Mary-Louise Parker's Visit to Leslie Jamison's Creative Writing Class

The New Yorker's Rachel Syme does some field work with actress Mary-Louise Parker, who recently dropped into Leslie Jamison's creative writing workshop at Columbia. Parker tried to put the students at ease. "'Acting is so similar to writing in so many ways,' she said. 'I don’t know if I’m the greatest actress or anything, but I’m a really good dramaturge. I can tell a structure, and I can tell where there’s a flaw.'" More:

Jamison asked the students to discuss their thesis projects. Yoshiko Iwai explained that she got into writing through modern dance. She was working on some essays about “death rituals” and was interested in “the way we write the body.” She wants to get an M.D. after her M.F.A.

“You’re going to go to med school?” Parker asked, her eyes wide.

[...]

At the end of class, Parker told the students that she wished she could audit the course. “I’m a crazy nerd,” she said. “I memorize poems. In my dressing room backstage are all these poems. Just this morning, I left a haiku on my son’s bed to remind him to clean the panini maker.”

The class laughed, so Parker decided to share her work...

Read the full piece at the New Yorker.