Tuesday, March 30, 2010

This is not about Music...kind of...ok...maybe a little music

Oh, snow. Every once in a while B'ham gets some decent snow. To the right of the frame is the apartment: CE3 (Aka, the Basement, Aka The fly-house--because there's graffiti of a small house fly on the wall across the alley, Aka Stef's apartment). And further up, there's Film is Truth, where I spent too much money and time renting "hard to find" foreign and domestic films...and where I first discovered the lovely Mumblecore films, and became obsessed. They also have an amazing selection of Iranian films. From 11:30am to 12:30am, we could hear the footsteps of FIT employees and customers (quite a pain when recording anything with audio). After a while, we got used to it. Though, they'd constantly complain that we were too loud (if we were singing or playing music too loud) or if the store smelled like Weed. (I was never a part of this, but Chad and the boys never learned their lesson. They smoked Weed and played music/movies too loud all the time, and eventually, they got a notice or two from the landlord and FiT.

I first went to that apartment when I became friends with Stef after working with her on Nate and Natalie and then she started singing with The Braille Tapes. Anyway, before I moved in with Chad (it was supposed to be with David Woods, but that is another story for another time...sorry Dave). But when I think of B'ham I think of two "homes." One being the original Coat Exchange on the corner of Indian and Ellis. If you've ever lived or been to B'ham, you've passed it. Two being the CE3. I had poetry readings there, shot some films, had parties, and a couple records were recorded there (Plus many other things). The Keaton boys moved from Southern California and all (but Bill) moved in. I used to get paranoid. I was never on the lease, and once, the maintenance guy, Richard, found me sleeping in the closet (my room), and freaked out. I pretended to be asleep, and Stef had to call him and tell him to watch out for her friend who's visiting and is sleeping in the closet. He said, "I thought you had got some dude fucked up on psychedelics and locked him in there to trip." No, Stef said, "That's just Josh." So, when I moved out and in with Emily it was like I was never there, legally, and my friend Tamara who wasn't living there, and never did, put her name on the lease, and then the Keaton boys moved up. I'm glad I moved out. I would've been a panicky-mess. While I was living there, I'd walk home the back way, double check for Richard or anyone's truck. I don't think I would've survived the paranoia with all the boys leaving shit around the house that screaming, "HEY THERE ARE AT LEAST FIVE OF US LIVING HERE! AND NO ONE NAMED TAMARA." When I'd say things to Chad, he'd just say, "It's not a problem" or "You worry too much." Then they started getting notices. But I'd go over there and they'd still be playing music loud and smoking Weed in the kitchen (which was basically right below the office upstairs." I was surprised they never got evicted. When we lived there with Stef, she was clean. I'm not a clean person (ask my wife), but living with here, I tried extra hard to be clean, while Chad got messier and messier. Stef was gone a lot on vacations or on tour with Idiot Pilot (or other bands), and Chad seemed to think that it was OK to be messy as long as she wasn't home, though I'd always end up cleaning it.

Now, someone else lives there. Chad and the boys moved out and into Bill's place. They had been practicing there for a while. The cops had come out for their midnight practices to tell them to shut up. The funny thing is that right across the street is the Wild Buffalo, where concerts go till 1ish. So, when I lived there, we never had any problems. Though, I guess we weren't as loud, nor did we play as long. It feels weird to think that two other dudes are there, living where a big part of my life had taken place (same goes with the Coat Exchange--I think hippies live there), and that they're probably using my old closet-room as a closet. The apartment, though a basement level was huge! HUGE. And a perfect location, minutes from the Horseshoe, steps from Film is Truth ( got a job offer there right after I started at Bramble Berry...God that would've been awesome!), a block from Old Town Cafe, and a couple blocks from the Bus Station.
We were downtown! And rent was CHEAP.

