Introductory Post
Although the people who first friended me, know me, it's possible a few newcomers may wander by (especially after I post about blogs and lj and gender and academia and other fun stuff), so here's an introductory post!
I was a solitary fan for my early life/formative years (not through choice; there was no organized fandom in Moscow, Idaho during the 1960s and 1970s). I read science fiction from grade school on (my father was a fan), got hooked on Star Trek the original series when it first ran. I read and loved The Lord of the Rings from 1965 on (recording 100 readings by the time I was 17). I first read Joanna Russ ("When it Changed") at the age of 14. Girls, at this time/pace, were not supposed to read sf/f, so from early on, I perceived my reading obsessions as a proto-feminist act. When I went away to a university in Washington, I saw a flyer for the Puget Sound Star Trekkers and joined Outpost 13 that fall (1976). I was active for several years, attending conferences and events in Seattle and Portland, then moved into APA-5 (Paul Chadwick and Chris Warner were members then). I loved the whole culture of APAs, but finally left when I became involved in a doctoral program some years later. I thought I had left fandom for good and was surprised to find myself back in fandom (online, LOTR) in March 2003.
I was a professional graduate student for years. After completing my BA in English in 1979 (Western Washington University--WWU), I attended the Bread Loaf School of English (summers only) until I earned a Master's in English, then did several terms of work toward the M.Litt. I also earned an MA in English/Creative Writing at WWU. I also did all the coursework for a Master's in Playwriting, but left before finishing but after I told the Graduate Director and Playwriting Prof that that he was a sexist pig. After experimenting with life as a starving poet, bored clerical worker (for the feds), and three years adjuncting at Boise State University, I went back and earned my doctorate at the University of Washington, finishing in 1993 (just in time for my 20th high school reunion). My dissertation was on constructions of "race," ethnicity and gender in North American feminist narratives (the contemporary theory let me drag in a bunch of science fiction!). One of my committee told me afterwards I should just do the sf, and since I'd just read Marleen Barr's monograph on feminist sf, I realized I could do so.
I was hired to teach creative writing and critical theory in the Department of Literature and Languages at what was then East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University-Commerce) in 1993. I've been here ever since. My earlier work was on feminism and sf; I wrote two books for Greenwood's critical theory series (one on Arthur C. Clarke, one on Ray Bradbury), and I'm currently in the last stages of editing an encyclopedia of women in sf/f for the press. My scholarship in recent years has expanded to include queer work on Tolkien, work on Jackson's film, and fan fiction studies. In 2004, I co-directed the first National Institute for the Humanities Summer Institute on Tolkien with Dr. Judy Ann Ford (History). We have a proposal in for consideration for another Institute for 2008.
I was a solitary fan for my early life/formative years (not through choice; there was no organized fandom in Moscow, Idaho during the 1960s and 1970s). I read science fiction from grade school on (my father was a fan), got hooked on Star Trek the original series when it first ran. I read and loved The Lord of the Rings from 1965 on (recording 100 readings by the time I was 17). I first read Joanna Russ ("When it Changed") at the age of 14. Girls, at this time/pace, were not supposed to read sf/f, so from early on, I perceived my reading obsessions as a proto-feminist act. When I went away to a university in Washington, I saw a flyer for the Puget Sound Star Trekkers and joined Outpost 13 that fall (1976). I was active for several years, attending conferences and events in Seattle and Portland, then moved into APA-5 (Paul Chadwick and Chris Warner were members then). I loved the whole culture of APAs, but finally left when I became involved in a doctoral program some years later. I thought I had left fandom for good and was surprised to find myself back in fandom (online, LOTR) in March 2003.
I was a professional graduate student for years. After completing my BA in English in 1979 (Western Washington University--WWU), I attended the Bread Loaf School of English (summers only) until I earned a Master's in English, then did several terms of work toward the M.Litt. I also earned an MA in English/Creative Writing at WWU. I also did all the coursework for a Master's in Playwriting, but left before finishing but after I told the Graduate Director and Playwriting Prof that that he was a sexist pig. After experimenting with life as a starving poet, bored clerical worker (for the feds), and three years adjuncting at Boise State University, I went back and earned my doctorate at the University of Washington, finishing in 1993 (just in time for my 20th high school reunion). My dissertation was on constructions of "race," ethnicity and gender in North American feminist narratives (the contemporary theory let me drag in a bunch of science fiction!). One of my committee told me afterwards I should just do the sf, and since I'd just read Marleen Barr's monograph on feminist sf, I realized I could do so.
I was hired to teach creative writing and critical theory in the Department of Literature and Languages at what was then East Texas State University (now Texas A&M University-Commerce) in 1993. I've been here ever since. My earlier work was on feminism and sf; I wrote two books for Greenwood's critical theory series (one on Arthur C. Clarke, one on Ray Bradbury), and I'm currently in the last stages of editing an encyclopedia of women in sf/f for the press. My scholarship in recent years has expanded to include queer work on Tolkien, work on Jackson's film, and fan fiction studies. In 2004, I co-directed the first National Institute for the Humanities Summer Institute on Tolkien with Dr. Judy Ann Ford (History). We have a proposal in for consideration for another Institute for 2008.