A conversation with author Christopher Rowe and Michael Bell, Chair and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology at University of Wisconsin-Madison about “The Parable of the Tares,” Christopher’s story about food, monoculture, and communities that draw together the human and nonhuman.
Us in Flux is a new series of short stories and virtual gatherings that explore themes of community, collaboration, and collective imagination in response to transformative events. Every Thursday, we’ll publish a new, original piece of flash fiction with an interactive chat with the author and their special guests the following Monday at 4:00 pm Eastern.
About the Speakers
Christopher Rowe is an educator, elected official, and writer whose stories have been reprinted and translated around the world. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. He is the author of the acclaimed story collection, Telling the Map (Small Beer Press), as well as a middle grade series, the Supernormal Sleuthing Service (Greenwillow), co-written with his wife, author Gwenda Bond.
Michael Bell is the Chair and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mike is author or editor of eleven books, most recently City of the Good: Nature, Religion, and the Ancient Search for What Is Right (Princeton, 2018) and the forthcoming Cambridge Handbook of Environmental Sociology. In the evenings, Mike is a prolific composer and performer of grassroots and classical music, with eight albums to his credit.