Be the Change - Susan Wooldridge, Chico

Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge is a wizard with words. She relishes collecting and rearranging words into original combinations, inventing new words, marrying unlikely pairs of words together, and sleuthing the origins of words in many languages. She generously shares her love of words through her books, workshops and mentoring.

Susan's nationally acclaimed books, Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words and Foolsgold: Making Something from Nothing, twine together threads of insight, personal history, quotes, anecdotes and exercises to invoke the creative process. At her inspiring and transformative workshops held throughout the United States, Susan helps people begin the process of self-discovery through writing.

Susan got her start when a beloved and "hip" teacher introduced her to the works of E. E. Cummings, D. H. Lawrence, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and the world of journaling via the Diary of Anne Frank. Despite the pressures of an active life, Susan has always found solace in the secret world of her journals. Poetry, journaling, writing books and creating collage have sustained Susan through challenging times.

Her involvement with the Califormia Poets in the Schools program led to her ongoing work with both children and adults.

Fostering the next generation, Susan mentors aspiring young writers like Chico high school students Otto Wilder, who is drawn to fantasy fiction, and Austin Smith, who is interested in journalism. CSU, Chico student Misha Jacobs, still regularly in touch with Susan since age 12 when she began attending many of Susan's workshops, explains that it is hard to describe what Susan does. "You really have to experience it. Susan is so gentle and sincere. She lovingly guides you to figure out what you want to say. Being with her there is no judgment. I've learned to carry that into other parts of my life."

Twelve years ago Susan planted herself in Valley Oaks Village, a co-housing community in Chico, just as her son and daughter were leaving the nest. From this nurturing base Susan frequents her favorite local coffee houses where she writes and visits with friends during impromptu "office hours." Visits to nearby Chico Creek replenish her creative well.

With funding from the Poets and Writers organization and The UCLA Center for the Book, Susan now facilitates sessions at rural libraries across Northern California. Susan's non-judgmental tone persuades budding poets, young and old, to unfurl tender petals. Susan delights in the wisdom of elders, the reserve of teens, and the "wild brilliance" of young children at these gatherings.

One of Susan's pet phrases, "Why not?" offers students permission to dive into the "wordpool" that groups create at each workshop. "Word tickets" cut from magazines, newspapers, spaghetti boxes and pages from old dictionaries prime students to erupt into creative wordplay, often resulting in startling personal revelations. "Sometimes confusing students by spinning them dizzy," Susan assures participants a cathartic release of right brain potency. One six-year-old wrote: "I love the dim moon. I love the immense kindness." A fourth-grader wrote: "I'm spring, with lambs in my field."

Susan leads students on a creative journey that can help transmute the grief and brokenness delivered by life's knocks and curves. At workshops for youth in juvenile detention, sponsored by California Poets in the Schools, Susan's non-judgmental style engenders an atmosphere where it feels safe to be seen. Students are introduced to poetry, journaling, and Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication practices, giving them tools to continue the journey after the sessions have ended. Under Susan's loving attention, fortressed hearts open to reveal soulscapes long hidden behind walls of survival-induced secrecy. One participant wrote: "My heart says there are rings of chances. My soul is suddenly traveling in the lights of time...visiting a place it has never been before."

As catalysts for creativity, Susan's books and workshops are a treat for those seeking to explore and actualize their right brain potential. On March 25th, Susan offers a PoemCrazy Journal workshop in Chico at the Spiritual Enrichment Center; on May 1st, Susan will be part of a benefit poetry reading held at the Stage Door in Mt. Shasta; in June, she leads a PoemCrazy workshop at the Redding Library. To see Susan's full schedule and more information about Susan, visit her website at www.susanwooldridge.com.

Accessible and inclusive, Susan imparts a recipe for joyful vitality that sizzles with possibility. As she says in Foolsgold: "We need to leave space both for what we'll discover and what will emerge to discover us."

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Writer Kristen Meyer Stroud hopes that sharing inspiring stories will inspire others to find meaning, purpose and connection in their lives.

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