Anyway, I better get to writing my endnotes for class today. I got a lot to say. Later Gs,
Joshua

Monday, March 29, 2010

Another Post about Music

So, this picture is taken at the Vera Project in Seattle, back when we opened for MILEMARKER (who is this amazing band I've been listening to for years). i don't remember much about the show, just that there were a lot of people and we saw Milemarker play, and they had two drummers (I had seen them a few years earlier and they only had one drummer). I'm not certain now, but this is what made us want to have two drummers in the band (and later we asked Wendelin to join). The show was great. My friend Ryan took this picture. He was a fan for a long time (even of our other bands). I even played in a really bad band with him that didn't last very long for reasons having to do with drugs and the fact that I didn't give one fuck about the band. I just liked hanging out with Ryan, but that rapidly changed. But this was a long time after that, and he was clean and sober and born again, and he came to almost every show we played. Here's the thing about Ryan. He's a good guy, and it's he's a good example of someone whose political views I find disgusting and ignorant, but as a friend he is wonderful. He's a good man and I have a handful of good and bad memories with him.
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Speaking of politics. I got this kid in my class who said, "Anyone who gets help from the government is lazy. We're enabling people by helping them. They're taking advantage..." This went on for a while and I told him that he needed to shut his mouth, because I don't tolerate ignorance in my class. He kept saying, "I know a guy who says, 'if we keep having kids, we keep getting money and I won't have to get a job. easy money." he says this as if this ONE example is enough for the class (many of which are getting money from the government from Fin Aid, to food stamps) to agree. People just yell at him. After class I had to explain to him that Capitalism and Hard work are not mutually exclusive, and that you can't call Healthcare a handout, and quote something about how the American Dream says that we have to work hard to get the things we want. He totally doesn't get the fact that poverty is a hard thing to get from, and it's not about "Wanting" help, it's about help being the only option to survive. Ugh. I could go on forever, but instead, I'll just grade him down if he keeps arguing with fallacies and bullshit and weak claims.

Peace out, Homies,
Joshua

Saturday, March 27, 2010

First Show

This is a picture of The Braille Tapes' first show. It was actually about ten people (our friends) in the Coat Exchange. We sucked pretty bad (my friend Ryan recorded it. What i remember most about this show is that we tried to do a song with Chad on drums, but that didn't go too well. We played all of out songs. At that time, we were still an improv-band. We had what we called "sections." So instead of saying, "What song next?" Chad would start playing a riff, or I would start a drum beat and we would know that we're playing the section that is a back beat with distorted arrpegios in the key of D. As the years went on (After Chapter 1: I Want to Be Victor Ward) we started writing more "songs." But our process still came from "sections" and many of our songs were written from numerous attempts at just improving our way from a section into a song. But by Robot Meat I had started writing songs, and we sort of left the section-idea behind. Maybe when/if we ever record this Geriatrics EP, we'll do a couple sections, instead of all songs.
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The Coat Exchange was the house (one of the only houses still available the October Chad, Bill, and I left Snohomish County for Bellingham). It was cheap, shitty (my room would shake when trucks drove by the house and we hat rat problems by the time Dave Woods moved in--ask him about the rat who was licking ketchup off the plate he left in his room), and perfect for us to practice and have shows. A few months after this picture, we had a show with Treasures, Autumn Poetry, In Praise of Folly, and Red Robot. The place was so packed that our kitchen was full of people, trying to stick their head out to see the show. The hallway leading to the door was the same. At one point, some people gave up trying to see, and just listened, staring out our side windows. The front room had way too many people, and the friends of the bands had to stand in front to form a wall, in order to give the band enough room to play. I'm trying to remember, but this might've been the show where We had six bands: The Robot Ate Me played without mics and walked around the room playing his songs, and at one point made every puts an arm around everyone else and sway while he sang. And Green Hills Alone played too (they were touring with the Red Robot). And I think I opened the show, playing a few paper airplane songs. Though, many of our shows (little and big) have blurred together so that I can't remember.

Looks like I got some research to do.

That's all I got to say today. Oh, except that the wind was blowing so hard yesterday, kicking up dust. Our apartment smelled like dirt and the sky was the color of dirt (tannish-brown). Couldn't see the mountains, couldn't see the sun. The dirt was in my teeth and eyes, and when I drove to the store, I saw that the wind had ripped the roofing off the local church...yikes.

