Art

THE LEARNING CURVE Spring 2012VISUAL ART & WRITING WORKSHOPS

Finding What You Didn't Lose: Journal Writing

“Good writing is about telling the truth.” – Anne Lamott

The poet E. E. Cummings wrote about “the trick of finding what you didn’t lose” by “returning to the place you never left…”  The writer’s journal can be a valuable and safe venue for exploring that place you “never left” and for writing what “you didn’t lose.”            

The focus of our writing time will be on the creative process— “freeing the writer within” and discovering new approaches to keeping a journal. Why keep a journal? What do writers do with their journals? What are the key elements of journal-writing? How does a writer write “toward the truth” of his or her life?

In our six week series, writers can expect to find answers for their personal situation and needs. Writers will learn to use the journal as a tool for greater awareness. Some of our workshop topics and journal writing themes will include: Writing and Silence (meditative writing), Writing from the Heart (intuitive writing), Writing and Voice (letters, personas, and photos).  Finally, we will discuss the possible shapes into which a journal can be transformed: Journal to Story – Journal to Poem – Journal to Essay. We’ll read the works of writers such as May Sarton, Anaïs Nin, and Audre Lorde (The Cancer Journals). In each workshop, there will be time to write. Both new and experienced writers are welcome!

When: Wednesdays, Feb 15 – Mar 21, 1:30-4:00pm
Where: St. Philip’s Plaza (See locations page for details)
Cost: $155 (6 sessions)

Instructor: Rita Magdaleno was born in Germany and grew up in Marcos de Niza, south-side Phoenix, Arizona. Rita’s mother was a German war bride and Rita’s father was from Mexico. Rita works as a “poet in the schools” for the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Also, she has facilitated journal-writing for cancer survivors and “Writing for Renewal” workshops.  Her publications include: Marlene Dietrich, Rita Hayworth, & My Mother, University of Arizona Press (2003), My New Backyard Garden, a bilingual children’s book (2006), and They Opened Their Hearts: Tucson’s Elders Tell WWII Stories to Tucson’s Youth – co-editor (2005). Rita’s poems and stories appear in national and international publications: Nimrod International Journal, Camino de Sol: Fifteen Years of Latina & Latino Writing; Puerto del Sol; Walking the Twilight: Women Writers of the Southwest; and Fever Dreams: Contemporary Arizona Poets.

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