Posted on 04/25/2005 11:39:50 PM PDT by DameAutour
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Southern Connecticut State University barred a student from a poetry class after his professor said a poem he submitted contained veiled threats to sexually assault her and her 3-year-old daughter.
The student, Edward Bolles, said his poem entitled "Professor White," was meant to be a satirical piece about globalization. In it, a Mexican student named Juan has a sexual encounter with the daughter of his white professor.
Bolles' professor, Kelly Ritter, found the poem "disturbing," according to an April 8 campus police report, and said she believed the poem was a threat. University officials prohibited Bolles, who is Mexican, from attending his poetry class while he was investigated.
Bolles, a 36-year-old married father of two, said he and Ritter have had political disagreements in class. Bolles, a conservative, said he has disagreed with some of the liberal political themes in Ritter's poetry selections.
The same is true of the Bolles' poetic character, who pledges to "turn the tables" on his professor and has a tryst with her college-age daughter. While Bolles' acknowledges that Ritter inspired the poem, he said it was not a threat and said he did not know she had a daughter.
"I think she flatters herself," Bolles said Monday. "This poem is about a lot more than a cranky teacher. It's about anti-globalization."
Ritter, 36, did not return telephone messages seeking comment.
Bolles said the poem's interracial affair symbolizes white America's feeling that Mexicans are corrupting their culture. The encounter is not violent, and the professor's daughter brings Juan home to meet her disapproving mother.
"I came in using a different set of reasoning as context to look at the craft of poetry, and she was put off by it," Bolles said.
The poem ends with the professor trying to get Juan kicked out of school by calling one of his poems racist.
Bolles began publicly protesting the university's decision Monday, wearing a "Save Professor White" shirt and handing out fliers on campus. After that protest began and university officials received calls from The Associated Press Monday, Bolles received a hand-delivered, one-sentence letter from the administration:
"As a result of the investigation, I wish to inform you that no formal disciplinary charges will be filed on behalf of the university and you are permitted to return to your English 202, Section 1, course, Introduction to Poetry," Christopher Piscitelli, director of judicial affairs, wrote.
University spokesman Patrick Dilger said the matter was handled like any other. He said students are often held out of classes when a professor raises these types of concerns.
In her police report, Ritter asked the university to require Bolles to get a psychiatric evaluation. The school did not require that, Dilger said.
Bolles is set to return to class Wednesday, though he doesn't know how he will be received. He said he would not apologize and is concerned with how he will make up the two weeks of missed classes.
jla....I knew I could count on you. Let me see what my creative little mind can come up with!!! :o)
Maybe this http://www.nhandan.com.vn/english/culture/250405/culture_par.htm is the kind of creative writing the professor wanted.
Kelly A. Ritter, English
BOOKS:
(Co-Edited with Dr. Stephanie Vanderslice) This is (Not) Just to Say; Lore and Creative Writing Pedagogy. Proposal under consideration at Heinemann Publishers.
CHAPTERS/SECTIONS PUBLISHED IN BOOKS:
"Postmodern Dialogics in Pulp Fiction: Jules, Ezekiel, and Double-Voiced Discourse." In The Terministic Screen: Rhetorical Perspectives on Film. David Blakesley, Editor. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2003: 286-300.
JOURNAL ARTICLES:
“Course Design for English 200: Rhetoric, Argument, and the Law in American Culture.” Forthcoming in Composition Studies 33.2 (Fall 2005).
"The Economics of Authorship: Online Paper Mills, Student Writers, and First-Year Composition" Forthcoming in College Composition and Communication 56.3 (February 2005).
“Writing Professionals/Professional Writers: Revamping Teacher Training in Creative Writing Ph.D. Programs.” College English 64.2 (November 2001): 205-227.
“Spectacle at the Disco: Boogie Nights, Soundtrack, and the New American Musical.” Journal of Popular Film and Television 28.2 (Winter 2001): 166-175.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS (POETRY):
·“Mercy Seat”. Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review no. 14, Spring/Summer 2000.
·“History”, “Michael Furey”, “New Age Truck Stop”. Notre Dame Review no. 8/Summer 1999.
·“Anastasia After”, “Wing”, “A City Part Two”, and “The Sleeping Daughter”. Kimera vol. 4, no. 1, Summer 1999.
·“Poem with First Line from Neruda”. Karamu, vol. 16, no. 2, Spring 1999.
·“Crazyquilt”. Rio, issue 6, Winter 1998-99.
·“What Holds You”. Bloomsbury Review, vol. 17, issue 1, January/February 1997.
·“Zero”. No Roses Review, issue 7, Winter 1996.
