My Dear Readers: I was accepted to speak at TEDxFSCJ here in Jacksonville on October 8. However, Hurricane Matthew came to town (I guess he heard about our impressive lineup of speakers), so our event had to be postponed! TEDxFSCJ has been rescheduled for Saturday, November 5, but I will be speaking at SAMLA 88 … More I’ll Be at TEDxFSCJ in an Unconventional Way!
Welcome to October, and welcome to Blindness Awareness Month! On the Blink is celebrating blindness with a second round of October Interviews. In the coming days, you’ll hear from blind friends and colleagues as they describe their passions, their challenges, and their perspectives on disability. Our first October conversation features Katherine Schneider, Ph.D., a retired … More October Interview: Love, Work, Play, and Pray Like Everybody Else
I am honored to be featured on Hannah Lee Jones’s fabulous poetry blog, Primal School. Her blog is designed as a place to discuss poetry outside the academy, to go back to basics and understand what makes a poem tick. In this interview, she asked me to describe my motivation and process for “A Phenomenology … More Poetry as Activism, The Rhetoric of Empathy, and The Breaking of Beliefs: My interview with Primal School
We’re starting the week off right with a luminous interview from Elizabeth L. Sammons. Elizabeth’s interview bridges the Sacred Space series and the October Interview series—opening a dialogue about faith and disability that is rich and rewarding. I know you’ll enjoy this extended conversation! Elizabeth L. Sammons, age 50, is a Program Administrator with Ohio’s … More Sacred Space Interview: Calling for Balance with Faith, Hope, and Love
Today an instructor I’ve never met before walked into our shared office. We had the following exchange. Colleague: Hello. You teach here? Me: Good morning. Yes. I teach writing. Colleague: And you’re blind? Me: Yes. Colleague: So…do you have any assistance in the classroom? Me: No, not really. Colleague: Wow, that’s just incredible! I really … More A Day in the Life
Today starts a new semester! And the best way to ring in a beginning or ending is with poetry! So it’s a good thing that my poem “Inside Jokes” was published at The Fem on this day. Read and enjoy! Happy Monday!
Today marks the launch of The Deaf Poets Society, a literary journal that features the work of disabled writers. And I’m honored to announce that my poem “Trading Threes” is on this first flight. Read and listen to the poem here. This poem is a tribute to the glorious cardinals who sing day and night … More A little avian poem in a brand new journal!
The July issue of Rogue Agent is out, and one of my poems graces its cyperpages! You’ll find my piece, “A Phenomenology of Blindness,” in Issue #16 of this journal of poetry, art, and embodiment! Read my poem here.
My last few days of calm are dwindling: the summer semester begins next Tuesday. I’ve finished my syllabus and course schedule, plugged in all the links and files on Blackboard, and gathered up the necessary textbooks. I’m putting the finishing touches on my Welcome Letter, a document I email to my students a few days … More Access at the Outset
My poem, “Crushed,” is live in the June issue of Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature. Click here to read it—or listen to me read it for you!
Literary scholars, mark your calendars for SAMLA 88! The South Atlantic Modern Language Association’s annual conference is coming to Jacksonville in November—with the theme of Utopia/Dystopia: Whose Paradise Is It? And guess what? They accepted my workshop proposal! Michele and I will be presenting a fabulous workshop you won’t want to miss! Don’t believe me? … More Appearing at SAMLA 88!
Once upon a time, two teenage lovers shared a famous conversation over a balcony rail. It was a dark Verona night, and their passions were fired by a chance encounter at a happening house party. We know these two as Juliet and Romeo. The house party was at Juliet’s place, and the meeting was unexpected … More Concern By Any Other Name
In spring of 2012, I was preparing to graduate with my M.A. in English. I was teaching with a respected professor and touching up my first real CV. Terrified of the great blankness that would follow graduation, I planned to teach, but I had no idea how I would continue to meet intelligent and fascinating … More Why We Still Need Literary Spaces for Disabled Writers
At the beginning of my classes, I ask students to define rhetoric. I teach one of two classes—Rhetoric & Writing and Rhetoric & Narrative. And even students who have taken one of these can’t voice a handy definition for the term in the title of their class. They’re not alone. This is not an exercise … More Exceptional Fallacies
The next poet in our series is Jillian Weise. Jillian Weise’s most recent work is the satirical series “AWP Tips for Writers” on YouTube. Her books include The Amputee’s Guide to Sex (2007), The Colony (2010) and The Book of Goodbyes, which won the 2013 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets. She … More April Poet Profiles: Jillian Weise
On the Blink 