Welcome to the January Academy 2012 web page. Please note that this series of enrichment workshops, which will run from Jan. 3-25, 2012, is open to CUNY J-School current students, alumni, select CUNY undergraduates, applicants, and CUNY J-Camp registrants only.
Registration for current students begins Nov. 21, 2011. The costs for the program have been factored into the School’s regular student fees so current students pay nothing extra to sign up.
Alumni can start signing up on Dec. 5, 2011 and must pay a fee of $20 per class for up to three classes. Any classes beyond that are free.
Certain courses will open up to CUNY J-Camp registrants on Dec. 12, 2011 at cunyjcamp.com.
Applicants and CUNY undergraduates must register through the CUNY J-School Office of Admissions. Please contact Admissions Director Stephen Dougherty at 646-758-7731, stephen.dougherty@journalism.cuny.edu; or Associate Director of Admissions and Enrollment Management Colleen Marshall at 646-758-7852, colleen.marshall@journalism.cuny.edu.
Please note that current students may sign up for a maximum of 5 courses each initially. At the end of the registration period, students may exceed that limit if there is space left in any course. Also, we reserve the right to cancel any course that does not have a minimum of 8-10 registrants. Courses that don’t have specified caps on the number of students are limited only by the number of seats in the room.
THE COURSES
January 3-4, 1-5 p.m.
Freelancing Workshop – Ellen Walterscheid and Prof. Frederick Kaufman – Room 308
We’ll cover such topics as: generating ideas, understanding the market, getting to the right editor, pitching the story, revising the pitch, understanding the contract, negotiating a good price, working with editors, and polishing the freelance piece. Taught by Prof. Frederick Kaufman, a consortial faculty member at the CUNY J-School and veteran freelancer who has published his essays and articles in Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, Gourmet, Saveur, GQ, New York, Interview, Allure, Spin, Spy, Salon, Vice, Men’s Health, Popular Science, and The New Yorker, among many others; and Ellen Walterscheid (The Sciences, AARP The Magazine, National Geographic World, among others), the J-School’s original career services director. Guests will include a legal expert and top editors from The New Yorker, Vice, and Family Circle, who will critique student pitches. Focus is on the magazine/web market.
January 4, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Covering the Presidential Election – Douglas Muzzio and Errol Louis – Room 442 (22 student max)
The goal of the seminar is to give you a working knowledge of how the 2012 presidential race will unfold, with a focus on how to report on the main race and affiliated stories (e.g., control of Congress and key contests for governor.) Douglas Muzzio is the co-director of the Center for Innovation and Leadership in Government and the founder and former director of Baruch Survey Research, both at Baruch College’s School of Public Affairs. He is a specialist in American public opinion, voting behavior, and city politics. Errol Louis is the host of NY1’s Inside City Hall, the preeminent political news show in New York City.
January 4, 10-11 a.m. for the orientation meeting
News Service Internship – Jere Hester – Newsroom
Pick up some clips in January, working with NYCity News Service Director Jere Hester. Interns will be require to attend a weekly news meeting as well as turn out at least one story a week (at least four pieces). You can bring in stories from the last semester that you’d like to further develop and/or pitch new pieces. Stories can be in any media; one of the things we’ll be working on is how to best package/present pieces. While there will be only one meeting a week, the day and time of which may vary depending on people’s schedules, reporters will be expected to keep in frequent contact with Hester on progress and contribute daily to an ideas wiki.
January 4, 10-11 a.m. for the orientation meeting
The Local: Hyperlocal News Internship – Gersh Kuntzman – Newsroom
In this class you will learn the basics of hyperlocal blogging by working for The Local: Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. We will gather at the J-School Mondays and Thursdays for editorial meetings and classes covering blogging tools, social media, and hyperlocal reporting. Between classes, you’ll report and write stories for The Local, and amass clips that appear on The New York Times website. Gersh Kuntzman, former editor-in-chief of The Brooklyn Paper and Brooklyn Courier, was recently named collaborative editor of The Local.
