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I. Biography
Douglas
Tedards, currently a professor at the University of the Pacific, was born in Greenville, South Carolina, and then later moved to Anderson. While his mother was very literary and his younger sister was a voracious reader of
Nancy Drew, he spent most of his childhood outdoors with his father and his reading material consisted mostly of comic books. Riding horses, hunting and enjoying nature were of primary interest. During his early teen
years, he began to write poetry sporadically and was the future editor of his high school newspaper. After high school he went to study at Millsop College in Mississippi. However, he only attended the university through
the beginning of his sophomore year. Tedards then spent a few years traveling down to the West Coast having miscellaneous occupations.
As an adolescent in the South, he envisioned an ideal life in California.
Eventually, he settled in Los Gatos as a lettuce-harvester among the braceros, Mexicans who earned less pay than white men ($1.00 per hour compared to $1.25 per hour) did. Ardently advocating the Civil Rights movement,
Tedards discontinued his work with the braceros for much longer. He then pursued his education once again at the University of Southern California. For his thesis, he read Wallace Stevens, a very difficult American poet
and then figured that if he could understand the works of such a challenging artist, then perhaps he could accomplish much more. He then received his Master's degree in English and he gained a sense of self as a student of
literature. With his MA, Tedards began to teach at an all-black high school. At this point, he applied to the University of Michigan, the University of Oregon, and the University of the Pacific, among other
schools. A local friend convinced him to remain in California to study at UOP.
During his four years of college, he met his wife, whom he married in 1972. The couple moved to Utah for a brief period and
decided to return to California due to Mrs. Tedard's family. They took up residence in Long Beach to allow Mrs. Tedards to finish her degree in speech therapy. When she had completed her education, he accepted a
position at the University of California Santa Barbara. While in Santa Barbara, Mrs. Tedards gave birth to a baby girl, and twins were soon to follow. Due to the reason that Professor Tedards' salary was not
sufficient to support his growing family, he returned to the Central Valley and was offered and active job opportunity as the writing director of UOP. As a professor, he began a writing assessment program and taught
nonfiction, narrative essays in his English classes. Now firmly established in Stockton, he has successfully raised three children and occasionally enjoys a game of golf or tennis.
However, his busy lifestyle, which
includes being an English professor and the head of General Education at UOP, he still finds time to record his daily thoughts and fragments or poetry. Douglas Tedards does not consider himself a professional writer.
Rather than sketching a grand plan when writing, he favors spontaneity. Professor Tedards is not arrogant or overly ambitious enough to write an extensive, preplanned novel. If he were ever to write a book, he believes
that it could only occur accidentally and written in spurts. Douglas Tedards is not a great writer due to his published works, but due to his approach to writing. He does not write because he has to or even because he
wants to, but because he has the incredible talent and ability to do so.II. Stockton Authors Who Are Respected and Recommended by Professor Tedards
Bill Barr
Maxine Hong Kingston
Camille Norton
Anna Villegas III. Literary Works
"The Language Arts: Teaching From Within" (1991)
"Journal Writing and the Study of Poetry"(1995)
"A User's Guide to Literature: The Human Experience, 6th
edition, by Abcarian and Klotz" (1996)
"Getting Fired"(1996)
"Agrarian Poet" (1998)
Three entries on the poetry of Robert Frost for The Robert Frost Encyclopedia (Forthcoming)
Professor Tedards' poems have been
published in The Florida Quarterly, The Georgia Review, San Fernando Poetry Journal, Mind in Motion, Calliope and The Scroll.
Professor Tedards has held poetry readings with Bill Barr and David Humphreys at Barnes and Noble
Bookstores (Stockton, July 11, 1996; and Sacramento, September 12, 1996). He also participates in KUOP's "Poet's Corner."
IV. Contact:
The Professor can be reached at the below e-mail address if you would like to contact him: Dtedards@uop.edu
This essay was submitted by students of Matthew Weeks, a teacher at St. Mary's High
School in Stockton, California |
