plainstate: The Podcast

Gabrielle Owen discusses her recently published book, A Queer History of Adolescence: Developmental Pasts, Relational Futures, with colleague Timothy Schaffert. This episode is taken from a March 23, 2021 virtual event celebrating the new book.

Saddiq Dzukogi, Nigerian-born poet and Ph.D. student at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, talks with friend and fellow poet Jessica Poli about his new book, YOUR CRIB, MY QIBLA. Published by the University of Nebraska Press in March 2021, YOUR CRIB, MY QIBLA is a collection of poems dedicated to his daughter, Baha, who passed away only 21 days after her first birthday.

This episode explores the most recent collaboration between the National Park Service and the Nebraska Writing Project: a planned river float for area high school students to allow them to experience the Niobrara River in a way they may not have before.

A partnership between the Nebraska Writing Project and Agate Fossil Beds National Monument has developed the park's paleontological, geological, and early history of the plains stories into a series of workshops designed for teachers. In this episode, teacher-participants share how the workshop series evolved and impacted them as place-based writers and educators.

The Nebraska Writing Project and Homestead National Monument have partnered together to host the Prairie Visions Writing Festival, and annual workshop for middle and high schoolers. In this episode, educators and rangers discuss using place-based writing to give students a greater appreciation of place, writing, history, and the Homestead Act.

In this episode, Pierce High School English teacher Melissa Legate and professor Robert Brooke illustrate how place-conscious education can blend with an emphasis on civic engagement and understanding issues from multiple perspectives.

In this episode, doctoral candidate Cara Morgenson and professor Robert Brooke discuss an extensive project connecting high school English learners, UNL college students, and park rangers at Homestead National Monument.

The Husker Writers Program brings high school and college students together to research local issues and present advocacy writing to local legislators. In this episode, UNL assistant professor Rachael Shah and North Star high school teacher Jessica Meyers discuss this approach to argument writing, and we get to listen in on their students' presentations to state senator Adam Morfeld.

In this episode, professor and Nebraska Writing Project director Robert Brooke introduces the basic concepts of place-conscious education and how the project is promoting place-conscious education across the state.

In this episode, Marianne Kunkel and Susan Martens, two English PhD graduates, continue their conversation about their time at UNL and specifically Susan Marten's ongoing career at Missouri Western State University.

In this episode, Susan Martens interviews Marianne Kunkel, two English PhD graduates, about her time at UNL and her ongoing career at Missouri Western State University.

In this episode, Cory Willard and some of his students discuss their experience in English 317: Literature and the Environment, which took place in western Nebraska in the summer of 2019. (Note: This course will be taught again during the summer of 2020, though it will be moved online.)

In this episode, Michael Page continues his interview with celebrated author and scholar James Gunn beginning with his recollections about Robert Heinlein.  Music for plainstate by Shadows on a River.

In this Episode, Michael Page sits down with James Gunn, who, at age 96, continues to be a publishing author of Science Fiction as well as a leading scholar in that field. Gunn discusses his forthcoming publication projects as well as his past encounters with notable Science Fiction scholars such as Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. 

In this episode, students, staff, and faculty continue their discussion about their work on The Complete Letters of Willa Cather, a scholarly edition and digital archive. Music for plainstate by Shadows on a River.

In this episode, students, staff, and faculty discuss their work on The Complete Letters of Willa Cather, a scholarly edition and digital archive. Music for plainstate by Shadows on a River.

In this episode, members of the English Student Advisory Board discuss life, the universe, and everything. Music for plainstate by Shadows on a River.  

Members of UNL's Slam Poetry team continue their conversation from Episode 5. Music for this episode by Shadows on a River.

Dr. Laura White, Professor of English, has written the libretto for the new opera, The Gambler's Son, which premiers in Lincoln on November 15, 2019. In this episode, she discusses converting the original source material to an opera and collaborating with husband Tyler Goodrich White. She also explains why Cozad, Nebraska is an ideal setting for opera.  Additional information about the opera is available here:  https://arts.unl.edu/music/news/unl-opera-premieres-opera-based-sandoz-novel-founding-cozad Live webcast link: http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/television/glenn-korff-school-music-gamblers-son-opera-tyler-white-kimball Music for plainstate by Shadows on a River.

In this episode, four members of UNL's Slam Poetry Team – Bianca Swift, Celie Knudsen, Celine Haynes, and Jack Buchanan – sit down to discuss their writing process, how they perform their work, and how that work is influenced by personal experiences and cultural events.

In this episode, three women of color—Linda Garcia Merchant, Jamaica Baldwin, and Claire Jimenez—share creative work and offer context for that work before engaging in a frank conversation about being both transplants to Nebraska and graduate students. For this episode, Linda Garcia Merchant also served as a producer. The complete title of this episode is taken from the prologue to Audre Lorde's Zami: A New Spelling of My Name: “Woman forever. My body, a living representation of other life older longer wiser. The mountains and valleys, trees, rocks. Sand and flowers and water and stone. Made in earth.” Music on this Episode by Shadows on a River

In this episode, Professor Matt Cohen talks with poet, digital humanitarian, and English undergraduate extraordinaire Bianca Swift. Music for this episode by Shadows on a River.

Jennine Capó Crucet discusses her recently published collection of essays, My Time Among the Whites: Notes from an Unfinished Education, with her colleague and fellow author Hope Wabuke. They discuss the writing process, collegiality, and how their lived experiences inform their writing. Music for this podcast by Shadows on a River.

Chigozie Obioma's most recent novel, An Orchestra of Minorities, is a finalist for the Man Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes awarded to books written in the English language. In this episode, he sits down with Guy Reynolds to discuss the novel and how his personal experiences have shaped his writing.