Category Archives: Writing

Forgetting as Step in the (Writing) Process

Last November I finished a book. I resisted returning to it because I didn’t want to make any changes before receiving feedback. But when January ends, so does my time in writing purgatory: the period when an author does nothing … Continue reading

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Writing in The New Yorker in the New Year

I read the The New Yorker to find out what to read. I take my direction from the magazine’s always on-point book reviews. But Louis Menand’s December 20th review essay, about the dire state of the humanities, prompted me to … Continue reading

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Reading in Reverse: May Again

I read in reverse. Here are two examples: Ocean Vuong’s poetic On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous got me through the endless month of pandemic March. But inexplicably I turned its mystery into my mania. “Magical realism in the outskirts of … Continue reading

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Being A TryHard In An Era of FailBetters

I am a tryhard. A tryhard wants to fit in and stand out at the same time. They want to be noticed but not remembered. Being a tryhard can be exhausting and sometimes leads to serious regret. (See my class … Continue reading

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Visiting Day II: Revision and Expectation

“Visiting Day,” last week’s entry, was revised eight times. Eight times (8!) I returned to that short piece, tweaked and tightened until I forgot why I wrote it in the first place. Long gone now, that first draft surprised me. … Continue reading

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Visiting Day Again

A rite of passage followed me back to the city. Visiting Day at summer camp came and went. But I can’t let it go this time. The day started out as it always does: we do what we’re supposed to … Continue reading

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When Composition and Literature Meet

March 15, 2019: This is the brief talk I gave as part of a panel welcoming students accepted or wait-listed to The Graduate Center at CUNY.  Here I describe a class I’m teaching now, focused on the “academic novel” and … Continue reading

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Private Pain, Public Humanities: Critical University Studies and Composition

This is the talk I gave at the Critical University Studies Friday Forum at The Graduate Center , CUNY on Friday October 20th. I’ll open my talk with something participatory. If that’s upsetting to you (as it would be to … Continue reading

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Am I Good at Critical University Studies?

Is activist scholarship like all scholarship: meant to be judged? I’m wondering because, thanks to my CUNY colleagues, more than ever I feel connected to the activist field of Critical University Studies. Critical University Studies aims to intervene in higher … Continue reading

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Tomorrow We Revise: November 2016

Dear Readers, Tomorrow my writing class meets. I can’t wait. I teach literature too and love wrestling with how reading works in our world. But it’s a week into worry for what might happen to this country and to my college and … Continue reading

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