Lori Wike
Winner of April 2014 Palindrome Contest:
Lori Wike
Palindrome:
Pose ad: ‘Elba fallacy amid aged? Amygdala error or real?’ Ad: gym ad? Egad! I may call a fabled Aesop.
The requirement: A palindrome with Elba plus “fallacy” with an optional second word: “error”. A palindrome using both topped an acceptable palindrome using only “fallacy”. All April submissions used both. Other April finalists are here.
Bio:
Lori Wike is principal bassoonist of the Utah Symphony and is on the faculty of the University of Utah and Westminster College. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Arts degree in Comparative Literature from UC-Irvine.
Statement:
I’ve been fascinated by palindromes ever since first learning about them as a child in a Martin Gardner book. I started writing palindromes several years ago when my interest in the form was rekindled by reading about the constraint-based techniques of several Oulipo writers. While I love all sorts of wordplay and puzzles, and I occasionally write some word-unit palindromes as well, I find writing the traditional letter-unit palindromes to be the most satisfying challenge, due to the extreme formal constraint of exact letter reversal–which is made even more fun in a contest like this where one has to include specific words in the palindrome. I also enjoy writing palindromes about specific themes (Poe’s Raven, Oedipus Rex, Verdi’s Aida) and I have plans to write a very long palindrome about Proust one of these days.
Mayo: I’d never heard of the Oulipo mathematical poets before. We should try a statistical version here some time.
Book Choice:
I would love to get a copy of Error and the Growth of Experimental Knowledge*–would you mind signing it for me as well?
Mayo: I’d be glad to sign it! I’m quite impressed that you’re a bassoondromist, and will undoubtedly raise the level of our palindrome offerings. Congratulations!
*Mayo, D. (1996), Error and the Growth of Experimental Knowledge (EGEK 1996), Chicago Press. [1998 Lakatos Prize winner in Philosophy of Science).
Error Statistics Philosophy 
I have a feeling I’m always going to try to use amygdala after this!