·“Pastoral”. Cutbank, no. 45, March 1996.
·“Symphony”, “All”, “Heavenly White Roses”. Northwest Review, vol. 34, no. 1, January 1996.
·“Stove on Fire”, “Excavation”, “The Boy’s White Hands”. Skylark, no. 14, Dec. 1995.
·“What Icarus Said”. Hammers, no. 10, July 1995.
·“Gesture” and “Like Straw”. Hawaii Review, vol. 18, no. 3, Fall 1994.
·“Given”. Greensboro Review, no. 56, Summer 1994.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS (COMPOSITION):
"Two Examples of Team Writing" (Contributor of 'The Multiple Author Team' model). In Feldman, Ann, Nancy Downs, and Ellen McManus. In Context: Participating in Cultural Conversations. New York: Longman, 2002: 669-670.
“Writing Communities: Cultural Diversity in the Composition Classroom”. The Effect of Student Diversity on Student Learning at the University of Michigan: Faculty and Staff Perspectives. CRLT Occasional Paper 12. Ann Arbor: Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, University of Michigan, 1999: 11-12.
BOOK REVIEWS:
Rev. of Daldry, Stephen. The Hours (Paramount/Miramax Films, 2002). Virginia Woolf Miscellany. Number 62 (Spring 2003): 10-12.
Rev. of Natoli, Joseph. Postmodern Journeys: Film and Culture 1996-1998. (SUNY Press, 2001). Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies, February 2003.
< http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/film/journal/bookrev/books-feb-03.htm.>
Rev. of Modleski, Tania. Old Wives’ Tales and Other Women’s Stories (NYU Press, 1998). M/MLA Journal 34.2 (Spring 2001): 137-140.
Rev. of Troost, Linda and Sayre Greenfield, Eds. Jane Austen in Hollywood (U Press of Kentucky, 1998). M/MLA Journal 33.2 (Spring 2000): 97-100.
CONFERENCE PAPERS ORALLY DELIVERED:
“Economics, Authorship, and Plagiarism.” ECSU Plagiarism Forum, Willimantic, CT, Forthcoming April 29, 2005.
“The Economics of Authorship: Online Paper Mills, Student Writers, and First-Year Composition.” Modern Language Association Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 28, 2004.
“Whither Collaboration? WPAs and Upper-Level Administrators Define Basic Writing.” Thomas R. Watson 2004 Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, Louisville, Kentucky, October 9, 2004.
“Communication and Audience Perceptions: Some Techniques and Challenges” (Panel Chair). Thomas R. Watson 2004 Conference on Rhetoric and Composition, Louisville, Kentucky, October 8, 2004.
“International Creative Writing Video Conference event between the UK and the USA.” Great Writing Conference 2004: Writers, Creative Writing, and the Contemporary World. University of Portsmouth and the UK Centre for Creative Writing Research Through Practice. Portsmouth, England, July 24, 2004.
"Taking the Show on the Road: Making WPA Work Matter Though Institutional Program Outreach." Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Antonio, Texas, March 27, 2004.
"This is (Not) Just to Say: Public 'Lore' and the Future of Creative Writing" (Panel Chair and Organizer). Conference on College Composition and Communication, San Antonio, Texas, March 25, 2004.
"Transforming Student Writers." (Panel Chair). Conference on College Composition and Communication, New York, New York, March 22, 2003.
"Administration and the Difference: Complications." (Roundtable Participant). Connecticut Writing Conference, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, Connecticut, September 28, 2002.
"Teacher or Administrator? Negotiating WPA Work at the 4/4 University." Conference on College Composition and Communication, Chicago, Illinois, March 21, 2002.
“The Intellectual Quotient of Television in a Writing Class, or, What D.A. Jack McCoy Owes to Aristotle.” Northeast Popular Culture Association Conference, New Haven, Connecticut, November 3, 2001.
“Student Perceptions of Academic Honesty in English 101.” Connecticut Writing Conference, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, Connecticut, October 20, 2001.
“Performance or Conversation? Rethinking Self-Assessment in Writing Classrooms.” Conference on College Composition and Communication, Denver, Colorado, March 15, 2001.
“How Much Does a Frame Like That Cost? Reviewing the Real in Video Landscapes in The Sixth Sense.” South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference, Birmingham, Alabama, November 11, 2000.
“Writing Professionals/Professional Writers: Revamping Teacher Training in Creative Writing Ph.D. Programs.” Midwest Modern Language Association Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota, November 5, 1999.
“The Thirteenth Grade: The High School-College Connection as Topic of the Basic Writing Course.” University of Michigan-Flint Writing Across the Curriculum Conference, Flint, Michigan, May 22, 1999.
