A predominantly gray-haired group gathers in Point Reyes Station every other Thursday morning, sheaves of paper in hand. The nine women and one man meet in the quiet, well-lit community room of the affordable housing complex to share and work on writing projects of all types.
This is the Harvesting Your Life writing group, a project started through West Marin Senior Services in February of 2014 that has taken on a life of its own.
“It began as a four-month class,” said writing coach and author Renate Stendhal, who volunteered to teach the class. “It was such a joy and success that we said, ‘Let’s go for another four months,’ and after that it was clear that it would go on forever.”
The inspiration for such a class came from Ms. Stendhal’s experience encouraging her elderly parents to write about their lives. Her father complied, producing a memoir that Ms. Stendhal calls a legacy and a treasure. Wanting to contribute something to the community in West Marin, she proposed teaching a class.
The group has now seen their work published in two editions of the West Marin Citizen, and more recently have read their work over the airwaves on the KWMR radio program Turning Pages.
“I’ve been really impressed with the quality and range of writing,” said Lyons Filmer, KWMR programming director and host of the show. “There’s humor, there’s pathos, there’s love.”
The group is likely to be invited back again, Ms. Filmer said.
“Having the opportunity to hear stories from our elders is a very fruitful contribution to the community,” Ms. Filmer said. “It adds something to our understanding to hear about other lives and experiences you might never get—or never want!—to have yourself, and yet are fascinating.”
Participants range in age from the “late 60s to the high 90s,” according to Ms. Stendhal. Currently, the group consists in equal proportions of members referred through senior services and those who learned of it through word of mouth. The goal of the class is to give voice to the stories, experiences and values gathered by the elders of the community.
“At a certain age, we have gathered quite some experience of being alive. We look back and find a lot to harvest—not just for ourselves, but for others as well,” Ms. Stendhal said while introducing the group on KWMR.
Yet the focus is not explicitly on memoir. Any subject and any form are welcome. The class functions as a round table: each participant brings a work to share and is then offered feedback from the others. Subjects include memories of a childhood in Nebraska, opinions on the removal of trees at Millerton Point and the experience of buying an encyclopedia from a door-to-door salesman as a 12-year-old in the 1940s.
“There are all these little touches: ancestors who were in the Civil War, or a woman who was a pioneer and brought these iris bulbs with her on the wagon going out west to have some beauty,” said Gail Greenlees of Point Reyes Station, who has been part of the class from the beginning and enjoys working on pieces about nature.
“Here is what I have learned so far from the Great Blue Heron: be still and quiet, listen for signs of life, place full attention on the task at hand, stay focused, be patient and persevere. When the time is right, act quickly. Take in the ‘whole of it’—not just a fragment. Enjoy the harvest and share it, giving thanks,” Ms. Greenlees wrote in an essay about watching a bird hunting in the grass near the Rift Zone Trail.
“For all of us it offers a chance to sit down and write things out that have been sitting in the back of your mind,” said Fran Jaekle, who drives from San Francisco to come to the group. “If what you were going through at the time made you feel that you were alone, you find out that you really weren’t. There were other people in the same boat, dealing with the same issues.”
Ms. Stendhal, who is originally from Germany, has taught writing classes, published five books in English—including a children’s book and a guide to lesbian sex—and helped numerous authors prepare their work for publication. In the Harvesting Your Life class, she offers feedback on each piece both during the class and subsequently in writing. Her gentle advice is a draw for many of the participants.
“She always says things in a way that is positive,” said Ms. Jaekle. “Even if she feels that you could do a serious re-write, she’ll still phrase it in a way to let you know that she appreciates what you said.”
There is limited space still available in the Harvesting Your Life group. If you are interested, contact Renate Stendhal at 415-663.9197 or [email protected].