The Writer’s Journey: From Eco-Lament to Action with Laura Paskus – FEATURING A FULL DAY WITH ROBIN WALL KIMMERER – G26080504
For people who live and work close to the land and/or seek solace with nature, it’s heartbreaking to witness the impacts of climate change on our lands, rivers, communities, and the more-than-human world.
In this workshop, we’ll talk about useful ways to channel grief into prayers, poems, essays, and letters. As an environmental reporter and writer for more than 20 years, I have experience grappling with what some people call “eco-lament.” I believe a steady practice of observing, writing, and sharing is key to thwarting despair, inaction, and cynicism.
During this workshop, you will be writing, reading some of your work aloud, and building community through peer-editing exercises. By the end of this workshop, you’ll have written a draft of a prayer, a poem, an essay, or a letter. Most importantly, you will have tools for sustained writing practice in a changing world.
Note that this is not a workshop focused on climate anxiety. That’s a very real mental challenge and if you need help, please find a professional therapist or trained counselor.
Most of this workshop will be held outside and require walking and sitting in nature. The hikes won’t be rugged, but they will require navigating trails. You’ll need to wear appropriate clothing and shoes/sneakers, as well as pack sunscreen, a hat, snacks, and water.
Since we’ll be outside, I suggest bringing a notebook and pens and pencils. And if there’s one piece of creative and organizational advice I can give writers it’s to not be precious about your notebooks. Writing is messy business.
If you are enrolling in this workshop please fill out this questionnaire for the Instructor: https://forms.gle/ydEshrPeoGqxJJKR8
Instructor
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Laura PaskusLaura Paskus is a longtime writer based in Albuquerque. She’s the author of At the Precipice: New Mexico’s Changing Climate and editor of Water Bodies: Love Letters to the Most Abundant Substance on Earth. She has reported on the most important environmental issues of her generation for print, online, and radio outlets, and produced “Our Land: New Mexico’s Environmental Past, Present and Future” for eight seasons on New Mexico PBS. She teaches in the University of New Mexico Communication and Journalism Department and is working on a new project about New Mexico’s rivers — and visions for their wild futures.