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Photo: Tracy Paulding
A Short Biography of Timothy Young
Timothy Young was born in St.
Paul, Minnesota in
1949, the oldest child in a family of 11 children. He made his way through the University of Minnesota while holding many unusual
jobs. He finished his coursework while serving as a cattle inspector for
the Minnesota State Veterinarian. In 1977 he graduated with a Bachelor of
Arts degree in English. Then he began a two-year adventure. First, he lived
in the mountains of the eastern Mexican state, Puebla, with
the Totonac Indians. Then he went on to be a
police and fire dispatcher in the small Alaskan town of North
Pole, outside of Fairbanks.
In 1979 he returned to Minnesota and began
his graduate work in Journalism and Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota.
As a graduate student he began to seriously work with poetry: writing,
performing and coordinating events. Yet he continued his past patterns and
took on various workloads while pursuing his graduate studies. In 1981 and
1982, as the publisher and editor of a colorful neighborhood newspaper, The
Frogtown Forum, he won numerous press
association awards for his local journalism. He went on to coordinate the Frogtown History Project, which provided neighborhood
multicultural events and historical programs, including a television
documentary, which aired on public television in 1989.
In 1983 at the coaxing of the literary figure, Meridel
LeSueur, Jim Dochniak's
Shadow Press, USA
published his long broadside of poetry, Men
Don't Dance in America, one of the early anthems of the
then-budding men's movement. While performing poetry and music with Poetry
for the People, the politically active ensemble, he participated in the
Peace and Justice Movement in Minneapolis.
From 1983 through 1988, with Roy McBride, Susu
Jeffrey, and Maureen Skelly, he co-hosted The Northland
Literary Review, a weekly radio program of live and recorded prose and
poetry. In 1983, 1984 and 1985 he won awards for his community arts and for
his short stories. In 1986 he was given The Lake Superior Contemporary
Writer's Award for his chapbook collection of poems, Men Don't Dance in America. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s he participated in
Robert Bly's annual Men's Conferences and served
as an organizer and coordinator for three of those conferences. In 2002 he
began to teach poetry at these conferences.
When his son was born in 1986 he shifted away from performance and his
community responsibilities and focused on his family work. In 1993, with
his wife and son, he moved to a small farm in rural Western
Wisconsin where they rehabilitated a one hundred twenty year
old farmstead. His poetry shifted toward more personal and naturalistic
depths. In 1995 he began to perform again with Meeting Rivers, David Schmit's ensemble production of music, chant, poetry
and dance. In 1999 his poem, A Thread of Sunlight, was included in
Scribner's The Best American Poetry of 1999. The Thousands Press
published his first book of poems, Building
in Deeper Water, in 2003.
From 1997 until 2004 he taught juveniles at the Minnesota
Correctional Facility in Red Wing and retired late 2004. In late autumn of 2004 he released a
compact disc recording of his poetry, Riding
a Dark Wind, on which the guitarist, Glen Helgeson, provided original music. In 2005 Timothy started the Two
Boots Poetry Tour, an ongoing presentation of music, personal poetry and
the poetry of neglected American Masters. With other poets and musicians Two
Boots ventures into libraries, schools, correctional facilities and other
venues. In 2007 he moved to Bloomington, Minnesota and recorded Snow Has Fallen, a collection
of poems and songs written with the Wisconsin
singer/songwriter Yata, and Timothy began a music and poetry collaboration with the violinist, Dalyce Elliott.
Jazz composer, Dan Cavanagh wrote and recorded
with Timothy, a three-movement suite for big band for his poem, Mississippi Ecstasy.
Photo: Tor Flatebo
EXTENDED RESUME
Publications
Book
Building in Deeper Water,
The Thousands Press 2003
Chapbooks
Fairyland After Carnival, Minnesota Poetry for
the Press, 1986
Men Don’t Dance in America, Minnesota Poetry for the People Press,
1984
Music
and Poetry Compact Disc
Snow Has Fallen, with Yata Peinovich, Young and Yata 2008
Riding a Dark Wind, with Glen Helgeson, Two Boots Productions 2004
Essays
and Prose
Ecoman 2004 University of Virginia
Press, Collection of Essays
Parabola 2002 Myth, Tradition, and the
Search for Meaning
Journal for Living 2000
Inroads Magazine 1989, 1991,
1992 Magazine of the Soul
St.
Paul
Pioneer Press 1986
The Inkling 1983, 1985
Men Talk 1994
Poetry Reading and Writing in
World Literature, Textbook by Houghton-Miflin,
Northeast, Poetry, Journal of Family Life, Loonfeather, The Blue
Sofa Review
Pemmican
#8, Potato Eyes, Men's Voices, The Wolfhead
Quarterly,
The
Lake Street Review, Shadow Press, Guild Press, The Men’s Journal,
Manalive, Inroads, Loonfeather, Northfield
Review, New Orleans Review,
Farm Romance & adventure,
Journal For Living,
North Coast Review,
River Images, Free
Verse, Blink and many
others 1982 to present
Poetry Liner notes for Spirit
in the Wood, 1996 Minnesota Music Award-Winning
Compact Disc Album by Glen Helgeson.
