English professor shares music with the world

Dr. Dale Haskell, a Southeast Missouri State University alumnus and English professor, has been singing and playing the guitar since early childhood.

Having sang in church and also having a songstress for a mother, he found his love for music in kindergarten.

He started playing guitar as a teenager, although he does not read sheet music.

"I thought learning to play the guitar would make women love me," he said.

He wrote his first song, "Avoiding You" in July 2001 as an exercise in a summer graduate workshop he taught. He told the students to write about something in three different forms. He had always written poems in the past, so during the exercise with his students he decided to write a song about a relationship breaking up.

He has released two albums of his own songs. The first one was released in 2002 and is called "Small Items" and the second one was released in 2005 and is called "Ineloquent Heart."

The songs range from portraying the meaning of love, to the portrayal of a neighbor, preacher and boss in "You Walk Funny".

He usually creates fictional characters in his songs. He likes for his music to be relatable to everyday people, and he likes to inspire and touch others by portraying scenarios that might speak to them.

He describes his preferred genre as "Americana," songs from an American culture and has produced more than 400 songs in three decades.

"I can't stop writing songs. Music keeps me sane. It really occupies my mind," Haskell said.

Haskell performed for the first time outside of a classroom in April 2003 at the Grace Cafe in downtown Cape Girardeau. Since then, he has played at coffee houses and bars often, three times at the River Ridge Winery in Commerce, Missouri, and he also appeared at the City of Roses Music Festival in the fall of 2002.

Every time he performs in public now he premieres a new song to the crowd.

He said he brings his entire identity to the world and his classes and compares himself to being an open book. He is open about his relationship with God and being a Christian. He also doesn't mind professing his love for his high school sweetheart, his wife, to his peers.

"My Christian beliefs keep me whole and keep me smiling. I'm married to a woman who's classier and smarter than I am, and who is funny and kind to me," Haskell said.

He feels he is sometimes criticized for bringing his life to the forefront for people to get to know him. Haskell occasionally sings in his own classroom. He enjoys explaining class material in a musical aspects to connect better with students in an animated atmosphere that makes students comfortable.

To help a writing class understand the meaning of style, he sang the old Temptations song, "The Way You Do the Things You Do."

Students in his Style in Writing course said that they love how fun, open and carefree Haskell is in class. He opens up a warm and welcoming environment where students are provided with the opportunity to learn in a creative way without judgement being passed.

"Dr. Haskell has a unique teaching style. His eccentric and fun personality creates an enjoyable atmosphere for his students," Southeast student Madison Boemecke said.

While teaching his students and also openly participating in class exercises, he shows students that he is human also and learns new things himself while interacting with them.

"I will bring my guitar into class if I have an excuse," Haskell said.

Haskell can be found performing some of his songs occasionally at appearances on Thursday open mic nights at Cup 'n Cork, which are open to the public and often times Southeast students are in attendance as well.