English

Diane Raptosh

Teaching:  I teach a wide range of courses, ranging from composition to the literature of medicine.  I teach the poetry writing workshop (upper- and lower- division) and the First Year Seminar, along with a variety of special topics courses. Some of such courses have included the following: Literature and Medicine, The Literature of Motherhood, The Cuba Experience, and The Literature of Remembering. In recent years I have developed a keen interest in prison literature. With my colleague in sociology, Dr. Robin Lorentzen, I team-teach the six-unit intensive course, The Prison Experience, which provides opportunities for students to learn first-hand about prisons and prison life through fieldtrips to local prisons and jails as well as through exposure to literature by and about inmates. I have continuing interests in writing as a rehabilitative tool and frequently place students in internships in which they facilitate writing workshops for underserved populations.

Creative Work: I am interested in issues of in-betweenness and hybridity. I write primarily in hybrid forms, in particular, prose poetry. In my work I aim to break down such binaries as male/female, mother/father, gay/straight, human/animal. I see poetry as a mode of inquiry, every poem as a means to revise social, cultural, and aesthetic norms—every poem, an opportunity to rethink the world through song.

Hobbies: I am a fan of the indoors as well as the outside. I enjoy a wide range of music and lots of offbeat films. I like to run in the foothills, hike, go on river trips, ride bikes, and rollerblade with my family. I love to read in a wide variety of disciplines; I enjoy travel. I look forward to the day that I can return to Cuba—with The College of Idaho students!

Poetry Publications

• Parents from a Different Alphabet (Guernica Editions, Toronto, 2008)
• Labor Songs (Guernica Editions, Toronto, 1999)
• Just West of Now (Guernica Editions, Toronto, 1992, repr. 1995)

Recent Poetry Publications, Anthologies

• But, Buddy, I’m a Kind of Poem: An Anthology of Poems about Frank Sinatra, Entasis Press, 2007: “Neck and Neck,” “Parts of Speech.”
• Out of Line: An Annual Anthology of Writings with Underlying Themes of Peace and Justice, Garden House Press, 2006: “Couvade,” “The Body Politic,” “The Elbow Room.”
• Mischief, Caprice, and Other Poetic Strategies, Red Hen Press, 2004: “Ears, an Essay.”
• Woven on the Wind: Women Write about Friendship in the Sagebrush West, Houghton Mifflin, 2001: “The Rapture,” “Matrimony”
• The Glenn Gould Anthology, John Gordon Burke Publisher, 2001: “The Idea of North.”

Recent Poetry Publications, Journals

• Los Angeles Review, 2008: "Garden Variety."
• Best Poem (bestpoem.wordpress.com): "Elations."
• Fraglit: An Online Magazine of Fragmentary Writing (www.fraglit.com), March 2007: "At the Symposium on the Necessity of Beauty," "Husband," "World Affairs," "Story Problem," "Flight Choreography," "Affliction," and "Betrayal."
• Latitudes, Summer 2007: “Great Books.”
• Arabesques Review: International Poetry and Literature Journal, June 2007: “Materfamilias,” “Milk,” “The Arm,” “Interspecies.”
• The New Verse News, Thursday, March 30, 2007: “Human with Feline Head," "World Headlines Western Bastard Ghazal" (2009). 
• Women’s Studies Quarterly, 2005: “Interior Design.”
• Mudlark, 2003: “Monogamy,” “The Information Age,” “Condition,” “Everything,” “The Mother of Her Second Daughter,” “The Diva Regina’s Soliloquy.”
• Muse Apprentice Guild, 2003: “Dispatch from a Liberian Soldier,” “The Island of Menstruating Men,” “In the Infusion Room,” “The Male Mother.”
• Sundress, 2003: “Great Books.”
• Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built and Natural Environments, Winter 2002: “Neck and Neck,” “Parts of Speech,” “Plosion.”
• Pif Magazine, 2000, Vol. 35: “The Private Sector.”

Essays and Articles

• “On Need and Satiety: Some Meditations on Being a Mother Twice,” Families: The Front Line of Pluralism, Wising Up Press, 2008.
• Beyond the Margin: Readings in Italian/Americana, Farleigh Dickinson Press, 1998: “Sentences of Self and Blood and Sea: The Poetry of Sandra M. Gilbert.”

Poetry Readings

• International Women’s Day Poetry Reading, Boise, Idaho 2007
• Log Cabin Literary Center Poetry Reading, Boise, Idaho 2004, 2003, 2002
• Idaho Writers and Readers Rendez-vous, Riggins, Idaho 2001
• Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho 2000

Presentations and Professional Activities

• Featured Artist on "Art and Soul Public Radio Stories: American Masterpieces Celebrates Selected Idaho Artists, Writers, and Performers," Fall 2009.
• National Undergraduate Literature Conference, Weber State University, April 2008 and 2009.  Attended this conference with College of Idaho creative writers and literary scholars.
• “Poetry and the Liberal Arts”: Liberal Arts Lecturer, The College of Idaho, April 2008.
• Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest, Boise High School, Boise Idaho: judge 2006-2008.
• “Capture the Moment: Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographs,” The College of Idaho panelist, 2007.
• International Baccalaureate North America Conference, Grand Bahama Island, presenter, 2006: “The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme and the Liberal Arts College: A Natural Link.”
• Beast Fable Society Conference, Tampa, Florida, presenter, 2003: “Animal Affairs—A Selection of Poems.”
• Fellowship Panelist, Literary Arts, Nevada Arts Council, 2005.
• Meridian, Idaho, Medical Arts Charter School, “The Uses of Poetry: Poetry and Medicine,” 2005.
• Log Cabin Literary Center, Drop-in Writing Workshop Facilitator, July and August, 2004-2007.
• Log Cabin Literary Center’s Third Annual Forewords and Afterwords, 2004.

Honors and Awards

• Tribute to Women in Industry Award, 2009.
• International Canadian Studies Institute Fellowship: British Columbia and the Yukon, 2008.
• Idaho Commission on the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship: three-time award winner. Judges have included Pattiann Rogers, Alberto Rios, and Dorianne Laux. Most recent award, 2007.
• Pushcart Price Nomination.

Leadership Positions

• Academic Support Center Director at The College of Idaho, 2004-present.
• Co-Director of The College of Idaho’s Crime in Society Minor.