 The Clockhouse Writers' Conference & Retreat will take place Monday, August 1, through Friday, August 5! Participants will have the option of attending in person or remotely. Visit clockhousewriters.com for more information and the registration materials. We hope to see you there!
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 The 2021 Clockhouse Writers' Conference & Retreat was five deeply-rewarding days of writing, reading, listening, noticing and offering feedback, and perhaps above all, connecting. Here's a photo of some of us at leave-taking -- and why are we all smiles, even though leaving can be so hard? Because it may have needed to be a leave-taking, but it wasn't an end. The Pt. Townsend Lighthouse 2022 will be in February (registration for that to open in October), and CWC&R 2022 will come back next summer. Follow us on our blog (http://www.clockhousewriters.com/blog), on Facebook, or on Instagram for alerts of these and other CWC events!
Please consider joining us, and registering today!
CWC&R 2021 will be our second virtual conference as we try to keep each other and the wider Plainfield community as safe as possible through the rest of the pandemic. Last year's CWC&R was our first remotely-held CWC&R. Our Lead Steward, Lucy Turner, wrote to all of us then about how this would work. It worked better than many of us could imagine, and we're sure that making it work remotely once again is the best and safest decision for our community. It can't be said any better than Lucy said it last year, so, to quote Lucy from last year: In light of caution and common sense during a global pandemic, ours will be a remote conference this year. Virtual conferencing is new for us as Clockhouse Writers. We’re pretty analog in a lot of ways, and we like it. Some of us have been making the trip to Plainfield for over twenty years so that we can read our work to each other in the Manor and the Clockhouse, eat kale together in the dining room at a big round table by the window, walk the woodsy path to the Pratt Library, and play word games in the dormitory at night. We like to see each others’ faces in three dimensions and occasionally exchange hugs as well as words. We like to do our Stations of the Word in the garden and try on the t-shirts in the bookstore. We like the ley lines. Like many of us who teach for a living, I have been learning quickly and under pressure what it means to create classrooms and community in virtual spaces. I’m not saying I love to Zoom, but I get how it works now, and I can imagine a Zoomed plenary panel on the topic of vision, Zoomed workshops that alums from all over the country could attend, and a zestful Zoom celebration . . . .We can do this! I’m not yet sure how we’ll play virtual croquet, but let’s trust the process. Magic will occur; I’m sure of it. This might be the actual best part of our virtual CWC&R: it can be accessible to a lot more of us. Those with mobility or health issues that prevented travel can attend from home. Those who haven’t been able to afford room and board costs can attend for a $100 conference fee. West Coasters can join Midwesterners and East Coasters. In an unexpected new way, it could embrace us all. And we’ll figure out the croquet. Please register now for CWC&R. As President Bull noted today in his town meeting for alumni, Goddard was created to be an experimenting college, and there's nothing stopping us from experimenting anew. Join us. To download the 2021 Registration Form, Click Here Please consider joining us, and registering today!
CWC&R 2021 will be our second virtual conference as we try to keep each other and the wider Plainfield community as safe as possible through the rest of the pandemic. Last year's CWC&R was our first remotely-held CWC&R. Our Lead Steward, Lucy Turner, wrote to all of us then about how this would work. It worked better than many of us could imagine, and we're sure that making it work remotely once again is the best and safest decision for our community. It can't be said any better than Lucy said it last year, so, to quote Lucy from last year: In light of caution and common sense during a global pandemic, ours will be a remote conference this year. Virtual conferencing is new for us as Clockhouse Writers. We’re pretty analog in a lot of ways, and we like it. Some of us have been making the trip to Plainfield for over twenty years so that we can read our work to each other in the Manor and the Clockhouse, eat kale together in the dining room at a big round table by the window, walk the woodsy path to the Pratt Library, and play word games in the dormitory at night. We like to see each others’ faces in three dimensions and occasionally exchange hugs as well as words. We like to do our Stations of the Word in the garden and try on the t-shirts in the bookstore. We like the ley lines. Like many of us who teach for a living, I have been learning quickly and under pressure what it means to create classrooms and community in virtual spaces. I’m not saying I love to Zoom, but I get how it works now, and I can imagine a Zoomed plenary panel on the topic of vision, Zoomed workshops that alums from all over the country could attend, and a zestful Zoom celebration . . . .We can do this! I’m not yet sure how we’ll play virtual croquet, but let’s trust the process. Magic will occur; I’m sure of it. This might be the actual best part of our virtual CWC&R: it can be accessible to a lot more of us. Those with mobility or health issues that prevented travel can attend from home. Those who haven’t been able to afford room and board costs can attend for a $100 conference fee. West Coasters can join Midwesterners and East Coasters. In an unexpected new way, it could embrace us all. And we’ll figure out the croquet. Please register now for CWC&R. As President Bull noted today in his town meeting for alumni, Goddard was created to be an experimenting college, and there's nothing stopping us from experimenting anew. Join us. To download the 2021 Registration Form, Click Here  Elena, you take with you the enormous thanks and great good wishes of everyone at the Clockhouse Writers' Conference: the Board of Stewards, those who attend the Clockhouse and Lighthouse Writers' Conference & Retreat events, those who work on the CLOCKHOUSE literary journal, the MFAW alumni who serve on Goddard's Alumni Council and attend the Alumni Weekend Residency, and the MFAW alumni who read this from afar.
