Do you have a nickname?
Well, Jordy is my nickname and preferred name. My
"professional" name is Jord/ana Rosenberg, that's what's listed at my
workplace.
What do you like to read?
I like to reread Karl Marx's _Capital_ as often as possible.
I did my undergraduate thesis (in 1994!) on Butler's
Xenogenesis trilogy and I (quite typically) still love her.
History books about transitional or revolutionary moments -
how the combination of contingency and planning comes to shape history.
The collected love letters of leftists (though these are
often very depressing: Mayakovsky, Luxemburg, etc.)
poetry (broadly, but usually avant-garde)
What kind of stories do you write?
Experimenting with hybrid forms of philosophy and/or actual
history, told through fiction.
Often overloaded with description - trying to work on that.
How would you describe your personality?
I am a worrywart.
What would you do this summer if you hadn't been accepted to
Clarion?
I haven't had summer plans in decades, but weirdly this
summer I had a ton of plans.
I had plans to participate in a faculty solidarity delegation to
Palestine with the Palestinian American Research Center (postponed for next
year). And go to this writer's residency in Assisi
When I got into Clarion I shifted gears.
Who will miss you most while you're in San Diego (cats,
kids, partner, boss, coworkers)?
Friends. <redacted section pertaining to personal life>
Have you participated in an intensive writing workshop
before?
No
What scares you most about Clarion?
I'm 44 (about to turn 45), so the age gulf is a bit of an
unknown potential stressor.
Realizing my writing secretly sucks.
Someone said sharing a bathroom. Yup.
A twin bed after all these years?
What do you do to relax or for recreation?
Walking with friends, swimming laps, staring blankly.
What 1-2 essential things will you bring to Clarion besides
your laptop, watergun, and espresso maker?
I believe my hot water bottle will be making an appearance.
What is your ideal career?
I'm very happy to be an English professor already, but I
would like very much to interact more with
other writers, rather than strictly academics.
What else do you want us to know about you?
Hm. This was quite enough for now!
I've found science fiction fandom to be a wonderful bridge for the age gap, and there's a lot of learning I've seen going back and forth in the SFF circles I run in.
ReplyDeleteAre you part of the Octavia Butler Legacy Network?
(Also, yeah, twin beds, ew! haha)
this is going to sound ancient, but I have looked many times at the Octavia Butler Legacy Network website but cannot figure out what "button" to press to join it. Then I decided it was by secret invitation and gave up.
DeleteThere's a Facebook for it! https://www.facebook.com/octaviabutler.legacy.1
DeleteI thank you for your remedial help here. Actually I had liked this page long ago - but it seemed like to join the webpage it was a different thing. Maybe when we are in San Diego you can show me how to work the internet :)
DeleteIt's pretty much that--they haven't been very active recently and it can get very "blink and you'll miss it" at times XD Moya and Ayana are on different coasts so it can make organizing a little hard, too.
Delete"Sharing a bathroom": I KNOW. I haven't had a proper roommate in a few years (and had one traumatically awful one). I'm hoping that we all have the healthy, grown-up communications skills to handle this with grace, but being a human in close quarters with other humans sometimes defies rationality. I'm nervous, too.
ReplyDeleteI have a roommate now after MANY years of not having one and I am appalled at the differences I have to put up with. STOP SQUEEZING THE TOOTHPASTE IN THE MIDDLE CLEAN THE SINK WASH THE MIRRORS BEFORE I TELL YOU TO WHY IS THE TOILET PAPER FACING THE OTHER WAY STOP TWISTING THE WIRE ON MY HAIRDRYER and so far I've only been able to feel adult enough to discuss two items on that list.
DeleteI so picture a Clarion riot involving me and a toothbrush left in the kitchen sink. This stuff is like zombie holocausts: it really really happens.
DeleteCool, I am not the only teacher (IB school, Italian Lit). So, if you see me taking a lecturing tone, please do headbutt me.
ReplyDeletewhere do you teach?
DeleteInternational Baccalaureat School, in Genoa. I teach the last two years, the Diploma Program... Mostly Italian Literature, but I get to teach 4 works in translation, and some are from English Lit...
DeleteI'm a former teacher. Switching back to the student seat (for my graduate degree in library science) was a bit surreal.
DeleteCool. It's exciting and surprisingly nerve wracking to consider being a student again, isn't it.
DeleteCool. It's exciting and surprisingly nerve wracking to consider being a student again, isn't it.
DeleteAnd oh: what writing residence in Assisi?
ReplyDeletea friend who had been to Ginestrelle set me up with a little stint there (favor from someone with far more power than I have ;)).
DeleteSounds great. Umbria is really a great place for writing, and I speak from personal experience...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJordy, I attended Clarion at 53. I think age makes you better able to handle Clarion rather than less able. One has already had successes in life and many failures, some big, so while getting a bad crit is scary and painful for the young'uns, it's no big deal for an older person. —Shauna Roberts (Secretary, Clarion Board of Directors)
ReplyDeleteI love Octavia E. Butler! Still need to finish the Xenogenesis trilogy though. #failing
ReplyDelete@Jordy, if it's any consolation, you won't be the oldest Clarionite this year. Also, a certain Mrs. Ann Leckie was in her 40's when she first went to Clarion (West, in her case). Things turned out all right for her.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wish I'd applied back in my 20's, but I'm just as excited now as I would have been back then (well, more "blown away/giddy/dumbfounded than excited).
Like they say, "you're never too old to go to space camp, dude".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiIDeY8Xffo
P.S. *love* this movie. "You brought me flours?" Priceless.
never too old to go to space camp! a good motto :)
DeleteAnd also... for teachers is very important to 'humble up' and get to the other side, from time to time. It's so easy to forget how hard it is to be a 'learner'. Also, Socrates was learning to play the flute in his last moments wasn't he? (just in case someone here wants to make a toast with a bottle of cicuta).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI think it's actually very important for one's process as a teacher to remember what it feels like to be a student. This seems like a very important exercise.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete