This year marked my 29th first day of school as a professor at Mount Mercy, and my 37th as a teacher. If you count my student years, it was my 55th first day of school! That fresh fall start never gets old. Sure, there is sadness about leaving summer behind and having less time to … Read more
Every summer, I read the issues of Poets & Writers that I haven’t had the time to read during the school year. (AKA all the issues.) This summer, as I was perusing “5 Over 50” (a favorite with this 59-year-old), I came across debut poet Shareen K. Murayama. When she’s questioning herself as a writer, … Read more
The new year has made me want to try something new with this blog. So in addition to my super sporadic essays, I’ve decided to post monthly collections of quotes. This first bunch includes mostly old favorites and a few from recent reading. After some of them, I’ve offered commentary. I let the quotes determine … Read more
Amazon has sold out of antiracist books. Topping the bestseller lists are two titles I read this past semester before the pandemic hit: Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility (2018) and Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be An Antiracist (2019). This post is my response to the pairing. But first, what to make of the book news? … Read more
In this poetry collection about a prison protest, Carol Tyx shows the full range of what we humans are capable of, our worst and our best.
How do you make the most an author’s campus visit? How do you lay the groundwork? I’ve pondered these questions since I started teaching at Mount Mercy 26 years ago, back when my friend and colleague, the poet and essayist Jim McKean, directed our Visiting Writers Series. The questions have become more important to me … Read more
Do you still write? This question gets asked every semester when Mount Mercy English hosts one of its alumni career panels—What Can You Do With An English Major? Do you still write? The question is usually asked by students who adore creative writing and who are on the verge of graduating. These students and their … Read more
I believed in the transformative power of literature years before I had the words to say so. But it turns out, I had no idea how much the right novel at the right time could change me. The novel is Richard Powers’ beautiful, sprawling eco-fiction, The Overstory. The time is now, my third sabbatical. Let … Read more