Today’s guest is Charles Bock, author of the new memoir I Will Do Better, as well as the novels Alice & Oliver and Beautiful Children (which as a New York Times bestseller and Notable Book, and which won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters). His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Newsweek, and in numerous anthologies.

Our discussion covered Charles’s experience, thus far, with his memoir (which, it should be stated, has garnered uniformly positive and enthusiastic reviews), but we also found time to discuss the state of “the industry” (as those of us who live in and struggle to define it say), and how a combination of info-overload, technological toys, and changing priorities make 2024 a particularly challenging time for creatives. We go deep into the tenuous academic model, which used to provide established writers stable pathways toward employment; for a variety of reasons (many of them due to our ever dysfunctional late-capitalist model), these opportunities have shrunk considerably, and even for those who have found success inside and outside the classroom, there’s a discernible air of uncertainty. We also come around, as all serious writers should and must, to the purpose of the work itself, and the need to eliminate distraction, and the pursuit of evanescent praise (see: social media). Charles, in short, has a refreshing old school sensibility, but he’s a vital contemporary artist who we all can learn from and be inspired by.

ABOUT GUEST CHARLES BOCK

Learn more about Charles at charlesbock.net

ABOUT SOME THINGS CONSIDERED

Award-winning author Sean Murphy in conversation with creative thinkers, spanning the literary, music, art, politics, and tech industries. As a cultural critic, professor, founder of a literary non-profit, Sean is always looking to explore and celebrate the ways Story is integral to how we define ourselves, as artists and human beings. This Substack newsletter and weekly podcast peels back the layers of how creativity works, why it matters, how our most brilliant minds achieve mastery. Join us to explore how our most successful and inspired storytellers engage by discussing craft, routines, brand, and mostly through authentic and honest expression. Tune in and subscribe at seanmurphy.live

ABOUT HOST SEAN MURPHY

Website: seanmurphy.net

Substack: seanmurphy.live

Twitter: @bullmurph

Instagram: @bullmurph

Facebook: facebook.com/AuthorSeanMurphy

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sean-murphy-4986b41

We kick off Season 2 of Some Things Considered with a conversation continued from real life in real time. If you are in any way involved with (in no particular order) academia, writing, or the insanity of late-stage capitalism on a micro level, you might have read about what’s going on at Stanford, and the debacle occurring in their Creative Writing program.

Long story short: just as professors were preparing for the fall semester, they were notified (via Zoom, because of course) that the non-tenured teachers who account for most of the courses being taught to undergrads were being “future-fired” (meaning they would keep their jobs for a year or two and then be summarily dismissed from their duties, not for cause or because of financial constraints, but just…because). There’s a lot to unpack here, and I first heard rumblings about this unsavory development a couple of months ago; the other week there was an article in

The Chronicle of Higher Education that broke down the situation in detail, and featured insights from Austin Smith, a beloved and well-published teacher who is at once appalled and blindsided by the university’s myopic decision. I naturally wanted to provide him an opportunity to share his experiences, and while we certainly discuss Stanford’s shenanigans, we also contextualize what’s happening as part of a much larger and ugly pattern we’re seeing in academia, specifically within Humanities departments, and both how and why the always-tenuous circumstances of creatives who love teaching is becoming a genuine crisis. Hint: in almost all cases, this is not because of budget cuts or hardships; it’s because of administrative bloat and the egregious ways colleges have been emulating the worst aspects of corporate culture. Austin is, in almost every way, the Platonic ideal of a contemporary professor: learned, passionate, and he actually, deeply cares about students. Sounds like someone a university should try to retain at all costs, right? I invite you not only to enjoy this conversation to learn more about Austin, but to get a better appreciation of what so many teachers (especially our ill-treated adjuncts who are trying to stay afloat in a system that’s equal parts abusive and dysfunctional), and to spread the word and get involved.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/at-stanford-a-change-to-creative-writing-feels-personal?sra=true

Today’s guest is the writer, professor, music expert and advocate Mark Katz. Dr. Katz, after receiving his PhD in muscilogy, has spent the last several decades writing, teaching, thinking about, and proselytizing the power of music; his accomplishments and publications are too numerous to list, but please visit him online to get a handle on the scope of his work and ongoing projects. The topic of today’s discussion was his new book Rap and Redemption on Death Row, co-authored with incarcerated musician Alim Braxton. I would describe this text as at once a compelling and necessary read, equal parts personal story of discovered purpose, history lesson, indictment of the American justice system (and our prisons), and advertisement for the power of creativity. Katz, having talked the good talk, walked the good walk (he is also Founding Director of the U.S. State Department hip hop cultural diplomacy program Next Level, established in 2014), connected with Alim via a letter, and their relationship—with led to a personal friendship and collaboration—is the basis of this remarkable story. We also talk about the formative influence of falling in love with art, the necessity of creativity, and the always humbling influence of learning (from others, about ourselves). Dr. Katz is one of the most positive and deep human beings I know, and it’s an absolute honor to share this conversation.

Learn more about Dr. Katz here: https://music.unc.edu/people/musicfaculty/mark-katz/