Essay Group
We had a reunion of five incarnations of Essay Group this December. We spent the night telling stories of whorehouses in Ghana, of lascivious men in Italy, of dancing in bars in Macedonia, riding buses in Russia, of teaching in Honduras, of trusting in Israel, of singing at Ground Zero in New York, of hitchhiking to meet Edward Abbey. Some of us learned SAT words, all the way through B. We discussed an essay by a bullheaded Italian journalist and one by an aging college professor. We ate poker chips (otherwise known as m&ms,), sang, danced, and played. We stayed up until one, two, five am. If you want a little firsthand commentary and are ever in the Boise/Nampa area in Idaho go to "Hostel Boise" (Elsa's converted home is a European-style hostel in the heart of redneck country. It was lovely) and read the guestbook.
Essay Group was founded in 1996 by Alan Blank. The idea was to get a group of high-schoolers together to talk about short nonfiction prose -- namely, essays. It has proven to be one of the most educational and enriching experiences of many of our lives.
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Essay Group started out at, but is not affiliated with, Borah High School.
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