Back to School!
Greetings! I realize I've not posted in some time and, fearing that it might be awhile again yet before I can sit down to compose anything substantive, I thought I'd just drop a few lines to wish everyone who is starting back to school these days a fabulous fall semester! I am back in the classroom after a substantial hiatus (in support of my research) and, as sad as I am to lose my unstructured time, I'm pretty psyched to be connecting with students again. The prospect of regularly sharing some of what I'm learning with a group of others who are (or may yet be!) interested in the same topics is exhilarating -- knowledge is meant to be shared.
This fall, I'm teaching an undergrad course on Black Poetry (which will deal with writers from the "long 20th century" -- which is to say, including this first decade of the 21st) and a grad course called "Black Aesthetics in Theory and in Practice," which relates closely to my current research. This will be one of those fabulous semesters when all of my work (even my work as a poet) will be connected and mutually nurturing. I feel so lucky!
I may post entries from time to time that note interesting questions or issues that arise in my classes or my thinking outside of class. Because often writing about things helps to clarify them, right? : )
The first poet we'll be working with is Anne Spencer (1882-1973), an amazing woman who participated in the New Negro Renaissance from her home, far from Harlem, in Lynchburg, Virginia. She is tremendously understudied -- so putting her on my syllabus (and mentioning her here) is my contribution to changing that...
Peace.
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Jessica Barksdale Inclan says:
I wish I could take the
I wish I could take the class, Evie. Sounds wonderful and certainly focusing on some great poets. Here's to your new semester. May it go very well. May they all.
Best,
J
Jessica Barksdale Inclan
www.jessicabarksdaleinclan.com
Evie Shockley says:
thanks!
And here's to yours! Reading about your slightly earlier re-entry helped get me in the right mind frame for my own, you know. : )
Jodi Thompson says:
Oh, I'm so jealous of your
Oh, I'm so jealous of your students, Evie. I miss school. I applied a few months ago to the MFA program at Rutgers Camden but was told I have to wait until next fall to start. Should I get accepted, I may not be in a position to go then, as I was hoping to get tuition waiver because I was laid off in March. (I'm such a cliche.)
Best of luck with the semester! Enjoy!
Jodi
Evie Shockley says:
jodi!
You must be not too terribly far away, out there in the real world. : )
I know what it is to miss school. I took a job in a non-academic field the first time around, and when I realized that (a) there was no Christmas/winter break and (b) I'd be doing exactly the same thing in January that I was doing in December, I nearly broke my heart...
Have you considered applying to a low-residency MFA program? That way, you *might* be able to start as early as January (for some of them) and, in any case, you'd have a decent chance of sticking with it once you're back on the payroll somewhere. Just a thought!
Thanks so much for the positive vibes. : )
Jodi Thompson says:
I'm just across the Delaware
I'm just across the Delaware from Trenton, N.J., in Pennsylvania. Fairly close in the scheme of things.
What you said about non-academia made me laugh!
I'll give your idea a consideration. Thanks!
Ryoma Collia-Suzuki says:
Your students are so
Your students are so fortunate to have such a passionate guide and tutor. I imagine that even myself, one of the worst and most uneducatable (not a real word to be sure!) students in the world, would find myself carried along with your sheer energy and actually find myself learning and enjoying it!
Hope you have a fab start to your semester!
Evie Shockley says:
poets are allowed to make up new words . . .
. . . and I hereby dub you an honorary poet, so go on with your "uneducatable" self! : )
Truly, I think you're being to hard on yourself, Ryoma. But it is encouraging to think that maybe some of my students who, like you, would claim to be unable to deal with poetry will perhaps open up long enough to be carried away by it!
Shana McLean Moore says:
Ditto to Ryoma!
Your enthusiasm is contagious, Evie. Your students are so very lucky to have your passion and expertise!
Shana
Shana McLean Moore
www.caffeinatedponderings.com
www.sunnysidecommunications.com
Evie Shockley says:
thanks, shana!
