I have a strong
connection to New England because that’s where my dad’s family is from so it
should be no surprise that when I got my first chance to go there I jumped at
it. In 1986 after completing my second year of teaching I got a scholarship to
begin my Master’s degree at Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English
in Ripton, Vermont. I remember driving there from the Connecticut suburbia to
the little rural spot in the middle of the Green Mountains. It was like summer
camp for book people. In the beginning I was terrified and had strong feelings
of inadequacy (all proving to be entirely unfounded) but eventually I came to
love the place and gathering of people who had converged there. I am still in
contact with the people I met there and I have reunited with them in various
places throughout the United States and Europe. Bread Loaf has enriched my life
in ways I couldn’t even begin to explain and ways that I can explain.
It
is a unique institution that has gathered some of the most famous American
writers and their teaching cohorts for the last century. People like Archibald MacLeish
and Willa Cather and Robert Frost and John Berryman and Robert Pack and David
Huddle and… well you get the idea… have gone there to teach and they have
gathered teachers from throughout the country to share their passions and loves
so that we could in turn share our own passions and loves with students and
colleagues throughout the country. Because of that place I have collaborated
with teachers from throughout the country and Britain. I gained the courage to
go and live and teach in England from that place. The people there are
extraordinary and their ability to collaborate and inspire has spread
throughout a warm band of friends. It is a great American institution that I am
very proud to be a part of. I am extremely grateful for the Bread Loaf School
of English.
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