tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5749059681475538860.post4413711136373031275..comments2023-06-01T12:02:03.935-04:00Comments on Poets.net: Ideal Contest/Reading Fee Guidelines (A Work in Progress)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5749059681475538860.post-71420936112987356062008-06-18T17:52:00.000-04:002008-06-18T17:52:00.000-04:00Here is a classic 'Foetry' case outlined in the "C...Here is a classic 'Foetry' case outlined in the "Chronicle of Higher Education' (which you'll find if you click on 'Jorie Graham and Peter Sacks')<BR/><BR/>From the Chronicle of Higher Education:<BR/><BR/>"Here's an example: In 2002 Brenda Hillman selected a manuscript by Aaron McCollough for the Sawtooth Poetry Prize. As part of that honor, Mr. McCollough's manuscript was published by Ahsahta Press at Boise State University.<BR/><BR/>Foetry alleges that Ms. Hillman and Mr. McCollough knew each other and that she "helped him revise" his manuscript before the contest. Because of that connection, the argument goes, the contest was tainted.<BR/><BR/>But while Mr. McCollough and Ms. Hillman acknowledge that they had met once before the contest, the meeting lasted "for about five minutes," according to Ms. Hillman, who has taught poetry at a number of colleges and is a professor and poet in residence at Saint Mary's College of California.<BR/><BR/>Mr. McCollough, now a graduate student in English at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, calls Foetry's allegations "a bunch of crap." He says he was one of a dozen or so students who participated in a weekend seminar conducted by Ms. Hillman at the University of Iowa about two years before the contest. She did not, he insists, help him revise his manuscript at that time, although she did give him some suggestions after he won. Ms. Hillman backs up his account.<BR/><BR/>Mr. Cordle won't reveal his source for this information, but he stands by it."<BR/><BR/>Get a load of this.<BR/><BR/>Here's the winner of a poetry contest AND the judge of that contest BOTH ADMITTING<BR/><BR/>1) they participated in a creative writing seminar together <BR/><BR/>where <BR/><BR/>1a) students--in this case, the WINNER of the contest--attempt to improve their poetry, guided by <BR/><BR/>2a) creative writing teachers in poetry--in this case, the JUDGE of the contest which this student WON<BR/><BR/>and <BR/><BR/>2) the WINNER of the contest calls this information "a bunch of crap."<BR/><BR/>Is the information "a bunch of crap?" Or, not?<BR/><BR/>If you were entering this contest, would you want your poems to go up against someone else's who was TAUGHT BY THE JUDGE in a seminar and, through this seminar, was an acquaintance of the judge?<BR/><BR/>And wouldn't someone attempting to earn their living through teaching seminars be a little bit motivated to 'help out' their 'students?' Wouldn't that be natural? <BR/><BR/>Of course it would.<BR/><BR/>So, what do you think? What is really a "bunch of crap?" <BR/><BR/>Those 'caught' are going to be angry and hurt, of course. <BR/><BR/>But where lies the real "bunch of crap?"<BR/><BR/>And, if we say, look, the poetry world is small; it's inevitable that judges of contests and those who submit to those same contests will have crossed paths...<BR/><BR/>...But then IF the poetry world is so small that contests inevitably consist of unknowing submitters paying submission fees and competing against others who have inevitably 'crossed paths' with the judges--teachers who quite naturally want to repay their students in some way--shouldn't something be done about it?<BR/><BR/>Should we say this knowledge is nothing but "crap?"<BR/><BR/>Or, is it informative, and should we wonder a little a bit about the ones who claim, in this case, that it's a "bunch of crap?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5749059681475538860.post-15857180310500339162008-06-15T09:40:00.000-04:002008-06-15T09:40:00.000-04:00This is eye-opening.Thanks!This is eye-opening.<BR/><BR/>Thanks!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com