OK. that's all I have to say,
Later
Joshua

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Music

I've been thinking a lot about music lately, mainly the fact that I haven't been in a band since July. I haven't played drums since our last show at the WHAAM space. They're sitting in our spare room, sitting in their bags, being ignored. It's not like I can play, we live in an apartment. But I have been writing a lot of songs, thanks to Emily's guitar and my free time. What i need, though, is a recorded. A good old-fashioned 4 track recorder. My last one broke while I was writing songs for Robot Meat is Murder. I miss recording songs, then rewriting them, then recording them, then bouncing tracks so that I ca n record extra vocals and percussion. Anyway, I miss playing in a band, and I know it's gonna be a long time till I can (if I ever will...). I miss this: video

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I talked to Chad a month ago and we decided that after I graduated from my program, we would record an EP, and play another couple shows. So, in two years or so, BAM, BT. We joke that we'll call the record Geriatric Noise. I need to brush off my drumming sometime soon, drumming on my legs or the steering wheel doesn't count.

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I've been thinking about writing a lyric essay about touring and recording. I mean, music has played a huge roll on my writing. Musicality, but also the experience of the road and all the people I've met. Go through my work, and you'll find yourself somewhere. I guarantee it. (Imagine me saying this last sentence like the guy from Men's Warehouse).


I've been toying with the idea of collaborative work. Maybe I'll get some of Caleb's pictures and write a sort of photo-essay. Though, the trick would not be to write about the photo, but write about what's outside the frame, write about what's not seen, what led or followed this. I'm thinking of:

This is in San Francisco. See what you don't see here is afterwards, when some dude was walking by going, "Hey, is that couch free?" And us shrugging, and the guy going, "Hey, can you help me carry this into my apartment?" So, Chad did. He was gone for a while. 15 minutes or so. And the guy's apartment was just a few steps to our right. 15 minutes. Chad came back reeking of weed and a little high. Chad'll do anything for a puff on a joint.

*

OK. That's all for now. Keep it real.

Love,
Joshua

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

TV and stuff

I've been really into this show called Tosh.0. There's nothing special about it, really. It's just a guy named Daniel Tosh showing clips of things found on the internet and commenting on it. It's basically like the Soup, only Tosh does skits, web-redemptions, and things of that nature. Anyway, it's funny.
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We're also slowly working our way through the Wire Season 3. It's calmed down a bit, but Avon is about to get out, and Singer's neck deep in his bullshit. I think he's gonna either get killed or try to kill Avon. I'm not sure. But the fact that McNulty's investigating D's death, is crazy! Oh, McNulty, he's the best.
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I've also gotta catch up on LOST today, before the new episode tonight. I got my fingers crossed for the some good stuff, but I don't have high hopes. SPOILER ALERT My prof, Carmen, brought up that she thinks the writers are trying to steer away from Good vs. Evil and explore the gray areas of gods. Or something like that. Locke/the Smoke Monster isn't bad, so much as he just wants to be free (there seems to be a building tension that Jacob forces people to stay for the sake of the island). Jacob seems to be flawed. I like that. I like to know that gods of worlds can be flawed. I like to believe that if we have a God or gods, that there are flaws. I mean there's flaws in nature in humans in the world, why can't a God be flawed? Doesn't mean He/She/It is not any less significant. Anyway, I won't take this post, in THAT direction. I'm just saying. But LOST, feels like it might start unfolding itself and doing interesting things. I'm most interested in the alternate reality, and how that will end, because, even without the island, these characters' lives are intertwined in interesting ways. We'll see.
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OK. Right now, I'm gonna watch some South Park and write a little.
Later bros and hos
Love
Joshua

