About
This site started out as a part of my shift from on site to on line teaching. I used my website in my courses for the last dozen years, but I thought since I was teaching on line full time it was time to upgrade. It’s now a resource site as well as a web log.
At this point (October 2006) I plan to write three posts a week. Mondays are political, Wednesdays are video or multimedia, and Fridays are about language and writing.
I have migrated many of the resources I have developed for my classes to the new site and you can read my Curricula Vitae if you are curious or, perhaps, wish to offer me a job! I live in a small house in Central Illinois with my Lady Bear. I am 49 and not officially married but my partner and I do everything together. She might post now and again too.
I was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital. I grew up in Houston, as a part of what we only half-jokingly call the Cajun Diaspora. At a certain point during the Regan administration, I had to leave, so I served in the Peace Corps, Philippines, from 1987-89. I didn’t want to return to the United States just yet, so I moved to Paris, France, where I lived for three years or so.
I then moved back to Austin, Texas, where I had received my Masters Degree, and (eventually) began a Ph.D., which I completed in 1999. I spent a year at Temple University and then accepted a position at Eastern Illinois University where I worked until May of 2006. I now work exclusively on line (although that may change) for Johns Hopkins, the Art Institute Online, and Smarthinking.com.
I can be reached most easily via email: raywatkins [that 'at' symbol] writinginthewild.com