hallawayjoe

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hallawayjoe
Andyland

2002-03-06 5:13 PM
Intricacies of learning and teaching

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Mood:
Contemplative

I showed a documentary on the building of the Glen Canyon Dam in my First Year Composition class. It was filled with interviews with the construction workers. I couldn't help but chuckle when I thought about Edward Abbey's THE MONKEYWRENCH GANG, and how those characters fictionally tried to wreak havoc on some of these people.

Last night in Poetry Workshop, my poem came up for critique. I couldn't read my poem with a straight face, especially when my classmates started laughing.
I have to say, I agree with 80% of the comments, that I hear, or I should say, 80% of it is useful, and stuff I wouldn't have noticed myself. My friend and former workshop guru( just kidding about the guru part) Rick has a slightly different experience. You can see his journal entries at

http://journalscape.com/caesuran

He is a fan of Bukowski stuck in a class of people who strongly disagree with his aesthetics. I should say he runs deeper than Bukowski, infact he is probably more well-read than I.

What bugs me about some colleagueal poets, is I notice their bookshelves at parties, and I don't see a lot of variety. Mostly a small selection of classics, and a large amount of textbook anthologies and so on. This could be ignorance on my part, as they may have a ton of books in their bedroom or in storage, but I doubt it. Maybe it is my snobbiness, but I think one should eat, sleep, dream, and breathe poetry. My dad said that passion applied to a friend of his in radio, of course, substitute radio for poetry in that case. I am surprised at how many poets in academia don't care about the slam. To each their own. Some of my peers have gone to a slam to see what it's like, but most only try it once. One would think that Academia would be in love with the Slam as it is the movement that could and has popularized poetry. Why shouldn't poetry of all kinds be as common and ingrained in pop culture as Michael Jackson and Madonna. Granted most slam isn't complex in form or content, but simplicity is underrated, and I have nothing against complexity. After listening to the Beatles, one might get into Chuck Berry or Robert Johnson or Ravi Shankar. Slam should be like the popular music of poetry. Just because David Matthews is huge, doesn't mean he's banal!
That's my soapbox rant for today. I am thoroughly content in most areas of my life. I wish I could be a more effective teacher, but then again, I am teaching a course that is required and my teaching colleagues have much the same issues as I do in all matters of teaching.

Adios.

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