Arts: Writing   

Community Journalism @ Ashland.news will explore the practices of community journalism, describing how it helps provide the information “oxygen” to facilitate democratic, economic, and social vibrancy in a community. Students will learn how stories and/or photos are assigned, reported, and prepared for publication. The course also teaches techniques for gathering, writing, editing, photographing, and publishing factual information about the citizens, events, politics, economics, and culture of a localized area, all intended to enhance a community’s quality of life. Participants will also formulate a reporting plan to supplement future editions of Ashland.news and prepare stories and/or photos for publication. Beginning the third week, students will gather news in the field, reporting or photographing, writing, and doing preliminary editing on each other’s reporting—all with an aim for publication. The reporting and editing cycle will be repeated three times.

In this course, expect to have an enjoyable time making poetry. During each session, the instructor will provide a prompt and students will create a poem from snippets they cut from a variety of books. The books, which will be supplied by the instructor, are mostly library discards, thrift store finds, or yard sale discoveries. Subject matter ranges from non-fiction manuals to wedding planning. Composing poems in this fashion broadens one’s experience of creativity Anyone who can use a pair of scissors and who has an open mind and a playful spirit will succeed in this course. There are no prerequisites or homework. Students are welcome to repeat the class. All materials will be supplied by the instructor.

Come develop your writing in this ten-week introduction to creative writing. No previous writing experience is necessary: All you need is a love of writing and a willingness to share your ideas with others. Each class will feature an introduction to a different type of creative writing, including short story, drama, fiction, creative nonfiction, numerous forms of poetry, and haiku. In each class you will have an opportunity to share your work in the genre discussed the previous week. The class will be encouraged to comment upon it constructively. After each class the instructor will email students copies of class notes, along with the following week’s assignment. Students who have taken this class in the past are welcome to take it again.

The Nonfiction Writing Workshop offers practical training to enhance nonfiction writing skills. Class materials include selected readings, posted online, that demonstrate key writing techniques practiced by well-known authors. Students are required to submit for analysis four 500 to 1000-word writing samples using content derived from their experience. Work will be submitted every other week by midnight Fridays. Students will read each other’s work and share constructive criticism about style and content. The instructor will also comment on each exercise. The storytelling techniques emphasized are applicable for memoir, historical articles, long-form journalism, and book-length nonfiction for print or the internet. Students should expect to spend four-six hours a week reading assignments and students’ work and writing. Previously taught courses have been amended annually, based on previous students’ feedback.

NOTE: A paperback, “Bird by Bird,” by Anne Lamott, is assigned to be read by the end of the term.

This course gives students a structured opportunity to write short personal narratives. The format comes from “The Sun” literary magazine, which includes a “Readers Write” section each month. We will review samples from past issues of the “The Sun” and write our own responses to the magazine’s prompts. We will also look at upcoming topics and write essays that we may choose to submit for publication in the magazine. Students are expected to commit to writing one 400 to 600-word essay each week and share it on our interactive course website on SOU’s Moodle. When students post essays, others may respond with answers to the following questions, intended to encourage supportive feedback: What did you notice? What struck you? How did you connect personally to the story? All students are welcome, regardless of writing experience. This course has been offered previously; however, all writing prompts will be new.

Note: There will be no class meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday January 15.