Monday, May 24, 2010
Classes, Classes & More Classes
Is the muse calling you?
Is it time to be born through your art?
Summer and Fall Classes available!
WEEKLY CLASSES WITH JENNIFER
WHAT: Three-month series of classes taught in a workshop format. Three series offered, Sept-Nov, Jan-Mar, April-June. December is off, July & August are off.
Students write 8-10 pages, submit those pages to Jennifer & the group. The pages are read in advance and then, when class meets, individual instruction is given and there is group feed back on each students work.
There are two “observation” spots open as well, and this is for students who are not ready to read but want to be in line to read in the next term and want to observe the workshop format.
DATES:
Sept 10, 17, & 24, Oct. 1, 8, 15, 22, Nov. 5, 12, 19 (1st series)
Jan 7, 14, 21, Feb. 4, 11, 18, Mar. 4, 11, 18 (2nd series)
Apr 1, 8, 15, 22, May 6, 13, 20, June 3, 10, 17 (3rd series)
TIMES:
5:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
LOCATION:
NE Portland, 22nd & Burnside.
COST:
Reading Students: $500.00 per series
$250.00 deposit upon acceptance
$250.00 paid by Sept. 1st.
Observing Students: $250.00 per series
$125.00 deposit
$125.00 paid by Sept. 1st.
REQUIREMENTS:
If you have not studied with Jennifer you are required to take an intensive or to submit twenty pages for review (which includes an overview statement of your memoir project).
SUMMER MEMOIR INTENSIVE WITH JENNIFER
WHAT: Macro and micro focus on your memoir project, from the overall framework and your goals for completion as well as a detailed examination of your actual writing at this time. Your work will be reviewed and work-shopped with a group, you will be given a series of “prompt” exercises to jumpstart you into the hidden core of your work, you will be guided on how to create a grid for a final manuscript and coached on how to create a writing schedule that will allow you to complete a full draft within three months.
DATES:
August 20, 21, 22
TIMES:
Friday evening 5-9, Saturday 10-5 & Sunday 10-5
LOCATION:
NE Portland, 22nd & Burnside.
COST:
$500.00
$250.00 deposit upon acceptance
$250.00 paid by August 15.
For students coming from out of town, we can help you find accommodations that are close. Use PDX as your flight locator when searching for flights. Contact me and we'll get you signed up! There are eight spots for the Summer Intensive and six left for the weekly class (two spots are now full).
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Inquiry = Freedom & Happiness
Six years of my life have been devoted to meditation and Buddhist studies. The Buddha taught, "question everything, even what I say," and I've always loved that directive (even thought I cannot actually know he said such a thing).
After a long history of totalitarian style religion that went like this: "do as I command or burn in hell," Buddhist teachings were a welcome reprieve. But, having been raised with such structure, I also found it was really hard to question everything. I'd get to the point where I'd question enough to have strong emotional reactions and then start acting on those thoughts/feelings. Does that make sense?
An example: A friend says something that hurts my feelings and it might go like this, "Jennifer, you are so uptight." I think to myself, "she is not my friend at all, if she would say such a thing." And then, from my hurt (which I wouldn't talk to her about but would journal about for a few days), I would build a case against my friend. I'd go back to all the times she had been hurtful in the past, putting two and two together. I'd read her astrology and prove that in fact, yes, we are not a good match. I'd test her, perhaps, to see if she would be hurting me in the future or make note of all the mean, bossy things she said to others and boom--next time she said anything, I'd take retreat from her or just blow in a fit of anger (motivated by my own pain).
Old world religion would say, "forgive trespasses," and I might try to forgive my friend but those words, her words, would be eating away at me.
Questioning everything is a great teaching but now I see something was missing. I didn't know how to question everything. I only questioned to the point of personal pain and buried unconscious beliefs.
Now I have bumped into the teachings of Byron Katie, who does something called The Work, which I heard about her via my exploration of Eckhart Tolle, who mentioned her during a lecture.
A few years ago, when I was first into Buddhist teaching. I had been told about Byron Katie by a young, very excitable and passionate yoga instructor. I was told, "there is this amazing woman who is impervious to judgments. It's what she teaches. She wants people to try to judge her and prove that she has no fear of criticism." When I heard this about Byron Katie, in this way, there seemed to be something "off" about that kind of teaching. I wasn't interested in anything that had a hit of that kind of "tough love, go ahead and blast each other wide open with insults". No thanks. After having spent a lifetime living with families who blasted me wide open with insults, I was looking for a more loving approach. 
Now I am here again and my interpretation of Byron Katie is quite different than my young friends. Byron Katie is, to put it frankly, brilliant. She has devised a system of inquiry, self questioning, that is blowing my mind. I have been down in my meditation space using her worksheets, asking questions internally and realizing that almost all my thoughts have been illusions--lies--wrong! I have been wrong. No wonder I was so damn jumpy, I have been living lies and since the heart knows when truth isn't in the room, the result is an itchy discomfort.
"Judge your neighbor (or yourself), write it down, ask four questions, turn it around." That's the slogan. And yes, it seems pretty simplistic but what she is doing with her process called The Work is exactly what the Buddha taught. Question everything and the result feels like light and liberation to me. I am happier than I have been in a long time, I am writing letters to people from my past, asking them to forgive me for times I've acted without really questioning my thoughts (acting in ways that really hurt other people) and a calm has fallen over my life that is nothing short of heaven.
