Thankful Thursdays #2: Mary Carroll-Hackett, Shauna Hambrick Jones, and Vincent Trimboli

Today we continue our Thankful Thursdays series with Vincent Trimboli, a poet and WVWC MFA alum, Mary Carroll-Hackett, a WVWC MFA Faculty member, and Shauna Hambrick Jones, a nonfiction writer and WVWC alum. They share, in their own words and styles, what they feel most grateful for:

Vincent Trimboli (Poetry '13):

“There you go/ walking in the woods/ as usual/ ignoring the trees…”

                                                                                                                 Maureen N. Mclane

Today I am grateful for [   ].

As writers it is easy to jump to the broad picture. Today I am grateful for:       Love

Beyoncé

Socioeconomic Status

Privilege.

To truly value gratefulness as an emotion, to truly use it in a way that is translatable as writers of anything other than an epic tale or poem we must take time to dissect daily gratefulness: The minute moments, clepsydra rhythms, the small. Today I am grateful for the spider at my feet in the shower, the moment you crossed my mind, the keys in my hand.

Here’s a link to Vince’s work on the San Diego Reader: https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2017/jun/07/poetry-when-your-head-went-through-windshield/

Mary Carroll-Hackett (Poetry Faculty):

I'm thankful for bread, and birds, and books, for the blessed details that weave each day. I'm so grateful for my children, my grandson, my family, my four-leggeds, for their wisdom, their humor, their commitment to living lives that serve others. I'm thankful for my students, for their energy, their big beautiful hearts, their curiosity, and their laughter. I'm thankful for the opportunity to learn, every day, from everyone I meet. I'm grateful for the Love I have been fortunate enough to know in this life, and even for the grief that continually leads me back to gratitude.

Mary's Website: https://marycarrollhackett.com/

Links to read samples of Mary's work:

Superstition Review: https://superstitionreview.asu.edu/issue6/poetry/marycarrollhackett

Writing for Peace: https://writingforpeace.org/poems-from-the-night-i-heard-everything-by-mary-carroll-hackett/

Cultural Weekly: https://www.culturalweekly.com/mary-carroll-hackett-three-poems/

Shauna Hambrick Jones (Nonfiction '13):

As these mid-November days bring less light, I’m thankful for the warmth of words. 

At the college where I work, lots of students are tired, anxious, dealing with dark thoughts. I’m thankful for the art of providing encouraging words, whether they are my own, or a quote, or a line of poetry, or a song lyric.

I’m thankful for our MFA writing tribe—our mishpocha—that supports each other’s work.

I’m thankful for my son, a high school senior, this man-child who can write a decent paper and doesn’t seem to mind doing so.

I’m thankful for words, stories, breath.

Here is a link to Shauna's essay “Physical Graffiti,” which was one of seven finalists for the 2017 CNF contest in Still: The Journal: http://www.shaunahambrickjones.site

Left to right: Vincent Tromboli, Mary Caroll-Hackett, Shauna Hambrick Jones