Tag: Write Club

CNM Clubs to Join This Summer

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ASL Flyer 1ASL flyer 2June 1, 2017 By Hilary Broman

Senior Staff Reporter

CNM offers plenty of clubs for students to join and participate in. Clubs are a way for students to learn a new skill, be a part of a group of people with similar interests, or to simply relax and have a good time. Listed below are five clubs that are accepting new members for the summer term.

  1. Club: Montoya Writing Group

When and Where: Starting June 7th, the group will meet every Wednesday through the end of July in H 129 at Montoya campus from 3:30-5:00pm.

Club activities: This group invites writers of all genres to develop their voice, cultivate a supportive creative writing community, and learn more about their craft. This summer, the creative writing group has invited local writers to share their work and lead the group through activities and exercises that will help us develop our craft, all of whom are also CNM Faculty. See below for list of scheduled presenters.

Wednesday June 7th 3:30-5:00pm  Brian K Hudson

Wednesday June 14th 3:30-5:00pm  Jennifer Krohn-Bourgeois

Wednesday June 21st 3:30-5:00pm  Erin Hodges 

Wednesday June 28th 3:30-5:00pm  Jennifer Schaller

Wednesday July 5th   3:30-5:00pm  Jenn Givhan

Wednesday July 12th   3:30-5:00pm  Rebecca Aronson

Wednesday July 19th   3:30-5:00pm  Adam Crittenden

Wednesday July 26th   3:30-5:00pm  Katherine Page

Why students should join: This group is open to students, faculty, staff, and the greater community.  Our club is for anyone who has always wanted to finish that novel, play with poetry, or simply cultivate a creative outlet.  No writing experience necessary! Newcomers welcome.

Contact: Maria DeBlassie, Lead Faculty of the Montoya Campus Writing Group at mdeblassie@cnm.edu

 

2. Club: Improv Club

When and Where: Coal Avenue Theatre at 4:30pm on Fridays

Club activities: The club practices different types of comedic Improv (improvisational acting). On occasion, they will also perform.

Why students should join: The students should join if they like to laugh and make people laugh.  They should join, if they plan on a profession that requires quick thinking and team work.

Contact: Leonard Madrid, faculty mentor of Improv Club, at lmadrid35@cnm.edu

 

Community of Gamers
Community of Gamers: Community of Gamers gather to take a self timed photo. Photo courtesy of: Dominic Alarcon

3. Club: Community of Gamers

When and Where: Currently waiting for permanent room assignment. Contact club president for details.

Club activities: We meet up as a group in our club room and we play games, have tournaments, have group meet ups outside of school, discuss all things gaming.

Why students should join: Students should join because it’s a fun place to hang during the stressful semester to relax have fun and meet new people.

Contact: Dominic Alarcon, President, at dalarcon8@cnm.edu

 

4. Club: American Sign Language Practice Group

When and Where: Tuesdays from 4:30-5:30pm in MS 313 at Main campus and Fridays from 1:00pm-2:00pm in the H building commons at Montoya campus.  Meetings will occur every week until the end of the summer term.

Club activities: That will depend on the level of the students who show up. We may start with the alphabet and simple conversation. If the students are more advanced, they may want to review more advanced vocabulary. Basically, we will be practicing American Sign Language.

Why students should join: It is really fun and it’s a great way to practice ASL and meet interesting people. The club may even get some deaf people to come and sign with them.

Contact: Robin Ramsey at robinr@cnm.edu

Montoya Campus Flyer                   Main Campus Flyer

5.Club: Entrepreneurial Club

When and Where: E-Club does not do a lot during the summer but they could use help planning for next term.

Club activities: Planning for next academic year; also setting up a pop-up showcase for entrepreneurs

Why students should join: Students should join if they are interested in learning how to start a business

Contact: Linda Shul, Faculty Advisor, at shul@cnm.edu

 

For a list of clubs at CNM click here.

 

Students who are interested in creating a new club click here.

 

 

Students Connect Through Poetry and Literature

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April 4, 2017. Story and Photos by Hilary Broman

Senior Staff Reporter

To wrap up the Around the World in 30 Days event Montoya Campus held an international poetry and literature reading event where students volunteered to read poems in different languages or a piece that they had written themselves.

The event took place on Thursday, March 30th and it was hosted by Jean Silesky, Spanish instructor, and Maria Deblassie, English instructor and Montoya Campus writing group facilitator.

