Intention: I want to reimagine the relationship we have to our watershed. By recognizing what currently shapes our rivers and impacts the communities who rely on them, my aim is to help heal our shared waters. I hope to connect with each other around questions of:
- How we can thrive in an ever-changing water geography?
- What can we do to repurpose our canal and introduced species to create equitable ownership of these rivers?
- In what ways can we promote the perspectives of BIPOC communities whose activism continues to conserve and protect our most precious resources?
Bio: Kathleen Blackburn is a PhD in the Program for Writers at UIC and a research assistant in the UIC Freshwater Lab. She researches the intersection of U.S. militarization and ecological disruption, specifically in cases of invasive species. Recent projects have focused on invasive Brown Tree Snakes on Guam and Asian Carp in the Midwest. She is also completing a memoir set amid the groundwater crisis and white evangelicalism in West Texas. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Kathleen’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Bellingham Review, Colorado Review, DIAGRAM, Iron Horse Literary Review, River Teeth, and others, and has been listed as notable in Best American Essays.
