​​Summer residency update: March 30, 2020
​​Hello from Halifax,
​​I hope you’re all doing … as well as these strange circumstances allow.
​​We’re coming to the end of a term that hasn’t unfolded as any of us might have expected back when we were together in New York just a few months ago. And that can be disconcerting
​​Some of you may find the lack of having your usual daily routine gives you an unexpected opportunity to focus on moving your own projects forward; others, I’m sure, are finding it difficult to even focus on those final assignments.
​​There is no right way to respond to any of this!
​​If you have any concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your mentors. They are accommodating in the best of times; they will be even more so now.
​​The goal for all of us is to get through this and move forward.
​​Speaking of which, Kim, Dean and I have been meeting — and talking with your mentors and others — to figure out how to create the best summer residency online while still giving you the best possible personal and community experience. 
​​We've come up with some general working principles to begin:
  • ​​People can't sit in front of a screen for hours.
  • ​​We want to keep the number of required platforms to a minimum, and opt for those that are most accessible to our students and mentors. As of now, we have landed on Zoom (large group sessions and "coffee shops") and Microsoft Teams (mentor groups).
  • ​​We want to provide a mix of synchronous (live) and asynchronous (recorded) content, with the synchronous live content in the same time window every day, and that window chosen to allow daytime working hours access across Canadian time zones.
  • ​​Synchronous live content will favour small-group sessions to improve opportunities for interaction.
  • ​​Asynchronous recorded content will be provided in as many formats as we can manage (video, transcript, audio) to improve accessibility and take into account possible bandwidth issues. 
  • ​​Asynchronous content will be supported with discussion threads, readings, handouts and exercises.
  • ​​We want to include optional live online social and networking opportunities. 
  • ​​Optional live content will be captured either with note-taking or recorded video, so that those who can't attend live can still access the content.
​​While how that will play our in the schedule is still a work in progress, we’ll update you as we finalize our plans. 
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​​What's in the rest of this email:
  • ​​Bio/Project updates plus head and shoulders photo
  • ​​Pre-residency assignment
  • ​​1st Post-residency assignment
  • ​​More buddies needed
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​​Bio/Project updates plus head and shoulders photo:
​​Can you check out the latest version of the Class of 2021 Bios and Projects and make sure yours is up to date? If it needs changes, please send me a revised version by April 5. Given that we’ll be sharing these with your new colleagues in the Class of 2022 who won’t have the benefit of meeting you face to face at this summer’s virtual residency, please send me a head and shoulders photo we can include with your bio, also by April 5.
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​​Pre-residency assignment:
​​As you know, alum Jessica McDiarmid, the author of the critically acclaimed nonfiction book, Highway of Tears, will be our writer in… (virtual) residence this year. As in past years, we ask you to read her book, so you’ll be able to engage with it — and with her — during the residency. And, to get you thinking about some of the issues the book raises, we also have a brief pre-residency assignment for you.
  • ​​In Highway of Tears, author Jessica McDiarmid tells a tragic and disturbing story of racism, official indifference and unspeakable loss. Choose one section of the book that you found particularly effective. In 500 words, and citing specific examples from the section upon which you are focusing, discuss the storytelling and research techniques that McDiarmid uses to effectively tell this story. 
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​​While your local bookstores aren’t open for browsing during the current pandemic, it’s worth checking out their websites. Many are happy to fill online orders. And it’s good for you — as authors — to make friends with your local bookseller. 
​​The King’s Co-op Bookstore has copies of Jessica’s book available here. (If you happen to be in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Manager Paul might even deliver it to your door!)
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​​1st Post-residency assignment (for keeners)
​​This is a two-part assignment.
  1. ​​Your first task is to come up with your own list of “Ten Essential Books of Creative Nonfiction” by September 1st.
  1. ​​During the fall term, you’ll be expected to read — and report on — two of them. (The deadlines for those book reports will be September 27 and October 30.)
​​Compiling your personal Top 10 will be easy — and hard. Classic? Canadian? Historical nonfiction? Memoir? Women authors? Authors of Colour? What constitutes essential anyway? We’ve been trying to figure that out since the program started and have given up being prescriptive. Instead, we’d like you to think about which creative nonfiction books you think everyone should read before… Well, you know.
​​The best way to begin thinking about what you would deem essential is to take a look at other people’s “best” lists. There are thousands of them out there. Here are just a few to get you started.