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Oh, Hello there


So, spring break has begun, and I have a class-worth of first drafts to grade. And a bunch of end notes to write. Plus, some other things to take care of during my week off. But, that's not any fun to talk about.
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We just got back from three days in Chicago. It was really sunny and nice the first two days, and on Saturday, when we woke to gallivant around the city before leaving, it was snowing. We walked around the first day till we were tired, ate some good food, then fell asleep. The next day, we drove around the city at lunchtime (not that fun) and met with Emily's old friend Jen. Then we drove out to the Aquarium, and then ate at this Vegetarian diner called The Chicago Diner. Emily got Polenta Lasagna and I got The famous Reuben. Then we had Vegan Irish Carbomb cupcakes. If you ever go to Chicago, go there. It's in Wrigleyville, near Wrigley field. Good food. Good times.
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It was nice to get away from Las Cruces for a few days, and nice to be in a big city. Load and crowded, and totally awesome!
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Here's some random pics of our fun:
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The day we left we were gonna go to Millennium Park, but the wind and snow was really, pretty bad (the wind shook our car around--Awesome). So, we ate breakfast Delicious cafe: A vegan cafe. Then drove to the Planetarium and looked at Space stuff. Then we headed to the airport, and ended up waiting there (our flight was delayed by two hours), and at one point it was delayed by three.
Anyway, we made it home around 10:30pm, and picked up Indie who spent the weekend hanging out with her friends Rory, Melanie, and Josh.
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On the trip I read two books. Both are must reads: Apathy and Paying Rent by Zach Vandezande AND The Mercy Papers by Robin Romm. Read them. They're really good, both for different reasons.
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I'm pretty tired right now, I'm about to fall asleep, so I'm gonna go lay down on the couch next to Em. And watch TV, till I fall asleep for a little nap.
*
Later,
Joshua

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Vacation!

Going to Chicago for Vacation. Leave tomorrow Morning. Gonna eat some vegetarian/vegan food. Gonna walk around the city and kick myself for not going to school there. Gonna hang with Emily's friend. Gonna hope to run into some math-rockers and tell 'em they need to stop making the same band with different names. Gonna decided whether I like the Cubs or the White Sox more. I think there's a fiction conference or something downtown. Maybe I'll check that out. Then when it's all said and done, I'm gonna go back to Las Cruces and spend my spring break doing stuff (meaning hang with Em, watch TV, read, write, walk indie, eat). There will be no awesomeness (except the hanging with Em part. That's always awesome).
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So, I keep putting off figuring out my schedule for AWP. I'll do that over the break.
Too much stuff, too many things to do!
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Colors is done. I'm waiting for the new trailer to post and get stoked on. I'll keep you posted on festivals and shit like that.
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What else? Not much.
Later
Joshua

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Sunday.

Today, I've been reading and writing end notes. I read two great stories. Like really good. Like I don't even know what to talk about other than say, "This is really sharp." It's funny. That's a good thing. Instead of looking for critiques, I get to talk about why I liked these. One of the other stories is pretty messy, and not that it's bad, but the characters names and the narrator's sentences are getting in the way of telling a good story. You know when you read a story and it's got all the components to be fantastic, but it's executed horribly. It's not even that the writing is bad, but that the writer is getting in the way of the story, so that the real story isn't even told.

I've also been working on my poetry packet. They're all separate poems, outside of a project, though I kept a poem or two from my next project, though they're veiled as individual. I wrote a poem about the Royal, about Las Cruces, and about old friends. I like them alright.

So, the Story Thief draft #2 is done. Thanks to Ian's notes, I added a shitload of stuff. I mean, my characters got a lot of relevant back story, I propelled the narrative forward, so that there is a new book already forming in my head (and I've got notes). One part of the novel was 30 pages or so when I finished the first draft. Now, it's over 100 pages. Bam. I'm excited for my writing buddies to read it. I'm really concerned about the ending. It used to have a few gunshots and a peeling out Cadillac, but no it's got that and a horse. My next focus will be dialogue and looking in close at scenes. I striped the dialogue a bit, so that there's less "Waiting for Godot" exchanges, and realized that cutting straight to the end of the conversation does the same (only faster) as the back and forth without losing focus. I do need to work on making the voices distinct. I think I did a lot already, but it might need some more work. We'll see. I also use the F word too much. Too many Fucks. I've already cut out sooooooo many, but I think it becomes something I just write, because a fuck adds a beat to dialogue that can provide a rhythm, you can show anger or frustrations or humor. However, I think that I can do that kind of writing without deploying fucks every time they can fit.

I'm waiting for more of The Wire. Netflix, Come on!

