{"id":19419,"date":"2025-04-04T16:43:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T21:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/?p=19419"},"modified":"2025-04-09T11:53:52","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T16:53:52","slug":"marnie-dresser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/2025\/04\/04\/marnie-dresser\/","title":{"rendered":"Marnie Dresser"},"content":{"rendered":"

University of Wisconsin-Richland<\/h2>\n

Professor Emeritus of English \"\"
\n<\/strong>Wisconsin Teaching Scholar, 2008-09<\/h5>\n

The feeling of solidarity and connection was crucial as I kept on teaching. It was a long career, and harder and harder as the years went on thanks to political shenanigans. But connecting with SoTL as a discipline and WTFS colleagues were vital lifelines.<\/p>\n

I began to try to write well about teaching in a more thoughtful way, and part of that was self-publishing a short-run chapbook called Each Other\u2019s Anodyne<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The following poems were part of that chapbook: \u201cEach Other\u2019s Anodyne,\u201d a long poem (technically a \u201ccrown of sonnets\u201d) which allowed me to explore and grieve what we were all going through in 2011 with the enactment of Act 10 and the protests and the ramifications.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThe Amazing History of Hiving\u201d was trying to get at how amazing it is to teach well and connect with students.\u00a0 \u201cNothing Can Stop Us\u201d was very fun to read to groups of professors!\u00a0 In fact, one campus dean was so excited he wanted to raise funds to send a copy of the chapbook to every Wisconsin legislator.\u00a0 Maybe I shouldn\u2019t have, but I said absolutely not.\u00a0 That felt to me like the Bible verse about what not to do with your pearls\u2014legislators were not the audience, and I was certain they\u2019d figure out how to use my words to do the opposite of what I had hoped, which was to console those of us doing the work.<\/p>\n

One very fun opportunity came about in 2003 when Dr. Cora Marrett asked me to read poetry to the Board of Regents, and I read \u201cThe Voice of the Legislator.\u201d\u00a0 I would have very different things to say to them now that they have closed many campuses, including my sweet little Richland, and just swept away the tenure of 30+ faculty members like so much dust.<\/p>\n

I published a poem about the closing of the UW Colleges (before the closing of any actual campuses) as the conclusion of a scholarly collection of articles from my former UW Colleges English Department Colleagues in Materiality and Writing Studies: Aligning Labor, Scholarship, and Teaching<\/em>, edited by Holly Hassel and Cassandra Phillips (both participants in WTFS).<\/p>\n

On a very basic level, WTFS and SoTL made me thoughtful and reflective about every single thing I did in the classroom.\u00a0 From the very beginning, I used Randy Bass\u2019s example and probed my \u201creceived\u201d teaching to see what was useful and what was not. I did ongoing research in creativity studies and used what I learned to structure creative writing classes and a course called Creativity and Problem-Solving, but more importantly, I found ways to use creativity in all my classes and articulate to students what they were doing and why.<\/p>\n

In that sense, one of the best things I ever learned was from Lendol Calder during Faculty College, the practice of a \u201cthink aloud.\u201d I used the particular process in classes numerous times, but also took it as a general teaching practice. If there was a sticky concept or skill, I would model for students how I worked through it, in \u201cthink aloud\u201d fashion, and got them comfortable with doing the same thing for each other and for me.\u00a0 SO MANY TIMES in a one-on-one session with a student, when I asked them to walk me through what they were thinking when they did ________, I could pinpoint precisely where they went wrong, but even more importantly where they went right.<\/p>\n

To whatever extent I was a good teacher in my long career, I can first thank some basic constitutional traits I can\u2019t take credit for:\u00a0 genuine love of students, sense of fair play, strong urge to bring everyone along.\u00a0 Then there\u2019s the whole work ethic thing. But finally, and importantly, I can truly thank the University of Wisconsin System for funding WTFS and Faculty College because what I learned and the people I connected with made all the difference for me and allowed me to continue to teach well in a very difficult era.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Biography:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Marnie Bullock Dresser retired as a full Professor from the University of Wisconsin-Richland in 2023. In retirement she is sleeping well, being a caregiver for her mother, and writing, writing, writing.<\/p>\n

Poetry:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

EACH OTHER\u2019S ANODYNE<\/p>\n

The weary teacher lays his pen aside<\/p>\n

And rubs his eyes, says to his wife, \u201cAll right,<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll come to bed.\u201d They both know he will try<\/p>\n

