Dear Readers,

We recently received a copy of a press release from Vincent Poturica, an associate professor of English at Mendocino College, and a friendly request to help promote a creative writing course being held at the Point Arena community library this fall.

We have no idea why he reached out to us, since our readers rarely (if ever) follow our direction. If they did, we’d have simple, modern-looking clocks at The Sea Ranch pools and short-term “renters” would be permanently banned from all recreational facilities here (the vacationers are so gauche, especially in the summertime).

The Mendocino College course is titled “English 503: Creative Writing for Older Adults”. But don’t worry if you don’t identify as “older”. They set a low bar for being “older” as the course is open to anyone over 12. We’re not going to nitpick course titles, though. We’re just glad that someone’s finally training the next generation of writers for The Sea Ranch Reader because we frequently get tired of creating content ourselves.

The course costs $12. That reasonable fee also covers the many sweet perks of being a fully matriculated student at Mendocino College. The most exciting one is free fare on the Mendocino Transit system, which will come in handy the next time you do the tasting menu with wine pairing at Harbor House Inn in Elk and can’t find a taxi to take you back to The Sea Ranch.

According to the press release, the course encourages students to “explore new literary forms”, which probably means they’ll write thinly-veiled autobiographical fiction and earnest poetry. One student won’t exactly plagiarize large sections of Iris Murdoch’s novel, The Sea, the Sea. But close attention will reveal striking similarities between their work and the original material. Another student will inevitably write an adaptation of the middle section of Homer’s Odyssey, based on that one time they ate too many mushrooms with Chuck and Nicole by Sea Lion Rocks and it took 3 hours to walk back to Chuck’s mom’s house on Mill Street.

Professor Poturica promotes the course as “inclusive and accessible”. We’re slightly ashamed to admit that’s a turn-off for us. We fall squarely into an elitist camp that likes to be challenged every step of the way. But to each their own, we guess.

The press release tells you go straight to Mendocino.edu to find the course and register. But we say, good luck. The website is a labyrinth of details and instructions, you’ll never need. The lone enjoyable part of the website is the sheer volume of Mendocino College’s academic departments, which far exceeds the number of academic departments at the editor’s colleges back in the olden tymes (i.e., the 90s and early aughts) when inclusivity was an afterthought and accessibility was a sign of institutional weakness. Our favorites at Mendocino College are a few departments we wished we had back in the day, including Fine Woodworking, but also some we would never wish upon any student, such as Business Office Technology.

Other noteworthy departments at Mendocino College include Alcohol and Drug Studies and Fire Science. We hope young minds are taking advantage of these two, which might be the perfect double major.

The creative writing class is at the Point Arena public library on Fridays from 10 AM to 12:30 PM from August 19th through December 13th. Don’t just show up like an arriviste barbarian vacation rental-type at The Sea Ranch. Pay your $12 and register at Mendocino.edu, if you can figure it out.

Happy creative writing,

The Sea Ranch Reader Editors