Taught by Aisha Sabatini Sloan / Four Thursdays: July 30 through August 20 / 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm / $135.00
Personal essays may seem polished on the surface, but we all know that they are a bit of a hodge podge—the result of dusting off old memories, interviewing friends and family, examining photographs, and researching the history and science that help to contextualize our stories. When we are alone at our desks, this process may seem daunting, and sometimes that exhaustion can show up on the page. How can we invigorate the idea of research so that we feel exhilarated by the prospect of collecting material? In this class we will consider the process of gathering material for essay writing as a kind of adventure—one that embraces synchronicity and opens up our expectation of what an essay can reveal. We will pursue various activities in order to locate new directions for research, play with formal approaches to build a narrative around these ideas, and polish drafts together so that everyone leaves with fresh material. Part studio, part workshop, this course will give us the chance to explore the Poetry Center’s collection and give one another feedback so that we can all chart new pathways toward discovery.