The spring semester is ending. This means it’s time for all of us college professors who teach writing to buckle down and read a huge stack of final projects we constructively evaluate.
It’s a lot of work but it’s also a lot of fun.
Reading someone’s original material (Note: In my case it’s screenplays and TV pilots) gives you a peek into who they are, how they look at the world and reveals any number of unexpected secrets about all sorts of things.
This has nothing to do with talent, skill or the level of excellence on that particular effort.
Every one of the many hundreds of choices a writer must make shows you their point of view, a way of looking at things that is uniquely their own.
This goes not only for writing students but for the writing of writing teachers.
And often we’re not even aware of it.
It’s the stuff we can’t stay out loud.
That’s why this time of year is also always a little bittersweet.
It means saying so long to a group of young people that allowed you to get to know them and trusted you with their innermost thoughts.
Oh, and for those of you who think 20, 21 and 22 year-olds don’t have many of those worth reading or hearing because they spend most of their time looking at their phones, posting on social media and not working your version of hard enough….
GET OVER YOURSELVES.
It’s simply not true. And… you sound like a character in the first act of any number of Clint Eastwood movies.
Even in the few moments they might not be living up to their potential, consider what YOU would be like:
If you were raised with the internet, spent your formative years with Donald Trump in the White House and could access porn at any time of day or night.
Don’t even answer that.
Because we all know the answer to that.
Instead, as I submerge into the thoughts of a new generation who I sense will do just a little bit better than any of us did, I will leave you to think about…
Watching the new third season of HACKS on HBO. (Note: Must we ALWAYS say MAX?)
The first two episodes dropped Thursday night and they’re fab, funny, bawdy and more often than not even a bit moving.
They also speak to that great, timeless generational divide but in a far wittier way than we presently do. And better than I’ve seen done in a very long time.
notes from a chair 