A dream of an island: on Sapelo Island, an idea takes form as a haven for the artists of the word.Dreams have a funny way of simply just "sitting there" unless the dreamer gets up off her butt and gets to work. I'm not preaching. I'm testifying. Not just about my dream, but also about my assignment. I have just returned from Sapelo Island Sapelo Island is a state-protected island located in McIntosh County, Georgia. The island is only reachable by boat, with the primary ferry coming from the Sapelo Island Visitors Center in Meridian, Georgia, a seventeen mile, twenty-minute trip. , Georgia, one of the most beautiful and pristine of the string of Sea Islands off the continental southeastern coast, having wrapped up a 15-year-old dream of mine. Namely, a retreat for emerging African American African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. writers to learn, share, grow and be inspired and empowered. The first Sea Island Writers Retreat: three, four-day retreats of workshops, writing groups, informal discussion and lectures, was a dream I had been envisioning, nurturing and playing with from the moment I first set foot on Sapelo. I knew even then that the spit of land off the mainland about 50 miles south of Savannah Savannah, city, United States Savannah, city (1990 pop. 137,560), seat of Chatham co., SE Ga., a port of entry on the Savannah River near its mouth; inc. 1789. held treasures for me as an artist and a writer. I knew it was just the place for a writers' retreat, especially one for black folks--and I wanted to do it. I find that the things we accomplish are like the books we write. They are the books we ourselves want to read. The Sea Island Writers Retreat--the retreat I founded in 2004--is the refuge I wanted to attend when I was an emerging writer decades ago. First, I had yearned to escape the workaday world where I went about my quotidian quotidian /quo·tid·i·an/ (kwo-tid´e-an) recurring every day; see malaria. quo·tid·i·an adj. Recurring daily. Used especially of attacks of malaria. tasks and routines and travel to an isolated place filled with natural beauty and silence for my writers retreat. And I wanted the environment of that writers' haven to be as meaningful to me as an African American woman as it was to me as an artist. I had spent a brief time in Upstate New York Upstate New York is the region of New York State north of the core of the New York metropolitan area. It has a population of 7,121,911 out of New York State's total 18,976,457. Were it an independent state, it would be ranked 13th by population. near a famous retreat and although beautiful, the place did not speak to me. For me, Sapelo Island filled the bill. The moment the visitor alights from the ferry, the Anne Marie, she is met with astonishing a·ston·ish tr.v. as·ton·ished, as·ton·ish·ing, as·ton·ish·es To fill with sudden wonder or amazement. See Synonyms at surprise. natural beauty. From the wide vistas of saltwater marshes teeming teem 1 v. teemed, teem·ing, teems v.intr. 1. To be full of things; abound or swarm: A drop of water teems with microorganisms. 2. with wildlife (great blue herons, Atlantic blue crabs, black and gold fritillary fritillary Any of the approximately 80 species of bulbous, mostly perennial, ornamental herbaceous plants that make up the genus Fritillaria, in the lily family, native primarily to the northern temperate zone. Members have bell-shaped, nodding, usually solitary flowers. butterflies, mating lovebugs) to the majestic live oaks with whirls of Spanish moss Spanish moss, fibrous grayish-green epiphyte (Tillandsia usneoides) that hangs on trees of tropical America and the Southern states, also called Florida, southern, or long moss. entangled en·tan·gle tr.v. en·tan·gled, en·tan·gling, en·tan·gles 1. To twist together or entwine into a confusing mass; snarl. 2. To complicate; confuse. 3. To involve in or as if in a tangle. in their limbs to the wide sandy beaches with names (Nanny Goat Beach and Cabrillou) that sound like song titles, the island beckons the appreciative exploring group or the solitary writer seeking inspiration. And the Sea Islands' connection to slavery and freedom and the backbone of all my history seems to hang around there, in the lives of Geechee-Gullah people, in their soft distinctive accents, and in the very air. Scribbling scrib·ble v. scrib·bled, scrib·bling, scrib·bles v.tr. 1. To write hurriedly without heed to legibility or style. 