Hudson County is filled with all kinds of things to do. But, sometimes a person needs to mix up the restaurant/museum/market/park rotation with something different. Team HG is taking on the challenge of trying some new ways to socialize in Hudson County, starting a writing session at a local brewery. Write with Flights is held monthly at Departed Soles Brewery at 150 Bay Street in Jersey City. Read on to learn more about our experience with this creative way to meet other Hudson County residents.
About Write With Flights
Photo Credit: @timlin9
Feeling uninspired and in need of a creative boost, I attended Write with Flights, a writing workshop served with beer. Timothy Lindner, who goes by Tim, is a writing workshop creator and teacher. Inspired by the success of virtual workshops during the isolating months of early COVID, he decided to merge his passions for craft beer and writing into an engaging in-person workshop.
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Departed Soles, located at 150 Bay Street in Jersey City, is the small intimate brewery in the PowerHouse District where Tim hosts Writes with Flights. About a dozen writers gathered in the space for the workshop. After everyone grabbed a pint, I had a red-dyed lager called And Crew Brew, the night started with an icebreaker. We all introduced ourselves and described what our version of Frosty the Snowman would be. As in, what is the magical item that would make you a talking snowman instead of a top hat?
Photo Credit: @timlin9
Together, we then read Scene/Recipe by David Curry. The poem reads as if the writer was adding scene elements as ingredients to the holiday-themed poem. After reading this poem and discussing it, we all wrote one emotion and one image of the holidays on a piece of paper each and then put them in cups. We picked one from each and wrote our own “recipe” using those two concepts. We read afterward and we got to know each other. It was surprisingly intimate, but creativity at its best involves vulnerability.
Next, we read Holiday by Holly Karapetkova, which was dark and filled with loss and grief. We discussed the poem and all of us spoke on how we felt the heaviness. Tim then gave us the prompt: blackout words from the poem, leaving only 10 or so, to create our poem from this poem. Everyone wrote about death, except for one individual who wrote about bees. A true creative there, because the words did not lend themselves easily to that idea.
Photo Credit: @timlin9
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Tim is planning other creative activities to include in his writing workshops, including organizing a yoga and writing workshop. Tim is a college writing instructor at Middlesex College, an owner of a writing coaching company, and a seasoned content development professional. Recently, he curated a collection of essays and poems, titled The Book of Life After Death” published by Tolsun Books.
The group meets once a month on the last Thursday at Departed Soles. Tickets are on Eventbrite and you can find Tim on Instagram @timlin9. The next Write with Flights is on Thursday, January 25 at 7PM.
