22nd Annual Poetry Weekend November 10-11, 2007, Westminster Retreat in Alamo
I am always amazed when reading Great Literature, whether poetry or prose, to find so much familiar language. I have not read Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but a quick scan found the following:
Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.
and later:
Ah! Well a-day! What evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.
At right, our mariner with neckpiece. From an illustration by Gustave Dore.
Here are the poems that the Poetry Committee has selected for The Poetry Weekend in November 2007: One session devoted to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Session theme: The Observed Self Faint Music Robert Hass Each Bird Walking Tess Gallagher Man and Wife Robert Lowell On Looking in the Looking Glass Isabella Gardner Poem Frank O'Hara Still the Mind Smiles Robinson Jeffers Potpourri: The Flight of Swans Robinson Jeffers Wise Men In Their Bad Hours Robinson Jeffers Snake D.H. Lawrence (AS95) Blossom Mary Oliver Men at Forty Donald Justice Taking Off Emily Dickinson's Clothes Billy Collins Sonnet CXXX William Shakespeare The cost for the weekend is $150. For more information click here. Previous participants will automatically receive applications. If you have NOT been to the Poetry Weekend before, please contact us for an application. We will send out all applications starting mid-August, 2007. Contact: Theda or Oscar Firschein at 650-854-3980, or email [email protected].
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Long Novel Weekend Recap Pond above Walker Creek
Too Tough For Us? Not On Your Life William Faulkner's masterpiece, The Sound and the Fury, this years reading for the Long Novel Weekend is a difficult book; reading it takes time and effort. Its first section, the tale told by an idiot, is as confusing as anything to be found in literature. The second part, from the stream-of-consciousness of a young man on the day of his suicide, is easier but not enough to give it bragging rights. So how did we do? Participants and leaders did just fine. They came to Walker Creek Ranch in rural, northern Marin County well prepared as they always do on Long Novel Weekends, and everyone - each in his or her own way - contributed to the success of the event. All of the discussions went very well. And all who were there no doubt benefited from those discussions. In short, it was an example of Shared Inquiry at its best. And if the discussions were not enough, the weather was good and there was time to enjoy relaxed conversations with other Great Books enthusiasts. And we had an enjoyable time at the Saturday evening program and party. ---- Chuck Scarcliff
Jim Vasser remembered reading a Compson family history written by Faulkner, but not included in the edition of the novel read by us at the Long Novel Weekend. I checked out an earlier edition from my local library and found the appendix about the Compson family from leaving Scotland to the last of this line with that name. For those who have read the novel, this addition is moving and complex. Here is a summary (teaser) in mostly Faulkner's words, which should not be read before reading and discussing the novel. I highly recommend the full nineteen pages added by Faulkner.
Appendix Compson: 1699-1945
QUENTIN MACLACHAN, son of a Glasgow printer, fled to Carolina from Culloden Moor, at eighty, having fought once against an English king and lost, fled again into Kentucky, where a neighbor named Boone had already established a settlement, fathered CHARLES STUART, left for dead in a Georgia swamp by his own retreating British army, on his own homemade wooden leg overtook his father . . . For more click on: Faulkner-Compson history.
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More Leader Workshop Recap In the July/August 2007 issue of this E-Newsletter in the Leader Workship Recap, Kay White mentioned issuing each participant a wallet-size laminated card with the four Rules of Shared Inquiry and ten Effective Practices for Leaders. We have had numerous requests for those rules and practices so here they are:
Ten Effective Practices for Leaders 1. Lead slowly. 2. Listen carefully. 3. Use your seating chart regularly. 4. Encourage participants to talk to one another. 5. Strive for answers. 6. Relate ideas to each other and to "a basic question." 7. Turn to the text frequently. 8. Encourage challenges to assumptions in your questions. 9. Get everyone to contribute. 10. Ask follow-up questions often.
The Four Rules of Shared Inquiry Discussion 1. Only those who have read the selection may take part in the discussion. 2. Discussion is restricted to the selection that everyone has read. 3. All opinions should be supportable with evidence from the selection. 4. Leaders may only ask questions-they may not answer them. |
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Asilomar Weekend Retreat 2008 April 11-13, 2008
The major event of the year for the San Francisco Great Books Council is the spring weekend at the Asilomar Conference Center in Monterey, California. This is the 50th year that the Great Books Council of San Francisco has been holding this retreat at Asilomar. We intend to keep going for another 50 years and getting better every year. During the weekend there are four discussions of reading selections, including poetry, plays, philosophy and fiction. That is eight full hours of some of the best conversations you will ever have. The beauty of the area and comfort of the accommodations are conducive to stimulating discussions and convivial parties.
Be sure not to miss next year's 50th Anniversary Asilomar '08!
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