“Spectacle at the Disco: Boogie Nights and the New Hollywood Musical.” Society for Cinema Studies Conference, West Palm Beach, Florida, April 15, 1999.
“Training for What? Graduate Students Teaching Creative Writing." Conference on College Composition and Communication, Atlanta, Georgia, March 27, 1999.
"Jules, Ezekiel and Double-Voiced Discourse: A Bakhtinian Reading of Pulp Fiction.” Twentieth Century Literature Conference, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, February 22, 1997.
Reprisal: Poems, Section 1. Reading at Popular Culture Association 1996 Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada, March 27, 1996.
Reprisal: Poems. Reading at "Text, Texture and Context,” University of Missouri Graduate Conference, Columbia, Missouri, February 23, 1995.
WORKSHOP LEADERSHIP:
“CV Workshop for English Department Graduate Students.” Southern Connecticut State University, December 8, 2004.
"CV Workshop for English Department Graduate Students" (With Patti Hanlon). Southern Connecticut State University, February 8, 2002.
"Ingenious Ways to Structure Your Composition Class" (With Ilene Crawford and Christopher Dean). Southern Connecticut State University, January 17, 2002.
“Dealing with Student Plagiarism" (With Robert McEachern). Southern Connecticut State University, October 12, 2001.
“CV and Cover Letter Workshop for English Department Graduate Students” (With Ken Florey and Vara Neverow). Southern Connecticut State University, March 30, 2001.
“What English Faculty Need to Know about ESL Writers” (With Kate Reynolds and Lorri Verplaetse). Southern Connecticut State University, December 8, 2000.
RESEARCH INTERESTS IN GENERAL:
Authorship, Student Self-Evaluation, and Assessment in First-Year Composition; Teacher Training and Pedagogy (Composition, Creative Writing); American Film History and Theory; Rhetoric and Film.
CURRENT/FUTURE SPECIFIC RESEARCH PROJECTS:
Two articles in progress: (1) Issues in community outreach and cross-institutional collaboration for writing program administrators; (2) The role of internet-based student discourse in pedagogical reform in first-year composition.
DISSERTATION TITLE:
Divided Heaven: Poems
INSTITUTION GRANTING Ph.D.:
University of Illinois at Chicago
I would have just given him an "F" because the poem was really pretty poor... and because it's pretty stupid to think you can write a poem that you know slams your professor and then expect a good grade. That's just common sense. And most conservatives have common sense.
Plus she got to compose poetry for her doctoral dissertation. How sweet is that?
by Joyce Kilmer, with embellishments from jla
I think that I shall never see
A poem so lovely as the G.O.P.
A G.O.P. whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge's sweet flowing breast;
The G.O.P. that looks at God all day,
And lifts her star-spangled arms to pray;
A G.O.P. that may in Summer wear
A nest of endangered fauna in her hair;
Upon whose bosom 'global warming' snow has lain,
Who intimately lives with rain.
The Democrats are fools you see,
God really loves the G.O.P.
After reading the poem, you know the teacher is insane and/or paranoid.
Another outrageous story about how the left runs (ruins?) education in this country.
The professor is paranoid, but that's probably OK: many famous artists have been paranoid. (Van Gogh comes to mind.)
Nothing more complicated that, "I like swimmin' with one legged womin'".
And Cherry_?
It's "write".
...right? {g}
Agreed. And the notion of delivering a poem to a professor about having sex with that professor's daughter (especially when that daughter is in fact three years old) is downright creepy.
yep
Art is supposed to deliver a message.
LOL.... yeah.... and the message is "I'm creepy". LOL.... I think often people (especially liberals) forget the fact that there is good art and bad art. And just because it's "art" doesn't automatically make it anything of any real value.
You two must be putting us all on!
Art is supposed to deliver a message.
_______________________________________________________-
Or racists like the REAL professor in this case clearly is.
Well, for one thing, its a bit of a stretch to call that poem "art". For another, the message (I'm going to fornicate with your daughter) is, well, disturbing, to put it mildly. I wouldn't exactly take a poem like that as "just good old political commentary" if it was delivered to me.
And we should kick out most politicians who have gone to Liberal IVY League colleges...the Havard and Yale types are DESTROYING this nation!
Why is a male conservative writing a poem about sex when he has a female professor? He's asking for it.
His poem is artistic enough to cause disagreement about the message. Is it about fornication, or is it about rocking the inner world of a do-gooder liberal who lives a safe, suburban life?
I would argue that his message was "White liberals are shallow", and that he used the interacial relationship to demonstrate the professor's shallowness.
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