Summer Literary Arts at MAC

Summer 2013 Focus Your Writing Series at MAC 
To register for classes, call the Arts Center at (503) 823-3187 or visit www.multnomahartscenter.org.
Classes start soon; don’t miss out!
WRITING THE TEN-MINUTE PLAY with M. Thomas Cooper
Discover the art of playwriting and create a ten-minute play from scratch. Experiment with various forms of theater—if you can imagine it, you can put it on the stage! See how your words look dramatized. Explore topics such as characterization, plot, dialogue, and more, through in-class exercises. Come out of the course with confidence and a finished script.
401619 Sat. 1:00 - 3:00 pm Jun. 22 - Jul. 20 $80 [5 classes]
WRITE FOR A CHANGE—IN YOURSELF with Amy Minato
By digging deep, seasoned writers transform themselves through the writing process. Reconcile your inner values and external realities through directed writings that address what makes you thrive and what makes you wither. Then use writing as a tool for personal growth while learning techniques to enhance your writing style.
401674 Sat. 10:00 am - 12:00 pm Jun. 29 $16 [1 class]
WRITE FOR A CHANGE—IN SOCIETY 
with Amy Minato
Society influences our lives, yet personal testimonies inspire social movements. Use a story familiar to you as an example to alert or inspire. Together, tease apart the personal and political in order to explore ways to effectively reweave them. Practice combining research with story to build a case for a cause.
403046 Sat. 1:00 - 3:00 pm Jun. 29 $16 [1 class]
WRITING FOR WELLNESS with Nancy Linnon
Reduce stress. Sleep better. Feel more relaxed. The practice of writing can help you achieve all of this and more. Research shows that writing improves immune function and overall well-being. Learn how to integrate the practice of writing into your days so that life feels richer and less fragmented. No positive feelings about writing required!
401618 Sat. 10:00 am - 4:00 pm Jul. 13 $48 [1 classes]
MY DAY AT THE LIBRARY with Nate Orton & James Yeary
See the library as a book of its own: read from its resources of fiction, fact, art, and music; take the people and pages that surround you as sources; and respond through writing and artwork. Spend a day in the main branch of the Multnomah County Library downtown and be guided through models, examples, and exercises. The second week, make a Xeroxed zine comprising writings, drawings, and photographs from the excursion. Honor the computer-less tradition of zines by making this limited edition book with scissors, glue, and a photocopier.
403007 Sun. Jun. 23 12:00 - 4:00 pm & Jun. 30 12:00 - 3:00 pm $63 [2 classes]
WRITING EXPERIMENTS with James Yeary
Use this workshop as a playground to turn your work on its head, inside out, and into something entirely different. Engage in games, conduct experiments, and impose rules to create works you never expected. The results will be fun, silly, absurd, and exceptional. One hundred years of experimental writing techniques will be discussed and/or implemented, and maybe we’ll come up with some 
of our own.
401616 Tu. 7:00 - 9:00 pm Jul. 9 - 23 $48 [3 classes]
WRITING THROUGH LOSS with Judith Pulman
By exploring the tradition of expressing grief through ordered language, anyone can utilize rituals that promote understanding, acceptance, and eventual healing in the face of great difficulties. Survey stories and poems that take loss as their subject and sketch out pieces of your own. In the classroom’s safe space, give voice to the complexities of grief and in so doing, you might uncover what gives you life.
401673 Th. 7:00 - 9:00 pm Jul. 18 - Aug. 8 $64 [4 classes]