Well, the new semester has begun and I am rolling for fall. The good people at The Muse Writing Center in Norfolk have invited me back to teach another original course, this time on race, culture and ethnicity. There will be all kinds of open discussion, fabulous work to explore and new bridges to build when we embark. And shouldn't we be building these bridges already??? Just the last few months (not to mention the last few hundred years!) in this country (not to mention the world!) tell us this is so. It's only four weeks and everyone is invited (Come one, what have you got to lose?) Please sign up for the class and join the conversation if you can. Here are the details:
Writing Across the Lines: Poetry Exploring Race, Culture and Ethnicity
We’ve all heard that we are meant to be moving toward a "post-racial" America and society at large, but where do we find ourselves right now? In the age of Obama, Trayvon Martin, the Arab Spring, codeswtiching, revolution and appropriation, race still informs much of what we find in the news as well as how we think about ourselves and each other. How have writers in the past examined race, culture and the tensions that exist between the ever-ready factions? What type of new questioning is being undertaken by contemporary writers and what is still being left unsaid? In this workshop for advanced poetry students, we will explore the works of various poets and writers (James Baldwin, Nawal El Saadawi, Sharon Olds, Tony Hoagland, Major Jackson, Honoree Fanonne Jeffers, Jehanne Dubrow, Amy Chua and many, many others) who dare to wrestle with the tension and historicity of race as well as write and discuss our own poems that help define who we are, how we came to be formed and what continues to shape us across the color lines.
Sundays, 4-6:30 p.m. (bi-weekly)
a 4 week session beginning October 20
Instructor: Remica Bingham
Open to: poets with some workshop experience
Meets: October 20, November 3, 17, December 1
Session cost: $155 ($145 returning students)
