Journal created by Stella Cruz |
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The Necessity to Meet the Times
Literature of Restoration
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These times: Chaos and collapse cannot be dismissed -- and at the same time, we detect undeniable spiritual presences, complex communications from more than humans and moments of heart rending beauty.
A small circle of gifted and exceptional individuals, devoted to their writing, recognizing the dire conditions afflicting all living beings and thinking deeply about literature and how writing can serve these times and the future, will gather both on the land in Topanga, CA as well as on Zoom and form an intimate and conscious community
Many beautiful and profound works and explorations have been launched through such gatherings in the last 25 years. Many writers have emerged and many have been transformed, their lives deepened by this intense, often luminous writing experience. Reading to each other and listening to each other’s work with heartfelt interest is an essential aspect of this weekend.
This intensive meets from Saturday through Friday night. It provides an opportunity to begin as well as to enter more deeply into a manuscript. It calls us to consider what must be written now, to break open the forms, to explore hidden realms, to devote ourselves rigorously to the voices that are calling to us. It is an opportunity to engage, experiment, be wise and dare.
In this week we will address our writing and the issues that must be addressed, through formal and informal teaching, directed and spontaneous writing, circle work and individual sessions, time on the land or in contemplation in our own place. Literature of Restoration developed in response to the times and the need to shift the literary habits and values that inadvertently take us to extinction, climate collapse and social chaos. Engaging storytelling, dream telling, ethical reflection, indigenous and wisdom traditions and the voices of both the visible and invisible presences, we write on behalf of a vital and sustainable future for all beings. We will work in prose, but the Intensive lends itself to writing in any form – fiction and non-fiction, memoir, theater, prose and poetry.
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Circumstances are calling for a significant change in form from past Intensives.
The Intensives were always in person on the land until Covid demanded that we stop traveling and remain in our homes and technology accommodated us. Since then, our writing community has expanded and not everyone can travel and many prefer not to. Others need to get away to write and may be longing for different connections with the land and each other. Accordingly, we are offering both possibilities.
We are asking those who will be flying or driving a long distance to come with a carbon offset plan to cover the trip.
We will be meeting from 9 am to 6:00 pm. Participants on the land are required to bring their own food. Normally, we would meet until 9 pm. Now this time is to be devoted to writing if you are on the west coast and/or in the morning if you are on the east coast. There will be some variations to include the Day of Silence and we will end on Friday at 2 pm.
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Information on travel, hotels, and all fees are available from Jude Weber who has been organizing the Intensives for many years.
We are recommending refundable tickets and lodging, as there are so many variables to consider these days.
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FEES, APPLICATION PROCESS, AND REGISTRATION: |
The number of participants is limited and to be balanced between those on the land and on zoom. To create an equilibrium with the hybrid form, and hold a space for you, we need confirmation by deposit that you are participating on the land by April 5th. The fee for the Intensive is based on a sliding scale for tuition. The fee is inevitably higher for those who are on the land. A deposit reserves a space once the application process is completed. Payment plans are possible under special conditions. Please contact Jude Weber for more information.
Then send an excerpt from your current writing project and a letter of intention of no more than ten manuscript pages 1.5 spacing whether you are applying for the Zoom or On the Land version. Your letter could outline your background and interests and any other information, including dreams, that might be relevant to understanding how the weekend and the work might serve you and the world. Send the letter to Jude Weber and Deena Metzger via email.
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To familiarize yourself with Deena’s work and concerns read some pieces posted on her website, her blog Ruin and Beauty, and Desperate Love Letters to a Wounded Earth on Substack, or choose from her most recent writing: La Vieja: A Journal of Fire, the just reissued novel, What Dinah Thought, or the long awaited novel on climate change and restoration, A Rain of Night Birds, the award-winning novel La Negra y Blanca, or the novel Feral. Other books you might read are Entering the Ghost River: Meditations on the Theory and Practice of Healing, Ruin and Beauty: New and Selected Poems; The Other Hand; Writing For Your Life; Tree: Essays and Pieces and Intimate Nature: The Bond Between Women and Animals. |
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