I Write Like...

Here's a cool new website that uses coding to analyze your writing samples, and tells you which famous writer your style most resembles. Evidently, the two pieces I'm working on, Actor's Guide and 4'33", resemble writing by Stephan King and Kurt Vonnegut respectively.

What can I say? You don't always get the answer you want, but it is still interesting.

I Finally Registered for Classes!

I've got to admit that so far the admissions process at CU has fairly frustrated me. For a while I had some sense of which paperwork was coming to me in which order, but now I've got no clue. I'm about ninety-percent certain though that I've done everything I need to before actually arriving there, and most of my efforts currently are being spent communicating with my realtor and finding a place to live in Boulder.

Registering for classes wasn't easy. First I was told I could do it through the online portal, but that didn't work. I kept getting a message that said I didn't have an enrollment appointment. Nobody mentioned anything to me about an enrollment appointment. I called the registrar's office, and the student worker there seemed really confused and transferred me to some other lady's voicemail who then did not return my call. I called again, and after speaking to another very confused worker for a few moments, she interrupted me by saying that I could register at 8 am on Wednesday. Eight am rolled around this morning (twice, in fact, because CO is an hour behind TX), and lo-and-behold, no enrollment appointment. I called back, and the student worker this time listened to me speak for about ten seconds before interrupting me and saying she was going to transfer me to someone else's voicemail. I protested and she answered rather testily: "That's all I can do for you, sir."

Needless to say, my voicemail was not happy, and needless to say, no one called me back. A little while later I called back again, and whoever the student worker was this time put me on hold for two seconds, and when he came back on, told me I could register immediately. He'd just opened me up. Hoila. I think the ease with which he was able to fix it, after all of that, was the most infuriating part! Anyway, the important thing is that I did get registered, and my classes look sweet. Here's what my schedule looks like:

Mon: Contemporary Literary Theory
Advanced Topics in English- Digital Media
Tues: Intro to Literature of the United States
Wed: Fiction Workshop

I am also on a waiting list for Intro to Multicultural Literature. Not sure how many credits I'm supposed to be taking, although the important thing is that I'm enrolled and can drop/add as needed. This all could change anyway once I get there and am able to advise. Also, I still need to receive a schedule of the classes I am teaching. I'm excited though. It's like a fairytale. There is not a single class I'm not thrilled about!

Footnotes in the Age of E-Reading

Like many people, I have long since given in to the attractions of various e-readers. Several birthdays ago my parents bought me a Kindle, and more recently I've started reading on my iPhone as well. They're great in a lot of ways. The Kindle is great for reading long, cumbersome novels like Anna Karenina without have to heft around the actual book, and also for reading outside--no pages to get blown and very little glare on the screen. On the other hand, the iPhone reader, I've found, is excellent for shorter works, stories and poems. It almost makes me look forward to the security line in airports because it gives me just the right amount of time to whip out my phone and read through something. But whether it is the romantic in me or the traditionalist, I still do value the traditional model of reading... You know, books. And I sympathize with those who fear for that mode's future, whether it's from a publisher's perspective, author's, or just the loss of reading texture that many feel the e-reader heralds.

Good news: I have found at least one kind of literature that seems nearly irreconcilable with the e-format, and that is the one which relies heavily on footnotes.

I remember when I first read A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again by David Foster Wallce, all of the sudden I could not resist populating my own writing with footnotes. They were irresistible, providing the perfect opportunity for me to include those clever asides that occurred to me but which didn't actually fit inside the story. As it were, they provided a convenient excuse for me not to have to "kill my darlings" so I've since given them up, but nevertheless, when Wallace uses them they are fun and hilarious, and it's tough to imagine a lot of his work without them.

I read Infinite Jest too as a book and thought the same thing. Although once I started utilizing the iPhone reader and brainstorming things I could buy to read ion it, I made the mistake of purchasing Consider the Lobster as an e-text, and let me tell you about cumbersome.... You have to click on each of the footnotes and it will transport you to the text in question, then once you are finished reading it transports you back. Anyone who has read Wallace knows that sometimes his footnotes go on for multiple pages, and become stories in their own right, and I am not sure why but for some reason reading this way is so much more disorienting than relying on one's eye to shift back and forth. I cannot imagine reading Infinite Jest on an e-reader, and the book I'm reading now, House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski, would also be nearly impossible, I think.

Groundbreaking as e-texts are, it is comforting to know that there are still effects that can only be accomplished on paper.