What's a "Literary Garden Club"? What do you do?

Two of our Exec Board Members explain what the Garden - and the Club - mean to them. 

"Impactful"

by Megan Neeley, Literary Garden Vice-President

Megan collecting postcards for Emily Dickinson's
birthday celebration in Amherst, MA (Dec 2019)

        Normally, a friend asking me to hang out, study, or spend time together would prompt me to say, “Sorry, I have swim practice.” However, once a week, I was able to say, “I’ve got a Literary Garden Club meeting.” This would usually lead to me trying to convince them to join us, but most are so unaware of how impactful the Literary Garden is, that they would just call me a nerd and walk away too quickly for me to respond.

I would have responded with a long list of how the garden has impacted me in ways no one could have imagined. Yes, it has enhanced my educational experience. Yes, it has given me a second family. Yes, it is a therapeutic experience to be in the garden. And yes, it has been an amazing club for allowing me, and others, to reach out to the community. But, overall, I have always loved reading, and to see authors physically shown in a garden that I am a small part of, is amazing. I mean, seeing Emily Dickinson’s work represented by the blooming and growing Harrison’s Yellow Rose brings a whole new perspective to how her work has also grown and stayed present in the lives of high school students, today. 

Emily Dickinson's roses, March 2021

“We have Harrison’s Yellow Roses to represent Emily Dickinson, a poet that has never failed to inspire me and my peers with her depictions of hope, love, life, and even death.”

Looking back, Emily Dickinson is how I became so invested in the garden, and the funny thing is, it has come full circle. I have come a long way from being a small freshman joining the club and learning about Emily Dickinson because I am now in and out of college admissions and scholarship interviews. 

Emily Dickinson's roses in full bloom (courtesy of Dr. Jane Eberwein, distinguished professor of English, emerita, Oakland University, and internationally renowned Dickinson scholar)

Matching boots!

    The one thing that is always consistent in these conversations is the fact that they glance over my resume and never fail to ask me about the Literary Garden. A lot of them have no idea what this could be, but by the time I finish explaining it, they all have forgotten their other run-of-the-mill questions, and are expressing how much they wished their high school had had something like this. Or, they ask me what an example of a plant is for an author, almost as if they do not believe I would know, or as if they think I simply overexaggerated the impact this club has had on me. This is where it has come full circle because I never fail to say that “we have Harrison’s Yellow Rose representing Emily Dickinson, a poet that has never failed to inspire me and my peers with her depictions of hope, love, life, and even death.”

Sunflowers for days! (Fall 2020)

So yes, to those that have no idea what this club entails, the Literary Garden Club may seem obsolete in the grand scheme of things, but trust me when I say, there is nothing in my high school experience that has already impacted my life outside of the four walls of WBHS like the Literary Garden has. 

Winter Walk (Feb 2021)

Megan Neeley is a junior at West Bloomfield High School who has applied for early college admission and will be graduating with the class of 2021 this June. She has been a member of the Literary Garden Club since she started at WBHS, and we are cheering her on as she begins this fresh new chapter in her life! We are so grateful for every post she created, every weed she pulled, every idea she's had, every minute she made time for us - Megan is a master of time management, an incredible student-athlete of the highest caliber, and is still one of the first to volunteer to take on a Garden-related project. 

We will miss you, Megan - as Emily Dickinson wrote to Samuel Bowles, "My friends are my 'estate.' Forgive me then the avarice to hoard them!" (ca. 1858 or 1859). 

"Grounded"

by Daniel Wisely, Literary Garden Committee Chair

Megan, Dan, and the other LGC students hosted Gerri Chopin Wendel, great-granddaughter of Kate Chopin, known best for her daring early feminist work The Awakening (March, 2020).

     Pivot. My least favorite word in that damned dictionary. It's a word that’s been overused to death in the past year. It’s a skill that’s become essential in our ever-changing world. Pivot used to be a Ross Geller reference and although it may lose me some Gen Z street cred, I know Friends quite well. When people say it today, I visualize David Schwimmer yelling at his friends beneath the weight of an oversized couch. We, as a society, are Ross Geller. Shouting commands at each other and just praying that something will work. We’re manifesting a way to get out of our sticky situation. The coronavirus is the couch. Big, heavy, and a royal pain in the butt. It’s become more than we expected it would be. For me, a three-week spring break amid a hectic sophomore year sounded like paradise. Little did I know this couch would continue to break my back over a year later. Despite my loathing for this horrible new concept of pivoting, one thing keeps me grounded: The Literary Garden. 

Fall clean up, 2020

I laugh when people ask me to explain the Lit Garden. How do you explain something that’s one of a kind? You don’t. You can’t. So instead, I flash a grin and say it’s a club at West Bloomfield High School. I note our connection with the Michigan Hemingway Society or list my favorite of the dozens of authors represented within our organization. The problem is…

that’s not Lit Garden. Not to me, at least. 

Poster making for Homecoming, Fall 2019

Hosting Kurt Vonnegut Museum Director of Education Max Goller
at the West Bloomfield Public Library, November 2019.

The Literary Garden is a safe haven. A calm within the storm. It’s getting dirt under your nails while, for the first time in your day, taking a breath. It’s sounding your barbaric yawp in the middle of the woods with a chai tea latte in your hands. It’s screaming questionable song lyrics at the top of your lungs with the people you love most. It’s euphoria and peace and warmth all wrapped up in a bow. 

Winter Walk, Feb 2021

As Uncle Walt said: “I am large. I contain multitudes.” I’m just thankful to be one of the multitudes the Lit Garden has the audacity to accept. I’m honored to live, breathe, laugh, love, and drink overpriced coffee with our lovely garden. 

Haunted Lit Garden, October 2019

Once again I beg you to make no mistake. It’s not a courtyard. It’s not a club. Hell, despite my frequent doubts, it’s more than a bunch of dorky teenagers coming together for an afternoon snack. The Literary Garden is a culture. A lifestyle. A connection to the Earth that will ebb and flow with every brave soul who wishes the opportunity. 

Fall clean up, October 2020

I reckon I don’t know if I’m ready to pivot again any time soon. Knowing myself, there will be some eye-rolling, some rated R words, and stress-induced Starbucks runs. I’m okay with that because one thing always brings me back: my connection to the garden. 

First fall meeting and clean up, September 2020

March 2021 - HOPEFUL!

It was there before I got to West Bloomfield and, assuming I do my part, it will be there long after I’m gone. For now, the garden and I continue to grow together. I sure hope you find a place to grow as unique and welcoming as mine. We’re a lucky bunch, us Lit Garden kids, always growing and exploring together. And if you’re reading this, maybe it's a sign to blossom with us.

Dan Wisely is a junior at West Bloomfield High School who can be seen here taste-testing Pearl Buck's (The Good Earth) West Virginia grapes. It appears we plucked them off of the vine a wee bit too early. Sour grapes indeed. 🍇🤣 Dan and his fellow rising seniors are looking forward to leading the Literary Garden Club next year and are actively looking for interested students to join them on the exec board and, as always, in the Garden. Ms. Tianen (some of you still call her McQ, and that's just fine) can be reached at jennifer.tianen@wbsd.org.