November 19, 2013

Yesterday a fine day, which ended finely with B and me sitting bundled up behind the Wedge drinking beer with the trains going by and Venus in splendor above the tracks. We wore away the subject of university politics, and as B is deep in the councils of the great and powerful and I am not, I learned much, and he got to hear me say “no shit!” repeatedly. The recent beat-down of the senseless ILS almost didn’t happen, due to the bitter championship of some whose affection for the program was both incomprehensible and never fully justified. It was a bad idea from the start. All educational directives arising outside the faculty are bad.  You’d think people would notice that truth and give it up Everyone knew ILS was a fail from the day it was imposed, except those who invented it. I had a student come to my office and say, “Is it true?” and upon hearing that it was, that the requirements for graduation had gone back to something sensible, said, “I can finish a whole year earlier now.” I used to think of myself as pretty savvy politically, but I’m not. When things are demonstrably unreasonable. I can’t get beyond that fact. I can’t use them as a tool or a bargaining chip, or defend them with much vehemence, no matter how the sides are drawn. I couldn’t use procedure as a way of blocking progress, or of preventing repentance.

Took B to my studio by night. I’m almost never there in full  night. It’s magical.

Came home and found myself invited to read and sign at AWP in Seattle, decided to say yes.