Dear Editors,
I want to put an end to the idea that I had workshops in my living room, as Moira Donegan writes in her essay on Maggie Nelson (“Gay as in Happy”). I don’t have a living room. The groups were independent workshops, each one taking place in a different venue — someone’s loft (for one season mine), art galleries, community spaces. Usually anywhere that was donated by someone interested in swapping their space for a free workshop. So even on the gossip folkloric level I want to set the story straight. I’m not pissed but I really avoided teaching at home at all costs. Indie was enough. Personal checks were enough. It was a great way to learn to teach and to have an amazing group gather and meet, but nah not in my home.
Also the mentor thing. I hate that word. Bernadette Mayer was no mentor! Love her work, had an affair but we’re not even friends. John Ashbery’s a hero, my favorite living poet, a friend & not a mentor. Love the facts being the facts.
