A new class begins and I take a fall

Next Tuesday will be my second class on Zoom for the spring session. 

Read more about it here.

A writing Class I taught some years ago

I am grateful for all the people I have met and still communicate with years later. After taking writing classes at the John C. Campbell Folk School and then teaching there, my contact list is brimming with names of men and women who are dear to me. At Tri-County Community College, which is near where I live, I met locals who want to learn the best way to write and share their stories. From 1996 until a couple of years ago, TCCC was a big part of my life. The pandemic shut down our Community classes there as well as any face-to-face classes. Although I miss those days, I like my Zoom classes. I enjoy teaching a man who lives in South Dakota and learning about his life. One of my students in the present class lives far away from where I live, but still, she is in North Carolina.

This has been a difficult week for me with a home accident that slowed me down a bit. I will have ex-rays on Friday to see if I have a fracture, but I have rested and used heat and cold so I feel sure I will be doing better soon.

The weather has been sunny and beautiful, but today was cold and we will have freezing temps this week at night. I guess it is just as well that I can't go shopping for plants and flowers. Far too soon, I'm told. Spring fooled me again.  I think I will wait to start my deck garden until after Mother's Day.

If you like poetry, visit our Netwest Writers to read good poetry by poets who are my friends and fellow writers here in the mountains.

Have a good week and thanks for reading my posts. I love to hear from you.

"public officials quarantined the business"

A student in one of my classes said he knew it was time to write down the truth about his life when one of the young ones said, "I know about your life, Grandpa, back when you rode in covered wagons and fought with the Indians."

I will be teaching a writing class for adults at Tri-County College in Murphy, NC beginning Tuesday March 5. This class is for anyone who enjoys writing true stories, not fiction, who ever wanted to write about their life for their family. This class is also for those who are beginning to realize their grandchildren don't really know much about their past. And this class is for anyone who has been writing about his/her life and wants to be motivated with prompts, with ideas from others, and wants to have their work read for feedback. This is also for those who want to publish their stories in magazines and journals.

On a recent trip to Florida, I visited with cousins, and we told stories about growing up, about our parents, our grandparents. We were fortunate to hear our parents and aunts and uncles tell about the history of our family. But in today's world, a man's children might live in New Mexico while he lives in Blairsville, GA. Families are not always close enough to share those stories of youth.

One of my uncles lost all he had invested in a store in St. Petersburg when another of my uncles, a young man, worked in this store, and contracted small pox, an epidemic at that time before a vaccine had been found. Because he worked in the store where fresh meat and vegetables were sold, public officials quarantined the business. No one was allowed to enter. All the meat rotted, the fresh fruit and vegetables decayed as well.  The owner had to walk away with nothing.

This took place in the early 20th century. The uncle who lost the store packed up his four kids and moved back to Georgia. That same family had lost their home in a flood and escaped in the night to higher ground. We wonder how some of our ancestors kept going.
Today a young man with a contagious disease would not be relegated to live in a storage house or barn away from the family with food delivered to him twice a day -- not in this country we hope. But that is what happened to my uncle with small pox.

These stories teach a kind of history not found in text books. And the fact that these events happened to people in their family, they create more impact on the younger members.

Every family has interesting stories to pass down to the next generation, and beyond.

March 5 - April 9: Write stories about your life with instructor, Glenda Beall, published writer and poet, at Tri-County Community College, Tuesdays, 3-5 p.m.

Call Lisa Long at Tri-County Community College in Murphy to register. 828-837-6810

Glenda Council Beall - author of Profiles and Pedigrees, Tom Council, and his descendants.

They come from the north and the south to John Campbell Folk School

This week has been exciting and exhausting. As I meet each day with my class of students, I love that they are there before me anxious to learn and to write.

We began Sunday evening and many of the eight students seemed a bit unsure as to what they hoped to write and what they expected to be writing in the future.
Today we discussed publishing and later when I asked where they might try to publish and what kind or writing they planned to pursue, everyone had something definite they wanted to do.

When students sign up for my classes at JCCFS, I never know the experience they have had in writing. I offer my class for beginning and intermediate writers. In this class, I have only one beginner. But his writing is good and he made the decision to write fiction. He is on his way to finding places for his stories for young adults.

One of the women in the class is a fantastic travel writer though she has only published one article. We all encouraged her to pursue publishing. I believe editors will want her humorous and entertaining work.

One woman is working toward a memoir on a subject seldom explored in today's world of literarure - women in agriculture. She held our attention with personal stories, often funny stories, and written with comedic timing, but without question of her knowledge of farming and the work involved.

The group has gelled slowly, but I can see the bond growing between them as they get to know each other through their writing and socializing on campus.
I think of my classes like a new book. I open the cover knowing nothing of what is inside, but with each page I learn more, and more. By Friday noon, we will dismiss and disperse to distant states and cities. Some of them I might never hear from again. Others will become email friends. I will always be interested in them and their writing.

I feel it is a priviledge to meet with these people, and I try to give them the best I have in me. I want them to leave knowing they can contact me with questions or for advice.

Tomorrow my students will show what they have learned this week when we hold a reading at the Keith House at 4:45 PM. I hope we have a full house for their reading debut. If you are in the area, please drop by and you will enjoy the stories by my students.