Jesse Waters and Donna Talarico pose with bees

Photo Credit: Michelle Johnsen

On Sunday, Jan. 25, two Elizabethtown College employees competed in the “Grown-up Spelling Bee” to raise money for The Triangle, an organization that hopes to sustain a vibrant literary community in Lancaster.

Jesse Waters, director of Bowers Writers House, and Donna Talarico-Beerman, director of integrated communications for the College, met with 18 other contestants at Tellus 360, an Irish pub in downtown Lancaster, to test their ability in spelling words recognized by the OED, Oxford English Dictionary and some downright Deitsch – the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect.

The Triangle [is] just what this community needs. . .”

The Triangle attracted 75 guests to the event, each of whom paid a $10 entrance fee. The money raised by the event goes toward supporting the literary life in south-central Pennsylvania, including the start of a new literary magazine, Third Point Press, planned for a February launch. The publication is open for submissions, and a third of the poems and short stories will be penned by regional authors. The event organizers said it is important to The Triangle that local writers do not feel they need to relocate to New York or Philadelphia to find a literary community.

“This was a great event,” Waters said. “Tyler and Erin, who run The Triangle, are just what this community needs — young, passionate people who’ve created their own, organic lit movement… and it’s really working!”

If you’re wondering, Waters made it to the second round before misspelling “Weyerbacher,” a brewery located in Easton, Pa. Talarico-Beerman lasted until the third round, where she missed “automaton.”

Both Waters and Talarico plan to help the organization in its mission; Bowers Writers House plans to host Triangle events and Talarico, who publishes a nonfiction literary magazine outside of her Elizabethtown duties, is teaming up with the duo for a few projects.