柑橘直播

柑橘直播, Pa. 鈥� What does it mean to care for someone in a world that so often feels broken? In his new collection of essays, Tell Me about Your Bad Guys: Fathering in Anxious Times, (University of Nebraska Press, 2025), 柑橘直播 English Professor Michael Dowdy, PhD, turns this question into a deeply personal and literary exploration of fatherhood. Blending memoir, creative nonfiction and the lyric essay, Dr. Dowdy invites readers into a candid reckoning with the joys, uncertainties and moral complexities of raising a child鈥攁nd being changed by them in return.

Written over the course of seven years, Dr. Dowdy鈥檚 essays were inspired by his daughter, who was five years old when he began the project. Now twelve, she remains at the heart of the book鈥檚 inquiry into what it means to raise, protect and be transformed by a child in a world marked by violence and uncertainty. The title itself comes from her: at just three years old, she began asking her parents at bedtime to 鈥渢ell me about your bad guys,鈥� sparking a profound reflection on morality, storytelling and identity that threads through the collection. Guided by his daughter鈥檚 unruly questions and his desire to avoid common traps in fatherhood literature鈥攆alse modesty, antic ineptitude and defensive clowning鈥攖he essays follow an interrogative mode.

While much has been written about motherhood, Dr. Dowdy observed a noticeable gap in literary examinations of fathering. This collection seeks to fill that space鈥攚ithout presenting fatherhood as a tidy narrative. Instead, Dowdy invites readers into a process of 鈥渢rial and error, self-reflection and radical openness.鈥� In聽Tell Me about Your Bad Guys, fatherhood becomes not just a relationship, but a lens through which to understand vulnerability, ethics and the stakes of loving deeply.

Dr. Michael Dowdy, in addition to teaching Latinx literature at 柑橘直播, is an essayist, poet, critic, and editor.聽Tell Me About Your Bad Guys: Fathering in Anxious Times, is part of the University of Nebraska Press鈥檚 American Lives series (2025). He is also the author of the poetry collection聽Urbilly, the critical study聽Broken Souths: Latina/o Poetic Responses to Neoliberalism and Globalization, and coeditor, with Claudia Rankine, of Poetics of Social Engagement. Dr. Dowdy has held fellowships with the Center for Place, Culture and Politics at CUNY and the National Endowment for the Humanities. His current project,聽Nuestra Appalachia, explores how Latino communities are reshaping the cultural fabric of the Appalachian region.

About 柑橘直播 University鈥檚 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences:聽Since its founding in 1842, 柑橘直播 University鈥檚 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has been the heart of the 柑橘直播 learning experience, offering foundational courses for undergraduate students in every college of the University. Serving more than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students, the College is committed to fortifying them with intellectual rigor, multidisciplinary knowledge, moral courage and a global perspective. The College has more than 40 academic departments and programs across the humanities, social sciences, and natural and physical sciences.