why re-wilding our writing, re-wilding ourselves?

During this six-week course, we will meet for two hours every Tuesday evening to evoke our personal experiences of what it means to honor the wild in ourselves and our writing—what it means to re-wild ourselves and our work, including by re-imagining our relationship with wild spaces and the way our bodies belong to those spaces. This course is based on embodiment: that is, what our bodies experience when we are in wild spaces and awareness of ourselves as nature (rather than in nature). We’ll write about the wild inside and outside of ourselves, and how wildness alters and heals us. Wild spaces outside of ourselves may be backyard gardens, city parks, or vast canyonlands. Wild spaces inside of us might be moments desire, intensive emotion, pain, or transformation. What does it mean to be interconnected with the uncivilized, untamed, ancient, and whole? How can we honor wildness in the world, ourselves, and each other? We will also notice damage and harm, like garbage dumps or the effects of wildfire. We’ll explore texts by writers who exemplify being in relationship with the natural world to guide us in writing about our own, such as excerpts from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s lyrical meditations in Braiding Sweetgrass, humorous reflections on falling in love with your surroundings by Hanif Abdurraqib, and motorcycle adventures by Robert Pirsig. We’ll discuss craft elements of sensual details and pacing to create context for tales of wonder and awe. This class will be generative, interactive, and reflective as we praise the gifts of natural beauty and define ways we reciprocate. Our goal is to find the entry point through the personal to expand into the universal.

what kind of writer should take this course?

Everyone is welcome. Whatever genre you are working in, this will give you insights into how including the natural world adds context and urgency to personal essays or memoirs. Writing prompts are designed to generate intuitive, untamed writing, as you plug into your personal experience. This class is especially relevant if you have been overwhelmed or disheartened by the news about climate crisis―offering another point of view in celebration of what we love.

what are the requirements?

You will need to have a computer with a camera and audio and a good internet connection to join the workshop via Zoom as well as comfort navigating an online learning platform. The writing exercises and sharing will be more comfortable if you chose a place where you feel safe and uninterrupted. You will receive the prose readings ahead of class each week, as well as the syllabus. Participants should have read those 2-4 pages between sessions in order to enjoy the discussion.

how does this remote class work?

This course takes place on Elephant Rock’s course platform: Mighty Networks. You will receive a link to join our private course page a week prior to the first session, along with any readings or materials. You will click a link in the course page to join each week’s Zoom meeting.

The course syllabus and handouts of prose writings will be posted on the course page. Writing exercises and craft talks will be shared each week in our Zoom meeting. You only need the prose documents and optional writing assignments to refer to, everything else will be shared in class (and the syllabus describes all of the topics and material included in the six weeks). This course emphasizes writing through the senses, and the prose and poetry were chosen for their sensual details.

This is a generative class, and you will be creating new work using the exercises from each week’s class meeting.

what will writers take away?

• You will generate a selection of new writings that you can later develop into a personal essay or add to your memoir

• You will deepen your awareness of the interconnections between human and wild that can permeate your work in subtle or direct ways

• You’ll acquire tools to integrate wildness into your work in new and powerful ways.

• You’ll gain more confidence in trusting your own voice and you’ll have a range of voices to draw from for inspiration.

who is the teacher?

Wendy Brown-Baez has been facilitating writing workshops in community spaces for over 20 years, including libraries, schools, spiritual centers, healing centers, prisons, women’s retreats, and human service and arts organizations. She is the recipient of McKnight grants to teach writing workshops for youth in crisis and a MN State Arts Board Grant to bring writing workshops into 12 non-profits. Wendy has published prose and poetry in many literary magazines and anthologies, including Poets & Writers Magazine, Water~Stone Review, Tiferet, and Talking Writing. She is the author of a guidebook for writing instructors Heart on the Page: A Portable Writing Workshop and co-author of Writing to Wholeness: workshops to transform lives and communities, a facilitator’s Toolkit for writing with survivors of personal violence, due for fall publication. Wendy is the executive editor of the Saint Paul Almanac: Volume 13 A Path to Each Other and has been part of the literary community in the Twin Cities for 16 years.

what is the cost?

Elephant Rock tuition for this course is $499 (non- refundable). Under normal circumstances, full payment is due at least 15 days before the workshop begins. Extended payment plans may be available in cases of significant economic hardship. Please send an email to Elephant Rock to inquire.

sliding fee scale

We don’t want anyone to be excluded from this workshop for financial reasons. Therefore, Generative Climate Fiction offers a sliding fee scale. It’s an honor system, so we ask only that you be honorable. If you can afford to pay full tuition, please do, to make workshops like this more feasible. But if you cannot afford the full tuition, please send an email stating what you can afford to pay without hardship (no personal details or documentation is needed, just the amount you can pay) so we know what to expect and can provide a payment link. And you are always welcome to pay it forward by letting others know about the workshop!  

what have other writers had to say about Wendy?

I was so impressed by Wendy’s talents to teach; to create; to inspire; to yield stories from the heart. I loved being there, in fact, I would take her class over again―she has a very unique way of stimulating our stories.― Margareth Miller

Each class I attend with Wendy as the facilitator gives me a new insight, technique or facet to writing and this class was no different. As always, the caliber of her class was excellent, providing an atmosphere of safety and acceptance, encouraging vulnerability and authenticity in sharing. ―R.K.

how do I sign up?

Please click below to complete course registration:

Elephant Rock does not discriminate against anyone, regardless of age, color of skin, national origin, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender expression and identity, sexual orientation, or anything else. We expect the same from our all of our participants.