| Personally
and professionally I'm interested in how writers relate
to their various communities. In my case, that means exploring
how writers and the Christian community might better engage
in relationships with one another, as well as understanding
how writers interact with the various geographic places
in which we find ourselves. Some of my more contemporary
models for thinking about these interactions include:
Wendell Berry, Scott Russell Sanders, Gwendolyn Brooks,
Scott Cairns, Jeff Gundy., Denise Levertov, Kent Haruf,
and Kathleen Norris, to name just a few.
This
search for community has played itself out in my poetry,
in my teaching, and in my faith, with one happy result
being my becoming a Mennonite several years ago. This
Christian tradition, with its concern for piety, community,
simplicity, and peace, has become a spiritual home for
me and for my family, especially as we've worshipped
in local Mennonite churches in Urbana, IL and in Lombard,
IL (http://lombard.il.us.mennonite.net/).
On
an even more personal note, I enjoy spending time with
my wife, a resident physician, and our daughter, a second
grader who loves art and music. I also enjoy music and
film a great deal.
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Poetry
A Liturgy for Stones. Telford, PA: Cascadia Publishing
House, 2003
Five
poems. A Capella: Mennonite Voices in Poetry. Edited
by Ann Hostetler. Iowa City: U of Iowa Press, 2003.
147-153.
"Echo,
after Palestrina" and "My Friend at Firestone
Asks About Poems." Teaching
English in the Two-Year College 30 (May 2003): 403.
"Looking
at Roadside Bluestem Before Leaving Decatur" and
"Tending Gardens"
2River View 7.1 (Fall 2002).
Scholarship/Reviews
"Assembling
Community: A Conversation with Carolyn Forché."
The Nimble Spirit Review. (August 2001). Reprinted
on Modern American Poetry, University of Illinois.
"Poets,
Witnesses, and Community: Denise Levertov's and Carolyn
Forché's Poetics of Witness" in Postmodernity,
Literature and the Christian Critic, Deborah
Bowen, ed. Forthcoming.
"The
Power and Pettiness of Poets: Poetry's Very Human Century
." The Avatar Review, Summer 2003.
Review
of Alison Gresik's Brick and Mortar. The Nimble
Spirit Review, Summer 2002.
Conference
Presentations
"Teaching Mennonite Literature," with Hildi
Froese Thiessen. Workshop presented at
Mennonite's Writing: An International Conference. Goshen
College, Goshen, IN. 24-27 Oct. 2002.
"The Beloved, Ambivalent Community: Mennonite Poets
and the Postmodern
Church." Paper presented at Mennonite's Writing:
An International Conference. Goshen College, Goshen,
IN. 24-27 Oct. 2002.
Lectures/Sermons
"Writing Like I Believe." Chapel Address.
Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg,
VA. 17 Jan. 2003.
"A Christian Poet's Calling." InterVarsity
Christian Fellowship, Graduate Chapter.
University of Illinois, Urbana, IL. 31 Jan. 2003.
"What Evangelicals Are Teaching Me." First
Mennonite Church, Urbana, IL 2 Feb. 2003.
Selected
Poetry Readings
Schloss Mittersill Arts Conference, Mittersill, Austria
Millikin University, Decatur, IL.
Richland Community College, Decatur, IL
Germantown Mennonite Church, Philadelphia, PA
Eastern University, St. David's, PA
Writer's Read. Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg,
VA.
Mennonite/s Writing: An International Conference. Goshen
College, Goshen, IN.
Grants
Illinois Arts Council, Artist's Fellowship for Poetry.
Dec. 2002.
Links
of Interest
Poets & Writers
Modern American
Poetry
My Personal Web Site
Mennonite/Anabaptist
Resources
Writings
on Christian Pacifism
Lombard
Mennonite Church
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