Stories of Impact

Ever experience that knock from something on the inside of your chest that says, “Tell me, tell me?”

Something has happened; it changed you; now, the impulse to share.

In this program, we’ll answer that impulse. From the raw ingredients of our lives, we’ll write stories about personal transformation. We’ll render stories that only we can tell—the ones that haunt, itch, poke, tickle us from the inside. Through the vehicle of creative nonfiction, we’ll follow the instinct to reveal not only what has changed us, but how we’re different now. Writing, in many ways, can be a process of un-haunting ourselves.

In this program, we’ll read and discuss creative nonfiction by authors living an the intersections of oppressed identities, authors who are BIPOC, LGBTQIA2S+, Trans & Nonbinary, poor & working class, elders, youth, authors with disabilities, authors in recovery, authors who are or have been incarcerated, and more. Among others, we’ll study work by Kai Cheng Thom, Natalie Diaz, Roxane Gay, Joy Harjo, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Ta-Nahisi Coates, Lindsay Nixon, Gabby Rivera, and Danez Smith.

The classroom will be designed to be extremely supportive and focused on filling your toolbox with writing craft skills. We will read potent published work, study why it works, practice using those techniques, and apply those skills to our own writing. Students will leave with a portfolio of original creative nonfiction.

To successfully participate in this program, students will need access to a computer and Internet. It’s best not to use a cell phone, if possible, as it makes activities, readings, and assignments more difficult to navigate. Students can expect two remote class sessions per week via Zoom. Students in previous online programs with the instructor have frequently remarked, “I wasn’t sure about an online learning environment, but this one turned out to be great. It was engaging, and I always felt connected to the learning community.”