2009 News
•JANUARY: Excerpt from Ithaka in 614: The HBI Ezine, an online magazine for Jewish women published by Brandeis University.
•FEBRUARY: Article in Reader's Digest about Christopher Thomas, a type-1 diabetic who turned his disease into a purpose, creating an online community, Diabetic Rockstar, and a charity, Fight-It.
•MARCH: Article in Reader's Digest about Lisa Rudes Sandel, founder of Not Your Daughter's Jeans.
•JULY: Return to the Iowa Summer Writing Festival!
Get Over Yourself! Writing the Personal Essay that Others Give a Damn About: July 11-12
The greatest challenge of a personal writer: to create work that is meaningful to others. The most crucial question a personal writer can ask in an effort to meet that challenge: who cares? In this intensive two-day workshop, through in-depth discussions and exercises in memory-mining, perspective, and tone, we’ll chip away at the block of marble (one’s whole life) to find the statue — the narrower story that becomes a personal essay’s focus. We’ll explore ways to tell that story originally and engagingly, in striving to achieve a uniqueness and at the same time, a universality: How can I make this story precisely mine? And simultaneously, how can I make my story interesting even to readers who haven’t shared my experience? At the end of the weekend, you’ll emerge with an in-the-works personal essay, and plans for revision and expansion. Introspectives with a desire to communicate, at all levels of writing experience (including none), are welcome. No navel-gazers, please.
Who Dat? Bringing Your Profile Subject to Life: July 13-17
The profile, one of the foundations of narrative journalism, is a portrait painted in words. A profile writer serves as the reader’s eyes and ears, enabling the reader to experience the subject as palpably as one can without meeting in person. In this course, we’ll learn the interviewing and the writing aspects of the profile process: doing background research on a subject, honing interviewing techniques, coming up with secondaries, and trying on various styles, all in order to most vividly and precisely bring the subject to life on the page. We’ll also explore well-known profiles such as Lillian Ross’s “Portrait of Hemingway,” Gay Talese’s “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” and Bob Greene’s “Muhammad Ali is the Most Famous Man in the World.”
Please note: This course is roughly half seminar (i.e. reading and discussion) and half workshop (executing a few short reporting/writing assignments and sharing them with the group). No writing to prepare in advance; all work will be new and generated during our week together. Inquisitive wordsmiths at all levels are welcome.
•FEBRUARY: Article in Reader's Digest about Christopher Thomas, a type-1 diabetic who turned his disease into a purpose, creating an online community, Diabetic Rockstar, and a charity, Fight-It.
•MARCH: Article in Reader's Digest about Lisa Rudes Sandel, founder of Not Your Daughter's Jeans.
•JULY: Return to the Iowa Summer Writing Festival!
Get Over Yourself! Writing the Personal Essay that Others Give a Damn About: July 11-12
The greatest challenge of a personal writer: to create work that is meaningful to others. The most crucial question a personal writer can ask in an effort to meet that challenge: who cares? In this intensive two-day workshop, through in-depth discussions and exercises in memory-mining, perspective, and tone, we’ll chip away at the block of marble (one’s whole life) to find the statue — the narrower story that becomes a personal essay’s focus. We’ll explore ways to tell that story originally and engagingly, in striving to achieve a uniqueness and at the same time, a universality: How can I make this story precisely mine? And simultaneously, how can I make my story interesting even to readers who haven’t shared my experience? At the end of the weekend, you’ll emerge with an in-the-works personal essay, and plans for revision and expansion. Introspectives with a desire to communicate, at all levels of writing experience (including none), are welcome. No navel-gazers, please.
Who Dat? Bringing Your Profile Subject to Life: July 13-17
The profile, one of the foundations of narrative journalism, is a portrait painted in words. A profile writer serves as the reader’s eyes and ears, enabling the reader to experience the subject as palpably as one can without meeting in person. In this course, we’ll learn the interviewing and the writing aspects of the profile process: doing background research on a subject, honing interviewing techniques, coming up with secondaries, and trying on various styles, all in order to most vividly and precisely bring the subject to life on the page. We’ll also explore well-known profiles such as Lillian Ross’s “Portrait of Hemingway,” Gay Talese’s “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold,” and Bob Greene’s “Muhammad Ali is the Most Famous Man in the World.”
Please note: This course is roughly half seminar (i.e. reading and discussion) and half workshop (executing a few short reporting/writing assignments and sharing them with the group). No writing to prepare in advance; all work will be new and generated during our week together. Inquisitive wordsmiths at all levels are welcome.
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