BreadLoaf--A Belated Report

This year I had the chance to apply and attend the New England Young Writers Conference. I was expecting something cool, but I knew that I could start to be excited when I saw that they had built A Capella and Swing Dancing BUILT INTO THE SCHEDULE!

Even though it was at the WORST time for my school, because I missed a ton of reviews for finals, it was worth it. I drove up with two of my teachers in their tiny red Fiat. I was crammed in the back, and we listened to show tunes for almost 6 hours (I like Broadway, but it was too much even for me). The drive, however, was gorgeous. I can't explain how nice it was to get out of the city and breathe in miles and miles of trees and nature. We reached Breadloaf (a campus affiliated with Middlebury College) late, and I joined my workshop in a poetry exercise. 

Neither the pictures not my words are going to be able to do my experience justice, but I'll try. Breadloaf was made up of the most effervescent, kind, genuine and talented people, and I was overwhelmed by the amazing-ness of it all. I became embarrassed by my writing, not because it was bad, but because I now have extensive proof that it could be so much better.

I participated in workshops for poetry with a handful of others, picked interesting craft classes that were led by writers (I will list their names at the bottom) and had what seemed like infinite possibilities to hang out with new people, because we had a ton of free time.

Some of the highlights were sitting in on impromptu music sessions where we sang along to soft guitar, laughing hysterically about Sandra Lee (Watch the strangeness here), staying up late talking about nothing, laying on the assorted lawns and chatting, picking flowers and putting them into the holes in our clothes, and hearing everyone's poetry, short stories and satire. We got to explore an amazing campus, live in an amazing environment, and meet people who were unabashedly themselves.

This is a board that was blank the day we arrived, but by the end...not so much.

Here are a few more pictures of the nature, and the poems I wrote while here will come along soon, promise.