Episode Summary: Dr. Beebe interviews Jessica Coleman about Birds of North America. She then applies this context to four poems by Mary Oliver: “Swan,” “The Chat,” “Terns,” and “Snow Geese.”

Part 1 (Biography & Overview) Starts: 00.00

Part 2 (Interview with Jess Coleman) Starts: 16:57

Part 3 (Four Poems) Starts: 31:48

Dr. Beebe’s LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-beebe

Emily Dickinson: A Companion: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/emily-dickinson/ 

12-Question Survey for Readers: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R2TGWNM

Jess Coleman started at UT Tyler in August 2008 as a lecturer and graduate teaching assistant coordinator in the biology department. She was hired to teach the freshman General Biology I and II courses and coordinate all the labs.  She also teaches two upper-division courses: Ornithology and Conservation biology. Coleman coordinate 10 – 30 graduate TAs every semester.  In 2020, Coleman won the Regents Outstanding Teaching Award.  She is a Fellow of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at UT.  

As a senior lecturer, Coleman’s primary responsibility is teaching. However, she has been active in research since I started at UT Tyler. Recently, she has had several bird projects with graduate and undergraduate honors students in progress.  

In 2021, Coleman received a small grant from the Audubon of Texas and Tyler Audubon Society to add Birdboxes to the university campus. This is part of a graduate student project to monitor the nesting patterns of birds on campus to examine their reproductive success throughout the year.  It should be wrapped up in Spring 2024 

Coleman has two honors students working on side projects from the birdbox study.

1.    Adult eastern Bluebirds have particular defenses when guarding their nests with young. This study will focus on the behavior of Eastern Bluebirds' response to humans approaching active nests.  

2.    They examine Eastern Bluebird nests after a breeding season to determine their overall nest structure and the degree of ectoparasites in urban nests.  

2022 – Present: Coleman is part of a rather large multi-state USDA-NRCS grant to examine several aspects of constructed Wetlands to determine the overall health of these systems. Wetlands are experiencing significant loss due to human encroachment, which multiples lead to biodiversity loss. These systems are vital for bird species since they utilize these habitats for nesting, breeding, foraging, and other social interactions. They will conduct bird surveys in these constructed wetlands to assess the overall health of these man-made systems.

Resources:

On Being Interview with Mary Oliver: https://onbeing.org/programs/mary-oliver-i-got-saved-by-the-beauty-of-the-world/ 

Oliver, Mary. Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver. Penguin, 2017.

Oliver, Mary. Upstream: Selected Essays. Penguin, 2016.

Mary Oliver reads from A Thousand Mornings - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsr3ZZzH-MA 

Birds of the World (Cornell) https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/home 

Guide to North American Birds (Audubon) https://www.audubon.org/bird-guide 

Episode Summary: Dr. Beebe interviews Dr. Kenneth Bryant about the American Civil Rights Movement. She then applies this context to four poems by Lucille Clifton: “good times,” “generations,” “listen children,” and “All of Us Are All of Us.”

Part 1 (Biography & Overview) Starts: 00.00

Part 2 (Interview with Dr. Kenneth Bryant) Starts: 10:45

Part 3 (Four Poems) Starts: 20:16

Dr. Beebe’s LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-beebe

Emily Dickinson: A Companion: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/emily-dickinson/ 

12-Question Survey for Readers: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R2TGWNM

Dr. Kenneth Bryant

1.    Associate Professor of Political Science at UT-Tyler for 7 years. 

2.    2023 recipient of the Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award (ROTA)

3.    An educator, political junkie, and film enthusiast.

Publications:

1.    Co-author of "Battle for the Heart of Texas: Political Change in the Electorate"

2.    Working on a book project called "Is There A Bright Side?" on approaches to teaching government and political science in times of immense polarization. 

Resources:

The Lucille Clifton House - https://www.thecliftonhouse.org/ 

Clifton, Lucille. The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton, 1965-2010. BOA Editions, 2012

Holladay, Hilary. Wild Blessings: The Poetry of Lucille Clifton. LSU Press, 2012.

Lucille Clifton Video, “What Poetry Is” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfYCRZ9LVh4   

Lucille Clifton reads “won’t you celebrate with me” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM7q_DUk5wU 

History Channel on the Civil Rights Movement - https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement

The Black Church (PBS) - https://www.pbs.org/show/black-church/ 

Episode Summary: Dr. Beebe interviews Elizabeth Lisot-Nelson on the history of portrait painting. She then applies this context to some Robert Lowell poems: “Randall Jarrell” 1, 2, & 3, “Charles V by Titian,” and “Rembrandt.”

