Hollins Magic Continues Online!

Yet another Hollins U summer has come to an end; although, I have to say this was the most unusual one. Everything was online. And while that was a little scary at first, I have to admit, it went really well! We have a very low student/teacher ratio, which made working on Zoom quite easy and stress-free. Dare I say, we bonded, even in this virtual world? I think we did! And at the end of the semester, everyone presented their final products, just like in person. Each student gave a presentation... Abbie did her talk on Ken Wilson Max. Becca did her talk on James Ransome. Gina did her talk on Mae Besom. And Deanna gave her talk on Ise Hideko. (Deanna is living in Japan right now - 13 hours ahead!)
     After the lunch break, everyone came back and shared their picture book dummies. Sadly, I only got a photo of Deanna sharing her Japanese version of The Country Mouse and The City Mouse. (Although, I didn't get a good shot of her doing her presentation, so it all balanced out!) They all did such a great job - I am so proud of them!
     Along with classes, we had some wonderful speakers visit from afar. Terri Windling was the Keynote for the Francelia Butler Conference and she spent a glorious morning with my classroom too - just answering questions about fairy tales, folklore, and the writing biz. WOW!
     Our Writer in Residence was Anika Denise, author of Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré (which was indeed a Pura Belpré prize winner!). She gave a talk that brought us all to tears it was so special! Happily, she'll be back next year as we get a two-fer - her husband Chris Denise is our newest faculty member.
     Little Brown Art Director Sasha Illingsworth gave a really thorough talk about what she does at the very end - it was a great note to end on!
     And we had an ongoing discussion about The Goddess all semester that culminated in two wonderful discussions curated by Professor Chip Sullivan.
     One of my fellow faculty, Claudia Mills (who also spoke on a panel with her agent, Stephen Frazer, this summer), wrote about our Hollins Magic on her blog too. Usually, she and I would walk the campus most mornings. As it was, we talked on the phone while walking several times during the semester.
     There have been some silver linings to this online year - a student was able to participate from Japan, a speaker who can't easily travel was able to join us, and new walking habits were formed. I'll be glad to be back in person next summer, but it's good to know that the Hollins Magic did indeed continue online! Photo by MJ Begin