Alexis Rotella, and Kala Ramesh online.
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Saturday September 15 (Day 4)
I was feeling sick this morning, but really didn't want to miss the Dance your way through haiku presentation by Kala Ramesh featuring bharatanatyam dancer Preethi Ramaprasad. I quickly got dresses and headed for breakfast so I wouldn't be late.
Dance your way through haiku
10-11h30 took a break
HNA Group Photo
We posed for a group picture outside the hotel. Just as photographer Garry Gay was ready to take the picture, an airport shuttle pulled between the group and the camera, generating much laughs.
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Haïjins & Haïkus in French-Canada: Beginnings & Trends
Presentations by Jessica Tremblay, Claudia Coutu Radmore, and Maxianne Berger
Translating Haiku: Where Spirit Meets Letter
David G. Lanoue transformed into Phil Donahue to ask us questions about haiku.
Seeing Haiku: Haiku in American Sign Language and Sign Mime
Jerome Cushman signed some haiku starting with some famous haiku by Nick Virgilio and Basho.
In the second part, he signed some haiku submitted by the audience.
Trends in Modern Haiga (panel)
The panelists were Linda M. Papanicolaou (chair), Melissa Allen, Terri L. French, Kris Moon (Kris Kondo), Patricia J. Machmiller, Carole MacRury, & Alexis Rotella.
Some tools and apps that were suggested for text and image: pixart (pissart?), Pix Monkey, Phonto, A+ signature, Photoshop PS Express, distress effects, photo toasters, Found Text Poetry imagery, Prisma (or Prizma) - a filter, waterLOGUE (transofrm photo into watercolour), Photo Blender, Mobile Monet, filter forge.
Some fun kids apps: Hello Crayon, Hello color pencil, hello oil painting
For test:
La Fiesta del Haikú
Reading of the two late-night renku by Marshall Hryciuk and Karen Soehne. One of the renku was titled 'The Ghost of Abiqui' and had 25 collaborators. 
Some renku links included:
'ceci n'est pas une pipe'
laughing maniacally
(one of the renku participants)
the teepee
stands empty
- Bill Mann (KJ Munro's husband, his first haiku!)
Announcement of the next HNA conference
Then it's time to announce the location of the next Haiku North America.
The next Haiku North America will take place in Winston-Salem (North Carolina) from August7-11, 2019. The organizing committee is Bob Moyer, Lenard D. Moore, Jessica Smith, David Russo, Julie Werther, Terri French. Theme will be community. Pre-conference events will involve community. Haibun contest. Haiku contest about chocolate (winner will see haiku printed on chocolate bar).
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Sunday September 17, 2017 (Day 5)
I was the official cartoonist-in-residence during the conference. At 11:00, I presented an overview of the conference in photos, and comics. Here's a short (edited) video featuring only the comics:
Closing
Final words by Michael Dylan Welch and invitation to go to HNA 2018 by Bob Moyer. The conference ends about 12:30. Some people go home, others head to lunch because Tanka Sunday starts at 1:00pm.
Thank you!
Thank you to the members of the HNA 2017 organizing committee for an unforgettable conference: Charles Trumbull, Cynthia Henderson, Sondra J. Byrnes, Miriam Sagan, and Scott Wiggerman.
Afternoon of sightseeing in Santa Fe
In the afernoon, I had time for more sightseeing. I purchased a Cultural Pass and I have two museums to visit in only 4 hours.
Railyard
I walk across the Railyard to catch the Santa Fe free pickup shuttle. The Railyard is a giant artists market. I also catch a glimpse of the RailRunner communiter train at the station.
At the New Mexico Museum of Art, I enjoyed discovering New Mexico art and also the beautiful courtyard.
At Pizza on the Roof, I eat while enjoying the view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and surrounding area.
Monday September 18, 2017 - Day 6 - Post Conference trip to Bandelier Monument
Preparing to leave the hotel for our trip to Bandelier National Monument.
The National Cemetery for veterans, visible from the bus, just outside Santa Fe.
The amazing landscapes of New Mexico between Santa Fe and Los Alamos.
evening falls
with every breath
another color
Agres Yvette (...), one of the winners of the haiku contest at HNA 2017
Rest Stop
A quick stop to stretch our legs on our way to Los Alamos. Beautiful view.
There are cave dwellings at the bottom of the mountain.
The guide pointed out that behind us was the old road to Los Alamos. I really liked the rock formation.
Our first stop is the Ray Bradbury museum in Los Alamos.
Entering Bandelier National Monument.
Bandelier Monument visitors centre.
Walking the main loop trail. We stopped to see a reconstructed kiva.
Our first view of the cave dwellings at the base of the mountain
Approaching the cave dwelling. There's a reconstructed house on the right side.
We're almost there. We can touch the salt-like surface.
Climbing ladders to access the dwelling.
Inside the cave dwelling.
Climbing down the tiny steps.
Petroglyps on rock.
On the way back to the Visitor's centre through a wooden trail.
Tuesday September 17, 2017
The Capitol of New Mexico
After packing up for my trip home, I had a few hours to go visit The Capitol of New Mexico.
Lucky me! In the rotunda, there was a bookbinding exhibit, Portable Magic: the art of the book, by the Santa Fe VBook Arts Group.
There were also 3 floors of artwork.
I also had a lovely stroll in the tunnel linking the capitol to the north building.
Conference photos
Wanna share these photos? The photos are available on my Facebook photo albums (in larger resolution):
Various pictures (freebie tables, etc.)
Day 6 - Bandelier Monument (post-conference tour)
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A well-deserved rest
Cartoonist-in-residence Jessica Tremblay enjoying tea on the balcony of the Hotel Santa Fe.
Haiku North America 2019
See you in Winston-Salem in 2019!
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