6 atr

As Nial and Kevin previously articulated, I feel that my time here has oscillated between a frenzy and a drone.

My place as a student has been constantly redefined and repurposed from the time that I started school. I feel most comfortable in this mindset but also the most limited. It is easy to assume a way of thinking wherein you are basically a worker bee.

I have not felt out my role as a teacher. At this point I feel that I am going through the expected motions. I have only taught one lecture here, it went well but I did not feel any different after than I had before. I think the teacher mindset is really just a 180 from the student one, populating the power instead of being subservient to it.

Independent scholar is probably my favorite mindset. I have always placed high value on striving to be self reliant and there is no pursuit more independent than digging through the library stacks in search of knowledge.

Research collaborator is a mindset I can say I have hardly inhabited and don't know much about. I suppose this only goes as an example of the liberal arts people to work independently. I have never liked to ask someone for help, I don't like being beholden to someone, even if it is just in perception or act.

Life is complicated but trying to split everything into equal points of value will lead nowhere. So I believe that we all will believe what we want, and that the framework of it all can hardly be affected by one individual.

5

Discussing collaboration and it's different mediums of presentation led my interest to peak when the blogpost discussed the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank. I agree with Nial in that crowdsourcing is the best way to establish a uniform trust, but have to say that traditional collaboration represents a more important position in the University.

I believe the discussion on co authorship in the liberal arts is spot on. The traditional understanding of writing is that it is a solitary thing. Lonely and alone you are meant to face your thoughts and be able to produce. Unlike the ordered Sciences, where different technicians can work out different aspects of a problem, in liberal arts the author controls all means of access. The privacy involved and the loss of potential collaboration is sad, but hope remains in things like instant visual translation technology and other methods of instantaneous, non mutual language discourse.

Blog Post 4-Jennifer Schrauth

Like Mike, I have also been doing research for my "New Woman" literature class, and the research tools I have discovered through this course have been invaluable. Every university has different resources available to them, different navigation tools, and different tips and tricks, so this class has helped me transition from researching at my undergraduate institution to researching at Virginia Tech in a smooth, hastle-free way. Simply learning how to navigate the library's webpage, to search using Summon and Addison, and see what databases are available to us and our students has been useful in determining the scope of research available.


Module 3 was also really useful. Naturally as English students we are responsible for knowing MLA formatting inside and out, but it was nice to look at other citation styles and see how they differ from MLA; having some familiarity with these other styles, and the resources to explore them further, not only helps to prepare us for jobs that might become available to us, but to work with our students using different citation formats.

Blog Post 6-Jennifer Schrauth

Like Dana, I'm very comfortable with my role as a student. I've been a student consecutively for the greater part of my life after all. I like to read, I like to discuss, I like to attend classes and hear teachers talking about what they know best; I like to learn. I like to learn a lot. And I like to learn knowing that the person teaching me or guiding me or instructing me is passionate about the subject. However, like Kevin, I'm also very excited about assuming the role of instructor. Teaching has always been something I've been interested in--both because my mother was a teacher and because I've had so many wonderful teachers throughout the years--and when I was in college, several of my courses incorporated pedagogy readings and ideas. While at times I feel anxious about my ability to perform this role well--perhaps more anxious than I ever am about my ability to be a student, though my final thesis is a source of stress--it is compatible with my love of learning, education, and my background with rhetoric and composition. I don't really think of myself as a researcher in terms of a label hat I would give myself, though I obviously read a lot to keep up with the fields of rhetoric and composition and creative writing. I consider this less "research" and more informally as "keeping up" with everything that's going on in the world.

I definitely feel that my identity as a student and instructor are very much interlinked. If I did not enjoy being a student, I can't imagine that I would enjoy teaching. The joy of teaching, for me, is the idea of helping others to enjoy learning and being a student, and encouraging students to learn and think in new and different ways. That being said, in some ways you are forced to present yourself differently when you're in front of a classroom than when you're a student in the classroom, and in that way you are assuming a slightly different personality, and certainly a different role.

Blog Post 7-Jennifer Schrauth

Like Soraya and others mentioned, being at a University, especially as a student but also as a teacher or faculty member, afford you lots of opportunities to hear about good things to read, new research being published, publishing and marketing opportunities, as well as some funding help for attending conferences like AWP. In college I used social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to advertise events I was reading at or had helped organize, as well as journals I was working on and my recent publications. Now I use those social networking sites to keep up with literary journals that post publishing opportunities, links to creative and academic works, and to exchange information with colleagues. I'm also friends with many of the professors I had when I was in college, and they have been a great resource to me for teaching advice as well as new information in the fields of creative writing, composition, and rhetoric. They are constantly posting updates about things going on in their classes, posting links to pertinent articles and book reviews, and talking about cool resources for people in the field.

