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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QUARTET ISLAND
Mendelssohn on Mull celebrates chamber music away from urban pressures.
FIX YOU
The self-help positivity of Coldplay.
ILLUMINATIONS
Suzanne Jackson captures the transformative power of light.
RAT PACK
The classic rodent studies that foretold a nightmarish human future.
ROYAL TREATMENT
The unrivalled omnipresence of Queen Elizabeth IL.
WELL, WELL, WELL
Eating—and not-in the epicenter of hype diets.
NEWARK STATE OF MIND
Mayor Ras Baraka's reasonable radicalism.
DOOM SCROLLING
Social media and the teen-suicide crisis.
THE WORKER REVOLT
Harris and Walz try to stop blue-collar Americans from drifting to Trump.
THE CHIT-CHATBOT
Is talking with a machine a conversation?