Caitlin Myers

CAITLIN EMILY MYERS 1119 Alexander St, Knoxville, TN 37917-- https://caitlinmyers94.wixsite.com/caitlin-myers SUMMARY East Tennessee writer, educator, and community organizer with an interest in finding the through line from frontline, crisis-based community organizing work to complex and empathetic storytelling. Creating media at the intersection of youth, economic crisis, hope, and desperation; uncovering lost and marginalized histories of the radical South and making them new. EDUCATION University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, Class of 2017. Major: College Scholars - self-designed BA in Participatory Economic Development Wrote “Power Lines”, 80-page undergraduate senior thesis. Analyzed impact of broadband access on rural poverty and youth retention. Coursework in creative nonfiction, science writing, playwriting, scene design, directing, dance RECENT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Appalachian Transition Fellow, Highlander Research & Education Center/Sustainable & Equitable Agricultural Development Broadband Campaign. June 2018-June 2019. One year leadership development program through grassroots organization led by and for rural people in East Tennessee; previously served as volunteer organizer for three years. Currently engage in door-knocking, media strategy, popular education, learning internet infrastructure installation, organizing at city/county level. Full-time. Production Assistant, PBS East Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee. October 2017-April 2018. Coordinating academic support for archival research on a current documentary project, “Black in Appalachia”. (Project information can be found at blackinappalachia.org) Wrote language for digital platforms. Covered Emancipation Day celebrations, historically black colleges, and Knoxville-born artist Beaufort Delaney, among other subjects. Part-time. After-school Performing Arts Teacher, Inskip Elementary School, Knoxville, Tennessee. November 2014-March 2018. After-school performing arts education utilizing circus and theatre skills for academically struggling 3rd-5th graders. Produced a play every semester. Part-time. 2015 Conservation Fellow, Wild South, Asheville, NC. May-August 2015. Helped citizens of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee locate old Cherokee trails and research genealogy. Full-time. THEATRE & OTHER ARTS Playwright/Director, Margaret and the Wampus Cat, self-produced, 2019. Lead Artist, Cattywampus Puppet Council/Good Guy Collective Collaboration,-. Co-wrote, fundraised, and performed two consecutive shows based on community input. Playwright, “Other Songs About Rocky Top”, produced by Tiger Lily Theatre, 2017. Playwright, “Begun too long ago,” Gravitas Theatre Festival, Bard College Playwright/Director, “Bardians Like People, Too,” Self-produced, Bard College. Director, All’s Wells That Ends Well, produced by Walt Whitman High School Shakespeare Club, 2012. OTHER WRITTEN PUBLICATIONS Quarterly contributor, SOCM (Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment) News Sentinel, 2014-present “Disaster Coming Downriver: Citizen Science and Water Justice in the Death Cycle of Coal”, Science For the People Magazine, 2019 “Video Call Blues at the Knox County Jail”, 100 Days in Appalachia, 2018 “Checking in with ICE”, Allies of Knoxville’s Immigrant Neighbors newsletter, 2018 “Power Lines: Broadband and Democracy in East Tennessee,” Scalawag Magazine, 2017 “Does Tennessee Actually Want to Solve the Broadband Problem?”, 100 Days in Appalachia, 2017 Other Experience Humanitarian Aid Volunteer, No More Deaths/No Mas Muertes, Tucson, Arizona. March- May 2018. Assisted in search & rescue operations for lost migrants along the border regions. Mexico Solidarity Network, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. June-August 2016. Studied Spanish, Tzotzil, Mexican indigenous and labor history using Zapatista popular pedagogy. Volunteer, West Virginia Clean Water Hub, Charleston, West Virginia. February-April 2014. Worked with local community organization to deliver clean water to families affected by the West Virginia chemical crisis.