Appearance
next meeting 10/1/2026
Avi is contributing; he'll have it up before long and I'll upload it to the shared folder.
As always, ask me at howebenhowe@proton.me for the password to the folder.
As attendance works out in the next couple days, a few people will have some prep to do before next meeting.
If you feel called to guard the van or agitate per the roles outlined in the format below, send me an email or a text about it. For now:
Bigshadow, crudely, follows the Iowa model. The writer on the table should keep largely mum. Laughter is tolerated as well as prophylaxis like: "This is interesting conversation, but its direction is moot to my purposes." Workshops propel in proportion to the candor and commitment of participant criticism. They are diminished by performance and equivocation. So! Disagree thoughtfully and unabashedly.
Every workshop, there will be five people with named roles. I will not relinquish my role. Other roles rotate and are voluntary.
Donor: one person // contributes work two weeks in advance of workshop // indicates passage on which to focus or names a challenging aspect
Facilitator: me, Ben // scrounges two reference texts addressing authors' focus // supplies line edits at end of workshop
Vanguard: two people // each optionally in contact with the other // selects a passage (the donor's suggested passage, or another) and focuses criticism on that passage // supplies one reference text which illustrates criticisms // compiles and submits material one week before workshop
Agitator: one person // reviews vanguardians' material & assembles a response extending, contradicting, departing, or complicating it
Hoi Polloi the other two to four // line edits optional // expected to have read closely
We will interpolate with constructive interjections, questions, rooftop cigarettes, filling one anothers' glasses, and so on. I will have prepared surplus food.
Session will meet at my home, in the Two Bridges neighborhood. For address, email me.
Feel free to solicit anyone's interest in this workshop, pass them my contact information, or a link to this website. As host and facilitor, I'll set the list of invitees for every session.
Wednesday, 9/9/2026
Someone else has always done it better. Or at least well. Or so poorly that the failure makes a sharply defined negative space. Whether good or bad, the reference texts should always illuminate a particular claim so that they can be responded to directly. They should also be very short, say 100 words.
Ben Howe // howebenhowe@proton.me
Please let me know what you can't eat. I already know I won't be able to sit still if there's someone hungry in my home.