Discourse Chronicle

[Before I provide a recap of my most recent conference trip, I would like to thank both Jackie Lockerby (English Festival Lead Organizer) and Dr. Joel Pace (English Festival Faculty Advisor) for inviting me back, especially because EF-XI marks departures for Joel and I from the Fest. Honestly, I could not imagine leaving on a bigger high note. Also, an additional special thanks goes out to Joel Pace, who picked me up from the airport at Midnight and allowed me to stay with him and his wife Caldwell for one night. Now, on with my highlights…

• Meeting and hanging out with Keynote Speakers Orlando Lima (former Executive Editor at Vibe magazine and author of No Room For Squares) and Mike Derigan (Author of Backpocket E-pistles).

• Meeting Ben Wood and Jonathan Helland (founders of Phenomenon Comics and Blackpool) and listening to their presentation about producing comics independently.

• Listening to Joel Pace’s band, Irie, play a show at the House of Rock.

Despite this amazing list of highlights from my trip, I saved the best for last, which are special moments I am truly grateful for experiencing. Friday night, Joel, Orlando Lima, Mike Derigan, and myself enjoyed ourselves at local establishments and two former students of mine approached me. Both of them told me how much they loved it when I helped Dr. Elizabeth Preston-Simon as a teaching assistant in her Novel course when she taught using League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

One student in particular, Kristi Letourneau, confessed to following my academic career so far and is also considering graduate school. Both students reminded me about why I want to become a college professor and work at a university like UW-Eau Claire where teaching is valued more than producing research. BK]

category: Life