Interview with J.R. Jamison the award-winning and bestselling author of the memoir Hillbilly Queer, and host of the NPR podcast and radio show The Facing Project (recorded and produced at Indiana Public Radio). He is also a founder of the national Facing Project network, a nonprofit in 20 states and over 100 communities that creates a more understanding and empathetic world through stories that inspire action, where he serves as president of the organization. Read J.R.’s full bio on his website: jrjamison.com/about/
Cole Southerland (CS): I’ve enjoyed learning about The Facing Project. On your website, you describe the project as a way “to bring people and communities together through acts of empathy that include listening, storytelling, and connecting across differences.” You provide a way for communities to face hard topics, topics about which people might feel they are not seen or heard, and then you gather and publish those stories in a book that can then spark conversation among a wider community. You provide a space for stories to be shared. What led you to co-found the Facing Project Network?
JRJ: My co-founder, Kelsey Timmerman, was the biggest inspiration; without him, The Facing Project wouldn’t exist. Back in 2011, before The Facing Project was even a thing, he was organizing a local writing project called Facing Poverty, and he recruited me as a writer on that project. I was so moved by the experience, the relationship I developed with my storyteller, and the immediate impact I saw the project have on our community that I told him the magic couldn’t be one and done.
Aside from being a writer, my background is in community organizing and community-engaged learning, and I know a thing or two about replicating models and working with campuses and communities to make projects happen. If Muncie was able to have a deep conversation about facing poverty through our own narratives, couldn’t other communities as well?
So, after the poverty project had wrapped, I asked Kelsey if we could work together to turn his idea into something bigger, and he agreed. We spent the entire summer of 2012 developing a Toolkit and train-the-trainer model, and then we reached out to a few communities to pilot the project— careful to include large, metropolitan cities and small, rural communities. Atlanta, Georgia, focused on sex trafficking, Manhattan, Kansas, focused on hunger, and so on. And guess what? The magic of it all really did work beyond Muncie, and it didn’t matter if a community was large or small or what topic they chose to face— what mattered were the stories. And it all took off from there.
Thirteen years later, The Facing Project model has been used in over 100 communities in 20 states, and we continue to find ways to get stories into the hearts and minds of people who need them the most. Seven years ago, we launched The Facing Project radio show on the NPR network (recorded and produced at Indiana Public Radio), and five years ago we founded our own publishing imprint, The Facing Project Press, for book-length anthologies from Facing Projects.
It’s an exciting time to be a part of this work, and I’m fortunate to wake up each day and do what I love.
CS: When you were a student, what subjects did you study? What path led you from your student days to the work you’re doing now, and what would you recommend for students who are interested in pursuing community-engaged, and public-facing work?
JRJ: I’m a two-time Ball State graduate, earning my Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Geography and Creative Writing, and my Master’s in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education.
When I was an undergraduate, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do beyond Ball State except travel and maybe write a little, but those weren’t going to pay the bills. So, I looked into the Peace Corps as one option that seemed related to my studies and interests, but quickly realized I didn’t want to spend two years away from my then boyfriend. As fate would have it, though, I found AmeriCorps through my Peace Corps research, and an added bonus was that I could stay in Indiana. I then enlisted in AmeriCorps and spent a year as a member of the Indiana Reading Corps working with 3rd – 6th graders who couldn’t read or write— and it changed my life (but also broke my heart over and over again). It opened my eyes to the injustices that exist simply based on where someone is born, and the layers and layers of generational poverty and trauma that are stacked against some kids. I also saw the difference that could be made when education is used to open doors of opportunity for others.
After my service year, I decided I wanted to work with faculty and college students to help them connect their education and skills to those most at-need in communities. My mentor kindly encouraged me to get my Master’s in order to make that happen, and I did just that and worked for the next decade on college campuses in service-learning and community engagement.
But writing kept calling to me. Of course, I had continued to write short stories and poetry as a “hobby,” because once a writer always a writer, but I wasn’t doing anything to get those pieces published or really taking it seriously. In fact, I had fallen into unfortunate thinking that time had passed me by, and that no one would publish me anyhow, and that spinning words into worlds wasn’t really making a difference other than being something fun I did on the side for my own amusement. Until Kelsey asked me to be a writer on Facing Poverty, and it didn’t take long for that experience to shake me awake to see that my skills as a writer and storytelling do matter, and that spinning words into worlds can make a difference— just as much as any other form of community engagement I had done in the decade before. In many ways, it focused the mission of my writing, which is to create a more understanding and empathetic world.
