Your Email:

Your Name:

To:

Subject:

Message:
<hr noshade color="#9999FF" width="85%" size="4" align="left"> <h2 class="title"><a href="http://www.montanaheritageproject.org/index.php/MichaelUmphrey/writing-for-the-ages-1/">Writing for the ages, part 1</a> Students should be taught their words may last forever</h2> by Michael L. Umphrey Forever is composed of nows. Emily Dickinson <h3>Blogging and the same old same old</h3> I’ve been visiting blogs lately, to see what’s happening and to think about implications for teachers. Much of what’s going on truly is exciting. Now that publishing is as simple as clicking a “submit” link, lots of people are re-thinking what writing and publishing are for. And yet, much of what is happening seems caught up in the same old same old. Some blogs give me the same feeling I got at a university MFA program--too much desperation. The MFA program sometimes reminded me of those infomercials that run on late-night television--feeding on people’s desires to lose weight or make lots of money or quit smoking. Most people enrolled in the MFA program because they wanted to be famous poets. Could the professors teach anyone to be a famous poet? Of course not. They liked to claim that the value of the program was that it created a community where aspiring writers could find and support each other. Maybe that was true. Pretty costly support group though, even if credentials were included. Copyright 2005 Michael L. Umphrey