Leanne E. Smith
Selected Writing
Books
In progress project:
A book-length manuscript about the Green Grass Cloggers
Youth-oriented project:
Alfred the Possum: On the Road with the Green Grass Cloggers. Greenville, North Carolina: Pilcrow, Possum & Persimmon, 2015. 88 p. 36 illustrations.
Written by Leanne E. Smith & Illustrated by Madalyn McLeod.
* Visit the Alfred the Possum page for ordering information.
East Carolina University: Off the Record. College Prowler. 2007. 2nd edition: 2008. 174 p.
Some Newer Miscellaneous Articles
Pieces for the North Carolina Folklife Institute’s blog NC Food:
“Beyond the Music: Feeding the Merlefest Masses for Community Causes.” September 16, 2016.
“Finding Festival Food in Vanceboro.” May 27, 2016.
“Livermush Monday at the Grocery Basket & Grill in Ferguson, NC.” January 22, 2016.
“Feasting at the 10th Annual Oyster Roast and Shrimp Steam at the Ocracoke Seafood Company.” January 8, 2016.
“Pat Franklin’s Mama’s Banana Pudding.” September 18, 2015.
“Waxing Fig-Tastic: The 2nd Annual August Fig Festival on Ocracoke Island.” September 4, 2015.
“A Blueberry Ramble in Burgaw.” June 26, 2015.
“‘Chowder Taster’--Touring a Clam Chowder Cook-Off at the Ocracoke
Community Center.” April 10, 2015.
- Excerpted in the Ocracoke Observer. April 15, 2015.
“‘A Martin County Thing’--Chicken Mull.” October 31, 2014.
“Cousins, A Few Times Removed: Eighty Years of Team Clogging’s Family Tree.” Country Dance + Song Online. [journal of the Country Dance & Song Society] Volume 1 (April 2016).
North Carolina Folklore Journal.
“‘All it needs now is eatin’—Fish Stew and the Washington’s Day Fox Hunt at Albertson, NC.” NCFJ 60.1-2 (2013): 64-84.
“Green Grass Cloggers: Folk Dance Group.” (NC Folklore Society Community Traditions Award citation) NCFJ 59.2 (Fall/Winter 2012): 26-35.
“Alex and Elizabeth Albright: Owners of R.A. Fountain General Store.” (NC Folklore Society Brown-Hudson Award citation) NCFJ 59.2 (Fall/Winter 2012): 4-9.
Encyclopedia Virginia. 2010. Entries on Annie Dillard, Marshall Fishwick, Emily Tapscott Clark (related blog entry), and The Reviewer
“Head-to-Toe: Deliberate Dressing and Accentuated Accessories in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘Revelation,’ ‘A Late Encounter with the Enemy,’ and ‘Everything That Rises Must Converge.’” Flannery O’Connor Review. Vol. 6 (2008): 40-55.
A brief illustrated history of the Green Grass Cloggers: here on GGC website
Profiles in Pirate’s Revenge (for the nonprofit Bath High School Preservation). Bath, NC.
“Rolling Ahead.” June 2012: 2+. About Gene Roberts, Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist.
“Three Buccaneers: Marti Buchanan, Jim Cox, and Susan Modlin.”
April 2009: 2-3.
“Nelda Karen Gaylord Ormond: Go-Getter and Volunteer Motivator.”
July 2008: 2.
“Doris Wallace Eakes: Cultivator of Opportunity.” May 2007: 2-3.
Staff Writer/Photographer. 2006.
For a local news weekly, I produced 4-6 articles and several photographs for each week’s issue on a range of topics including historic building deterioration/restoration, literary readings, concerts, theater productions, community events, City Council activity, city government-related presentations/events, and ECU-related functions.
Theses
“Green Grass Cloggers: Selected Stories of Out-of-Square Youth, 1971-1978, Union Grove to Carnegie Hall.” Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction. Goucher College. Baltimore, MD. 219 p. Mentors: Jacob Levenson, Leslie Rubinkowski, Laura Wexler, Diana Hume George.
“Elemental Identity: Feminine, Masculine, and Inter-gender Relationships with Water in Bodies of Water, Dreaming in Cuban, and Bless Me, Ultima.” Master of Arts in English. East Carolina University. Greenville, NC. 88 p. Thesis committee: Luke Whisnant, Peter Makuck, James W. Kirkland.
