Sticks of Fire: a Tampa blog

Tim tells me that we don’t get enough news about usf in the sticks or in any local media, and offered to keep us informed about the goings-on at the institution. I agreed to both, and just like that, we’ll have it.

But first, Tim will tell us about Tim, preferably in the third person:

Tim’s a third-year USF doctoral student studying American culture. A communication department denizen, he spends most of his time teaching, doing research for his dissertation on poker, or writing at his Jack Tripper blog.

In his mid-twenties and a Florida resident since 2004, Tim’s a Buckeye by birth. After earning a degree in journalism from Ohio (go Bobcats! boo Buckeyes!) and a Master’s from Eastern Michigan, he spent four years teaching at a small college in Ohio’s Appalachian foothills (while teaching nights at a state prison for extra cash). Yet Florida beckoned, and Tim left friends and family behind to start a new life in Tampa.

His main interest here at Sticks is covering the goings-on at USF. South Florida is one of the largest universities in the country, yet the majority of events that happen on-campus are ignored by the mainstream Tampa Bay press. He hopes to bring some of those events to light here on Sticks. (Keep in mind that he is in no way a representative of USF here or elsewhere.)

When he’s not teaching or traveling he works on his music/comedy career — and he has the personal music site and requisite music Myspace to prove it. (He wanted us to mention that he’s looking for gigs, but with song topics like lesbian bartenders, V.D., and that chick who eats all the hot dogs, who would want him? Maybe you.)

Tim’s parents recently retired from academia and moved within driving distance. He’s dealing with it well — bourbon helps, he tells us.

You may have seen Tim’s work before. As he mentioned above, he runs the great Jack Tripper blog, and you have seen his comments here now and again.

Please join me in welcoming the latest member of the Sticks of Fire writing team, Tim Burke!