For creative writers, being involved in the professional community naturally entails writing and publishing as regularly as possible. While I'm here at Virginia Tech I will be working toward a greater portfolio, as well as sending out short stories for publication. I have and will continue to contribute to literary journals like the Minnesota Review and its associated blog.

Blog Post 8-Jennifer Schrauth

I was actually mildly surprised by a lot of these cases. Like Robert , I thought it was strange that the news program was deemed not in fair use for airing a segment of the Chaplin film; it seemed like such a small percentage and it was for the purpose of supplementing a news story, and since the news is generally thought to be a component of educating the public, it seems like it wouldn't be overly harmful. Also, I don't think the news profited financially from airing that film segment. I was also a little surprised by the case in which Salinger successfully sued another author for creating a character modeled after Holden Caulfield. Obviously Holden is a very famous character, and Catcher in the Rye is a classic book; I don't know how smart or original it is to model a character after one so well known, but that being said, I think there are so many characters that have been created and so many volumes of fiction that have been published that it is difficult to claim full intellectual property for a single character or character type. Though Holden is an iconic character, he wasn't an entirely new character; Salinger didn't create a new "type" of character, he just put an interesting spin on one. I think the author he sued should be called unoriginal and unimaginative, but not a copyright infringer.

As an author, I certainly want to think that I'm coming up with something new and interesting when I write, and to think that someone else would rip off that darling creation of mine and call it their own is certainly infuriating, especially knowing that people do it and get away with it all the time. However, at some point stuff does enter into the common sphere, and sometimes copyright laws go too far, in my opinion, from preventing people from using those things. Especially when thinking of writing for publication, authors are so limited in the way they can use brand names, song lyrics, refer to other people's work, quote other people's work, draw from other people's work, etc., even if it overtly being attributed to that original author. This I think less protects the original author or creator and more prevents others from authoring what those original works inspire.

Blog Post 8 - Hockman

Based on the Fair Use copyright cases, I will be careful how and what I use. The factor that really surprises me is that in most cases, the case involved materials that were unpublished. To me, the use of someone's unpublished work is a no-brainer. Don't do it! Also, I know that it can be very difficult to obtain permission from the original author(s) to use materials. But, in many cases, taking the time and trouble to obtain this permission is worth it. Sometimes, as I have heard with the case with T.S. Eliot's most recent wife, Valerie, it is very difficult to obtain certain rights or even obtain access to his unpublished work. I am not in a position to claim support for or against this, but am merely pointing out this issue. In addition, I am surprised that authors are naive enough to use materials that are not published, or use materials for governmental or campaign use. Nothing good can come from slander whether the issue is fair use or not.

I would assume the concept will be something of which I will need to be careful. Although, I would hope that the uses I will have for miscellaneous material will not be in such a way that it affects is illegal or "wrong." I intend to make fair use of any materials. But, I will be careful!

Blog#7

Like Robert, Jamie, and Michelle mentioned, being in an MFA program keeps me up to date with conferences and publishing opportunities, as well as teaching opportunities. I also plan to attend the AWP conference in February. Like Michelle, I use Poet’s & Writers to research literary journals and also used it while looking for MFA programs. Like Dana, I use LinkedIN though I plan to use it more when I have more of a reason to promote myself and my work. I have used social networking sites like Facebook for certain promotional work (such as to help publicize an independent press that specializes in publishing emerging women writers—my short story was also published in this journal). Facebook is great when planning events that need large turnouts (such as benefits).

I tend to create my own opportunities depending on how I feel at the time. I used to be a huge supporter of Idealist.org when I was more interested in non-profit work. I used NYFA (New York Foundation of the Arts) when I was interested in teaching artist jobs and writing grants. I used SIT (School for International Training) when looking for international work. My career interest is quite vast so I am not too concerned about the competitiveness of certain fields (i.e: Academia). I am more concerned with doing what I love in that moment.