To grade some more in the morning. All through the night<\/p>\n

Another teacher wakes up anxious, mad<\/p>\n

At everyone.\u00a0 She yells at her husband and son,<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not their fault. It\u2019s not the teachers\u2019 fault.<\/p>\n

In a dark time, our hard work shines too bright.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re public target practice. We\u2019re spittoons.<\/p>\n

For a time, a shining time, we were solid<\/p>\n

In the middle class, rewarded for working hard<\/p>\n

To help synapses snap and shimmer in the light.<\/p>\n

Tempus fugit, damn it, sad but true:<\/p>\n

The best shows all get cancelled way too soon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The best shows all get cancelled way too soon.<\/p>\n

Post-modernly they hooked us and we swooned<\/p>\n

At heroes rounding all the genres up<\/p>\n

To drove them o\u2019er the plains. Inspire us!<\/p>\n

The hooker with the heart of brass blew up<\/p>\n

The patriarchy, blam! The runt did chin-ups<\/p>\n

Until he made the winning catch, two times.<\/p>\n

The rocket rounded earth, accompanied by chimes<\/p>\n

At midnight, and we, we got attached too fast<\/p>\n

To what the larger corporate sponsor failed<\/p>\n

To see a profit in. It couldn\u2019t last,<\/p>\n

But we had no idea the cruise ship had sailed.<\/p>\n

We made a snack and snuggled, and watched the show.<\/p>\n

The nights were longer then, with deeper snow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The nights were longer then, and deeper snow<\/p>\n

Made driving slower. Now darker days have come<\/p>\n

Despite the later sunsets. We didn\u2019t know<\/p>\n

How sweet it was\u2014our biggest worry was some<\/p>\n

Stupid internet scam our students fell for\u2014<\/p>\n

An octopus living in trees. Like always, slow<\/p>\n

In winter\u2014we did our jobs, shoveled some more,<\/p>\n

And then the Packers won the Super Bowl!<\/p>\n

For Valentine\u2019s, our governor went nuclear.<\/p>\n

So far he\u2019s systematic\u2014everything<\/p>\n

We care about, he wants to cut. Budget despair<\/p>\n

Has set in hard. It will not ever be spring.<\/p>\n

But up in the gray, three sand hill cranes, flying north.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Up in the gray, three sand hill cranes, flying north.<\/p>\n

Inexorably, the seasons change. They do.<\/p>\n

But broken-hearted, raw, beleaguered blue\u2014<\/p>\n

We cannot trust the calendar. It\u2019s death<\/p>\n

We see when we look around\u2014dead trees, dead grass<\/p>\n

Below the layered shale of sooty ice.<\/p>\n

Just like \u201calways winter and never Christmas,\u201d<\/p>\n

We long for a miraculous thaw or a looking glass.<\/p>\n

Not knowing is the worst; at least we think<\/p>\n

It is\u2014we\u2019ll think that until we learn the worst.<\/p>\n

However far we\u2019ve learned our hopes can sink,<\/p>\n

they\u2019ve sunk so far, and farther, and farthest.<\/p>\n

We thought we had a thaw, but it froze again.<\/p>\n

The ditches are full of ice. But it is thin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ditches are full of ice, but it\u2019s too thin<\/p>\n

For skating. It makes a satisfying crunch<\/p>\n

When you stomp it. Let\u2019s watch the two of them\u2014<\/p>\n

These women hiking, sharing a picnic lunch.<\/p>\n

One\u2019s tiny\u2014she can almost walk across<\/p>\n

The ice before it breaks. Almost. Not quite.<\/p>\n

Crashing, they are each other\u2019s anodyne.<\/p>\n

One lover catches another and she laughs,<\/p>\n

\u201cYou silly thing.\u201d And just like that, the tears<\/p>\n

come flying out, \u201cI\u2019m sorry I dragged you here.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t even make you my wife. This stupid state<\/p>\n

Is stupid. I hate it. Hate, hate, hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease don\u2019t hate on my account. Not ever.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve made a home. Your students need you here.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u2019ve made a home where students need us. Here<\/p>\n

In the trenches, in the cold and the muck of open admission,<\/p>\n

We\u2019re spinning plates for students, showing where<\/p>\n

Centrifugal becomes centripetal<\/p>\n

With just the right transitional phrase. They take<\/p>\n

The plates away from us, they break the glass<\/p>\n

Bell jars and ceilings, they celebrate the figures<\/p>\n

That animate their dreams the night they made<\/p>\n

The quadratic formula prove itself on threat<\/p>\n

Of death, organismic, de dicto, real.<\/p>\n

Whatever ivory tower there ever was,<\/p>\n

It\u2019s gone for good, and most of us are thrilled.<\/p>\n

We may stay\u2014we may move on\u2014but we are sure\u2014<\/p>\n

If not Wisconsin, somewhere, someone will learn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If not Wisconsin, somewhere, someone will learn<\/p>\n

