{"id":27137,"date":"2019-04-12T05:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=27137"},"modified":"2019-04-12T01:20:31","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T06:20:31","slug":"apsu-community-school-for-the-arts-offers-writing-class-to-veterans-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2019\/04\/12\/apsu-community-school-for-the-arts-offers-writing-class-to-veterans-families\/","title":{"rendered":"APSU Community School for the Arts offers writing class to veterans, families"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin Peay State University (APSU)<\/h2>\n

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – After Ellen Taylor walked into the room, she nudged her desk slightly to face the center of the classroom. The move, whether conscious or unconscious, signaled something intrinsic to the class that was about to start<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Taylor was ready to share. Her classmates were ready to share.<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/a>

Joe Shakeenab and Jeff Bagley, both 28-year Army veterans, discuss the stories they\u2019re working on in Writing for Military and Families, a class offered at Austin Peay State University through the Community School of the Arts.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The class \u2013 Writing for Military and Families \u2013 serves active-duty and veteran military personnel and their families and offers them a chance to write about their lives. The writing fosters self-expression and healing.<\/p>\n

Austin Peay State University\u2019s Community School for the Arts has offered the class for free \u2013 backed by a Tennessee Arts Commission grant \u2013 in two sessions this year. Both sessions filled quickly and had waiting lists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a great opportunity and a great service to our veteran population,\u201d Taylor, spouse of a U.S. Army pilot who retired in 1990, said. \u201cIt serves this area really well, and I hope more people take advantage of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Author and publisher Shana Thornton, a beloved member of the Clarksville writing community, teaches the class.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve been doing in the class, first of all, is talking about combat and war, but also how that translates into literature, how to use experience to create fiction and nonfiction,\u201d Thornton said. \u201cIt was always something that I wanted to teach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Every Moment Is Meaningful\u2019<\/h3>\n
\"Joe<\/a>

Joe Shakeenab, a 28-year Army veteran and president of APSU\u2019s Military Alumni Chapter, joined the class to pursue his love for writing and to refine a piece of nonfiction he\u2019s working on centered on.<\/p><\/div>\n

The first eight-week session filled quickly with veterans and veterans\u2019 spouses. Some of the class members have established works while others are starting their writing journey. Some write fiction. Some write nonfiction. Some write poetry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the writing is military-related, but not all,\u201d Thornton said. \u201cThe cool thing is we have really great discussions because everybody is a little different. Everybody is willing to give feedback, willing to help each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

[320left]Joe Shakeenab, a 28-year Army veteran and president of APSU\u2019s Military Alumni Chapter, joined the class to pursue his love for writing and to refine a piece of nonfiction he\u2019s working on centered on the conflict in Somalia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an opportunity to not only work on my piece but listen to other veterans, listen to their story, listen to where they\u2019re at on their journey of writing it, and then share, to grow from it,\u201d he said. \u201cI like the intensity of it. Every moment of the session is meaningful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thornton revisited the theme during class: \u201cThat\u2019s why we want to write our experiences down, because it validates them in some way. It creates a mark. It feels strong. It feels final.\u201d<\/p>\n

Extending The Class<\/h3>\n
\"Jeff<\/a>

Jeff Bagley, a 28-year Army veteran and retired Apache helicopter pilot, said, \u201cI\u2019m floored that someone contributed to make this class available at no cost to veterans and their families.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

Because the class sessions in the first eight weeks sometimes spilled over into a second hour, some of the class members asked for an extension with longer classes. The Community School for the Arts, which is run by the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts, obliged.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou find a lot of truth in fiction, and I believe in it,\u201d Jeff Bagley, a 28-year Army veteran and retired Apache helicopter pilot, said. \u201cI think we need those stories, and I want to write one. I\u2019m floored that someone contributed to make this class available at no cost to veterans and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

[320right]The Tennessee Arts Commission in partnership with the Tennessee Department of Veteran Services awarded the $10,000 grant to the Clarksville-Montgomery County Arts and Heritage Development Council (AHDC), which distributed the grant money to six agencies that provide military-connected workshops throughout the community.<\/p>\n

The recipient agencies are Cumberland Winds, Clarksville Community Concerts Association, Shipley Pottery, Arts for Hearts, After Deployment and the APSU Community School of the Arts, which is run by the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA).<\/p>\n

Learn More<\/h3>\n