When people ask me what I do I say say I teach creative writing, and then I usually follow that up with, I’m a poet. And then I wait for the inevitable subconcsious tick–the raised eyebrow, the slight smirk–and inevitable comment that’s usually some version of, I didn’t know that was a job.

As some of you out there know, making art is labor. It’s emotional, mental, and–yes–physical labor. I always tell my creative writing students that it’s our job as lyric artists to transform darkness into light, to hold the beauty and the ruin of something simultaneously, to lift the reader up so they can see the whole of humanity. That’s very heavy lifting, folks. And it takes a toll on every bit of you.

Why am I saying this? Because I’m thinking a lot about embodiment, bodies, and systems. Because part of what adds to the heft of what we carry is our knowledge gap around impact. Is our work doing what we intended? Are we reaching people? (Helloooo? Is anybody out there?) Are we affecting change?

Enter public digital humanities, which can act as a vehicle for lyric art forms. DH projects aren’t just dynamic or beautiful or touching. They illustrate the interdisciplinary origins of a lot of art, and elucidate research that is overcomplicated and inaccessible to those outside of academia. It can make visible the invisible web of connections that keeps us confined in inhumane systems and ineffectual actions.

Right before Covid I started outlining a digital humanities project that would illuminate the connections between Big Ag, the ecocrisis, and the high suicide rate amongst farmers. The updated front page for Redacted is now live.

There’ll be more announcements about Redacted later this summer. I’ll be presenting the project this fall (along with defending my dissertation. Whoa!) before the holidays kick off (just in time to add some food for thought to the food on your plate).

Hey, you! Come hang out at the beautiful Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago next week with Midway Journal–and yours truly, of course! I’ll be reading with several other talented folks on Friday, October 27th at 6pm.

Check out the event here.

Did y’all know that the Midwest once had a major earthquake? No? Well it’s true! And it’s part of my new poem that just dropped at Midway Journal! You should check it out.

Well, it’s been a minute, right?! Pandemic has been rough. Really rough. But I’m happy to announce that I’ll be reading for Lover’s Eye Press at Rare Nest Gallery on Saturday January 14 at 5pm. Come out and support POETRY (hell yes!), a great little lit mag, and a fab-o gallery!

Something wonderful is afoot! First, a new journal is launching called Lover’s Eye Press: a Journal of Ardor. Second, it will be featuring three new poems of mine. Hoorah!

I’m really excited about this journal because there are some wonderful and talented people running it. I feel very honored to have been chosen to be the first feature poet.

Hey, hey! This fall is shaping up to be ok, despite all the HORRIBLE that sometimes seems to be closing in on every side. Covid is still with us, unfortunately, and still taking its toll. But the trees are beautiful and there seem to be adorable little deer everywhere! (Be careful on those country roads at night, folks.) AND November 1st you’ll be able to read two of my poems, “Ghost” and “Grown Wild,” in the fall issue of HeartWood Literary Magazine. These two poems were inspired by my grandmother and are therefore very near and dear to my squishy little heart. She was originally from Kentucky, so I’m glad these two pieces were picked up by a journal housed in a university in Appalachia.

 

Are you familiar with Highland Park Poetry‘s Muses’ Gallery? No?! Well, friends, you have been missing out! The Muses’ Gallery is a revolving exhibition of ekphrastic poetry that are published on temporary signs installed near sculptures– or, in this case, trees–as well as on Highland Park Poetry’s virtual Muses’ Gallery. Roots will be available to read October 1 both online and on an actual tree (I LOVE it!) somewhere in Highland Park.

If anyone stumbles across Roots and its tree, do let me know the location!

I know, I know.  Soooooo many virtual events happening. Do your eyes feel like they’re going to fall out of your head? I can commiserate.

BUT, now hang on a minute! The formidable Hannah Huber (now at Sewanee. Go Hannah!) and I are hosting a Digital Humanities conference on October 22 and 23 that you must check out.

Learn more about the Resources and Visibility in Digital Humanities conference, and don’t forget to register!

If you’ve ever had an idea for a Digital Humanities project and just didn’t know how where to start, I have the perfect event for you!

I’m hosting a virtual workshop through the Digital Humanities Initiative at UIC on September 23, 2020.  It’s geared towards beginners and will be jam-packed with useful information. Check it out here!

Hello from the home office where I–and I’m sure all of you–have been working (somewhat) diligently since early March. What an odd place the world has become since my last announcement! It’s important to remember that we’re not the first to endure quarantine. Hemingway continued to be quite prolific while in a rather complicated quarantine situation in 1926. If Hemingway can do it (while navigating a love triangle, no less), so can we, people!

This entire year is a wash as far as readings and conference presentations are concerned. I take solace in the fact that there are other means of getting our work out into the world. Which brings me to the announcement!

I’m working on two digital humanities projects right now that might interest some–The Endo/Exo Writers Project: Computing Class in U.S. and U.K. Novels, on which I’m co-investigator, and Redacted: Suicide, Big Ag, and Climate Crisis / Elegy for the American Farmer, on which I’m principal investigator. Both of these projects have a projected completion date of summer 2021.

Stay safe, all. Mask, wash, and mind the 6 feet.