W ednesday^M ay 23, 201-2
newsed@clackamas.edu
The Clackamas P rint
(Left),Lidia Yuknavitch, author o f “The God People" a n d “Films o f W arp teaches how to write about real life in her workshop called “M em oir a n d Truthiness: Breaking Down
L ife.” (Right) A m ber „Spring singer!songwriter, strums a ukelele as she teaches writers how to turn their words into song. Her workshop was titled Anyone can write a song.
COMPOSE: Writers rock McLoughlin Hall
Don Weston is an author
who has written manuscripts
Writer’s conferences usually and is hoping to get published.
include a fee, but COMPOSE He attended Monica Drakes
and all of its workshops were ' session titled “Breaking and
Continued from Page 1
free t o a t t e n d : T h e w rite rs -crab
shop a t the C O M P O SE luncheon.
Coupon:
G et one Fatboy
and get th e
I
tn á o n e l/lV r ic e
(Double
cheeseburger,
small Sry and
medium drink)
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Open
7 Days
a Week
at i t a.m.
created this conference,. two
years ago. The English depart
ment’ has taken it over this
year and worked to make the
conference larger. According to
Trista Cornelius, the depart
ment has decided to spend all
the money allocated, for writers’
workshops throughout the year
and provide one large event.
“We decided rather than
paying an author to come to
an event now and then, we
just put all the money into this
event,”- said-Cornelius. “We are
basically saving. alLof our, pen
nies for this to really reach out
to people.”7 .,
As the featured special
guest, Petersen taught a work
shop titled “With Words from
the Mouth of a Stranger.” She
spoke at lunch and was intro
duced by Kate Gray,, English
instructor who had , nothing
but words of respect for. her.
“It gets a little bit brighter
when she walks into, a room,”
said Gray. “Opening her books
is like opening .70 layers of
chocolate.”
The applause was thunder
ous as Petersen took the podi
um. Her presence was stately
and her voice rang through
out Gregory Forumwlth calm
power and impact as she pre
sented her thoughts to the
eager audience. Petersen began
her speech by thanking those
who organized the event and
then spoke to the advantages of
COMPOSE.
3 “I- think all of you who
are. here realize how unusual
such- a gathering/workshop is,”
said Petersen. ‘Refreshments,
a lunch, a lovely lunch; anti
everything is no charge. What
a generous event to" offer to the
' community.” £
turn their words into music.
“I think writers always kind
óf want to’ be musicians and
musicians always want to be
writers,” said Vittels, “so we’re
E n te rin g : G e ttin g an A nsw er
W h e ^ .t h e A nsw er is N o .” H e
j u st try in g to talk a b o u t h o w to
m a rry th o se tw o.
is particularly impressed th a t,
no money is coming' out of his
pocket to attend the seminars.
3 “I guess I came today to see
if there was something that I
could learn,” said Weston, “and
it was free, which is always
a good price. I try to go to a
couple of conferences, a year.” ,.
Tae Gordon, part time
English- instructor and C C C -
Writer’s Club adviser, talked
about how proud she is of
the event. She was particu
larly" impressed with how/well
the event was attended. There
were roughly 90 participants at
the conference. Building writ
ing skills and networking with
other authors were important
aspects of the conference to
her.
9 “I’m shocked at how quickly
registration was filled and then
I’m also shocked at how wide
spread the news seemed to get
out .there,” .said Gordon. “I
think that writing is an iso
lated act; to be able, to meet
other people who practice, it is
important. There is something
about the energy of having so
many writers together.”
Cornelius and Gordon
along student helpers were
available in the hallways of
McLoughlin to answer ques
tions and direct attendees to
workshops throughout the day.
A workshop was presented
by musicians and songwriters,
Amber Spring and Julie Vitells
of Portland. The session taught
participants the fundamentals
of songwriting. A song was cre
ated by teachers who used lyr
ics written.by the students and
melded together for a unique
musical art piece.: It gave writ
ers-a chance to, learn how to
The program '^included
workshops that taught the fun
damentals of creating prose
and poetry for authors of all*
styles. Unusual sessions that
brought out of the box think
ing to the aft were available.
Trevor Dodge, CCC English
Instructor, hosted a work
shop that used Craigslist as
a way to develop characters
and create fiction from, real life
ads on the website. Matthew
Schumacher’s ¿¿esson titled
“How to Write the Weird:
The WKys, Ho\y and Ways, of
Valuable Estrangements” , that
taught ways to develop unusual
writing styles to enhance the
odder side of writing. ,
ii
There is something
about the energy
o f having s'o many
writers together
Tae Gordon
Part-time English instructor
,*-There were several work
shops that concentrated on les
sons for authors who wanted to
learn how to market themselves
and their work. Writing about
veterans was another work
shop that focused -on a specific
style of writing. The variety
of lessons to be learned were
received well and attended at
full capacity by writers of many
abilities arid genres.