Welcome our NEW Faculty Sponsor, Dr. Myers! As a first year professor at the Indiana Academy, the Core Issue staff got together to curate questions to ask the English professor. Here are his responses!
1. What inspires you about the English language?
I often remind students that every individual has only three ways to communicate with anyone else: body language, speaking, and writing. Without language, nothing is accomplished: bridges do not get built, diseases do not get cured, meals do not get prepared, scientific discoveries cannot be shared, and so on – nothing happens without language. Thus, I think languages, all languages, are immensely inspiring because language is the essence of everything that humankind has ever done.
Of course, that means also confronting the ways that language is implicated in the negative things that have occurred throughout human history, and certainly the tragedy of English is that, for as wonderous and beautiful a language as it is, English has played a significant role in imperialism and colonialism. That’s all the more reason, though, to be inspired by the potential of the English language – discussions and deliberations can help us reckon with the past to hopefully ensure a better future.
2. What were the pros and cons of being a journalist for a newspaper?
Like all careers, being a newspaper journalist carries its fair shares of both, and what one person views as a pro or a con probably depends on their individual personality.
For me, the con was the labor of sitting at the desk and physically typing up the story from my notes, or the moments where I had to sit through dull meetings. The major pro, though, is undoubtedly the freedom in that you often work without direct supervision. You have deadlines, sure, but there’s no 9-5 punching a clock – you’re often on your own, so the pacing by which you complete your deadlines is up to you. You spend a lot of time driving from place to place, which if you like to drive (as I do) that’s also very freeing since you can cruise back roads, listen to music, and see the scenery. Finally, you get access to locations that are not open to the general public, so you see places you otherwise wouldn’t see.
Overall, the best thing about being a newspaper journalist is, in my opinion, much akin to what Willie Nelson sings about in his song “On the Road Again,” specifically the following lines: “Goin’ places that I’ve never been / Seein’ things that I may never see again."
3. How does your previous experience prepare you for a position at the Academy?
Well, I was a reporter right at the end of my undergraduate college experience and then for a short time after college. That was all long before I decided to go to graduate school and purse a Ph.D. in English to become a professor. The work I do here at the Academy, the teaching of literature and writing, is more a result of my later academics rather than my experiences as a reporter. That being said, I do feel that working as a reporter gave me people skills that help immensely in the classroom and especially in relating to students. Many teachers have never been anything but teachers, or they have never had jobs that weren’t in an academic or educational environment. Since I've had several jobs that were in no way related to academia or education, I feel that I have a certain amount of “real-world experience” or a personality that is “down to Earth”, qualities that help me establish a rapport with students (or so I’ve been told by many students, both current and former).
4. Do you think print media is dead?
Dead? No. Dying? Yes. Or, at the very least, print media is in its golden years. Both language and technology are evolving entities; they change pursuant to how a culture changes. When paper and print rolled around, we stopped engraving messages on stone tablets and carving letters in woodcuttings. I’m not happy about this, and I will be a print-only reader until my dying day, but I see little hope for print media to continue indefinitely as the world becomes increasingly digital.
What concerns me far more than the medium, is that our society seems to be increasingly fixated on the act of conveying information rather than thinking about the consequences of how that information is conveyed, or whether it even should be conveyed. The process for print media was longer, so there was more of a chance that at some point someone might catch errors to stop inaccuracies and the spread of misinformation, or even change their mind about whether to publish something at all. Now, when information is produced so much quicker, it seems there is a carelessness even on the part of professional writers, editors, and news organizations. And such carelessness with language and communication has real-life consequences, which we see every time someone does something foolish or horrible because of something they read online.
5. What advice do you have for an Academy student interested in pursuing journalism?
This is the most difficult question because as a teacher I’m supposed to be encouraging and motivating, and I strive to be! Honestly, though, I’m pessimistic about the state of journalism in our nation right now, and I’m generally displeased about the societal trend of not seeming to value language, creativity, or the written word. So, trying to reckon with those dueling elements of my personality, I guess what I would say to students in journalism is: congratulations! Just by being interested in journalism, you are probably more aware of the importance of language and writing than most people, including some of your teachers. And the world needs people like you.
My other additional piece of advice would be to, whenever you can, actually converse with people in person rather than just sending emails or talking to them online. Dealing with people in person forces them to acknowledge you – and they don’t have time to compose their answers. That's the way you get at the truth. Look up from the screens once in a while and pay attention to the world around you – you’ll find it to be a curious place filled with stories.
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