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Join us for a gentle transformative weekend at the Mesa Refuge, with a focus on listening and creativity. Christian and Sarah are both experienced writer-teachers with a passionate interest in the natural world. We will introduce a series of short writing, drawing and contemplative practices, making sure to allow plenty of time for solitude, as well as for reading, sharing and discussion. This retreat is especially suitable for writers and artists, of any level of expertise, but everyone is welcome. Expect to emerge with a renewed understanding of your own true nature, as well as the nature that surrounds and sustains us all.
The retreat will begin with an introductory session, including a light meal, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm on Friday evening. We will reconvene from 10:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday and from 10:00am to 3:00pm on Sunday.
“I loved the place, the space, the group interactions, the time spent writing in balance with time spent sharing. Most of all I loved the spirit, wisdom and generosity of Christian and Sarah.”
“The two of you work together beautifully, and I appreciate your warmth, the sense of welcome & receptivity, and all the resources you so thoughtfully shared.”
“The workshop put me in touch with the love that can be generated in community… It put me in touch again with my writing self. It put me in touch with the wind again. Just those three things alone made the weekend such a valuable experience.”
The fee (TBA) includes supper on Friday evening; participants bring lunches on Saturday and Sunday. Registration, limited to 13 participants, is on a first-come, first-served basis, with full payment by check required to hold your place at the time of registration. For cancellations requested no later than two weeks in advance, the fee is refundable, minus a $25 administrative charge.
For more information and/or to register, please contact Sarah Rabkin via email (srabkin57@gmail.com) or at 831-475-7548. We still have a few more openings for this workshop! Please consider joining us in March.
Christian McEwen is a Mesa Refuge alum, a British writer and workshop leader, currently based in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. She has edited four anthologies, including Jo’s Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure, and has written for the Nationand The Village Voice. Her book World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down is fundamental to the theme of our retreat.
Sarah Rabkin is the author and illustrator of What I Learned at Bug Camp: Essays on Finding a Home in the World. A teacher of composition and environmental and science writing at UC Santa Cruz, she also leads workshops and retreats for the Point Reyes Field Institute and other outdoor education organizations. Sarah grew up in Berkeley and currently lives near the shore of Monterey Bay with her husband, poet Charles Atkinson.
Christian is offering open listening sessions in Ashfield, MA on May 27th, June 10th & June 17th, between 9:00am and 1:00pm. Please do stop by. You can talk about anything that happens to be on your mind — or pick a question from the basket if you’d prefer.
Most sessions will be fairly brief: a memory, an anecdote, an observation. Conversations will not be recorded, but if you’d like to get in touch later on, you should feel free to do so.
In a world increasingly dominated by cell-phones and computers and other entrancing devices, the LISTENING EAR is intended as a joyous and subversive antidote, reminding us of the special pleasure to be found in long, meandering, face-to-face conversation, most especially with friends and family.
But there is more to it than that, especially now. Our country is woefully divided, ever more so since the Election. It’s time to explore a braver, more generous, more incisive kind of listening, not just with friends and allies, but with strangers too, and those with whom we disagree. The LISTENING EAR helps initiate that conversation, and encourages all of us to keep on listening — through the challenges, and out the other side.
The EAR was inspired by the work of Bread & Puppet Theater, based in Glover, VT, and the BOOTH by peace activist Fran Peavey, who traveled the world with a small cloth sign reading “American Willing to Listen.”
As our society develops ever more various forms of techno-talk, the pace and volume of our exchanges can rise to fever-pitch. But it is all too clear that much is being missed. Despite the rush of information and opinion, there is an increasing lack of generous, centered listening. Too many of us feel invisible and unheard, leading to anger, disconnection and frustration. In this retreat with writer and educator Christian McEwen, we’ll explore the art of listening and how it pertains to our relationships — all our relationships.
Christian’s 2011 book, World Enough and Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down, showed us how to listen to our own inner muse. She brings that same process to the external world as we engage with “the other,” whether a co-worker or a co-parent, the person on the other side of the checkout counter, or across the political aisle. We’ll spend the day writing, sharing, walking, and most certainly listening.
And as with all our retreats, the experience will be held in the Monastery’s practice environment, beginning and ending the day with meditation, and familiarizing ourselves with the experience of living in community, where silence, communication, and gratitude are not mutually exclusive.
