{"id":1743,"date":"2012-04-13T14:01:18","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T18:01:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/?p=1743"},"modified":"2013-12-18T20:59:08","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T00:59:08","slug":"mcnair-to-hall-october-11-1980","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/mcnair-to-hall-october-11-1980\/","title":{"rendered":"McNair to Hall: October 11, 1980"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"McNair-to-Hall-10-11-1980\"<\/a>\"McNair-to-Hall-10-11-1980\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[Click image to view]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

October 11, 1980<\/p>\n

Dear Don,<\/p>\n

Well, I was hoping the poem was better than you appear to think.
\nI will just have to wait for awhile and then look at it again to see
\nwhat can be done. Thank you for your thoughts, as always.<\/p>\n

I write to ask for still another favor. Would you be willing
\nto send a recommendation for me to the placement office of Associated
\nWriting Programs?<\/p>\n

The reason I need the recommendation is that I want to leave
\nColby-Sawyer. I need a place that is more stimulating, and which
\ntakes up less of my writing time. I have been hoping to leave for some
\nyears, actually, but it has taken me a long time, as you know, to get
\ndegrees and publications in order. For an extra advantage in job-hunting
\nit would be nice, of course, to have the book placed. But who knows?
\nMaybe the book will be published soon enough to give my applications
\na push. In the meantime, I will just have to hope that my publications,
\ngrants and recommendations will serve well enough.<\/p>\n

I would not be asking for the recommendation at all if I were
\nplanning to apply for a position in American studies. As it happens,
\nI have a fairly complete dossier (at Middlebury) in those areas. But
\nI\u2019ve decided to apply for jobs in creative writing (an area in which
\nI\u2019ve done some<\/span> teaching in the past), or in a combination of creative
\nwriting and literature. That is, I plan finally to adjust my teaching
\nassignment to my real self, kept secret for so long! And for that I need
\na different sort of statement.<\/p>\n

I do know how painful recommendation-writing can be. If it is too<\/span>
\npainful at the moment\u2014because you are busy with poems, textbook
\nrevisions, or freshman themes\u2014please feel free to wait. The AWP dossier
\nwill have at least two other recommendations in it by the end of next
\nweek. Yours can come along later if you wish.<\/p>\n

The jobs I\u2019m interested in right now, by the way, come from the
\nmost recent AWP job notice. One is at Arizona State; the other, at
\nLoyola University of Chicago. As I say, I am a little nervous about
\nnot having placed my book before applying to these places, or to any others.
\nUnder the circumstances, a comment from you about the manuscript I now
\nhave probably wouldn\u2019t hurt, if you wouldn\u2019t mind furnishing one.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, I did get a bit of good news the other day. Alan
\nPater, editor of the Anthology<\/span> of<\/span> Magazine<\/span> Verse<\/span> &<\/span> Yearbook<\/span> of<\/span> Am.<\/span> Poetry<\/span>,<\/p>\n

2\/<\/p>\n

wrote to ask me for permission to reprint \u201cThe Bald Spot\u201d in the 1981
\nvolume of his anthology, going shortly to press. All hail to Joey
\nfor placing the poem in Poetry<\/span> in the first place!<\/p>\n

Thanks again for your comments on my poem. I hope you are enjoying
\nthe foliage around Eagle Pond Farm.<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

Wes<\/p>\n

P.S.\u2014I enclose an addressed, stamped envelope for your convenience.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\n

Editorial note about this letter:<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0The poem referred to in the first paragraph is “Waving Goodbye,” which Hall assesses in his final letter of Section III.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Read W<\/strong><\/span>aving Goodbye<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/a>(published version)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

See also a selection of McNair’s\u00a0manuscript notes and drafts<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>for “Waving Goodbye.”<\/p>\n\n

\n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Click image to view] October 11, 1980 Dear Don, Well, I was hoping the poem was better than you appear to think. I will just have to wait for awhile and then look at it again to see what can be done. Thank you for your thoughts, as always. I write to ask for still […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2206,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35324,35504,42976,42963,293],"tags":[],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2206"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1743"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11318,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1743\/revisions\/11318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/csc-mcnair\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}