First, thank you all for your writings.  I am busy sorting thru them and getting them ready to post on our collective web journal, the link to which (if all works according to plan) will appear here by the end of the week.

You will also have some written response on at least 1 piece by the end of the quarter.  Wish this were more than a 4 credit course, as so many of these writings are very good, hence deserve attention!

We will also have a chance to share this work live at the end of the quarter get-together (my house, details TBA).

For now:

TOMORROW: my 1 hour slot will be a working/check-in time instead of lecture.  From my meetings and my short times sitting in, I’m really interested in your teaching/facilitating.  I’M VERY happy to see that you are all attending each other’s classes nearly fully.  Keep that up.   Your classes have been doing some wonderful things, even where you’ve hit some bumps.  But I want to meet with each teaching/facilitating group for a 5 min. check-in tomorrow.  Groups that are having larger issues–remember: at this point, after feedback on your proposals, and after the meetings we’ve had (between groups and myself), if certain problems (things you have pointed out to me as “problems”) are still persisting, some will remain.  That does happen.   All good learning experiences.  And for the most part what I’m hearing about is the enthusiasm, the collaboration, and the innovation in experimenting with textual & pedagogical forms.

Which gets me to my final thoughts regarding tomorrow: before we break off into groups to meet, we’ll go over some logistics about what the remainder of the quarter will entail.  One thing I’d like to do is give you the opportunity–beyond your evaluation writing–to write about your teaching experiences in a more thorough, or at least, different, way.  So, more on that tomorrow.  And more on CA Conrad’s reading ([remember this is part of class, participation MANDATORY–SEE WHEN/WHERE POST BELOW BY SCROLLING DOWN); his Saturday (prior to official class) workshop; our final get-together; what I will be getting to you in terms of writing, evaluation, etc; what you will be getting me; and, lastly, and again, the launch of our web journal, which will go live asap.  All stuff to make sure we’re up to speed on, so to speak.

So, beginning of that discussion is tomorrow!  Then meetings!  Then actual class!

Best,

David

*Choose 1 piece of sustained, part of class writing (like, non-warm-up 2 min. piece), 1 piece that YOU WOULD LIKE me to look at and comment on in some detail.  Once you’ve chosen which piece it is, SEND IT TO ME BY EMAIL.  You may have sent it already; if so, SEND IT AGAIN.  

*If you have no preference, I will choose one of the pieces you sent me and that I’ve read by week 10.

*The piece can be critical writing, poetry, prose, hybrid work–your choice.  If it is longer, comments may be less detailed than if the piece were in the range of work we’ve been doing together thus far.

I have and will read everything you send me, but for want of time (4 credits!), I cannot comment on / make written responses for each piece each of you has given me, obviously.  Those are for your portfolio and so I can make a full (with detail) written eval for you at the end of the quarter.

I must say that so far the writing has been very good, and at times surprising, difficult, and risky.

*Your decisions are due by end of week 9.  SEND THE PIECE BY SAT WEEK 9.

PRESS EVENT: POET CA CONRAD @ EVERGREEN MARCH 4

Please join us for an evening of reading & discussion with CA Conrad!  Conrad will be building a new soma(tic) for this event as well as reading from three new books.  This event is open to the public.   Admission is free, though token donations are welcomed. 
For directions, email David Wolach at wolachd@evergreen.edu.

I can never have enough CAConrad, like paprika or wisdom in disguise.                                                        —Bernadette Mayer

WHEN: THURSDAY, MARCH 4 — 8PMWHERE: SEMINAR II, C1105 

CAConrad is the son of white trash asphyxiation whose childhood included selling cut flowers along the highway for his mother and helping her shoplift. He is the author of Deviant Propulsion (Soft Skull Press, 2006), (Soma)tic Midge (FAUX Press, 2008), The Book of Frank (Chax Press, 2008), The Advanced Elvis Course (Soft Skull, 2009), and a collaboration with poet Frank Sherlock titled THE CITY REAL & IMAGINED: Philadelphia Poems (Factory School Press, 2009). He invites you to visit him online at www.CAConrad.blogspot.com. Conrad is the winner of the 2009 Gil Ott Book Award, co-founder of Philly Sound (http://phillysound.blogspot.com/) and a co-founder of the PACE project, a Philadelphia-based group which organizes poets to read their poems aloud on street corners to passersby. 