January 5, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Covering New York City (The Short Version) – Prof. Sarah Barlett – Room 442 (22 students max)
This three-hour seminar will give a fast-paced overview of the critical details reporters need to know about how New York City works. The session will begin with some brief historical and demographic background, and then introduce students to the city’s political structure, the key economic and business players, and the web of nonprofits and advocacy groups that provide essential social services. Taught by Professor Sarah Bartlett, this session is geared for students who are not in the Urban Reporting program.
January 5, 6, 13, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (Section 1 – Estrin)
January 11, 12, 19, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (Section 2 – Smock)
News Photography – James Estrin or John Smock – Room 438 (20 students max per section)
This workshop led by veteran New York Times photographer Jim Estrin or veteran photojournalist John Smock will help you improve your photographic skills for use in all media. We will cover the technical and conceptual aspects of basic camera usage, composition, visual vocabulary, photo editing, lighting, and Photoshop. The workshop will concentrate on practical tools and problem solving. We will learn how to handle portraits, news conferences, politics, intimate photo essays, and international conflicts. We will also learn how to photograph while recording audio, shooting video,or reporting for print. An afternoon session will concentrate on producing audio slide shows and cross-platform storytelling. Whether you are a beginner or intermediate photographer, you will learn the tricks of the trade that professional photojournalists use. There will be assignments between Days 2 and 3. Students interested in taking the Photojournalism course in the spring are strongly encouraged to sign up for this workshop.
January 5, 12:30-2 p.m.
Digital Lunch: 21 Websites Every Journalist Should Know – Jeremy Caplan – Room 436
From Evernote to Storify, catch up on the most useful new web resources. This lunchtime session will highlight 21 different cutting-edge tools transforming the work of innovative journalists. Jeremy Caplan is education director for the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
January 5, 2-5 p.m.
Creating News Stories Using Storyful App – Room 434 (22 students max)
With Mark Little, founder and CEO of Storyful
In this presentation, you’ll learn how to use Storyful’s curation app (free for CUNY J-School faculty and students) to enhance reporting with YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Livestream, and more.
January 6, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Be Your Own Brand – Toddi Gutner – Room 442
Increasingly, today’s young journalists are following new, much more entrepreneurial career paths than their predecessors did. Instead of getting a job at a single media organization, these “indies” are going out into the world with their backpacks full of multimedia equipment and selling their work to multiple employers. In this workshop given by former BusinessWeek personal finance editor Toddi Gutner, now a successful independent writer and media consultant, students will learn the importance and particulars of building their own brand. The discussion will include advice on marketing yourself, pricing your services, networking, structuring your business, and managing your finances and taxes.
January 6, 2-4 p.m.
60 News Sites and Databases for Journalists – Gary Price – Room 434 (22 students max)
With Gary Price, co-founder and co-editor of INFODocket & FullTextReports and writer for SearchEngineLand.com.
Gary shows us the top sites and tools for journalists, including the latest additions by Google and some real-time monitoring and mobile tools.
January 9, 10, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Video Storytelling Intensive – Bob Sacha – Room 436 (14 students max)
Web video is hot: Some studies say that video will account for 50% of all Internet traffic by 2012. When you think of how easy it is to watch video on a smart phone or how beautiful video looks on an iPad, it’s no wonder that everyone wants more visual content on their screens. As a multiplatform journalist, it helps your job prospects if you know how to tell a story in more than one medium. This two-day workshop concentrates on video storytelling for the web, focusing on non-narrated stories of compelling characters and short, sharply focused pieces targeted for online viewing. We’ll talk about what type of stories work best for web video, finding strong characters, structuring stories, how to film and conduct an interview for a non-narrated piece, how to capture compelling visual sequences and finally, how to assemble a short video using FCP. This advanced class will be hands on, so you’ll need to be up to speed with Final Cut Pro 7 and the JVC HM100U HD video camera. You can see Bob Sacha’s work at www.bobsacha.com.
January 9, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Reaper Training (Basic) – Chad Bernhard- Room 332 (14 students max)
Confused about the basic functionality of Reaper? Want a refresher? This is the class for you. We will go over basic skills: importing, editing, editing modes, and mixing and exporting a project from start to finish. I’ll also cover aspects of how to view and recognize elements of waveforms so all of those cryptic squiggles and lines have some meaning for you.
January 9, 2-5 p.m.
