Dr. Trudier Harris I just finished reading—for the second time—Suzan-Lori Parks’s Getting Mother’s Body (2003). Parks is known primarily as a playwright, having won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Topdog/Underdog. However, she ventures into the novel form for this narrative. In somewhat of a reversal of William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, Billie Beede, the central character in this multiply narrated novel, travels with an assortment of companions from Texas to New Mexico to dig up her deceased mother’s body […]
Tag: Spring 2015 Newsletter
An Evolving Perspective: 16 Years with Carol Appling
After spending 16 years working for The University of Alabama Department of English, former Graduate Coordinator Carol Appling has said her goodbyes. In 1998, Appling took on the role as Program Assistant for Graduate Studies, where she worked solely with the MA/PhD programs. In 2006, she stepped up as the Graduate Coordinator, which allowed her to work with all of the programs. After graduating high school, Appling had intended to pursue a cosmetology career. She began classes in Business Education […]
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Carl Peterson: MFA Alumnus
As the world changes at an ever-increasing pace, professionals of all stripes find themselves changing careers and adapting their skills from their original degrees to new settings and contexts. Carl Peterson earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from Northwestern University and is an MFA Alumnus from The University of Alabama, where he earned his degree in Creative Writing. Although Peterson started by teaching English at The University of Alabama, he is now working for the private food and agricultural company […]
An Unorthodox Path
Shea Henderson waits outside Starbucks among his fellow students for our meeting, holding The Crimson White and intently reading an article as I approach him. Like the majority of students at The University of Alabama, Shea Henderson’s backpack brims with textbooks and papers for his upcoming classes, however the difference between him and his peers is one of age. Shea Henderson has returned to college after sixteen years of working in a variety of different jobs to finish his education […]
Graduate Student Takes on Creative Writing
Meghan Tear Plummer is a graduate student at The University of Alabama. She is currently in the MFA program on campus and loves every minute of it. Plummer grew up in Austin, Texas and moved to Lake Charles, Louisiana when she was 16 years old. She attended college in Tennessee at Sewanee: the University of the South. Plummer studied English for four years and then worked as an assistant editor at The Oxford American magazine. After writing for the magazine […]
Dr. Heidi Staples: English Professor
Dr. Heidi Staples is a new faculty member in the Department of English, here at Alabama. A native Southerner, hailing from the Gulf Coastal Plain, Staples completed her MFA at Syracuse University and returned to the South for her PhD at the University of Georgia. She is the author of novel Guess Can Gallop and co-founded the Poets for Living Waters Foundation in response to the BP gulf oil spill. Staples’ work has appeared in Best American Poetry, Chicago Review, […]
Dr. Raymond Wachter: English Instructor
Dr. Raymond Wachter studied creative writing and received his B.A. in English from the University of Iowa. He studied American literature and received his M.A. and PhD in English from the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. A recent Pushcart Prize nominee, his poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Pinch, Tipton Poetry Journal, Burnt Bridge, Knock, Verdad, Phantasmagoria, Apalachee Review, and other online and print journals. It is always a pleasure to sit down with […]
Hali Felt: English Professor
Hali Felt may be a fresh face within The University of Alabama’s Department of English, but her impressive accomplishments could convince anyone that she has already established a name for herself. Growing up with a love for creative writing and the arts, she knew that her passion lay within these fields. Having recently having moved to the South, she is ready for a new adventure and excited for what lies ahead. Where did you study/do your residencies? I obtained my […]
Brian Oliu: Video Games and the Writing Process
This fall, I had the opportunity to sit down with The University of Alabama MFA graduate and current UA English Instructor Brian Oliu to discuss his career as a teacher and a writer. Mr. Oliu works with numerous publications around Tuscaloosa, the subjects of which range from local interests to video games. He is an acclaimed writer and teacher across a wide range of subjects and offers students a unique way to study creative writing. His enthusiasm for writing and […]
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Another Great Year Learning Teen Shakespeare
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview the UA Department of English’s Dr. Natalie Loper. She earned her PhD. at UA in Renaissance Studies and teaches a class called, “Teen Shakespeare,” where students study contemporary takes on Shakespeare plays in current movies. She came to UA to pursue her MA and PhD through the Hudson Strode Program in Renaissance Studies. Loper explains, “I loved my Shakespeare classes in high school and college, and I was really excited to be a […]