Blog#8

I cannot say that the results surprised me as I feel that the law is completely arbitrary and pointless most of the time. I agree with Robert that it ideas are created collectively and it is highly unlikely that any person is the only person to ever have come up with anything. Deciding whether something is truly a parody, ‘transformative,’ or ‘commercial’ are dangerously subjective notions. I also agree with Jamie when he says that many of these cases have to do with money and whether the court feels you should or should not be able to make money off said use of someone else’s material.

Having said this, as a writer, there is nothing worse than the idea of having your words stolen from you. I read recently that the premises for The Matrix and Terminator were written originally by a black woman, Sophia Stewart. I don’t really know how credible this is, but knowing the politics surrounding publishing, this would not surprise me. I do not, however, see any problem with taking something that is already published and creating your own artistic interpretation to that piece such as in the cases we read about. I also don’t fully comprehend the purposes of stringent copyright issues related to education. These laws make it very difficult to disseminate less popular opinions and allow outdated and corporate media to do much of the teaching. For example, I was very interested in assisting independent filmmakers publicize their work to wider audiences but was soon discouraged by how difficult it is to find copies of such materials, particularly because of their high costs. These high costs are also related to copyright laws that do not allow individuals to purchase certain independent films for ‘commercial use’ only for educational use making the costs very expensive (as it is expected that these films will be purchased by libraries and universities not individual educators/people simply wanting to help promote). Similarly, I would argue that downloading songs illegally actually helps many less known musical artists get their music spread to a wider audience.

Post #8

As Jamie pointed out, the outcomes of many cases relate to any potential impact on the copyright holders’ profit. This seems a commonsense litmus for fair use. I was particularly interested in the satire and parody examples because http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifI have been writing satiric posts for the Minnesota Review’s blog this semester. However, I am in no danger of violation because my use of pop culture or literature references usually take the form of direct parody. In cases of emulation (like the rewritten Dr. Seuss), I will remember to transform the material appropriately. I am glad to have reviewed these examples because parody and satire are my favorite approaches to creative non-fiction. I am a member of The Daily Show generation. Since Saturday Night Live was mentioned, I wonder how much of the Daily Show and Colbert Report’s budget and resources are devoted to purchasing rights or determining what crosses the line where satiric borrowing is concerned. I imagine writers for such shows have little wiggle room because their product is for profit whereas, as an educator, I have more leeway in some cases. For example, I once formatted an oral presentation lesson to mimic American Idol. According to these examples, my use of the show format was fine in an educational setting because it would not impact the show’s profits negatively. When SNL does a Jeopardy sketch, however, I’m sure they have to pay for using the format.

Uren Blog 8

I was surprised by the finding in Roy Export Co. Estab. of Vaduz v. Columbia Broadcasting Sys., Inc. in the Stanford Copyright and Fair Use case summaries. Apparently, a news program used less than 2% of a Chaplin film to accompany a story about Chaplin’s death and a court determined that it was not fair use. Contrast that with a news program using a full 12.5% of a video for a news story (also not fair use). In the CBS case, the judgment was qualitative: the court decided that the portion of film used was "substantial and part of the ‘heart’ of the film.” That kind of assessment muddies the waters. It’s much easier to work with hardline percentages rather than ad hoc arguments about the “heart” of a work.

As a researcher, I may run into problems with copyrighted material. At a conference, I used portions of a copyrighted comedy performance, maybe a full tenth of it. I didn’t worry about infringing on rights then, and I’d rather not worry about it now or later.

A tenant of my religion is active disbelief in intellectual property, because we hold that human psyches themselves are not the sole possessions of individuals, but are constituted by and indebted to a community. Therefore, we believe that works come to being through the activation by a socially constructed self of communally created art or knowledge. So, as a writer committed to my faith as well as my craft, I intend to openly antagonize the neoliberal project that seeks to attach privatized ownership and quantified value to all human works, including those which could advance human understanding and empathy.

