Tutor Spotlight: Mike Lemon

Our tutor spotlight this week is Mike Lemon. He has been a tutor since 2015. He worked mostly at the Graduate writing center, but in the fall, Mike moved over to the University Writing Center. He moved to Lubbock and earned his Doctorate from Texas Tech in English. He chose Texas Tech because he has family ties here. He also said, “I came here for a conference before I started my doctoral program and it just felt like the right place to be, so I applied.” He is married and has three children at home. Mike has been teaching for five and a half years. His main area of focus is 19th century American Literature and comic book studies. He chose this area of study because he has always been interested in culture, and how it is different depending on where you live. He thinks it is valuable to analyze and compare different cultures like southern versus Midwest literature and look at the bigger picture of where does it fit in with being an American and American culture? He also studies comic books because he has loved them since he was a kid and when he found out he could study it he was completely on board.

In his free time, Mike enjoys running. He began to run in 2014. He says he has done runs ranging from one mile with his children to half marathons. He is currently training to start trail racing, which is running on trails through mountains and canyons.

When asked why he wanted to become a tutor, Mike said that he never had very much success with writing in high school. He decided to go to study English in college because he loved it and he knew he could improve his skills. He became a tutor to continue improving those skills but also to help students that were struggling like he did and bring his background in to be more relatable. He says he enjoys confirming and encouraging what students are doing right and push them to do things better. He says, “I love seeing students who come in full of anxiety and have them leave with more confidence than when they came in. Giving them the encouragement that they are on the right path and having those lightbulb moments. I try to end each tutoring session asking if the student feels more confident than when they came in.”

Lastly we asked, “If you could have a dinner party with three people, who would it be and why?” Without hesitation, Mike said Mark Twain, Jack Kirby and Mary Austen. “Mark Twain because he was one of the biggest names in 19th century. I would want to see how he joked and interacted. Jack Kirby because he’s the king and created most of the Marvel universe and some of the DC universe. Hearing him talk about the process of drawing and creating the characters visually would be really interesting. Mary Austen because she is a south western regionalist and she fought for indigenous rights and water rights. Discussing how she created an overlap between literature and social activism. Also asking all three of them questionable things about their past, like why they did certain things in their life.”