In August 2023, Aaron Burch published his essay collection A Kind of In-Between with Autofocus Books, a new press at the time. I have always liked Burch’s writing and Autofocus seemed like a fun new press, so I wanted to read the book regardless. Then through happenstance—and maybe a professor referral while I was still in grad school—Tom Williams reached out and asked if I’d review the collection for the American Book Review. That was in 2024. No one needs a reminder of how slowly things move in academia or in the literary community, but I had nearly forgotten about the review by the time I got an email with proofs of the new issue. In the time that passed, I had blown through two university emails and moved three times. The editors had to track me down by using the contact page on this site. I guess that’s just another reason to manage your own website outside the sphere of social media and your current employer.
As for Burch’s collection, it was a joy to read, and the review nearly wrote itself. The shape of it changed over time, and it ended up being a short meditation on the act of writing about skateboarding. Aaron’s collection only touches on his history as a skateboarder, but the themes that circle throughout the collection mirror a lot of the research I had been doing during my PhD. Like a worm in sauerkraut who only sees sauerkraut, I was a grad student immersed in theories about mobility, embodiment and place. I was making some connections. Regardless, the editors at ABR humored me, and they even moved the piece to the essay section of the issue. Here’s a link to the abstract on Project Muse. If you have access to Project Muse, you can read the whole essay, along with the rest of the issue, which is filled with great writing. I would also normally include a link to buy a copy of A Kind of In-Between, but Autofoucus has already sold out. Here’s a link to Burch’s most recent book instead, Tacoma.