Jackson's Actions

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire. --Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) <

This fall, through an introduction by my friend, Pat Riviere Seel, I became a facilitator at the College for Seniors at the NCCCR program at UNCA. I decided to teach the very wonderful material I learned at the knee of a famous L.A. teacher, Jack Grapes--who calls his work "Method Writing." It was an 8-week course, and I labored long and hard to try to embody all the enthusiasm and exciting material Jack always has in his classes. I take my hat off to teachers. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. Challenging students who are resistant, lethargic or doubtful, is not an easy thing--and there were days I rued having started this gig.

As it turned out, we had a poetry reading on November 9th, and friends and family showed up to listen and show support. The poetry from my students (eight of them--two long time news journalists, an anthropologist, a math teacher, a Japanese literature professor, a professional stage actor, and two jacks of all trades spilled out some really lovely work, and I was very proud indeed. I got to MC the event and show off my lousy haircut. I also made a lot of the food...check out that table!!

Would I do it again? Uh uh. I'm going to paint and write poems now.



Here's the link to the Album of photos of the reading, if you're interested:

Finding the Deep Voice - Poetry reading

Viewing with the "Slideshow" is the most advantageous, and you can time them to move as fast as you like. (see plus/minus signs).

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