Blog Post 8: Jamie Rand

The parody cases listed here are kind of a surprise to me. I've always been curious about what constitutes parody--having grown up on Weird Al, and wondering how he never got his pants sued off--and the list of these cases follows a pattern. A number of the "important factors" concern themselves with how the parody was handled; it seems to me that there can be small similarities, or the parody itself must "poke fun at or ridicule" the original work. If neither of those occur, the parody loses fair use, such as in this case: "Not a fair use: An author mimicked the style of a Dr. Seuss book while retelling the facts of the O.J. Simpson murder trial in The Cat NOT in the Hat! A Parody by Dr. Juice. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the book was a satire, not a parody, because the book did not poke fun at or ridicule Dr. Seuss. Instead, it merely used the Dr. Seuss characters and style to tell the story of the murder. Important factors: The author’s work was nontransformative and commercial. (Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P. v. Penguin Books USA, Inc., 109 F.3d 1394 (9th Cir. 1997).)" (heh, and just to be on the safe side, here's the citation: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/9-c.html#2) So far as I understand it, then, according to fair use, "nontransformative" satire is different from parody. That makes sense, I suppose. But mostly, it seems to me that it comes down to a question of money ("commercial," as that example says): if someone should have made money for their work, and they didn't, then you're in violation. As for how those examples affect me: they've made me paranoid. The last thing I want to do is get sued for trying to show my students examples of good writing. The TEACH Act spells out what we can and can't do as teachers, but even still, as that website says, "It is also important to note that TEACH does not supersede fair use or existing digital license agreements." So I guess my plan is to make sure I don't step on anyone's toes while I'm talking about comma splices. Also, it turns out that Weird Al "seek[s] permission of the songwriters before recording their parodies." Who woulda thought?

Blog Post 7 - Hockman

In an effort to remain professional, I will not use any specific social media site (such as Facebook) to build my online identity. However, in an effort to stay or get connected professionally, I look at various university websites that include faculty and graduate student online curriculum vitae. I enjoy looking at current projects going on with certain scholars, such as Antonio Damasio for example.

To be honest, there really are not any websites, blogs, listservs, or other online groups that I follow professionally. For conferences, I usually look at the website at the University of Pennsylvania or follow the listserv within our department. My advisor, Paul Heilker, will also send me links. Some point soon, I will join certain professional or scholarly affiliations such as the National Council of Teachers of English. This semester has been a whirlwind, and at some point, I will get it together and become a part of these fancy pants things.

You know, until we did this module, I slightly planned to just search online library databases for new materials. In addition, I planned to look at the publications of different scholarly organizations. I now know that I need to Google more stuff - oh world wide web, let me embrace you with my human arms.

Blog Post #7: Dana

I have spent my entire online life ensuring that I avoid an internet footprint. I am a member of a variety of social networking tools and I have a series of miscellaneous internet accounts and identities but you won’t find me on any of those sites (unless I direct you to them) because I've protected myself from being searchable.

I'm privy to the belief that social networking sites are the go-to searches for the job market, and I don't intend for my entire career to exist solely within the sphere of academia. So when I do "go public" (with goodness knows what), I will rely heavily, if not solely, on social networking accounts (specifically Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook since they are the most popular social media forums). I’d host a big linking party to all these sites via an about.me page which would also provide an opportunity for me to upload/link to a resume, and would direct viewers to (now hypothetical) future publishments and collaborative efforts.

Getting your name out there seems important, so like everybody else I'll be looking for conference opportunities via sites like Upenn's Call For Papers which I believe we were directed to in an earlier module. Lately I've been receiving a pretty solid influx of opportunities for conferences thanks to the VT English departments listserv, so for now I'll focus on those. I've never had a problem with keeping on top of media trends, and now I have about two columns worth of bookmarked material chock full of everything I could ever want to know about literary academia.

It's good to keep all this stuff in mind, but for me, creating an online identity is a project for a different day.

Blog Post 7: Kevin Runs Third Person Into the Ground and Still is Not Silent Bob

When I Google myself, I usually end up with a list of the name-faming director's latest antics. I have to be very specific to dig up anything remotely related to my budding scholarly career, and even then the online list is far from complete (apparently subject to the whims of an undergrad-run paper).

My plan to disseminate my digital scholarly presence and stay "in the loop" includes eventually joining MLA, CCCC(no P), and LinkedIn. Like Robert, I really enjoy conferences...and plan to submit to many. I used to pay dues to the American Philosophical Association so I could attend their big annual do in Philadelphia (2009) and New York (2010) with Concord University's Philosophical Society; I did not present, but I enjoyed the talks immensely.

Since publication is integral to staying afloat in the creative writing field, much of my connection to the creative writing world happens through researching publications through online databases and resources. I learn more about fellow writers and aspects of writing and publishing through Poets & Writers magazine and website. Their website allows me to participate in forums and access databases of contests and publications. To understand which magazines are currently most popular and to learn about brand new publications, I often go to duotrope.com. Here I can also discern which magazines to which I should send work.

