4 CLACKAMAS PRINT -M A Y 6.20 15
MAY 6 ,2 0 1 5 »CLACKAMAS PRINT
WRITERS INSPIRE OTHERS TO COMPOSE
by Cassidy Scott and Robin Scott
ClackamasCommunity College had the honor on May
2 to host the fifth annual writer’s workshop“Compose."
This year’s th eme was “Storytelling Now.” Roughly 21
guesfspeakerstravelledrto’ sp e 'a k a tth e e v e n t/’from
teachers at CCC like Kate Gray, Jaime Wood and Susan
Pesznecker to RafaeiAlvarezfrornBaltimore.Maryiarid.
Although there were many talented speakers, we were
oniy abie^TtteriT^uFdTfferenFpFeseritattoris; W h i I e
different in topics and sources of inspiration, each
“How to Break the Reader’s Heart” was the name
who teaches poetry and English at CCC. Her session
our souls to find words that touched us personally and
Then to projectThose fee I i ngs to others.
We warmed up by introducing ourselves and com-
menting on something we saw on our way in to the
college. When we were done, Gray smiled and thanked
us,"saying, “Now you have ydur voice ln the room.”
N e xt w e w e re g iv e n w r itin g p ro m p ts .
We were To write, just write. The enti re class poured
their hearts into the exercise and a few were brought
g o ta classroom full of adults t o break down all appre
hensions arid let
emotions.
When most of the class read their first writing as-
signment, we all quicklybecame emotionally connect
ed. Each attendee came in with guarded vulnerabilities,
but those walls fe ll as we learned about each other’s
lives iririo more th aria"few p ag eso fp erfe ctiyplace d
words. The workshop was like therapy.
“How you have
yourvoiceinthe
room.” --------
-Kate Gray
“ TSray also ta u g h flis how to become better writers'
by teaching us “how to break our reader’s heart.”
ITw as Tuririy; because she fealfy taught usTo break
our reader’s hearts by breaking our own. She taught
us to~be brutally honesFwith our w riting and iri our
character development, as well as to j io t be afraid to
break syntaxin unexpected waysT
As we were able to attempt this in our w riting and
share arnorigst eachi other, theroom cameaflutter with
laughs reminiscent of old high school friends. Gray
taught us to look at our writing closer, to describe and
analyze the flaws, which in turn allowed the w riter to
strip down further than he or'she th c|jg h t they could
Most of his collages were a mesh of three or so dif-
ferent sources and also incorporated many~different
techniques likeripping or smudging the ink. The best
‘part was when we
our own collages.
make a career out of his work. It was funny because
then drew the item as described. When this was done
the students were giverisheets of paper w ith theft"
assignment on it.
The first assigriment was to create a backg rou nd
for the mystery object. W hat does the object do?
Where didTTcom e frorri? W h o n e e d s it? T h is w a s
done to help the w riter stretch his or her creativity to
timore. This especially made his talk impactful as it
reflected his views on the current protests and how
to cover that as a journalist ;
OveraifAivarezw asa good session to atterid at the
end of the day. His workshop was very full with fans of
his work on “The Wire” as well as other aspiring writers.
Alvarez spent the majority of his session allowing
g o.W e learned th at we should set up expectations have a talk withlmyself.” After this “talk” he decided to or bag, if you will.
th eir own w ritings to how to get th e ir fo o t in the
in our
keep having fun with coilaging and see what happens. ‘~ " N e ^ t r ie T ^ e r s T v e r « ^ w 't R e I i^ T O n d ~ ^ lg ^ ‘ door, to q u estio n sab ou thT slife an d road to success.
Interested in fcollaging? Sampsell and some friends ment; which was to create their character. They had to He was realistic and honest, which after a full day of
b u ilto n th is .
was different, but ; Hosta 1reeopen coriageriighteverysecondW ednes- corrieupW ithanam earidbackstoryfor theifcRaracteT
just as inspiring as Gray's. Kevin Sarfipsell, who is a day at the Independent Publishing Resource Center and how he uses his talisman. I personally believe that back down from the inspiration high we were all on.
published author and artist who now works for Pow frorri T t o ’ 9p.rh.
this workshop was the best for story writing. It had
ell’s bookstore, showed us the ins and outs of making
The workshoo Rosevear and Pesznecker hosted was the students w riting for the majority o f the session reinforced the fact that if a writer wants to be suceess-
titled
Welearned and madeThem really dig d e e p to come up with the
had always in my mind been clippings of magazines; th a t the talisman is written into the story to guide the amazing stories they created.
and when things don’t go right, “You go to the next
Smashed to ge th er in a
/character along their
The iristrucfdrsaiisd played a lo ng an d w ro te stories * thing, you keep rriovirig forward."
way. It was just a goofy thing to do with your friends. small, but as tlfe saying goes, great things come iri that were fluid and detailed. Unfortunately you were
Overall, Compose was a very good experience. W rit
SampselFs workshop showed rhearidthe otheFsThThe smaTI"packages|Tfie wdrkshdp relied hea viiyd rih dw left wanting to T e a r more than the tw o page m in f ers frorri all across the area were able to conriect and
room that it is so much more than a goofy art project. deep into his/her imagination the w riter can go.
story they wrote.
learn about w riting and each other. While realistic in
Each studentfwas given a paper bag w ith' anltern
The collaged pieces SampselI showed us amazed
T o w h a rd it can be to be a successfuT writer, Compose
me. They really were pieces of art, with their own little inside, but theyjwere not allowed to look inside. They on the popular crime show “The Wire” and also works helped the attendees learn how to be on track to get
rhessages. despite theTidlculousTiaJa-uTFofwords. could only touch i f arid clescribe It to a p artnerw ho “as afjdurnairsf arid w riter In his home tow n of Bal to th a t p o in t/"“
photos by Cassidy Scott
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