For many years, I have taught cre-ative writing. I am licensed by the state to teach it at all levels: Beginning Creative (B.C.), Moderately Creative (M.C.), and Extremely Creative (E.C.).
That last and highest level is actually subdivided into three other levels: Pulitzer, Man/Woman Booker, and Nobel, which is the highest of all creative-writing levels, and which very few students reach. In fact, some of my students choose voluntarily not to try for that level, although, technically speaking, they probably could handle it. Creativity is the goal, but we are aware that it is possible to get too creative.
When I say these students could handle it, what I mean is that they have the chops. The writing chops, that is. Civilians may not know what I’m referring to when I use that term. They may not even know that they are civilians. But civilians are what we call them, because we are also in the military— the creative-writing military—and our weapons are words.
Denne historien er fra June 3, 2019-utgaven av The New Yorker.
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Denne historien er fra June 3, 2019-utgaven av The New Yorker.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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YULE RULES
“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point.”
COLLISION COURSE
In Devika Rege’ first novel, India enters a troubling new era.
NEW CHAPTER
Is the twentieth-century novel a genre unto itself?
STUCK ON YOU
Pain and pleasure at a tattoo convention.
HEAVY SNOW HAN KANG
Kyungha-ya. That was the entirety of Inseon’s message: my name.
REPRISE
Reckoning with Donald Trump's return to power.
WHAT'S YOUR PARENTING-FAILURE STYLE?
Whether you’re horrifying your teen with nauseating sex-ed analogies or watching TikToks while your toddler eats a bagel from the subway floor, face it: you’re flailing in the vast chasm of your child’s relentless needs.
COLOR INSTINCT
Jadé Fadojutimi, a British painter, sees the world through a prism.
THE FAMILY PLAN
The pro-life movement’ new playbook.
President for Sale - A survey of today's political ads.
On a mid-October Sunday not long ago sun high, wind cool-I was in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for a book festival, and I took a stroll. There were few people on the streets-like the population of a lot of capital cities, Harrisburg's swells on weekdays with lawyers and lobbyists and legislative staffers, and dwindles on the weekends. But, on the façades of small businesses and in the doorways of private homes, I could see evidence of political activity. Across from the sparkling Susquehanna River, there was a row of Democratic lawn signs: Malcolm Kenyatta for auditor general, Bob Casey for U.S. Senate, and, most important, in white letters atop a periwinkle not unlike that of the sky, Kamala Harris for President.