OK.
That's all for now.
Later Gs,
Joshua

Friday, March 12, 2010

Mumblecore is going places

So, American Director Noah Baumbach (Kicking and Screaming, Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding) has a new film coming out and guess who he casted next to Ben Stiller? Greta Gerwig from (mostly) Joe Swanberg's films (LOL, Hannah Takes the Stairs, Nights and Weekends). She's worked with other directors, mostly mumbercore. But i was pretty shocked to see a trailer for Greenberg and see her and Ben Stiller being hip and awkward together. She's a fine actor, and I'm glad she's got a chance to act in a film outside of a dying genre. Yes mumblecore is dying, only because, now, people are trying to make "mumblecore" films, rather than just making films that turns out with a certain moral to the process and product. This is why Dogma films are mostly is a failures. Yeah, I said it Matt. (OK, back to Greenberg for a second, one of the Duplass brothers is also in the film...he has been getting a handful of work outside his own films, even outside of mumblecore... I like his acting). But, yeah Mumblecore. I feel like its loose scripting of a story and loose interpretations of scenes where at first brave and unexpected, pushing past the intimacy a camera usually is allowed to linger on a scene without action or something crazy happening, instead it focuses wide on the scene (Even in close and mid shots), letting the little stuff amplify. That tension and awkward feeling was a blessing to cinema, but now, watching newer stuff, I find that that tension is gone, because I expect it. I've seen it. I know that it will push at the boundaries of "too long" and "too awkward" and it is no longer exciting or fresh, but becomes that mundane version of its former self. I'm calling you mumblecore directors (And I'm sorry to those who don't identity as such, but a lumped in--I like that you don't) to move away from this expectation and start pushing other boundaries. There's room to further blur the line between fiction and the real (Goddard/Kiarostami are masters at this). Let the camera sit. Stop hand-holding everything. Stitch it into the scene. The camera's presence as hand-held is attributing to the expectation that is no longer interesting. Trying something new. Use a dolly, use a tripod. Make something that you haven't made. Take your canon further. I don't want to see eight-hundred versions of LOL or Puffy Chair. I didn't see that many 400 blows, Truffaut pushed past that, and developed his canon into something grand, where the range was wide, and that guy made Day for Night.

Later Gs
Joshua

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A quick one

Hello,

Workshops were good this week. The people who are usually harmful to the workshop were either quiet or very helpful and agreeable. It was good and with the exception of a few things, people were really working towards helping the writer rather than telling them what was wrong. And in the poetry workshop, our prof is really demanding that we as responders remain specific about our critiques. No abstractions, or generalities (unless it is referring to the packet as a whole). Sometimes, poets tend to privilege work and give credit where credit is not due, but in the long run it's good, because it sparks a conversations that shows both sides, and the people with real evidence (evidences that isn't reaching or out of left field) to stand in the end.

There are a couple things from fiction I just wanted to bring up. Ian let me know if this is an issue in your case. Absolutism. (Remember when Kalpakian said we couldn't EVER use It to start a sentence?) We are only allowed one "wink" in a story. It's frowned upon if characters look too much, or if the action shows characters looking. First person is not really expected as a POV unless it's absolutely necessary. So, someone who's comfortable writing that way is pretty much told they shouldn't. Weird. What else. Oh, if anything is familiar, then it should go (But on the same token if anything is too strange its cut). Dialogue can't be too real--yeah, I admit, my gets a little too much like that, but I'm not the only one who gets the shit for it. What else...There's more. I'll make a list and post it soon. It's interesting the way that this workshop seems to be pushing away from "new" writing and towards a homogenized story. That's scary. Oh, I think I've mentioned this, but if anyone gets a whiff of genre, then its all over. There are these rules that keep piling on every workshop, and instead of resisting these rules, some embrace them, and based their comments solely on these rules.

Anyway, enough of that.

I'm going to AWP. I got a ride there and a ride back. I'm stoked. My dad's sending me money so I can buy him some books at the bookfair. I'm excited. I'm gonna try to save a little so I can buy some books. YES!

Chabon will be touched by my hand. Oh yes, he will be touched. Or maybe I'll just get an autograph.