Poetry Reading 1
Emily Bjustrom is no stranger to reading her poems in front of a crowd. Her response to those who were performing for the first time was, “I think it’s beautiful and exciting. It’s obvious that this was the beginning of something special for them.”

CNM tutor and former slam poet, Emily Bjustrom, opened by performing three of her original pieces.

Greg Cappetto, Montoya tutoring center manager, said that he enjoyed watching Bjustrom perform at a previous event so he invited her to read at this one.

“I hope she continues to write and affect the community like she affected me,” he said.

 

Poetry Reading 2
Madeleine Allerheiligen takes a breath before reading Eiel Brouillé. She has been has been studying French for five years.

Madeleine Allerheiligen, Psychology major and Montoya writing group member, read a poem by Charles Baudelaire titled Eiel Brouillé in French.

She chose to read this poem because she liked the imagery of the spring weather and how it can be cruel, soft and sweet, she said.

She also loved the rhythm of the poem, she said, a lot of poems tend to lose the rhythm when they are translated and this one didn’t.

 

 

 

Many students who read were reading their work out loud for the first time including Rachel LaPore.

Poetry Reading 3
Rachel LaPore reads from one of her many journals that she has kept over the years. She is currently enrolled in a creative writing class, surrounded by other writers.

LaPore had been writing since she was seven years old but never felt encouraged to cultivate her creative talents, she said.

“I was a real estate developer and I never knew other writers or literary people,” she said. “Writing was like a secret life.”

The piece she decided to share was about identity and the struggle to find the true essence of self, she said.
“I was nervous about sharing this piece because it has a personal meaning and I was concerned that no one would like it,” she said.

Following LaPore, many students took to the podium to share pieces of writing that they had been working on or pieces of literature that stood out to them.

 

To close the event instructor, Maria Deblassie, shared an essay from her personal blog about finding the everyday joys in life.

Unlikely Place for a Growing Writers Community

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Story by Edward Oelcher, Staff Reporter

Photos and Photo illustration and cutlines by Heather Hay, Design and Layout

CNM may be an unlikely place for a diverse writer’s community but that is exactly what is happening every week at Main and Montoya campuses, said English instructor Maria DeBlassie Phd.

The group meets every Monday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at Montoya Campus Library and 1:30 to 2:30 in the SRC Room 201A on Main Campus.

According to DeBlassie, it is a place for not only writers, but creative souls and anyone who wants to relax and have fun writing outside the classroom.

The purpose is to bring students, community and faculty together to write; to encourage people of all majors to attend, no writing experience necessary, DeBlassie said.

The meetings allow people to work on what ever they want, she said.

People work on novels, web comics, poetry, blogs, and short stories so it is very open, DeBlassie said.

Students gain a big sense of community and support from attending, she said.

“As writers we don’t have to write in isolation to figure things out,” she said.

The writing group began five years ago on Main Campus with CNM’s full-time English instructor and published award-winning author Rebecca Aronson.

“Generally it’s really a group that focuses on generating new writing and talking about issues of a writer’s life, like publication and stuff we are reading,” Aronson said.

The Main Campus writing group usually begins with someone bringing a piece of writing to discuss, something they found interesting and also a writing prompt open to all genres, Aronson said.

“We are friendly, anyone is welcome, it’s not a class, so you don’t sign up ahead of time, I guess the most important thing is, it is fun, “ she said.

The writing group started for students and faculty to carve time out of busy lives to write, Aronson said.

For some students writing has not always been something they pursued.

CNM student biology laboratory technician Audrey Smith, who is currently pursuing an accounting degree, finds the writing group to be a godsend.

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Photo was taken at the Write Club’s Halloween party, when they dressed in costumes.  From left center: Audrey, Nina and Madeline.

 

Smith attends the writing group to work on a novel, something she does in her spare time outside of biology and studying for accounting she said.

“For someone who has been so right brained for so long first with biology and then with all of this accounting stuff, it is like my left brain is exploding all of sudden,” she said.

The writing class helps with confidence, community, and support.

“We do a lot of creative exercises to get us to think differently about the craft and it leads to a lot of inspiration,” DeBlassie said.

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Mia and Daniel are writing a short creative piece based on the scary prompts they were given.
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From left: Chris, Brianna and Instructor Maria DeBlassie.

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