I just hope they feel that way, especially after a few weeks in my clutches . . . : )
John Parker Oughton says:
I'm a poet..
who's restarting my doctorate (in education) after a long break. I'm looking forward to being in a room full of smart people doing research again... hoping I can finagle a couple of literature or creative writing courses into my program. They are ways of learning about the world, after all, right?
Evie Shockley says:
hey, poet!
I was always one to try to get the lit/cr wrtg courses into whatever program I was in, like you. : ) Thanks for your comment, and best of luck to you in your return to academe!
Marilyn Kallet says:
I'd love to be in that class!
Your agenda sounds great, and your attitude is fiercely angelic!
I'd love to see the reading lists for these classes--
Is Rutgers less patriarchal than UT? When I studied there in grad school, all the profs in Comp. Lit. were men.
Evie Shockley says:
let's face it:
All professors are really lifelong students in poor disguise. : ) I'd like to take your classes, Marilyn. I know I'd learn and be inspired...
That's an interesting question, re: Rutgers. I don't know UT terribly well, so it's hard for me to speak comparatively. And I don't know when you were here. But I would say that Rutgers is an institution with a long patriarchal history, as is every institution of higher ed in this patriarchal society -- except the women's colleges, I suppose! At the same time, my understanding is that Rutgers is a much more women-friendly place now (and since at least the '90s) than it was before the merging of the different schools (College Ave., Douglass, Cook. Livingston, and Busch) into one New Brunswick campus (sometime in the '80s, I believe). There is a fabulous Women's and Gender Studies department (and the equally fabulous Institute for Research on Women) here, which brings and supports strong women scholars, most of whom I imagine think of themselves as feminists. In fact, the current DGS of Comp. Lit. is one such woman, Elin Diamond. My closest mentors have been mostly women, but I have also been greatly encouraged and guided by men colleagues.
All that to say, there are no feminist "Edens" tucked away in NJ, to my knowledge, but I do feel like I'm in a place where women scholars survive and even thrive...
Marilyn Kallet says:
Sounds terrific!
Glad to hear about the gathering of strong women--feminist scholars. And that you have good mentors across the board. You're surely a fine mentor in your turn.
Rutgers Comp. Lit. did invite me back to give a reading a few years ago. Sleeping With One Eye Open was for sale there--I guess they hadn't read the indictment of the department!
Survive and thrive--that's our motto! All cheers--
Belle Yang says:
Dear Evie,
I'm 12 days late in making a comment, but as someone above said, I envy your students. I would love to be listening to you and learning from your poetry, life experiences, and your interpretation of African-American makers.
Evie Shockley says:
i know why!
You've been off celebrating your latest achievement in "the real world," rather than sitting at your desk, these last couple weeks -- and that is as it should be! : )
Glad to hear from you anytime, Belle. I wish you could be in my class -- then I'd see you twice a week and we could talk poetry as much as we liked...
Today, Langston Hughes is up. I'll be drawing on his biography, which I read a year or more ago. It was, in fact, one of the first things I blogged about here in the Red Room!
Michael Pokocky says:
I see something wonderful in you!
I find your connection to people infectious. It is so rare to be able to write and connect with people in the online world the way you do. I can't explain 'the way you do' because only you can. You may not even be aware of the smiles you put on peoples faces with your words.
What is wonderful is you and I think you should write a post about how you blog and comment and interact with your readers in 'the way you do.' I for one would certainly emulate you, if I could find the way.
Kindest,
Michael Pokocky
Evie Shockley says:
thank you!
What a nice thing for you to say, Michael! I would have to be able to read your mind to know for sure what you mean, but based on my best guess, I'd say my "secret" to connecting with people online is to write like I talk -- or like I would talk, if I had Wikipedia and a thesaurus and my whole library right at hand all day. : ) There's a difference (for me) between (1) the way I write something meant only to be read silently and (2) the way I write something that I will read aloud (like a conference presentation) or that I want readers to hear aloud in their heads. As a teacher and a poet, I write in that second mode a lot. It allows more of one's "personality" (for lack of a better word) to come through, I think. Perhaps that's what you're picking up on! Either way, thanks for posting such a generous comment. You seem to already know very well how to connect with people online, as do so many of the people I've met here in the Red Room! : ) Peace.