Thoughts

Freedom from being pedagogical

15% of my brain Read against the machine

AI-generated editorial illustration of a quiet writing desk with an open notebook, a pen, and a loosened lecture outline in soft daylight.
Illustration generated with ChatGPT by OpenAI for Greg Conrad Smith, 2026.

Antonella commented on my “Room for God and Others” essay and suggested that to find my voice in writing for a broader audience, I might have to free myself from the requirement to be pedagogical. She said I did not sound preachy, but that it might be interesting to explore freedom from the responsibility of being pedagogical.

I understand how to do pedagogical writing and how to design a talk explaining something I understand well. This is the teacher and curator in me. I also write as prayer, often very explicitly. And there is journaling, where I am talking mostly to myself, though with a sense that God is listening.

What other kinds of writing do I do? Poetry. Memos articulating my point of view. I do not detect a need to be pedagogical in my poetry. Something else is going on there.