KYLE VAUGHN
ABOUT
Writer and Photographer
Kyle Vaughn’s poems have appeared in publications such as Adbusters, Matter, The Boiler, Vinyl, Confrontation, Firewheel Editions' Introduction to the Prose Poem, and The Portable Poetry Workshop by Jack Myers. His prose has appeared in English Journal, where his article "Reading the Literature of War: A Global Perspective on Ethics" won the Paul and Kate Farmer Award for article of the year. His photography has appeared in Annalemma and Holon and has been featured by The Impossible Project and Lomography. His book A New Light in Kalighat, co-authored and co-photographed with Breanna Reynolds and funded by the US State Department's Bureau for Educational and Cultural Affairs, features photos and stories about the children of sex workers and crematory workers in Kolkata, India. It was featured by Nicholas Kristof’s Half the Sky Movement as it documents activist Urmi Basu's efforts to change the lives of these children through her New Light organization. His book of poetry writing exercises, Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, was published by NCTE Books in 2018.
Educator
As an educator, his career spans over 20 years; over 20 distinct courses in the areas of English, Humanities, and the Arts; over every age group, from 5 to 65+ (though primarily at the secondary level); and over the entire world, from the southern United States to India. His years in independent schools have been focused on designing curriculum to support more creative, engaging, and globally-centered courses. His globally-focused curriculum was a key component in assisting colleague Rick Dunn in establishing Parish Episcopal School's Parish Abroad program, through which he and Mr. Dunn led students to India and Peru for Global Leadership experiences. His leadership in the area of student publications led the Hockaday school's literary-arts magazine Vibrato to numerous awards from the NCTE, CSPA, and NSPA, who inducted Vibrato into its Scholastic Press Hall of Fame. Kyle also revised the NSPA's 2008 edition of its Magazine Guidebook. His Creative Writing curriculum served as the source material for his NCTE book, Lightning Paths. In addition to publishing articles and a book with the National Council of Teachers of English, he has led professional development in several settings, including at the Global Education Forum. He currently serves as English Department Chair for Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas.
CV
Education
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas—Master of Arts in English with a specialization in Creative Writing (Poetry); Date of completion: May 2000
Baylor University, Waco, Texas—Bachelor of Science in Education with a specialization in English; Date of completion: August 1997
Career Experience
Pulaski Academy: August 2016-present
Director of the Writing Center: 2019-present; English Department Chair: 2017-2022; Teacher: 2016-present
Teacher—Literature of Philosophy and Psychology, Poetry, Science Fiction, 21st Century Literature, Literature of Immigrants and Refugees, Visual Literacy and the Graphic Novel, Music as Literature, Film as Literature, Creative Writing, AP Language and Composition, Writing Seminar, American Literature, Veritas (literary-arts magazine)
Also served in these capacities: Advisor; Senior Thesis Advisor/Mentor; Language Arts Vertical Team Leader; New Faculty Mentor; as both teacher and Department Chair, created curriculum for every course in our department, but particularly these courses as a whole: Visual Literacy and the Graphic Novel, Music as Literature, Film as Literature, Creative Writing, European Literature, American Literature, World Literature, English I (Genre Studies). As Department Chair, instituted an Independent Reading program.
Parish Episcopal School: August 2013-June 2016
Teacher—Visual Literacy and Graphic Design, Creative Writing, Academy of Global Studies Senior Design Seminar, Modern American Literature, Literature of War, Science Fiction, English I (Genre Studies), The Midway (literary-arts magazine)
Also served in these capacities: Faculty for Parish Abroad, a global travel program that gave students an immersive leadership experience in India and Peru; Admissions Committee member; advisor; Independent Study Mentor (Creative Writing); New Faculty Mentor; Diversity Committee member; and member of a committee that revised Parish’s Characteristics of Effective Teaching, by which teachers are evaluated; created curriculum for each of my courses, but particularly these courses as a whole: Visual Literacy and
Graphic Design, Creative Writing, and the Academy of Global Studies Senior Design Seminar.
The Hockaday School: August 2002-June 2013
Teacher—Creative Writing, World Literature, British Literature, and Senior Seminars on Great Books, Literature of War, Fears and Monsters, Vibrato (literary-arts magazine)
Head Sponsor for class of 2014: 2010-2013
Also served in these capacities: Head Sponsor for the class of 2014 (2010-2013); advisor; Independent Study Mentor (Creative Writing); New Faculty Mentor; created curriculum for every course, but particularly these courses as a whole: Creative Writing, World Literature, Literature of War, and Vibrato (graphic design and publications course)
Richland Community College: August 2001-August 2002
Adjunct Professor (Composition); also participated in dual credit program.
Dallas Baptist University: August 2000-August 2002
Adjunct Professor (World Literature, Composition); also participated in distance education (online).
Collin County Community College: June 2000-December 2001
Adjunct Professor (American Literature, Composition); also participated in dual credit program.
Dallas Writer's Garrett: February 2000-August 2002
Creative Writing Instructor (for Inter-Community program [children] and Stone Soup Workshop [adults]).
Southern Methodist University: Teaching Fellow (1999-2000); Editorial Assistant for Arthuriana (1998-1999).
