Tag: creative writing
A Very Good Anti-Best List
It’s exasperating when people refer to a work of art as “great” as if that were an objective pronouncement. Great for what? The idea that there could be stable, neutral criteria by which literature could be judged more or less worthy is at best… Continue Reading “A Very Good Anti-Best List”
Not resolutions but invocations
Last year, I substituted a mantra for a resolution: “breathe.” It helped a little. This New Year’s Eve I wrote up more resolutions, got upset about them, and then decided: to hell with self-improvement. I need fewer bullet points on my endlessly guilty, mildly… Continue Reading “Not resolutions but invocations”
Teaching from online magazines
Fall term is over except for the grading, and THANK GOD: I had terrific students but a lot of them, and I really had to drag myself over the finish line. But winter term starts early here–January 7th!–and it will also be a busy… Continue Reading “Teaching from online magazines”
More on Diversity in Creative Writing Programs (updated 11/3/16)
Last March, I published this list of resources addressing how to make Creative Writing programs more inclusive at the programming and curricular level. Since then, good things have happened. David Haynes has formed an AWP Committee on Inclusion for which I’m serving as librarian, until… Continue Reading “More on Diversity in Creative Writing Programs (updated 11/3/16)”
Diversity in Creative Writing Programs (AWP Prep, Pt. 1, Updated)
A Creative Writing Program Head in the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S.–of which I am now Council Chair–recently asked me if the AWP could provide a list of published resources on supporting diversity at the programming/ curricular level. It seems to me we need… Continue Reading “Diversity in Creative Writing Programs (AWP Prep, Pt. 1, Updated)”
Adventures in poetry teaching, part two: Gaileyland!
In psychology, it’s called “literary transportation,” although you may know the phenomenon by the metaphor “getting lost in a book.” Immersive readers do this all the time. We become so absorbed by a story that we forget we’re tracking lines of print. Physically, you’re… Continue Reading “Adventures in poetry teaching, part two: Gaileyland!”
Professor Aragorn swears a vow
Manifestos are for angry young men, right? I’m more like “cranky” and “middle-aged,” and as far gender stereotyping goes, I actually had a student write on a course evaluation once, “Just as kind as you’d expect from a mother.” Whippersnapper, if you’re out there,… Continue Reading “Professor Aragorn swears a vow”
My daughter the spy and other angles on poetry classes
I’m usually more giddy than blue at the end of a term. I like my students, even the slackers and con artists, and I love talking about poetry for a living, but I also like addressing a new set of problems with a new… Continue Reading “My daughter the spy and other angles on poetry classes”
