{"625617":{"#nid":"625617","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Waffle House Has an Official Poet Laureate. For Real.","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.iac.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/head\u0022\u003EKaren Head\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003Eexecutive director of the \u003Cstrong\u003ENaugle\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003ECommunication Center\u003C\/strong\u003E at the \u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003C\/strong\u003E, as well as the associate chair and associate professor in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/lmc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Literature, Media, and Communication\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, was interviewed by \u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cem\u003EAtlanta Magazine\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E in an article published on August 30 entitled\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.atlantamagazine.com\/news-culture-articles\/waffle-house-has-an-official-poet-laureate-for-real\/\u0022\u003E\u0026quot;Waffle House Has an Official Poet Laureate. For Real.\u0026quot;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERead an excerpt:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cblockquote\u003E\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe phrase \u0026ldquo;scattered, smothered, and covered\u0026rdquo; has a certain poetic ring, so it\u0026rsquo;s fitting that Waffle House has its own poet laureate. Georgia Tech poetry professor Karen Head is the first to lay claim to that title. We caught up with the recently anointed scribe in advance of her appearance at this weekend\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.decaturbookfestival.com\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EDecatur Book Festival\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow did you become Waffle House Poet Laureate?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nGeorgia Tech and Waffle House are very firmly connected. All of the heads of Waffle House have been Georgia Tech graduates. The current CEO Walt Ehmer is a Georgia Tech graduate, and the former CEO Bert Thornton was a Tech graduate. Bert and I got to know each other through some alumni events. We talked about Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s guaranteed admission for any valedictorian or salutatorian in the state. The first year it was offered, there were 37 counties that did not send a single application. Many students just don\u0026rsquo;t have any examples of someone who has gone to college in their lives.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.atlantamagazine.com\/news-culture-articles\/waffle-house-has-an-official-poet-laureate-for-real\/\u0022\u003ERead the full interview here.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"34559","created_gmt":"2019-09-04 17:29:49","changed_gmt":"2019-09-04 17:29:49","author":"pdemerritt3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"Laura Czyzewski","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.atlantamagazine.com\/news-culture-articles\/waffle-house-has-an-official-poet-laureate-for-real\/","dateline":{"date":"2019-09-04T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-09-04T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"426691":{"id":"426691","type":"image","title":"Karen Head","body":null,"created":"1449254342","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 18:39:02","changed":"1475895165","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:52:45","alt":"Karen Head","file":{"fid":"202773","name":"karenhead.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/karenhead_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/karenhead_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":62252,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/karenhead_0.jpg?itok=9c-hw_1Q"}}},"media_ids":["426691"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[{"id":"151","name":"Policy, Social Sciences, and Liberal Arts"}],"keywords":[{"id":"5201","name":"Karen Head"},{"id":"9809","name":"Waffle House"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}