In his introduction to The Art of The Personal Essay, Phillip Lopate writes, “The personal essay has an open form and a drive toward candor and self-disclosure. Unlike the formal essay, it depends less on airtight reasoning than on style and personality...” This course is for intermediate/advanced personal essayists, ready to take their style, personality, thinking, observations, and memories for a road trip on the page. Students will learn more about the twists, turns, and detours that essays can take through close readings of selected works, and then receive group feedback on one personal essay up to 3,000 words.