Lesson planning for Tuesday's class - I decide to can my planned assignment which had been to give the students 2 weeks to collaborate on writing poems - whether with one another, with their children, across disciplines with visual or performing artists - some of the students in class also have musical backgrounds and could probably quite successfully collaborate with their peers in their 2nd discipline. But after hearing word that certain students felt that the previous week's altered book exercise (ala Tom Phillip's Humument and Jen Bervin's Nets which were given as direct examples) were "arts and crafts about as useful as making a Martha Stewart table arrangement out of twigs and appropriate for elementary school teaching," I am revising my approach and have decided that these PhD/MFA students cannot handle thinking outside of the box. If this were art school, Chicago in particular, I don't think it would be a problem, but this is Dallas and this is a state-funded school.

Instead of having them discover the fun of intermingling processes and dialogue, I will substitute a far more PRACTICAL exercise for these grad students - one that would ultimately assist them in their goals to be university professors by publishing vs. perishing. They will write proposals for their own literary magazines, including plans from funding to distribution to editorial aesthetic and structure for jurying submissions - getting them into the mind of editor and target audiences. They will also go to the bookstore and research and report on a literary journal of their choosing which they would actually submit work to. No more creative work for these students. Reports and papers seem the way to go. Professional poets, *ugh*. A nice, neutral assignment that will yield no more narratives on rape, child abuse, or Heidegerrian philosophy.