MIT "Labette" for Filmic Narrative

“The idea, as we move forward with 21st-century storytelling, is to try to keep meaning alive,” said David Kirkpatrick, a founder of the new venture.

In the USC Filmic Writing program, they told us very ceremoniously that we were Our Culture's Storytellers. In the past, every town might have one; now, we were it -- we were the yarnspinners at the firepit.

But the other half of what college was teaching me was how silly it was to say things like "keep meaning alive." There was a Derrida conference poster in the hallway of the English Department. I defected. Arrived at the Pomo Expo.

This is an undergrad struggle, maybe, but perhaps an essential 21st-century one, too. I am still as seduced by Meaning as anyone, but I resist pat answers, master narratives, Oprah, etc. That's why I quit diary writing.

Oh, and screenwriting. And fiction writing.

Here's what I think now: writing doesn't need to "make sense" of things, extract "meaning," but it should provide an interesting organization for thinking and imagination. This is a very basic idea of what I think poems should do: create new patterns. The word "framework" seems applicable, too, but sounds a bit cold. With "pattern," you can imagine a kaleidoscope....