Shadle makes mark as writer, poet, professor
By Michael Tidemann - Staff WriterArticle Photos
Fact Box
sea bean
by mark shadle
"I know a little bit about a lot of things,
but I don't know enough about you."
Diana Kraul (jazz singer)
dropping
a sea bean floats
brown hide seeking
dark center, where seeds wait
it closes
against the powerful waves
of sand that smooth its skin
intention remains
enfolded in the surrender
to all weather
ballooning tubers of kelp
seals, jellyfish and sharks
all move against this pod
yet it is unharmed
by the controling forces
it both resists and offers itself to
sitting on my computer in oregon
it carries the living memory
of red parrots and great green trees
it feels the stem weaken
in the swaying of the tree
surrendered to gravity, then
drops into the remembered footprints of jaguars
passes between gates of coral
the hands of lovers
like the sea bean i still wait, wondering when
to fully open, rough lips parting
choosing the light only when i can no longer resist
Mark Shadle, an Estherville graduate, is making a big impact on academia with a new textbook, "Teaching Multiwriting," which Shadle co-authored in 2007.
Shadle is now a tenured professor at Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande. He received his B.A. from Colorado College and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.
Most of Shadle's career has been focused on creative writing. In January 2009 he will teach in the College At Sea program sponsored by the University of Virginia. He will teach on a five-month cruise, visiting more than 50 ports. A total of 700 students will take part in the program which encompasses a trip around the world.
Through multiwriting, Shadle asks students to combine personal and professional writing formats, essentially bringing other curriculum into writing. A good example of multiwriting could be a travel book on the Grand Canyon that Shadle is planning.
Teachers interested in Shadle's multiwriting concept may to to the following: .
Another link of interest may be Shadle's post-Fulbright project on Brazil "A Pororoca of Desire: Genesis, Colonization, Projection, Connection and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon": .
