ALUMNI EXPERIENCES Marion Mitchell   (Read about Marion's whole experience here.) There was a bit of magic in spending a committed period of time in Vilnius while studying with skilled writing professors who were also intimately familiar with Lithuania’s complex history.   My professors taught me much about writing.  But they taught me much about the city too.  Vilnius is beautiful.  Fine examples of Gothic, Renaissance, and abundant Baroque architecture are present at almost every turn.  Churches, castle ruins, and myriad city sculpture tempt the writer’s eye.   Vilnius is also a city of great tragedy.  Through horrific wars and dictatorial occupations, the Jewish and German cultures were completely annihilated or expelled.  The city was destroyed and rebuilt several times.  As a result of its tumultuous history, Lithuania’s culture had changed again and again and it continues to evolve.  Today, the possibility of political upheaval and ensuring threats of conflict, destruction, poverty and death are everyday concerns of the people.   What better setting for a writer?  A place of deep tragedy and great beauty. The magic of the SLS experience comes through in my writing; a renewed creativity that looks at human experience through a different lens and commits to paper a bevy of opposing concepts such as those of tragedy and beauty.  My travel journal is filled with the seeds of future writings thanks to SLS. Ivan Fuller, 2009 SLS Playwright-in-Residence SLS Lithuania gave me and my students the wonderful opportunity to leave all cares and distractions back home as we journeyed into a land that allowed us to explore both the environs of Lithuania and the landscapes of our writing. Freed from the pressures of home, I was able to write more quickly and richly than if I had tried to squeeze out a moment here, a moment there, between far too many commitments on my busy schedule. But aside from the time to write, I was enriched by the people...both those who call Lithuania their home and those who, like me, traveled there to write, share, learn, laugh, and be inspired. I accomplished all of that and more. At the end of SLS my students didn't want to leave and some of them are already making plans to return next year. And it's my intent to return with them. Derek Harrison SLS doesn’t waste its time on tourism. No artist is inspired by top 40 travel destinations. Lithuania is a difficult place, with a difficult language, a long depressed winter, and an understandable distrust of foreigners by the locals. The city of Vilnius never truly warms to our company, though the rest of the country is in significantly rougher shape. Lithuania remains, to this day, very much on the edge of the precipice of existence, and the state of affairs is tangible. While the past lay in ruins all around, the future is difficult to see. It is this that inspired us as writers – the terrors of the past and the depression of the present, combined with the stress of going into an unknown country with an unknown language with a large group of people as unknown to you as any of this is to them. We were as foreign as we could be, and there was only one refuge available to us as an emotional release – writing. These writings were deeply personal, and could not achieve their purpose fully unless they were read. On most nights, dinner would lead to drinking, often with a different collection of fellow participants, coordinators, guests and professors, and the drinking would often lead then to an impromptu reading when a relatively quiet space was available. Through these readings and discussions, intimate friendships were inevitably formed, and I for one learned more about myself then I thought there was to learn. Arielle Bernstein My experience traveling with SLS in Vilnius, Lithuania was nothing short of magical. It was wonderful to meet and share ideas, experiences and writing with talented writers from all across the globe. Too often the workshop experience seems isolated from the real world. Through SLS, writers are able to experience the focus of a workshop setting while also integrating into a vibrant and very real world, and through discussions, readings, and lectures begin to explore the marvelous and complex history of this region. SLS is more than an experience. It is ultimately a community that values and rewards creativity, exploration and a willingness to confront the past and invigorate the present.  Were you with us at the 2009 SLS Lithuania Program? Send your experiences to ann@sumlitsem.org.