Part 1 (Biography & Overview) Starts: 00.00

Part 2 (Interview with Dr. Elizabeth Lisot-Nelson) Starts: 10:43

Part 3 (Four Poems) Starts: 20:38

Dr. Beebe’s LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-beebe

Emily Dickinson: A Companion: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/emily-dickinson/ 

12-Question Survey for Readers: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R2TGWNM

Dr. Lisot-Nelson is an associate professor of art history at UTT. 

She specializes in Renaissance and Baroque art, and also teaches courses on women in art, ancient Greek, Roman, early Christian, Medieval and Latin American art.
 Her research interests include artworks representing marginalized populations such as illegitimate children, refugees, slaves and servants. 
 Dr. Lisot-Nelson presents academic papers on artists such as Federico Barocci, Raphael, Titian, Ghirlandaio and Velázquez. 

Forthcoming fall 2023: "The Jewish Bride and Oriental Concubine: Raphael's Donna Velata (Veiled Woman) and La Fornarina (Baker's Daugher)" in Renaissance Papers 2022: 

https://boydellandbrewer.com/9781640141643/renaissance-papers-2022/
“Refugees of War: Federico Barocci’s Aeneas Fleeing Troy, Classical Antecedents to Contemporary Issues” journal article in: Konsthistorisk Tidskrift / Journal of Art History, Routledge: Taylor & Francis Publisher, Vol. 89, Issue 1 (2020): 33-56. 

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00233609.2020.1742786 

Resources:

“Equestrian Portrait of Charles V” by Titian (1548) https://www.titian.org/equestrian-portrait-of-charles-v.jsp 

“The Jewish Bride” by Rembrandt (1665-1669) https://smarthistory.org/rembrandt-jewish-bride/ 

“Bathsheba at her Bath” by Rembrandt (1654) https://www.rembrandtpaintings.com/bathsheba-at-her-bath.jsp 

“Randall Jarrell” by Betty Watson (1963) https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2007.171 

Robert Lowell reads “Skunk Hour” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSlcc2b02yc 

Lowell, Robert. Collected Poems. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2007.

Lowell, Robert and Elizabeth Bishop. Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell. Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2010. 

Episode Summary: Dr. Beebe interviews Dr. Sarah Roberts on American Jazz Music. She then applies the context to four poems by Langston Hughes: “Jazzonia,” “The Weary Blues,” “Minnie Sings Her Blues,” and “Lennox Avenue: Midnight.”

Part 1 (Biography & Overview) Starts: 00.00

Part 2 (Interview with Dr. Sarah Roberts) Starts: 15:15

Part 3 (Four Poems) Starts: 28:45

Dr. Beebe’s LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-beebe

Emily Dickinson: A Companion: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/emily-dickinson/ 

12-Question Survey for Readers: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R2TGWNM

Dr. Sarah Roberts - Associate Professor of Music teaching saxophone and jazz at UT Tyler - in her 10th year at UT Tyler

Serving as the Interim Director of the School of Performing Arts

Has an extremely diverse background of performing classical, jazz, and all points in between. 

In jazz has performed with Phil Woods, Tom Bones Malone, Wayne Bergeron, Kirk Whalum, Chris Vadala, and Clay Jenkins. Dr. Roberts has also performed for such acts as The O’Jays, Johnny Mathis, and The Temptations.

She is a Selmer Performing Artist and a Vandoren Artist Clinician.

For more information: sarahlynnroberts.com

Resources:

Getty Images: Langston Hughes - https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/langston-hughes 

National Portrait Gallery: Langston Hughes by Winhold Reiss https://npg.si.edu/learn/classroom-resource/langston-hughes-1902%E2%80%931967 

Hughes, Langston and Arnold Rampersad. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Vintage, 1995.

Rampersad, Arnold. The Life of Langston Hughes (2 vol). Oxford, 2002.

