Scarsdale Adult School Catalog Fall/Winter 2024-25
Writing
Finding Your Voice through Memoir Writing Ever wonder what will happen to all those wonderful stories hidden within your photo albums and shoeboxes full of memorabilia? Here is a special way to share and pass down those memories, and create a forever gift to your family. By reminiscing out loud in class, answering provocative and probing questions, participating in group conversations to be recorded, and completing assignments each week, students will begin the process of organizing and presenting their life stories in writing. By the end of the course, students will have the start of a full memoir. Students from prior classes are welcome as we will be exploring new questions. NANCY KESSLER started collecting stories at a very young age through frequent visits with her elderly neighbor. As her interest in oral history and folklore blossomed, she pursued a career in historical museums, becoming a curator at the Museum of the City of New York following her graduation from Skidmore College and the Cooperstown Graduate Program. Kessler was also the Therapeutic Recreation Director for Atria Rye Brook (independent living facility) and Greenwich Adult Day Care (Alzheimer’s adult day care). 6 Sessions, starting Tuesday, September 10 • 1:00pm-3:00pm • Shaarei Tikvah • Course 12848 • $180 6 Sessions, starting Tuesday, October 22 (no class 11/26) • 1:00pm-3:00pm • Shaarei Tikvah • Course 12849 • $180
Writing with Your Senses Nothing is more powerful in writing than
Moments in Time Writing Workshop Dig into memories and begin to write stories by revisiting important moments in our lives, big and small, the lighter ones and the more difficult experiences. Talk about the writing process in each session, looking to passages from established writers to start the discussion. Prompts and writing exercises will jumpstart the writing process while leaving you free to write about whatever you choose. At the end of each session, those who are comfortable will share their work in a supportive environment. Bring your laptop or pen and paper and prepare to learn from and inspire each other and experience the joy of recounting our stories. REYNA MARDER GENTIN is a long time Scarsdale resident, where she and her husband raised their two wonderful children. She practiced law as a criminal appellate attorney for many years before turning to writing. Marder Gentin’s latest novel, Both Are True , was published in 2021 by Moonshine Cove Press. 6 Sessions, starting Thursday, October 31 (no class 11/28) • 1:30pm-3:00pm • Shaarei Tikvah • Course 12698 • $240
strong sensory details — the smell of your mother’s favorite perfume forty years ago, the sight of your grandfather’s dentures on the bathroom sink, the feel of your first boyfriend’s black leather jacket against your bare arms. Invoking the five senses helps the reader picture the setting and feel engaged in the story. Awaken and enlist each of your senses through readings and prompts to infuse our prose with energy. Open to all genres, all levels. Materials list for students to bring to class: a favorite photo of you, your family, your great grandparents, anything, anyone, anywhere your choice of lemon, coffee grounds, or mint leaves your choice of cotton balls or Q-tips sponge toothbrush scissors a mask moisturizer/hand cream JENNIFER LANG lives in Tel Aviv, where she runs Israel Writers Studio. Her essays have appeared in the Baltimore Review , Crab Orchard Review , Under the Sun , Ascent , Consequence , and elsewhere. A Pushcart Prize and Best American Essays nominee, she holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and serves as Assistant Editor for Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction. Wednesday, November 13 • 10:30am-12:30pm • Shaarei Tikvah • Course 12853 • $50
www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org • (914) 723-2325
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