I just got Oliver de la Paz's new book in the mail Requiem for the Orchard I'm excited to read it. I read the first poem and it's fantastic. He's really evolved through all his books, and while his first book will always be one of my favorites, I have a feeling that this one is going to be an important book in American poetry. I've been reading pieces of it in zines and stuff, and seeing them put together feels like it's going to be something special.

Emily and I are going to Chicago next week to visit one of her friends, eat some vegan food, and check out the city. Maybe see Rooftops (who will be passing through when we're there). I'm excited Chicago is a cool town and some of my favorite bands are from there. My favorite poet lives there too. Actually, it's a poetry-centric town. or so I've heard--birthplace of SLAM. Which is funny, if you've ever seen me imitate Slam poets. If not, just ask, I will recite something next time I see you.

OK. This wasn't that short, but it was short enough.

I'll leave you with a picture of Las Cruces/Mesilla Valley from the top (almost the top) of A mountain. It's basically a lump of a hill with an A at the top. Indie likes to hike it with us. Though, it's been cold and we haven't done it in a while. Maybe later this week.

Love Joshua

Friday, March 5, 2010

Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but...

I've been thinking.

I'm not going to talk about the workshop. Though, this is related. There's a fear of danger or risk in writing (And in the workshop). People are afraid of the familiar, the known, and the "been-done." But on the same token people are afraid of the unknown, the risky, the non-literary. I've heard "That would never happen" and "This seems too familiar" in the same workshop, talking about the same story. So, what is it people are a afraid of? I don't know and I don't care. What I want to say is that no one should ever not write something because its familiar, and no one should ever not write something because it's too crazy. Murakami wouldn't be around, and neither would Chabon. Both for both reasons. We're reading Beloved by Toni Morrison, and she says something about how your job as a writer is to familiarize the strange and mystify the familiar. So true. I think you can apply that to everything. If you've got two hit men in a diner talking about a kill, how can you make that unfamiliar? If you've got a guy whose are are stalks of corn, how can you make it familiar. That goes for genre: How to do bend noir to give it implications on the human condition? how do make an action story literature?

What I want to say, is yes there is a danger in things: Like writer mirror scenes or putting letters in a text that reveal things about a character/the story, or following a genre convention. But that should be a minor issue. The question should be how are you de-familarizing those conventions and familiar scenes/tropes/etc.

My friend Ian has a young-adult-ish post-apocalyptic novel based in the NW. It's really good and I can't wait till he finishes it. But all the things that are familiar about it, he places in a world will all that's left are children, and what makes the novel fresh is that what normal kids do become what those in charge do, so their logic is not adult, but child like. It's really cool. The difference between the logic a man in the aftermath and of children and similar in their need to survive, but very different in terms of how they get there. Does that make sense? And the landscape itself, the NW offers something else to the story, the landmarks, they become minor characters within. So, if you look at all those novels in the vein of Post. Ap, then young adult novels, then survival stories, then NW books, you find all these recognizable things, but mashed together and mystifying through the characters and narrative, offer the reading something new, yet strangely familiar. BTW Ian. I better be writing your blurb.

I just want people to stop turning their noses up at genre and at the familiar, and instead of saying this doesn't work, saying, how can this work. Yes, we should say: This isn't working at is because...but it should be followed with, here's an idea on how to... Also, IF something is just implausible, do the writer of fucking favor and tell them why, and tell them how to familiarize it. Ian's last comment about people walking around the issue, is so true, about euphemising the workshop. Just say it! And also, boxing things up into compartments. Either familiar or too unbelievable or this just spins its wheels or this is scaffolding. This harms the writer, by offering a genre of problems, rather than a suggestion out of it. Strive to find that suggestion. If you don't have one you're not doing your job as a reader. That simple. Do your job, that's what you're there for. Not to fucking become a better writer on your own, if that was the case you wouldn't be in grad school. You're there to get better through the help of a community and to build that community so that a year after you're done you can all meet at AWP and hang out and talk about all this, and to one day teach your friend's work and write and talk about them. And form a network of friends, writers, teachers, all on the same page.

Anyway.

I've got some work to do, but this has been drifting around in my head for a few days, so I figured I'd blog it.

Love to the tenth power
Joshua