About
Nov 2nd, 2008 by Liz Bennefeld
As a poet and photo artist, I try to capture moments in words and photographs rather like one chases after a butterfly with a net…or sits motionless, waiting for the butterfly to land.
—Liz Bennefeld
My husband and I live in Fargo, North Dakota, with our two cocker spaniels (Rascal and Samantha). I am self-employed, and Al, after 18 years as a mainframe technician, is a computer programmer.
I was born within a few miles of here and grew up in a small farming town in western Minnesota. I always loved to read, and my parents encouraged my endeavor by reading to me (to us—I am the oldest of 9 children, 7 still living) and then handing me books that were among their own favorites. My growing up did not lack for challenges! It is perhaps true that the first books my contemporaries read contained such phrases as “See Spot run!” The first book I can remember reading is an illustrated edition of Jane Eyre.
The second novel I clearly remember reading, with a heavy dose of tales from Shakespeare, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Anderson in between, was Kidnapped by R. L. Stevenson. Somewhere in there my parents bought Compton’s Encyclopedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and I was routinely reading the books that my parents brought home from the library, as well as my own.
My first soap-carving (1st grade) was a trilobite; I’d come across photos in a recent Time Magazine. In 2nd grade, I was too busy reading the classroom encyclopedia to bother going out for recess. I believe that my addiction to the written word has been close to lifelong.
In early grade school I encountered science fiction books at the local library and decided that I wanted to be a space explorer when I grew up. The first SF book I read was Anthony Gilmore’s Space Hawk (Greenberg, 1952). That led me to Andre Norton’s books and, shortly after, to Robert Heinlein’s. (Norton’s The Stars Are Ours inspired my first SF poem, written when I was in 5th grade.)
The remainder of my life has been quite unremarkable. I started out in the sciences in college, hoping for a career in space science of some sort, but soon began having problems with chemical exposures, against which I have struggled for most of my life. (It seems that civilization makes me quite ill generally.) Having read most of the material previously, I switch to pursuing a B.A. in English literature, my junior year. I became fascinated with philosophy, thanks to Contemporary Religious Thought, a course taught by Paul Sponheim, who also had been the pastor at my father’s church for a year while I was in high school. So, those last three semesters I completed a major in philosophy, also.
My first job out of college was as a computer programmer, but I was not made for desk jobs. After less than a year I quit work at the life insurance company and found a position in computer operations with 1st National Bank in Fargo (which has morphed into Wells Fargo over the years), where I remained until 1984, when I took advantage of a severance option to leave there and start my own writing/editing service.
In 1991 Al and I met again (we had dated briefly during the early 70s), and in 1992 we married. I cherish him more with each passing day. (See my short story: “Falling in Love Slowly.”)
I am active in the Science Fiction Poetry Association as a proofreader, and I have been responsible for putting together the Online Halloween Poetry Reading web page since 2006. I still read voraciously. I take lots of photographs and turn them into artworks. I entered my first poetry contest in 2008, and one of my entries was a “Judge’s Pick,” which got it into the contest chapbook published in June 2009. The poem I submitted for publication in 2009 (”Endings,” Star*Line July/August) was nominated for a Rhysling Award (short form). Always something new to explore!
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