I Don’t Get It

Editorial for the first issue of Infinity’s Kitchen, also featured in two 100 level writing courses.

Maryville College and Ryerson University. 2011.


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I Don't Get It

For the first issue of Infinity’s Kitchen, I wrote an editorial essay. In it, I said, about literature and art that “some things fail to be self-explanitory.” I talked about barriers to understanding, but concluded that “understanding isn’t everything. Art is not science.” I suppose that the essay hit a nerve, because it has been reused twice now, as reading material in undergraduate English coursework. First, it was taught by my own college writing professor, at my Alma Mater. Now, for the spring semester of 2011, the essay will be used in the course material for a 100 level course, “The Nature of Narrative I” taught by Jenny Sampirisi, at Ryerson University, in Ontario, Canada.

From the course description, it sounds like an interesting class.

"Life without stories? Inconceivable. The moment we ask, "Who am I?" or "Where did I come from?" narrative steps in, giving shape to our identity and experience. This foundational course introduces students to fictional forms across a variety of historical periods and media in order to examine the underlying mechanisms of storytelling: narrative's goals, inner structures, strategies, and rhetorical effects. Texts may include stories, novels, poetry, and drama as well as cinematic and digital texts."