|
Blake Gumprecht |
|
Who I am I am 50-years-old,
the father of a 11-year-old named Zeke, and a geographer at the University of
New Hampshire. I live in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. What I do I have
been a faculty member in the Department of Geography at the University of New
Hampshire since 2003. Before that, I was on the faculties of the University
of South Carolina and the University of Oklahoma. I have
written two books, The American College Town (University of Massachusetts Press,
2008), and The Los Angeles River: Its Life,
Death, and Possible Rebirth
(Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999). My research interests naturally
gravitate to the place I am living and I have begun research for a book provisionally
entitled, The Peopling of New England. In January 2010, I also initiated a
project to photograph a favorite tidal stream in Seacoast New Hampshire every
day (or nearly so) for one year. The photos are viewable on my Flickr
site. You can find out more about my research from my vita and can read a feature story
about me that was published in 2000 in the Chronicle of Higher Education. I teach a
long list of courses: Regional Geography of the Western World, Geography of
the United States and Canada, Geography of New England, Human Geography, Economic
Geography, Urban Geography, Place and Popular Culture, and Historical
Geography. I am creating a course on the Geography of Food that I am teaching
for the first time in Spring 2010. I explore.
I’ve lived in 15 states and have traveled in 48 states, six Canadian
provinces, and eight countries. I drive two-lane roads, take the business
route through town, and walk around urban neighborhoods whenever I can. I take
photographs. Many of my photos relate to my research, but some don’t. Here’s
a sample. A collection of my college town photographs is available on Flickr. I’ve also
begun to post other photos of mine on Flickr. I cook
and bake. I have been a vegetarian since 1990 and make (almost) all the bread
I consume. I also love to seek out hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurants. You
can read some of my restaurant reviews on Yelp. Before
pursuing a career as geographer, I was a librarian, worked in the music
business, and was a newspaper reporter and sportswriter. I was a librarian at
the Los Angeles Public Library and Temple University. I was the first paid
employee of Twin/Tone Records and also worked at Alligator Records and MCA
Records. I was a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, and
other newspapers. Some of my writing about music is available on Rock’s Back Pages. Things I like Places: Boston
Public Library courtyard, Bunker Creek, Carrizo Plain, Center City
Philadelphia, Chicoutimi, Los Angeles River, Patel Bros. supermarket, Ray
Winder Field, Rittenhouse Square, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, Seapoint
Beach, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Super 88 food court, Tacos Delta, University of
Oklahoma campus, Vinalhaven, West Texas. Movies: 35
Shots of Rum, American Wake, Ballast, Best of Youth, Chop Shop, A Christmas
Tale, The Class, The Cove, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Edge of
Heaven, The Frozen River, Goodbye Solo, Into the Wild, Lion’s Den, Lonely are
the Brave, Machuca, Man Push Cart, Nine Queens, Riding Alone for Thousands of
Miles, Sin Nombre, The Son, This is England, The Tunnel, The World. My
ratings of movies I’ve watched since 2004 are available here. Music:
Vic Chesnutt, Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Drive-By Truckers, Steve Earle, Robert
Forster, Fountains of Wayne, Al Green, Merle Haggard, LCD Sound System,
Lightning Hopkins, Mekons, Elliot Smith, Replacements, Stanley Brothers,
Stars, Townes Van Zandt, Neil Young. Books: Aravind
Adiga, The White Tiger; Wendell Berry, A Place on Earth; Heinrich Böll, And
Never Said a Word; Richard Ford, Lay of the Land; Ernest Hebert, The Dogs of
March; Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities; Richard
Kuklick, To Everything a Season; Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies; John
McNamee, Dairy of a City Priest; Alistair MacLeod, Island: The Complete
Stories; Abdelrahman Munif, Cities of Salt; Don Newmark, Chavez Ravine 1949; Per
Petterson, Out Stealing Horses; Danny Santiago, Famous All Over Town; Richard
Shelton, Going Back to Bisbee; Wallace Stegner, Big Rock Candy Mountain;
Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome. Restaurants:
ABC Café, Angelica Kitchen, Arrow Street Crepes, Benny Tudinos, Brookline
Lunch, Café Jaffe, Café Phare, Charley’s Sandwich Shoppe, Chicago Diner, Dante
& Luigi’s, The Diner, The Grit, Minar Palace, Pho Viet’s, Singh’s Roti
Shop, Tacos Delta, Tu Y Yo. Sports:
Boston Bruins, UNH hockey. How to contact me E-mail: blake.gumprecht@unh.edu Post:
Department of Geography, University of Hampshire, Huddleston Hall, 73 Main
Street, Durham, NH 03824-2541. |
