Centurion

Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: Campus News

Professor Bernadette McBride [Click to enlarge]

Many students at Bucks
know Professor Bernadette
McBride as a composition
and literature teacher; however,
they can now add poet
laureate to that list.
The third time's a charm
for McBride as she has been
named the 2009 Bucks
County Poet Laureate on her
third attempt at winning the
award.
McBride will be honored at
a reading and reception at 2
p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15 in the Orangery at the Newtown campus.
She will be accompanied by
2008 Poet Laureate Paula Raimondo
and the runners-up from
this year's contest. It's open to the
public and admission is free.
When she first was told of her
accomplishment she said she was
surprised and humbled by the
honor. Poetry is her first love and
she has a hard time explaining
why that is.
"That's like trying to explain
why I love someone: Do I love
my husband because of his dry
sense of humor, my children because
they made me a Mother's
Day card in third grade, my
mother because she's helped me
so much over the years? Of
course not; I simply love them,"
saidMcBride. "Likewise, for me,
this draw to poetry as a means of
self-expression is intangible, abstract,
yet undeniably known. I
can't not do it; it floods in without
my summoning it."
In addition to the reading of her
poem, she will be honored with a
proclamation from the Bucks
County Commissioners and receive
a $500 award.
AlthoughMcBride is thought of
as primarily a poet, she has written
several short stories and a few
essays, and also quite a few articles
when she worked as a journalist.
Her poetry has made an
appearance in certain journals
such as Ibbeston Street Press, the
Penwood Review, and Slow
Trains. In addition to that, she
placed second in the 2006 International
Ray Bradbury Writing
competition.
McBride is a Philadelphia native
and earned her B.A from
Holy Family University, and her
M.A. from St. Joseph's University.
She has been an educator
most of her adult life, teaching
junior and senior high school English
for 20 years and now continuing
to educate by teaching at
Bucks and Temple. She is also
teaching at New Hope-Solebury
Community School.
McBride currently lives in the
Holicong section of Buckingham
Township with her husband. She
has two children who are grown
as well as grandchildren and
stepchildren living all over the
Northeast.
The Bucks County Poet Laureate
program also includes the
High school Poet of the Year contest
each spring and is another
way that Bucks supports cultural
heritage.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools