When asked to share positive aspects of the experience, participants responded:
Directors Dawn and Baron were invested, instructive, open and supportive. They were very accessible and made the effort to know participants individually.
The rapidly established feel of collegial reciprocity was peaceful, refreshing, and productive.
The combination of writing, teaching and sharing teaching strategies opens so many doors. I’ve often heard of teachers who don’t assign much writing because they’ve never done much writing and are not comfortable dealing with student writing. So inviting teachers to write is HUGE. I love heading home with so many great exercises both for myself and my students.
Meeting and sharing ideas with teachers from all over the country. Generous, diverse, smart, supportive participants; cross-pollination and varied experiences.
I am full of ambition and new ideas for the new school year. These are the ideas that are real…I look forward to learning and exploring with my students this year.
The five poets had excellent suggestions for teaching. They provided a range of perspectives and were excellent choices.
I felt personally welcomed.
Atmosphere was open, fruitful and inspirational.
I lucked into a dynamite workshop with a great variety of old and proficient younger poets – the dynamic was just right and very exciting. We left loaded with energy and new ideas.
The lectures were wonderful, helpful, and great! Focus on craft was the most precise I’ve experienced in years.
Community aspect. The opportunity for community building and networking. The meals together. All faculty and students mingling together without hierarchy or egos. Accessible faculty.
Although I was one of the younger participants, I was treated as a poet first and an adult. I was able to befriend poets of all ages from all over and learned a lot from them, outside of classes and lectures. Festival was inclusive of all levels of writers.
It is one thing to be a good poet; quite another to be a good teacher. Wormser and Rhodes excel as teacher/poets. John Murillo has got to be the most charming American poet!
The level of critique in the workshop was very high – much better than back home
The instructors were superb.
Opportunity to extend conversations with faculty later was a definite plus.
Stunning level of discourse, in terms of Eros, compassion and artistic excellence
Didactics extremely rich; lectures were vibrant, inspiring and suggestive. They were not sterile academic lectures, but were wide open, impassioned and idea-packed.
This is an amazing community of writers. I’m always pleased with the generosity of the faculty and the magic of the readings. I was in a state of creative exhaustion when I arrived here, and I will leave renewed. I treasure the people I met here.
I love talking to the other poets. I like reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. I think this is one of the real strengths of the program.
