Chris Outzen, MFA

This month my reading was a bit all over the place but it was a great set of books. Best of the month were from Morgan Talty and Brando Skyhorse for their superb fiction. #BookSky

For as frustrated as I was by my feelings around the conference yesterday, today was filled with beautiful, thought-provoking, pedagogy-changing panels and a possible professional opportunity that I can’t stop daydreaming about. What a nice way to end my #NCA2025 in Denver.
#academicsky

Usually my annual communication research conference is my sacred space, my reset, my chance to embrace the joy of knowledge.

This year feels blah. It feels incomplete. It feels like I’m adrift and aimless and unaccomplished.

It feels as if it’s time to reassess. And that’s ok.

#AcademicSky

I’m not the teacher I could be this semester. Trying something new has backfired. I struggle to float, much less swim. It’s been an exercise in grace to self and prioritizing the most meaningful elements of my classes. And it will be ok.

One bad semester does not define our teaching.

#academicsky

YouTube video by The Carol Burnett Show Official The Dentist from The Carol Burnett Show (full sketch)

Today in my honors class we talked about sketch comedy as a genre. We could all use a laugh these days so here is one of the classic examples I pulled out. I hope it brings you joy.
#humor #sketchcomedy #CarolBurnett #TimConway #HarveyKorman
youtu.be/9IUSM4EKcRI?...

Sometimes being a teacher is really hard and joyless.

Tomorrow will not be one of those days.

#academicsky

September Reading Wrap-up 📚

Mixed bag this month but "Automatic Noodle" was an absolute joy and my favorite. @katiekitamura.bsky.social "Audition" was another surprise that I'm still rolling over in the best way. Looking forward to spooky season reads next!

#BookSky

Update: It was not sarcasm. I am now able to log in and regretting it deeply. Happy Monday.

#academicsky

Being unable to log into any of my university applications right now is exactly what I needed on a day with a giant to-do list.

(I am unsure yet if this is sarcasm or not; to be decided).

#academicsky

New vibes, new year, same ritual picture.

32nd year of school, 15 of which I've been teaching in some capacity. One day, I may not be excited about the first day of school, but that day is not today.

#academicsky

Just finished Haruki Murakami's memoir "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" and it was a breezy engaging personal narrative about exactly what the title suggests.

4 🌟

Full Review here: fable.co/review/42d7d...

Just finished @annaleen.bsky.social "Automatic Noodle" and it is everything I could have wanted. Like any good bowl of spicy noodles, it is humble but satisfying and left with me feeling restored. Easiest 5 🌟 all year for me.

Full Review at Fable. fable.co/review/aa5f3...

#BookSky

Finally, Jessa Crispin's "My Three Dads" is not social commentary you want to read but I feel it needs to be read. Examining patriarchy Ina way that indicts us all, Crispin once again does the service of telling uncomfortable truths about both patriarchal and progressive movements.
#BookSky

5/5

@rebeccasolnit.bsky.social "No Straight Road Takes You There" was a thoughtful analysis of social movements that explored additional context of progress, leaving me not exactly hopeful but motivated out of resignation in the current era.
#BookSky

4/5

@legroff.bsky.social "The Vaster Wilds" was a close second. I'm not usually into historical fiction, but this novel's tension between the brutality of civilization and the challenging but ultimately nurturing character of the natural world was impactfully and beautifully portrayed.
#BookSky
3/5

@karenebender.bsky.social "The Words of Dr. L" was my favorite of the month and captured me from the first page with imaginative and haunting stories of isolation.
#BookSky

#2/5

August Reading Wrap-up!
This was a much better month than July. So many good reads, some new authors, some old favorites, and enough five star reads I want to briefly highlight each of the.
#BookSky

1/5

Currently deep in Jessa Crispin's "My Three Dads" and her chapter on white male violence as response to patriarchal violence of the state should be essential reading at this critical juncture in US history.

#BookSky #academicsky

After the summer of research I've had, I like to imagine that the interlibrary loan folks at my university library are talking about me all the time. Between my intercultural and humor classes, mentoring and queerness research, and articles to help students, my library profile is wild.
#academicsky

Today, writing was hard. I got "Reject and Resubmit" on a manuscript, which is more than I expected! But attempting to untangle the feedback into meaningful revisions, it struck me how hard looking through someone else's eyes at your own work can be. Still, 154 words is better than 0.

#academicsky

Here is Athena scaring off squirrels. And the squirrel in question.
#catsky

I have been told my feed needs more cat content. Here is Athena fascinated by dead leaves. No one said the content had to be interesting.

#catsky

Watching someone on the treadmill at the gym reading a physical copy of whatever the latest Sarah J. Maas "court of booty and flowers" book is. Bold on many levels.
#BookSky

July Reading Wrap-up! It admittedly felt like a month where I had trouble enjoying my reads, so I leave the month feeling a bit blah. But Interesting Facts About Space by Emily and Sinkholes and Other Inexplicable Voids by Leyna Krow were beautiful bookends for the month.
#BookSky

One of my favorite experiences as a teacher is when I express concern about a student topic for a project and then they turn in a thoughtfully-considered final version that teaches me and leaves me curious.
#academicsky

Preparing my honors course on humor has fed my worst qualities, namely my proclivity for puns and stupid jokes. Case in point, my week devoted to humor as rhetorical argument, titled:

"It's a Silly-gism"

I think I can retire on this one.

#academicsky #teamrhetoric

I just finished my reading list for my interdisciplinary humor course and it's only *check watch* well-past my bedtime.
#academicsky

My husband is on a long trip to visit family in Utah and has been gone for almost a week now. I ran out of will to cook for myself by day 3. Send help and frozen pizzas.

I remembered today that I need to send out "save-the-date" emails for our Valentine's Day themed speech tournament.

I now have a task on my to-do list labeled "Love Fest STDs"

Feels correct.

#academicsky