Video of Hughes reading “The Weary Blues”: https://www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2014/jazz-poetry-langston-hughes 

Audio of Hughes reading several poems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwRF7mU4zrg 

Jacob Lawrence - https://www.moas.org/Jacob-Lawrence-and-the-Harlem-Renaissance-1-57.html [See 1943’s Nightlife] and https://www.moma.org/artists/3418#works 

Episode Summary: Dr. Beebe interviews Dr. Nathan Smith on the connection between poetic meter and math. She then applies this context to four poems by Robert Frost: “Acquainted with the Night,” “Design,” “Once by the Pacific,” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

Part 1 (Biography & Overview) Starts: 00.00

Part 2 (Interview with Dr. Nathan Smith) Starts: 16:51

Part 3 (Four Poems) Starts: 37:14

Dr. Beebe’s LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-beebe

Emily Dickinson: A Companion: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/emily-dickinson/ 

12-Question Survey for Readers: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R2TGWNM

Dr. Nathan Smith grew up in Maryland and went to school in Virginia, but eventually found his way to Texas and has been here for over 20 years, so if he's not a ``real Texan'' by now he's as close as you can get while wearing flip flops instead of cowboy boots.  His mathematical interests range from statistics to math education to oddball algebraic structures that break all of the rules.  In his spare time, he likes playing musical instruments, practicing taekwondo (badly), and homebrewing beer.  He also spent years writing poems for his kids and is an unaccomplished children's poet.

Some links to projects that might interest non-mathematicians:

A Preliminary Investigation Into the Effect of Bell Cover and Filter on Pitch of Wind Instruments:

https://www.tmea.org/wp-content/uploads/Research/Emg2022.pdf

Minimal Knotting Numbers:

https://faculty.washington.edu/cemann/S0218216509007373.pdf

Resources:

Frost: Collected Poetry, Prose, and Plays. Library of America, 1995.

Parini, Jay. Robert Frost: A Life. Holt, 1999.

Steele, Timothy. All the Fun’s in How You Say a Thing: An Explanation of Meter & Versification. Ohio University Press, 1999.

Video of Robert Frost at JFK’s Inauguration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AILGO3gVlTU 

Video of Robert Frost Reading 4 Poems: https://www.kennedy-center.org/video/center/other/2020/robert-frost/ 

Episode Summary: Dr. Beebe interview Susan Doty about the Economics of the Seventeenth-Century Literary Marketplace. She then applies this context to four poems by Phillis Wheatley: “On Being Brough from Africa to America,” “To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth,” “To S.M. a young African Painter,” and “To His Excellency General Washington.”

Part 1 (Biography & Overview) Starts: 00.00

Part 2 (Interview with Susan Doty) Starts: 19:36

Part 3 (Four Poems) Starts: 32:39

Dr. Beebe’s LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-beebe

Emily Dickinson: A Companion: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/emily-dickinson/ 

12-Question Survey for Readers: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/R2TGWNM

Susan Doty is in her 15th year teaching at UT Tyler and her 30th year teaching in higher education, with previous experience at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the Maxwell School of Public Policy at Syracuse University in New York, and the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. She has been recognized for excellent teaching with multiple awards. including the University of Texas System Regents Outstanding Teaching Award (the ROTA), the UT Tyler Student Life and Leadership Partner Award, the UT Tyler National Society of Leadership Student Choice Faculty Award, the UT Tyler Alpha Chi Outstanding Faculty Award, the Thad Cochran Economic Education Hall of Fame Award, and the National Albert Beekhuis Award for service to teachers and community. She serves on both the UT System Academy of Distinguished Teachers as a faculty fellow and the UT Tyler Academy of Distinguished Teachers as a founding fellow and past president. Most recently, she was awarded the title of Distinguished Teaching Professor, and the promotion to Distinguished Senior Lecturer. Doty has taught close to 7,500 UT Tyler students.

In addition to her faculty role at UT Tyler, she is the founding and executive director of the Center for Economic Education and Financial Literacy (CEEFL) at UT Tyler. She launched this center in 2010, after doing the same in Mississippi, to provide outreach to P-20 (pre-school to graduate school) educators to teach them how to integrate economics and personal finance into everything they teach. In this role, she has taught thousands of Texas K-12 teachers and has served on multiple state and national boards of directors. These include the Council for Economic Education in New York, the National Association of Economic Educators, the Global Economic Education Alliance, and the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Finance.

Resources:

Carretta, Vincent. Phillis Wheatley Peters: Biography of a Genius in Bondage. U 

of GA Press, 2023.

Dayton, Cornelia H. “Lost Years Recovered: John Peters and Phillis Wheatley 

Peters in Middleton.” The New England Quarterly, vol. XCIV, no. 3, September 2021, pp. 309-351.

Waldstreicher, David. The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys 

Through American Slavery and Independence. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2023.

"The Genius of Phillis Wheatley Peters" Project: https://wheatleypetersproject.weebly.com/

Episode Summary: Dr. Beebe interviews Dr. Greg Bock about Seventeenth-Century American Puritanism. She then applies this context to four poems by Anne Bradstreet: “Some Verse Upon the Burning of Our House,” “As Weary Pilgrim,” “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” and “The Prologue.” 

