Wednesday, July 28, 2010

We're Back with Frederick Waage

All right! All the travelling is done and we're getting back in the groove.
This coming Sunday we're host to Professor Frederick Waage of ETSU's Department of English. Professor Waage has recently publish a book entitled, "Sinking Creek Journal: An Environmental Book of Days." He comes highly recommended with a strong reputation of teaching excellence. I asked him for a synopsis and a Bio, and here's what he replied.

"It's hard to do a synopsis--the idea is to be pretty informal. Maybe what I'll do is talk about how I came to write the book, the "daybook" tradition of nature writing and the importance of "place" in writing. I'd read representative selections from different times of year and see if the audience has any comments on them. I'd like to discuss nature journalling, encourage the audience to do it, and show some other books about keeping a nature journal.

"I grew up in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, got my degrees at Princeton, and taught and lived in different parts of the country, particularly California where at one time I worked for the environmental organization Friends of the Earth in San Francisco. My wife and I moved to East Tennessee in 1978, when I was hired to teach English at ETSU. We have lived on our nearly 3 acres, bisected by Sinking Creek, for 30 years, with a shifting roster of border collies and cats, some of whom fit prominently into the book. Our son Erick and daughter Melissa grew up here; Erick is an Army 2nd lieutenant posted right now at Fort Benning, Melissa is a campaign manager for the Natural Resources Defense Council. I have published scholarly books and articles, short stories, fiction, and creative nonfiction."

This is going to be good. Please join us. We'll be happy to see you and as always, superlative childcare is provided.