Bruce Conforth's Talk

Bruce Conforth is a specialist in American traditional music and a faculty member of UM. Tonight, I listened to his talk about music and writing. Although I am not familiar with blue music and Robert Johnson, I got something inspiring from him.

I love the way he thinks of the relationship between music and writing. He said that they are both performances, which means we put ourselves into the process as if the guitar is playing you or the pen is flowing on you. When he talked about academic writing, he admitted that he used to have many concerns like whether he has the authority to discuss a certain thing or the right to write about another culture. But he realized that academic writing could be literature. In fact, when writing, he was creating culture.

He told us that in the writing class he is teaching, he assigned journaling, reaction papers and of course, a lot of readings. Journaling is important because it shows who you are. ‘Ultimately we are all stories,’ he said. For reaction papers, he asks students to pick up prompts they are interested in and make them narrower and narrower to precise points. He hopes that the students’ works can make him forget he is reading but feel like existing in a world the students create for him.

I think he is an optimistic and encouraging person. He said that everyone is a miracle and we need to be reminded of this truth every day. To waste our talents or to do something, it depends on our choice.