Writing and the Art of Description with David Bjerklie
TIME & LOCATION
Mar 23, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM CDT
ONLINE class via Zoom
ABOUT
Writing and the Art of Description with David Bjerklie
- This is a 5-meeting virtual class using the Zoom platform.
- Sundays, March 23, 30, April 6, 13, 20
- 2-3:30 pm CT
- Our classes are taught asynchronously, which means you can watch a recording of the class later if you miss the live session.
A flock of birds landing in a farmer's field, a wedding party winding down in the wee hours, a pond freezing over at dusk in early December. Whatever we choose to look at can be looked at from many angles. Obvious, right? And yet, easier said than done and the reason is simple: our brains are designed to take shortcuts. Once we know how to recognize a thing, neurological efficiency kicks in and we pay less attention to that thing. But learning to look with new eyes makes the world come alive to writers. This is true for poets, novelists, essayists, speech writers, academics or journalists. When we change the way we look, we change the way we think. Yes, it takes practice. But there are ways we can hone our powers of observation as well as our skills at description. Join us in a workshop where we will use readings, prompts, and class discussion to broaden and deepen our abilities to describe in writing what we see or imagine.
INSTRUCTOR BIO:
David Bjerklie has been a science reporter, writer, and editor at TIME Magazine, TIME For Kids, and TIME Books, as well as a freelance contributor to national and international magazines and newspapers. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at M.I.T.; a Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellow; a two-time media grant recipient at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings in Germany; and a National Science Foundation Media Fellow at McMurdo and South Pole Stations in Antarctica.
HND Value Statement
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or Humanities North Dakota. However, in an increasingly polarized world, we at Humanities North Dakota believe that being open-minded is necessary to thinking critically and rationally. Therefore, our programs and classes reflect our own open-mindedness in the inquiry, seeking, and acquiring of scholars to speak at our events and teach classes for our Public University. To that end, we encourage our participants to join us in stepping outside our comfort zones and considering other perspectives and ideas by being open-minded while attending HND events featuring scholars who hold a variety of opinions, some being opposite of our own held beliefs.
Humanities North Dakota classes and events are funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities
TICKETS
Class Fee
Public University classes are open to all registrants, not just HND members. Classes are free for members (use coupon code) and low-cost for nonmembers. If interested, it's easy to become a member: humanitiesnd.org/donate
$45.00
Total
$0.00