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Fresh Minds, Fresh Writers
Excerpt from an article by Cliff Newell in The Lake Oswego Review,
August 6, 2009.
Marylhurst workshop encourages teens
to ‘really look’ at world
When it comes to the love of writing, teenagers find a way to overcome economic problems.
That is why the Creative Writing & Visual Arts Workshop at Marylhurst University has doubled its enrollment since Jay Ponteri began it in the summer of 2007.
"I was a little worried due to the economy," said Ponteri, an English professor at Marylhurst. "But we had 40 kids sign up this summer."
Probably because the workshop has had so much to offer over the past two weeks to high schoolers from across the Portland Metro area. Along with Ponteri and colleagues Natalie Serber and Heather Madden, some outstanding writers and artists were on hand to provide inspiration and expertise, like Deb Unferth, Rusty Morrison, Zach Plague and Hayley Barker.
But perhaps most important, they got to be around other high school kids who love to write.
"My mom told me she had found a really cool class that was almost like a camp," said 15-year-old Francesca Forrester, a student at Portland’s Wilson High School. "I’ve never been in an atmosphere where everyone was so advanced. The poems that were read were awesome. This is something you can’t experience in high school, even in an honors class."