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Tribute to Barbara Bean

Document Type

Feature

Abstract

Barbara Bean did her undergraduate work at Knox College and has an M.F.A. in fiction from Indiana University. At DePauw, she has taught creative writing and introductory literature courses. She has published fiction in such magazines as The North American Review, The Colorado Review, and The Georgia Review. Her collection of stories Dream House was published in March 2001 by the Center for Literary Publishing, Colorado University Press. She has taught at DePauw for 24 years and helped found A Midwestern Review in 1988. I still remember the first poem I turned in for Professor Bean’s “Intro to Creative Writing” course. We had to use a collection of specific words and my poem was about something in Finland. It was a terrible poem, I rhymed shuffles with muscles and I used the phrase “shaggy shack” in the second stanza. I knew my poem was bad, but after I received it back from Professor Bean, there was a tiny penciled plus sign next to one of the lines. I spent the rest of the semester trying to get more of those little plus signs, and I loved the class. Barbara Bean’s nurturing, kind style made me feel comfortable as a beginning writer and I am so grateful to her for that. She gave me the confidence to take more courses and I loved having her as my advisor. As a publication, we wanted to congratulate Professor Bean on her retirement, but also let her know how much she has meant to her students, colleagues, and friends over the years in her time at DePauw. Without her numerable years of advising to A Midwestern Review, this publication would not be what it is today. Her bubbly personality and curly hair will be missed in the halls of Asbury, but the lessons and encouragement she gave her students in the form of advice or tiny penciled plus signs will always be remembered.

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