Finding Rootedness
I cherish a witch hazel kind of day, a scrap of color,
a light in the window when winter is closing all around.
— Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
What does it mean to you to build a practice around creativity?
For some it might mean taking a class or finding a writing partner to whom they can be accountable. For others it might mean hitting a daily word count or reading the newest releases to stay in-the-know.
This February, Fordham’s Creative Writing program offered a virtual staycation based on a different theory of creative practice. Rootedness – A Winter Staycation is part of an unfolding approach to creative practice that aligns to seasonal rhythms, traditions, and rituals. During the two-day retreat, alumni, faculty, students, and Fordham staff members took part in self-directed activities including gentle movement, journaling, building a creative lineage and writing in response to prompts. The emphasis of the weekend was on rooting in the darker, shorter days and meditating on what it means to shore provisions and inspiration for winter.
Rootedness Freewrite Exercise:
We are living in an age of unprecedented access. Want some dragon fruit? Go to the store. Want to know the name of that actor from that show? Google it. Want to know exactly what time someone has read your text? Just look. This quick access to things is not something that humans would have had in any other era. But just because we have this access to a different way of being doesn’t mean we’ve lost the bones-deep sense of how millennia of humans prepared for winter.
For this exercise, imagine a root cellar – a place where you can safely store any number of things you might need to sustain you through a harsh time. First, picture this root cellar; what would you want it to look like? Next, think about what you’d put on the shelves. Here, be metaphorical. What are the experiences, skills, facts, objects or beauty, books, relationships, etc., that nourish you? Spend some time populating your shelves, feathering your nest.
What lies beneath the surface of our lived experiences is what sustains us.
