Oronte
John Griswold, who uses the pen name Oronte Churm at Inside Higher Ed and elsewhere, was born in Vietnam and raised in coal country in Southern Illinois. His stories, poems, and essays have appeared in War, Literature and the Arts; Brevity; Natural Bridge; and Ninth Letter. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, listed as notable in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009, and included in The Best Creative Nonfiction, Vol. 3 (WW Norton).
He is the author of a novel, A Democracy of Ghosts, and a nonfiction book, Herrin: The Brief History of an Infamous American City.
He teaches in the MFA program at McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana.
To reach this person, click here.
Most Recent Articles
September 24, 2010
A friend in another department asked a few months ago how my semester was finishing out. I told him about my classes, which included a lit lecture with 240 students, a creative writing workshop, and an independent study, as well as two or three honors-project students. He said, “You taught more IUs [instructional units] than my entire department.” I laughed, and he said: “No, really.” (I also did readings and interviews and otherwise tried to promote my novel that semester as I was putting final edits on the brief nonfiction book.)
September 15, 2010
While hurrying to class this morning among throngs of students on the quad, I heard the sickening thud of a body hitting the sidewalk and the scattering of papers. When the crowd parted I saw that an old man who looked like emeritus faculty had fallen. It took me a few seconds to get to him, in part because everyone in the area continued walking around him. He was breathing hard and was scared. I thought he might be having a heart attack or stroke, but he said he was alright, and when I asked if he could stand, he said yes. I got him on his feet, alone.
September 1, 2010
But in my shop, only three entries in the “Write Your Heaven” contest could be chosen, on the basis of originality, wordcraft, and evocativeness.
Congratulations to:
Connie Corzilius Spasser
Heaven isthe anteroomthe dim shop on the narrow streetshelves of books and potionsthe walk under brancheshumming with portent
August 22, 2010
Katherine Mansfield wrote, “Ach, Tchekov! Why are you dead? Why can’t I talk to you in a big darkish room at late evening—where the light is green from the waving trees outside? I’d like to write a series of Heavens: that would be one.”
August 17, 2010
***
Review by Okla Elliott
Logic: The Question of Truth. Translated by Thomas Sheehan. Indiana University Press, 2010. Cloth, $44.95.
***
In the course of the Winter Semester 1925-26, as the story goes, the dean of the philosophy faculty at Phillips-Universität in Marburg walked into Martin Heidegger’s office and said, “You must publish something now. Do you have an appropriate manuscript?”
August 11, 2010
Several sessions were held this week by Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services (CITES) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to explain the campus move from “legacy” technology to Microsoft’s unified communications system.
August 5, 2010
A piece in the Times recently was titled “The Web Means the End of Forgetting.” Thank god, we’ll finally be able to find Mrs. Churm’s keys when she needs them.
July 29, 2010
The Underwater Construction School at the Naval Construction Battalion (Seabee) Center in Port Hueneme, California, offered useful blocks of instruction called "Appreciation Days."
Seabee Underwater Construction Teams have a similar mission to that of Army diving teams I served with, which is why their school was one of several we attended. In addition to combat duties, they too are tasked with
