Writing Class

Imposing Order on Chaos: Writing for Self-Exploration

Led by Donna Hardy, MFT at Angela Center, Santa Rosa, CA

For Maxine Kumin writing is—in addition to a necessity—an attempt to impose order on chaos. What better time than these to see if writing can help us make sense of ourselves and of the world we live in. We will use Kumin as a starting point for our autumn writing and see where she takes us.

Kumin, one-time poet laureate, is also an essayist, memoirist, teacher, lecturer, wife, and mother. She and her husband of sixty years raise horses on their New England farm. Her recent memoir Inside the Halo and Beyond is about her recovery from a serious horse-riding accident in the 1990's.

Here are some links to find out about Kumin: her bio at the American Academy of Poets, some of her poetry, an interview and audio slideshow, and her own website.

There are two sections available: classes will meet every other Wednesday 10 to noon (September 10 and 24; October 8 and 22; November 5 and 19) OR every other Thursday 12:30 to 2:30 (September 11 and 25; October 9 and 23; November 6 and 20). Note also that 12 CEUs available for MFT & LCSW, Provider: PCE #1467. Cost for class is $120.

Angela Center is located among vineyards and playing fields at the edge of Santa Rosa. The buildings and grounds support solitude; there is much good writing and walking space.

The Handless Maiden: Revisited
A long weekend of journal writing

Hosted by Donna Hardy and Clare Morris, from 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30 through 2 p.m Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008

Perfect women are all alike, but every handless maiden is handless in her own way.

"As I use my teeth to help open a zip lock bag of almonds," says the woman whose thumbs have failed her, "I remember the handless maiden standing on tip toes to reach her hungry mouth to the ripening pears in the king's garden."

"As I slowly recover," says the woman who has broken both wrists, "I read Clarissa Pinkola Estes again and again. She gets me through each day."

Each age brings its own delights and also its own difficulties. With faith, courage, ingenuity, and a little help from here and there, we find a new path. That is what our weekend will be about; acknowledging what is lost along the way and looking to thresholds that beckon.

The Handless Maiden does not have to venture forth. "I will take care of you," says the father. With his ill-gained wealth she can have all she needs without lifting a finger. But that is not her path.

Nor ours. In this workshop we will explore how women of every age and talent take on challenges. As usual, we will employ writing, art, story, and film to explore, in the privacy of our individual journals, and in the rich container that the weekend provides, the mystery of ourselves.

Clare Morris and Donna Hardy are marriage and family therapists and writers with a long history of doing workshops at Angela Center and elsewhere. Enrollment is limited to 24 persons. The cost for tuition, meals and a room of one's own is $420.

20 CE credits hours are available for MFT and LCSW licensure (PCE#1467).

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Clare Morris, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist and the author of two books of poetry, Child of the Longest Night and In Transit, Love Poems to the City. She has made several Bay Area appearances reading her piece from the anthology, Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace, edited by Maxine Hong Kingston. She is writing a memoir. Donna Hardy is a psychotherapist and writing teacher and the author of Songs to a Watchful Lover and Maria Rifo, Alive at Any Age, A Memoir published March 2007. She is writing and rewriting a collection of essays. Clare and Donna have been leading writing workshops, together and separately, for more than 30 years. They are skillful at making and holding space where people can do their own creative work. See what others have said about retreats led by Donna and Clare.

Angela Center is located among vineyards and playing fields at the edge of Santa Rosa. You will have a well-appointed Room of Your Own with hot and cold running water. Toilets and showers are down the hall. Our chef prepares meals on site. Enrolment is limited to 24. Call Angela Center at 707.525.8578 to register.

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