- The Writer and the Self – Consciousness and Creative Process
This online course offers students a deep immersion in their own unbounded creative nature. Consciousness and creativity form the perfect foundation for a prolific writing life. Students track the path of transcending through the practice of Transcendental Meditation as well as through writing, reading, and creative process. Every component of the course nudges students to open the faucets of creativity and rediscover the joy and bliss inherent in creative expression. This involves making mistakes, trying, and experimenting without self-censorship or push for perfection. Interactive assignments are designed to inspire a self-reliant, sustainable creative routine as well as a nourishing, authentic relationship between self, Self, and Muse. This course includes basic and refresher knowledge about the practice of the Transcendental Meditation technique and the process of transcending geared toward each student’s level of experience. (2 credits)
- Literature and the Self – Literary Techniques that Expand Awareness
This online course examines consciousness through a literary lens, making connections between the craft of writing and the self and Self of the poet/writer. Textbook for the course is The Flow of Consciousness, a compilation of talks by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on literature, writing, and consciousness edited by Rhoda Orme-Johnson and Susan Andersen. Seminars, readings, and interactive writing assignments explore literary techniques that poets and writers use to culture expansion of awareness: how sound offers a framework for silence; how rhythm and repetition push the mind to transcend; the function of the gap (white space, pause, cesura); the relationship between name and form, and more. (2 credits)
- Every Page a Pulse – Nurturing the Unimaginable and Saying the Unsayable
This online course is designed to deepen creative process, exploring the leaping imagination and the ineffable force at the heart of all great writing. Seminars and writing assignments examine Bly’s poetics of the deep image, Rilke’s idea of the combinatorial nature of creativity, and Lorca’s “Theory and Play of the Duende,” teaching students how to mine rich and complex material that is “in their veins” and “surges up from the soles of their feet.” It includes exercises to help students write in an authentic voice and seminars covering subjects such as writing about childhood, nature writing, the relationship between memory and time, metaphoric thinking, shifting and expanding point of view, witnessing and point of view, and the I/eye of poem or story. It also touches on the transformational power of myth. (2 credits)
- Literary Theory for the Creative Writer
This online course explores the ways that literary theory and analysis are intrinsically relevant to the field of creative writing, enriching discussion, the workshop experience, and creative work. The class covers interpretation, authorial intention vs. reception and reader response, textuality and intertextuality, as well as assumptions about language and the manifold aspects of self and identity. Aim is to give insight into the history of literary traditions and help students examine through different lenses the genre(s) in which they themselves write, offering wider context. An in-depth examination of identity in poetry and prose questions social conditioning and assumptions. The course also looks at teaching methodologies of writing influenced by literary theory. (2 credits)
- Writing Pedagogy – The Theory of Teaching Creative Writing
This online course explores the theory, practice, and art of teaching creative writing, offering a theoretical and historical background to different conventional and cutting-edge pedagogies from the fields of creative writing and composition studies, examining innovative models of teaching creative writing not limited to the workshop model. Central is creative process and the idea of writing and language as a means of personal expression. Students learn how to integrate the six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy in sample assessments and rubrics of learning objectives and outcomes. They create lesson plans and a syllabus, study methods of grading, plus structure a master class on a craft-related subject, which they will teach during the final (5th) residency of the program. Students are also required to write a statement of teaching philosophy. All of these materials are submitted in a Writing Pedagogy Portfolio. (2 credits)
- The Socially Conscious Writer – Writing Outreach
Poets and writers are the voice of the future. They have the power to transform and create community through empathy and inclusivity; they can bring about positive change in the world. However, perspective narrows if a writer views life through a singular, limited point of view (“the danger of the single story,” as novelist Chimamanda Adichie calls it). This online course explores ethical dilemmas and social values in the literary arts, stimulating social awareness and engagement. Themes include loss of voice and identity, erasure of memory, and exile from community. The class also teaches the value of listening to and celebrating marginalized voices; the empowerment of finding back voice and community; being an eye-witness, bearing witness, and developing witnessing by being rooted in the Self; the importance of adopting diverse perspectives as a poet/writer; and writing as a means to bring about healing and transformation. Culminating project is a writing outreach, where students have the opportunity to use their skills in service of a cause they believe in in their home communities. This outreach can serve as an internship or teaching practicum. (2 credits)
- The Writer in the World – Professional Development, Publication, and Presentation
This online course orients students to the profession of the poet/writer, covering such issues as work habits; the art of organizing and assembling a book; journal and book publication; job hunting; interviewing; the art of networking; and professional presentation through CVs, query letters, cover letters, pitching, and/or book proposals. How can you finish your books while paying your bills? What smart strategies do professional poets/writers recommend in creating fulfilling careers in writing? In this class, students write a marketing plan for their thesis as a finished book. (2 credits)
- The Writer Online – Social Media Marketing and Strategy
In today’s global world, writers have to know how to create a strong online platform so they can market themselves and their work effectively. This course teaches in-demand and innovative social media marketing skills and strategies that will promote career growth. The course gives an overview of habits, trends, and evolution in social media communications. Students are stimulated to think strategically so that they can mine creative opportunities. Lectures, discussions, and exercises focus on authentic communication, creating content, digital storytelling techniques, blogging, and branding. Students also learn technical skills such as website building, how to write content that performs well in social media, social analytics, viral campaigns, and how to elicit social media engagement. Final project is an Online Portfolio that includes a website, online CV, various social media pages, and samples of (published) work. (2 credits)