This event is part of the ongoing PRESS literary arts and politics reading series. 
Sponsored by Wheelhouse Magazine, Experiments in Text: Radical Poetry, Politics, & Pedagogy, Performing Meaning/Translating Thought, Music and the Environment, Slightly West, The Office of the Budget Dean, and Logopoesis Posted by David (Michael)

Wolach at 10:19 PM 0 comments  Labels: CA Conrad, poetry reading, PRESS 2009-10

We’ll have 2 co-lectures (1 of them a mini workshop) during this 1 hour, in addition to me talking.

See you Weds.

David

A message from your classmate Will.  He will be reading in Seattle; and his reading Series, Big Pelt, will be featuring 2 outstanding poets (see 1 & 2 below).  

As part of his contract with me, Will is also doing the logistics on bringing one of Seattle’s rock stars to campus for a reading in mid-March (after CA Conrad).  As part of the PRESS series, this is great news, and for our class, it’s a chance to work with one of the founders of SubText Reading Series and now “Autonomous U,” an alternative learning collective based in the arts and radical pedagogy. More soon on Robert’s visit.  For now, read below:

1) I’m reading at the Seattle Art Museum’s remix night – it’s a kind of quarterly open house, tons of events & open bars. I’m reading with Rebar Niemi (thebest kept secret of seattle poetry in my mind, this kid’s 19 & has the most developed engagement with critical theory I’ve ever come into contact with. I can only assume his parents taught him how to read using negative dialectics or something) & a few visual artists as a part of a Pecha Kucha curated by Jessica Powers & Sol Hashemi.

It’s Sat, Feb 26th at 8PM, $10 but free if you’re one of the first 100 people to show up. Sam’s on 2nd avenue betweenUniversity & Union in downtown seattle.

2) The february Big Pelt series is happening this sunday, two of the younger members of the Kootenay School of writing, Emily Fedoruk & Cris Costa, are reading. They’re doing a collaborative essay on gender & spectacle – I know there’s some hairmetal anecdotes in the project already, I can only hope the olympics are too (C&E’re most certanly have a place for grunge-ish humor in their poetry & poetics – you can tell they’ve both spent lots of time with mr derksen). This is Sun 28th @6pm at Pilot Books – 219 Broadway ave E above the japanese restaurant.

Some of you expressed interested in this.  Here’s a message for you, from Juliana Spahar and Joshua Clover:

“Dear All: we are going to start the process of filling as many spots as possible for this summer’s 95cent skool seminar. It will take a couple steps because of managing multiple mailing lists. 

If (a) you would like to participate in the seminar but have not yet sent a note expressing interest to the address 95centskool@gmail.com
…or if (b) you have sent a message of interest and not gotten a note back — could you please send a note shortly? That will consolidate into one mailing list, at which point we will confirm everybody’s availability from that list, and have a lottery.”

I have been having trouble with the blog until just today, so I apologize for the late addition.  Please check this regularly from now on, because I now know how to fix the blog when it breaks! Readings will be posted soon (for Weds lecture).  For now, here is today’s schedule:

–When not in class of your peers, or your class (your design), come to my classroom for writing work, teaching work, etc.  That is, working with me is the default, and until further notice, my classroom when you are not teaching or in a peer class will be where you should be on Weds and Sat. We’ll then move from the classroom to another area, giving student-teachers/facilitators our classroom to work in.

This also holds for WEDNESDAY.  That is, same as Saturday, Wednesday from 7-8 if you are not taking or teaching a class, meet me right after my 1 hour Weds. lecture, and we’ll move to a room and continue working.

–Sat Classes:

4-5pm Nicky, Melissa, Nico

Will

Maren

Nicole

Tommy

Alexa

Franny

4-5pm Max, Andrew, Alex

Jane

Adrienne

Carl

Kate

Jennie

Jake

5-6pm Will, Maren, Alexa

Max

Jane

Alex

Nicole

Jake

5-6pm Adrienne, Tommy, Kate

Nicky

Jennie

Ally

Melissa

Franny

1) Robert Kocik, Overcoming Fitness (Introduction) — Below (horribly unformatted) and will send to you as pdf tonight (Tues) if I can fix the email problem

2) Amy King, The What Else of Queer Poetry   HERE

3) Re-read all of last week’s readings – a couple posts below (Retallack, Oppen, Zolf, Nonsite Draft, etc).  

That’s it.  I want everyone to focus on connections and disjunctions regarding these readings.  Now that you’ve had an exam on them, and graded one another’s exams, we will hopefully be in a position to talk thru the issues I raised, you raised, and that the authors raised.

