a real shame that there was such low attendance for Prageeta Sharma & Douglas Kearney last night. it was a really great reading. lots of good energy & thoughts provoked. where were you all?
***
i am sad to report that this is what i heard from a brand new Poet at San Francisco State University last night:
that he wanted to work more with multimedia poetry & didn't feel like the environment at State would be very receptive to this work. that SFSU is more "mainstream poetry" and all the experimental folks are few & far between.
WHAT????
seeing as how i just graduated last May from SFSU i find this to be not only BAFFLING but absolutely TRAGIC. i tried to explain that we USED to be very receptive to such work... that most of my peers from SFSU have at least dabbled in multimedia work... & then he was surprised.
the end of an era?
what are all the left-over "experimental" writers at state doing? is Bob Gluck teaching 8 classes a semester now? do they all need to transfer to Bard in order to meet & have a community? are Stacy & Chet ever coming back?
is this even true or just one person's experience?
was this a purposeful move on the part of the CW Dept????
whatever the case... it is truly heartbreaking & infuriating to hear.
****
my grandmother died & now i am going back to MN next week.
****
i really did fall off my bike going Green & am pretty well bruised. [Green bruises, though.]
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6 comments:
Well, now I wish I hadn't waffled. Blech. Next time I won't!
i've heard from a few of the current MFA's as well (okay, you know who i'm talking about...a couple of our friends) and they say the same thing. maybe the end of an era.
there's always naropa.
yeah. i've heard a lot of bad things from our friends, too. but for some reason hearing it from brand new students makes it even more dire. maggie ran into someone yesterday at a coffee shop & they got to talking about SFSU's MFA Poetry program... this was a different new student mind you... & she said the workshop made her feel like she was in High School.
i wish our friends would say something to Maxine. SOMEONE.
every workshop made me feel like i'm in high school.
go green, but vote for angelides tomorrow!
sorry to hear about your grandma.
take care.
myself have heard and witnessed same as above.
why don't you send maxine a link to your blog? as recent graduate aren't you [and I] beholden to say?
although even while i was there i wouldn't say that multimedia work was Encouraged as much as Tolerated, and among the students if not always the faculty the conversation was productive, so current students should continue their work regardless, if they're stuck there, and speak to each other
is very important to keep SFSU alive as a place where experiment in language whatever that might look like can take place
isn't there room for more adjuncting in the department if the tenure track is closing down? or maybe it really is the end of an era. i hear the art institute might be instating a creative writing program...
on the Kearney & Sharma note, they've both agreed to contribute poems to the next Traffic -- yay.
on the SFSU, when I started an unfamous Frances Mayes was in charge, so you could count a blessing or two I suppose.
Elizabeth
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