July 2003

Greetings from Inkberry, where we are retreating happily into our cool bat-cave of an office. At this time of year, we remember why we’re glad our long boxcar-like space stays markedly cooler than the outdoors…

The big news here is that we’re gearing up for our third summer of programming, with a schedule that’s as cool and diverse as anything we’ve ever offered. We’ll kick off the summer with a reprise of Seth Rogovoy’s “Everyone’s A Critic” review-writing workshop, meeting here on Mondays July 14, 21, and 28.

Seth, known both for his Berkshire Eagle reviews and for his stints as “Cultural Czar” on WAMC, taught a two-week version of this class last summer; every single session ran overtime because people were having so much fun. Everyone requested that the course be longer. Never let it be said that we don’t listen to what our students want; this time it will run for three weeks! If you want to know what makes a well-written review, or if you want an excuse to immerse yourself in the Berkshires’ multitudinous cultural offerings this summer, come on down.

Also in July we’ll be offering our first-ever nature writing workshop. Tammis Coffin will present a talk entitled “Resources for Nature Writers” on Friday the 25th, which is open to the public. Over the rest of that weekend, the 26th and 27th, she’ll lead a nature writing workshop which will take place in a variety of scenic and accessible locations around the county. If you’re a fan of nature writing, or if you’d like to become one; if you want to do some writing this summer, but don’t want to waste our brief beautiful summer indoors; if you’d like to see more of our area… in all of these cases, this might be the workshop for you!

Space is still available in both of these workshops, so if you’d like to enroll, you can download a registration form from our website, or pull one from our summer calendar, or give us a ring at 413-664-0775. As always, work-study is available for those who would prefer volunteering to paying full tuition.

We’ve also been doing some neat work behind the scenes. In June we started taping our new monthly cable-access television show, Inkberry’s Book Shelf, which currently airs on Willinet (in Williamstown) and which we hope will air soon on other area stations, too. (Stay tuned for further details.)

We’re also inaugurating a fantastic collaboration with the REACH For Breast Health program. We train writers to take oral histories of breast cancer patients and survivors; the women’s narratives are turned into handsome bound books, which they can keep or give to their families. The first pairs of writers and cancer survivors will be meeting over the next few weeks, and we’re thrilled to be getting this program off the ground. If you would like to be part of the program (on either side of the tape recorder), let us know.

The book I’ve devoured with most gusto this past month has been the new J.K. Rowling novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I didn’t stand in line for a copy at midnight, but I did pick one up at Papyri Books on the morning of June 21, and it was all I could do to remember to eat and sleep between then and when I finished it a few days later. As always, Rowling’s storytelling sense is spot-on: the book is by turns serious and funny, the characters spring right off the page, and her whimsy is matched only by her ability to make me genuinely empathize with the victories and frustrations of her fifteen-year-old wizard protagonist. What a delightful ride.

To make our summer even more exciting, we’re graced with a new presence in the office: our summer intern, Mary Lanham. I’ll turn over the floor to her, so she can introduce herself to all of y’all.

It’s pleasant and cool at Inkberry and we’ve got great stuff going on. Come by and visit sometime!

— Rachel

Greetings from Inkberry intern number two… my name is Mary Lanham, I’m a student at Williams, and I’ll be here for the summer helping out with various Inkberry tasks. After spending last summer back home in my native Tennessee, I decided that this year I would try to do something with my break other than selling blue jeans and matching tops to the teenage population of America. Luckily, I ran across the Inkberry website and read their request for volunteers and interns. So here I am!

So far, several weeks into my nonprofit literary adventure, I have been a part of a wide range of undertakings, from website maintenance and updating the infamous database to calendar mailing and distribution. I’ve spent several sunny (and not so sunny) afternoons roaming the streets of North Adams and Williamstown plastering walls with our summer posters, and I’m currently doing research on adding some new online workshops to our regular programs.

One of my favorite parts of this experience has been living in the area during some of its most vibrant months; having survived the worst winter that I have ever witnessed in my entire life, this southerner is happy to see what the Berkshires are like when it’s not too inclement outside to leave the building.

But equally rewarding has been the realization that there is in fact something out there for slightly geeky individuals like myself to do with themselves in “the real world.” As an English major with hopes of spending my entire senior year slaving over a creative writing thesis, I’m relieved to have a possible answer to the ever-present question, “What are you going to do after college?” Up until now I’ve been telling people that I’m going to live in a cardboard box and write propaganda pamphlets. I think telling them about the work I’ve helped do at Inkberry might be a better response.

— Mary