Kelly Moffett’s office in Landrum Hall resembles a museum. Inside her dim, warmly lit office, you’ll see eye-catching items from Moffett’s travels abroad and many other works of art and literature.
It’s a space that will remind you of a real-life scrapbook, featuring items like photos of her travels to Romania, tons of poetry and artifacts from abroad, with each item taking you back in time and telling you little tidbits about Moffett’s past life experiences.
The artifacts exemplify who Moffett was: a published poet, writing teacher, and traveler who followed the paths of creative writing in other countries. She has published numerous articles in literary journals, such as Rattle, Barrelhouse, Versal, Colorado Review, Laurel Review, Cincinnati Review, and others, she says. website. She also wrote two small books in the form of pamphlets and three complete collections of poetry.
The beginning of her life and discovering her passion
Kelly Moffett grew up on a 10-acre farm located in a small town outside of Pittsburgh. She grew up riding horses and showing dogs, an activity that occupied most of her free time on weekends. That was until she arrived at Penn State University, where she began her bachelor’s degree in theater in 1996.
In her first two years of college, she won major roles such as Emily in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. She even won the Actress of the Year award for this role.
“I was totally excited. I wanted to be an actress,” Moffett said. But the first time she didn’t win the lead role, she started to question her future career. I was so disappointed. I realized, Am I in this for the arts? Or am I in this for the arts? Am I in this for my ego?”
But for Moffett it was always about language, it was the driving force that helped her get into writing poetry.
“I really understood that I really loved language. It was the language of writing that fascinated me the most. So, I moved from acting to creative writing,” Moffett smiled.
Moffett did not accept this switch easily. She met her husband, Joe Moffett, when she was 17, and he had a clear goal of becoming an English professor and writer. Moffett felt she could not follow his path, so she tried to ignore her passion for writing. “I said to myself: ‘I can’t do what he’s doing,’ so I fought him and fought him until I couldn’t resist anymore,” she said.
So Moffett officially decided to make the switch.
“I changed my major at the beginning of my junior year, which made me stay an extra year as an undergrad, but I couldn’t once I took my first poetry class. That was it. I was done. I was hooked,” Moffett said.
Although her writing interests and journey began in college, Moffett has always had a gift for writing well. During her time in elementary school sParticipate in talent show productions. She remembered one of her talent shows in sixth grade.
“I had an English professor who always praised my writing,” she said. “I’ll never forget when I wrote the sonnet that she praised me so much, and had me read it out loud at this gathering. I felt really proud of my writing at that point. I was really thinking about writing and acting at the same time, even at a young age. Acting was center stage even Not anymore.
Although the experience was nerve-racking, reading the words on the page made it feel like you weren’t on stage with a live audience, Moffett said.
“I find that the same thing happens to me today where you will feel a little nervous before you start reading. But once you start, the language becomes “It’s a magical experience where you look at the poem and then you’re inside the poem,” she said.
In the midst of college life, Moffitt discovered she was going to be a mother at the beginning of her senior year. She raised her child as a full-time student who was taking many rigorous, high-level college courses.
“I gave birth to our son on the first day of our senior year of college,” Moffitt said He said. “Because we were in a committed relationship, we decided to have the baby. It was a beautiful gift.”
Moffitt is also a pet owner of her dogs, which she adores.
education
Moffitt has been an English professor for nearly two decades. She began her teaching career at Kentucky Wesleyan College as Assistant Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing. In 2010 she left Wesleyan and came to Northern Kentucky University. Aside from her role as a professor, she currently works as a faculty advisor for the Loch Norse Literary Journal.
Although Moffitt has decades of experience as a published poet, you’d never know it from the way she teaches.
“I truly believe I am a writer among writers. I’m a practicing writer. This means that I am in the same trenches as all the students He said. “So my philosophy is that I’m faced with the same blank page. I know how scary it is to sit there and I know it’s time to write.
To be on equal footing with her students, she asked them to call her by her first name.
