Author: plainswriter

I'm a poet, fiction writer, and essayist. I'm also a freelance editor at nlhwritingservices.com.

Faculty Symposium

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My first ever faculty symposium is coming up on Thursday.  This whole professor thing stills seems unreal at times, being that I’m only 2 months into the job, but this presentation makes it feel believable.

My symposium will certainly be unlike other faculty symposiums, in that I’m not giving a lecture/talk or presenting research findings.  I’m reading 5-6 poems and 2 stories.   At this point, I’m not nervous about the event; excitement is the most overwhelming emotion right now.  I can’t believe that I have a 45-minute slot to read my work before answering questions.  I’ve given my share of conference presentations, but those, of course, are limited to 10-15 minutes.

Since the beginning of September I’ve been revising, tinkering, and polishing the longer of the two stories I plan to read.  I’ll be glad when Thursday arrives so that I can set this story aside for a while, at least until my dissertation committee examines it.  Although I’m looking forward to reading my work, I’m just as excited to answer questions about the poems and stories, as those questions will more than likely be related to issues of craft, content, and other writerly concerns.  I’ve only given one reading (of a short story) where there was a Q&A session, and the audience members asked great questions that allowed me to look at my work from a more analytical perspective, allowing me to think more about some of my larger goals as a writer.

I’ve been promoting this event to my students in the hopes that some of them might show up.  Faculty presence is great, but I’d love to see a couple of my students, especially those who are not involved in creative writing.  Should be a fun time.

Loser Titles

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This semester I’m teaching a class on writing short stories.  During the most recent class, my students and I completed an exercise that required us to alter the titles of well-known literary works so that they would become “losers.”  The exercise emphasized the importance of titles, and the importance of the right word in the right place.  Here are the “losers” I generated.  Enjoy!

A Tale of Two Cities– A Story of Two Municipalities

Hard Times– Difficult Moments

Great Expectations– Grand Desires

Bleak House– A Grim Residence

The Scarlet Letter– A Bright Red “A”

The Old Man and the Sea– The Codger and the Waves

A Moving Moment

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3 times a week, my university holds a chapel session for students, faculty, and staff.  Within this particular setting, students are very open about expressing themselves by dancing, clapping, raising their hands, and kneeling at the altar to pray.

During the music portion of chapel this morning, I spotted one of my students approach a kneeler to pray.  As the music continued, I noticed several other students come up front to pray with this student and to lay hands on him.  I recognized some of these other students as my own.

I ceased singing, instead almost losing my composure over this act of community and fellowship.  My throat tightened, and I could sense tears forming.

I thought about how my students lift one another up in prayer, how they encourage one another.  These actions give me hope for my students and for their peers who make up the next generation of the church.

I am so thankful to teach and learn at a place such as this.