Angus Woodward: Excerpt: Living Blue in the Red States

Caution: Guy Writing

Angus Woodward is a writer and a teacher of writing. He has taught college writing since 1990 and is the founding director of the Center for Innovative Teaching & Engagement at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His books of fiction are Down at the End of the River (Margaret Media, 2008), Americanisation (Livingston Press, 2011), and Oily (upcoming in 2018 from Spaceboy Books). His writing has been published a variety of periodicals, including recent scholarly pieces in Faculty Focus and Impact, short stories in Fiction Southeast and Alimentum, and personal essays in Medical Literary Messenger and Normal School.

Oxford American hailed Americanisation as “a hilariously crafted postmodern novel wedged into the template of a social-studies textbook for immigrants.” Of Americanisation’s innovative form, the New York Journal of Books said, “Since the novel is 500 years old, it has been hypothesized that the idiom is exhausted of original ideas. With Americanisation, Mr. Woodward disproves this hypothesis….” Americanisation also made Library Journal’s list of notable first novels for fall 2011. Michael Griffith called it " A darkly comic, delightful book.” Michael Martone said it was "...a hilarious simulacrum, a map more detailed than the thing it is meant to represent," and added, "It is drop-dead, deadpan funny.” You can contact Angus at awoodw64(at)gmail.com.

Journal and Anthology Publications

NON-FICTION:

*"I Wrote Something. This Is Not It," (Normal School, 2009)

*"Eleven in the Huddle," (Sport Literate, 2008)

*“Louisiana’s New Political Landscape,” (Living Blue in the Red States [anthology], University of Nebraska Press, 2007)

*“Lessons from Joe,” (Voices of Lung Cancer [anthology], LaChance, 2007)

*“Subjects for Other Conversations by John Stigall,” (Xavier Review, Summer 2002)

*“Frozen Embraces/Zamrznuti Zagrljaji by Biljana Obradovic,” (World Literature Today, Winter 2002).

*“Le Riche Monde by Biljana Obradovic,” (Prairie Schooner, Fall 2001).

*“Voodoo Poems and Magic Prose,” (The Writer's Chronicle, March/April
2001).

*“Trespassers,” (Brevity, Fall 1999).

*“Aviary Slag by Jacques Servin,” (Iowa Review, December 1997).

*“Anthony Kellman's Watercourse,” (Northwest Review, Spring 1992).

*“Toward a Definition of Poetic Fiction,” (Calypso, December 1990).

*“Anne Waldman's Helping the Dreamer,” (New Delta Review, Fall 1989).

*FICTION:

*"Applesauce" (Stolen Stories [anthology], Forest Publications)

*“The Product Tester’s Report” (Mochila Review, 2007)

*“Bad Word Storm” (Nightsun, 2007)

*“A Brief History of Toast” (Alimentum, Summer 2006)

*“Captivated” (Xavier Review, Spring 2004)

*“One Thing You Must Never Do” ( Sudden Stories [anthology], Mammoth Books, 2003)

*“Out There in TV Land,” (Pennsylvania English, Spring 2001).

*“Don't Put Me Down,” (Talking River Review, Summer 2000).

*“All Hail Digredi,” (In Praise of Pedagogy [anthology], Calendar Islands,
2000).

*“The Ride,” (Habersham Review, Spring 1998).

*“Hampton Figs,” (Gulf Stream Magazine, Spring 1997).

*“Qatar Is an Emirate,” (Louisiana Literature, Fall 1992).

*“The Story of Jane and George,” (The Dominion Review, Spring 1992).

*“Arrivals and Departures,” (The Laurel Review, Winter 1992).

*“Sooner or Later,” (Innisfree, July-August 1991).

*“Ice Cold,” (Innisfree, May-June 1991).

*“First Things First,”(Tucumcari Literary Review, September 1990).

*“Curiosities,” (Soundings East, July 1990).

*“That Particular Incident,” (Poultry, Fall 1989).

*POETRY:

*“The Recipe for Tomato Cabal” (Alimentum, Summer 2006).

*“A Tour of the Ferocious,” (Visual Poetry: An Artistic Dialogue, Baton Rouge Gallery exhibit and exhibition catalog, 1999).

*“Sisterhood,” “Gunland,” and “El Cheapo Poem About My Old Guitar Teacher,” (KingLog, Fall 1998: ).

*“Untitled Ode #5,772,” (Satire, Spring 1997).

*“The Seven Thousandth Day,” (Wisconsin Review, Winter 1993).

*“Azalea Street Winter,” (The Bellingham Review, Spring 1992).

*“The Newsman's Premonition,” (Birmingham Poetry Review, Summer 1991).

*“Love Song in Two Dimensions,” (Rhino, Fall 1990).

Here is a brief excerpt from "Louisiana's New Political Landscape," my essay for the University of Nebraska Press anthology, Living Blue in the Red States, edited by David Starkey:

Even Baton Rouge Mayor-President Kip Holden’s image has been tarnished in the aftermath of Katrina, at least in the eyes of Baton Rouge liberals. In general, Baton Rouge’s response to the influx of evacuees was vigorously warm and generous. Once the Superdome and convention center in New Orleans were finally evacuated, shelters were set up in Baton Rouge to house thousands at the Southern University basketball arena and at the convention center downtown, and LSU’s basketball arena became a temporary hospital/shelter for ill and injured evacuees. LSU’s ag center turned into an enormous pet shelter for thousands of displaced animals. All of the shelters were swamped with volunteers and donated items from the community.

After a few days, however, paranoia set in. Those televised images of looting, the rumors of murder and rape at the Superdome, and the reports of snipers firing upon police and rescuers hung in the air, and it occurred to Baton Rougeans that there could be a criminal element in the shelters. After four knives were confiscated from evacuees at the Baton Rouge River Center shelter and BRPD received a false report of looting near there (the chief of police said, “It wasn’t looting. We had a problem with some of the displaced people going into businesses and asking for food"), Holden said “We do not want to inherit that breed that seeks to prey on other people. We want to send them this message: We are not going to let thugs walk around our street and intimidate people.” The next day, police got false reports of a riot near the River Center. In response, BRPD deployed a well-armed “Special Response Team“ in front of the nearby Governmental Building. Upon noticing the police activity from his post in the City Court building, the Baton Rouge City Constable sent his men out with shotguns to join the police. The sheriff’s office sent its “Special Community Anti-crime Team” to join the assembly. Government workers filed out of their buildings shortly thereafter and went home, cutting short their first day back to work after Katrina.

A few days later, my student Webb was walking through the parking lot of a medical clinic on his way to class when a sheriff’s deputy pulled over to talk to him, wanting to know who he was and what he was doing. Once the deputy learned that despite Webb’s brown skin and dreadlocks he wasn’t a thug, he backed off a bit and instructed Webb to go around any private property on his way to class in the future. “And I will,” Webb told me. “So I might be a little late to class once in a while.”

For more information on Living Blue in the Red States, visit http://nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Living-Blue-in-the-Red-States,673200.aspx

Angus Woodward

Caution: Guy Writing

Journal and Anthology Publications

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Excerpt: Living Blue in the Red States

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