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Torg Has Moved
Tag: Indiana
Meet Torg
Seven years ago I made the switch from high school English teacher and basketball coach to writer and professor. Since that time, I’ve been blessed to have been hired to teach First Year Writing courses at St. John’s University in New York. I write novels, scripts, publish a podcast, and have just sent out my first documentary film for consideration at several film festivals.
Cherokee McGhee Press has published two of my novels. The first, Love on the Big Screen, tells the story of a college freshman whose understanding of love has been shaped by late-eighties romantic comedies. In writing that book, I drew upon my early dating experiences, my time riding the bench of a small-college basketball team, and my devotion to 80s films such as Say Anything and Sixteen Candles. My adaptation of that novel won the Grand Prize of the Rhode Island International Screenplay Competition.
a scene from the novel by artist Keegan Laycock
Horseshoe is my most recent novel and is set in a fictionalized version of my hometown, Winamac, Indiana. It’s a place where everyone knows everybody else’s business. Writer Bryan Fuhurness endorsed the novel by writing, “What Sherwood Anderson would have written if he had a sense of humor.”
I ask my students to write a hybrid research paper we call a Scholarly Personal Narrative. I think of Colin Beavan’s No Impact Man and Joan Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking as examples of this sort of text that combines a personal story with scholarly research. The students also create short documentary films, follow Tweets in their area of interest, and compose ePortfolios as their final writing project.
In order to consider my professional life, I use a metaphor gifted to me by a former professor: Writing Floats on a Sea of Conversation. Given that, I invite you to respond to anything you find here as the first lines of what could be a rewarding conversation. You can get in touch with me via Twitter @BillTorg or write me an email at William.Torgerson@gmail.com
“Sanctuary” Explores Faith in God and Prayer
Below you can listen to my reading of “Sanctuary,” a story in my novel-in-stories entitled Horseshoe. The catalyst for writing this piece probably first came the result of the death of a high school friend from cancer approximately fifteen years ago. I remember that there was a church service in relation to her illness. It wasn’t a service I attended, and I never talked with my friend or anyone else about what happened there. So the events of this story and the thoughts of the lead character are from my own imagination.
I was interested in the subject matter because of my interest in what it means to be a person who believes in God and what it means to pray. I also drew on my experiences of the death of my grandfather and father in law, both also from cancer. It’s a story I couldn’t have written ten years ago before I met my wife and learned what it is to live in the world with daughters. It’s a terrifying and wonderful experience. Music is by the Jeremy Vogt Band. “Sanctuary” first appeared in the literary journal Sakura and was published most recently by Cherokee McGhee Press.
Click on the following link to listen:
A Father and Daughter Guide to Picking the NCAA Basketball Tournament
These seem to be the guidelines used by my six and three year old girls to pick basketball games:
- In general, pick teams located in states where family lives. According to the six year old, “There are a lot of Carolina teams.” With grandparents and extended family in Indiana and North Carolina, this means watch out for the Tar Heels, Irish, and Hoosiers in the tourney.
- We like to go to the beach, so Long Beach State is going to the elite eight. (Plus, Aunt Anne lives nearby.)
- For the five year old, two of the “First Four” game winners will advance to the second weekend.
- The three year old says “Cantucky” instead of “Kentucky.” Because Cantucky is very fun to say, she’s got them winning the national title.
My wife Megan deserves lots of credit. She clicked on the youngest’s picks and uncovered the nugget, “Cantucky.”
The youngest wanted to know, “What number am I on?” Instead of, “What number is on my jersey?”