SCIENCE WRITING IN SUNNY SANTA FE

By Julie Kinyoun

“I can get a lot of advice from (online) sources, and even some feedback on my writing from classes, but I can’t get that invaluable dialog with others in a similar situation,” said Jill Adams, a New York freelance writer for The Scientist. “So to meet the people at the workshop, with their myriad backgrounds, interests, and plans for the future was very fulfilling—and affirming—for me.”

Adams was describing her participation in the Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop.

Held annually since 1996, the workshop is the brainchild of New York Times science writers Sandra Blakeslee and George Johnson. They trace the genesis of the workshop to a hike in the Pecos Wilderness, in Northern New Mexico. Joining Blakeslee and Johnson on that afternoon walk were theoretical biologists Stuart Kauffman and Brian Goodwin, along with solid-state physicist Richard Palmer. The researchers are affiliated with the Santa Fe Institute (www.santafe.edu).

The hikers discussed how Santa Fe Institute has become a haven for scientific research and a hotbed for science stories. That discussion gave rise to the first Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop, organized by Johnson and Blakeslee.

“The workshop is an extended pep talk for people who are thinking about science writing,” said Blakeslee. “I keep hearing that it is inspirational. I feel gratitude that we can help people.”

Each year, up to 40 writers spend five days in New Mexico learning from seasoned pros. Instructors in 2003 included Keay Davidson, San Francisco Chronicle; Erica Goode, behavioral science writer for the New York Times; and Margaret Wertheim, author of The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace.

Some participants are established writers who wish to branch out into science writing or scientists making the transition to writer, such as Jill Adams, a bench scientist who quit the lab for family life. She writes in her spare time. Others are public information specialists from universities or private institutions looking to improve their science-writing skills.

The program format is divided between lectures attended en masse and workshop sessions in which students meet in groups of about eight with one of the guest instructors. In addition there are many informal group activities during which participants can socialize and interact with all the instructors.

Students can choose whether to be critiqued on writing in progress (an article, book proposal, or short book chapter) or on assignments completed during the workshop.

“OK, let’s look at the next person’s sample,” said Johnson, in one of the workshop sessions at the Ghost Ranch Conference Center. As he talked, many students wiped beads of sweat off their foreheads; it wasn’t necessarily nerves, but the scorching heat. This is, after all, New Mexico in June.

In another group, Erica Goode read a piece by Joan Didion that illustrated the use of detail that is a hallmark of Didion’s writing.

“I teach English composition and this semester, the first since our workshop, I’m finding that Erica’s attention to Didion’s use of details has made me stress more than ever that feature of writing in my classes—and to good effect, judging from the detailed descriptions seen in the papers I’ve received,” said Doug Temkin, an English composition instructor at West Valley College, in Saratoga, Calif.

Other days, the group attended lectures and mock press conferences at the Santa Fe Institute and then worked with instructors to hammer out story leads. The Santa Fe Institute is a private, non-profit, multidisciplinary research and education center, founded in 1984. Operating as a small, visiting institution, the Santa Fe Institute “seeks to catalyze new collaborative, multidisciplinary projects that break down the barriers between the traditional disciplines.” Topics for the 2003 workshop ranged from “complex adaptive systems and social behavior” to “a controversial new theory about the role of thyroid hormones in human evolution.”

Back at Ghost Ranch, group discussions focused on “The Art and Craft of Science Writing,” “The Rise and Fall of Element 118,” “Who is Science Writing For?” and “Why Science Writers and Scientists Can Never Really Be Buddies.”

Aside from studious group work and scintillating lectures, the schedule also allowed time for fun, including an outdoor adventure in Bandelier National Park—daunting for the acrophobic members of the group—which required climbing 30-foot, primitive ladders to ceremonial grounds of ancient inhabitants.
On the last day, participants woke up with sore bodies and stimulated minds, and reluctantly said goodbye to new colleagues and friends. The week had been an exhilarating mix of education, hard work, networking, and exercise in a spectacular setting.

At the workshop’s conclusion, Johnson summarized the experience this way, “Put a lot of smart people from all different persuasions in the same room for a few days and the sparks start to fly.”

#

Julie Kinyoun is a chemist by training and attended the 2003 Santa Fe Science Writing Workshop to assist in her transition to a career in science writing. She lives in San Diego, Calif.