Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Philippine writer hopes to share RopeWalk experience
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Why is an honors economics student from the Philippines attending University of Southern Indiana’s RopeWalk Retreat? “It’s the writing. It’s something you do when you can’t hold it in any more,” Catherine Candano said. “If you don’t have anyone to show your work to, it’s really hard. You don’t have a community.” After landing a scholarship for USI’s 15th annual writers retreat, the 22-year-old Metro Manila resident raised additional funds for the trip and after a 23-hour flight landed in time for the weeklong event that began June 14 in New Harmony. “It’s the experience I’d like to share,” Candano said. “New Harmony is amazing. It’s not just the workshop. It’s everything.” A student at Ateneo de Manila University, a Jesuit institution in Metro Manila, Candano became interested in writing while taking core courses in poetry and fiction as a freshman. “I had an amazing teacher who wrote fiction as well,” she explained. “He had a lot of hands-on exercises, and I found myself working more on writing than on my math.” With her teacher’s encouragement, she entered a competition for a spot in a Philippine national writing workshop, and she won. In addition to her first national workshop, Candano has attended a second, become associate editor of her university’s folio literary magazine, and helped organize a writing workshop for poor urban children. She also has accepted a scholarship in communication arts, which will become her new program of study this year, her senior year at Ateneo de Manila University. A fan of American poetry, Candano read many of Stephen Dobyns works on the Internet. The award-winning author is her workshop leader at RopeWalk. According to Candano, USI’s retreat is larger and less formal than the workshops she has attended in the Philippines. “I’m just floored by the approach,” she said. “It’s a very different concept.” Now she is hoping to combine the best of both formats in a workshop planned in the Philippines later this summer. She also would like to incorporate aspects of RopeWalk in a second workshop for urban youth. “It’s an opportunity that people would never get to have in the Philippines,” she said. USI’s RopeWalk Writers Retreat will conclude Saturday, June 21. Additional information is available on the Web: www.usi.edu/ropewalk. |
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