Eat, Write, Talk: A Getaway for Juniors and Seniors
January 19 - 22, 2014
Developed by the Women’s Narratives Project
A program of the Smith College WurteleCenter for Work & Life
Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives,
power to retell it, to rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it
as times change, truly are powerless.
Salman Rushdie, “1000 Days Trapped Inside a Metaphor” (1999)
The purpose of this workshop is to engage you in an active process of thoughtfully considering your ambitions, expectations, and hopes for the future and to provide you with some tools to incorporate reflection into your life. We use the term “narratives” because a person’s self-understanding shifts and changes over time in relation to one’s life circumstances. Each new decision or life event changes the landscape of the future and sheds light on the past. It is our conviction that women of all ages should be thoughtful and strategic about their options, opportunities, and choices as they navigate complex lives.
At the same time, we hope that this workshop will persuade you that developing flexibility and resilience will help you to survive and thrive in unexpected, ambiguous, or difficult circumstances. We want you to become aware of sources of replenishment – from the most daily and mundane to the most grandiose – that sustain and restore you. That is, we want to help you incorporate a set of habits or practices of reflection about your own life on which you can rely throughout your life.
What you write in this workshop will not be set in stone. Rather, we hope your narrative will serve as a touchstone for you – a snapshot of one significant moment of transition in your life, one narrative among many you will write.
Eat, Write, Talk: A Getaway for Juniors and Seniors
Developed by the Women’s Narratives Project
A program of theSmith College Wurtele Center for Work & Life
Day 1
9:45 a.m. Transition to reflection (bell)
Introduction to the workshop and to each other.
Ground rules and guidelines
Active listening to others (please don’t write while people are talking)
Positive feedback
No negative prefaces (e.g., “this is only my first draft”)
Willingness to read what you write
On time
Being present
Etc.
10:15 a.m. Writing exercise 1: I Am From
(20 min) Short, sensory-based writing prompts as a warm-up
Use George Ella Lyon’s poem, “Where I am from” as example
(30– 40 min) Share poems in triads
Each listener recalls one image from the poem as feedback for the writer (“what stays with me is . . .”) The writer records feedback.
(10 min) Each writer creates a new five-line poem based on the feedback from listeners or on an idea that you got from listing to another person’s poem
(15 – 20 min) Each writer reads the new five-line poem aloud to the big group
(This can also be done after lunch if time dictates)
What’s an image that would go with this exercise?
12:15 p.m.Lunch
1:30 p.m. Writing exercise 2: Practice different ways of writing about yourself and giving positive feedback
Zoom in on an image from the “I am From” poem (either the five-line or longer version).
(15 minutes) Write in the third person
(15 minutes) Write in the second person.
(40 minutes) Read aloud one of your pieces in triads. Jess will instruct about positive feedback (what stays with me, what I remember, what I liked, etc.).
Go around and read one line or section to the whole group. After everyone reads, we can have a larger discussion about how writing in a particular “person” affects what makes it onto the page.
3:00 p.m.Break
3:15 p.m.Writing exercise 3: Possible selves, possible worlds
Read aloud to the large group from sample alumnae notes from the Smith Alumnae Quarterly and ask what they notice about them.
(10 minutes) Write a possible alumnae note for yourself 10 years after graduation
(10 minutes) Write an alternative note (not necessarily your worst case, but another possibility)
Keep them brief! 100 words or less.
Read aloud all together.
4:30 p.m.Free time until dinner
5:00 p.m.Dinner
Eat, Write, Talk: A Getaway for Juniors and Seniors
Developed by the Women’s Narratives Project
A program of the Smith College Wurtele Center for Work & Life
Day 2
9:15 a.m.Bus departs
11:00 a.m.Transition to reflection (bell)
Exercise 4: “Things you didn’t put on your resume” (Joyce Sutphen)
Write or draw in response to the poem, what are significant things about you that are not on your resume? (No feedback)
12:30 p.m.Lunch
1:30 p.m.Transition to reflection (bell)
Writing exercise 5: Read aloud from Fact vs. Fiction (Ann Patchett, The Miami University of Ohio Convocation Address of 2005)
(10 minutes) What is your mother’s idea of story for herself? For herself?
Writing exercise 6: What is your mother’s story of success for you? For you?
Read aloud in groups of six. Feedback: What stays with you? Large group discussion.
4:00 p.m.Hand out articles (Anne Lamott’s B+ from Salonand Carol Dweck essay from Mistakes I Made at Work)
Free time or yoga and/or guided meditation 4:15 – 5:00.
6:00 p.m.Dinner
Eat, Write, Talk: A Getaway for Juniors and Seniors
Developed by the Women’s Narratives Project
A program of the Smith College Wurtele Center for Work & Life
Day 3:
8:00 a.m.Breakfast. Coffee is served starting at 6:45 a.m.
