Ever since I left the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, I’ve spent almost every free moment in my studio, because, while at Tin House, I figured out where Unreformed stops and starts.* I owe this revelation in part to my mentor, Jodi Angel, who read and critiqued the whole hot mess of my manuscript, Steve…
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Tin House 2013
At Tin House- studying with Steve Almond. Mentored by Jodi Angel. Both the real deal in a crowd of superstars- check this roster of everyone else– rauow!The Writers Workshop is at Reed College, described last year by child tween thing as looking “like Hogwarts”- but with a lake and ducks and tall trees and hydrangeas and greenspace…
Down the Rabbit Hole- Mississippi Delta Edition
I’ve been prepping for Rabbit Box Storytelling at the Melting Point tomorrow night- I have eight minutes to tell about a rabbit hole I went down. The decision is difficult- ever since I was a kid I’ve loved to immerse myself in history- I’m still obsessed with the Holocaust. Forced exercise, Arbeit Macht Frei, Eichmann…
More from that Guernica Interview with Julia Scheeres
I remember it was 1978 and I saw this magazine cover on our dining room table. And there were bodies lying on the ground and I remember asking my mom what is that? She didn’t answer my question, just flipped the cover over, said something about a bad thing happening. And I remember I kept…
Interview With Julia Scheeres in Guernica Magazine
Recently I interviewed Julia Scheeres. She wrote Jesus Land, a memoir about our reform school, Escuela Caribe, and A Thousand Lives: the Untold Story of Jonestown. One of my favorite aspects of the Jonestown book is how Scheeres captured the day to day tyranny of life under Jim Jones’ rule. I was intrigued to…
2013 Hambidge Residency Recap
Arrived home yesterday from my third residency at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts. It’s located in the foothills of the Appalachians- the birds would sing and the sun stream green through dense trees and I’d write- hiking the trails or running or reading* whenever I got stuck. The conversations and work shared by…
2013 Hambidge Residency
I’m leaving for a residency at the Hambidge Center for the Arts– one of my favorite places on the planet. Savannah sugar heiress turned bohemian Mary Hambidge established this artists retreat in the foothills of the Appalachians in the 1950’s- it’s an amazing place. This will be my third visit. I completed this interview for Hambidge…
Lifeline Youth and Family Services Raising Questions Stateside
Lifeline Youth and Family Services, the organization that took over Escuela Caribe in the Dominican Republic (renaming it Caribbean Mountain Academy) has had the efficacy of its tactics questioned at one of its Indiana facilities, Pierceton Woods Academy. Most recently two juveniles left the facility on March 31 and made threats to return with guns….
New Red Flag for Caribbean Mountain Academy- Former Students Employed as Staff
The Coalition Against Institutionalized Child Abuse (CAICA) has a 40 point list of warning signs of potentially abusive facilities. Caribbean Mountain Academy (formerly Escuela Caribe & Caribe Vista- this facility has a history of changing its name) fulfills many of these (i.e. communication monitored, outside of the U.S., students denied access to telephone, level system…
Red Telephone Redux
I found out about Boston from J. For the past month we’ve been studying with Sabrina Orah Mark. “Deirdre, just to let you know I am thinking of you in light of this Boston incident,” J emailed me. I remember I had this moment where I sat in my driveway wondering why I was associated…