MARGIE PIGNATARO, PLAYWRIGHT AND ARTIST
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The New Yorker

10/20/2011

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"Reading The New Yorker will make you smarter."

Hahn always had some sort of reading recommendation.  In Masterpieces of world lit, we read excerpts from Leaves of Grass (something he also quoted often).  He suggested that we read all of it (as it is one of the most important documents in literature) out loud in the bathroom.  Just keep a copy in there and read aloud during visits.  I actually did it.  It really is amazing to hear out loud in good acoustics.  So I recommend it, too. 

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Tao Te Ching

10/19/2011

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Hahn:  "It's the most important book you'll never read."

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e.e. cummings

10/18/2011

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Hahn often said, read e.e. cummings from cover to cover, over and over, and you will learn all you need to know about life.

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The answers to all your questions

10/18/2011

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One of John's frequent handouts was a page of scattered quotes.  Some had no attribution, which was his style.

He assured the class that this page had the answer to any question we had about life.  I suppose I agreed as I still have my original.

My original isn't in the best condition; it has many holes where I pinned it to bulletin boards multiple times.  I decided to form my own copy of it (good in case I lose mine).  I have tried to repeat the way he angled the quotes on the page.
all_the_answers.pdf
File Size: 152 kb
File Type: pdf
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Poem given to class

10/17/2011

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One of the few handouts he gave us.  A poem entitled Listen, author unknown.

i no longer plead with heaven
or go rummaging in books
for answers to the questions
life contains
now i listen
listen
listen to this inner thing resounding
in the pulsing and the pounding
of my infant ancient veins.

i no longer seek instruction
from my father and mother
i have mastered
all their pleasures and their pain
no i listen
listen
listen to this inner thing resounding
in the pulsing and the pounding
of my infant ancient veins

the feeling in my bloodflow
is a simple thing y'see
everything and nothing
in the parody is me
i'm the hero
i'm the villain
the beginning and the end
i'm creator
i'm destroyer
i'm the enemy the friend
i'm an animal
a spirit
flying high and falling down
i am special
i'm important
i am sacred
i am a clown
so i stumble through the chaos
dragging clumsily behind me
all the eggshells
and the fish scales

and the fur pelts of my past
while this thing goes on
inside me at one with all
the vastness
the fantasies
and fictions
and when all the contradictions
come together
come together
they will fit

the feeling in my bloodflow
is a simple thing y'see
i am it
i am it
we are everything and nothing
but that's how to play the game
in these weather beaten bodies
with these god forsaken brains
we can listen
listen
listen to the universe resounding
in the pulsing and the pounding
of our infant ancient veins
listen
listen
listen and it all begins to fit
you are it
you are it


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Ouija board

10/16/2011

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My father said that when he took Hahn's class during the 80s, Hahn would always sit in the lotus position on the table at the head of the class.  When I took his classes he refused to use a podium and sat on the table.  He had all the chairs in the room formed into a circle so we could look at each other.
    My father also said that John would bring a ouija board to class for the students to use as an exercise.  There were many student complaints so the tradition had to stop.

Another quote:  "If you don't like your own writing, why should you expect anyone else to."

A quote, related to the above:  "If you can't make your self orgasm, why should you expect anyone else to."

If you have any regrets, you have wasted your life.
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John Hahn

10/15/2011

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Between 1992 and 1996 I took Creative Writing and literature classes from John Hahn at Rio Hondo College in Whittier.  My father, who had taken John's classes in the 80s, highly recommended I take the same classes.
John was one of the most effective professor I've ever had.  Many things he taught me still remain with me---I quote something he said in our classes at least every day.  
I recently discovered that John died in October, 2006 of a heart attack, brought on by lung cancer.  I have wanted to communicate with more people who had his class.  I've put together this blog which, hopefully, will provide his former students with an opportunity to quote him, provide an anecdote, or offer negative criticism (which is equally important).  In many ways, his classes were more like philosophical lectures which, inadvertently, taught me more about creativity than I've ever encountered.
    I'll start with a couple of things which come screaming to mind:

"When a woman puts on lipstick, she's telling the world she's ready to fuck."

If a book in a library or bookstore falls from a shelf in front of you, read it.

Pray that you die from a long, painful death.


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    John Hahn

    Statement of Intention

    This blog is about all I can remember about John Hahn, who taught creative writing at Rio Hondo.  He died in 2006 and this is my way of remembering him.  If anyone else remembers him, please comment or contact me.

    Archives

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    Categories

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    Answers
    Creative Writing
    Death
    E.e. Cummings
    English
    Eros
    Father's Notes
    Handout
    John Hahn
    Listen
    Masturbation
    Men
    Orgasm
    Ouija Board
    Philosophy
    Poem
    Poetry
    Porn
    Questions
    Quotations
    Reading List
    Regrets
    Responsibility
    Rio Hondo College
    Suicide
    Tao Te Ching
    Walt Whitman

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  • Home
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