That when you titillate the lesser devils<\/p>\n

Of our nature, when you go all Soviet<\/p>\n

And wish my cow would die (you ate your own),<\/p>\n

You\u2019re just a toddler berserker tearing down<\/p>\n

the walls, affronted when the ceiling lands.<\/p>\n

America seemed like such a good idea.<\/p>\n

I guess it\u2019s possible it might again.<\/p>\n

Uncertain of so much save that we stand,<\/p>\n

The union of other and each, screaming<\/p>\n

At the snow, we can keep each other warm.<\/p>\n

We can be each other\u2019s anodyne,<\/p>\n

Inventing for each other a kind of summer<\/p>\n

When weary teachers lay their pens aside.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE AMAZING HISTORY OF HIVING<\/p>\n

Use your eyes, I tell my cubs, see the bees.<\/p>\n

Follow your nose, I tell them both,<\/p>\n

always two cubs, when I dream about being<\/p>\n

a mama bear teaching my young to find honey.<\/p>\n

It smells so good, I tell them, it smells like life.<\/p>\n

And we climb the tree and we ruin the hive<\/p>\n

and we gobble it down, we devour it all,<\/p>\n

the honey, the bees themselves, the larvae.<\/p>\n

Then we fat-bellied bears toddle off<\/p>\n

to sleep off the stupor of heaven, to dream<\/p>\n

about being professors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are precisely, approximately,<\/p>\n

one thousand four hundred and twenty-one<\/p>\n

disparate, desperate tasks<\/p>\n

related to teaching well,<\/p>\n

to actual student learning,<\/p>\n

including the writing and revising<\/p>\n

of lectures, assignments, directions,<\/p>\n

discussion prompts and syllabi.<\/p>\n

We listen to, we orchestrate, enjoy,<\/p>\n

evaluate what students say and do.<\/p>\n

As well as tracking grades, remembering<\/p>\n

names, and keeping up with email.<\/p>\n

Etcetera. Times four courses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When things go well, I have the sense<\/p>\n

of a series of hives, all humming with life<\/p>\n

and cranking out honey.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And when it goes badly, it\u2019s the absence<\/p>\n

of bees I\u2019m aware of, the silence,<\/p>\n

essential work just not getting done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like the mysterious missing honeybees\u2014<\/p>\n

Did they go off, one by one? Did I kill them?<\/p>\n

Do I carry, in my good intentions, something<\/p>\n

Deadly to them? A virus? A bacterium?<\/p>\n

And once they\u2019re gone, will they ever return?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not to mention when it all swarms<\/p>\n

At me, at students, when we\u2019re all stung,<\/p>\n

Confused, in pain,<\/p>\n

Every one of us anaphylactic.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But when things go well, I have this sense<\/p>\n

Of an academic unit as a hive,<\/p>\n

A chapter as a moveable drawer,<\/p>\n

A small group discussion like a honeycomb\u2026.<\/p>\n

In the amazing history of hiving,<\/p>\n

Countries and regions develop their own<\/p>\n

Style based on what\u2019s blooming<\/p>\n

Unaware of the perils of course design.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Delving is what we do best, we beekeepers<\/p>\n

Of the academic world, we brave brewers<\/p>\n

Of sticky ideas, we savvy cultivators<\/p>\n

Of the elusively productive queen of learning.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

NO ONE CAN STOP US (a rock anthem call and response)<\/p>\n

When the quiet student<\/p>\n

In the back row asks a question,<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s a good question,<\/p>\n

A really good one,<\/p>\n

And another student answers<\/p>\n

With evidence and insight,<\/p>\n

String that bead on your rosary.<\/p>\n

Add transcendence to your resume.<\/p>\n

We need to learn to treasure<\/p>\n

How we live our lives as teachers,<\/p>\n

How we succeed, and it\u2019s mostly<\/p>\n

Moment by moment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moment by moment,<\/p>\n

Student by student,<\/p>\n

This is what matters.<\/p>\n

Teaching\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

No one can stop us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The non-trad who stayed up all night<\/p>\n

with a sick kid and a laptop.<\/p>\n

The five-year-old cutie with red hair<\/p>\n

and freckles, and more issues than freckles.<\/p>\n

The hormone-driven, pimple-ridden,<\/p>\n

horny jerk who somehow found the nerve<\/p>\n

to say \u201cI loved that essay question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shot by shot, our movie of the week,<\/p>\n

