Folks:
I’m a 44 year-old father, a shambling guitarist, and a dedicated teacher of writing. I’m excited, and even pumped, to work with you all this quarter in Writing 50.
This course is designed to help you master the complexities of research writing, and the theme to the class is urban legends, hoaxes and conspiracy theories. This means that our research will be about urban legends, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories, with an eye towards not proving or disproving the existence of things like the Loch Ness Monster and “Lone Gunman Theory” of the Kennedy Assassination, but with an eye towards figuring out how belief works. The point and purpose of this class is Writing and critical thinking, not debunking or proving things.
Now, a few things that you might want/need to know about me.
- I really do believe that learning to write is important, and that it can change you for the better. My writing has made me a more thoughtful, informed person, and I hope it does the same for you.
- I do not “love” to write. Writing is sometimes fun, but it is more often hard. However, I do think that I have learned some things to make the act of writing easier on me and, by extension, you.
- I love popular music. I will, in a given day, listen to Elliot Smith, then to Binary Star, then to Tiesto, then to Beatles, and then to theRamones. All of the above mentioned groups move and interest me.
- I care about my students as people, and as readers, writers and thinkers. I also believe that there is no such thing as a “gifted writer.” We all get linguistic gifts, and the key thing is what we make of them. The best linguistic gifts, minus hard work, don’t amount to much.
- I write each and every day because of my job, and if I didn’t have my job, I would still write every day. I write to think, discover, wonder, and make sense of the world. (As much as this world can be made sense of.)
- I’m deliriously happy when I get to spend time with smart, engaged students in a writing class. There is no better feeling than walking out of a class where things have “just clicked.”
- I’m finishing up the editing of a book called Terra Incognita: Researching the Weird with my friend and colleague Douglas Bradley. So, I spend a lot of time trying to write about writing, and making sure that my grammar and syntax isn’t too awful.
- I’m in love with my wife, my son, and my dog, and I thank heaven that they seem to feel the same way about me.
- I think that 30 Rock and The Big Bang Theory are the funniest shows on TV, which says more about me than the quality of those two very good shows.
- I believe in the power of language totally and utterly. It’s corny, but I do believe that the right words, written at the right time, can change a person’s life.
Anyway, this is my introduction to you, and I look forward to reading you introductions and what you have to say to me in this blog.
Take care,
Chris Dean
