Time to chat with Joseph Earl Thomas, a writer from Frankford. Joseph is the author of the memoir Sink, the Director of Programs at Blue Stoop, an associate faculty member at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, and the current Anisfield-Wolf Fellow in Writing & Publishing here at the Poetry Center (among other things). Our conversation centers those other things as we find ourselves dancing once again with the specter of professionalism, considering the mechanics of balancing professional, personal, and creative life, and questioning their divisions. We also talk about publishing with a Big Five imprint, the similarities between small press and “nerd” cultures, and spend some time thinking about regionalism, specificity, and literary economics.
It’s jobs, other jobs, other other jobs, homesteading, role modeling, video games, subculture, juggalos (Zach’s fault), MFAs, PhDs, and childcare. Not sponsored by the Atlanta Bread Company, Home Depot, or GameStop.
More birds and cars in the background but what are we supposed to do, edit the world?