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Have I mentioned how much I like my classes this semester? Thought so, but it’s worth repeating. I think what appeals to me so much (besides the terrific subject matter) is the fact that two of the professors take time to address professional development, and all of them have urged us students to push boundaries in terms of both our creative writing as well as academic work. I sense that each one is a little fed up with the state of academia.

This shouldn’t be too surprising for the fiction workshop. The professor said he’d rather have us fail spectacularly with an experiment (in voice, in structure, etc.) than write something conservative. Which is good news and, frankly, taking risks is what graduate fiction workshops should be about. Still, it’s good to be encouraged. And this professor also encouraged us to get a certificate in professional writing to improve our marketability. At first I balked at this idea, but the program actually looks pretty interesting since it’s mostly e-based communications, like newsletters, presentations, web pages, etc. This is something I actually have professional experience doing, and teaching this stuff might actually be kind of fun. It’s another handful of classes, but the job market being so crappy, this seems like a better idea the more I think about it.

But I think there are even more interesting examples of professional development in my Native American Novel class. There’s a lot of work to do: bi-weekly papers of 2-3 pages, a review of a Native American book that came out in the last six months, a survey of scholarship in a particular area of Native American studies, and an academic paper. This is all in addition to reading a novel a week plus its two or three critical articles. In case this isn’t clear, this is a ton of work for one class.

Yet the professor is dedicated to making this productive work. He spent time critiquing the style of our first short papers and urged us to find our own voice in academic writing. These were both firsts for me. Many of the creative writers, myself included, struggle with the arch tone and jargon-laden critical articles we read. It’s often a slog to read and it’s hard to write, yet I suspect that most of us feel that this tone is essential for our scholarship to be considered professional. This professor, however, rates voice and clarity over dense academic-sounding prose. The ideas still have to be of a very high quality of course, but he’s trying to help us find unique academic voices. Which is pretty extraordinary.

And the assignments are intended to be functional. It’s not read a new book and write a review, but write the review with the end goal being publication in a journal. The same goes for the review of scholarship and paper. The review of scholarship gives you a good idea of the hot topics, topics that have grown cold, and topics that are unexplored. The idea is that this review of scholarship will help direct the final paper, which again is intended to be submitted for publication or to be presented at a conference.

Despite all my simmering anger over the whole injustice of the TA situation, the actually content of what I’m learning is pretty damn fantastic. Having said that, I also think getting my degree in Literary Studies as opposed to Creative Writing would have killed me, so I’m happy with the path I’ve chosen. Now if I could just lock down a damn teaching position…

Current Mood: Okay |
Currently Listening To – Wilco – “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”