[Up] | | I occasionally teach poetry online for Writer’s Digest’s Online Workshops. Here are descriptive blurbs for some of the other writing classes I’ve taught. Holding On, Letting Go: A Workshop in Loosening Up Your Writing (UCLA)| “You have to hold the world lightly by the throat . . . to be so serious that you remain playful,” says author Wyatt Prunty. In this supportive workshop, you learn why loosening up and letting go of most of the writing rules you’ve picked up along the way can make you a stronger, more confident, more original, and more successful writer. Topics include entering flow, where most authors produce their best work; writing from authentic emotion; generating original ideas; and combining genres and styles for optimum freshness. The instructors share inspiring examples and tricks from professional writers who use experimental techniques. Whether you choose to express yourself through novels, stories, creative nonfiction, essays, or poetry, you’ll learn techniques you can adapt that will work with your unique personality. By the end of six weeks, you know how to free your writing from the expected and will produce several solid drafts in whatever genre you’re most interested in. [co-taught with Susan K. Perry] |
Understanding the Arts: Poetry, Literature, Painting, Film, and Music in the Twentieth Century| Ever been in an Italian restaurant and been perplexed by an odd Picasso print of two coarsely drawn hands holding a bouquet of flowers? Why is that great art? Couldn’t any child have done it? What about that film of Kubrick’s, 2001: A Space Odyssey? The beginning was straightforward enough, but that bizarre dream-like ending! The arts of the 20th century are rich and varied, but sometimes confusing. This interdisciplinary class will explore fundamentals of art in general—from consideration of novels, short stories, poetry, painting, film, music, sculpture, etc.—so you can truly understand their deeper messages. Creativity theory—what links all the arts—will be explored, which may start you off on your own artistic journey as well. The class is set up as casual and friendly, with an emphasis on exchange of ideas rather than strict lecture. |
Here’s a sample of talks I’ve given (or will shortly give):  | Guest Lecturer, Saddleback College - “Sylvia Plath and the Art of Suicide” | | Guest Lecturer, LBCC - “The Music of Echoes: the Rebirth Motif in World Literature” | | Guest Lecturer, LBCC - “Creativity” | | Guest Lecturer, California School of Professional Psychology - “James Joyce’s ‘A Little Cloud’” | | Guest Lecturer, UCLA, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine - “Poetry and Medicine” | | Guest Lecturer, UCLA, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine - “Metaphor” |
| Los Angeles Poetry Festival, at the Long Beach Art Museum | | Featured Reader (many times), Long Beach City College | | Featured Reader, The Rose Cafe, Venice, CA | | Featured Reader, Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA | | Featured Reader, Post Ranch Inn, Big Sur |
| Featured Reader, Henry Miller Library, Big Sur | | UCLA Writers’ Extension Publication Event, Los Angeles, CA | | Featured Reader, Sacred Grounds, San Pedro, CA |
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