After The Fire: A Writer's Approach to Surviving Disasters

About this course:

"There is a crack in everything," Leonard Cohen wrote in his song "Anthem," "That's how the light gets in." Such cracks come from all kinds of disasters--a cancer diagnosis, a loved one's death, a worldwide pandemic or a devastating wildfire. Resourceful and resilient writers find the light in our greatest trials. Led by an instructor who lost her home to the Palisades Fire, students will discover ways not only to survive tragedies but thrive in their aftermath. We'll consider how journals can be a first draft of history, how overwhelming struggles can be captured with vivid action, granular emotions and telling details, and how micro stories can connect to macro truths, all potentially turning trauma into transcendent literature. Topics for lecture and discussion will include the latest studies on the physical and psychological benefits of writing, a sampling of powerful dispatches from life's fault lines, and exploration of real life challenges that can be best served by writing, whatever form it might take--memoir, essay, poetry or fiction. Participants will leave with new approaches to boosting their own resilience and navigating whatever calamities come their way.