Jesse Merandy and Karen Karbiener discuss connecting to Whitman through place, using walking tours and location based mobile experiences as methods to understanding the poet’s life and work.  Speakers will recount their own experiences using place-based pedagogy, offering helpful insights and resources for educators and those looking to embark on their own exploration of Whitman’s New York City!

Karen Karbiener is a Walt Whitman scholar who teaches at New York University. Her works include an edition of “Leaves of Grass,” a book introducing children to Whitman’s poetry, and “Live Oak, With Moss,” an edition of Whitman’s secret same-sex love poems illustrated by Brian Selznick. She is president of the Walt Whitman Initiative, and is spearheading the campaign to grant landmark status to Whitman’s only standing residence in New York City (99 Ryerson Street in Brooklyn).

Jesse Merandy is the Director of Digital Humanities and Digital Exhibitions (DH/DX) at Bard Graduate Center. His location based mobile experience Vanishing Leaves was the first all digital dissertation successfully defended at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Visit Vanishing Leaves and read his dissertation white paper