Teaching

This is the real impetus behind my Ph.D. I'm not out to be the internationally acclaimed master of a particular field, though I obviously place great importance on my work as a poet. Actually, I'd love to be that kind of faculty member who gets called on when someone can't come in...regardless of what area of English it is. An A&M professor described me as having a "magpie" intelligence - I see shiny things and grab onto them, rearrange them in interesting ways. I love teaching - the surprises of the classroom, working through some puzzle or another with students, watching them start to come up with their own puzzles and solutions to them (often already solved by someone long ago, but new to the student, and that's what counts). This is partly where the magpie comes in. I see things in what my students say that they don't even realize can lead somewhere amazing.

I've taught Introduction to Rhetoric and Composition, Introduction to Literature, and Introduction to Creative Writing (multiple-genre and solely-poetry). I've also guest-lectured in several classes, from Intro to Literature to a graduate-level poetry course, on subjects ranging from comic books to the physical production of a poetry chapbook. You'll find two sample syllabi over in the sidebar. I'll add an updated formal teaching statement soon..

Crossovers

As the founder and host (currently co-host) of Javashock, the first poetry slam in the Brazos Valley, I've had the opportunity to do some crossover work between academia and the community at large. Javashock is not just about awarding money to the most bombastic poet. I've brought independent filmmaker and performance poet Tonzantzin Canestaro-Garcia up from Houston, have worked with the Africana Studies program to feature Herbert Martin's renditions of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Patricia Jabbeh Wesley's original works, and have searched out undergraduates of particular poetic skill to showcase. Over a hundred people show up for each Javashock, and Revolution Cafe is one of the few places in town that you'll see such a variety of intellectual and societal backgrounds come together.

One of the other times during which you can witness true diversity (in all senses - race, politics, class, gender, sexuality, etc etc etc) is at Mic Check, the weekly open mic. Started by Roger Reeves, Stephen Sargeant, and Shug Avery, Mic Check is the most logical and wonderful outgrowth of Javashock. No scores, no pressure, just people coming together to share poetry and ideas. Of course, there is a slam every second Sunday of the month, but that's a story for the "Stage" area..

A&M is not generally known for its Creative Writing Department, which is a pity considering the number of really impressive writers I've met there in the last few years: Roger Reeves, Olympia Sibley, Glenn Phillips, Logen Cure, Mick White, Alyse Hayes, and the list goes on. I organized a writers exchange with Texas State University's MFA program and worked on the planning committee for the Southwest Writers & Artists Festival. I also brought in Irish poet John O'Leary, one of the most exciting (if relatively unknown) writers on either side of the Pond today. I collaborated with our amazing Hispanic Studies Department to showcase several Latin American writers to the community during the Poetry of the Americas Conference (an event that brought in not only Marjorie Perloff and Charles Bernstein from the US side of things, but nationally and internationally recognized poets from all across Central and South America).

More on the Southwest Writers & Artists Festival: If you missed it, you missed out on a lot. 70+ poets, writers, storytellers, musicians, painters, photographers, dancers, horse riders, and more. For three days we took over Bryan-College Station. I coordinated all three nights at Revolution Cafe, during which we featured a variety of acts ranging from musical performances (Blues, Jazz, folk, and funk), several poetry readings (in both English and Spanish), improv games with the audience, and general frivolity. I had other behind-the-scenes responsibilities, but getting poets/musicians on and off stage in a literally-standing-room-only venue for three to four hours straight was a rush.

Last, but not least, I brought the Poetry Society of America's Poetry in Motion project to Texas A&M's campus for a year. We had 23 posters featuring a variety of poems up on the bus system for all to enjoy. Unfortunately, the program was underfunded - this is not the fault of our funding organizations, but (and I'm going to go ahead and say it in print) Transportation Services, which insisted on charging us for advertising space as though these were advertisements and not a public service. With more money going to advertising space than to the production of the posters, we were never able to get as much ground covered as we wanted. Thus, while patches of students responded very positively to the effort, not enough of the campus saw it at all. The website that featured all the posters is down now, but you can see the ones I designed in the sidebar, and Cushing Memorial Library and Archives has copies of all the posters available for visitors to view.

plants