In which we\u2019re the inspiring teachers,<\/p>\n

shows our focus, our composition,<\/p>\n

the structure of our concern, proceed<\/p>\n

Student by student.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moment by moment,<\/p>\n

Student by student,<\/p>\n

This is what matters.<\/p>\n

Teaching\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

No one can stop us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have to feed our families.<\/p>\n

We hope to retire before death.<\/p>\n

We wonder if Canada would be better.<\/p>\n

(If Canada would even let us in.)
\nBut that moment when the soft white<\/p>\n

compact fluorescent light bulb comes on,<\/p>\n

when someone learns something, we know,<\/p>\n

as surely as we know how hard we work,<\/p>\n

this is what matters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moment by moment,<\/p>\n

Student by student,<\/p>\n

This is what matters.<\/p>\n

Teaching\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

No one can stop us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Firefighters risk their lives<\/p>\n

And lead parades with bagpipes.<\/p>\n

Some activists lie down in front of tanks.<\/p>\n

My cousin Rob stared down,<\/p>\n

Survived, unspeakable things in Iraq.<\/p>\n

All around us are dramatic<\/p>\n

Examples of heroism and sacrifice.<\/p>\n

Have you ever seen a statue<\/p>\n

Of a teacher? Me neither.<\/p>\n

But we know, we all know<\/p>\n

Teaching\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moment by moment,<\/p>\n

Student by student,<\/p>\n

This is what matters.<\/p>\n

Teaching\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

No one can stop us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No government,<\/p>\n

No governor,<\/p>\n

No budget cut,<\/p>\n

No bad idea<\/p>\n

Can keep a really determined teacher<\/p>\n

From jumping right into the mosh pit,<\/p>\n

From coming on down to the altar,<\/p>\n

From pulling up her own bootstraps,<\/p>\n

From cutting down on the average<\/p>\n

Number of disconnects<\/p>\n

Between what he knows in his head<\/p>\n

And what he does with his time.<\/p>\n

No one can stop us from teaching.<\/p>\n

No one can stop us from loving what we do.<\/p>\n

No one can touch what we know in our hearts\u2014<\/p>\n

However much they meddle and undermine<\/p>\n

and underfund and criticize, we know, if they don\u2019t, that<\/p>\n

no one can stop us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Moment by moment,<\/p>\n

Student by student,<\/p>\n

This is what matters.<\/p>\n

Teaching\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

No one can stop us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE VOICE OF THE LEGISLATOR<\/p>\n

To those who currently do more with less,<\/p>\n

Consider doing even more with even less.<\/p>\n

For those requesting more, remember that<\/p>\n

We\u2019re giving less and less to those who ask.<\/p>\n

Those golden days of doing less with more<\/p>\n

Are gone.\u00a0 Don\u2019t ask o where o where o where.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s like your family.\u00a0 All the good vacations<\/p>\n

Got took before you could even walk.\u00a0 Unconscious<\/p>\n

In your baby haze, you never knew<\/p>\n

That Polaroid of everyone at the zoo<\/p>\n

Captured the last moment in time and space<\/p>\n

All the feelings inside matched the look on each face.<\/p>\n

Grow up.\u00a0 You weren\u2019t abused.\u00a0 No matter how bad<\/p>\n

Things look, there\u2019s always room to make more bad.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

From the minutes of the April 10, 2003, meeting of the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents: <\/em><\/p>\n

Report of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. National Poetry Month<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In recognition both of National Poetry Month and of the outstanding creative activity in which UW System faculty engage, Senior Vice President Marrett introduced poet Marnie Bullock Dresser, Professor of English at UW-Richland. Professor Dresser read several poems, including one she wrote especially for the Regents entitled \u201cThe<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    University of Wisconsin-Richland Professor Emeritus of English Wisconsin Teaching Scholar, 2008-09 The feeling of solidarity and connection was crucial as I kept on teaching. It was a long career, and harder and harder as the years went on thanks to political shenanigans. But connecting with SoTL as a discipline and WTFS colleagues were vital lifelines. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4665,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[88,54,46],"class_list":["post-19419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sotl-25th-anniversary-narratives","tag-2008-09","tag-uw-colleges","tag-wisconsin-teaching-scholar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4665"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19499,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19419\/revisions\/19499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/opid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}