CalPoets' First Friday Community Meeting 

All past and present California Poets in the Schools' Poet-Teachers are welcome to attend the 1st Friday Community Meeting during the lunch hour.  On October 4th we will host a workshop led by Amanda Chiado - Poet-Teacher and CalPoets' Board Member from San Benito County.

In this generative workshop we will work with the concept of defamiliarization and strangeness to create surprising poems wholly our own. Will will practice making the weird normal and the normal weird. In our teaching practice, inviting investigation into strangeness offers a welcoming space for all writers' distinct experiences and voices.  Poet-Teachers will gain tips and tricks for application in the classroom, and lesson planning.

Amanda Chiado has been a Calpoet for more than fifteen years, and currently serves as secretary of the Calpoets Board. She holds an MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts and an MA in Educational Administration from Grand Canyon University. She is the author of Vitiligod: The Ascension of Michael Jackson (Dancing Girl Press). Her work has most recently appeared in Rhino, The Pinch Journal, and The Offing. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart & Best of the Net. She is the Director of Arts Education at the San Benito County Arts Council and currently edits for Jersey Devil Press. www.amandachiado.com