David has always enjoyed writing music, so he wrote a song about Paul to sing to his son, imagining if Paul was a real person. He wondered what if Paul’s story was a bit sadder, and perhaps we were taking advantage of his story and turning it into something else to get the happy folklore that it is now.After writing the song, David played it at an open mic and people really enjoyed it. Later, he heard an interview of a musician he listens to who mentioned they wrote a book based off a song.

“It occurred to me: why does my song have to be the end of the story?”

After his kids went to bed one summer night in 2018, David sat down and started writing. Then it was every night when the kids went to bed. He’d sit down in a chair and write and write and write.

“It all came on suddenly, almost to the point that it felt kind of like a sickness. It was like I couldn’t get better until the story was all written down.”

By researching the history of logging in Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as the great Hinckley fire, David aimed to write a historically accurate novel with American folklore, historical ecology, Native American spirituality, and love.

When a draft was complete, the next step was publication. David’s wife, alumna Sara (Holman) Nash ’06, suggested he reach out to Augsburg’s English Department. Sara is an English major graduate from Augsburg and connected David with Professor Emerita Kathryn Swanson.

“Kathy Swanson and the English Department helped me look for publishers and things to consider in terms of what makes the project marketable, and writing resources.”

Two publishers accepted David’s book: one was from Oregon and the other, Orange Hat Publishing, is located in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

“I went with the Waukesha publisher. Being more local, I felt a good connection with their owner, who went to the same high school as me.”

After rounds of formal editing and book designs, was ready to be released. A book launch party was planned for April 2020 at a local brewery in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The party and book tour was going to be accompanied by David’s The Man in the Pines .

However, the current pandemic prevented the party from happening and canceled the book tour.

“With COVID, self-promotion is hard right now. As a musician, I thrive more off immediate interaction with people, in-person.”

David isn’t giving up, though. He still released the book in March and did an online reading with a few other authors. He also hosted an online concert with one other musician, during which David explained a few stories from book and played songs. When it’s safe to do so, he will tour with his book and accompanying songs, and have a proper launch party in La Crosse.

One surprising thing David learned about himself while writing The Man in the Pines is that he really likes writing.

“If someone would have told me I would enjoy writing a book, it would have been hard to comprehend. I like that you can start with an idea and you may not know your destination. I like writing myself out of problems. It can be frustrating, but also gratifying to discover the journey of your characters as you write.”

David had an early connection to Augsburg. His mom, Susan Nash, Ed.D., has been a nursing professor at Augsburg’s Rochester campus since 1998, and his older brother, Collin, played hockey at Augsburg. David was a biology major and also played hockey. He met his wife, Sara, their senior year in college, at a mutual friend’s birthday party.

Today, David is a Pediatric Ophthalmologist and Strabismologist at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse. He lives in Wisconsin with his wife and two children, where they spend most of their time outdoors, kayaking, jogging, fly and trout fishing, hiking, painting, and practicing photography.

“I have more interests and hobbies than I have time for!”

The post The Man in the Pines – one Auggie’s quest to find a story appeared first on Alumni, Parents, and Friends.

If Jane Austen were magically to come back to life and appear in Devoney Looser’s ’89 English classroom at Arizona State University, she would undoubtedly be charmed by the lively discussion of her writings from two centuries ago, pleased that they had survived and continue to be relevant among college students. If she decided to hang out after class, however, she would be in for quite a surprise, learning about Looser’s athletic alter ego. For the past five years, Looser has played roller derby as Stone Cold Jane Austen.

A Twin Cities native, Looser first encountered Austen’s novels as a teenager (thanks to her mother, who had not read the novels herself but sensed their importance). Looser loved the opportunity to read them then—and loves to teach them now—along with other favorites from that era, like Frances Burney, Mary Hays, and Maria Edgeworth. She also is intrigued by other truly unusual women from that period who led fascinating lives: Harriette Wilson, Lady Hester Stanhope, and Anne Lister.

Now, Looser is following their example. She is editor of a recently released volume, The Cambridge Companion to Women’s Writing in the Romantic Period (Cambridge University Press). As much as she enjoys spending time around people who’ve written fascinating books (one of the “great gifts” of her professional life), she is likely surrounded by many who feel the same about her. Find more information on her numerous publications and background at .

For Looser, a really fine day in the classroom is team-teaching Jane Austen’s Emma (1816) with her husband, George Justice, also an English professor at ASU. She loves watching the students respond to the two of them arguing over the interpretation of a character or a passage, and getting them to use the text to figure out and support their own positions. Also, Looser says, “if they laugh at our dorky quips, that’s a pretty good day!”

So what would Jane Austen appreciate about watching Stone Cold Jane Austen out on the flat track? Looser thinks Austen “would have enjoyed the idea of strong women working together but would maybe not be such a fan of the tattoos.” Both activities (teaching and playing roller derby) require a sense of adventure, possibility, and wonder, says Looser, as well as being open to new things, being willing to work hard with others, and not really knowing if you are going to “get anywhere.”

She is grateful that her friends encouraged her to join them at roller derby, even though she worried at first that, because she was already in her 40s, she was too old to start. She discovered that she loved the skating, the speed, and even the hitting and taking a hit of roller derby, but thinks “none of it would have been worth it without the community of incredible people out there sweating together.” Playing derby may even have helped her improve her teaching of literature. Looser suspects that the mixture of excitement, fear, and lack of confidence she often feels on the derby track is similar to what some students experience when they open a Jane Austen novel for the first time. That’s what she told Phoenix’s Fox 10 News, when they did a short feature on her as a roller derby professor a year ago.

As a first-generation college student, Looser looks back on her Augsburg experience with gratitude. It never occurred to the shy, introverted first-year Auggie to imagine herself as an English professor, but professor Cathie Nicholl counseled her in her sophomore year not to drop her French class as she would need that for graduate school. With space to try many new things, and encouragement from an “amazing faculty,” Looser found herself in the Honors Program and served as co-editor of the Echo, a section editor of the yearbook, and editor of the literary magazine, Murphy Square. After earning her PhD in English, with certification in women’s studies, from SUNY-Stony Brook, she held teaching positions at Indiana State University, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Louisiana State University, and the University of Missouri. She has been Professor of English at ASU since 2013.

Looser and Justice live in Phoenix, Ariz., with their two sons, aged 9 and 11. If you don’t find her in her classroom, you may want to check out the ASU Derby Devils. The Derby Devils are one of the few collegiate roller derby teams, and last April, they competed in the first-ever collegiate roller derby bout, an experience that Slate. If you’d attended that historic bout, you’d have recognized her as the one with the streaming golden hair who speaks impeccable English.

By Cheryl Crockett ‘89

The post Jane Austen on Wheels appeared first on Alumni, Parents, and Friends.