Memento Mori

Illustration by Charlotte Ager (from Notre Dame Magazine)

I hope you’ll take a moment to read this honest and moving piece by Robin Bartlett, a writer I worked with last year at Collegeville: Memento Mori.

Here’s what Robin wrote when she posted it on Facebook today:

I am a preacher and not a writer, but today my writing is published in a magazine. The writing teacher that I worked with at Collegeville Institute, Michael N. McGregor, really pushed me to stop sermonating and start sharing more of myself. As a result, this essay is much more personal than what I typically preach, so it feels a little bit like “bleeding in public.” But here it is, in public anyway. Thanks, Notre Dame magazine, for giving me this forum. And thanks, Michael, for believing in me.

A Busy Summer of Online Teaching

I’m just coming up for air after leading several workshops this summer, all online and all for the Collegeville Institute. Few people would prefer Zoom to gathering in person on Collegeville’s beautiful campus, but all of the workshops had a pleasing feeling of camaraderie and purpose.

(Pictured above is the view I would have had if I’d been able to go to Collegeville this year.)

In addition to the workshops, I finished my work with three emerging writers I’d been mentoring throughout the past year.

Now, it’s time for my own writing!

Here are pictures of the groups, with the participants listed. For more information on any session, just click the session title. For general information on Collegeville’s summer writer workshops and mentorship program, click here.

Apart, and Yet a Part: June 2-9, 2021

2021 Apart, and Yet a Part participants (from top left to right): Michael N. McGregor (leader), Carla Durand (CI staff), Betsy Johnson, Liz Charlotte Grant, Robin Bartlett, Kerlin Richter, Andrew Zirschky, David Clark, Richard Peterson, Jessica Mesman, Karen Guzman, and Kaya Oakes.

 

Breaking the Academic Mold: Liberating the Powerful, Personal Voice Within You: July 21-26 (for academics wanting to write more creatively, co-taught with Sophfronia Scott and co-sponsored by the Wabash Center)

2021 Breaking the Academic Mold participants (from top left to right): Kimberleigh Jordan, Carla Durand (CI staff), Mayra Rivera, Lakeesha Walrond, Rolf Nolasco, Michael N. McGregor (workshop leader), Ralph Watkins, Maureen O’Connell, Willie Jennings, Miguel A. De La Torre, Sophfronia Scott (workshop leader), Shively Smith, and Nami Kim. (Not pictured: Lynne Westfield.)

 

2021-22 Emerging Writers Mentorship Program Workshop: July 30-August 1 (the kickoff event for a yearlong mentorship program, co-taught with Sophfronia Scott)

2021-22 Emerging Writers Mentorship Program participants (clockwise from left): Angie Hong, Sarah Ngu, Natarsha Sanders, Zeena Regis, Sophia Stid

2020-21 Emerging Writers Mentorship Program (participants: Catherine Hervey, Duncan Hilton, J. Jioni Palmer, Lea Schweitz)–click here to read about the these emerging writers, see their pictures, and read some of the work they produced during our year of working together.