Going Analog with Literary Post
/Video calls? Distance learning? Virtual classrooms? We’ve all learned a lot about technology this past year. New digital tools have helped us stay connected through difficult times, but in the midst of the remote learning revolution, one COMPAS program has returned to an age-old tradition: handwritten letters.
COMPAS Teaching Artist Morgan Grayce Willow led the Literary Post Program for clients of LAHBNP.
Literary Post is a revived COMPAS program from the pre-digital age of the 1980s. It connects rural older adult writers with COMPAS Teaching Artists via snail mail. The program has always encouraged creativity, engaged participants in new ways to share their stories, and developed social connections. This year, especially for older adults in rural areas who don’t have a high-speed internet connection, engaging and connecting through creativity has been a great way to banish social isolation.
For the past several months, COMPAS Teaching Artist Morgan Grayce Willow has led the Literary Post program for clients of the Living at Home Block Nurse Program (LAHBNP) in Granite Falls, MN. Program participants are all older adults living at home with some assistance through LAHBNP. They have been writing original poetry and memoir that Morgan helps edit and shape through back-and-forth letters. As Morgan explains: “I sent out an initial letter explaining the process and inviting them to send work to me, and I gave everyone the same writing prompt. I read their responses and commented in a return letter, and then I suggested a prompt or a challenge or an invitation to try something else.”
Despite using an analog technology in a digital world, the program has felt new and refreshing for everyone. “The letter-writing process allows me – and the participants – to relish in the artistic process,” says Morgan. “This program is a celebration of their writing but also of letter-writing as an art form – and of handwriting! Cursive is a dying art. I love proofreading work on the page and marking up their poems.”
Literary Post anthologies from previous years.
More than flexing their handwriting skills, participants delve into personal histories and hardships, many of which have been exacerbated during the pandemic. They write a mix of memoir and poetry, often reflecting on the events of their lives. “Many of them talk about missing their grandchildren, especially during COVID,” says Morgan. “Some people want to write memoirs because they feel like their children don’t really know them, and this is a way to pass on their stories.”
In the past, work from the Literary Post program was compiled into anthologies. Although there aren’t enough participants for an entire book this time around, Morgan is collecting pieces into a chapbook to share. We look forward to reading it! In the meantime, read Linda J. Dahlager’s poem “Where I Am From” written during the Literary Post program with LAHBNP:
Where I Am From
by Linda J. Dahlager
I am from golden wheat fields,
sunburned teenagers weeding soybean fields,
rustling stalks of corn,
anxious eyes viewing threatening skies.
I am from Ray and Mabel,
immigrant grandparents,
strict aunts and myriad cousins,
overnight stays, birthday celebrations, Sunday afternoon visits,
Christmas festivities and overly excited youngsters.
I am from wringer washers,
sagging clotheslines, fresh-smelling sheets,
warm chocolate chip cookies after school,
and a house overturned by the spring cleaning ritual.
I am from 4th of July neighborhood picnics,
hay wagons laden with food,
stock tanks filled with ice water and pop bottles,
girl cousins getting dunked in said tank,
evenings finalized by exploding fireworks...and mosquitoes!
I am from small-town Saturday nights,
m street lined with cars,
mothers in pink curlers getting groceries (gotta look nice on Sunday),
fathers gabbing with neighbors and townspeople,
kids delighting in running, laughing and screaming.
I am from country churches nestled among aged trees,
summer Vacation Bible school, memory work, crafts and bag lunches,
annual Christmas programs, brown bags filled with treats to take home.
I am from small local schools,
bus rides, operettas, music concerts, Mrs. Schjoll, Mr. Olson,
basketball games, class plays, class trips,
pride in being a Sacred Heart Viking!
I am from 4-H clubs,
monthly meetings for the whole family,
demonstrations, reciting the pledge, singing “Daisy, Daisy,”
Fun Days in the local park,
I am from mud pies, playhouses,
carefree bike rides, warm summer days that ended too soon,
rural nostalgia now lost in my memories.
Thank you to the Mardag Foundation for underwriting this program.
Literary Post is part of COMPAS’ Artful Aging™ programming, which delivers creative experiences to older adults. Creativity is not something people lose as they age, and COMPAS is committed to helping every Minnesotan find purpose and joy through the arts. Book a program today and bring a COMPAS Teaching Artist to your community!
