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Research Intern - Author Thomas Beller

This internship is part of the University’s Jeff Metcalf Internship Program. Please review the Metcalf Interns’ Responsibility Notice to learn more about program requirements for Metcalf interns.
 
Fellowship Award Amount: up to $950 spring quarter & $1,500 summer quarter
Internship Time Commitment: Spring/Summer Quarter 8-12 hours /week over spring. (In the summer possibility to extend to 20 hours per week)
 
Please make sure that if selected for an interview, you communicate to your prospective host organization/employer where you will be physically located during the internship as your location may affect your (or your host organization/employer’s) ability to pursue this opportunity.    
                                                                              
If you are an international student, please make sure to visit the OIA website to familiarize yourself with your work authorization eligibility and requirements as soon as possible. If you’d like to make an appointment with your international adviser, please visit this page.

Thomas Beller

Associate Professor, Director of Creative Writing, Tulane University
Books: “Seduction Theory,” “The Sleep-Over Artist,” “How To Be A Man,” and “J. D. Salinger: The Escape Artist,” which won the New York City Book Award for biography/memoir. Forthcoming: “Lost In The Game: A Book About Basketball”

Contributor: The New Yorker, The New York Times.
 

Job Title and Work Location
I am looking for someone to carry out various research missions in connection with a book length project titled, “Wearing The Lead Glasses: The Story of Lead in America”

About the Book:
A book on the continued “invisible danger” of lead to the public health of the nation. The approach to the subject is a literary experiment encompassing autobiography, American history, memory studies, health research, environmental research and knowledge, and creative nonfiction.

The intended readership is the lay public, as well as politicians, policymakers, and parents. The work is extremely relevant to our current moment. The invisibility of lead poisoning resonates strongly with the invisibility of the virus that created the pandemic as well, perhaps, as the resistance of some communities to containment efforts. The author plans to integrate the work into course offerings, enabling future generations of students to learn about the subject and his approach to it.
 
In addition, the book will explore the politics of lead and the underlying socioeconomic aspects that have kept lead the public health problem it continues to be.
 
Job Duties and Responsibilities 
We will have weekly meetings, more or less, by phone and/or Zoom during which we will go over the status of the research missions in progress and discuss upcoming plans. One specific example of such a mission would be using https://www.toxicdocs.org/ in the hopes of creating archive of documents relating to specific people and events central to the story of lead.

Requirements
Anyone with an interest in discovering facts and narratives, sometimes submerged below the surface of public discourse, for teasing out underlying themes and dramas from available newspaper reporting, current and archival, and for generally trying to grasp the contours of an elephant with your eyes closed (one of the great scandals of public health), would be ideal for this internship. An interest in some combination of environmental journalism, public health, and literature, probably a plus, but not required. 

To Apply Submit the Following to Handshake
  • Resume
  • Cover Letter