No pic today. This one is all about the words.
As much as I’ve enjoyed my write-at-home existence over the past half-year, I can get a little crazy sitting in front of the computer all day and only interacting with my Twitter friend (great folks! Love ya!) and my cats (as soon as you tweet about your cat, you are out).
So I’ve found a wonderful solution, one that is placing me one step further of living my dream life of being a combination writer/teacher. Next fall, I start teaching feature writing to undergraduates at the University of Oregon. Twice a week, I’ll drive down to Eugene to talk about storytelling, reporting, and the intersection of the two.
If you do the math you’ll realize that I’m going to spend more time in the car than in the classroom. It is totally worth it for me.
I’ve taught this specific class before. I conceived it last summer after graduating from the University of Iowa, and it went swimmingly — despite dealing with a half-flooded campus, despite having a few students who were graduating, and thus didn’t fully capture the be-all and end-all of my perfectly planned course, despite moving all of my belongings to storage mid-semester.
If you do it right, feature writing can be the pinnacle of good journalism. Do it wrong and you’ve got some really long text that no one will read and which would find better use as the poop tray in a parrot’s cage. I like to think that I do it right. But I wouldn’t begrudge anyone a good recycled A1.
So if you know any journalism majors at the University of Oregon who are looking for a challenging but super-fun course — one that treats the journalistic craft as seriously as novel-writing — tell them about me! You’ll be securing my future. And if I can be completely blunt, and perhaps a little undeservedly cocky, you’ll be securing the future of storytelling in the Willamette Valley at a time when newspapers are going to pot.
Not long after we moved here, I heard about a bus that travels daily between Eugene and Salem. I wonder if that’s still around. Seems like a writing teacher could benefit from the time to sit and write while someone else drives.
Congratulations! Such lucky students!
Congratulations and good luck, Emily!
Thanks so much! I am super-excited. LOVE teaching features. And I’m thrilled to have a reason to explore Eugene. Never would have had a reason to go down.
I’m not so sure about the bus… I love public transport, but I never rely on it for scheduled stuff…. But that’s good to know for day trips!
You’re going to love Eugene. It’s a little tough to navigate at first, but once you figure out their “grand design” it’s a piece of cake.
We truly missed our regular trips down there after Lise graduated.
Congratulations Emily. UO is great (and I say that as a proud alum!). Have fun!
congrats on the new job !
Great news, Emily. Congratulations. Last summer’s course was definitely my favorite class I took at Iowa.
OMG Mike! Thanks for the vote of confidence! I was sure Steve Bloom would take that title from me for you, but he is a lot crankier than I am…
Happy Class! I am sure you will win them over in no time.
What’s the official title of your course, Feature Writing?
Don’t discount public transport. You’ve seen how we do it down here, you just have to relax and roll with the punches. And I would guess the bus system is much more reliable and predictable in The States. Or look into ride share. That’s a long commute, make the best of it! If nothing else you should check it out and do a little post about it.
Feature writing! I’m going to do a lot of what we did in our advanced UI journalism class, but tweak the readings and activities towards the new audience — cheeky Oregonians!
Consider taking the train down to Eugene. It leaves right from Salem, and you can even work on your laptop while en route!
Huge congratulations, Emily! That’s a fantastic and well-deserved stroke of good fortune!
Forgive this belated message. Just finished an awesome and all-consuming 3-wk session Arts Criticism course with Don McLeese. Have you read Dave Hickey’s “Air Guitar”? Good stuff.
Congrats again!