David

Dear All,

Due to email problems AND problems with formatting and this blog, I am still working on this week’s readings.  For now READ AGAIN (or if you didn’t before:) ) ALL READINGS FROM LAST WEEK.  THESE WILL BE THE PRIMARY READINGS FOR THIS WEEK’S LECTURE (RETALLACK, JOHNSON, ZOLF, ETC).  

IN ADDITION there will be a couple short readings that compliment issues of identity, agency, & authorship as seen thru the lens of translation, building that bridge for us into pedagogical practices. One is the introduction to Robert Kocik’s AMAZING Overcoming Fitness (poorly pasted below).  

CHECK THE BLOG AGAIN ON TUESDAY AFTER 6PM for these readings, including the Kocik fixed and formatted properly.  For now, go a few posts below and do the earlier readings, re-read, as you’ll need to re-familiarize yourself with these.  And read this short piece by Robert Kocik too (one of the couple of extra short pieces that are due in addition for this week, readings that require me to figure out how to get them to you–as you’ll see below, the formatting is gone, as this is from a pdf).  Make do with the below for now…

AND PLEASE CHECK THIS BLOG AFTER 6PM ON TUESDAY.  Since you will have read the vast majority of what we’ll cover already, having 1 plus day to read the rest should not be an issue.

David

INTRODUCING OVERCOMING FITNESS

What do I have against fitness) Hash’t fitness gotten

us this far? It must be doing something right.

Why would I rule it out) Why would I claim that its

contrary is as credible) What’s so bad about being

adept) Why promote ineptitude)

There are different types of fitness:

evolutionalY fitness As in survival of the fittestlife’s

inherent eugenics which goes by the name of

Natural Selection. The lifeform editorial tasks that

meddling, sentimental, error prone, self-interested,

low fidelity creatures have naturally been spared. I

place evolutionary fitness at the top of the list

because it often serves as general model for other

phenomena-as indubitable evidence for the ways

in which things work, why things are the way they

are and why they can’t be otherwise-ohen corroborating

questionable social behaviors such as

‘getting ahead’ ‘watching out for number one,

‘dog eat dog’ and ‘free trading’.

social fitness The view that the bright and strong

and qualified rightfully find their way to the top.

Today we say “survival of the best-informed”.

Equal opportunity as enlightenment.

market fitness Or capitalism. Business behavior is

self-regulating because the best product at the best

price will prevail. Anywhere prices are going up,

the market has been restrained. Market fitness is an

incentive safeguard and spur (in sharp contrast to

the sluggishness of social isms).

fitness fusion Fusion of social/politicaVeconomic

sectors as Market Democracy. With the demise of

communism, Market Democracy has become the

dominant political system. And, like dominant lifeforms,

a dominant political form’ spreads’.

synthetic fitness Surgery, bioengineering, gene

therapy, pharmacogenetics, medical treatment in

general. Saving and prolonging lives.

spiritual eugenics Only those who merit salvation

will be saved. Only the moral will know peace of

mind. Competing paradises.

radst fitness Fitness is out to win. Taken to its

extreme it leads to the notion of supremacy-what

Dr Martin Luther King Jr. referred to as the drum

major instinct-to be out ahead of all the others.

The race-based collective version of this form of fitness

is of course ‘racism’.

physical fitness Staying in shape. The vanity of

looking good. Because I am a manual laborer, I

tend to think of physical fitness as the pre or post

workday training programs of others. (As vitamins

are to food, fitness is to lifestyle). An indication of

lopsided living; just as I have a shortage of sedentary

time-seated at a desk, lounging, lying on the

grass, lotus like. Enough resources to be maladaptive.

Money to burn. Fat to burn off.

subtle fitness Fitness overcome.

Fitness can be viewed as benign or malign.

According to the friendly version, fitness keeps us

on our toes. It keeps re-sharpening the cutting

edge. life under fitness is robust. A little worker

insecurity is good for the economy. According to

the cruel version, fitness is a deeply rooted, distrustful,

ruthless behavior based on elimination of

David

“Teaching” Group Proposal (total approx. 4-8 double spaced pages TOTAL)

ATTACH IN EMAIL AS WORD OR RTF DOC THIS PROPOSAL, DUE BY SUN NIGHT WEEK 6.

Where will you be meeting and when?

What is the title, if any, of your course?

How will you be evaluating students on their work?

How will your students evaluate your work?

