I am...

I am a poet. I have been writing poetry since middle school, and successfully managed to get through high school with plenty of the usual angst-filled journals. I've kept it as fodder for future writing projects.  While at the University of Mississippi I took two courses, both in writing, with Blair Hobbs heading the course. Her direction, along with several great peer readers, helped improve my writing. I took a few writing workshops here and there for a while, reading poets like Billy Collins, Sharon Olds, Linda Pastan, Nikki Giovanni, Rita Dove, and a whole slew of others. While working at Berea College I met several teachers in the English department, sat in and participated in a writing course headed by Libby Jones, and befriended several students and staff who continue the craft of creative writing. With these people, I led a small writing group which met on Wednesday evenings for a free-writing session to continue fostering our creativity through the week, even when we didn't have large amounts of time to dedicate to writing work.

I have published a few poems in the Holmes Community College literary journal, Reflections, in 1997.  I've also published the poem "The Day Dad Died" in Berea College's peer-reviewed journal Carillon in 2007. In 2010, five more poems were published in Sugar Mule Magazine's #35 online issue, and then Mongrel Empire Press published those poems in the anthology, Ain't Nobody Can Sing Like Me: New Oklahoma Writing.  In 2013 I self-published a book of poems and photographs titled Lexington Lives: Poems for Those Who Lived & Died in Lexington, Kentucky, 1800s-1900s.  I aim to spend a little more of my free time editing my poetry and getting it ready for submission to large scale literary journals, or just small press chapbooks.  I keep working on new projects, and reading poets recommended by trusted friends.

I am a photographer. Ever since my parents bought me a Canon AE-1 camera sometime in junior high, I have maintained a photographic eye. Now I have a digital camera that I carry with me everywhere because you never know what you may come across on a walk during your lunch hour, or that a co-worker might need a picture of the "New Books" bookcase for the library website. I simply try to capture the interesting things around me, sometimes getting a few of the mundane from a different angle. After serving four years on the yearbook staff in high school, a photographer through community college, and now as a hobby photographer, I occasionally make prints and show them at local coffee shops or other locations that display artwork. Although I am learning a little Photoshop here and there, I do remember making unique black-and-white photos in the darkroom by using cut-outs, fabric, or whatever else inspired a creative vision. Some of my favorite photos I have posted in my Flickr albums.

I am an artist. Other than photography, I sometimes dabble in creating mixed media collages. I like to collect trinkets and do-dads from flea markets or yard sales, then mix the stash together until several items come together to tell a story. One collage includes a little girl's ballet slippers, a locket on a chain, a Valentine's postcard, flowers, a few old photos, beads, glass, and flowers. Another collage has a small book, a photo of a young man, a pair of wire rimmed glasses, a caddy pin, a plastic horse, pins of butterflies, seashells, and plastic ivy.  I like to make artwork because there is a sense of accomplishment, but there is also a desire to share creativity and knowledge in a visual form.

I am a reader. I do love to read, although I have not found a lot of time to settle down and enjoy a good novel or interesting biography. I have read several novels by Lee Smith, one of my favorite novelists.  There's always another book I want to read, like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath or another novel suggested by a friend.  I also have enjoyed personal narratives because they draw you into the world of the author closer than anyone else. I am recently read Name All the Animals by Alison Smith. Some of my favorite novels have been Virginia Woolf's Orlando, Lee Smith's Oral History, all novels written by Susan Vreeland and Tracey Chevalier, and short stories by Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, David Sedaris, and Dorothy Parker.  But I cannot end without mentioning The Road by Cormac McCarthy, a novel that I can say has changed me in the course of one summer.

I also love good entertainment, be it live music, a Sundance festival movie, or the theater. I enjoy a good theater production over a rented movie, I'll choose a live music concert before listening to a CD in my stereo, and a good movie with friends is always better than television at home.