My great appreciation to Byron Katie and her wonderful work. She is a great teacher.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Freedom?
This post comes from the archives on this site. I loved it then and I love it now!
We bought science as our religion,
we bought the intellect and materialism
and the analytic mind
with it's off-shoot technology
as that which would save us.
It's made life interesting but it hasn't freed us.
It's tangled us in the addictions
to things our minds produce.
~ Ram Dass
`
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
And it is outta here!
Whew, another revision of the new memoir is out in the world of NY publishing. It is titled Gone Home and I believe that is the final title. I'm happy with the way it sounds and the image it creates. Home. What is more seductive than going home?
Each time I send a book out there, it is like watching a beloved child take off on a trip that I cannot supervise. Here, in Portland, I worry and wonder:
"Did I pack enough in those pages?"
"Was my message clear?"
"Will my baby make it?"
~
My neighbor, who was snowboarding and body checked by a fellow snowboarder, lies in her bed with very little to do. I stopped over on a visit and noticed she was reading Eat, Pray, Love . I gently suggested we might be able to do better. After all, I like EPL well enough but found it to be a romance novel disguised as a memoir. Classic Harlequin format.
"If you want to read a memoir," I began and proceeded to recommend tons of great books. And then I added, "and I just finished my book too!"
Talk about a captive audience. With her approval, I carefully laid my revised manuscript in her lap and she read it in...A DAY. Okay, so she is a total captive and she in on meds for pain, but it was so sweet to have her be so happy about this manuscript.
She said, "I want to write a memoir too, how do you do that?"
"Read a lot of memoirs," I said. "Take classes. Write. All the time. Five hours a day."
~
Memoir has been a tool on my journey for 15 years now. It's not easy to plow into your own life with a pen (or in my case, a MacBook). But you learn a lot about yourself. I have.
If you want to read the first three chapters of Gone Home head on over to the Jennifer Lauck Fan Page on Facebook, and tap on the Discussions Tab. There the are. Read on. (Hey, send me a comment. I want to hear from you).
~
As I sit here, in the quiet of my home, the rain falls as if dropped by a massive bucket--heavy and hard. I continue to wonder about my manuscript:
How will my little book do on the desks of editors?
Will NY treat those pages right or will my little creation get mugged?
Will she meet a handsome man who takes her out for a nice meal and then tries to take advantage of her?
Will she see a few museums and take a walk through the park?
How I wish I was with her-to explain what needed to be explained, to keep her safe and to deliver her to the right editor.
Is it true that if my book "can make it there, she'll make it any where?"
I don't know but I guess it's up to you, New York, Neeeeewwwww York.
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Accepting Applications for Fall Writing Workshop
After a year off to finish my own memoir, I'm happy to announce weekly writing classes will start up again-this fall!
There is space for eight reading students & four standby students.
The class will be a standard writer's workshop format, where students read each other's work, read out-loud during the class and receive instruction.
For those who have taken classes in the past, you know that we are a hard working, focused group of memoirists and poets.. A major part of our monthly meetings will now also be devoted to fine tuning writing for publication in print & on line. We are going to be writers with a purpose--to grow and to share.
Classes with gather on Thursdays-each week--leaving one week off each month. The time of our group will be 5-9 p.m. The cost will be $50.00 per class.
Writers who want to be considered for this on going workshop class need to submit an essay or sample of their writing as well as an overview of what they want to achieve with their own writing. We will be taking these applications through the summer and filling up the circle! Contact me directly, via this site, to let me know of your interest! Consideration and space will be made for former students,
The classes will begin Sept. 9, 2010. The application process will be open until mid-August.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Saturday, May 08, 2010
Motherless Daughter Day
Hope Edelman, fabulous and wonderful author of the groundbreaking book Motherless Daughters has put together an online memorial for daughters of lost mom's.
Facebook, Twitter, blogs-are all sites for posting this: "I am ______, daughter of ___" (fill in the blanks) in honor of the relationship you shared, and in solidarity with the thousands of women nationwide who'll be gathering at Motherless Daughters Day luncheons for this purpose.
So here we go. 
I am Jennifer, daughter of Dianne. We reunited, briefly but had to call a break to the reunion for personal reasons. This is the last time I was with her. She was gracious and kind to me.
& 
I am also Jennfer, daughter of Janet Lee Ferrel. I was adopted by Janet and Bud. Janet died of respiratory arrest on September 19, 1971. I was eight. She was a gentle, kind, gracious and stylish woman.
`
Who's daughter are you!
Saturday, May 01, 2010
I'm Legit
This is a wonderful video, which I watched while at a national conference on adoption in Cambridge, MA. Very moving and powerful. The conversation is about all the records that are closed to adoptees, nationwide. It seems that in more than 90% of the cases, birthmothers want to know their children and of course, adoptees find the need for identity essential.
Some of the lyrics here:
Tell me do you remember
When you’re on the streets
Do you look for me,
The way I look for you,
how I wish I knew, I wish I knew,
as Darryl raps,
At night I can't sleep,
I toss and turn
My true reality is what I wanna learn
But they are tellin me
I can't see the proof
On a little piece of paper that holds the truth
Of who I am and what I be
Yeah I’m living but I’m missin a part of me
I have a right to know where I come from