Double, Double, Toil and Trouble…

Come join us as we read William Shakespeare’s bloody Tragedie of Macbeth!

Sign up here.

This special 1-credit course will have us chanting like witches, seeing ghosts, and confronting the unnatural in all its gory glory. Written 425 years ago, this English play about a tyrannical Scottish king has a lot to teach us about power and corruption. Over the course of eight weeks, we will read the play together while learning about the historical context and the political-artistic value of early modern plays.

Class meets March 13 – May 8 on Thursdays 1:10–2:25pm in the Bard seminar room in the basement of The Care Center, 247 Cabot Street, Holyoke.

Please note: Class meets for different hours on May 1 (11am–2:30pm, including a lunch break) to see a production of Macbeth put on just for us by Shakespeare & Company, at the Wisteriahurst Museum.

Sign up today!

Applications open for the 2024–25 School Year!

May 2024 graduates of the Clemente Course, Holyoke, with director Pam Thompson at the Mass Humanities anniversary celebration in June. Kelberlin Tejeda (left) and Mauramy Hernadez (second from left) read their poetry and prose at the event. Ruth Medina (right) was also a speaker at the Clemente graduation in May. Photo by Stephanie Craig.

APPLY NOW!

The Clemente Course in the Humanities graduated its first students in New York City in 1996. These students met weekly at the Roberto Clemente Community Center to study philosophy and literature, art history and American history — to debate and write and think together.

Nearly three decades later, this is still the model of Clemente Courses across the nation, including ours at The Care Center in Holyoke, the only one in the country just for women. Our free college seminar engages students not only in core subjects in the humanities but in the civic and cultural life of our community and country, while earning 6 credits from Bard College in Annandale, New York

Are you interested in joining our community of women?

Learn more and apply here!

We will contact you for an interview after we receive your application, or you can schedule one yourself, here.

Dreaming on the Page

As part of our Clemente Holyoke 25th anniversary celebrations, we’re offering an online writing workshop on Wednesday, May 1, from 7–8:30pm with longtime Clemente writing professor Tzivia Gover.

Join Tzivia and other Clemente alumnae for a fun writing workshop and learn how your dreamy imagination can help you tune into your inner storyteller and poet. All you need is a pen and paper — no need to remember any dreams — Tzivia will provide the prompts to get you started.

Applications Open for 2023-2024 School Year!

Hello women!

Are you looking to restart your education in a supportive community this fall? As you can see in the picture above, we’re a pretty friendly bunch (this is some of the members of the Clemente class of 2023).

In the year-long Bard College Clemente Course in the Humanities, we study history, writing, literature, art history, and philosophy together in a small, supportive class. Successful completion of this free (!) course offers 6 credits from Bard College. Many of our graduates go on to study at the Bard Microcollege and other area colleges such as Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, and Smith.

Applications are now open for the new school year, which starts on Thursday, October 5.

Apply here!

Questions? Call The Care Center at 413-532-2900 and ask for Pam (ext. 121).

Summer 2023 Classes!

Hello everyone! We at The Care Center and Bard College Clemente Course in Holyoke are excited to offer a combo of Cabot Street College summer classes designed to deepen our capacities to name and narrate the facts, joys, and problems of our own lives and the world we share. Each class carries 1 credit from Bard College, and runs from July 11 to August 3.

Apply HERE

The morning class, A Nest for Your Mind: Making and Keeping a Journal will concentrate on the private, quiet work of writing for yourself. We’ll look at historical and contemporary examples of journals for inspiration as well as respond to writing prompts. We’ll also learn basic bookmaking techniques so that you can make your own journal by the end of class. (Materials provided.) Tues & Thurs 9:30–10:30am class; 10:30–11:15 optional open work time @ The Care Center, 247 Cabot Street, Holyoke, with Professor Pam Thompson.

In collaboration with Holyoke Media, the afternoon class, Say It Like It Is: Her Mic, Her Voice, Herstory will give you the tools to create podcasts of your own. Learn about the medium and work collaboratively with other women to develop real and personal stories that will become the content for a podcast to be aired for the community. Tues & Thurs 12–2pm @ Holyoke Media, 1 Court Plaza, Holyoke, with Professor Gloria Caballero-Roca and Natalia Muñoz. 

Apply HERE soon to reserve a place.

Note: Lunch will be provided for students taking both courses.

Applications open for 2022-23 classes!

The Bard College Clemente Course in the Humanities in Holyoke is gearing up to begin our 2022-23 school year soon. Orientation begins the week of October 4, and classes run until May 16, 2023, with a winter break from December 23, 2022 through January 16, 2023.

