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The Roots and Wings panel, from left: WHS English teacher Jeanie Goddard; WHS writers Nina Shope, Adam Haslett, Vanessa Martir, and Richard Preston; moderator and WHS writer Beth Hinchliffe; and WHS English teacher Brooks Goddard.
The Roots and Wings panel: Nina Shope, Adam Haslett, Jeanie Goddard, Beth Hinchliffe, Richard Preston, Vanessa Martir, and Brooks Goddard.
The first speakers of the evening were Roots and Wings creators Moderator/WHS writer Beth Hinchliffe (right), and WHS English teacher Jeanie Goddard, while panelist Adam Haslett listened. Beth, a graduate of Wellesley College who has been White House speechwriter to President George H.W. Bush, Wellesley’s official town historian (and author of the town’s history book, Five Pounds Currency, Three Pounds of Corn), former editor of The Wellesley Townsman, and an award-winning author of non-fiction and playwright, credits her literary career to “the extraordinary inspiration, mentorship, and nurturing of my WHS English teachers — the iconic Jeanie Goddard, the brilliant Susan Alexander, and the legendary Wilbury Crockett.” Jeanie came to WHS in 1967 with an AB in English and a BS in education from Simmons College, and her Master’s in English from the Bread Loaf School at Middlebury. She spent her entire career of 38 years at WHS, where she met her sweetheart Brooks, and where she taught sophomore and senior English classes, Shakespeare, and, for many years, Humanities with her great friend Gerry Murphy.
Richard Preston (WHS 1972) is the author of nine bestselling works of fiction and non-fiction including the #1 New York Times bestseller The Hot Zone. This non-fiction book about Ebola was heralded as the first to introduce the notion of a modern plague, and was named by American Scientist as one of the books that shaped science in the 20th century.
Adam Haslett (WHS 1988), shown with his former English teacher Jeanie Goddard, is a fiction writer who has twice been a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award (for his short-story collection You Are Not a Stranger Here and his most recent novel Imagine Me Gone). The Wall Street Journal calls him “one of the country’s most talented writers,” and he was named New York Magazine’s “Writer of the Year.”
During the panel, fiction writer Nina Shope (WHS 1993) surprised her former English teacher Jeanie Goddard with her sophomore thesis about Eugene O’Neill, with Jeanie’s comments written all over it and which she has kept for over 30 years. Nina, who won the Sylvia Plath writing award at WHS, has published Hangings: Three Novellas, and her new novel Asylum, reviewed as a scorching leap in experimental fiction and the winner of the prestigious Starcherone Award for best novel.
Vanessa Martir (WHS 1993) says her heart genre is creative nonfiction, but she’s also a novelist, poet, and playwright, and was introduced as “our passionate social conscience, and a voice that calls out to our better selves.” A Wellesley ABC program alum, her essays have been widely published, including in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Poets & Writers, and numerous anthologies.
Brooks Goddard graduated from Williams, received a diploma in Education from Uganda’s Makarere University, earned a Master’s from the Teachers College at Columbia, and taught English in Kenya with Teachers for East Africa. A WHS English teacher for 30 years, 20 of those as Department Chair, his favorite courses to teach were sophomore English, America, and The Nature of Man. He said, “Wellesley schools teach a lot of writing and teach it every year … It is a delicate balance of challenge and support. Bill Crockett inspired many of us, and subsequent department heads, myself, Ronna Frick, Amy Anderson, and (currently) John Finneron, have ensured that writing remains a focus for the English curriculum.”
In 1970, Linda Barnes was a WHS senior captured in a photograph while absorbed in a discussion with her English teacher, Wilbury Crockett. The photo, symbolic of the relationship between WHS teachers and students, inspired Roots and Wings: Wellesley High School’s Legacy of Nurturing Creativity. Linda, now an author and professor at Boston University, returned to take part in the event, talking about the photo and Mr. Crockett.
Leda Eizenberg (WHS 1996) spoke passionately about Wellesley schools’ legacy of dedication to encouraging students’ creativity, sharing her unique perspective as: WHS grad, English teacher, WPS (Wellesley public schools) parent, writer, and Chair of the Wellesley School Committee.
Wellesley High senior Derek Jimenez (WHS 2023) stunned the audience with his powerful poem “To My People.” (See Table of Contents for a link to the text.) Derek, who is also Captain of the Track Team, has already been accepted to attend Occidental College in California next fall.
WHS senior Maya McNeill (WHS 2023) closed the Roots and Wings event with an impassioned reading of her searing poem “The Intentions of Poetry.” Maya, a veteran of open mic sessions, has already published a poem in the collection To My Kin, and has applied to several of the Historically Black Colleges for next fall.
The Roots and Wings panel, October 12, 2022.
As the panel concluded, the writers, teachers, and audience members met, talked, and signed books in an informal and enthusiastic reception.
Debbie Crockett (above, in red) is the daughter of Wilbury Crockett, the mentor and muse of WHS writers and teachers, and the man to whom the Roots and Wings project is dedicated. The two of them are shown together in the photo below. In the photo above, taken at the October 12th event, Debbie is talking with panelists (from left) Nina Shope, Adam Haslett, Vanessa Martir, and Richard Preston.
WHS poets Derek Jimenez (WHS 2023) and Maya McNeill (WHS 2023) at the reception following the panel.
The Roots and Wings project celebrates both WHS authors and WHS teachers, and some former WHS English department colleagues had a mini-reunion at the panel evening. Front row, from left: Eva Adler, Marisa McCoy, and Ronnie Bretholtz. Back row: friend Marge Mulkerin, and Jeanie Goddard.
At the reception following the Roots and Wings event, former WHS English Department colleagues met with a former student (and speaker that evening), from left: teacher Jeanie Goddard; student (now writer and Wellesley School Committee Chair) Leda Eizenberg (1996); and three former English Department Chairs — Ronna Frick, Amy Anderson, and Brooks Goddard.
During the evening event, Wellesley Books set up a table to make available for purchase books by panelists and other WHS writers. WHS alum Gig Babson signed a copy of her new book Tails With Gig (co-written with her lab Pippi) for WFL librarian Je’Lesia Jones.
The Roots and Wings event was made possible by the generous sponsorship of the Friends of the Wellesley Free Libraries, and their President Barbara Marx. In addition to their donation, members baked 24 dozen delicious homemade treats for the reception, setting the tone of warm welcome and community support.
The publicity poster and flyer to introduce Wellesley to the Roots and Wings project and panel event.
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