Reaper Training (Advanced) – Chad Bernhard- Room 332 (14 students max)
Comfortable with Reaper and want to push your skills to the next level? This class will go over the basics of effectively applying equalization (EQ) and compression to your projects to make them sound better and help you edit with greater efficiency. We’ll also show you how to customize the program to work better for your specific needs. The applications learned here, while using functions integrated into Reaper, are applicable for all equalization and compression applications.
January 9, 1-4 p.m.
Reporting in Immigrant Communities – Editors from NYC’s ethnic press – Room 434 (22 students max)
As part of the J-School’s ethnic media initiative, we would like to offer a three-hour workshop on “How to improve your reporting in immigrant communities” led by journalists from the city’s ethnic press. Reporters from the Asian, African, and South Asian communities will provide practical reporting tips, sourcing suggestions, and cultural context that should help you better discern story ideas and conduct interviews, even when there are language barriers.
January 9, 10, 12, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Sports Writing and New Media – BJ Schecter – Room 434 (15 students max)
This hands-on course will cover reporting, writing, interviewing, and packaging of sports news for the web, newspapers and magazines, the social media, and the emerging iPad and mobile phone apps. On Day 2, we will cover a college or high school basketball game, which students will cover in the format of their choice. B.J. Schecter is an executive editor at Sports Illustrated and SI.com, where he has worked for more than 15 years as a reporter, writer, and editor. Among his other duties, Schecter is in charge of the integration of Sports Illustrated magazine and SI.com and manages the enterprise and investigative unit.
January 10, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Public Profiles: Using Public Records to Profile Your Subjects – Barbara Gray – Room 434 (22 students max)
This presentation by research lecturer Barbara Gray will cover the range of records and information available, including court records and social media, and where to find them.
January 10, 11, 18, 10 am-1 pm
Radio Documentary Workshop – Amanda Aronczyk – Rooms 330 and 332 (14 students max)
This hands-on workshop is an introduction to producing radio documentaries. Students will learn how to use interviews, scenes, sounds, and music to tell a compelling story. We’ll listen to some of the best and most innovative work being produced today, and discuss how to incorporate these methods into students’ audio work. In the end, students will produce a short documentary. Amanda Aronczyk has been a public radio reporter and new media producer for almost 15 years, working at WNYC’s Radio Lab, Marketplace, and PRI’s The Next Big Thing. She recently produced an hour-long documentary on Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello for Studio 360, and teaches radio at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.
January 10, 11, 2:30-5:30 (Section 1)
January 17, 18, 2:30-5:30 p.m. (Section 2)
Voice Coaching Workshop – Michael Lysak – Room 330 (10 students max per section)
The workshop begins with a classroom lecture on the basics of broadcast announcing using audio samples to demonstrate concepts. Topics covered include diaphragmatic breathing, considering the audience, listener distractions, radio versus TV, reporting versus anchoring, differing styles, pacing, and sounding conversational. Practical exercises are taught and demonstrated. The second part of the workshop involves a hands-on voice coaching session in the radio studio. A professional radio newscast is played and analyzed. Students then read newscast scripts. After receiving immediate feedback and critique, students get the opportunity to try again, implementing the skills they have learned. Michael Lysak oversees operations for Bloomberg Radio’s national network and podcasts. Previously, he has been a news anchor and reporter at WCBS, WOR, WNEW and WRKS (Kiss-FM), all in New York City.
January 10, 11, 12, 5-8 p.m.
The Crash Course on Economics, Markets, and Business – Greg David – Room 430 (22 students max)
Want to know why the Great Recession has so devastated the country? Why Wall Street is so hated? Why Europe’s economy could soon crash? Why Apple is the most successful American company? This three-part January Academy class answers these questions in a crash course on the basics of economics, markets, and business. This class is designed for students and graduates who have not taken the business concentration and is available to potential candidates for admission. (Graduates and students of the International Reporting Program should consider the special international course on Jan. 17 and 18). Some reading in advance of each class will be required. The classes will be taught by Greg David, director of the Business & Economics Reporting Program at the CUNY J-School.
