Alex Wukman
Alex Wukman is an award-winning essayist, journalist poet, playwright and author based in Houston. He has more than 15 years of professional writing experience and was a founding editor of the alternative newsweekly Free Press Houston, which ceased publication due to circumstances Alex had nothing to do with and would rather not discuss.
His writing has appeared in various magazines and newspapers throughout Houston and Texas. He is the author of Explorer's Guide Galveston, South Padre Island & the Texas Gulf Coast: A Great Destination, which was released by W.W. Norton in 2008
His writing has appeared in various magazines and newspapers throughout Houston and Texas. He is the author of Explorer's Guide Galveston, South Padre Island & the Texas Gulf Coast: A Great Destination, which was released by W.W. Norton in 2008
Excerpt from Alex's memoir Bless Me Now with Your Fierce Tears
Smog chokes downtown whiskey-brown as I hit 610. The sulfurous smell from the pollution never quite goes away; it seeps into your clothes, forever marking you as a citizen of Energy City. Benzene and chloromethane coming off the bay cause eyes to burn across the sprawl.
The permanent haze leads to the sort of cheap jokes and lazy irony favored by the bottom-of-the-bottle-Bellow and four-beer-Beckett types who smirk about how “it’s no coincidence we have one of the largest collections of refineries and one of the best cancer centers.” Tonight, I’m not in the mood to chuckle at why the high school downwind from the frac plant needs Leukemia for a mascot.
Tonight, my father is dying. My aunt just called. Told me dad’s on life support. And she’s willing to pull the plug. He’s suffered some kind of attack and is in the hospital. He’s been there for twelve hours; she’s just now telling me.
Rage and sadness roil through my body while methane flares flicker-flash across my windshield. I know if dad survives, I’ll be pulled into a decaying orbit around him.
It’ll be my job to take care of him, to pick up the empties, clean the vomit from the sink and scrub the piss out of the carpet. My job to tell my girl we’ll never get to see a face with my granddaddy’s eyes, her nose and my chin.
My job to move back in and live with him. My job to lie to the landlord and see if we can slide until the fifteenth again. My job to decide which we can do without this month: food, lights or water.
My job to be a kid again.
Smog chokes downtown whiskey-brown as I hit 610. The sulfurous smell from the pollution never quite goes away; it seeps into your clothes, forever marking you as a citizen of Energy City. Benzene and chloromethane coming off the bay cause eyes to burn across the sprawl.
The permanent haze leads to the sort of cheap jokes and lazy irony favored by the bottom-of-the-bottle-Bellow and four-beer-Beckett types who smirk about how “it’s no coincidence we have one of the largest collections of refineries and one of the best cancer centers.” Tonight, I’m not in the mood to chuckle at why the high school downwind from the frac plant needs Leukemia for a mascot.
Tonight, my father is dying. My aunt just called. Told me dad’s on life support. And she’s willing to pull the plug. He’s suffered some kind of attack and is in the hospital. He’s been there for twelve hours; she’s just now telling me.
Rage and sadness roil through my body while methane flares flicker-flash across my windshield. I know if dad survives, I’ll be pulled into a decaying orbit around him.
It’ll be my job to take care of him, to pick up the empties, clean the vomit from the sink and scrub the piss out of the carpet. My job to tell my girl we’ll never get to see a face with my granddaddy’s eyes, her nose and my chin.
My job to move back in and live with him. My job to lie to the landlord and see if we can slide until the fifteenth again. My job to decide which we can do without this month: food, lights or water.
My job to be a kid again.
Recommended Books for Aspiring Writers
- Story Craft: The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction, by Jack Hart
- The Art of the Personal Essay: An Anthology from the Classical Era to the Present, edited by Philip Lopate
- The Next American Essay: A New History of the Essay, edited by John D’Agata
- A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature (Sixth Edition), by Wilfred Guerin, Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, Jeanne C. Reesman and John R. Willingham
- Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction 1970-Present, edited by Lex Willford
Teaching Philosophy
I believe that writing classes aren’t essential to being a writer, but they do help.
What is essential to learning how to write is what the class provides: discussions about craft, feedback and critiques on new and published material, insights into the creative process and different perspectives.
By teaching students the various tips, tricks and techniques that have been developed over the last few millennia writing classes provide students with shortcuts. Taking classes can help emerging writers shave years off their journey to become better writers.
Personally, I believe that it is the writing teacher’s job to help students understand the mechanics of what is and isn’t working in a piece of writing. The teacher is there to help students take their writing to the next level.
After all, writing is a lonely profession, but literature is a shared passion.
I believe that writing classes aren’t essential to being a writer, but they do help.
What is essential to learning how to write is what the class provides: discussions about craft, feedback and critiques on new and published material, insights into the creative process and different perspectives.
By teaching students the various tips, tricks and techniques that have been developed over the last few millennia writing classes provide students with shortcuts. Taking classes can help emerging writers shave years off their journey to become better writers.
Personally, I believe that it is the writing teacher’s job to help students understand the mechanics of what is and isn’t working in a piece of writing. The teacher is there to help students take their writing to the next level.
After all, writing is a lonely profession, but literature is a shared passion.