Like Robert, a conference I plan to attend as long as I can afford going is the AWP conference. This conference is the largest meet-up of writers all over the country. There are hundreds of seminars and speakers and nearly thousands of literary magazine, MFA program, and publishing house booths. This conference is essential for the creative writer who wants to make use of every possible resource to publishing, gaining further education, and making connections with writers, agents, and publishing houses/magazines.

The fact that I joined an MFA program allows me connections to the creative writing world. Attending readings by visiting writers is one way that the MFA program at Virginia Tech allows me to connect with the writing world beyond Virginia Tech, and allows me to spend time outside of the classroom getting to know professors and fellow students. Taking advantage of workshops these visiting writers typically offer for Virginia Tech MFA students has especially enriched my work, my knowledge of publishing, as well as my feelings of connectedness to published writers.

Jamie Rand: Blog Post 7

I don't really have many strategies that involve my professional community. The only strategy I really have, and the one that's gotten me this far (which is to say, into an MFA program) is coming to know my professors, asking them if they'd like to meet up, then picking their brains about the field. As an example, when I was a year from graduation back at the University of Toledo, I had lunch with a professor of mine and asked him about grad school. His reply was that I'd have money enough for food and rent and that was all and I'd do nothing but read and write. He pointed me in the direction of a few different schools, gave me the names of other professors who could help me with the application (personal statements, etc.), and gave me some general tips about applying. It was enough of a lead for me to start, and now here I am. (By the way, his summary of grad school was absolutely correct.) I guess it wasn't the most efficient way to go about being a part of academia (undergrad took me a whopping twelve years; by the end of my tenure there I felt like Van Wilder), but it worked for me. During that time, I came across the Poets and Writers website, which was a real boon (and which, sadly, I haven't looked at in months). Other than that, though, I can't really list any other websites, blogs, listservs (I can't even define that term), or anything else. Mostly I just read a lot of contemporary stuff, admire what I read, and learn about writing from that.

Uren Blog 7

On the scholarly side of my nascent little career, I have—though I don’t much now—follow the Penn CFP list. Through it, I’ve found a couple of conferences to which I submitted abstracts and at which I presented scholarship and read fiction.

I remain passingly interested in comedy—its relationship to critical engagements with mediated texts and especially the opportunity it presents to analyze psychical economies. Sean McCarthy runs a site, The Comic’s Comic, where he shares and discusses much about popular comedy, all centered around stand-up, the medium with which I’m most preoccupied as a researcher. A site like The Comic’s Comic points the way to a lot of popular material that supplements research in comedy. For the scholarly resources necessary to conduct inquiry in humor studies, I have joined the Popular Culture Association. As Miller says in the module, the conference is, in fact, a whole lot of fun; I helped the topics run the gamut by presenting a psychoanalytic reading of shit in Louis CK’s Chewed Up.

At the PCA/ACA conference in San Antonio last year, I was most committed to attending sessions about TV. You find a bunch of people at least tangentially interested in the stuff you’re interested in. Conversations ensue. While my interest in TV is waning, I still keep tabs on Jonathan Gray’s The Extratextuals, Jason Mittell’s Just TV, and Christine Becker’s News for TV Majors. A good example of why I don’t get excited to participate in online communities: some time ago I posted a comment on Gray’s blog that I now find annoying. It was cool to directly communicate with a scholar whose work I’ve found interesting and who works in a program I would covet were I to jump ship for a Communications department. But I’m a bit too self-conscious to actually enjoy those kinds of exchanges.

Finally, as a creative writer, I have also presented at conferences. I’m pretty sure that if it isn’t AWP, it doesn’t count. Although, maybe not. At the Arkansas Philological Association conference, of all places, I read some short shorts that started a conversation with Trudy Lewis, who’s a real-deal writer and professor at Missouri. Nice, too. (I also got to hear Padma Viswanathan read her superb story "Transitory Cities".) At PCA/ACA, I read a story to two friends and three strangers. So it goes. We grabbed drinks after and talked about influences and so on.

Beyond these loosely strategized endeavors, I’m probably far too insular a scholar. More so now than before, too. I’ve lined up a couch in Chicago for AWP, though.

