CooperMy name is Cooper Cox and I’m a senior creative writing major. I’ve been lucky to publish creative nonfiction, contributing to a collaborative ethnography about veterans returning to the milieu of Vietnam. I’ve also published poetry in Ball State University’s national literary magazine The Broken Plate.

Alongside this project, I also worked as a research fellow, creating a guide to access ordinary experience as a collector and contributor. In the future, I hope to pursue an MFA in creative writing and begin a career as a professor of creative writing or an owner of a nonprofit, makeshift museum space.

On any random day, as evidenced by my diaries, I often think about the lack of doing anything, the empty space, aimless wanderings, etc. In other times, I found an interest in documenting absurd images; for example, a hot sauce label picturing a man whose facial hair was made entirely of peppers. For me, the everyday is best accessed through estrangement, playfulness, and a healthy dose of absurdity.