First hour: Previewing the summer camp season
Second hour: The craft of writing and creative ways to overcome writer's block
Despite snow in the forecast next week, summer is right around the corner, and many kids in our area are getting excited for summer camp. Nationally, camps are an $18 billion dollar industry, with more than 14 million children and adults attending programs. We’ll preview the season by talking to local camp directors about a variety of issues: why enrollment is increasing; efforts to limit or eliminate screen time; and how camping experiences can become more accessible to people from all socio-economic backgrounds. In studio:
- Jason Gottfried, center director for the YMCA of Greater Rochester’s Camp Arrowhead
- Carmen Jones, youth camp supervisor for the City of Rochester's Department of Recreation and Youth Services
- Alison Schmitt, camp director for Camp Haccamo
- Jenn Meyers, camp director for Camp Stella Maris
This conversation is part of WXXI’s Inclusion Desk, spotlighting issues related to disabilities. The WXXI Inclusion Desk is part of Move to Include — a partnership to encourage thoughtful discussion about issues of inclusion and the differently-abled.
Then in our second hour, if you’ve ever stared at a blank page, wishing that streams of brilliant prose would appear, you’re not alone. Many aspiring and veteran writers view writer’s block as their worst enemy in the creative process. A group of local writers and teachers is hoping to change that. They’ve joined together to offer a retreat aimed at helping female writers become their “wilder, bolder, more natural creative” selves. Our guests will discuss how using inner-child meditation, self-hypnosis, and other creative efforts can help writers can improve their craft, work through hurdles, and more. We’ll have some fun talking about the craft of writing with instructors at the Mother Wolf retreat:
- Christine Green, freelance literary arts journalist, teaching artist, memoirist, and meditation leader
- Nina Alvarez, writer, editor, publisher, teaching artist, energy healer, and founder of Cosmographia Publishing and Dream Your Book author services
- Jen Years, certified consulting hypnotist, psychic/medium, reiki master teacher, writer, and owner of Mojo Dojo
- Mary Monroe, musician, concert promoter, writer, and energy healer
- Kathy Pottetti, director of the Writers & Books retreat center, Gell: A Finger Lakes Creative Retreat in Naples
