Subterranean Homepage Blues

My name is William McKeen.

I'm professor and chairman of the University of Florida Department of Journalism.

I also write books, mostly about popular culture and literary journalism.

Sometimes I think I have the best job in the world because my 'work' requires me to listen to Bob Dylan and to read Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson.

Going to see His Grand Exalted Mystic Bobness (that's Mr. Dylan to you, buddy) at least once a year is actually as much research project as it is fun.

My original homepage, created sometime in the mid-1990s, was called Subterranean Homepage Blues, after one of Bob's best early songs, so I like to hold on to the name. I'm such a sentimental bastard.

Poke around this site and you will find information about my books, my classes and even my family. (For the record: Sarah, 27; Graham, 25; Mary, 20; Savannah, 10; Jack, 5; Travis, 3; and Charley, 2.

Indulge me as I offer an update on the children:

• Sarah graduated from the University of Florida, worked at a Washington, D.C.-area architectural firm for three years, worked for Gensler, Inc., in Manhattan, and now works for Gensler in Chicago. Despite the geography, she manages to make it to three home games at UF each year.
• Because of Highway 61, people constantly ask me about Graham: "How's he doing?" Well, he is an environmental specialist at his alma mater, Indiana University, responsible for the whole university system's water supply, among other things.
• Mary Grace is a junior at Ball State University and a talented actress who played Eponine in Les Miserables and Ado Annie in Oklahoma during her career at Bloomington High School South.
• Savannah is a fourth grader at St. Patrick's Interparish School. She is brilliant and has wonderful manners. It's fun to do homework with her because you can see her mind work and you can watch her learn.
• Maybe we should have named Jack Elvis (which was my preferred name). The boy has a lot of Elvis in him. There are times that I think he is a space alien. He also attends St. Patrick's Interparish School.
• Travis was born two days after my birthday and six days before Savannah's. We celebrate an eight-day festival called Birthday Week in September (sort of like Shark Week on the Discovery Channel). Travis looks just like his mother, which bodes extremely well for him.
• Charley was born May 10, 2005 and is a very wiselittle guy. He has begun to talk a lot, but we're often not sure what he is saying.
  
  This ever-growing brood is pictured in a family photo album, at the upper right.

You can get all of the details of my career from the resume link, but here's the short version: I was a newspaper reporter and copy editor, then did a stint on a couple of magazines -- The American Spectator and The Saturday Evening Post.

While working for the Post, I decided to take a vacation in graduate school and that became a career-changing experience. I became a professor. I taught at Western Kentucky University for five years, the University of Oklahoma for four years and I've been at the University of Florida since 1986. I think it's a darn swell place.

As I said, you'll find my resume elsewhere. It lists most of my academic publications. I'd love to compile all my newspaper and magazine articles, but most of that stuff is getting moldy out in the shed.