Performance
Poetry Readings,
performances 1983
to present
Two Boots Reading Series, Minnesota Men’s Conferences,
Mabel Tainter Theater's Emerging Artists Program,
Menomonie, Wisconsin, Great Mother, New Father
Conference, River Falls
Library, Western Wisconsin Democrats, American Swedish Student Exchange
Language Camp, Red Wing, Meetings Rivers--Sacred Music and Poetry from
around world, The Loft Reading series; Midwest Men’s Conferences at Hamline University and University of Minnesota; Lake
Superior Contemporary Writers Series, Duluth; National Writer’s Union
Series, Poetry For the People
performance group at Coffeehouse Extempore, Third Century Prose and Poetry
Series, University of Minnesota, The Great Midwestern Bookshows;
Poetry in the Parks, Mayday Celebrations; Artists on the Frontline, First
Avenue Nightclub, White
Pine in Wisconsin, and many
libraries, book stores, theaters,
and festivals.
Organizing
and Production
Two Boots Productions, established
2004, to produce poetry, music and art events. Produced Minnesota Men's
Conference 20th Anniversary Concert and Reading with poetry music, featuring
Robert Bly and various poets and musicians. The Two Boots Poetry Tour 2005, poetry, music and art to
schools, libraries, bookstores and institutions, Pepin, River Falls,
and the Minnesota Correctional Facility-Red Wing.
Executive Producer, Frogtown, The Low Place,
a half hour documentary video describing the history of the St. Paul
neighborhood. Broadcast
on Twin Cities Public Television, KTCA Channel 2, Sept. 1989.
Organizer, Minnesota Men’s Conferences, 1985, 1986, 1987,
1988 with
Robert Bly, poet; James Hillman,
psychologist/writer; and others.
Executive Producer, poetry videos, for broadcast and cablecast
1985 and 1986.
Project Coordinator 1985 and 1986 Frogtown
History Calendars.
Co-organizer, Frogtown Festivals,
community celebrations 1983 to 1986.
Co-producer and host for Northland Literary Review, a weekly
radio program, KFAI-FM, Minneapolis,
MN 1983 to 1988.
Awards
1999 The Best
American Poetry 1999, a poem included
in Scribner's Collection
1986 Lake Superior Contemporary Writer’s
Award,
St.
Louis County Heritage and Arts Center, Duluth.
1985 COMPAS Community Arts Grants and Award
1985 Minnesota State Arts Board Special Projects Grant
1984 COMPAS Community Arts Grant and Award
Honorable
Mention 1985 The Inkling Short Story Competition
First
Runner-up 1983 The Inkling Short Humor Competition
First Place 1982 Neighborhood Press Association
Awards
Best Expository Column
Second Place 1982 NPA Awards, Best Graphic
Unit
Work Experience
Emerging Artist's Mentor for
Teens at Mabel Tainter Theater Menomonie,
WI
Mentor Teens for New Years Eve Theater
Program
2006, 2007
Two Boots Productions, Storytelling, Poetry, Music River Falls, WI
Poetry and Stories In Schools and Libraries
2005 to present
Consultant-Lecturer on Poetry, Storytelling, Ritual, Men’s
Studies, Composition
Minnesota
Men’s Conferences Poetry seminars 2002-2007
Robert
Bly's Great Mother and New Father Conference 2005
Correctional
Educators Association of America
2004
St. Paul, Oakdale, Pepin,WI
and Woodbury Elem Schools February 1993-present
St. Paul Catholic
Seminary November
1990
Midwest
Men’s Conference October
1989, 1992
Hamline
University November
1988
St. Paul Community
Education September
1988
Minneapolis Community
Education Winter
1987
Frogtown Community Center 1984
to 1986
Private
Tutor-Writing Skills
1985
to 1990
Minnesota Department of Corrections Red
Wing, MN
Teacher,
Librarian.
1997
to 2005
Minnesota Department of Public
Safety
St. Paul, MN
Driver
Vehicle Service Aide 1979
to 1997
(also
1967 to 1976 )
Minnesota Animal Health Board
St. Paul, MN
Law
Compliance Representative 1976
to 1977
Centro Cultural Totonaco, Clinic and
School, Totonaco People of Puebla, Mexico
Administrative
Assistant 1977
to 1978
North Pole Police Department North
Pole, Alaska
Police-Fire
Dispatcher 1978
Frogtown Forum Community Newspaper
St. Paul, MN
Editor
and Publisher 1981
to 1983
American Federation of State
County Municipal Employees St. Paul, MN
Union
Steward
1981 to 1990
Education
University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN
Graduate Studies Journalism/Mass Communications 1979
to 1984
University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN
B.A. English 1977
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