Quinn's Blog Seven

I think that the professional community most relevant to my work as a writer is the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP). The AWP has a yearly conference at which all sorts of writers meet and go to readings and panels on things such as "Memoir Without a Net" and "The Care and Feeding of Long Poems." In order to participate in my professional community, I intend to attend this year's AWP conference in Chicago, Illinois. Yes, it will be freezing and I will have to take a plane. But the cold and flying are worth learning about chapbook publishing, "keeping a debut book alive", and the "relevance of print culture in a digital age." I know nothing about creating a website, other than I need to have one. So I plan to enlist a person to help me create a website. Having a website and/or blog is tricky, though. Because some journals won't accept work that's been previously published online, even in a blog. Another way to stay connected with the professionals in my field is through Facebook groups such as "Writers' Colony," where people share calls for submissions and ask and answer questions about publishing or writer's block or whether or not the metaphor about the chandelier and the ovaries is working in a story. On "Writers' Colony," which is a private group, so I don't know how to provide a link to it, people even ask questions about whether certain character names are good. People swap poems and stories. Attending conferences such as the AWP conferences seems like a good way to stay up to date in my field. Another way to stay up to date is by reading articles in The American Poetry Review or Poetry Magazine. Hugely important to staying up-to-date, however, is reading the work of my contemporaries. Reading first books. Reading what's been published in print and online journals.

Blog Post 6: Kevin Juggles in his Sleep (he also grinds his teeth)

Like Nial, I sometimes find myself flapping between 3 roles--feathers askew and rudders akimbo, like some sort of wild p(h)easant. The student role can be quite taxing: write the seminar paper--write the annotated bibliography, partially duplicate the annotated bibliography for another class days before it is due for the former class--another short paper and a long one for the survey--and a final portfolio to work toward for yet another class.

The nascent professor role is, for me, the most joy-filled. Designing my composition assignments and working toward a complete syllabus has been a fun process.

The role of researcher is almost inseparable from the role of professor, which is almost inseparable from the role of student--all viewed within the context of our triad of concerns at VT for the next couple years. I do not consider the dichotomy to be false, but maybe elusive. The three roles are interdependent and symbiotic, in my mind.

Blog Post 6 - Mike Roche

I think the identity I feel most comfortable with is "independent scholar." Probably the one I feel least comfortable with is "research collaborator." I'm adequate in the "student" department; however, one of the reasons I seek an MFA is because I can feel myself reaching a threshhold for the amount of academic course material I am willing to engage in. I don't yet feel comfortable with the "teacher" one, as I've never taught before, but I am excited to try to be a good one. But back to the one I identify with most: "independent scholar." I consider myself one of these because I read literature. Like Michelle, I prefer reading primary texts over the secondary ones which analyze the primary ones so, in this sense, I wouldn't consider myself an aggressive independent scholar.

If you consider poems and other kinds of art "research," then I suppose I am a research collaborator because I'm always sharing my findings--i.e. my poems--with other researchers--i.e. other poets. I think it is very cool to browse through the Virginia Tech Electronic Theses and Dissertations and find creative work from MFA students who've published and graduated. I also like how I can use ProQuest to obtain copies of creative dissertations from some of my favorite poets at other universities throughout the country. When I think about the fact that I'll be publishing a creative dissertation at the end of my three years at Virginia Tech, I become more comfortable considering myself a research collaborator.

Blog Post 6

My current identity at Virginia Tech seems to reside between student and independent scholar. By independent scholar I mean writer/poet. I do not identify myself as a researcher as I don’t purposefully seek out academic research regularly. I turn to academic research only when necessary. I do see its advantages and have enjoyed discovering how many academic articles and essays I have found on poetry through this course. However, I enjoy reading actual primary texts by poets and other creative writers and writing my own work more than I enjoy researching secondary materials on poetry.

I don’t identify myself as being a teacher yet as I am not currently teaching. I am moving gradually into that identity through working with a mentor (who is a teacher) and through my pedagogy class.

To a degree I believe separating these ideas out is impossible, as I conduct informal research almost daily through Google and Wikipedia searches. In my own life I am constantly reading up on certain phenomena I find interesting. And so, I’m always researching. I’m just not researching in any formal academic way.

I think I also teach without being aware of it. Granted, my “teaching” does not occur in a classroom and it’s much less anxiety inducing, but it exists along the teaching spectrum at some point. For instance, I am very eager to express and explain ideas to peers and enjoy mentoring and tutoring fellow students.

Like Nial, it will be necessary for me to plunge into all of these identities in order to land a decent job in the future. Though I rarely turn to academic research without needing to, when I am forced to explore intellectual essays (particularly when they have to do with some aspect of creative writing), I usually enjoy what I come away with. Thus, in the future, I may develop a desire born of necessity for academic research.