The Townsend Prize Finalists

The finalists for the 2025 Prize:

Denene Millner, One Blood (Forge Books, 9.5.23) AA

Chika Unigwe, The Middle Daughter (Dzanc Books, 4.4.23) AA

Anissa Gray, Life and Other Love Songs (Berkley, Penguin, 4.11.23) black and gay

Julia Franks, The Say So (Hub City Press, 6.6.23) white

Ra’Niqua Lee, For What Ails You (ELJ Editions, 11.6.23) black

John M Williams, End Times (Sartoris Literary Group, 9.15.23)

Gordon Johnston, Seven Islands of the Ocmulgee: River Stories (Mercer UP, 2.7.23)

Kimberly Brock, The Fabled Earth (Harper Muse, 10.1.24)

Peter Selgin, A Boy’s Guide to Outer Space (Regal House Publishing, 11.12.24)

Barbara Tucker, Lying In (Colorful Crow Publishing, 5.15.24)

The placement of my name last convinces me I am the dark horse; I just made the cut. I am from the smallest press, have no New York Times Bestsellers, garnered only a handful of Amazon reviews and sales, and am essentially a nobody in literary circles. But, I did make the cut. Something put me in this group when the other nominees weren't. So, I go to the dinner and see someone else win, but I also know this writing gig is one for me and some folks who don't know me appreciated my book.

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January 26, 2025: Joseph Campbell's view of things

A colleague sent me this quote the other day. He said that it had really helped him through life and as he faced changes and retirement, and it also helped him follow his bliss and find what he really wanted to do. “The problem in middle life, when the body has reached its climax of power and begins to decline, is to identify yourself, not with the body, which is falling away, but with the consciousness of which it is a vehicle. This is something I learned from myths. What am I? Am I the bulb that carries the light? Or am I the light of which the bulb is a vehicle? One of the psychological problems in growing old is the fear of death. People resist the door of death. But this body is a vehicle of consciousness, and if you can identify with the consciousness, you can watch this body go like an old car. There goes the fender, there goes the tire, one thing after another— but it’s predictable. And then, gradually, the whole thing drops off, and consciousness rejoins consciousn...

Why to Read Fiction, Idea #27: Empathy, anyone?

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Starting Over

We are ridiculously dependent on information technology. I found that out two weeks ago when my MAC of ten years went inoperative. "Crashed." "Died." Fortunately, some smart technicians were able to salvage my files; I should call them my life, my work, my creativity. But I did lose my passwords. Specifically, I lost the password to my two blogs, which I have not posted to since the crash. My first blog, partsofspeaking.blogspot.com had been in operation since 2006. It had almost 3000 posts on it. Fortunately, I can still get to them. The whole world can. The fact that I can't get into edit or post it any longer means I also can't take it down. It is going to be there as long as Google Blogger will be. If anything there would get me in trouble, well, I'll have to live with that. The second one, highereducationobserver.blogspot.com, is where I wrote about my professional expertise as a department chair. It reflected more research. In both blogs, ...

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