January 11, 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Non-Fiction Book Writing – Prof. Glenn Lewis – Room 434 (22 students max)
Take this one-day crash course on the essentials of conceptualizing, researching, organizing, and writing a professional-level non-fiction book proposal. The seminar also focuses on techniques for reporting and writing non-fiction books. Students are given insights into negotiating book contracts as well. The session draws on Prof. Glenn Lewis’ experiences as a book packager, agent, writer, and book proposal doctor. A guest editor will also participate. Prof. Lewis is director of the journalism program at York College and is a consortial faculty member at the CUNY J-School.
January 12, 13, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Required ProTools Training for Spring Semester Radio Course (Formerly “Intro to ProTools”) – Chad Bernhard – Room 332 (14 students max)
This two-day workshop will cover the basics of editing and mixing audio in ProTools. From file organization to outputting a final WAV file, this workshop will help students take their audio for broadcast or interactive projects to the next level. The instructor, Chad Bernhard, senior audio engineer at the CUNY J-School, will discuss the nuts and bolts of creating a seamless journalistic edit as well as the aesthetics of mixing ambient sound to create vivid and compelling mixes. Students interested in learning ProTools who are NOT enrolled in Radio News Writing and Reporting may also take this workshop, BUT please note that space is limited and priority will be given to students enrolled in the spring semester radio class.
January 12, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.
Improv Workshop for Journalists – Jim Tosone – Room 442 (25 students max)
We spend most of our day dealing with the unplanned and the unexpected. Yet, unlike the performers on shows such as “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?”, few of us have been taught how to improvise. This
workshop will introduce participants to the principles and techniques of applied improvisation through a series of fun, fast-paced interactive exercises. The exercises are designed not to create sketch comedy, but to help journalists generate and pitch story ideas, find the essence of a story, see stories from different perspectives, and deal with challenging interviewees. Jim Tosone is Managing Director of Tosone Associates, a graduate of the world-famous Second City Training Center, and creator of the “Improv Means Business” program.
January 12, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Basics of Social Media Skills for Journalists – Reporting, Community Building, and Branding – Adam Glenn – Room 434
Social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have fast become significant tools for the work of journalism, allowing you to find stories and sources, engage your audience more fully, virally market your work, and build a professional identity online. This course will explore these and numerous other social media tools with an eye toward their journalistic purpose. We will also examine strategies for managing social media workflow, journalistic best practices, and the role of journalists in the social media ecosystem. This basics session is for applicants and journalism community members who want to build a strong foundation in social media tools, as well as for current students looking to reinforce skills taught in the School’s fall Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism course.
January 12, 2-5 p.m., Jan. 13, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
The European Perspective – Adeline Wrona – Room 430 (22 students max)
A two-part workshop on the literary traditions in French journalism and how they figure into the coverage of major world news, with Prof. Adeline Wrona of the Sorbonne University’s CELSA Graduate School of Journalism.
January 13, 1-4 p.m.
Mining the Census – Barbara Gray – Room 434 (22 students max)
This session with research lecturer Barbara Gray is part understanding the Census and part workshop, to uncover and enhance stories using what you’ve learned.
January 17, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Politics, Power, & Money – Tom Robbins – Room 442 (27 students max)
The CUNY J-School’s investigative journalist in residence, Tom Robbins, explains how to use public databases to analyze the impact of campaign donors and lobbyists on local elected officials. Robbins has been a columnist and staff writer at the Village Voice, The New York Daily News, and The New York Observer. His stories on political corruption and urban issues have been cited by many organizations, including Investigative Reporters and Editors, the New York Press Club, the Deadline Club, and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, which gave his political columns in the Voice its top award in both 2009 and 2010.
January 17, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
News Photography Workshop for Applicants – John Smock – Room 438 (20 students max)
This workshop led by veteran photojournalist John Smock will help you improve your photographic skills for use in all media. We will cover the technical and conceptual aspects of basic camera usage, composition, visual vocabulary, photo editing, lighting, and Photoshop. You will learn how to handle portraits, news conferences, politics, intimate photo essays, and international conflicts. You will also learn how to photograph while recording audio, shooting video, or reporting for print. Whether you are a beginner or intermediate photographer, you will learn the tricks of the trade that professional photojournalists use. Students are encouraged to bring their own cameras, though the School has cameras available for them to use if needed.