Here's Elena's letter: Dear MFAW Community, After 38 semesters and 66 residencies, the time has come for me to graduate! I joined the Goddard College MFA in Creative Writing in July of 2002. First as a part- time faculty member, then full-time, then in my current position as director. The 19 years that I’ve worked with the MFAW faculty and students have been the highlight of my professional life. What I’m most proud of, in my time as director, is the supportive community I have made it my mission to nurture. Beyond degrees, publications, and productions, it is this sense of community that our alumni take into the world as writers. When I was a student (both undergrad and grad), like many of you, I had to hold down a full-time job and go to school in the evening. As an international student, I did not have access to any form of financial aid, and so I lived within a limited budget that did not stretch to owning my own computer. Consequently I would sneak into my empty workplace offices, after hours, to use the computers to write my papers and poems. I envied the students who had their own laptops and could spend their days in libraries, reading and writing. All these years later, with my own computer and my own office, I am leaving the Goddard College MFAW program to give myself what I have always yearned for—to fill my days with reading and writing; to devote my life to my art. My last day as Director of the MFA in Creative Writing at Goddard College will be Friday, April 2, 2021. But I hope that we will find ways to remain connected to one another as literary citizens and activists—as people who use their imaginations as a force for creating good in the world. Being a part of our MFAW community—watching students blossom, helping them to realize their literary dreams, being supported by our program’s faculty—has been an honor and a blessing. I thank you for all that you have given me. I wish for you all the lives that you wish for yourselves. With appreciation and love, ~Elena  This will once again be a virtual conference, and once again a wonderful one! Info and registration materials at http://www.clockhousewriters.com/clockhouse-writers-conference--retreat.html
 2021 LIGHTHOUSE WRITERS' CONFERENCE & RETREAT
Supporting and Inspiring the Writer’s Life REGISTRATION Begins October 15, 2020. Registrations are accepted on a first come, first served basis (Max. 30). Graduates of Goddard's MFAW program are welcome, whether they attended the Pt. Townsend, Washington, or Plainfield, Vermont campus. REGISTRATION FORMS: http://www.clockhousewriters.com/blog/lwcr-registration CONFERENCE DATES: Friday, February 12th though Monday February 15th CONFERENCE LOCATION: Remote via Zoom to coincide with Goddard College's Port Townsend, Washington, MFAW residency WHAT TO EXPECT: Lighthouse Writers’ Conference & Retreat is an opportunity for graduates of the Goddard MFAW program to come together, virtually, in mutual support of the writer’s life. Due to necessary precautions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are adopting the model of the wonderfully successful remote Clockhouse Writers’ Conference and Retreat this past July. We anticipate resuming our in-person conferences in February, 2022. THEME: This year’s theme is UNCERTAINTY. In these times, and in all times, dealing with and living with uncertainty is an inescapable part of life. How do we create in times like these? What do we create in times like these? Do we search for answers in the past or by looking forward? What is known to us, and what is unknown to us, and how do we explore the lack of knowing in our creative work? Whatever form your writing takes, and whether you find yourself on a professional or personal path (or both), you’ll find a welcome home at this conference/retreat as we come together to discover new ways to encourage, support and inspire the writer’s life. PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: A copy of the full program will be posted here as the date approaches. • Opening panel: Sharing our joys and challenges as writers • MFAW alumni-presented workshops on craft and master study • Ample opportunity to read from our work in Zoom salons and workshops • Time to wander off by ourselves and write in whatever setting you can provide yourself • Online mealtime hangouts to renew old friendships • Zoom attendance at MFAW faculty readings • Zoom Attendance at MFAW Guest Writer readings and workshops DETAILS: • Dates: Friday, February 12th through Monday, February 15th, 2021 • Location: Remote via Zoom • Registration opens: October 15th, 2020. Registration information and forms will be available here beginning October 15, 2020. COST: $100 REGISTRATION FEE INCLUDES: Access to readings by faculty and guest writers, as well as guest writer workshops, through the week of the Port Townsend Goddard MFAW residency. REGISTER EARLY: Volunteers are working to create a moving and renewing experience. Your early commitment is a tremendous help to their efforts. Consider leading a workshop to share your expertise, insights, and inspirations, or shall we say, “process.” Scholarships are available. There are no application forms. All you have to do is tell us you need a scholarship and you will receive one – no questions asked. We hope to see you in February! ALUMNI COORDINATORS: Jeff Eisenbrey (2013), [email protected] Katrina Barnes (2016), [email protected] Peter Geerlofs (2016), [email protected] Pamela Dionne (2018), [email protected] Sarah Townsend (2016), [email protected] |
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