Cow Tipping Press visits Waseca Library for public reading

A large crowd attended a public reading of the newly published book “The Death of Raggedy Ann” at the Waseca Public Library the afternoon of Friday, May 9. Published by Cow Tipping Press out of Minneapolis, the book is a composite of pieces written by neurodiverse individuals who live in Waseca and recently completed a creative writing course.

Seven authors gave readings to an excited audience. The lights were dimmed so each author could read their work while accompanying animations were projected to a screen. The animation was done by Dane Cree who also created the illustrations for “The Death of Raggedy Anne.” Cree said much of his inspiration comes from Shel Silverstein. “I try to replicate what the author means without them being there with me.” As far as Raggedy Ann and Andy, he said “My mother had the dolls, and I remember them from when I was little.” His favorite part of this process has been working with the recordings to the accompanying animated videos which were played after each reading.

The first brave soul to speak was Alex Blake, who read his poem “Talking Cars,” which is set in the year 2045. The poem is an argument between a car and its owner. Blake was at the reading with his girlfriend Anna Marken who was also reading later on in the show, they sat next to each other. Nathan Gottschalk is fascinated by crossover stories and he’s a good dancer. His story “The Death of Raggedy Anne” went on to serve as the title for the book and the basis for the  cover artwork. His story was a dark tragedy about a sister saving her brother and dying in the process.

Mary Sue Hagerty likes being in the Special Olympics and has three cats. She read her two stories, “Dream + The Last Day” and “A Part of My Daily Routine” about having a lot of work to do and needing time to wake up to do it. Allie Johnson was with her mom, Audry and she has a cat named Keye. She loves all her dreams including the nightmares, My Little Pony and creepypasta. Her animation was the Earth and the Moon teaming up to fly to the sun and then eating it. Beth Lieser’s piece “Moon and a Firefly” was about the moon falling in love with a firefly. Her other story was “Believing in Love at First Sight,” a story about love at the airport.

Anna Marken, girlfriend to Alex Blake, loves spending time with her two kids, and her cat Snowy and her boyfriend. Her story “Northern Lights” takes place in Sterling, Colorado, and has a winter setting. Her second is the longest in the book, titled, from “Blue Eyed Girl” and speaks of her mother dating a very tall man, her grandmother and grandfather and how much time she likes to spend with them. The final person to speak was Ben Sather who needed assistance speaking with his phone. His story,  titled “Weak” was a powerful statement about himself as a strong person, a smart person and someone who would be a good friend, if he was only given the chance.

Descriptions and readings from the writers seemed to make a powerful connection to the audience members who came to see them. All of the authors wanted to say “Thank You” to everyone who helped with the day’s event. Anyone wanting to check out any of the books from the Cow Tipping Press are invited to visit www.cowtippingpress.org, or come check them out from the Waseca Public Library.