Welcome to WRIT 1133! Post your interview of your classmate here as a comment.

For your first blog post, please introduce the classmate you interviewed to the rest of us. Write a 250-350 profile that captures who he or she is, what he or she likes to do outside of class, and their experiences as a writer (and how they feel about writing). Pay particular attention to where he or she is from and the places that are important to them. Why are these places significant? How have they shaped the person you interviewed? What’s one striking memory he or she has about this place?

Whatever issues you focus on, take care with this short piece, for it is our first impression of you as a writer, as well as the first impression of the person you interviewed. Have fun with this piece—make it interesting! Use quotes, brief stories, and any other vivid details you can discover to enrich your profile of this person.

For example, if I were to interview myself and post the result, I might write something like:

Place matters to Professor Geoffrey Bateman, which is why his current research is so important to him.

"I think the different regions of our country shape us in important ways," he says. “As a teacher and scholar, I'm interested in studying the literature, rhetoric, and cultural history of places, especially the North American West."

Having grown up near Portland, Oregon, his interest in the West has evolved since childhood. He grew up exploring everything from the majestic Columbia River Gorge to the misty Oregon coast; he hiked parts of the Pacific Crest Trail and hung out in the quirky urban spaces of Portland and Seattle.

These experiences may help explain his current research on the queer frontier, which explores the sexual imaginary of the North American West near the end of the 19th century.

"It's a particularly rich period for sexuality studies,” he observes. "Sexual identity was not nearly as cut and dried as it became in the mid to late 20th century. And when you consider how race and gender influence our understanding of sexuality, you see an explosion of fascinating accounts—both literary and historical—that reframes our public understanding of desire.”

But his interests don’t lie solely in the past. Professor Bateman believes strongly that historical research must speak to contemporary issues, especially those that are politically charged.

“Literature and history offers us a way to rethink current problems, and for me, I think the most rewarding I can do historically is to show others how texts from the past allow us to re-imagine our lives today.”

Such engagement means that in his first-year writing courses, he tries to find meaningful ways for students to practice their writing. Ideally, he wants them to connect abstract rhetorical concepts and research methodologies with ideas and problems outside our university context.

“Ultimately,” he says, “I want students to feel confident that what they’re learning in my classroom not only prepares them for the rest of their time at DU, but also starts them on a much larger journey of being an engaged citizen for the rest of their lives.”