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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2006 23:46:15 -1000<br>
From: "M. Thomas Gammarino" <gammarino@gmail.com><br>
To: mike.atienza@ucr.edu<br>
Subject: censorship in the creative writing workshop<br>
X-Junkmail-Status: score=60/65, host=sentoku.ucr.edu<br><br>
Hello,<br>
<br>
I am a PhD student at The University of Hawaii (MFA from The New School
2004). I'm currently doing research in creative writing pedagogy,
and to that end I had hoped to get in contact with some of the MFA
teachers there. If you could forward this message onto them, I'd
greatly appreciate it. <br>
<br>
The research I'm doing grew out of an experience I had once in a fiction
workshop. As part of an exercise, I'd conjured up a rather
unsavoury character--what I thought of as a villain--and as a result of
his unsavouriness I was in effect asked to withdraw myself from the class
on the grounds that such writing would "offend people" and made
for a "hostile learning environment." I was totally
nonplussed at the time. I had sought to create an unsavoury
character and evidently succeeded too well. That incident got me
thinking however about the degree to which the writing workshop is or is
not coterminous with the free marketplace of ideas. I've always
assumed that censorship of creative writing = bad, but perhaps it can get
more complicated in the workshop context? I mean what do you do if
you have one gay student and one student whose work continually demeans
gays, even if it is in the guise of fiction? How does the first
ammendment fit into all this? As a conducor of workshops, have you
had any experiences along these lines? Has some form of censorship
ever seemed to be in order in a workshop situation? Does your
university have any specific policies regarding these sorts of concerns (
i.e. a "hostile learning environment" clause)? Do these
policies ever come into conflict with the first ammendment, the open
marketplace, or your own convictions about art?<br>
<br>
I'd greatly appreciate anything you might have to contribute. I
will of course keep your identity (and the university's) anonymous.
We could even fill out the proper human subjects interview forms if it
makes you more comfortable. <br>
<br>
Many many thanks in advance,<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
M. Thomas Gammarino<br>
<a href="mailto:gammarino@gmail.com">gammarino@gmail.com</a><br>
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<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Mike Atienza<br>
Student Services<br>
Departments of Dance, Music & Theatre<br>
ARTS 130<br>
University of California, Riverside<br>
900 University Avenue<br>
Riverside, CA 92521<br>
(951) 827-3343<br>
(951) 827-4651 FAX<br><br>
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