{"id":6992,"date":"2025-04-08T15:13:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T19:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/?p=6992"},"modified":"2025-04-08T15:13:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T19:13:02","slug":"writing-a-new-chapter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2025\/writing-a-new-chapter\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing a New Chapter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

Redbud Writing Project<\/a>\u2019s motto is \u201cWrite your story. Change your life,\u201d a lofty goal. But it\u2019s one the Raleigh-based program regularly lives up to. Started by Arshia Simkin \u201919 MFA and Emily Cataneo \u201919 MFA, Redbud is an adult-education program that seeks to bring out the writer in everyone, especially marginalized voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne person came into a class for survivors of domestic violence and was very hesitant,\u201d recalls Cataneo. \u201cBut we showed her different approaches, like using a fairy tale to write about experiences. By the end, she was finally able to put her own experiences down on paper for the first time. It was cathartic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataneo and Simkin met at NC State\u2019s MFA program in creative writing. Both lived previously in Boston, where Cataneo worked for \u201ca series of failing newspapers.\u201d Simkin was a lawyer for a nonprofit, a path she calls \u201c a dramatic tale of woe.\u201d But after finding refuge in returning to school, they faced uncertain post graduate career prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe decided to bring our teaching chops to the general public,\u201d says Cataneo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe decided to bring our teaching chops to the general public.\u201d
\u2013Emily Cataneo \u201919 MFA<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Named after the trees Simkin would see commuting from Raleigh to Burlington along Interstate 40 (\u201cI think we both love how hardy the redbud is,\u201d she says), Redbud has been popular since starting in 2019. The program offers five six-week sessions and a shorter summer class every year, with up to a dozen students per class. Subjects offered include fiction, memoir, poetry, short stories and novels. One of their teaching venues is the Raleigh Rescue Mission, where Redbud offers an Intro to Memoir class for unhoused people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both founders teach, augmented by other writers in the area. Tuition is usually in the $300 range, but a fair number of students don\u2019t pay anything. Fundraising, grants and donations for scholarships make the program accessible to those who would not be able to afford it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe aim to bring the rigor of a university-level program to the general public,\u201d says Simkin. \u201cIt\u2019s a fun and exciting thing to get people involved in. We provide structure, accountability and a sense of community to help people. Students surprise themselves by the end with what they\u2019ve accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Tell Us What You Think<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Do you have a personal connection to this story? Did it spark a memory? Want to share your thoughts? Send us a letter, and we may include it in an upcoming issue of NC State<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Send a Letter to the Editor<\/span>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n

Redbud Writing Project<\/a>\u2019s motto is \u201cWrite your story. Change your life,\u201d a lofty goal. But it\u2019s one the Raleigh-based program regularly lives up to. Started by Arshia Simkin \u201919 MFA and Emily Cataneo \u201919 MFA, Redbud is an adult-education program that seeks to bring out the writer in everyone, especially marginalized voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne person came into a class for survivors of domestic violence and was very hesitant,\u201d recalls Cataneo. \u201cBut we showed her different approaches, like using a fairy tale to write about experiences. By the end, she was finally able to put her own experiences down on paper for the first time. It was cathartic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cataneo and Simkin met at NC State\u2019s MFA program in creative writing. Both lived previously in Boston, where Cataneo worked for \u201ca series of failing newspapers.\u201d Simkin was a lawyer for a nonprofit, a path she calls \u201c a dramatic tale of woe.\u201d But after finding refuge in returning to school, they faced uncertain post graduate career prospects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe decided to bring our teaching chops to the general public,\u201d says Cataneo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe decided to bring our teaching chops to the general public.\u201d
\u2013Emily Cataneo \u201919 MFA<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Named after the trees Simkin would see commuting from Raleigh to Burlington along Interstate 40 (\u201cI think we both love how hardy the redbud is,\u201d she says), Redbud has been popular since starting in 2019. The program offers five six-week sessions and a shorter summer class every year, with up to a dozen students per class. Subjects offered include fiction, memoir, poetry, short stories and novels. One of their teaching venues is the Raleigh Rescue Mission, where Redbud offers an Intro to Memoir class for unhoused people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both founders teach, augmented by other writers in the area. Tuition is usually in the $300 range, but a fair number of students don\u2019t pay anything. Fundraising, grants and donations for scholarships make the program accessible to those who would not be able to afford it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cWe aim to bring the rigor of a university-level program to the general public,\u201d says Simkin. \u201cIt\u2019s a fun and exciting thing to get people involved in. We provide structure, accountability and a sense of community to help people. Students surprise themselves by the end with what they\u2019ve accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Tell Us What You Think<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Do you have a personal connection to this story? Did it spark a memory? Want to share your thoughts? Send us a letter, and we may include it in an upcoming issue of NC State<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Send a Letter to the Editor<\/span>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arshia Simkin \u201919 MFA and Emily Cataneo \u201919 MFA help Triangle residents tell their own stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-immersive.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"David Menconi","ncst_show_custom_author":true,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-immersive-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"backgroundColor\":\"aqua_400\",\"displayCategoryID\":9,\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"subtitle\":\"Arshia Simkin \u201919 MFA and Emily Cataneo \u201919 MFA help Triangle residents tell their own stories.\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8,9],"tags":[1803,274,1804,1802],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[1848],"class_list":["post-6992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-class-act","category-newswire","category-stories","tag-arshia-simkin","tag-college-of-humanities-and-social-sciences","tag-emily-cataneo","tag-redbud-writing-project"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":9,"name":"Stories","slug":"stories","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":9,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":268,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6992"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7174,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6992\/revisions\/7174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6992"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=6992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}