What will be the “organizational politics,” the way your class will be run (division of labor between the three teachers, etc)? –1-2pp double spaced

Please describe your course’s covenant, or your plans for a covenant, or your reasons for not having a covenant

Please give me a course description (brief)—up to 1 paragraph

Please describe your course’s pedagogical approach, and please reference this approach with a) what you plan to do in the classroom, and b) what you plan for students outside the classroom (inside and outside are metaphors here, that is, I mean within the space of meeting time and outside that meeting time) – up to 2pp double spaced

Please attach your syllabus, including class by class what you will be doing, or if you do not have a syllabus, attach a statement regarding why you do not have one—pedagogical reasons–up to 3pp, double spaced

Please attach your reading list, or if you do not have a reading list, attach a statement regarding why you don’t have one—pedagogical reasons—up to 1pg, double spaced

RULES:

There are very few rules here, but these are iron clad. 

–Remember, this is a 4 credit course, so workload should be no more than one would expect from a 4 credit class meeting once a week for three weeks.

–You may or may not have a covenant, but any unfair treatment of one another, any expression of bias based on anything including race, gender, ethnicity, etc (for example, in your evaluation of students), is, as goes without saying, not permissible.  Also, it should go without saying that empathy, deep interpersonal caring, and treating one another as subjects is not only ethically important, but will help all of you get along and thus help make the course, regardless of design, work better.  NOTE: I feel this needs to be in writing, but you have all been caring and helpful to one another thus far, so I don’t expect any problems.

–All classes each week can only be 1 hour long, unless all (students and teachers) agree to meet for longer or during other times.

–Final evaluations of students in Experiments In Text are written by me, but you are responsible for RESPONSIBLY evaluating one another.  And you are as groups responsible for figuring out how to convey these evaluations of students to me (see question above), which I will then factor in to my overall course evaluations.  Note: evaluations can be creative, and do not have to be “teacher driven” etc.  It’s up to you as to how you will evaluate, but there must be some written evidence of how the course has gone, and what people did.  I will be meeting with you to discuss this if I have any questions based on your proposals.

–The course must be a text arts course (the arts of poetry, prose, mixed genre writing, etc).  Consider this the major constraint viz a viz your course’s content.

TIPS:

Remember to contact “your” “students” prior to the beginning of class so they know where/when to meet!

If you have any troubles, individually, or as a group, students or teachers, contact me.  But REMEMBER: I will be meeting with each group at least once for check ins, and we will also individually meet when possible (meetings reserved for Saturdays).  So, contact me if these are issues that need immediate attention and cannot be attended to during either our group or individual meetings.

Remember that “serious playfulness” – rigor and enjoyment – can be a useful way of thinking when attending to your proposal, and afterwards during your classes.

FYI, here’s my spring program offering.  If you are interested in taking it, do sign up asap or talk to me, as these slots fill fast… David

Writing: Poets Theater, Guerilla Poetry, & The Politics of Language

Note: This 8-credit program will meet from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and from 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturdays.

What does it mean to perform the text? What happens when genres collide? This creative writing program will bring together several terms often thought to be well-defined—including “poetry,” “prose,” “theater,” “politics,” and “essay” —and, through experiments in writing, reading, and collaborating, re-narrate their meanings and implications. Along the way we’ll investigate key concepts and texts in poets theater and guerilla poetry, mining them to create our own individual and collaborative writings. Our work will culminate in “poets theater week,” a week at the end of the quarter dedicated to showcasing our work as part of the final series of PRESS literary events of 2009-10. Working in groups, we’ll spread out into the larger Olympia community and “perform” or “stage” our pieces. (To learn more about PRESS, visit David’s public blog: davidwolach.blogspot.com )

During the quarter, our meetings will consist of weekly seminars, lectures, and “language labs”—times for brainstorming, rehearsing, and trying out language experiments. Guest artists will also come to campus to work with us. By the end of the quarter students will have a new portfolio of writings and, where appropriate, will have developed existing portfolios through collaborative refashioning and critique. Readings will include selections from The Kenning Anthology of Poets Theater, Adorno’s Aesthetic Theory, Ranciere’s The Politics of Aesthetics, and individual pieces by Bertoldt Brecht, Hannah Weiner, Tina Darragh, Chris Mann, Thalia Field, BARGE, Nonsense Company, Tonya Foster, Kaia Sand and Jules Boykoff, Laura Elrick, and Rodrigo Toscano. Though helpful, students are not expected to have a background in either creative writing or theater to do well in this program.