Was it hard not to judge the kids work, to notice bad grammar, or clichés?
No! That was the beauty of it! Teaching creative writing to college students was just so awful, because I was aware of the technical mistakes but I was also bored to tears by the writing itself. So much of what I read was about young people trying on fancy styles, so they could convince the world that they were Really Great Writers. But the kids in juvy just told their stories, and most of the things that they described were inherently interesting because they were so intense. So I didn’t care about spelling mistakes and clichés because the foundational idea was so vibrant. You didn’t seem to want the kids to use rhymes or raps in their writing. What is it about hip-hop that you don’t like? With hip-hop and rap the emphasis on clever rhymes tends to distract from genuine expression. The other night I had to go listen to a rapper who had been in juvenile hall, and now he’s “made good” because he’s decided to be a rapper. His lyrics were: “Oh baby let’s go out to the club/ let’s find a p