Publications, Awards, and Grants
Books
Calamity Gospel, Cerasus Poetry, forthcoming
The Alpinist Searches Lonely Places, Belle Point Press, forthcoming
Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, NCTE Books, 2018
A New Light in Kalighat, March 2013 (funded by the American Councils for International Education and the U.S. State Department)
Poetry Publications
"Recitation" in Marías at Sampaguitas, October 2022
"Augustine Variation" in Dawntreader, October 2022
"Kindergarten" and "Depression's Exile" in Tír na nÓg, June 2022
"Raised to Walk in Newness of Life" and "Leaving My Desires at the Sol Duc River" in The Journal, June 2022
"Ministry" in Juke Joint, May 2022
"Photo, Age 18" in Marías at Sampaguitas, May 2022
"June, Huron Peak" in Right Hand Pointing, April 2022
"The Complete History of the Lyric" in Ó Bhéal's Five Words Vol XV, April 2022
“All, Rise” and “Down in the country, it almost make you cry” in museum of americana, February 2022
"Untranslatable" in Emerge Literary Journal, February 2022
"Letter Left Inside Sweetheart of the Rodeo" in Roi Faineant, February 2022
"Calligraphed" in A-Minor, January 2022
“Grief as Compass,” “Vocabulary,” and “Inscape with Aviary” in The Shore, December 2021; Pushcart Prize nomination for "Memory of September"
"Triumphal Entry of One Who Survived Himself" in Abridged
"Fountain" and "From Love's Monolith to the End" in Orange Blush Zine
"Ballad of St. Drogo the Ugly" in The Madrigal
"Summit" in Bangalore Review
“Awe” and “Anti-hero” in Matter
“Anti-American” in Adbusters
“Firebird Dream” and “Naïve Melody,” in The Boiler
“The Party,” “Making Myself Presentable,” and “At Age Twelve” in Vinyl Poetry and Prose
“Big Star,” “Taking Trash Out by Moonlight,” and “Poem” in Disembodied Text
“Exhaust” in Drunken Boat
“Talking to my Upstairs Neighbor” in BODY
“While You Were Onstage Reading Another Poem” in The Lilliput Review
“List Toward Bearing My Fear” and “Nobody for President” in Cricket Online Review
“Abscissus,” “Turned, Bent—My Heart,” “Poem on a Styrofoam Cup,” “Downtown, Under Some Malfunctioning Streetlamps,” and “Honestly” in BlazeVOX
“In a Crowd” in The William and Mary Review
“Directions for an exit (against Sartre’s No Exit)” in Poetry East
“Letter to my imagined daughter” was reprinted in Introduction to the Prose Poem, Firewheel Editions
“This is not a humorous poem” in Confrontation
“Childhood Daydream,” “Apartment Dweller,” “Daydream of Georg Trakl,” “Abstract for Damage,” and “I’m sorry I didn’t write this better, and I’m sorry I stole this title” in Battistrada Arts Review
“Francis Bacon” in Poetry Midwest
“American Eagle Pawn” in The Flask Review
“Rewriting Myself” in The Portable Poetry Workshop by Jack Myers
“Letter to my imagined daughter” in The Sentence
“Wax Wings” in American Writing
“Cutting the Core” in Borderlands
Essay Publications:
“Poetry and Emotional Intelligence: A Radical Call” in The English Journal, published by the National Council of Teachers of English, March 2015
“Figurative Theatre” with Robert Kallos in The English Journal, published by the NCTE, January 2014
“Reading the Literature of War: A Global Perspective on Ethics” in The English Journal, published by the NCTE, July 2011
“The Digital Age: A New Dark Age” in The Resurgence, March 2008
Reference Publications:
Author/Editor for the 2008 edition of the Magazine Guidebook for the National Scholastic Press Association
Photography Publications:
“Spring Storm,” “Three States,” “Ride,” and “Big Tex Catching Fire” in Disembodied Text, May 2013
“Street Kids, Kolkata” in Holon, February 2013
“White Rock Lake,” “Bulk Trash Vines,” and “Garland and Indiana” in Annalemma, June 2010
Awards
Best of the Net nomination for "Down in the country, it almost make you cry" (from museum of americana)
Pushcart Prize nomination for "Memory of September" (from The Shore)
Stephens Award for Excellence in Teaching (2019), awarded by Little Rock's City Education Trust
Paul and Kate Farmer Award (2011), awarded by the National Council of Teachers of English in recognition of one of two best articles published in the 2010-2011 academic year in English Journal (for my article “Reading the Literature of War: A Global Perspective on Ethics”)
John Jaglom Gardner Award for Poetry—1997 Beall Poetry Festival, Baylor University
Conference Presentations, Grants, Travel Programs, and Seminars
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute: Japanese Incarceration at Heart Mountain, Wyoming—summer 2022
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute: Mesa Verde National Park and Pueblo Indian History—summer 2021
Library of Congress Advisory Board member (this advisory board assists in creating educational material for Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s signature project, “Living Nations, Living Words”), 2020-21
Advisory Board member, “From Homer to Hip-Hop: Oral Traditions as a Gateway to Literature and Literacy” (Poetry Program in NYC Schools sponsored by the Matisse Foundation and City Lore), 2019-2023 (5-year appointment)
NCTE Annual Convention: presented a session titled Creating Eclectic Poetry Prompts—November 2018
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar—Muslim Culture and the Arts (NEH and City Lore), summer 2018
Penn Graduate School of Education and Asia Society’s 2015 Global Education Forum: presented a session titled “Students Taking Action on Global Issues” (invited by and sponsored by the U.S. State Department)
India Summer Teacher Program (American Councils for International Education)—summer 2012
Hockaday Travel Grant (summer travel to India)—summer 2005