Literature & Writing
Take Up Your Pen!
Linda Conradi, M.L.A., visiting instructor
Creative writing encompasses a broad range of prose. In this class we will focus on short pieces that are tightly edited, compelling writing. You will write about what is important to you — issues and ideas that matter — honing your prose into essays, reviews, observations and/ or articles. Whether you are a newcomer or a seasoned writer, this nurturing workshop will encourage you to craft your writing to hook a reader at the first sentence and keep him/her engaged to the last punctuation mark. You will take home your own cache of writing to revise and polish. Come with a spirit of adventure, and take up your pen!
10:10 – 11:00am, two-week course
Shakespeare: A Study in Genius
Jeff Steele, M.A., Ph.D. candidate, Shakespeare Institute
Experience the sights and smells, the thrills and chills of Shakespeare’s world (vicariously). This survey covers his sources, inspirations, and influences, and will uncover and demystify many preconceptions about Shakespeare the man, as well as the early modern period in which he lived and selected elements within his plays and poems. Your instructor is a Shakespearean actor himself and will provide ample time to read, question, and even recite the works of one of the greatest poets in the English language. You can expect that this class will begin a new dialogue with the man and his times.
11:15am – 12:05pm, two-week course
Poetry: Words from the Heart
Linda Conradi, M.L.A., visiting instructor
While “poetry” eludes a simple description, you know a poem when you read it. Written across the ages, poetry can bring inspiration and illumination, and can fire the imagination. This class opens with a careful reading of the poems of Mary Baker Eddy with their historical context, and moves to a survey of both traditional and contemporary inspirational poetry written by a variety of poets, from the Psalmists to 21stcentury bards. You are invited to immerse your creative spirit in an appreciation of this timehonored tradition as you both read and write poetry. Long after Summer Session ends, you may be surprised by how often you return to your poems, fine-tuning and sharing them with others.
2:15 – 3:05pm, two-week course