“I make sure they can call me Kelly. We’re on the same page because we’re all practitioners. We’re all trying to develop our skills, and I’m here to offer advice to help them on that journey,” Moffitt said. He said.
Grace Riley, a psychology and English major and co-editor-in-chief of Loch Norse magazine, began working with Moffitt during her junior year and believes that The professor teaches with enthusiasm and care
“It’s great to work alongside Kelly. She’s always so enthusiastic, willing to help, and so appreciative of the work my colleagues and I do,” Riley said.
Riley hopes others will understand the impact Moffitt has on everyone she meets.
“People should know what an inspiring person Kelly is. Not only does she treat everyone she meets with kindness and acceptance, but she is truly passionate about helping her students succeed. She is an amazing writer, teacher, and mentor.” He said.
But Moffitt’s influence does not stop at her teachings.
“I went through a difficult time in my life during that time, but her words of encouragement helped inspire me to move forward during that time,” James Voss said, “as well as sharing and reading poetry with other students.”majoring in psychology, minoring in creative writing, and co-editor-in-chief of Loch Norse Magazine. “Many of them are now my friends thanks to the amazing community I brought together. And even though that semester is long over, they echo my words: those classes changed their lives, too.”
Foss added that Moffett’s experience as a working writer helps her craft helpful comments.
“She is a caring person with a lot of depth. Her writing advice comes from a sincere place, because she wants you to be able to do your best work. Her feedback is also very important because she is an absolutely amazing poet herself.” He said.
Stories from traveling abroad
Some international libraries across Europe have programs where you can stay in the country as a guest writer and make it a place to call home for an extended period of time within the library.
Moffett’s main poetry publisher is an international publisher based in Ennistymon, Ireland, which is where she also studied poetry.
“I was able to get my feet on the ground and go hiking and meet the locals and get to know the land and the countryside and the people on these very deep levels. I became obsessed with Ireland,” Moffett said.
After returning from these trips, Moffitt knew she had to bring her students there.
“I traveled a couple more times and ended up making all these different connections and creating a faculty-led program from the ground up,” Moffitt said. “I created a program to take my students to Ireland, invited one of my colleagues and she modified it and added things to the curriculum. We brought our first group to Ireland.”
Moffitt then recalled the “magical moments” from those trips with her students, including meeting the latest suitors in Ireland.
“I brought my students to the last matchmaker in Ireland’s home,” Moffett said of Willie Daly, the 80-year-old who has been practicing marriage since he was a teenager. “He was such a character, of course. He sat down at his kitchen table and played Irish folk songs. And then he pulled out the matchmaker’s bible that all his family had.”
The matchmaker showed them ways in which their desires could be fulfilled.
“He told us that the different ways we touch the book makes our wishes come true. If you want to find someone, you touch one way. ‘If you want to save your marriage, you have to touch them another way,'” Moffett said. “So it was great.” The matchmaker’s last interview.”
This was one of many experiences Moffitt shared with her students.
A look at the artwork inside Moffett’s office in Landrum Hall
Current/future projects
Moffitt hasn’t stopped pursuing learning projects abroad and won’t stop anytime soon. She is currently working on a research project on artworks produced by those with mental health disorders from 1840 to 1940.
Just last month, Moffitt was able to go to Germany to visit the Prinzhorn Collection, an archive of artwork by mental health patients at Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany.
“I’m really interested in these artists’ stories because their doctors gave their artwork to Prinzhorn,” Moffitt said. “It’s not like an artist submits their own work. So I wonder, are they being exploited? What kind of stories can be told about that?”
The group’s book advised Moffitt to begin this research. Conscious considerations have been made to help Moffett navigate the personal subject matter and be as respectful as possible toward the artwork.
“It’s a whole new learning process to figure out. How can I approach this subject in a way that respects it exactly the way it should be respected? I can speak my truth, but how do I write these stories and respect them so deeply? This has been an interesting commute.
As for other future projects, Moffett will release a full poetry collection next year.