January 17, 18, 25, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Documentary Story Structure – Sabrina S. Gordon – Room 434 (15 students max)
In this class, we will examine the step-by-step process of long-form story telling. We will analyze different approaches and styles of documentary filmmaking such as cinema verite, investigative, and historical genres. We will also compare and contrast this to the process of producing short-form news pieces. Students will be required to watch 5 documentaries (chosen from a list) before the class begins, and they should come into the class with an idea they want to develop into a long-form piece. We will have at least one field trip to attend a screening (TBD; BDC @Harlem Stage; there will be a modest charge for tickets.) Classes are a week apart to give students a chance to watch more films, especially once they have new insights and may be watching with a different lens. Also, motivated students will be invited to do a simple exercise where they put together a brief segment, to be reviewed on the last class. It may be a good practical exercise to further help students learn how to articulate their ideas visually. Sabrina Schmidt Gordon is a documentary filmmaker based in NYC. She is the Founding Director of The Engage Media Project, a resource for filmmakers, educators, and activists to use media as a tool for education and social justice, and she is the Chair of the Black Documentary Collective, a networking and mentoring organization for mediamakers of African decent, founded by the late documentarian St. Clair Bourne. She teaches film at the Frederick Douglass Academy in Harlem, and has guest lectured at Brooklyn College, New Jersey City University, the Independent Filmmaker Project, Reel Works, and the Jacob Burns Film Center.
January 17, 18, 5-8 p.m.
The International Economic Crisis – Greg David – Room 430 (22 students max)
The complicated Chinese-American economic relationship. The rise of Brazil. The resurgence of Germany. The economics of the poorest continent, Africa. With the exception of wars, these stories dominate the coverage of international issues in the American media. This two-part seminar taught by Greg David, director of the Business & Economics Reporting Program, will explain the economic concepts international reporters need to know and provide the background for these crucial stories. It is designed for recent graduates of the international concentration. (Current students should consider the three-part economics, markets, business course on Jan. 10, 11, and 12). Some reading in advance of each class will be required.
January 18, 2-5 p.m.
Secrets to Compelling Page Design, Online and In Print – John Smock – Room 438 (20 students max)
This workshop is an introduction to basic principles of good layout and design. The personality of a news publication online and in print are often defined by appearance. Smart use of design elements such as typeface, color, and a variety of other graphic elements can make a publication appear more professional while also making it easier to navigate. The course will study an assortment of publications and identify underlying graphic elements useful to students interested in better design of their own online publications or those who simply want a better understanding of design’s role in the increasingly visual world of journalism. Smock teaches photojournalism and interactive journalism at the CUNY J-School.
January 19, 20, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. -OR- January 25, 26 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Required ProTools Training for Spring Semester Radio Course – Chad Bernhard – Room 332
This ProTools workshop is required for students who are taking the Radio News Writing & Reporting course with Alex Goldmark or Amanda Aronczyk in the Spring semester. Other students interested in learning the basics of ProTools should sign up for Intro to ProTools on Jan. 12-13. STUDENTS MUST BRING A LAPTOP TO CLASS.
January 23, 24, 12-6 p.m.
Required Training for Interactive II Students – Russell Chun and Sandeep Junnarkar – Room 308
Day 1: Tumult Hype for Interactive II Students
Learn how to create media-rich and interactive stories with Tumult Hype, an HTML5 editor that allows you to build content that works across browsers and mobile devices that use Android or iOS. Students will learn how to integrate text, photos, audio, and video and incorporate buttons for non-linear navigation. We’ll address the important questions of where and when to use Tumult Hype versus other kinds of delivery methods. We’ll survey existing new media sites to evaluate techniques and discuss how other news and non-news sites use HTML5 to present content.
Day 2: Intro to HTML and CSS for Interactive II Students
This workshop introduces students to HTML and CSS, the fundamental coding languages for presenting information on the Web. Understanding these fundamental Web languages will allow students to better build and customize Web presentations, sites and WordPress templates. You will be expected to learn and use code in this course.
ALL INTERACTIVE II STUDENTS ARE EXPECTED TO TAKE BOTH THESE WORKSHOPS. PLEASE BRING YOUR LAPTOPS TO CLASS.
