PSU Magazine Spring 1998

workshops and traditional lecture-style classes in such subjects as philosophy and drama. Tuition was $15 per session. ver the years, the program has evolved into one that takes better advantage of the location. All the lecture-style classes have given way to today's active workshops in writing, with a small complement of other hands-on classes in choral conducting, painting, gardening, and environmen– tal studies. But like the program of 30 years ago, students continue to meet in the Cannon Beach Elementary School, which is a short walk from the beach just below Ecola Creek and north of Cannon Beach's now-crowded main street. Haystack attracts most of its partici– pants from Washington and Oregon. The rest come literally from all over the county and even the world. "The intensity of the workshops, which meet for six hours a day, not only immerse the students in the subject; the workshops also serve as a respite from their day-to-day lives," says Margaret Herrington, Haystack's program director. "You are totally away from the dishes in the sink, the dog, the inevitable 'what's for supper,' " she adds. 'This break in routine, the new location, and the openness of the sky and ocean, all work together to provide a more profound opportunity to think." 8 PSU MAGAZINE SPRING 1998 Now part of the University's School of Extended Studies/Summer Session, Haystack taps into the University's depth by drawing resources, faculty, and knowledge from PSU's School of Fine and Performing Arts and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The classic "town and gown" dichotomy that bedevils so many small college towns, has never really devel– oped between Cannon Beach and PSU's Haystack Program. "We've become very closely connected to the community," says Herrington. The program involves the Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce, the Cannon Beach Arts Association, and Clatsop County School District. The Cannon Beach Chamber of Commerce even offers a series of free open readings by Haystack instructors and participants. Students in the program are considered a boon to the community as they rent local housing, fill motels and campgrounds, and patronize local stores, shops, gas stations, and galleries. hile Haystack has developed a successful format, the program recog– nizes the need to maintain its vitality, including having its own Web site: http://extended.pdx. edu/summer/haystack.htm. "We are willing to experiment," says Herrington, noting a workshop on chess offered last year. "The workshops during the last several year have responded to a wave of interest in writ– ing, and we have a wealth of regional writers to lead those programs." Haystack's writing workshop leaders include Ursula Le Guin, the interna– tionally respected author of science fiction and fantasy and one of the Pacific Northwest's most prominent champions of writing and arts organi– zations. Other instructors include Oregon Book Award winners Lauren Kessler, author of eight books includ– ing Full Court Press (Dutton) and Stubborn Twig (Random House), and her husband, Tom Hager, author of Force of Nature (Simon & Schuster) and Linus Pauling and the Chemistry of Life (Oxford). Alumni of the program are ju t as famous. Jean Auel, author of Clan of the Cave Bear, attended a class between her first and second novels. "Strange and wonderful magic seems to happen at Haystack," says former student Gregg Kleiner, author of Where River Tums to Sky. "Both times I studied writing there, I came away profoundly affected-not only my writing, but deeper down as well ... in that place just behind the heart where dreams dwell. To say Haystack changed my life would not be an exaggeration." Haystack is not just a place for writ– ers, says Herrington. "We also offer workshops on different aspects of gardening, Oregon geology, history and culture, sculpture, photography, bookbinding, illustration and sketch– ing, watercolors, and paper desigt~."