Dr. James Ragan: Artist Realized by Anh Lottman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Writing is a skill that I’ve spent years honing into an art. During my time at USC’s Master of Professional Writing program (graduated May 2003), I discovered the artistic themes of my work. It is encompassed within the Theatre of the Absurd and the Theatre of Cruelty. The arc of my writing is that all pain ends; therefore, to that end, I craft work that deliver catharsis. I hope to give people with little/no voice, an opportunity to be heard, whether they are within a cultural, philosophical or political minority.

I began my love of expression, through the written word, at a young age. As a teenager, my father would drive me to the public library to check out a minimum of five novels a week. Writing was a natural derivative of reading for me. I even established a library club at Sunny Hills High School. Later, I majored in English literature at Pomona College. And I’ve always been involved with creative writing endeavors: as a journalist, assistant editor of USC’s Southern CA Anthology, and currently the editor of Nuvein—a literary publication whose mission is to create a forum for artists of all ages and cultures.

Writing is a standard-bearer in my life. I hope to encourage you to express your inner artist as well. I believe that the most important indicator of a society’s well being is reflected in its artists. We mirror the highest and lowest levels of our civilization, and Nuvein is one avenue for you to X-press yourself.

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Dr. James Ragan

Dr. James Ragan is a poet and an educator. As Director of the Master of Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California, Dr. Ragan has a lot to be proud of.

At 59, not only did he celebrate 25 years of marriage to his wife, Deborah, but also 25 years headlining the “largest graduate program in the country,” he said. On April 19, Dr. Ragan was surprised with an evening to honor his work and dedication to the arts.

Born in Pittsburgh, Dr. Ragan was one of 13 children. His family immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia. With a Slovak cultural background, he felt the sting of prejudice at a tender age. Growing up in tough neighborhoods, he said, he always wondered why other kids wanted to fight with him.

When he really began to learn English by 4^th grade, he discovered a weapon that was more powerful than fists. He began to “see language as a matter of survival,” which ignited a love of the written word in a young boy’s heart. His poetry started, he said, when he understood suffering and prejudice.

“I never felt local. I always felt for the world,” he said. From this global perspective, Dr. Ragan dedicates his poetics. He believes “writing has to be elevated,” reaching for universal themes. His goal is to break down international and personal borders.

Since 1981, he has taught Principles of Dramatic Structure and a Master Class in Poetry at USC. To his students, he strives to impart a belief in their power to shape the world with their words. Dr. Ragan’s goal is to create artists with the kind of sensitivity required to continue “chasing the truth and stand for life and art. As long as I can keep them thinking in a literary way, they don’t become mercenary.”

For such an illustrious career at USC, Dr. Ragan almost didn’t take the job. However, Deborah encouraged him to take this path. Since that turning point, Dr. Ragan has made the Master of Professional Writing program into a model for at least 20 other universities, he said.

According to Dr. Ragan, the faculty has grown from 8 members to 30, and the student body has leaped from 28 to an average of 175 students a year. Dr. Ragan has also seen a generational shift in the students coming into the program. He notes that there are more women coming back to the market, he said, and there is more diversity.

However, the vision is still the same. When he became director 25 years ago, he wanted to create the first multi-disciplinary program. Dr. Ragan expanded the Master of Professional Writing program from mostly offering screenwriting and television to include theatre, poetry, fiction and nonfiction.

His hope for his students is still the same. “All (I) want is for them to shape a new world with their literature,” Dr. Ragan said.

As for his personal, poetic vision, he continues to question “how it is we have become a culture of violence…with a widening abyss between rich and poor.” He said he saw the same gap within the Czech Republic. He has written to topics from the civil rights movement to love and nature.

The highlight of his career was 1985. He said it was a professional turning point when he read his poetry in Russia. Dr. Ragan has performed with Bob Dylan before former Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. Since then, he has read his poetry in Carnegie Hall and for such diverse audiences as the United Nations and the U.S. Ambassador to France.

For the next stage in his career, Dr. Ragan is becoming more introspective. In his book, “The World Shouldering I,” he explores how the poet artist carries the burden of the world on his shoulders. He also explores the need for greater love in these troubled times in his other book, “Too Long a Solitude,” which consists of love and nature poems.

No matter how internationally famed Dr. Ragan becomes or how many books he publishes, it is the new artists he helps to mold that are his ultimate achievement. “When a student breaks through and (I) can feel they’ve kept growing,” Dr. Ragan said he feels like a proud father.