I go by "Chip" because my real name is Arthur Larry II. I spent nearly a decade getting a doctorate because, frankly, it was hell being a "Mr. Rogers." Yes, I live in a neighborhood, and yes, I do own a few sweaters. So?Before coming to Macon I lived in Durham, NC (twice); Spartanburg, SC; Washington, DC; Dallas, TX; Claygate, Surrey, England; Charlotte, NC (twice); Knoxville, TN; Charleston, SC (my favorite), and Claremore, OK, just outside of Tulsa. My undergraduate school was Duke University, I have an M.A. from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and my Ph.D. is from the University of Tennessee. One highlight of my formal education was a semester studying Russian language and culture at Leningrad State University in the Soviet Union.
I'm in my nineteenth year of teaching college English, with stints at the University of Tennessee, the College of Charleston, and The Citadel before taking a tenure-track position at Rogers State University in 2004. I started at Macon State in 2007 and am thrilled to be at MSC. Beyond composition, my areas of academic specialization are British literature of the 19th century, the novel, narrative theory, and American literature before 1900. My master's thesis examined authorial intrusion in Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, and my dissertation explored autobiographical implications of Charles Dickens's narrative technique in David Copperfield, Bleak House, and Great Expectations.
Before I began teaching I was a bartender for eight years in Charlotte. I've also done stretches in restaurant and catering management, newspaper rack accounts, and commercial painting.
In 2007 I was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)—this was something of a shock! I did chemotherapy in summer and fall of 2008 and am now in full remission with a good outlook for the future. I owe my life, literally, to the outstanding doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals at the Emory Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta. The kind and good folks at Emory, one and all, flat out kick ass!
Teaching, writing, and scholarship keep me busy, but as often as I can I enjoy riding motorcycles, backpacking in the mountains, turning wrenches, playing fetch with Natasha Moya Dyevushka—she's a Siberian Husky—and coaching my favorite little leaguer’s baseball team. I don't "rock" like I did back in the day playing keyboards in an exceptionally loud band, but I do still play the piano some. I'm a brilliant singer when no one else is listening :-). Recently I've been collaborating on new tunes with an old rocker bud in Charlotte: see demolutionrocks.com. A knee injury ended my promising career in Knoxville's 30-and-over indoor soccer league, but I still jog . . . well, sometimes. I'm a huge sports fan: go Braves! go Blue Devils! go Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys! go Manchester United! go Jones County C-Ball Rangers! And again, go Braves!
For grins (or maybe groans), see these: