Was Jack Kerouac a Punjabi

Experimental Prose

2012-01-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today, we looked at Zach Friedman's interview with Renee Gladman on the Bomblog. Then this: On Walking: A Map for Prose. “On one hand what I am talking about is syntax, how words are ordered to create meaning, how moving through that order is a kind of unfolding, each word being a ‘sign’ of sorts that tells us about where we are and where we are going.” – Renee Gladman, interviewed by Zach

Giscombe Homework

2012-01-29T14:40:00.001-07:00

Home from the red cliffs and ice-shifting creek walk. Tea. Hand-out for this week's undergraduate class: Navigations in Narrative: Giscombe Homework: Make a hand-drawn map of the movements/breaks in this book. For this first assignment, I’d like you to select one section and make two maps to begin: 1. Make a list of anything to do with navigation/geography/territory/movement in the content

Ban: Antidote

2012-01-28T11:40:00.001-07:00

I just received an invitation (text) to ski with someone from the Alps! I mean, here, not the Alps, but the person is Alpine, ex-French military, a ski instructor. Obviously, I am at home today, reading Homo Sacer and eating a spinach/onions/soft white navy beans breakfast dish simmered with asoefedita, turmeric, ground coriander, salt, lemon juice, and pepper. If I pulled myself together, I

P.I.O.

2012-01-27T16:33:00.000-07:00

A Person of Indian Origin is the correct (near) designation for a person who was, until recently, a Non-resident Indian. Have spent all day trying to sort out an arcane visa process. Feel half-demented. But have, on a side note, figured out how to use a scanner, which I feel will revolutionize my blog. Here is a scanned mitten/passport portrait: Oh my god! I just realized there is a UNICORN

Dreamed I went skiing with Thelonious, Lars Von Trier and Lara Glenum.

2012-01-27T07:41:00.006-07:00

It makes no sense. Lara Glenum was wearing a bobble hat with a summer dress. Lars Von Trier was leaning on me and holding my hand. Thelonious was reading an Indian comic. Everyone was eager to ski. We were in a courtroom. Lars had just won a case against him. Lara was explaining poetry and the experimental scene to Lars. Thelonious wasn't paying attention to any of us. Lars was really kind and

[ ]

2012-01-26T15:29:00.001-07:00

"Borders don't exist. Borders are invisible lines that stir up war. They are as incredible as unicorns."--Helene Cixous.

Notes from the Dark Castle

2012-01-25T15:22:00.004-07:00

For the first time ever, I am blogging from the actual Jack Kerouac School, from an actual computer in my first EVER office, complete with h.r hegeanuer's incredible poster of the Gertrude Stein/Samuel Beckett film/performance/poetic plays event curated by h.r. and Danielle Vogel when they were both MFA students at Naropa. I have secured it with pink post-its to the Georgia O'Keefe print

A Paragraph Is A Vector

2012-01-24T17:33:00.001-07:00

Today, in Navigations in Narrative, we experimented with vectors and syntax. A paragraph is a vector. A sentence is a vector. To map: for 1 to 10 vectors. To orient/select/orient/select/orient. How were vectors complicated by access/brambles/ambient elements/the dull violet or pale green snow that began to fall during map-making? The students walked, mapping: then returned: to annotate

Schizophrenia and the Institution

2012-01-24T08:09:00.013-07:00

Reading Jacqueline Rose with my morning tea (thrice-boiled Earl Grey from A-Sweet in Fort Collins), I try to analyze my dream of the institution. I dreamed I was teaching in an institution; at first, I thought it was the institution where I teach now, but it was not. In parts, with its gender chambers, the dream approached a nightmare. Arguably, the women's loo is a gender chamber; any group

One Day Unicorn Status

2012-01-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

rescinded. Today... No, I feel feverish. Best to rest completely and then to resume. The two graduate workshops were today, back to back. A violet river, local grasses... I tried to repress myself from giving a definition of prose. Once home, I took care of my my family and ate a gluten-free toast. That is all. The answer to "Was Jack Kerouac a Punjabi?" is: No. He was not. Must come

Solution! (2)

2012-01-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

I wish to be a part of an institution and yet, I wish to re-think blogging through it, for it and with it. I wish to blog next to verges a bit more. A verge is a muddy skirt. That is my main solution. I will experiment with PUNJABI UNICORNS UNITE briefly, to see if I feel embarrassed. It may be that in the morning I feel embarrassed and change the name of the blog back to Jack Kerouac-themed

PS

2012-01-22T18:05:00.001-07:00

Is a unicorn a monster?