9:30 a.m.Transition to reflection (bell)
Writing exercise 7: Anne Lamott’s “B+” What do you allow yourself to get a B+ in? Share large group?
10:15 a.m.Writing Exercise 8: “She Just Wants” – Beverly Rollwagen
12:30 p.m.Lunch at The Cornell Inn– discussion of Carol Dweck essay (“In what areas of your life have you practiced a growth mindset?”)
1:30 p.m.Finding themes, metaphors, and connections in what you’ve written so far. Think about images that might go with your narrative.
2:00Use Generative Knowledge Interviewing format to talk with a partner about what you’re writing. Jennifer will lead. Use guidelines for generative interviewing.
2:15 Triad group discussions
What themes emerge for you?
Are they easy to recognize?
What images come to you?
What writing prompts seem promising as potential catalysts for the larger narrative?
How might you deepen what you’ve already written?
3:30 More work on your narratives
4:00 p.m.Free time or yoga and/or guided meditation 4:15 – 5:00.
6:00 p.m.Dinner
7:00 p.m.Read some narratives aloud – 3 or 4 minutes each.
Eat, Write, Talk: A Getaway for Juniors and Seniors
Developed by the Women’s Narratives Project
A program of the Smith College Center for Work & Life
Day 4
Sharing narratives
8:00 a.m.Breakfast.
9:30 a.m.Transition to reflection (bell)
9:45 a.m.Sharing narratives
11:45 a.m. “You Reading This, Be Ready” – William Stafford
Write about what you want to remember.
Share with the group.
12:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m.Leave for Smith College
Structuring Your Narrative
Find themes: Read through everything that you have written and underline . . .
- Questions, conflicts, goals or ideas that come up more than once.
- Passages that you think are connected.
- Metaphors that you might want to draw out or develop.
- Anything that feels especially resonant.
On a new page, jot any salient themes.
Write for twenty minutes about one of those themes OR expand on something that you wrote.You could . . .
explain to yourself why one of your themes is a theme.
go back to something and add to it.
unpack an idea or metaphor.
explore a feeling.
finish a story.
Triad group discussions
- What themes emerge for you?
- Are they easy to recognize?
- What images come to you?
- What writing prompts seem promising as potential catalysts for the larger narrative?
- How might you deepen what you’ve already written?
Quotes about writing:
Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go. – E.L. Doctorow
There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. – W. Somerset Maughm
When you’re writing, you’re trying to find out something which you don’t know. The whole language of writing for me is finding out what you don’t want to know, what you don’t want to find out. But something forces you to anyway. – James Baldwin
Communication Toolbox
Guidelines for Generative Knowledge Interviewing – Copyright Melissa Peet, University of Michigan
- Assist the speaker in describing specific moments related to her learning, prompting her to talk about what she was doing in as much detail as possible.
- Make sure to ask the speaker to further describe or “unpack” common phrases or terms they use. For example, if the speaker says, “I was in charge of bringing the whole event together . . .” ask her to be more specific about what it meant to be “in charge?” Can the speaker describe a moment when she was in charge?
- Listen for specific adjectives or adverbs like “interesting,” “frustrating,” “amazing,” “fun,” and them prompt the speaker to say more. For example, if she says, “It was a really powerful experience that I will never forget,” ask her to describe why and how it was “powerful.” What did it make her think about, connect to, etc.
- Pay attention to key verbs the speaker uses to describe their experience and think of these words as indicators of knowledge and skills yet to be discovered. For example, in the phrase, “I was involved in organizing a group of people to . . .” it is important to let the speaker finish her thought (or maybe even that part of the story) and then ask her to tell you more about the process of organizing a group of people. Ask her to describe a particular moment.
- Listen for recurring themes from the speaker’s story or stories. Try to “hear” both what the speaker is actually saying, while also listening for thoughts, themes and insights that occur to you as the speaker is talking. It is helpful to quickly write down a word or two so you can recall these themes or insights later.
- Reflect back to the speaker what you hear them saying after she has told you a chunk of her story. For example, “What I heard you saying so far is that you took on a leadership role within the group of counselors at the camp where you worked . . . it sounds like there were some challenges around getting people to communicate . . .”
- After you have reflected back to the speaker what she said, it is important to share your own insights into her story and see if those insights resonate with speaker’s perspective. For example, “It occurred to me while you were talking that even though you did not feel entirely ready to take on the leadership role, you excelled at it nonetheless and it was quite rewarding for you.” Usually these kinds of comments will prompt the speaker to go further and sometimes they will create an “a-ha moment” of insight for the speaker as well.
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