Geoff Stacks
Writing Lecturer, Literature PhD

Personal info: Where did you get your undergraduate degree? What was your major? Where did you get your Masters and/or PhD and what was it in? Why did you choose DU?

I got my BA in English with a minor in philosophy at a small liberal arts school in California. My MA is from Purdue University, and Im finishing up my Ph.D. there as well. My primary area is postmodern American literature. My dissertation focuses on how contemporary authors use cartography in their fiction.

Describe what your writing process is like:

My writing process is messy. I like to draw pictures and outlines. Ive even diagrammed the organization of a paper on the wall in my office. My home office (where I do most of my writing and its actually just a corner in an unfinished basement) becomes decorated with post-it notes, diagrams, pillars of Diet Coke cans, and empty boxes of lemonheads. And 90% of my writing takes place between 10 pm and 4 am. I focus well when the kids are asleep and theres nothing good on TV.

What do you enjoy most about writing?

It helps me think. Or, more accurately, it is thinking. I usually start with an idea, but I dont quite know what that idea is until I start writing about it. So I enjoy writing because it helps me understand myself.

Briefly, how would you describe your teaching philosophy?

I think of teaching as conversation. I like to ask a lot of questions, and I try to be open to suggestions from students.

What do you enjoy most about teaching writing?

Writing, as I said above, is thinking. So I enjoy discussing ideas with students and then seeing how those ideas become texts. Plus, I get to learn a lot by reading writing from students who have interests different than mine.

What are your hobbies and outside interests, or, as Doug puts it, guilty pleasures?

Bob Dylan, baking, swimming with my kids, and, of course, The Gilmore Girls. I think Lorelai is better off with Luke. Chris is too unstable.

Name an unusual or little-known fact about yourself.

I played keyboards in a cover band in Indiana. We were called The Hardcore Troubadours.

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