Unicorn Vista

2012-01-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

Having returned: from Mary Jane: a paradise for minor, ecstatic, fearless and timid unicorn-based personalities. "Let the unicorn go through you." -- Grazia, Naropa counsellor, now -- relocated/re-emigrant to: Italy. Grazia came upon me one day at Naropa, two years ago this coming Fall, devastated. She told me to draw a circle and then to fill it in. This primitive mandala and all the

Solution!

2012-01-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

Instead of inventing a whole new blog, like "Unicorns are Punjabi," I have, just now, see above, invented a new, explanatory tag line beneath the title of my existing (this) blog. Instead of "A Day in the Life of a Naropa University Writing Professor" -- it is now: "A Day in the Life of a Monster." This seems like the solution to all my problems (anxieties), which have, since the J.S.A Lowe

Analyzing Syllabi

2012-01-20T11:58:00.001-07:00

during an oil change. I feel industrious. Wait, they want to know if I want to change my air filter. "It's up to you." At the car-wash, I pressed the wrong button and didn't get my "turbo" soak. So they gave me a new code, which is good for up to two weeks. Today I am going skiing. Up the hill, down the hill. Yesterday, we made a lot of art and did some chemistry. Highlights: a plate of

Bombay Gin

2012-01-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Amazing. The new Bombay Gin, the literary magazine published by the Jack Kerouac School, has just been published. The "threshold" issue. Here it is. When I split. It's spine. To: Erin Morrill. Notes: [notes on precipice and exit velocity]:

Visitors from Mississippi and Macomb, Illinois

2012-01-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

A Kate Braverman fan/a scholar of feminist Deleuzean theory/a scholar of collage/a professor of the post-colonial SOUTH: came: to Loveland -- shrugged off their: elbow-patched tweed jackets and sensible pumps [accidentally wrote pimps]: and -- poured concrete/carried bags of concrete ETC: now -- en route -- to the tripped-out, pecan-encrusted, merlot blend-soaked: hearts of their own lives. With

Comment Reversal

2012-01-18T13:44:00.002-07:00

Got overwhelmed with the procedure for moderating comments. Temporarily comment-less until I figure out simpler way. Pathetic really. My nervous system is like a shredded pink ribbon lying on the snow by the side of the road. It's a teddy bear. It's a plimsoll or "black sneaker" that fell out of a bag on the way to school. Don't know what am talking about now. Just home from Academic

Day2: I have to leave in ten minutes

2012-01-18T07:56:00.001-07:00

yet am sitting here like one of the stars of Coronation Street in fluffy pink outer wear, slagging down a cup of tea as fast as possible. It is difficult to reply to comments on my phone and so perhaps I will just say that my first two commenters are: an insomniac lyric essayist and a shaman. So, that seems just about right. Love it. Let's see how it goes. Nine minutes. There will be an urn

No

2012-01-17T23:22:00.002-07:00

Can't seem to figure out how to permit comments. Will stop now. It got all fiddly and bizarre. Back-link that, back-link this.

Now

2012-01-17T23:12:00.001-07:00

I will open my comment stream. Let's see how it goes. Last time, I had a stalker from Dundee and got overwhelmed with replying properly. As an intermediate step, I shall attempt to figure out how to open the actual comment capacity. Can't sleep. Institutions alter the blood chemistry. Today, in Experimental Prose class, I said: "I mean, if you want to write a vampire novel set in

Semester 2: Day 1

2012-01-17T16:44:00.000-07:00

Definitions of cartography/gaming. How do you write an ocean-going text? A text of departure: of "never-arrive." Syllabus fragment for BA: Writing Prose: Navigations in Narrative: