An update from our fifty-sixth Writing Workshop
A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, January 22nd, plus some of the output published below
William introduced the workshop participants to the concept of vignettes—a short, descriptive piece of writing that typically describes a character or a scene. Beginning with the concept of vignette photographs, William then went on to give the class examples of poetic vignettes. The class went over poems by Basho, a description from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and a passage by Willa Cather from her novel My Antonia.
The Challenge: Write a focused description of a place, person, or scene.
The Participants: Ananya, Lena, Liam, Lauren, Yueling, Kate, Alexandra, Peri, Agatha, Anya, Elbert, Rachael, Iago, Shonali, Hani
To watch the students’ readings from the class, click here.
Sherman Oaks, CA
The Nighttime City
Peri Gordon, 12
The streets are nocturnal. The nighttime city stretches on through space and time. The skyscrapers don’t scrape the sky, they illuminate it with dancing lights that only come out when all else is dark. The streams of vehicles flow under the swirling haze of the atmosphere, both unending. The buildings are drenched in colorful blackness, as the car engines sing a lullaby and the world is locked into a dream. Window pane after window pane is encased in frost, street after street is decked with cars. Time is frozen like the windows, time is never-ending like the line of cars, time is completely irrelevant. A second goes by in an hour, an hour goes by in a second as slumber sweeps the clocks into a dreamlike state and time goes wild by doing nothing at all. It’s been midnight for hours.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=LYRqvjPVrxE%2520title%3DYouTube%2520video%2520player%2520frameborder%3D0%2520allow%3Daccelerometer%3B%2520autoplay%3B%2520clipboard-write%3B%2520encrypted-media%3B%2520gyroscope%3B%2520picture-in-picture%2520allowfullscreen