Re: a few answers

WILL HOCHMAN (hochman@uscolo.edu)
Fri, 06 Nov 1998 16:07:45 -0700 (MST)

I don't know if Scottie's postion is theory driven or reflecting a lack of
knowing English teachers worth loving.  

I was lucky to have a poet, Richard Hugo,
teach me both the art of writing and the art of teaching.  Richard Hugo
was the Director of Creative Writing at the University of Montana and was
a poet who risked sentimentality in ways paraallel to Salinger.  Hugo may
not be on everyon'e's list of beloved poets, but he was well known and
widely appreciated during his lifetime.  He was not only the editor of
the Yale Younger Series for a while, guggenheim fellow, national book
award nominee, etc, he was a kind man who gave me fatherhood and love at a
time when I needed it the most.  He wrote a book on teaching writing _The
Triggering Town_ and if anyone is interested,contact me off list and I'll 
send you a xerox of an article I wrote on Hugo's pedagogy.

And if you read any of Richard Hugo's  poetry and can take my word
on behalf of his masterful teaching insights, then you don't have to waste
pixels on scottie's crusty playfullness and may get to the poetry of it
instead.

will