I shared your piece with Scott Korb, the director of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Pacific University where I’m enrolled. He asked if I would connect the two of you to see “ if there was anything he might do to support Goddard’s MFA students.
Because you’re in the midst of negotiations for the ghost writing project I thought I’d ask how best to do the connection.
What email/ cell phone or means of connection should I share ?
I could do a joint email to you both if you like. Just let me know your email or whatever to use.
Dear Aimee, I remember the evening we had dinner together in Seattle, and you were headed to Port Townsend to begin teaching in the Goddard MFA program. How optomistic we were then! What you wrote brought me to tears, not just for Goddard but for our country and the world.
Anti-intellectualism is undermining the primary and most important freedom we have, Freedom Of Speech. Democracy in our country and around the world is in a precarious situation, a crisis.
If our country will not support education that teaches freedom of speech, the roots of tolerance and empathy, then our country will not survive as a Democracy. It may happen quickly, It may happen slowly. It will not end with a bang or a whimper; will it end, with the closing of a book, a library, a college unless we each make a commitment as writers and teachers to make a difference. Thanks for all your past work in this regard and for continue the good fight. Patty Cogen
This is difficult. My time at Goddard PT was a life changer. At the time, I was teaching at Marylhurst University, an esteemed “clocktower” school in Portland, Or, also with strong progressive education values. With my MFA, I moved on to the local CC, while Marylhurst suffered the same blows that Goddard did, eventually closing in 2018.
As you comment, Aimee, the closure of these kinds of institutions around the country is sad. It’s also horrifying. Where are we headed as a culture when the arts and the exploration of mind and ideas is devalued out of existence?
I have to believe that somehow an American renaissance will emerge. I just don’t see it coming soon.
I’m so sorry to hear this. This is indeed a loss for the creative world. I’ve read and admired the work of many of its graduates and appreciate the list and links to the works of faculty members with whom you shared community.
Your description brought me back to my own low residency experience at Bennington. It was like living on a literary planet. I’ve often said that I wish I’d never graduated so I could keep going back. The value of such an education can’t be overstated.
Hello, again, Aimee-
I shared your piece with Scott Korb, the director of the MFA Creative Writing Program at Pacific University where I’m enrolled. He asked if I would connect the two of you to see “ if there was anything he might do to support Goddard’s MFA students.
Because you’re in the midst of negotiations for the ghost writing project I thought I’d ask how best to do the connection.
What email/ cell phone or means of connection should I share ?
I could do a joint email to you both if you like. Just let me know your email or whatever to use.
Warm regards,
Patty
Dear Aimee, I remember the evening we had dinner together in Seattle, and you were headed to Port Townsend to begin teaching in the Goddard MFA program. How optomistic we were then! What you wrote brought me to tears, not just for Goddard but for our country and the world.
Anti-intellectualism is undermining the primary and most important freedom we have, Freedom Of Speech. Democracy in our country and around the world is in a precarious situation, a crisis.
If our country will not support education that teaches freedom of speech, the roots of tolerance and empathy, then our country will not survive as a Democracy. It may happen quickly, It may happen slowly. It will not end with a bang or a whimper; will it end, with the closing of a book, a library, a college unless we each make a commitment as writers and teachers to make a difference. Thanks for all your past work in this regard and for continue the good fight. Patty Cogen
This is difficult. My time at Goddard PT was a life changer. At the time, I was teaching at Marylhurst University, an esteemed “clocktower” school in Portland, Or, also with strong progressive education values. With my MFA, I moved on to the local CC, while Marylhurst suffered the same blows that Goddard did, eventually closing in 2018.
As you comment, Aimee, the closure of these kinds of institutions around the country is sad. It’s also horrifying. Where are we headed as a culture when the arts and the exploration of mind and ideas is devalued out of existence?
I have to believe that somehow an American renaissance will emerge. I just don’t see it coming soon.
I’m so sorry to hear this. This is indeed a loss for the creative world. I’ve read and admired the work of many of its graduates and appreciate the list and links to the works of faculty members with whom you shared community.
Your description brought me back to my own low residency experience at Bennington. It was like living on a literary planet. I’ve often said that I wish I’d never graduated so I could keep going back. The value of such an education can’t be overstated.