Goals Statement

My short range goal is to obtain my MA in Liberal Studies with emphasis on literary theory.
The long-range goal is to teach part-time online Humanities and/or introductory courses on poetry writing and/or philosophy. My life-long goal is to work for world peace with the Chrysanthemum Literary Society that I have created through literature.

I come into the MA LNT program with 30 years worth of poetry reading/writing/editing/publishing experiences. My own poetry efforts have received international attention. Moreover, I have studied philosophy, both in the academic sense from a university curriculum to many years of literary ruminations. And from a very torrid life.

I will perhaps take more courses in psychology in addition to literature and philosophy. Since the kind of work I envision for myself means negotiating with people and to change each other's outlook in the process, I must learn to get along better with peers, especially academic peers.

I have, by the way, published two literary books (one poetry and one short fiction collection) that sit on the shelves of Antioch University Seattle. These titles are PORCH SHADOWS by Betty Irene Priebe, a collection of poems that illumines the Wisconsin landscape and the people and their history and their concerns for this land and the greater role of protecting the environment, which ultimately sing praises of family, friendship, and the pursuit of beauty. The other title I have published with my Goldfish Press is I WAS NEVER COOL by Joseph Musso, Jr. Cool is a book of contemporary angst of our young people navigating through an uncertain future. Nevertheless, these collages that made up the book make the reader think twice about his "comfortable" position and onto greater concerns of humanity. The writer is a young writer and there is more to expect from him.

I have also promoted literature in Seattle and the Greater Pacific Northwest for the past 30 years. My magazine Chrysanthemum was an occasional but impactful venue for much of the new poets in this region. However, these pages have also been graced by famed national and international poets. It is possibly the first multicultural magazine in the true sense of the word and spirit and it did its job quietly without any support from arts agency. (Inner city black berry vines grew ok without city rain; heaven's pennies it abstains from taking...).

I figure that once I receive my MA degree, more people will pay attention. I am going to imitate the poet Henri Michaux (you got to stretch the definition of things sometimes) and my philosophy prof John Wisdom. I am going to mix literature with philosophy with psychotherapy and that is to parlay my three miserable failures into one grand success. In this, "My hopes go way up, to infinity almost..."