The English Department hosted its first ever FIRE Week trip! Dr. Marlo Starr and Professor Andy Graff took students to the beautiful Mills Park Hotel of Yellow Springs for the week. Writers were given the opportunity to explore the small town, shop, and try the many restaurants. Professor Andy Graff also led many nature hikes during the retreat’s free times.
When they weren’t exploring, the students attended informational sessions about different writing disciplines. There were three different sessions focusing on fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. These two hour sessions gave insight into the writing and publishing processes for each genre.
That night, the professor that led the day’s session was given the chance to read some of their work in either a coffee shop or public library. Professor Andy Graff read an excerpt from his newest novel True North, visiting professor and writer Dr. Mary Quade read some excerpts from her creative essays, and Dr. Marlo Starr read some poetry and the prologue to her upcoming memoir.
The writers spent most nights together in the lobby hanging out and working on their writing after getting dinner together. The trip was wrapped up with a student reading in Founder’s that Friday. The students shared some writing they had worked on during the week.
Overall, it was a very successful first trip (tornado excluded). We are excited to see what awesome experience is planned for next Spring!
Hannah ’27 and Kristina ’26
Thoughts from Christian Nicewaner and James Kazy:
James:
Throughout this past week, I’ve been given the experience of a lifetime. A set time, allowing me to work on anything I have been far too busy for. I came into the week, music blasting from a small white speaker on my dashboard, a passenger next to me, behind me, relying on my ability to get us to Yellow Springs in one piece. As much luggage as we could pack was stacked Tetris style in my back seat, two duffels, a suitcase, and my two backpacks shoved into the littlest trunk of a car. We arrived an hour early, wanting to look around the shops. Yellow Springs is such a beautiful little village, with spaces that feel so comfortable for anyone and everyone. When we checked into Mills Park Hotel, the rooms were massive, stark white with black minifridges and dark wooden dressers, certainly the fanciest hotel I’ve been to.
After checking in, Prof. Andy Graff took a few of us on a nature walk! We followed the Glen Helen trail, which was beautiful but being able to experience it, listen to the conversation of my peers and feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, made it all the better. We crossed bridges over water, saw a beaver dam, a trail of rocks across the water, and even saw the Glen Helen Raptor Center. The center held birds, mostly owls and eagles, that were rehabilitees and spending their life in an enclosure built to protect and stimulate them. In the evening of the first day, the whole group, including Prof. Starr, Prof. Quade, and Prof. Graff, went to Sunrise Café for dinner. I personally got a safe choice, a hamburger, a hummus plate, and a key lime pie for dessert.
Tuesday was the day for creative fiction, my favorite. We had a discussion with Professor Graff on how to really bring a story to life, how the publishing world really works, and completed with a writing exercise. Afterwards, there were available offers of office hours and many cafes to explore writing in. Em Valentine and I started with using the space in the hotel, a cute little bay window across from our room, and moving to the Emporium when Prof. Graff did his reading. For each of the readings I drew a little still life! Later that night, a tornado warning went through, and everyone had to evacuate to the basement. It was scary!
To start the day on Wednesday a little later to give everyone time to rest, Professor Quade gave us a discussion on creative non-fiction, something I didn’t even understand the premises of until she talked it through! It was fun to be able to try a different type of writing, something that is factual but we can talk about it through the writing. I have now picked up writing about the space around me as practice with creative non-fiction! Around five, she read an excerpt from her book, Zoo World. It was an experience to hear readings come from who they originated with; I think that it makes it easier to understand what they’re trying to put across because they have access to the explicit tone that is meant to be read in. Either way, I’ve certainly gained a new interest in creative non-fiction! I wasn’t able to get a photo of her reading though I did draw it. Love Ha Ha’s Pizza though, it was delicious and I would definitely go back again, especially when Em and I were the only ones there, it was a nice and quiet place to talk!
The last day was my favorite, a final wrap-up of everything we’d done. Professor Starr walked us through connecting two things that don’t usually connect to create a poem, and other ways poems can work. She later read an excerpt from her memoir. It was so present and aware, even in the time she was portraying, and beautiful to listen to. Once more, listening to the author read their writing is an experience better than reading it directly off the paper. I received a better understanding with her pauses and emphasis. On the way back from the reading at the Community Library, Em and I stopped at this wonderful taco truck in the parking lot of the hotel. I entirely recommend the truck as at least one stop in Yellow Springs when it’s open, the food is authentic and genuinely tastes as though it came from my childhood. With a final stop of Dino’s, Em and I spent time reading and drawing, and I finally completed a piece with color and all! It was a content closure to the week as a whole.
Friday evening, the student reading in Founder’s. There are reasons schools require public speech classes. It’s for this and so many other public speakings. But the reward of listening to everyone’s pieces, what they have been working on all week just as hard, and how they present it, how the room feels so tense and patient with the ending of a poem, is so pleasant. I’d do it again. To end with a public reading and be able to explain a little about what I’ve been working on, was a good way to make sure the story I’m writing is making sense and catching people’s attention the way it needs. I imagine the poetry was harder to read, and I congratulate everyone who was vulnerable on the stand. Congratulations to everyone, FIRE week was one of the best weeks I’ve experienced!
-James Kazy ’27
Christian Nicewaner:
The Creative Writing Retreat during FIRE Week was like a decompression chamber. Although a relatively short distance from campus, the town of Yellow Springs cultivated an easy and pleasant atmosphere in which to write, think, and relax. I went into the week trying to keep my writing expectations low; when I expect myself to write many great things, the opposite tends to happen and frustration manifests. Many of my peers had a very, very productive writing week. I was focused on simply getting the creative machine moving again as I had been feeling uninspired for quite some time. I am happy to say that the trip reignited a certain love for writing and form of imagination that had been dormant for some time.
Barring a certain encounter with a tornado, it was a very relaxing and freeing experience. No doubt due in part to the lovely professors leading the experience who encouraged such relaxation and dissipation of expectations. Hiking almost every day helped inspire me as well and the meetings with professors about their respective crafts were consistently enlightening and fun. I read a good amount too, which helped me situate my writing a bit better. The Mills Park Hotel was also an excellent place to stay at. I had driven by it many times before and the inside of the establishment did not disappoint. Our rooms were also a delight.
Even if I didn’t produce the amount of work I had expected myself to, I feel as though I gained something deeper from the experience than just the number of pages created. A spark had lit again and I feel as though I will be doing creative writing much more often in my free time. If you ever have the opportunity to go on this trip, I cannot recommend it more.
–Christian Nicewaner ’25
Witty English 