tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983462.post110442081225523898..comments2024-02-12T03:04:46.091-08:00Comments on AttackingtheDemi-Puppets: ULA End-of-Year ReportKing Wenclashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13709139159194279478noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983462.post-1104852097004962752005-01-04T07:21:00.000-08:002005-01-04T07:21:00.000-08:00Well, we are promoting the group, Jeff-- and parti...Well, we are promoting the group, Jeff-- and particularly the name, "ULA." But when it comes to promoting individual writers-- part of our mission-- we can't promote twelve at once. It simply doesn't work; too diffuse and unfocused. Much easier to get one across the finish line first, as the representative of a movement, which is exactly what happened with Elvis. Or-- the Beatles had to break through in the U.S. before all the other Brit bands could even be considered. That's how things work in the world.King Wenclashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13709139159194279478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983462.post-1104780022996396572005-01-03T11:20:00.000-08:002005-01-03T11:20:00.000-08:00I see no reason not to have relations with institu...I see no reason not to have relations with institutions and insiders. Our outsider view has to be helpful to them---if they'd ever care to see themselves as they are---and we gladly use info from inside. We won't change for them, though. If they want to be relevant, they have to teach zeening and include its legends among the heavyhitters.<br /><br />Yeah, I like the idea of playing up the group. Elvis was a name alone, but The Beatles were a group. A group works. Hey, we're the ULA! Who are we? We seem like a buncha regular people to me. Regular as in: normal enough to know there's no time to lose. Right now our line-up on our official website looks a little tame: a list of names. I think we need descriptive blurbs or wrestling titles next to our names. <br /><br />Every other literary line-up reads like : "teaches at...", "is married to...", "vacations in the south of..." Boring! <br /><br />The ULA line-up reads like an electric shock in comparison. We got rock'n'rollers, frycooks, stand-up comedians, anarchists, rockabillies, radio DJs, guys sleeping in the bushes, real courtesans, over-the-top characters, SSI-recipients, bodyguards, models, punk musicians, organizers, businesspeople. We all have ink on our hands that might as well be tattooed there. We have folks from all walks of life---but seize-the-day action types are selected for. There's not a tweed-coat or black-slouch Eggers wannabe among us! (If there is, at least they'll pull the lamp down on themselves at the wrong moment.)Jeff Potterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03790219160140511776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983462.post-1104764277820549282005-01-03T06:57:00.000-08:002005-01-03T06:57:00.000-08:00One of our early members had been kicked out of a ...One of our early members had been kicked out of a writing program for arguing with the prof. Those are the kind of writers I prefer for this outfit!King Wenclashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13709139159194279478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983462.post-1104434514128190562004-12-30T11:21:00.000-08:002004-12-30T11:21:00.000-08:00As I see it, the ULA is a much needed breath of fr...As I see it, the ULA is a much needed breath of fresh air with a strong record of success and impacts. It has a livelier website presence than any MFA program that I’m aware of. Nevertheless, I think you may find support from some folks in the MFA arena, and I think ULA can invigorate and be invigorated by working with some of the more fertile [and socially conscious] energy to be found there, as I believe, Karl, you indicated was at least partly your experience at Rutgers recently.<br /><br />Don’t know if ULA is in contact with Don DeGrazia (American Skin) of Chicago. His ethos (and background, at least in part) seems quite similar to that of ULA, though he trained in an MFA program where he now teaches. Also maybe C. W. Cannon. Good article on them and what Cannon calls “Radical Social Realism” in “Fiction on the Edge” at http://www.webdelsol.com/Other_Voices/AWPPanel.htm. Robert Newman (The Fountain at the Center of the World) might well be supportive too, I would guess. Don’t know, but they seem like they might be natural or at least complimentary fits to ULA with similar values, concerns, outlooks, maybe differently focused.<br /><br />Like DeGrazia, I’ve gone through an MFA program (Southwest Texas State, now Texas State, in San Marcos), and I found it to be, like most things, a mixed experience. Parts of it were wonderful, other parts much less so. There is a lot of criticism of MFA programs within the programs, especially from students but also a considerable amount from professors as well. My experience is too complex (and maybe too banal) to go into here I think, but as frustrating as the experience often was, it was also valuable in a variety of ways and, at least to me, not something I would wish to give up lightly.<br /><br />In general, the main problems with MFA programs, as I see it, are similar to some of the main problems of universities on whole: the lack of democracy, the disconnect from much of the populace, and from many of the most meaningful and urgent issues and realities…. <br /><br />And the main positives I think generalize too from university and college environments at their best to MFA programs: the resources (albeit limited, in serious ways) and events, the more-or-less open discussions, the focus, the more-or-less shared general interests, and other personal and professional opportunities in and around and related to the institution and the environment. The opportunity to participate in various ways. Lots to criticize, lots to challenge, lots to be challenged by in building a livelier and more hospitable, more equitable culture—which, if I’m not mistaken, seems to me to be a large part of what the ULA is about. For sure, the ULA’s roots are not in MFA programs, a healthy and needed reality, an exciting venture. <br /><br />I agree with Jeff that there’s a lot to be said “for putting out front the group” rather than focusing on “stars”…. You don’t have to listen to Retsin to think that “stars they all fall from the sky.” On the other hand it makes sense to me to ally with other populist forces, some fairly prominent. Would Ani DiFranco use some ULA writing in a song, as a song? Can ULA work with folks at Znet/Zmag to grow and reach out as an institution or force…and so on.<br /><br />Tony ChristiniAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com