2008 FLA members Marissa McNamara, Greta Lind,
Stephanie Leftwich-Nordham, Kathy Wade,
Stephanie Dunlap, Tina Holsapple and Bron Park gather in the circle at the Moye Center.
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FLA 2009 - New Design!
Up to now, the FLA's
transformative leadership program has been offered by Mary Pierce Brosmer every
other year. The Pioneer Class completed the training in 2004, the Builders in
2006, and this year, the Weavers Class. Typically, the next FLA
training would be offered in 2010. However, the interest expressed by so
many of you, along with the request to consider a different program model,
leads us to announce a new opportunity to take part in the FLA
in 2009.
We are happy to announce plans to offer a newly designed FLA
2009 for certification and/or licensing, which includes weekend sessions,
online and phone sessions, and one week-long session in June. Additional
weekend sessions are included for those seeking licensing. This new model
will make it more possible for women - and men, we hope - to take advantage of
the long weekends (MLK and Presidents Day, e.g.) with minimal disruption of
work and / or personal schedules. All sessions except for the week-long
June session will take place at the WWf(a)C Writing Center in Cincinnati.
Click here to download a pdf brochure. Call 513-272-1171 for more information.
Upcoming Samplers
Have your creative juices dried up? Let WWfaC get you started again!
Have you heard about WOMEN WRITING FOR (a) CHANGE but you're not sure if it's for you?
Come and see, no obligations!
Register to come by calling 513-272-1171. Bring a friend! Our upcoming samplers will be held
from 1-2:30 at our home in Silverton:
- Coed Sampler THIS SATURDAY, June 21
- Coed Sampler July 19
- Coed Sampler August 16
Bringing Words to the World
The Radio Circle has been renamed the New Media Circle, to reflect a shift from radio to podcasting. With less radio time available, we have
begun to record, produce and edit our own programs, hosted by Mary Pierce Brosmer. Visit our website to listen. Soon, podcasts will
be available on iTunes. If you would like to be a guest, or have an idea for a show, please email us.
New Website for Author's Circle
Visit the Author's Circle new website - www.womenwritingevents.com - for details and updates about this fall's program.
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Janet Kalven (r) is honored by Kathy Wade (c) and her Thursday night
classmates, including Claudia Crusan (l)
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Janet Kalven Celebrates her
95th Birthday
At the ripe age of eighty,
Janet Kalven joined Women Writing for (a) Change. A founding member of Grailville in Loveland, Janet had a
story to tell, articles to publish, a book or two to write. Already a skilled writer, reader and
long-time feminist activist, Janet sought the support of other women writers,
as she invisioned telling the Grail's story.
Since Janet's first class in January 1993, she has not missed a semester. Her perfect attendance includes over thirty
fifteen-week writing semesters at WWf(a)C, not including the seven-week summer
semesters, which Janet has missed only when she has been on cruises.
The Thursday night class of
WWf(a)C, which Janet has been attending, recently celebrated Janet's 95th birthday, with chocolate cake and one big candle. The twenty women, led by teacher Mary Ann
Jansen, sat in the writing circle, sharing written words and personal
reflections with Janet. She smiled as
women expressed their admiration for one who inspires by "showing up at the
page," to chronicle her insights and questions, joys and losses,
disappointments and successes with clarity, honesty and humility. Her precise prose and her moving poetry,
dealing with everything from politics and change to aging and the environment,
leave both young and younger in awe. One
of Janet's small-group members, a twenty-something, shared: "Janet, I love the way you come to class
every week prepared. Your no-nonsense
approach keeps us on our toes." At 95,
one could be excused for bringing "old writing." Not Janet. She writes nearly every day at her computer,
and prints out copies for her small-group members, so they can more easily
offer feedback on her craft.
In 1995, Janet wrote and
published Women Breaking Boundaries,
a history of the Grail movement in the United
States, with a focus on the founding of Grailville in Loveland, Ohio. Janet attributes the book's completion to her
regular attendance at Women Writing for (a) Change, where she brought her
manuscript and received encouragement and feedback. Since then, Janet has published numerous
articles, and she continues to work on her memoir, bringing chapters to share
with her writing group.
In 2005, Janet faced several
obstacles to her continuing attendance of WWf(a)C classes. First, she was required to relinquish her
driver's license, no longer able to drive her bright yellow VW bug from her
home in Northside to the writing center.
The other obstacle was that WWf(a)C was on the second floor of a
building without an elevator, and her aging knees would no longer allow for
stairs. The second obstacle was
eliminated in January 2006, when WWf(a)C Foundation launched a capital campaign
to purchase a new home in Silverton - an ADA
accessible building with an elevator. As
for transportation, there are a number of generous writing classmates willing
to pick up Janet and drive her home after class.
On her 95th
birthday, Wwf(a)C's Executive Director, Kathy Wade, presented Janet with a gift
certificate, offering unlimited access to WWfaC's classes, workshops and
retreats - no expiration date. "You'd
better be careful with this," Janet said when presented with the gift. "I plan to live a lot longer!" Laughter
around the circle and applause
indicated that everyone at WWfaC hopes to be around to celebrate Janet's 100th
birthday in 2013!
Affiliate News
Women
Writing for (a) Change ~ Vermont is accepting registrations for a Summer Writing Retreat in the Green Mountains of Vermont's NE
Kingdom Friday July 11th - Wednesday July 16th. Enjoy writing and
sharing in community, walking, swimming, eating
organic vegetarian food prepared by staff at Sky Meadow Retreat
Center.
For more information, visit www.womenwritingvt.com
for downloadable brochure.
The Aurorean, a New England biannual poetry review has
published one of Sarah
Bartlett's poems: from HUNTER's MOON, I. New
Moon. In addition, Sarah was invited by
the editors of three new anthologies of writing by women to submit articles. Her
four articles have been accepted; information about their appearance is pending
the final selection of a publisher.
Around
Town
Cincinnati Writers Project is currently accepting
submissions for their 2008 anthology: NOT
FROM AROUND HERE, ARE YOU? All submissions must incorporate this
theme in their work in some way. Anyone can submit a piece for the anthology, however
writers whose work is chosen must be dues paying Cincinnati Writers Project
members before the anthology is finalized for publication. CWP membership is
$25.00 and new memberships will be valid through October 2009. For submission guidelines, please contact wcarsky@comcast.net
Anni Gibson, Kay Chenevey and Cynthia Perry Colebrook are
three WWFAC writers recently published in Inspired Mother Magazine (www.InspiredMother.com). Says editor Jen Redmond, "I've been impressed with the submissions from your writers and welcome
additional work for consideration."
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Writing Prompt
"Think of your imagination as a big, freshly plowed, fertile field. Your critic is a gardener
with only a pair of grass clippers and a few thoughts on how the plants should look. You are the sun, the rain and the seeds of ideas growing
beneath in darkness. The plants will all grow in their own directions if you let them. You mustn't let the gardener snip off the green
sprouts before the sunlight touches them, or trim a rose so it will look like a cabbage plant. You must feel the excitement of letting them
grow, chanting always to yourself, 'Look at the flowers I am making!'"
-- Barry Lane, Discovering the Writer Within: 40 Days to More Imaginative
Writing
What response does this quote evoke in you? What is your initial gut reaction? Write for 10
minutes without stopping; without letting your gardener use the clippers.
When you reread your writing, take notice the flowers you are making.
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