Some Dance-Related Presentations
Appalachian Studies Association. “Off the Mountain: Bascom Lamar Lunsford in Eastern North Carolina.” Co-presented with Rodney C. Sutton. 39th Annual ASA Conference. Shepherdstown University. Shepherdstown, WV. March 18-20, 2016.
Appalachian Studies Association. Organized Panel: “International Flatfootprint: Watauga County’s Willard Watson and Robert Dotson, and their Influence on the Green Grass Cloggers.” 36th Annual ASA Conference. Appalachian State University. Boone, NC. March 22-24, 2013. Presentations: I. Leanne E. Smith: “Through a Cultural Window: The Intergenerational Friendship Between Oldtimers Willard Watson and Robert Dotson and the Young Green Grass Cloggers” | II. Rodney C. Sutton: “The Walking Step: The Legacy of Robert Dotson” | III. Conversations with Guests: Phil Jamison, Robert Dotson, etc.
North Carolina Folklore Society. Presentation: “Green Grass Cloggers: Squared-Up Counterculture Kids & the (Re)Making of a Culture.” Panel: Identity & Resilience. 99th Annual NCFS Meeting/Conference. East Carolina University. Greenville, NC. March 31, 2012.
ECU-Based Publications
“Good Chemistry.” East: The Magazine of East Carolina University. Spring 2009: 28-30.
Profile of Dr. Brian Love, Professor of organic chemistry at ECU.
“Training Vascular Surgeons to Have a Heart.” East: The Magazine of East Carolina University. Winter 2009: 34-35. Profile of Dr. C. Steven Powell, Chief of Vascular Surgery at BSOM.
“The Doctor of Dogfish.” East: The Magazine of East Carolina University. Winter 2008: 26-27.
Profile of Dr. Roger Rulifson, Professor, Senior Scientist with the Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources, Director of the Field Station for Coastal Studies at Mattamuskeet
“Teaching Students to Serve.” East: The Magazine of East Carolina University. Fall 2007: 22-24.
Profile of Dr. Reginald Watson, English Professor and Playwright
“Giving a good kid a break.” East: The Magazine of East Carolina University. Winter 2007. 4. (photo of featured student included)
“‘Writers Don’t Retire’--Peter Makuck Leaves ECU.” The Museletter: The Alumni Newsletter of the Department of English, East Carolina
University. Spring 2007: 4.
“Sadie’s Doin’ a Bit of Fancy Talkin’ This Week.” (Fiction) Style: An Anthology of Inspirations. Fall 2005.
Some Older Miscellaneous Articles
“North Carolina Wine: A Growing Business.” The IBX Newsletter: Your Inner Banks News Source. Issue: “Wineries and Vineyards of the Inner Banks.” Fall 2007.
“Bob Pittman’s trio—art, engineering, and writing.” Arts Alive. November 2006: 9.
“Melding art and spirit, meet Arlissa Dockery.” [now Arlissa Vaughn] Arts Alive. October 2006: 2.
“Ephron’s Essays: A Captivating Candid Collection.” Prime Magazine (Wilson, NC). October 2006. 7, 22. (review of Nora Ephron’s I Feel Bad About My Neck: and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman)
“Contra dancers help kick off History Days.” The Daily Southerner (Tarboro, NC). 22 September 2006: 15.
“Contra Dancing in Greenville: 20 Years of Fun and Fitness.” Prime Magazine (Wilson, NC). September 2006: 18-19. (Three photos included)
“Have A Pickle! An Anecdotal Tour of Selected Downtown Attractions in Mt. Olive, North Carolina, in Spring 2005.” The Wisteria Review (Spring 2006): 85-93.
“Before the Jolt: What Life Was Like Before Electricity.” Tri-County News (Tri-County Electric Membership Corporation). April 2000.
Poems
A haiku about September’s Summer. Haiku Journal (Issue 31): 2014.
“Wallweed” and “Diagramming Sentences With the Coked-Up Captain.” Tomfoolery Review. 2010.
“Belly Dance.” Jareeda. July/August 2008: 10.
Community Writing Groups
ECU Poetry Forum with Peter Makuck (2002-2006) & Luke Whisnant (2006-2012). Participant, organizational assistant, later Associate Director.
Creative Writing Seminar with Patsy Baker O’Leary. Multi-genre intergenerational group at Pitt Community College. 2006. Received 2nd Place Jackpot Fiction Award for “Live Ones, Dead Ones, and Sticks that Look Like Them.”
Here are some of my publications and presentations. I am available for freelance writing and editing, perhaps even co-writing nonfiction, about a variety of subjects. Contact me about your project and writing/editing needs.