2. To cover with scribbles, doodles, or meaningless marks. v. in the Dark Next, I longed to be led through the basics and intricacies of first-rate writing by someone who had been there, a published and respected writer who not only knew the ropes, but a sensitive soul who also remembered how it had felt not to know them. I dreamed of editors, novelists, memoirists reading my seminal work A seminal work is a work from which other works grow. The term usually refers to an intellectual or artistic achievement whose ideas and techniques have been adopted or responded to in later works by other people, either in the same field or in the general culture. and discussing it with me and my peers, offering suggestions, pointing out where I had hit and where I had missed the mark. This is where the generous spirit of African American writers and editors who joined us on Sapelo came into full chorus. For one, Blanche Richardson, an extraordinary writer and editor--as natural and skilled an editor as Michael Jordan is a basketball player--had so much to share with the eager retreat participants that one evening at my third announcement to her editing workshop that it was time for dinner, I found Blanche lecturing away in the fading last light of first dark and the participants all scribbling away on pads they could barely see. "Hey, lil' school girls," I warned like a stern spinster SPINSTER. An addition given, in legal writings, to a woman who never was married. Lovel. on Wills, 269. principal, "dinner's getting cold." "Okay, okay, I just have one final point to covet cov·et v. cov·et·ed, cov·et·ing, cov·ets v.tr. 1. To feel blameworthy desire for (that which is another's). See Synonyms at envy. 2. To wish for longingly. See Synonyms at desire. ," Blanche promised as her eager students shouted, "Wait! Wait! What was No. 4 again? What was No. 47" I chuckled and gave them another five minutes, reluctant to disrupt the inspiring scene of writers immersed in learning how to hone their craft. Even in the dark, I could see, truly see, these emerging writers revel in this world of words that we had spent the preceding days talking about, entering and exploring. This is where they now lived. In a few days, they had not only discovered this world inhabited by anyone bold, brave and disciplined enough to enter. But they had realized that they themselves belonged there. "All of Ya'll?" Finally, I ached to spend time in the company of other writers like myself. That, too, happened at the retreat. It happened during breakfast, in the rocking chairs on the porch of The Wallow wallow mud bath frequented by pigs, elephants, red deer, hippopotami as a cooling aid. Lodge that the retreaters shared, on early morning walks down dusty roads around the island, late at night sharing Krispy Kreme donuts and reading each other's works/stories. Folks ask me, "why are you doing this writers retreat? Don't you have enough to do? Anyway, what can people learn in four days that they haven't learned by themselves their whole lives?" Shoot, I say, they can learn plenty. A life can be changed in a moment, to say nothing of four days. I saw it happen on Sapelo. I saw individuals who got off the ferry on Thursday unsure of what they were doing there get back on that same ferry on Sunday with a self-assurance that made me blush with pride. After the first retreat in September, I overheard a fellow ferry passenger ask one of out retreaters, "What group are you? What were ya'll doing on Sapelo?" I smiled as she replied, "We're writers." "All of ya'll?" he asked with amazement, as he inspected the group of more than a dozen chattering laughing black women. "All of us," she said. I established the Sea Island Writers Retreats a year ago. And I plan to do it again this year and next year and the next year and the next and the next because a writer has no higher calling than to write and to help other writers do the same. That's my dream. That's my assignment. Tina McElroy Ansa, a filmmaker, journalist and the author of four novels, is at work on her fifth book. She has been named the 2005 recipient of the Stanley W. Lindberg Award. She is the author of Baby of the Family, Ugly Ways, The Hand I Fan With and You Know Better. Her best-selling novels are all set in the mythical Georgia town of Mulberry. See You There The dates for the 2005 retreats are: September 15-18 October 20-23 November 17-20 Registration and fees must be paid three weeks before the beginning of each retreat. The registration fee is $1200 (25 percent nonrefundable). Please send your money order or cashier's check cashier's check n. a check issued by a bank on its own account for the amount paid to the bank by the purchaser with a named payee, and stating the name of the party purchasing the check (the remitter). to: Sea Island Writers Retreat, P.O. Box 20602. St. Simons Island, GA 31522. A limited number of spaces are available. For more information, log on to www.tiamcelroyansa.com. |
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