Clarion Moves

On September 11, 2006, Board of Directors for the Clarion workshopped announced that Clarion will pull up its roots and leave Michigan State University (MSU) for the University of California San Diego (UCSD) starting in 2007.

Considering everything that's been happening over the last 5 years or so, I can't say I'm surprised.

MSU slashed Clarion's funding around 2003 (I forget exactly when). This led to a whole domino effect that affected the workshop at all levels, which I experienced first-hand.

After attending a great Odyssey 2000 workshop, I applied to Clarion a few times:
* 2001 (alternate list)
* 2002 (alternate list) Clarion West 2002 also but rejected. :-( I wanted Dan Simmons as an instructor again (had him at Odyssey 2000), and there were plenty of other good instructors that year. (Don't know where I placed).
* 2003 Didn't apply. Too busy with UCLA screenwriting classes.
* 2004 I applied one last time. I wouldn't have minded too badly if I hadn't been accepted since I was also attending the Master Class in Oregon run by Dean Smith and Kris Rusch. (It was scheduled for 2005 too, but got cancelled. The 2004 Master Class was the last; so I was real lucky to get in when I did.)

I placed second on the high alternate list. The notification deadline came and went. A few days later, I learned that I made it in after another applicant ahead of me couldn't clear time away from her job to attend.

Anyhow, I became a 2004 Clarionite.

My class was the first of two (Clarion 2005 also) to stay off-campus. Clarion 2006 was the last class to gather at MSU and stay on-campus. My classmates and I didn't experience the famed MSU grad student dorm and cafeteria food. And it was well after Damon Knight and Kate Wilhelm stopped teaching at Clarion. Some people bought a few squirt guns, but didn't deploy them for the traditional squirt gun fight. (Can't remember seeing any fireflies, but there was plenty of white pollen hanging in the air to set allergies off). We stayed in the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house, which was actually nice. We all had separate rooms and wireless internet. The house mother was something of a Nazi in sheep's clothing and forbade us the services of the house cook and kitchen. We used the kitchen anyway (and cleaned up afterwards).

I was one of 3 SF writers in a group stacked with literary and slipstream writers. Some bordered on soft fantasy, but there were no traditional sword and sorcery scribes.

Instructors included:
Week 1 Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Week 2 Suzy Charnas
Week 3 Nancy Kress
Week 4 Andy Duncan
Mid-week 4 to mid-week 5 Editor Gordon Van Gelder
Week 5-6 Kelly Link & Jeff Ford

Nancy Kress was the only SF writer in that group.

My Clarion experience didn't go the way I'd expected it to, but it was still nice to have gone.

I'd somehow expected Clarion to stay somewhere east of the Mississippi, but the dice didn't roll that way. From what I've learned, only UCSD provided the financial support the workshop needed to support itself and bring it back to the level it was at 10-20 years ago. I wonder what Clarion was like back then?

Considering that the workshop is in San Diego now, a few names that come to mind since Clarion West is taken are Clarion Sun, Clarion Beach, and Clarion Surf.

It's interesting to witness the end of an era. I'll be curious to see what comes.