Hey, y’all! Thank you to everyone who came out to our most recent virtual Journaling Club. Each gathering is special, but for me this one felt especially so. Since Suleika’s workshop with Priya Parker on How to Host a Journaling Club, I’ve been thinking a lot about the things we share here—about how we choose the poems and stories, about what these prompts can do for us.
And as I was gathering the various pieces, it felt so fluid, so organic, so much fun. I was excited to share them, to talk about what I loved in the lines, to journal alongside you and see what came up. Years ago, I remember watching a poet talk about some poems he loved to some undergraduates, and he had no cool. He was effusive, shouting his praise for that verse like a tech bro on a stage with a powerpoint on AI.
And the thing that stuck with me: his enthusiasm was contagious. To use Sol LeWitt’s term from his letter to Eva Hesse (which we talked about in this Journaling Club), he was making his own “uncool.” Those kids jumped right onboard—they were into it! They got to see those through the eyes of someone who loved the sounds, the images, the way white space exploded meaning.
I felt that from everyone on our Zoom—from our resident right-brainer, Holly Huitt, who delighted in writing nonsense inspired by Gertrude Stein, to our community members Cindy and Elizabeth, who came onscreen to share stories of how the words of another buoyed them in a difficult time, to those of you who joined us in the chat.
Below you can find links to that chat. You’ll also find a video replay of the hour, along with the poems and prompts and some sonic accompaniment. Hope it’s as “fantastic whimsical wild fun deep instinctual” for you as it was for community member Rebekah—and the rest of us!
Much love,
Carmen