So, am I paranoid or what? Analyze me.

-- Jen (Winter@nyc.com), September 06, 2000

Answers

so here i am again, to babble on and on. i'll try to make this one a wee bit shorter.

about the workshop. i think, if it's something that you really want to do, that you should go ahead and do it. fuck everyone else, fuck standards and expectations. when you get to an end of a piece of work, and you know it's good, and you know it has meaning, if only for YOU, then it's worth it. if writing is something that you really want to focus on, and maybe base your life around, then you should do whatever it takes to get as much practice/input in. take the input with a grain of salt though. everyone thinks differently. just because one person thinks a piece completely blows does not mean it does. you should approach it with the mentality of: i am taking this class for ME, and no one BUT me, and i belong here just as much as anyone else. this is how i deal with school without blowing my head off. i deserve to be in these classes because i want to learn, and i need all the knowledge i can get about this subject because it fucking matters to me.

but then i totally understand where you're coming from, about being assigned to a topic to write on. i hate that too, and my mind always goes blank. it's very difficult to force words on a subject that you really don't give half a shit about. very difficult. but it's a skill, if you want to have something to do with writing later on, that you need to learn. which sucks a lot. but it does get a little bit easier after a while. i'd much rather just write whatever and everything that comes into my head and get graded on it, but some people just can't interpret what others are trying to get at, or maybe they just don't agree with it, or maybe they don't want anyone contradicting their opinions. this is a big part of why writing classes are as mandated and regulated as they are. and of course there's the pressure of living up to someone else's expectations. i knew a girl who wrote some really, really good poetry, and simply being around her made me nervous. but you have to try and ignore things like that. they have their own style, their own ideas, their own input in the world. you have your own, too. don't be afraid to express it, no matter what anyone else thinks. do what you want. be who you want. the world gets boring when things just stay the same.

-- jane (undertowing@yahoo.com), September 07, 2000.

Jane,

Thanks. That really did make me feel better about the whole thing.. And I probably WILL end up taking the class.

-- Jen (Winter@nyc.com), September 08, 2000.

islam

-- -- Karrisa (xxx@msn.com) (Karrisa (xxx@msn.com)), July 21, 2003.