This is very distinctive, Lawrence. Is it a quotation? I detect a
certain contempt for teachers of creative writing, though I could be
extrapolating from (recent Irish) cultural history, and discussion on
this list. It saddens me, because I am a teacher and love it. I
understand teachers of creative writing to be as valid and necessary
as teachers of chemistry or carpentry or candle-making or philosophy.
Creative writing is only one of the subjects I teach; I am not any
less of a teacher in the creative writing classroom than I am in any
other. It deserves analysis that disrespect for teachers of creative
writing is a commonplace for poets in some cultures. Or is it perhaps
a disrespect for teachers in general? It is not pleasant to be
disrespected, especially by those with whom one shares a forum. It
seems like prejudice and deserves to be questioned. Why is it okay to
question the validity of the profession of peers on this list?
Perhaps you're not doing that, and I know poetry is a free zone, I
gambol a lot there myself. But the rudeness of attitudes expressed on
this topic smarts. Our art has a multitude of traditions and
practices and it flourishes in community: In my view it is profoundly
worth teaching, though teaching itself is a conundrum, paradox, &
mystery, as is poetry, language, and life itself.
Mairead
On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 15:03:01 -0000, Lawrence Upton
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
> and the Teachers of Creative Writing had separated themselves into ragged
> groups according to the level numbers upon their certificates of competency.
> Ahead of them, walked one whom no one could identify who carried a model of
> an artificial lung, symbolising Democratic Inspiration.
>
> Behind the Teachers of Creative Writing walked the Students of Creative
> Writing, each busy responding to the experience upon palmtops, some linked
> wirelessly with others
>
> Then came Commentators upon Cultural Affairs, a few unmarked police cars and
> various assessors from funding bodies
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