Overall, the most important advice I can give is to find your “what,” “why,” and “how.” What do you care about the most? Why do you care about it? How are you going to use your skills to make other people care about it, too? If your answers align with community- or public-facing work, I recommend finding people who are already engaged in the “thing,” and rolling up your sleeves and joining them.
CS: You are the author of Hillbilly Queer, a memoir that focuses on your relationship with your father and a trip you took together through rural Missouri in 2016, at the height of the election. The book explores themes of how you and your father, and the people you encounter, often have very different political views but try to find common ground. What or who inspired you to write Hillbilly Queer? When did you know to write this story? What has it been like to promote the book?
JRJ: Hillbilly Queer was my “what,” “why,” and “how” at that moment in my life, and really it’s a book about identity and family and facing uncomfortable truths. Ultimately, I was looking for a connection back to my dad through the very issues that divided us, and even though it’s a deeply personal story, I knew it was a story that many were facing with loved ones in their own lives. Because of that, telling this story through a father and son who see the world differently, generations apart, on a road trip at the height of what then felt like the most divided time in our country, was urgent and necessary— and, honestly, the most radical thing I could have done at that time.
Now that Hillbilly Queer has been out for almost four years in print and two years on audio, I’ve had the opportunity to speak at events across the country and meet people from all walks of life. Because I’ve written this book, folks feel a connection to me and share their own stories. And I never take that for granted. It’s such an honor to carry these reminders of the human condition with me. Time and again, I hear about a brother, a mother, a cousin— people who were once in their lives but now on the opposite side of the aisle— and they’ve cut them off or they’ve been cut off. That’s heartbreaking, but not shocking given the deep divisions in our country.
But every story is unique in its own way, so I listen and give advice when I can. Of course, I’m thrilled when folks share that they’ve been inspired to bridge those divides after reading the book. To me, that’s better than any award, review, cover praise, or any of the things that we’re taught makes a book rollout successful. Sometimes honoring the stories within the story is enough.
CS: Many readers of The Broken Plate are also aspiring authors. Can you tell us what the publication process was like for Hillbilly Queer? I also saw on your website that you have published in places like The Huffington Post, Pangyrus, and Writer’s Digest. How do you know where to find your audience for your writing?
JRJ: It took four years to write, edit, rewrite, edit again, rinse, repeat, and so on for Hillbilly Queer. This included pitching agents (it took a year before I got my “yes”), working with my agent to get it ready for submission, finally going on submission, working through more edits with the acquiring editor, and then the eighteen months it took to hit shelves due to production and building early book buzz (including doing interviews, pitching related essays to other publications, and running giveaways). Prior to writing a book, I never knew how much time the business side takes. With my essays and articles, I can typically write, edit, and rewrite a potential piece for submission within a month, and once it’s accepted and out, I might share it on social media but often move on with my life.
Putting a book out into the world is much different, and it’s important to find champions (industry professionals, but also other like-minded authors) who become your community of support. This should be true too, though, even if your writing is only focused on short-form like essays, articles, or poetry. Who are the other writers doing similar work? Where are they getting published? Start building your dream pitch list from those publications.
Because I’ve been intentional about building relationships, this has often led to invited pieces or magazine/website interviews. So, don’t underestimate the importance of networking. But also, knowing my “what,” “why,” and “how” for every piece helps make determinations on where I want to submit and the audience I want to reach.
CS: What kind of advice would you give to a new writer about how to make writing and storytelling a part of your career?
JRJ: Find the thing that sets your heart afire, and figure out how writing and storytelling can be a part of it. Maybe your “what,” “why,” and “how” is becoming a grant writer for a nonprofit, or a marketing and communication manager, or maybe you become a bookseller or librarian and use your skills to help connect people to stories. Or maybe you’ll find yourself setting out to write the great American novel (or memoir).
Whatever it is, do it for the deeper story within the story, the visualization that comes to life on the page, the difference that writing can make— the crazy belief that the art itself will find a way. Don’t ever give up your “what,” “why,” and “how.” This passion might change the world.