Part 1 (Biography & Overview) Starts: 00.00

Part 2 (Interview with Dr. Greg Bock) Starts: 21:01

Part 3 (Four Poems) Starts: 32:23

Dr. Beebe’s LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-beebe

Emily Dickinson: A Companion: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/emily-dickinson/ 

Dr. Gregory L. Bock, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion, is the Director of the Center for Ethics at UT Tyler. His research areas include bioethics and the philosophy of forgiveness.

The Ethics of Anger https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793615176/The-Ethics-of-Anger  

The Philosophy of Forgiveness Volume 4 https://vernonpress.com/book/507

Resources:

Dame Judi Dench – William Shakespeare’s “When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_0VBS9AOhE 

Bradstreet, Anne (Jeannine Hensley, ed). The Works of Anne Bradstreet. Belknap at Harvard, 1967.

St. Botolph’s Church (Boston, Lincolnshire) – Stained Glass window image of Anne Bradstreet - https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4286574 

Bradstreet Gate at Harvard University - https://harvardplanning.emuseum.com/sites/2007/bradstreet-gate 

1655 Map of Andover, MA - https://www.northandoverhistoricalsociety.org/european-settlement   

Episode Summary: Dr. Beebe interviews Dr. Matt Stith about the Northern Home Front during the American Civil War. She then applies this context to four poems by Emily Dickinson: “When I was small, a Woman died—” (F518/J596), “It feels a shame to be Alive—” (F524/J444), “He gave away his Life—” (F530/J567), and “How many Flowers fail in Wood –“ (F534/J404).

Part 1 (Biography & Overview) Starts: 00.00

Part 2 (Interview with Dr. Matt Stith) Starts: 22:19

Part 3 (Four Poems) Starts: 35:46

Dr. Beebe’s LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-beebe

Emily Dickinson: A Companion: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/emily-dickinson/ 

5-Question Poll: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LCQZTGT

Dr. Matt Stith is Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas at Tyler where he has taught since 2011.

He teaches a range of courses on American history, including the Civil War & Reconstruction and American Environmental History

He is the author or editor of four published or forthcoming books and a dozen essays that explore military and environmental history in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Extreme Civil War: Guerrilla Warfare, Environment, and Race on the Trans-Mississippi Frontier (2016)

https://lsupress.org/books/detail/extreme-civil-war/

Beyond the Quagmire: New Interpretations of the Vietnam War (2019) 

https://untpress.unt.edu/catalog/jensen-beyond-the-quagmire/

Resources:

Ackmann, Martha. These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of 

Emily Dickinson. W. W. Norton, 2021.

Beebe, Ann. Emily Dickinson: A Companion. McFarland, 2022.

Emily Dickinson Lexicon: https://edl.byu.edu/  

Emily Dickinson Museum. https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/ 

Faust, Drew Gilpin. This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War. 2008

Gallman, Matthew. Northerners at War: Reflections on the Civil War Home Front. 2010.

Civil War Photographs - https://www.archives.gov/research/still-pictures/civil-war 

Episode Summary: Dr. Ann Beebe argues that poetry is essential for humans. Medical and psychological studies have demonstrated its many benefits. She then explains the 3-part structure of the individual author episodes and promotes the upcoming special guests (Numbers 2-9).

Dr. Beebe on LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ann-beebe

Emily Dickinson: A Companion: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/emily-dickinson/ 

Open Articles on the Benefits of Poetry: 

“More Than Words: Why Poetry is Good for Our Health” - https://www.artsandmindlab.org/more-than-words-why-poetry-is-good-for-our-health/#:~:text=The%20Healing%20Word,and%20our%20place%20in%20it.

“A Look Back and a Path Forward: Poetry’s Healing Power During the Pandemic” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7447694/

“The May Be the Most Creative Path to Mental Health You’ve Ever Tried” https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/15/health/poetry-life-itself-wellness/index.html

“Reading, Writing Poetry Can Help Improve Mental Health” https://www.army.mil/article/260907/commentary_reading_writing_poetry_can_help_improve_mental_health

“Will a Poem a Day Keep the Doctor Away?” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minding-the-body/201101/will-poem-day-keep-the-doctor-away

“The Healing Power of Poetry” https://www.aamc.org/news/healing-power-poetry

“The Benefits of Poetry for Professionals” https://hbr.org/2012/11/the-benefits-of-poetry-for-pro

5-Question Poll: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LCQZTGT