Goodbye to this blog.

This blog is no longer being updated.

For information about Writers Week, please visit http://fremdwritersweek.ning.com.

WRITERS WEEK XV: FEBRUARY 23-27, 2009

Share your thoughts about Writers Week XV here! What inspired you, made you laugh, or gave you a good idea? Give a shout-out to the student or faculty writers or any of the guests presenters!

WRITERS WEEK XIV DVD!!!

NOW AVAILABLE

WRITERS WEEK XIV HIGHLIGHTS DVD!!!

• FEATURING ALL OF THE WRITERS WEEK XIV GUESTS
• FEATURING MOST OF THE STUDENT WRITERS & MUSICIANS
• FEATURING A SAMPLER OF FACULTY WRITERS
• OVER TWO HOURS OF COOL WORDS & MUSIC

$10

contact aromano@d211.org or glanderson@d211.org

A Note from LeAlan Jones!

I truly appreciated being a part of the Fremd community today. I was energized!!!

Best Regards,
LeAlan M. Jones

Writers Week XIV!!! Blog Your Thoughts Here!

What was your favorite Writers Week XIV moment? What was the funniest, coolest, most inspirational, most memorable, or wisest thing anyone said? (Feel free to add your highlights each day!)

Writers Week XIV Is Coming Soon!

Professional writers from six states will visit the Fremd Campus for Writers Week XIV! See the links on the main page for more information about these exciting guests!
Sharon Draper: Young Adult novelist; author of Tears of a Tiger, Copper Sun, and many others; former National Teacher of the Year
Beth Ann Fennelly: Poet; essayist; author of Tender Hooks, Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother, and others; Assistant Professor of English at University of Mississippi
LeAlan Jones: Co-author of Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago
Dave Clapper (Fremd ’84): Editor of Smokelong Quarterly
Dawn Meehan (Fremd ’88): Writer of the popular blog "Because I Said So"
Billy Lombardo: Author of The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories
Laura Van Prooyen: Poet; author of Inkblot and Altar
Daphne Willis & Co. (Fremd ’05): Singer/songwriter; CD: Matter of Time
Scott Woldman, Director and Playwright, and the cast of Speed Dating: The Musical
John O’Connor: Poet; author of Wordplaygrounds
Billy Kelly: Screenwriter of Enchanted, Premonition, and Blast from the Past
Mary Fons: Poet; freelance writer; author of "The Texas EP"
Regie Gibson: Poet; author of Storms Beneath the Skin
Len Upin: Former Fremd Art Department Chair; Stroke Survivor
Marc Smith: Poetry Slam Inventor; author of Crowdpleaser

A Note from Marc Smith ...

Dear Fremd Students, Friends, and Slam Fans!

The power of the word manifests itself in many ways. I as sitting on the porch of my half-restored country home in Savanna, Illinois watching the muddy Mississippi River churn along when I opened the packet of your letters Mr. Romano posted to me. It had been a gloomy day. In fact, a gloomy couple weeks filled with the uncontrollable stuff life throws at you when you're an old man like me. I had slipped into an ugly spiral of doubt and confusion. One of those spinning vortexes we all find ourselves tumbling into now and then when the disappointments and setbacks seem like tornadoes tearing up our chances at happiness.

I opened the packet and began to read:

"You are one crazy dude. I never laughed so hard in school in my life. Ever! Please come back next year."
"Even though you didn't drop the f-bomb, walking on the wall was the coolest."
"I will always remember you telling us that if we feel a destiny inside of us, follow it, because it's real. I've already started doing that. Thank you."
"Outing Mr. Sampson and Ms. Mungai on being engaged was awesome."
"The poem I enjoyed the most was the one about your father's coat."
" ... was the one about 'He says She says.'"
"... was the one about the Wolf."
"... was the one about your daughter ... was the one about money being a rich man's joke ... was the one about pulling people up the mountain."

Thank you, Fremd, for pulling this old man out of his doubts and deep blues, reminding him that the things we say and write do matter, that communication and the arts of writing, performing, and poetry do make a difference, that when we take the time to thoughtfully and openly express to someone how we feel about them and what they've done for us we can change their day, their week, their lives.

Your letters have done that for me. Thank you.

Your grateful friend,
Marc (So What!) Smith