I’m grateful to editor Chris Tusa at Fiction Southeast for running a flash story last year and for the opportunity to respond to the mother of all writing prompts.
My Spring 2016 class in magazine writing at Albion College was one of my favorites in roughly 14 years of teaching. And that’s reflected in my evaluations, which I’m pleased to share here: S16 ENGL 306 – Magazine Writing – Evals.
Very pleased to have a poem accepted for publication in an upcoming print issue of Prick of the Spindle. Many thanks to the editors for their support.
My first job out of college, I worked at a small advertising/PR agency in Madison, Wisconsin, and I remember early on handing a piece of copy to the proprietor, Russ, with a note at the bottom saying I was proud of it. Russ, who was from rural Reedsburg, Wisconsin, wrote back, “Pride grows on the human heart like lard on a pig.”
In an ever-lasting way, Russ confounded my propensity as a native New Yorker to boast; since whatever I was back then, 21 or 22, I’ve been conflicted about even thinking of myself as proud of something I produced.
So I’ll say this about the personal essay I have in the Spring/Summer 2016 issue of Post Road Magazine: I’m pleased with how it finally reads and unabashedly proud to have work in an issue that includes Julia Strayer’s short story “The Goldfish” and Rhiannon Catherwood’s personal essay “Rear View” and Marianne Leone’s personal essay-review of the Mario Puzo novel The Fortunate Pilgrim.
I’m also grateful to the people who helped me with sections or whole drafts, going back to workshops at WMU, when I wrote down the bones as fiction.
And deep thanks to Pete Hausler for accepting the piece and to the other folks at Post Road who treated it so well.
I’m very pleased to have accepted a renewed three-year appointment in the English Department at Albion College. I’m especially appreciative of a good handful of former students who already are applying their classroom and newsroom experiences to even more challenging roles in graduate school and professions such as education and journalism. Certainly I’m working with at least several more who’ll be launching meaningful careers in the near future.
“Little Guy” appears in Confrontation 115. I’m pleased to have a story in an issue that also includes fiction by Kent Nelson, Justine Aimee McNulty, Debbie Urbanski, Leanne Rose Sowul, Hadley Moore, Sonia Christensen, Harley Carnell, Buzz Mauro, and Dennis Kennedy.
I’m honored and excited that Confrontation has accepted my story “Little Guy” for publication. It’s slated to appear in the Spring 2014 issue. Here’s an interview with Editor-in-Chief Jonna Semeiks.
Delighted to be joining Albion College
I will be joining the Albion College English Department starting in 2012-13 as a visiting assistant professor of English with initial responsibility for teaching multimedia journalism and composition and advising the Albion Pleiad. I also anticipate a role in developing courses in professional writing.
After teaching mainly literature and creative writing these last six years, I’m excited to have an opportunity to contribute to another academic program, particularly at Albion College, where I started to get to know the students and my new colleagues during the latter half of the Fall 2011 semester, when I was a leave replacement for fiction faculty member Danit Brown.
One of my greatest joys at Kalamazoo College has been knowing students well enough to write for them when they’ve applied to graduate programs in literature or creative writing. I’m especially enthused now about giving back in a similar way to the field of journalism.
Alpha Lambda Delta initiates Charlotte Steele and Trevor Vader have recognized me as a “Favorite Professor.” The 2010 Kalamazoo College chapter initiation ceremony was held Oct. 27.
Seven other initiates have honored me as a “Favorite Professor” since 2007.
Eligibility for membership in Alpha Lambda Delta is determined by the first-year academic record, and is limited to those maintaining a grade point average of at least 3.5 and class standing in the top 20 percent.
Charlotte was a member of two courses I taught in 2010, Introduction to Creative Writing and a hybrid literature/writing class on graphic memoir and identity. She wrote and illustrated an especially memorable piece about growing up with two sisters. And she wrote the best student story I’ve ever seen having to do with asparagus. For his part, Trevor took Intro Creative Writing, and wrote terrifically from the point of view of a young Kalamazoo restaurant worker.
Thank you, Charlotte and Trevor, for associating me with your success.