• ParkBulletinCover - The Park School

S U M M E R
3
R E A D I N G
six days between Park meetings and
Bread Loaf classes I had to read 83 pages
a day. Minimum. I am proud to say that I
arrived having finished the book.
The Bread Loaf program is very
intense. You have two classes everyday
and it feels as if the whole world goes
away while you’re here. My two classes
started at 10:00 a.m. So I’d wake up at
6:00 and read what I needed for classes:
whatever chapters I needed to be ready
to discuss in War and Peace and whatever
was on the agenda for my other class.
I also had writing to keep up with; both
of my professors wanted a short paper
each week, and both had major projects
due at the end of the term.
What course did you pair with War
and Peace
My other class, a seminar called “The
Language Wars,” examined the struggle
about linguistic power and how gender,
race, and class have shaped and
responded to the English language in
recent years. It was equally amazing in
terms of content—although much more
varied. We read everything from heady
linguistic theory to Junot Diaz’s Nobel
Prize winning novel, The Brief Wonderous
Life of Oscar Wao.
Describe the Bread Loaf program.
How did you choose it
Initially, I was undecided about whether I
should pursue a master’s in English or
drama. I wasn’t all that interested in
going to ed school—I really wanted to
learn the material that I was teaching.
One of my mentors at Gould Academy,
who is a Bread Loaf graduate, suggested
that I look into this program. The sixweek
summer term enables students to
earn a degree over five years, which
works well for those of us who are teachers.
While the main campus is in Vermont,
there are also locations in Asheville (North
Carolina), Santa Fe (New Mexico), and
Oxford (England). I actually spent my first
summer in Juneau, Alaska; now they’ve
discontinued that one. Some of my peers
spend a summer in each place, but I’ve
stayed in Vermont both for its incredible
professors and the special addition of
theater.
The professors here are truly masters
in their fields. With no undergrads, and
an idyllic setting, the program attracts a
lot of high caliber scholars. The curriculum
is divided into five groups: 1) Writing
and the Teaching of Writing; 2) English
Literature Through the 17th Century; 3)
English Literature Since the 17th Century;
4) American Literature; and 5) World Literature.
Courses range from “Poetry
Writing” (with Paul Muldoon, the Pulitzer
Prize-winning poet!) to “Metaphysical
and Cavalier: Poetics and Politics in 17th
Century England.”
Up here in Vermont, Bread Loaf has
an acting ensemble that joins the campus.
The company is made up of professional,
equity actors who put on a
full-scale production each summer for the
Bread Loaf and Middlebury communities.
They also work with professors to do dramatic
readings and performances of the
material in our courses. I love how English
and drama coincide here; it really appeals
to my interest at Park.
34 The Park Bulletin | Fall 2009