Not just anyone can make me don bird wings and chase children around the interior of a cage. It takes a special kind of person, like my mentor and writing guru
Melissa Hart. She taught me how to find an interesting story, write compelling prose about it, get editors interested in it, and eventually get paid for it. Her enthusiasm is infectious--it's impossible to talk to this woman and not get inspired to do
something.
I met her at
The University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication, but she also teaches courses online for other institutions. She's just written a followup to her memoir
The Assault of Laughter: A Daughter's Journey Back to Her Lesbian Mother, entitled Gringa: A Contradictory Girlhood.
Last week she
interviewed me for her blog,
Butt to Chair: Thoughts on the Writing Life. Here's some reciprocal/cross-pollinating/synergetic posting action!
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ND: At what point did you decide you wanted to teach writing?
MH: I knew I wanted to teach writing as a junior in high school. As copy editor of our yearbook, I was responsible for training incoming freshmen and sophomores to write short profiles and interviews. I managed to convey some sense of proper grammar and punctuation via really goofy sentences, and I loved that feeling of being able to convey knowledge in an entertaining manner.
ND: How did you feel the first time you entered a classroom?
MH: Each new "grade" feels like the first experience for me. The most notable experience I can recall is the first day of teaching grammar at Ventura College in Southern California. It was late September, ninety degrees. I remembered how my beloved 12th grade English teacher, Mary Anna Rae, sat on the desk in her cowboy boots. I thought she was so cool, and so I, too, sat on my desk in my floral cotton dress. I had no idea how to teach grammar to 25 students, and when I stood up from my introductory lecture, I left a sweaty butt-print on the desk for all to see. I was absolutely terrified, and exhilarated.
ND: How has teaching changed your understanding and practice of writing?
MH: I'm a much better writer when I teach. My students inspire me on an almost-daily basis. I love the energy that accompanies the exchange of ideas in the classroom, and I love being put into a position that forces me to learn something new. Here's an example--this is embarrassing to admit, but even as late as two years ago, I didn't have a working knowledge of what constituted a nutgraph. I knew it when I wrote it, but having to articulate its function and form for my reporting students made my own essays much better organized.
ND: What are the best things about teaching?
MH: I adore my students. I love it when they're smarter, better writers than I am. I love that point, midway through the semester, when everyone knows each other and it's a pleasure to sit around a table and discuss literature and ethics and journalism with a sense of humor. There's nothing like it!
ND: What are the worst?
MH: Occasionally, I'll disappoint a student with my vivacious, but demanding teaching style. I think it confuses some people when they realize that I might smile and laugh a great deal, but they still have to submit stellar writing on time to earn an A. And occasionally, a student will disappoint me with a lack of commitment to a class. I have to remember that not everyone's in my Magazine and Reporting classes because they long to write for a living. Some of them just need the college credit!
ND: How do you find time to write between your day job, volunteer work, and
the kiddo?
MH: My husband Jonathan and I co-parent completely. He's a professional photographer, and long before we adopted our little girl, we spent a great deal of time with a counselor who specializes in working with artists and writers. She helped us to come up with a work schedule that allowed for money making, photography and art, quality time with Maia, and 6-10 hours a week spent volunteering at the Cascades Raptor Center. But there are times near the end of a school term that I go absolutely crazy trying to remember all I have to do . . .and then actually do it!
In other news, I got a check from the San Antonio Current for a piece I don't remember writing for them. It turns out I was getting paid for a reprint from my review of SunnO)))'s Monoliths & Dimensions. This is the first time I've been paid for a reprint, let alone an unsolicited one. I'm going to have to reread my mentor Melissa's Hart's blog post on soliciting them. Oh wait, she hasn't written about that for this blog yet--well you're just going to have to look out for it then. Hooray for RSS feeds.
ND: How has teaching changed your understanding and practice of writing?
the kiddo?
My job hunt is still underway, and in the meantime I'm writing and getting sun poisoning whilst landscaping. I'm not sure if I posted this here (I just checked, I didn't), but it's worth mentioning again if I have. I got a particularly interesting rejection letter from a newspaper out West. The editor was brutally honest and admitted that "people with 5 years experience are willing to work for a beginner's salary--it's that competitive." Jeesh. Now that I've including links for this entry and typed target="_blank" nine times in about three minutes, I'm going to take a rest.
I've got a four page spread on The Residents in the last print issue of Skyscraper Magazine. A page or two got cut: you can find them online here. Skyscraper is in the process of becoming an online-only publication, so expect an overhaul soon. I'm not sure how involved I'm going to (want to) be at the moment, but I'll probably be posting from time to time. Thanks for checking in kiddos.