Join us at the Mesa Refuge in Point Reyes Station for a gentle, transformative weekend devoted to creativity and slowing down. After an introductory session from 6:00pm to 8:30pm on Friday evening, we will reconvene from 10:00am to 4:00pm on Saturday and from 10:00am to 3:00pm on Sunday. Activities will include informal writing and sketching; we welcome both new and seasoned practitioners of both crafts. You can expect to emerge with a renewed understanding of your own true nature, and of the nature that surrounds and sustains us.
Registration: The $250 fee includes a light meal on Friday evening. Participants bring lunches on Saturday and Sunday. Registration is limited to 12 participants; full payment by check is required to hold your place at the time of registration. For cancellations requested no later than February 10, 2017, the fee is refundable, minus a $25 administrative charge. Suggestions about local lodging options are available for participants traveling from beyond commuting range. (Plan to book early, as local accommodations are finite and do fill up.)
Christian McEwen is a writer, workshop leader and Mesa Refuge alumna currently based in Williamsburg, MA. She has edited four anthologies, including Jo’s Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure, and has written for the Nation and The Village Voice. The focus of her book World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down is fundamental to the theme of our retreat.
Sarah Rabkin is a Bay Area native and the author and illustrator of What I Learned at Bug Camp: Essays on Finding a Home in the World. A teacher of environmental and science writing at UC Santa Cruz, she also leads workshops for Point Reyes National Seashore’s field institute, the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology, and other field schools and outdoor education organizations.
As a child, she never knew her birth mother, but she found her as an adult. After years of separation, how could they establish a relationship? Find out during “Finding the Family I Never Knew” at Lifetree Café.Join us, Tuesday the 27th of Feb, 630PM, at Hacienda del Lago Restaurant, 14155 E Via Rancho del Lago, Vail AZ 85641.
The class, for youth and adults, meets from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursdays at the old armory on DeKalb Street. The cost is $10 per person and $15 per couple for the four-week session, which begins Dec. 2. Instructors will be Al and Kay Roberson. Pre-registration is required.
Two five-week courses are offered, meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The class is from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., and the fee is $20
Three 1983 Camden High School graduates have been nominated for national honors from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) for a Palmetto Leaf newspaper article they wrote on asbestos at the high school.
TheAndre Glenn, a 1995 graduate of Lugoff-Elgin High School, has been selected as recipient of the Jackson High School Alumni Scholarship.
Retired Camden businessman Charlie Nash received the George V. Kornegay Distinguished Service Award from the Camden Jaycees at the organization's recent annual installation of officers and awards banquet.
Camden resident Clay Carruth, Jr. was one of four new commissioners elected to the S.C. Public Service Commission by the General Assembly.
Liza VanHorn has been the quintessential girl-about-town for the last couple of months. As publicity chairman for the 1984 MAD (Music, Art, Drama) Festival, she's not quite sure whether she lives on Rectory Square, at the Fine Arts Center or at the Chronicle-Independent, and someone said something about jher having a telephone growing out of her ear.
Although several supermarkets in Camden boast bakeries, Mulberry Market owners Peter and Fran Rowland say they are confident their new bake shop at 536 E. DeKalb Street will fill a niche the supermarkets have just been too big to fit into.
It looks like one of those RTA vans you've seen around the county, but once you step inside you'll think you're in a doctor's office.
The Camden High School Academic Booster Club will sponsor the second annual "Bovine Doo Drop" extravaganza Friday at Zemp stadium.
Sandhills Bank will return to Bethune but not at S.C. 341 and Chestnut Street, the address the bank occupied for decades.
Michelle Gilchrist, a student at Lugoff-Elgin High School, was recently awarded the C.E. Savedge Scholarship.
The second annual Cody Allen Wrenn Memorial Drag Race will be held on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Midlands Raceway Park in Lugoff.
Sponsored by the Palmetto Drag Racer Association (PDRA) and the Darlington track, the event was held to honor the memory of the late Kershaw County resident, businessman and friend, Sonny Greer. A founding member of the organization, Greer is widely remembered for his honest character, fun nature and talent with high-performance cars, engines and custom restorations.
The Spirit of Camden race team will have a female's touch at this weekend's 24 Hours of LeMons races to be held at the Carolina Motorsports Park in Camden beginning Saturday and continuing through Sunday.
In just six years as a part of NASCAR's Grand National (now Sprint Cup) Series, Camden-based Bowani Racing left an indelible mark on the sport of stock car racing.
Tickets for the 2011 NASCAR racing season at Darlington Raceway are now on sale to the general public.