Almost May

Find Craig Arnold. The poet has gone missing in Japan. The situation is frightening and bizarre, and I hope he's out there safe and sound somewhere. Looks like the search has continued. Keep him in your thoughts, and do what you can to help.

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Got my contributor copies of Grist, and it looks great. Lots of good poets. Adam Clay, Gary McDowell, Danielle Pafunda, Al Maginnes, Nancy Eimers, and many more. And there's a graphic novel too. It's only their second issue, but if the quality continues, I see amazing things in their future. Thanks again to Josh and Michael for accepting my poem for the issue.

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Do any other fellow teachers / professors look at RateMyProfessors.com? I end up doing it every month or two probably, and there's something written recently probably from one of my students in my class this semester, and for some reason it just bugs the shit out of me.

I understand everyone's not going to like me, or my teaching style, because I'm no bullshit. And this is only speaking of teaching composition, not creative writing. Come to class. Do your work. And chances are you're going to do well. The class is structured like that. It's almost hard not to do well if you come to class and do everything you're supposed to. I think that's the nature of a composition course, at least what VCU preaches for theirs, and I don't think there's a problem with that at all.

Here's what the recent one says:

"I found him REALLY annoying. I went to a writing intensive high school and he basically tried to change everything about my writing style however I got better grades when I used my own methods. He couldn't really explain himself well either. He was very dry."

I like how no one elaborates either, which makes most of the critiques even more nonsensical, those from the students who don't like me. And it looks like that "writing intensive high school" didn't teach this student (I have a guess of who it is out of two students, and I'd bet a lot that it's one of them) how to use a comma or a period. Ever heard of a run-on sentence, Dear student?

And I'm pretty sure it's a student that's going to get an A, who did their work, and who didn't say a lot in class, but always had a smile on their face. And then I find out they kind of hated me as a teacher, which annoys me a bit because I had no idea they were two-faced like that. Saddens me a bit I guess.

Again, the whole thing doesn't make a lot of sense, especially when I have so many other students saying that they had a good experience in the class.

Thankfully, though, again, this is my last class ever at VCU. And I thank them for all the experience I've had teaching so many things in the past few years (which I've mentioned before in an earlier post), and I hope I have more eager and willing students in New York that actually want to be in class and learn.

Maybe that happens everywhere, but I've found that a lot in the last few years. Many students, because they're not English Majors, seem to think their time should be spent elsewhere, and a lot of that is taken out on the teacher.

You're not going to please everyone, I suppose. But I'm eager to get new students, from the same general region where I'm from, and try to continue getting better at being a teacher and learning new things as I go. That's all we can ask for as teachers and professors.

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The new Passion Pit record, Manners, has leaked. I wish I hadn't heard "Moth's Wings" before it, because that's easily the best track. The record reminds me of a band I need to break out again, Antarctica, from a while back, though they were a bit heavier on the drums, real drums instead of processed, and had more shimmering guitars as the focus.

Listening to the new Patrick Wolf record too. Also need more time with it.

Anxious to give them more listens, though. We'll see.