Week 3, March 17–23, 2013

Sunday, March 17, 2013
From the Top
A Writing Workshop led by Alison Lobron
Blodgett House, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

“I have so much to say, but can’t figure out where to start!” If these words sound familiar to you, you might enjoy this hour-long session aimed at helping writers craft great beginnings.  Through a series of fun short exercises, you’ll experiment with different ways into stories important to you and get an introduction to the Berkshire Writing Workshop, a Simon’s Rock summer program aimed at aspiring and established adult writers, directed by Alison Lobron.  Please bring a pen and notebook.

Alison Lobron is a journalist and the founder/director of the Berkshire Writing Workshop at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. A recent transplant to the Berkshires, she is a regular contributor for The Boston Globe Magazine, where she writes often about education, urban life, and relationships. She has also been an editor and writer at CommonWealth magazine, where she won several awards for her political writing. Alison’s teaching experience includes work with high school students at Concord Academy, graduate students at Harvard University, and adult learners at the independent Grub Street writing school in Boston. www.alisonlobron.com

Sunday, March 17
Writing with Prompts
Workshop led by Frances Roth
Bushnell-Sage Library, Sheffield, 2–4 p.m.

This workshop is designed for beginners who think they might like to write but aren’t quite sure how to get started, as well as for writers with experience who are having trouble fitting writing into their busy schedules. Writing from prompts and practice writing will serve both the novice and the seasoned writer. We will also explore an exercise called five-minute words. Everyone is welcome regardless of writing experience.

Frances Roth leads a book group and a poetry read-around group every month at the Sheffield Library. She is a member of two local writing groups and a poetry critique group. Her most recent poems were published in the spring and fall editions of The Avocet, a literary journal of nature poetry.     www.avocetreview.com

Tuesday, March 19
Writing for the Web
Workshop led by Susanna Opper
Lenox Library, 6–8 p.m.

It may not be poetry or fiction, but you can still write lively, interesting prose to get your message across on the Web. In a mere 300 to 500 words you can tell an organization’s story, promote an event, describe a product or process, and provide value to your reader at the same time. Writing tight, easy­to-read copy takes practice, but you can learn important principles in this workshop. Before you come, gather your thoughts about something you want to promote online—in a newsletter, blog, or website.

Susanna Opper has more than forty years’ experience in business communications for top Fortune companies and small businesses. Today she specializes in helping businesses, nonprofits, and solopreneurs with their messaging requirements. A pioneer in online communication, she published, in 1992, the seminal work Technology for Teams: Enhancing Communication in Networked Organizations. Her newsletter, Web Words, reaches nearly 1,500 subscribers monthly and has been published for more than six years. www.shawenon.com

Wednesday, March 20
WRites of Passage and the Final Journey: The End of Fertility, Aging, and Death
Workshop led by Ann-Elizabeth Barnes and Angela Vuagniaux
Sruti Yoga Center, 33 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, 7–9 p.m.     srutiyogacenter.com

Participants will be invited to explore some of the most pivotal moments in their lives, using writing prompts, discussion, freewriting, and optional sharing.

Ann-Elizabeth Barnes is the author of A Free Woman on God’s Earth: The True Story of Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman, the Slave Who Won Her Freedom. Ann-Elizabeth dedicates her life to bringing the story of Mumbet to the world, starting with Berkshire County school children. She also provides a service, Sacred Undertaking, which helps families care for their loved ones at home after death. She lives in Great Barrington, MA, with her husband and two dogs. www.ann-elizabethbarnes.com

Angela Vuagniaux writes nonfiction to make sense of her new phases of life as a menopausal stepmother to a pubescent eleven-year-old, while healing from her experience as a teenage birth mother. Over the years she has been a writer, teacher, vagabond, grant writer, and caregiver. She has participated in numerous writing workshops and led a few of her own. The themes in this series are her current passion.

Thursday, March 21
Kripalu presents:
Jump-Start Your Memoir: Write It from the Heart
Workshop led by Nancy Slonim Aronie
Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Lenox, 7:30–9:30 p.m.  Free but pre-registration is required. To register, call 800-741-7353.

We’ll take the “marrow” of our lives—the good, the bad, and everything in between— and transform it out of our bodies and onto the page. We’ll turn our life experiences into gold through short, interactive writing exercises.

Nancy Slonim Aronie is the author of Writing from the Heart, a commentator for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and a teaching fellow for Robert Coles at Harvard University. A recipient of the Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Eye of the Beholder Award, Nancy lives on Martha’s Vineyard, where she runs the Chilmark Writing Workshop. writingfromtheheart.wordpress.com

Thursday, March 21
Garbage into Gold
Workshop led by Laura Didyk
Berkshire South/Jenifer House, Great Barrington, 6:30–8:30 p.m.

There’s a myth about successful writers: they know what they want to write; they sit down and write it, brilliantly, on the first try. Wrong. Sometimes, most times, we need to write (and write and write) to find our subject matter, to arrive at a turn of phrase, an image, or a piece of dialogue that will bring us to the gold of our own work. In this workshop, writing practice, writing exercises and on­the‐spot assignments will help us quiet our inner editors long enough to surprise even ourselves.

Laura Didyk earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama. Her teaching experience ranges from the college classroom, to a state prison, to community classes throughout the Berkshires. Her work has appeared in national literary magazines. lauradidyk.com

Saturday, March 23
Poetry Compote: An Improvisational Poetry Workshop for Women
Led by Lisken Van Pelt Dus
Mason Library, 10–11:30 a.m.

A compote is like a jam, but fresher. . . . This will be an energizing improvisational poetry workshop for women of all experience levels, featuring a series of quick writing prompts and interactive sharing.

Lisken Van Pelt Dus is a poet, teacher, and martial artist, living in Pittsfield, MA. She teaches writing and languages at Monument Mountain Regional High School. Her poetry can be found in Conduit, the South Carolina Review, qarrtsiluni, upstreet and in her chapbook, Everywhere at Once (Pudding House Press, 2009).  lvpdpoetry.blogspot.com

This workshop has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances and will be rescheduled later in the spring.

Welcoming Spring with Silence and the Written Word
Led by Tammis Coffin and Christine Ward
Pleasant Valley Nature Sanctuary, 9 a.m.–noon.
Registration: $15 includes Sanctuary admission ($10 for Massachusetts Audubon Society members and Lenox residents).
Space is limited; to register, contact goodcanoe@yahoo.com.

Step out of your busy life to join other women for a peaceful retreat at Pleasant Valley Nature Sanctuary in Lenox. We’ll begin by exploring nature, language, and mindfulness on a moderate hike. We’ll encounter streams, rocks, birds, and possibly a few early blossoms and butterflies. Then we’ll gather inside to write.    www.massaudubon.org

Tammis Coffin, MA, is most at home in the wild places of the world. Her mission is to celebrate and appreciate ecological textures with art and language. For the past ten years she has been organizing writing groups, poetry trails, community performances, and publications to celebrate places such as Monument Mountain, Bartholomew’s Cobble, and Tyringham Cobble. She coordinates the John Hay Ecology Center at the Fells Historic Estate and Gardens near Lake Sunapee, NH.    thefells.org

Christine Ward is a Berkshire County native who delights in the natural world. She cochairs Great Barrington Trails and Greenways and leads hikes and trail work at many local places, including Lake Mansfield and the Appalachian Trail. Christine is always searching for the wonders that inhabit every wild space. As she learns to look and to listen with greater attention, she finds these moments of connection and clarity are the wellsprings that enrich and inform her journey on this amazing planet.   gbtrails.org