Meet Estab. Anthony Ramstetter, Jr. | Future Professor of English & Creative Writing & Barista

We had the good fortune of connecting with Estab. Anthony Ramstetter, Jr. and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Estab. Anthony, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Since I was four years old, I have always wanted to be an English Teacher &/or Art Teacher. I deeply enjoyed reading & writing in my youth, & I had amazing English & Language Arts teachers who believed in me along the way. & while I started as a Business: Economics Major in college at Miami University of Ohio, I realized four semesters into my collegiate career that my calling was different. I switched my major to English: Creative Writing & didn’t skip a beat.

I enjoy the notion of getting my poetry published. I really enjoy the idea of getting my writing & words moreover “out there” to the people who also enjoy writing & words. I also enjoy teaching & imparting knowledge to young adults in college. In other words: I find true enjoyment & make a real connection with my chosen field. When I graduated from Louisiana State University, I was Established Faculty in the American Academy of Arts & Letters, so naturally my career path was chosen quite profoundly. Basically: I always had the inclination towards writing & words, so thought I would play up my strengths whilst partaking in an occupation I truly enjoyed & excelled in.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a poet & creative nonfiction writer who specializes in gender & sexuality as well as music & the social stratosphere influencing my writing. Oftentimes, I compose poetry to music. My work focuses on stuttering, the musicality of subjugation, surprise & suspense, the ebbs & flows & fluxes of my social world, & is heavily influenced by the late New York School poet Frank O’Hara, whom which I embody for my generation. For the past sixteen years & counting, I have kept a journal handy at all times & have written in it constantly whilst utilizing lines for poems. I am also a singer-songwriter who has ghostwritten songs for a number of major recording artists, including ten Number One songs on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart & the music artists winning sixteen GRAMMY Awards from thirty-nine nominations. I have sung in music ensembles since the age of eight & have toured regionally, nationally, & internationally, performing in some of the nation’s & world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York City in October 2012.

Getting to where I am today was challenging in many respects, since the acceptance rate for my MFA Program in Creative Writing at LSU was a fraction of a percent. I learned upon acceptance to the program to take advantage of extracurricular activities & get as involved as possible on campus. I was oftentimes working twelve-hour days in graduate school, & keeping busy was what got me to graduation. I faced significant hardships in my childhood & youth, a few of which were self-imposed admittedly, though was able to excel at a high level for many years by finding a solid faith life & the invaluable support from family & friends along the way.

The main lessons I learned in my poetry world: It is completely OK to be a newcomer to poetry writing & to feel like one doesn’t know anything about poetry. The more poetry one reads, the more poetry one will inevitably submit for publication. & everyone talks about wanting to write a book, only a small percentage do it. The publishing world can be extremely daunting, even frightening, so taking a course on publishing, such as one offered by Poets & Writers Magazine, whilst subscribing to issues of Poets & Writers, & Poetry Magazine, will be quite beneficial to someone just starting.

Generally speaking, one needs three things for success as a poet &/or writer: Input (readership), Output (writership), & Community (workshops, readings, etc.). Read everything you can voraciously. Schedule two hours per day in your cellphone to say “goodbye” to distractions & “hello” to writing & simply write for these two hours each day. Once one has done reading & writing, get super plugged into your local community of poets & writers, attend workshops (or form one of one’s own with fellow writers) & readings put on by bookstores, join a book club, attend AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) Conference in the springtime. & don’t neglect remembering to always keep writing! A pocket journal is the perfect idea for keeping with the writing habit in one’s day-to-day life.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We would definitely go to Ultra Coffeebar in the River Arts District for a bite to eat & Rick James: Coke, Vanilla Syrup & two shots of espresso. We would absolutely go Downtown to shop for vintage clothes at HoneyPot & Ragtime as well as attend a concert at the Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center. We would need to check out Blackbird for brunch, too! The Arboretum would be a magical place for the summertime. We would be sure to catch the drum circle Downtown on Friday night! There exist so many wonderful bookshops in the area, but my favorite is Malaprops. Yet most of the week would be designated for hiking the beautiful trails in & around Asheville, including Laurel River, Graveyard Fields & Pisgah Forest. We would end our hiking extravaganza with a photo at Max Patch & its circular view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There exists nothing quite like Western North Carolina, & my best friend would leave the town of Asheville a firm believer of that concept!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Professors Laura Mullen, Lara Glenum & Chris Barrett of Louisiana State University, & Professors cris cheek, David Schloss, Keith Tuma & Catherine Wagner of Miami University of Ohio were instrumental in my success! My Starbucks Partners from the Greater Asheville, North Carolina District & faith communities at Bellarmine Chapel of Xavier University & at First Baptist Church of Asheville with its Music Ministries have been indispensable. My Ramstetter & Deitschel Families as well as Miami University Men’s Glee Club, Miami University Collegiate Chorale & LSU Tiger Glee Club were all essential to my growth as a person, including its conductors Drs. Ethan Sperry, Jeremy D. Jones & Trey Davis. My parents, Dr. Catherine & Tony Ramstetter, have been amazing for me in all ways. Wow! I would be nowhere without the support & care of so many people! I would be remiss without acknowledging that I am blessed to have true friends across the globe who have always been there who also, as they say, know exactly who they are.

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Estab. Anthony Ramstetter, Jr.