Community Gathering

Jimmie Killingsworth

Title: Ghost (As a Verb)

People use the old noun ghost as a verb these days, as in “he ghosted me,” meaning he cut off contact with me; now I’m only a disturbance in his life who won’t just die. Ghosting is a fact of life in a highly mobile world, but when we use the word ghost, so loaded with spiritual history and significance, we make the practice of simple neglect or moving on into a matter of spiritual urgency. Why?

Jimmie Killingsworth, Professor Emeritus of English from Texas A&M University, is better known in Taos as a local musician in such groups as Anam Cara, The Neighbors, and Fairy Jazz Orchestra. He is the author of many books and articles, mostly academic things, on such topics as American literature, rhetoric, and the environment. In his most recent books he turns his attention to nature writing and the human experience of the natural world.