Fourth Genre is one of only a few strictly nonfiction journals, sharing the genre with literary journals such as Creative Nonfiction, River Teeth, and Brevitymag.org. The journal, operating within the Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures (WRAC) department here at MSU, publishes a variety of nonfiction authors with work ranging from essays in all forms to memoir to writer as reader, all written in a variety of styles and voices. Writers published in Fourth Genre include Ander Monson, Brenda Miller, Michele Morano, Ned Stucky-French, and Ryan Van Meter, to name a few.
The great thing about Fourth Genre being housed within the WRAC department is that it affords the opportunity for students to be exposed to and involved with a national literary journal with award winning writers and editors. Students interested in the publishing world get first-hand experience while working with people that have years of experience in the field. I had the opportunity to interview Kathleen Livingston, an MSU graduate student, about her experiences working for Fourth Genre to get an idea of what it is that students can take from this nonfiction press. (more…)
This article discusses some of the questions or issues associated with using iPads or other tablet devices in the classroom. “10 Important Questions To Ask Before Using iPads in Class” covers questions of use, what some of the advantages would be, and what possible disadvantages or problems could pop up. iPads could be very useful for filming projects, peer editing in class, along with many other possibilities.
“The Myriad Benefits of Mind-Wandering” introduces the idea that daydreaming could influence creativity and problem solving. Those with writer’s block or projects that need to get done may want to take note.
In this TedxYouth talk, ideas of education in a digital age are discussed. The speaker, Seth Godin, discusses homework, memorization, and the goals of teaching. Do you think his ideas are applicable to an English or writing environment? Tweet us @msuwrac. Check out the video below.
Growing up in the 1990s, I was never really exposed to typewriters as an actual, functioning form of writing. However, loving old things, when I would see a typewriter in an antique store, I would have to type a few letters on it. There is something extremely satisfying about typing on a typewriter that just isn’t there when typing on a computer. Maybe that is one of the reasons that typewriters seem to be having a surge in popularity as Open Culture says in their article “The Enduring Analog Underworld of Gramercy Typewriter.”
The article shows a video about the owner of Gramercy Typewriter, a shop in New York City where they sell and repair old typewriters. The shop is purposely anti-computer, everything being indexed on cards and logged in a filing system. Paul Schweitzer narrates the story of his career in typewriters in the video shown below:
In an age of newness, nostalgia seems also to be at an all-time high. Fashion, furniture, language, food: it is all returning and referencing an older time, a time where technology was not so all-encompassing as it is now. Is it possible that by disconnecting from the digital world and using a typewriter instead of a computer, writers could tap into a bygone era of creativity? I think Paul Schweitzer would definitely think so, and perhaps that is the draw of the typewriter. And the clicking of the keys is pretty fun too…
Ever think that the way words are displayed doesn’t matter? The lover of neon signs who wrote “Neon Lost and Found: Where New York City Still Burns Bright” would beg to differ. In the article, Kirsten Hively is interviewed about the dying art of neon signage and the iPhone app she created to share the neon signs with others.
Are we unplugging and spending less time on the internet? Or are our ideas of what the internet is and how we use it changing? “Nobody Goes Online Anymore” discusses just these issues when reviewing the results of a Forrester survey on free time.
Nikhil Goyal proposes a new style of classroom learning in “Why Learning Should be Messy”. The article touches on ideas of creativity through case studies of innovative schools that have redesigned their curriculum to try a different style of learning in the classroom.
Welcome to our department. We have played an important role in writing instruction in US universities for a long time. We were founded in 1944 as the department of Written and Spoken English as part of widespread changes in higher education in the post-war period. Such a department was fairly unique at that time, and our faculty were important to how writing instruction developed in higher education.
Today, we continue to lead and are committed to preparing excellent communicators in the culturally, technologically, and economically dynamic environments of the early 21st Century.
Fourth Genre is one of only a few strictly nonfiction journals, sharing the genre with literary journals such as Creative Nonfiction, River Teeth, and Brevitymag.org. The journal, operating within the Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures (WRAC) department here at MSU, publishes a variety of nonfiction authors with work ranging from essays in all forms to memoir to writer as reader, all written in a variety of styles and voices. Writers published in Fourth Genre include Ander Monson, Brenda Miller, Michele Morano, Ned Stucky-French, and Ryan Van Meter, to name a few.
