Six weeks have come and gone. Now that my writing class at Gotham is finally finished, I'm left with a number of afterthoughts.
1) My instructor, Cullen, was smart, witty, and likeable. This might not sound too impressive, but come on-- the guy spent three and a half years in a Korean prison for smuggling hasish when he wasn't much older than I am (and directly led to his 1st published memoir). He had stories to tell and a fun personality, which made it much easier to drag myself to class at 7 PM on a Monday night. (I had also been expecting an air of pretentiousness coming from these Gotham instructors, but I didn't get any of that from him.)
2) The class was a wee bit overpriced. The initial cost was $295, but they tack on a $25 "registration fee" which brings the grand total to $320. The good news is that if I ever want to take another class, I get $30 off as a returning student (and an additional $30 off if I were to sign up before a certain date). But yes, this was no minor investment for a recent college grad living on a budget.
3) The experience wasn't what I expected it to be. The class wasn't a true "workshop" such that our writing assignments weren't exactly, well, workshopped. Each week, a number of us read our pieces and listened to reactions from our classmates and instructor. But this feedback primarily consisted of comments that began with "Well, I liked it because..." or "It was good because..." etc, etc. In other words, everyone routinely refrained from saying overly negative things, and I wasn't going to go ahead and be the asshole to do it first. While it was definitely reassuring to hear praise about my work, more constructive criticism would have been beneficial. Then again, this was only a six-week-long intro level course, and from what I've seen on the website, it appears that it's the ten-week-long class that follows the traditional workshop format.
4) Attendance was choppy, which was disheartening. During the first three sessions, we had a full house of 12 students plus the teacher. For Week 4, only five of us showed, which I attributed to the Yankees/Phillies Word Series game going on that night. But Weeks 5 and 6 resulted in similarly low numbers, and that's when I knew that people had lost interest. I don't understand why anyone would fork over $300+ for a writing-intensive class and then not show up to half of the sessions. Then again, these people were older adults in their upper 20s, 30s, and 40s and clearly had money that they were willing to spend. Still, if I were in the same position I doubt I'd waste my own money like they did. (On the plus side, the small crowd did contribute to a more intimate setting.)
5) I don't regret taking the class. Overall, it did exactly what I initially wanted it to do: get me writing. The in-class prompts and weekly assignments forced me to pick up a pen and paper (or keyboard and monitor) and put my thoughts into words within a given amount of time. I also frequently read my work out loud, a huge confidence booster for somebody as painfully shy as I used to be. A lazy student I was not, coming to each class and completing all of the weekly home assignments. Because of this, I probably stuck out like crazy as an overeager recent grad still mentally trapped in a world of deadlines and homework. So what though? My education isn't over yet. I hope to be back in the classroom in the near future, getting a master's in who-knows-what-ology, so I've got no problem being in a school state of mind. Honestly, I refuse to let my brain waste away.
So that's the rundown. I've spoken with several friends who were either interested in or had some past experience with Gotham, so hopefully this assessment contributes to what current, former or future students have to say as well. And now that I've got my Monday nights back, I'm really hoping to devote more time and energy to this little blog of mine, because I think I've been neglecting it to a degree. Which means it's time to scoop up DTRW in my arms and take better care of this thing. Back to [dodging] reality for me.
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