Russell Chun, an adjunct at the CUNY and Columbia graduate journalism schools, is a multimedia developer and the author of the Flash Visual Quick Pro Guides and the official Flash Classroom-in-a-Book guide. Associate Professor Sandeep Junnarkar teaches interactive journalism at the CUNY J-School.
January 23, 2-5 p.m.
New Forms of Long Form – Tim Harper – Room 434 (22 students max)
This informal, discussion-heavy workshop will review traditional long form – including how to pitch a magazine story or do a book proposal – and move on to look at the way narrative nonfiction is being redefined in terms of reporting, structure, style, and of course, technology. We’ll look at how and why some narratives always work, and how the tried and true structures are being adapted today. We’ll talk about the investments, both time and money, that make up the long-form market for readers, publishers, and writers. If there’s a piece of writing you’d like to discuss, send it in advance to the workshop leader, CUNY J-School Craft professor and writing coach Tim Harper, an editorial/publishing consultant who has done a dozen books of his own and helped dozens of other individuals and institutions produce their manuscripts and get them published.
January 23, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Interviewing for Multimedia Stories – Sarah Kramer – Room 442 (30 students max)
At the heart of most compelling, provocative, or surprising stories is an interview with the subject or subjects of the story. In this three-hour workshop, we’ll explore interview techniques, what questions to ask, how to convince reticent subjects to speak, and what makes for “good tape”. We’ll examine some successful pieces and figure out why they worked and how they were achieved, and we’ll put the tools we’ve just learned to work on each other with short interviews. Sarah Kramer is an Emmy and Peabody Award winning journalist, currently, a senior multimedia producer for The New York Times. Prior to joining The Times, she was a founding staff member and senior producer for the public radio project StoryCorps. Her radio work has appeared on Marketplace, Morning Edition, and All Things Considered. Kramer launched her career in documentary videos as a field producer and researcher for PBS and HBO films.
January 24, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Travel Writing – Tim Harper – Room 442 (25 students max)
One reason most of us got into journalism was to see the world, and tell people about it. CUNY J-School Craft Prof. Tim Harper leads this workshop that aims both to inspire and inform, whether your goal is to become a full-time travel writer or you merely want to supplement your day job with stories you do while on vacation. The sessions will cover everything from how to find and pitch travel stories to what you can write off on your taxes when you get home, with an emphasis on what travel editors are buying now. Tim has a broad range of travel writing experience – books, magazine articles, newspaper stories and online – with datelines from China, the Middle East, Central America and across Europe and the U.S. One session will include a pitch slam, so bring your own ideas for travel stories. A freelancer writer and editor, Tim Harper has extensive experience from around the globe, including Europe, the Middle East, Central America, and the Far East.
January 25, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Food Writing – Indrani Sen – Room 442 (25 students max)
Writing about food must be as simple as eating and cooking it, right? Wrong. Food writing requires more than a fine-tuned palate and a good recipe for holiday cookies. Locavores, the Farm Bill, food safety scares, commodity prices, environmental justice – in this post-Michael Pollan era, food writing is increasingly complex. The good news is it’s also a growing field. Gourmet magazine is gone, but the fertile landscape of localized or specialized food websites, blogs and food zines is still expanding, and general interest publications have increased their food coverage. CUNY J-School Craft professor Indrani Sen leads this day-long workshop that will introduce students to the fundamentals of food writing. Sen is a former Newsday reporter who has written for The New York Times dining section and Saveur magazine, among other publications.
January 25, 5:30-8:30 p.m. (Applicants invited)
The Art of the Personal Essay – Paula Derrow – Room 434 (15 students max per section)
At the heart of every personal essay is a memory—and any memory can be the starting point for a personal essay or a memoir, for that matter. The trick is learning how to access your memories, then using them as a jumping off point for something larger. In this three-hour workshop taught by Paula Derrow, SELF magazine’s articles director and editor of the Self Expression column, we’ll use writing prompts to spur your memory, to warm up your writing muscles, to get you thinking about details, sights, sounds, smells that you may not have thought of in a long time. We will then read each other’s results and discuss the elements that make for a compelling personal essay. Besides in class writing, we will also talk about the basics of pitching personal essays, the difference between personal essay and a blog or diary, and various techniques that make for effective personal writing.
