Day Eight in Boston - Huff and Wearing Down

This morning's workshop was much better than yesterday.  For the most part.  There was no direct battering and I made sure to sit my happy ass as far away as I could, not because I am afraid to sit next to her, but so that she could see me the whole time and I wouldn't be tempted to make sad or perturbed faces should I be run over or electrocuted with her curt and, at times, rude approach.   A few of the other students say she has a 'nurturing toughness' while another finds great enjoyment at her 'bluntness' (especially, he added, when it comes to her cock-blocking everything I say).  I, however, find her approach to be a perfect example of what Director, Meg Kearney, says not to do.  Meg reminds us that when tempers and emotions get all riled up, you have the choice of taking the compassionate route or the 'intelligent' route and in these cases you should always choose compassion because intelligence will naturally follow.  Our workshop leader is definitely intelligent.  I am learning things from her.  Mostly I am learning how 'she' writes 'her' novels.  This is not bad information but I hazard to say that there is very little I will be taking away from her workshop sessions aside from the idea of disequilibrium (which I do love) and a strong desire to scream at the top of my lungs.  This is harsh.  But so is she.

Moving on.  I attended two absolutely fabulous classes today.  The first of those was a class on creating character led by Julia Glass, who I do believe may just be my literary soul mate.  Her humor was understated and adorable, her writing process was a near mirror image of mine, and it was perfected (if one can perfect the chaos of writing) in a way that I hope to someday achieve.  Everything she said today made perfect sense.  I bought her book and when she signed it, I told her that her class felt like good food that I hadn't had in a while.  Made me feel full.  

After the character class I hurried over to attend Kathy Aguero's class on 'Changing Lives through Literature.'  This program is amazing and I actually think I would like to get involved in it either before or after I graduate.  It's typically called the 'club med' of lit teaching because you get to talk about books all day and lead conversations and activities concerning those books but you don't have to grade any homework at the end of the day.  What follows is a snippet of information from the website.  Hopefully it will give you a clear idea of what the program is all about:

The Philosophy behind Changing Lives Through Literature

Changing Lives Through Literature is based on the idea that literature has the power to transform. Although it sounds simple - it's essentially a reading group that meets over a period of weeks and that is attended by an instructor, probation officer, judge, and students - CLTL has the ability to allow us to make connections with the characters or ideas in a text and to rethink our own behavior. The phrase "Changing Lives" may sound grandiose and, in a way, it is. This program can be the first step toward permanent change or an additional step on the path to a new way of being in the world. CLTL contends that through literature, we can more deeply understand ourselves and our human condition. But what is it about literature that allows this to occur? And why do many of us who are involved with CLTL feel that it is one of the most underused tools in the criminal justice system?

Today, I found out who my mentor is going to be.  It's not Sandra (and honestly I think she would be a fantastic person for mentoring regardless of my feelings surrounding her workshops).  It is Steven Huff, who is fabled to be a gentle man who fosters your creativity while guiding you through your mistakes in such a way as to make you unable to be sad or upset during the grueling revision process.  He had me sit with him today for a moment and asked what I was working on - what I liked to write.  I told him I like speculative fiction and that I want to work on a Dystopian novel.  Then I told him I also write short stories.  And then... I used the 'V' word.  Not vagina, no, much worse: Vampire.  And he stuck out his tongue in disgust and my face heated up and I shrugged it away like 'yeah, you're right, it's dumb, I'll stop.'  I'm meeting with him tomorrow to discuss reading lists and other important pre-semester planning.  I don't know that there's any way to salvage my 'street-cred' so I'm thinking of bringing a copy of the preface and first chapter or two of the vampire novel.  Maybe he can read it or gloss over it and see that it's not 'about' a vampire.  It's about a wealthy, well-to-do man during the Great Depression who just happens to be a vampire.  I have actually been considering changing it up a little and making him into some other supernatural creature that is further and further from 'Dracula' but that decision would have to come from a need to make the novel better not because of someone else's preferences.

On a lighter note, I was totally outed as a pegasister today.  During Julia's class, a graduating poet took the podium to read a snippet from one of her assignments and I noticed his very cute MLP button tacked right there on his breast.  I stared at it the entire time and later that day he casually told me that he liked my facebook profile picture, which is, of course, the studious bespectacled Pinkie Pie.  An immediate connection was made.  He introduced me to another of our kind and we talked and giggled about My Little Pony and the voice actresses and how it's somehow breached the gender gap in children/young adult animated entertainment.  It was fun and refreshing to be a total Brony for a few minutes.