Barney Nelson

Barney Nelson's Homepage

(c)Barney Nelson 1984

Once upon a time, I lived on the ranch where this photograph was taken. Today I am a professor at Sul Ross State University. I teach classes like Environmental Literature, Contemporary Rural Western Literature, and Rural Women's Literature. I also teach writing classes: freshman composition as an environmental issues and nature writing class, research writing, nature writing, and nonfiction creative prose. I am also a professional photographer, specializing in the American West, the cowboy, ranching, rural women, cattle, horses, and wildlife.

Stuff I'm Proud Of:

Listed in Texas Women Writers: A Tradition of Their Own (Eds. Sylvia Ann Grider and Lou Halsell Rodenberger, Texas A&M UP, 1997).
Listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers, 1996
Inducted into The Big Bend Hall of Fame, 1998
Inducted into Range Animal Science and Rodeo Ex-Student Hall of Fame, Sul Ross State University, 1996.
10th Annual Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Alpine, TX, 1996 was dedicated to me.
Graduate Fellowship in English, University of Nevada, Reno, 1995-96
Graduate Fellowship in Communications, Univ. of Nevada, Reno, 1994-95
One of original five women poets who participated in the first Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Elko, NV 1985-90
Mostly I'm proud of my daughter Carla (Mrs. Chris) Spenser

Book Publications:

	Voices and Visions of the American West (Texas Monthly Press, 1986) a coffee-table photography book, text composed of quotes taken from fifteen years as a cowboy/livestock freelance photographer/writer
	The Last Campfire:The Life Story of Ted Gray, A West Texas Rancher (Texas A&M Press, 1984 and a second edition has been privately published by Ted Gray)
	Here's to the Vinegarroon! (Territorial Printer, 1989) an anthology of cowboy poetry from the Archives of the Big Bend and Bryan Wildenthal Library, Alpine, Texas

Three essays in Cowboys Who Rode Proudly (Ed. Evetts Haley, Jr. Haley Memorial Library, 1992): "Tom Blasingame: A Legend in His Own Time" 31-37, "Marion Otis 'Bug' Means: Stretching and Taking Risks" 103-109, "Nicasio Ramirez: Cowboying fro m Chihuahua to Nevada" 167-71.

Two chapters in I Wish I Could Give My Son a Wild Raccoon (Ed. Eliot Wigginton. Doubleday, 1976) produced in conjunction with a Foxfire project during which I organized and sponsored a group of Albany, Texas high school students, and we published a magazine called The Old Timer

Magazine Publications:

Since 1971 I have freelanced as both a writer and photographer for magazines such as Texas Monthly, The Cattleman, The Western Horseman Magazine, Persimmon Hill, Arabian Horse World Equus, Art West, Country People, Ranch Magazine, College Rodeo Magazine, Nevada Magazine, Texas Farmer-Stockman, Farm and Ranch Living, Horseman, The Quarter Horse Journal, Cowboy Magazine, Arabian Horse World, Horse and Rider, The Texas Hereford Journal, The American Hereford Journal, Southwest Hotel/Motel Review, Towns West, and others. In Europe: GEO, Meriam, L'Espresso.

I am currently the Environmental Editor for Range Magazine.

Published Cowboy Poetry:

"Cowboy's Favorite" in Home on the Range (Ed. Paul B. Janeczko. New York: Penguin/Dial, 1996)
"Cowboy's Favorite" inDeep in the Heart of Texas (Coffee-table photography book by Michael Grant,Thunder Bay, 1991)
"Birth of a Native Texan," "Gettin' On," and "Tin Cup" in New Cowboy Poetry: A Contemporary Gathering (Ed. Hal Cannon. Peregrine Smith Books, 1990: 61-66)
"Cowboy's Favorite" in Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering (Ed. Hal Cannon. Peregrine Smith Books, 1985: 172)

Published Professional Writing:

(under construction)

Memberships:

Western Literature Association
Assoc. for the Study of Literature and Environment(ASLE)
Phi Kappa Phi Interdisciplinary Academic Honor Society
Rural Women's Studies Association
Sierra Club
Highland Hereford Association
General Society of Mayflower Descendants(descendant of William Bradford)

Barney Nelson
bnelson@sulross.edu
Languages and Literature Dept.
Sul Ross State University
Alpine,TX 79832
(last updated 12/16/97)