Silly Bus

Classes start next Tues. & here I am, working on my syllabus for creative writing:

Unlike plants or other animals in the animal kingdom, human beings have the capacity to produce something called art. From my way of seeing it, this means that if a person can’t produce or at least appreciate art, s/he may as well be a radish or squirrel. So hopefully, via the exploration of writing-as-art, this class will help us all become better human beings and move us further from the “radish” or “squirrel” category.

Creative writing, like all art, is completely inessential to survival. So we won’t be doing anything in this room on Thursday mornings that will help you if you’re ever stranded on a desert island (unless your island happens to have papyrus and reeds for making pens) or caught in an avalanche. However, bear in mind that that which is inessential to survival tends to be essential to culture. And culture can mean a lot of different things, but for the purposes of this class, it means a way out of the collective isolation, passivity, boredom, and duplicity that we call modern life…

As I said to begin with, this class is nonsensical: Here we are in the halls of intellectual knowledge, where, when I’m at my worst, I will be pretending to teach you how to be creative. And when I’m at my very best, I’ll be in remembrance of the fact that creative writing begins with seeing and feeling – basic human skills that we all possess. The mind of a writer is developed over time, with experience and a willingness to be in direct contact with the world. No facades or pretenses, in other words. I will do my best to keep any pretenses of my own to a minimum - and I respectfully ask that you do the same – and who knows? We just might write some decent poems and prose together…