Chamonix

Butler MFA’s in France

Over at Bionic Tumbleweed, Christine McMahon wrote about her recent participation in Butler’s Chamonix Summer Writing Program. The yearly French excursion is a highlight of many Butler students’ MFA experience. Of a particular night spent camping in the French Alps, Christine writes:

A fire built. Sandwiches made, wine opened, both passed around with the easy conversation of new friends that are well on their way to old friend status. We lay on the forest floor and watched the moon rise across the valley. Sunburnt, covered in sap. Muddy, spilling sauce and wine. Telling secrets and tall tales without distinction. Using logs as pillows. Listening to each other, the crackling of flame, and the twinkling of the stars. If I have one wish for the world, it’s that everyone, disabled and able-bodied, have days as grubby and free-flowing; as perfect as last Tuesday.

Read the full post here, and more about the Chamonix Program here.

Butler MFA’s in France

Over at Bionic Tumbleweed, Christine McMahon wrote about her recent participation in Butler’s Chamonix Summer Writing Program. The yearly French excursion is a highlight of many Butler students’ MFA experience. Of a particular night spent camping in the French Alps, Christine writes:

A fire built. Sandwiches made, wine opened, both passed around with the easy conversation of new friends that are well on their way to old friend status. We lay on the forest floor and watched the moon rise across the valley. Sunburnt, covered in sap. Muddy, spilling sauce and wine. Telling secrets and tall tales without distinction. Using logs as pillows. Listening to each other, the crackling of flame, and the twinkling of the stars. If I have one wish for the world, it’s that everyone, disabled and able-bodied, have days as grubby and free-flowing; as perfect as last Tuesday.

Read the full post here, and more about the Chamonix Program here.

Lynda Barry joins Chamonix faculty

New addition to Butler's Chamonix Summer Writing ProgramsIn case you’ve missed our coverage of it over the course of the semester, the Butler MFA program has a new summer program that whisks students away to scenic, historic Chamonix, France. For the straight details, you can visit the Chamonix Summer Writing Programs website. Or, for a more personal, narrative take, might I guide you to one of our three Chamonix Memorixs pieces, generously contributed by Jim Hanna, Farhard Anwarzai, and Lisa Renze-Rhodes? Aside from its picturesque vistas, wine and gourmet cheeses, our Chamonix program also boasts a stable of beast writers for 2014. Spanning poetry, prose and non-fiction, our list includes Erin Belieu, Dan Chaon, Michael Dahlie, Terrance Hayes, Ann Hood, and Cheryl Strayed. So you can imagine the great excitement with which we tell you that we’ve added Lynda Barry to our roster. Continue reading

Chamonix Memorixs: Part III

The Butler MFA program is growing faster than ever, and in the early summer that growth paid dividends to a handful of students who got to spend three weeks in writerly nirvana, attending intensive workshops in Chamonix, France. Part graduate workshop, part scenic vacation, part mad-science experiment, the first Chamonix Summer Writing Program was a resounding success– so much so that it is being offered again, now a permanent offering to Butler students.

Butler MFA program student Lisa Renze-RhodesIn the final part of Chamonix Memorixs, we hear from Lisa Renze-Rhodes. Just like Farhad, Lisa treated her time in Chamonix as an exploration or expedition, though maybe not quite so literally. The questions she asks herself in the beginning are ones I’m sure we’ve all asked ourselves in our broader MFA experience. And hopefully her answers in the end are in kind. Continue reading

Chamonix Memorixs: Part II

The Butler MFA program is growing faster than ever, and in the early summer that growth paid dividends to a handful of students who got to spend three weeks in writerly nirvana, attending intensive workshops in Chamonix, France. Part graduate workshop, part scenic vacation, part mad-science experiment, the first Chamonix Summer Writing Program was a resounding success– so much so that it is being offered again, now a permanent offering to Butler students.

But you absolutely shouldn’t take my word for it. You should, however, take part-time action hero and mountain-summiteer Farhad Anwarzai‘s word for it. On top of pounding out a respectable hillock of pages during his time in France, Farhad carped the diem like there was no tomorrow. After some gentle coaxing, prodding, and friendly threats, I got him to put one of his adventures to paper– so to speak. Continue reading

Chamonix Memorixs: Part II

The Butler MFA program is growing faster than ever, and in the early summer that growth paid dividends to a handful of students who got to spend three weeks in writerly nirvana, attending intensive workshops in Chamonix, France. Part graduate workshop, part scenic vacation, part mad-science experiment, the first Chamonix Summer Writing Program was a resounding success– so much so that it is being offered again, now a permanent offering to Butler students.

But you absolutely shouldn’t take my word for it. You should, however, take part-time action hero and mountain-summiteer Farhad Anwarzai‘s word for it. On top of pounding out a respectable hillock of pages during his time in France, Farhad carped the diem like there was no tomorrow. After some gentle coaxing, prodding, and friendly threats, I got him to put one of his adventures to paper– so to speak. Continue reading