In Chicago last year, I had the opportunity to present (‘perform’ may be a more operative term) at the inaugural AAG GeoSlam! event. GeoSlam is the brilliant brainchild of Pam Sertzen and Jessie Speer, colleagues working on their PhDs at Syracuse University (by the way, Go Cuse! I’d try to keep my alma mater allegiance suppressed at times, but this is my website. Moving on…) Pam and Jessie wanted to give geographers, many of whom have artistic pursuits either concurrent or outside of their academic pursuits, an opportunity to let those flags fly for a session at the annual AAG Meeting.

Despite the mid-day time slot, non-ideal fluorescent lighting, and lack of audio in the room last year, the inaugural event was a complete blast. I read my comical/wistful essay about Radon and Gainesville, my buddy Chris Petrucelli read some of his poetry, and several others shared short stories about the passions that guided their research. I eagerly offered my help in organizing the 2016 event in San Francisco, and as we prepare to bring GeoSlam II: The Slammening (okay, that title isn’t real, but again… my site) to AAG, here is this year’s call for participants. It’s like the sign-up sheet at an open mic, except it’s actually going to be something you’d want to share with your friends and loved ones. Make sure to Add the brand-new GeoSlam page on Facebook, too, and if you’re at AAG, come and check out the event!

Tune in tomorrow for an overdue retrospective on the SEMSEC Meeting I recently attended in Trinidad, as well as later this week for a preview of my appearances at the AAG meeting (outside of the free food-and-drink parties).

Cheers, Ty

Dear colleagues,

We would like to invite you to attend the second annual Geo Slam at this year’s AAG conference. In homage to San Francisco’s tradition of beat poetry, and in an effort to bridge the gap between creative and academic endeavors, the Geo Slam is a non-competitive opportunity for geographers to showcase their sensory, poetic, character-driven, and metaphoric writing. Anyone can participate and will be given 5-8 minutes to share their literary pieces.

This year, the slam is the final part of a four-part session. The first three sessions on geography and literature explore the methodological and theoretical implications of reading literary sources in geography. As a follow up to this discussion, the slam will be an opportunity for geographers to share their own literary work. The theme of this year’s slam is literature as method. Through these pieces, we want to explore the ways in which creative writing inspires new geographic ways of knowing, understanding, and interpreting the world.

Sign up to participate here: http://goo.gl/forms/upjY4ySD9d

Time:         Tuesday, March 29, 2015, 4:40 PM – 6:20 PM
Place:         Hilton Hotel, Imperial B, Ballroom Level

Co-sponsored by: Development Geographies Specialty Group, Cultural Geography Specialty Group, Graduate Student Affinity Group, and the AAG Subconference

In solidarity,
GeoSlam 2016 Organizers

#aagGeoSlam #GeoSlam2016