Twas pointed out to me that "fistfight" might be a tadpole hyperbolic. Possibly. Yes, it's possible I am just a drama queen of obese proportions, but doesn't one have to have vivified interaction with the elements in order to keep entertainment levels high? heh.

It’s very cold outside, the kind of cold where my nose-ring sticks to my nostril hairs whenever I step outside for more than three seconds. I went grocery shopping yesterday (finally), and even wore the dopey ninja-meets-fleece hoodie my mother gave me for xmas this year. I previously snorted at it, secretly thinking I would look thief & yuppie both if I wore it anywhere but the most apexy of mountain tops. But I was very thankful for it as I carted my twenty bags back from the grocery stores.

So, classes started this week and I have been leagues of exhausted getting back into a schedule and figuring out what I want to take from this semester. I’ve finally settled on a few classes: style/voice, friction/fracture, and novel workshop.

The novel workshop was a new choice; I originally signed up to take a class on publishing, which sounded fabulous--a combination of practical experience working with artists, and a larger consideration of publishing trends/etc. But the class turned out to be much more specific and focused than that. The class was to be co-taught by Sally A and Kenneth Goldsmith (who runs UbuWeb, this incredible storehouse of avant-garde and border art that would probably otherwise be lost). But the first day, we didn't get a syllabus, an overview, or a real sense of what would be there to cohere the class. It sounded more like a two-project pony; one project being Kenny's deal, which was to create a portal dedicated to the storage of Kay Rosen's artwork, plus the collection and generation of creative/critical response to her work. But Kay Rosen is already fairly well published over the web and I am more interested in the type of web work that collects newer voices and establishes collaborations, themes, publication potential. So, Kenny talked about this project for half of the class, and then introduced us to UbuWeb for the second half - and I was disappointed because it was largely a lecture, and a lecture of the type that involves the teacher click click clicking through a series of hyperlinks that might be just as accessible on our own time. I was a bit annoyed; we didn't introduce ourselves, talk about our interests and approaches, or generate any thematic touchstones for the class. And the second project was going to be with Sally--a book-collection of prints, but we didn't really talk about it. On the syllabus we finally got the next day, only one class was dedicated to the exploration of small-press production, and I decided to drop the class right off.

Instead, I'm taking that Novel Workshop, which I think will be interesting - a different teacher and a different approach to project. Beth Nugent (my advisor and secret mentor) is teaching the class, and she is very, um, scornful?... of traditional workshops that often leave the student participators stumped or with no strong sense of how to continue working on a project after having received such a huge amount of varied or contradictory feedback. Actually, I had vowed never to take another workshop in my time here at the Art Institute, not because I've had horrible experiences, but because I don't ever get the sensation that I've participated in something that will take me to a new point. I'm pretty frustrated with writing right now - with myself, with the choices I seem to be facing. And so, maybe a nontraditional class that discusses some of these very issues might be the best choice for me.

Then, the Style and Voice class is the one where I "nearly got in a fistfight," which was far more in my own head than anywhere else. The reading got me all riled up (plus I've been feeling feisty, mean, ferocious, I don't know why) and I was mentally chewing out one of the theory authors for about a half-hour before class, which probably set me in the contentious space. Also the first week or so of class seems to be geared towards unearthing the political and ideological structures imbedded in language, which of course draws on the rhetoric and composition background I've got a smidgeon of experience in, but haven't really engaged intellectually for a good couple of years. But I still gots lots to say!

That is, it seems to me that America in particular has a fascinating approach to language/English that seems pretty fascist. I mean, the strong sense that there is a Correct way to write/speak, or an Incorrect way to write/speak; that grammar is key, and writers either "make mistakes" or "get it right." Realism has been the standard-bearer for years in the States, and only recently have alternative ways of approaching narrative/ prose/ thought/ collaboration started cropping up again in semi-mainstream media. Fundamental to my way of seeing language is this belief that there is no correctness in language; instead, there are degrees of appropriateness and expressiveness, the first of which is entirely dependent on context and the latter on voice. So my fake-fistfight was with a friend who was defending Strunk & White's style-guide, which uses imperatives and drops explanations for their grammar/style imperatives, not to mention never really distinguishing between style and grammar when dashing out suggestions that stretch far beyond suggestion into the territory of correct and incorrect. I get really pissed off with grammar guides or anything that gives instruction this way because one can find these rigid approaches and attitudes manifesting in classrooms, workshops and responses all over the place, and it locks people into static and frigid perceptions of communication and interaction.

However, another friend in class brought up the idea that it's fun to have rules, because then you can break them. I think she phrased it that "it's more interesting to be one of the wolves than any of the sheep." I liked that, I have to say.

And then another friend in class brought up the question of whether it's "better" (he acknowledged that better wasn't the right word, but that he meant the question to stay unanswerable) to know the rules and choose how to interact with them, or whether to come from a place outside of rules (native talent seemed to be implied) and simply do your thing in a form of ignorance about the so-called rules. An interesting question but I think it implies that there is a place outside of structure(s), and I disagree with that. But I have to say sometimes I'm not sure whether it's better to write with awareness or better to write within the nonjudging realm of dream. Anyhow. I think it's going to be an interesting class, and I expect to be putting up some different styles and playing around with them before too long. Here's an example of my current favorite voice:

One day atter Brer Rabbit fool 'im wid dat calamus root, Brer Fox went ter wuk en got 'im some tar, en mix it wid some turkentime, en fix up a contrapshun w'at he call a Tar-Baby, en he tuck dish yer Tar-Baby en he sot 'er in de big road, en den he lay off in de bushes fer to see what de news wuz gwine ter be. En he didn't hatter wait long, nudder, kaze bimeby here come Brer Rabbit pacin' down de road--lippity-clippity, clippity -lippity--dez ez sassy ez a jay-bird. Brer Fox, he lay low. Brer Rabbit come prancin' 'long twel he spy de Tar-Baby, en den he fotch up on his behime legs like he wuz 'stonished. De Tar Baby, she sot dar, she did, en Brer Fox, he lay low.

Okay, and the last class is going to be Friction and Fracture, an exploration of visual-textual hybridity. I'm pretty damn excited about this class, because I think it's going to approach some of the questions I was left with after taking the Text Off the Page class... and of course, introduce more to chew on. It's a fairly theory-oriented class, although I think it will look at historical approaches to the mixture of text with other media. Our conversation doesn't seem to be limited to simple text-image mixture, but to film mixtures and audio-textual mixtures and so forth. But so far we've tackled the idea of "supplement," in a Derrida sense of the word -- when something is a supplement, what does supplement mean, and what comes along with this term. But I think in general, the class will examine any hierarchies created by visual/textual mix and why this is such an item of interest right now in the art world when it's been around for a very long time.

All the more exciting is that, because of this class I believe, I had a dream last night that was visual (as one might expect) but then every person and character and dialogue in the dream also included text next to it/her. Like a thought bubble, but the text and the action/people didn't match-up, and so there was a strange disjunct between. It made me happy. Although the dream was kind of scary for other reasons.

And then there's the class I'm going to teach... such little cuties in class, I think it will be fine. I dropped The Handmaid's Tale from the reading list and am feeling better about the workload I'm going to load up on them.

So, those are my classes and today's the superbowl and I'm going to do work, but I'm also going to get out my camera and load up my memory card so I can show pictures of where I'm living and so forth. But I'm not going outside. It's too cold out there and I'm a big lazy bum. I had a friend come over last night, and it was great - company without movement, although Friday I went out for some beers with a class that wasn't my own. People I like quite well. I like beers with people. People with beers. Go Bears, Go People with Beers.