Education:
- MFA at Queens University of Charlotte, January 2009
- May 1998–BA in English from UNC-Greensboro, Magna Cum Laude
Work Experience:
- August 2010 – present: English Instructor/Professor at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College teaching composition, literature, and creative writing courses in person and online. Serving on committees for the Creative Writing Awards, RCCC LitFest, and Writing Across the Curriculum. Helped to launch RCCC’s first student online literary magazine: Weaver’s Knot. .
- July 2007 – present: Freelance writer, editor and teacher. Work has included freelance courses such as: I vs Eye: Truth vs Fact in Poetry for the NCWN Fall Conference, and Networking FTW have been created and taught in the Charlotte community; founding the online, YouTube based, literary magazine Shape of a Box which was mentioned in Poets & Writers Magazine ; founding and editing the online journal Referential Magazine; writing books reviews and conducting author interviews for publications such as Main Street Rag and Poets Quarterly; freelance essay work as the Charlotte Author Examiner at Examiner.com and Form21; and assisting with the screening/judging of poems for the 2009 Poem-A-Day Challenge sponsored by Writers Market through the Poetic Asides blog.
- June 1998–July 2007: Auto Claims Representative for State Farm. I investigated, evaluated and negotiated property damage and bodily injury claims in a variety of environments. I was involved in Arbitration Forums and served as a team leader.
- Prior 1998: During college I worked in several retail environments including serving as an Assistant Supervisor in both computers and merchandising at Best Buy.
Honors and Awards:
- Essay I’m on A Boat was nominated for a 2011 Pushcart Prize by Blue Print Review
- Poem “The Letter W” was nominated for a 2011 Best of the Net award by Diverse Voices Quarterly
- Chapbook An Amateur Marriage was a finalist for the 2011 Robert Watson Poetry Award
- Selected as a 2011 Summer Institute Fellow for the UNCC branch of the National Writing Project
- Paper House won the 2010 NCPA Award for Poetry and was nominated for a 2010 SIBA award
- Poem – Hoarders – was a finalist for the 1st annual Ron Rash aware as sponsored by the Broad River Review
- Ranked 25 the week of August 15th on the Poetry Foundation’s Contemporary Poets Best Seller List
- 3Cheers Nomination – unFold Magazine
- 2009 Finalist for Best of the Net, courtesy of The Northville Review for my poem Drawn to Heroes
- 2009 Nomination for Best of the Net, courtesy of Dead Mule for my poem Best Friends
- Finalist 2008 Camber Press Chapbook Contest
- Semi-Finalist Spring 2008 Black River chapboook competition
- 3rd Place 2008 Margie Review / St Louis Poetry Center Contest–Contest Judge Robert Pinksy
- 2nd Place 2008 Deane Ritch Lomax Poetry Prize–Charlotte Writer’s Club
- Finalist 2008 NCSU Poetry Contest poem Best Friends (later published in Dead Mule)
- 8th Place in 2007 Shadow Poetry Chapbook Competition
- From Undergrad: Dean’s List, University Marshal, Alpha Lambda Delta, Sigma Tau Delta
- From High School:Recipient of the NC Teaching Fellows Scholarship, Rotary Scholarship and Young Business Woman’s Scholarship from Elizabeth City, NC.
Professional Affiliations:
- Member – North Carolina Writer’s Conference
- Member – National Writing Project
Thank you for your nice response to “After Reading” in the PodPoets series.
David
Thanks for stopping by David
I hope to see more poetry up on YouTube, I think it is an excellent venue for it!
Wow – I think I can learn a thing or two (or ten thousand) from you.
I’ll be visiting often. I only just started the process of submitting my work, so I am in awe of your accomplishments. Glad I stumbled across your site yesterday!
Awwww it’s an early comment! That’s like our first kiss in terms of our relationship!!!!
we’ll have to celebrate our anniversary March! Man, look at what changes in a year!
Ah the process of sending your work out, the treacherous road littered with rejection slips!
But still worth it!
I love your site. Keep it up !
Thanks for stopping by Knowledgetoday!
hmm..you seem intellectual
http://blogprints.wordpress.com/
I might have everyone fooled
Very professional and quite fancy.
i was worried some of the posts were too long but tried to condense as much as i could. at least i got it done!
This looks great, Jessie!
You’ve done so much awesome literary work! Kudos.
thanks Mel-Mel!
Hey There!
I really like the piece on Dead Mule. Keep up the good work! I was in the same Dead Mule issue, and have read your piece several times. I look forward to more of your excellent work!
Amy Susan Wilson
Thanks so much Amy! I am so far behind on my reading! But I’m going back to read yours now. Your southern legitimacy statement is killing me!
I just read this- have I ever told you compared to my almost 49 year old self, you are a baby! A cute one at that with cute southern feet
and ‘eye’ just like me…
Chef E
http://cookappeal.blogspot.com
Well, not quite a baby at 35 you could barely be my mom! you saucy teen mom you
Hi, nice to meet you !
welcome
nice photograph up top too… did you make that? Thank you for you wonderful work!
Thank you for commenting! yes – I did take the photograph. I change it each month, but the one that is up right now shows an example of a Native American home in Jamestown, VA.