You can apply here!

We offer women in Holyoke, Springfield and surrounding towns the chance to jumpstart their educational life and join a friendly community of women who study and talk and write together — about American history, literature, art history, and philosophy, with an emphasis on communication, via the spoken and written word.

To successful applicants, we offer free books and laptops, as well as childcare for babies and toddlers and transportation (from Holyoke, Springfield and Chicopee).

We are planning to be in person this year, but will consider moving to a hybrid format if public health and our student body seem to need a different response.

Are you interested in going back to school, but looking for something shorter than a full year? If so, consider applying here for Writing the Body, a 3-credit class that runs from July 12-August 25.

Questions? Want to know more? Email Pam, the program director, at holyokeclemente@gmail.com, and let me know the best way to get in touch with you.

We’re going to the Met!

The Bard College Clemente Course in the Humanities will celebrate its 25th graduation this year. To honor this milestone, we’ve contracted a big bus to drive us to New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, a trip that we made most every year, before the pandemic. We’ll cover lunch at the museum and a stop at a rest area for food on the way home.

When: Friday May 17, 2024.

Bus will leave The Care Center, 247 Cabot Street, Holyoke by 7am and Union Station, Springfield, 7:30am. We will leave the museum by 4pm.

Who: Clemente alumnae and current students…

… and teenager or older offspring, partners, or besties — space permitting; Bard Microcollege students; and current HiSet students (or recent grads).

RSVP here.

By the way, many of the paintings we’ve looked at in art history are at the Met (such as Rosa Bonheur’s Horse Fair, above), and it’s absolutely staggering what you can see there. Before we go, browse the Met website, so you’ll have an idea of what you’d like to see.

Questions? Contact Pam, at 413-532-2900, extension 121, or by email.

The school year’s around the corner…

Have you always thought about going to (or going back to) college?

You can apply here for the 2022-23 Bard College Clemente Course in the Humanities in Holyoke!

We offer women in Holyoke, Springfield and surrounding towns the chance to jumpstart their educational life and join a friendly community of women who study and talk and write together — about American history, literature, art history, and philosophy, with an emphasis on communication, via the spoken and written word.

To successful applicants, we offer free books and laptops, as well as childcare for babies and toddlers and transportation (from Holyoke, Springfield and Chicopee).

We are planning to be in person this year, but will consider moving to a hybrid format if public health and our student body seem to need a different response. Orientation begins the week of October 4, and classes run until May 16, 2023, with a winter break from December 23, 2022 through January 16, 2023.

Are you interested, but looking for something shorter than a full year? If so, consider applying here for Activism and Black Women Singers: From Spirituals, Soul, Jazz, and Ballads to Hip-Hop and Rap. This class starts September 6, 2022 and runs through October 25 and offers 3 credits through Greenfield Community College.

Questions? Want to know more about college classes at The Care Center? Email Pam, the program director, at holyokeclemente@gmail.com, and let me know the best way to get in touch with you.

“I Survived 20 Days in Solitary Confinement”

https://www.oprahmag.com/life/a32292095/solitary-confinement-isolation-lessons/

Hello Amazing Women of Clemente,

I want to share a wonderful story with you that I hope will inspire you and give you a glimpse of what you, too, are capable of when it comes to telling your stories and getting them out into the world in humble, bold, and/or creative ways.

A few years ago Jackie Velez was in the Clemente class. During one of our discussions about solitude (you remember those, don’t you?) she shared a story with the group about her experience of learning to face solitude when she was confined to the “bing” or “the box” aka “solitary” while serving time in prison. Her perspective on solitude was unique and powerful, and I thought anyone who heard or read her story would be changed by it. I know I had been. I encouraged her to write up the whole story and try to publish it someday. It took her some time, but while doing her coursework for Bard, she completed the essay and sent it out for publication–just as some of you might still do with the Op-Ed pieces you began in class.

Well, we just got news that Jackie’s persistence and hard work paid off. Her essay has been published by Oprah! I like to say, “When one of us succeeds, we all succeed.” So, I hope you’ll join me in celebrating Jackie’s accomplishment and feeling some pride as sister Clementines that we can all make our voices heard. Whether it’s in Oprah or our local newspapers, or via letters to family members or friends, putting thought into our stories and putting our stories out into the world is a powerful act. 

Please share a comment about what you liked about and learned from Jackie’s writing if you feel so moved. — Tzivia