Stephanie+Vanderslice

Dear Students of Writing 1310: My name is Stephanie Vanderslice; I go by Dr. Vanderslice or Dr. V.. I prefer NOT to be referred to as Mrs. Vanderslice but otherwise I’m not that picky about what you call me (as long as it’s nice). I live in Conway with my husband, who also teaches at UCA, two sons, 15 and 11, my dog adorable rat terrier doxie, Mario and my cats Garfield, Nermal, Lucky and Chairman Mao. My 15 year old is a total techno-geek and my 11 year old is a social butterfly and 11 going on 30 who wears all black and would buy all his clothes at Hot Topics if he could. In my spare time, I love to read, write and go to estate sales, garage/yard sales and flea markets—I guess you could call me a junker. I love to travel and have traveled as much as financially possible in my life, all over Europe and to Russia when it was actually called the Soviet Union. Right now we’re saving for our next trip to France, which is our favorite place to visit. I grew up an only child, which I mostly didn’t like, although I see how not having to share has its benefits. However, I now have fourteen nieces and nephews because my husband is one of eight children. I also have five godchildren, four girls and a boy—the oldest is twenty-four and the youngest are one year old twins—a girl and a boy. To say I love kids would be an understatement. I was born in Queens, New York but I grew up in upstate New York (Albany) and went to college in Connecticut and grad school in Virginia (met my husband) and Louisiana. In college, my favorite subjects were child psychology, history and—of course, writing. I am horrifically bad at math. Horrifically. I don’t like cell phones, but that’s partly because I have a tremor in my left thumb and it’s hard for me to use a touch phone. My next phone is NOT going to be a touch. No IPhone for me, unfortunately. L My favorite music is mostly old timer stuff from the 70’s and 80’s—James Taylor, old Chicago stuff, Genesis, but I really like Gorillaz too. I don’t get to go to a lot of movies right now, so most of my favorite movies are older, like Moonstruck and October Sky. I don’t watch a lot of TV either but I //NEVER MISS// Big Bang Theory (we really relate to this show in our house) and the Next Food Network Star every summer. Conan O’Brien’s sister, Jane, was a friend of mine—once upon a time. My family and I also like to watch Glee and Mystery Science Theater 3000 on instant Netflix. I listen to the radio all the time—I am a total National Public Radio addict. My favorite foods are pizza and pasta—and anything my husband cooks because he is an awesome cook. I am the family baker and I make very good (IMHO) homemade French bread on a regular basis. If this class plays its cards right, I //might// bring bread to the final exam. I have a blog called wordamour.wordpress.com and I also write for a UCA teaching blog called Teaching Matters. I’ve written and published a bunch of personal essays and three books about teaching creative writing. I teach college because I LOVED college; it was one of the best times of my life. I was finally free to learn what I wanted to learn and my time there really set me on the path to who I became. That’s why I love teaching college students. But enough about me. How about you? Tell me about you. . . Dr. V