Gritty; hardened; a diamond in the rough — Alan Fisk, towering at 6’3”, is a self-professed “dinosaur” of the journalism world. Bushy eyebrows; hints of a goatee; graying, tousled hair; and an unassuming manner of dress (he wears jeans and a dress shirt, opened at the neck most days) – marks of a seasoned journalist. His extensive resume (the list covers over thirty different publications) is impressive, including positions at the New York Times and the Detroit News. Burned out by the fast-paced demands of the journalism world, Fisk decided to retire four years ago and turned to teaching, freelancing on the side. I first met Fisk in a feature writing class at UM-Dearborn.
After the first initial classes, I was determined not to like Fisk; his distaste for tardiness, brusque mannerisms, and his pervading no-nonsense attitude rubbed me the wrong way. Even sitting informally atop a desk, legs swinging, Fisk’s presence was a force to be reckoned with: in short, he intimidated me. I was further convinced his almost lackadaisical manner of teaching had nothing to offer me.
He proved me wrong.
Fisk expects from his students their very best and is not afraid to tell it like it is. He pushes his students to better their writing and critical thinking abilities, and he does so in an unconventional way. His wisdom and vast experience in the journalism field offer what other professors cannot: real-world know-how. That expertise, however, comes with a price. Fisk’s voice is marked with weariness and suggests a cynical worldview that is revealed through classroom discussion of world events. But he’s not as grumpy as he sometimes projects, and his honesty and humility are endearing. He’s a father with an estranged, adult daughter; a man with disappointments and hopes, successes and failures; a liberal-leaning, old-school journalist — in other words, an average-Joe who possesses an above-average ability to write and teach.
Fisk’s teaching ability is amazing; perhaps it stems from the fact that he wasn’t shaped to be a “teacher.” Perhaps it’s just innate, but one isn’t aware that Fisk is teaching. In fact, it almost seems too easy, his classes. But you find yourself walking away from his classroom with your writing skills vastly improved, and you don’t know quite how he did it.
Fisk’s editing is one of his best tools; his real-life work experience and knowledge-base offers what other journalism professors cannot offer, and time flies in his classroom. You find yourself continually wishing class lasted longer.
By the middle of that first semester, Fisk’s ability to teach and his expertise demanded my respect; by the end of that semester, he had won my affection. However crusty Fisk may appear upon first meeting, one discovers that not only does he reign supreme as one of the best teachers of the written word, but he also is really a giant teddy-bear with a heart of gold.
- Christen, Patterson April 2006
