Dr. Sidney Thompson's Q&A

Teaching in the MLA since:				2017
Specialty/Area of Research:				Creative Writing American Literaure African American narratives
MLA Courses Taught:				Black Lives White Law Black Skin 2 Silver Screen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How many years have you been teaching in the MLA program and what class or classes have you taught?

Until this summer, I have only taught two multicultural courses for the MLA program over the last seven years: MALA 60343: Black Lives White Law and MALA 61363: Black Skin 2 Silver Screen.

 

Tell us a little bit about your specialty or area of research?

I have two terminal degrees: an MFA in creative writing (fiction) and a PhD in American literature/African American narratives.

 

 

How does your background inform your teaching and scholarship?

I have authored six books: a collection of short stories, a chapbook of poetry, a middle-grade novel, and a trilogy of bestselling and award-winning historical fiction that inspired the Paramount+ miniseries Lawmen: Bass Reeves (produced by Taylor Sheridan of Yellowstone fame and starring Golden Globe nominee David Oyelowo, Dennis Quaid, and Donald Sutherland). My education and extensive writing and publishing experiences inform my pragmatic teaching of craft, with a central awareness of audience. If you want to publish your work one day, you can’t lose sight of the conventions that have shaped your potential readers’ expectations, and you can only know what they are from close reading. Even if you don’t care to publish, you still must learn to expand your awareness to include the needs and biases of others and to demonstrate that sensitivity in your writing.

Creative writing isn’t diary writing, and it’s not a soap box for a self-centered treatise that steers clear of the concrete world. Think of our goal as something sacred, for although you may be driven by memory or wonder, there should also be intentional craft to ensure that you gain and maintain attention so that others not only understand but also appreciate your original expression of self (because you are original). Creative writing, I would ultimately say, is about making a language connection with the universe through luck, fate, and hard work.

 

What is an interesting fact you like to share with your students? 

I once worked as a car salesman, a night watchman for a luxury hotel, a Walmart cashier, and a newspaper delivery boy. Be willing to put yourself in a position to uncover a new side of the world and, therefore, a new worldview. Those experiences will make you a better, wiser writer and person.

 

What do you hope students walk away from your class having learned or gained?

A greater appreciation for the subtleties and ironies of art and language. My hope is that you will now and again draw up upon our time together as a class of generous givers of praise and highly imaginative and constructive feedback so that one day while you’re watching a movie or reading a book or speaking lovingly to your spouse or child, you perceive or utilize a literary device or strategy you learned here. What’s the worst that can happen? Or, we can dare to ask instead, what’s the best that can happen?