NWA WTF

I just came back from my Monday Neighborhood Writing Alliance writing workshop. After considering today's developments and past comments, I have a few theories about the NWA.
They seem to want to proliferate the status quo. So I ask myself:
- what's my beef with that? (I think I accept this love boat approach - they like it, it fulfills them, and I'm happy for them)
- why should I push against it? (I think I'm bored with the status quo - I want more - I want to be challenged, and to challenge/think/work)

I've heard my written work referred to as "experimental" by undergrad professors (at ISU), graduate professors (at UIC), the NWA publication review staff, and today the head of our NWA group said it. (Perhaps she used it because the review committee did?) So I ask myself:
- is my writing bad?
- am I actually experimenting (and don't know it)?
- is "experimental" a (poorly) named genre?
- are they trying to hold me to outdated modes of production?
This term seems to be used in a slightly back-handed way. It is almost derogatory. Like the things I write are not trite, or undeveloped, and don't warrant consideration.

Maybe it is time for me to look elsewhere. Maybe just artists? Or maybe I just want the warm embrace of an academic institution (but that doesn't really sound like fun).

Ok. So I talked to Allie. She is so smart.
I have unreasonable expectations for this group. Most of the people in this group seem to be there to write "personal narratives;" or something like that. They're not there to challenge what it means to be a writer in 2011 or to bring the critique pain. These are the things that I am looking for. But, my writing is also an extension of my visual art practice - thereby I want my writing to be populist. This means that this may be a good (even if frustrating) place to test the populist waters of my poetry - to see how far I can go and what I need to do to be understood by more than academics.
I'm gunna start going to the Next Objectionists meets at Mess Hall too - to complement the NWA.