Hi from Shelley, faculty director of Clarion

Hi Everyone,

I'm Shelley Streeby, Clarion's faculty director, writing to welcome you and introduce myself. After reading your application stories and blog introductions, I'm really looking forward to this summer! I am a Professor in the Literature and Ethnic Studies Departments at UCSD. I've worked at UCSD since 1994 and have directed Clarion since 2010, which is a wonderful pleasure and privilege. Definitely one of the best things I get to do as part of my job.

During the summer, I'll be with you all of the next six weeks. I will attend class with you twice a week and will participate in the round robin critiques. You will also see me every week at the readings your instructors will be doing at Mysterious Galaxy and at other events.

Starting Week 2, I hold a couple of office hours each week where I greatly enjoy talking with you all and getting to know you better. I usually meet students at Peet's coffee house near where you will be housed or in my Ethnic Studies office, which is in a nearby building (SSB 223). In the last few years I have been reading a lot of extra stories for people, either ones I miss because I am not in class that day or ones that can't be critiqued in class because they are too long or because they're trunk stories. I like to have at least one meeting with each student during the summer and would be glad to read any story you would like me to read as part of our meeting--and am happy to meet more often if you'd like, as I often have with many students in the past. It's interesting for me and also a good way for me to get to know you better, which is part of the fun of Clarion for me.

As a scholar, I have written a couple of books about US social movements, empire, culture, the US-Mexico border, and related matters: American Sensations: Class, Empire, and the Production of Popular Culture (UC Press, 2002) and Radical Sensations: World Movements, Violence, and Visual Culture (Duke UP, 2013). I'm currently working on a little book I hope to finish this summer on science fiction and climate change, and another more ambitious, more research-intensive one on science fiction archives--in both a more specialized and a more general sense--and what they can tell us about imaging the future.

One of the archives I am writing about is the Clarion archive, which is at UCSD and consists of all the stories every written at Clarion by all students in its history. Last year's Clarionites enjoyed investigating the archive and reading the student stories authored by their favorite writers, so be sure to check it out while you're here. I can help if you need it.

Looking forward to talking with interested parties about all these things and more. My cell phone is 323-350-0961 if you need to reach me. Can't wait to meet you tomorrow!

Shelley