Let me start off by saying I love getting to teach writing. It’s the only job I have ever had that I didn’t despise—every other job has been some boss or company taking my time in trade for something as meaningless (but not, sadly, useless) as money. …more

The first day of the AWP conference, I ran into my good friend Tod Goldberg. Since Tod is now, also, my boss and since I’d be doing some time unofficially manning the booth where we teach (UCR/Palm Desert’s Low-Residency MFA Program), my behavior has, for the first time in our friendship and, especially, his professional life, some bearing on whether or not Tod gets to keep his job. …more

We spend an enormous amount of our lives (at least I do, and my friends do—but maybe that’s because my friends are mostly addicts and writers, who spend a lot of time in their heads) thinking about other people, their motives, their desires and their opinions. …more