When she鈥檚 not teaching participants in the at the 天美影视传媒, can often be found running poetry workshops.
She鈥檚 hosted free events at all kinds of locations: community centers and military posts, homeless shelters and immigration detention centers and libraries. Writing can change your daily life, Murray said, and it helped her find connection during frequent moves as a military spouse. That鈥檚 why she spends so much time teaching other people how to do it.
鈥淲hen I was a young person living in a community for the first time where I didn鈥檛 know anybody, I felt isolated and unheard,鈥� Murray said. 鈥淚t can be terrifying. Writing changes everything by reminding you that you still have a voice and a story. All the different places I鈥檝e been able to work with people are really a privilege, as it鈥檚 a privilege to remember that my stories matter, and I still have a voice. That鈥檚 meant everything to me.鈥�
Murray鈥檚 writing interests are broad, but her foundation is poetry. She served as the poet laureate for the City of Tacoma for two years. She also holds a doctorate in English, and her studies have largely focused on the effects of trauma, including war, on writing.
Murray taught full-time at the UW Tacoma until 2018, and it was there she was approached about tailoring the course that became 鈥淩hetoric in Military Strategy,鈥� which prepares fellows to create compelling, well-researched arguments that appeal to military and scholarly audiences. The Army War College fellowship program was originally housed at the UW Tacoma but is now based in the Jackson School of International Studies.
Even without a military background, Murray鈥檚 life has been heavily impacted by military service. She鈥檚 been teaching the class since 2016, and she also serves as the UW鈥檚 Army War College fellowship director. Program participants are selected by the Army, who identifies聽eligible lieutenant colonels or colonels that fit the requirements.
While much of Murray鈥檚 career now centers around the military 鈥� and her husband is active-duty Army currently stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord 鈥� she鈥檚 a pacifist. She was 18 when she met her husband: He was in ROTC; she was a protester. Her first book, 鈥�,鈥� examines the relationship between a soldier and a pacifist. It won the Perugia Poetry Prize and was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award.
鈥淲e started arguing when I met him,鈥� Murray said, 鈥渁nd we just haven鈥檛 really stopped.鈥�
While Murray鈥檚 focus on the ramifications of war predates her marriage, her relationship put her in closer proximity to the military community and fueled her commitment to understand the human impact of war. She鈥檚 the founding editor of 鈥�,鈥� an online literary journal publishing work concerned with the impact of violent conflict beyond the combat zone.
鈥淚鈥檓 a civilian within the military community and I read a lot of military writing,鈥� Murray said. 鈥淢ost of my writing concerns military impact, as does the writing I publish. Not the battle stories, but everything else: the immigrant story, the reintegration story, the military family story.鈥�
Murray first had the idea for her writing workshops while her husband was stationed in Alaska in 2005. Feeling isolated from her family, Murray advertised writing groups on Craigslist to build community.
She continued hosting groups and running workshops as she moved with her husband to multiple states around the country. While working toward her doctorate at Binghamton University in New York, she taught in college classrooms during the day and in veterans centers at night. She also ran a nonprofit through the Binghamton Poetry Project that brought poetry into elementary, middle and high schools in the area.
鈥淎t the time, my husband was in Afghanistan on a combat tour and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were very much on my mind,鈥� Murray said. 鈥淲orking with veterans just made sense. I was constantly aware of the trauma. I couldn鈥檛 not think about war. Even as I was in my comfortable university library, I was still thinking about the trauma that was present in my home and the homes of everybody my husband was working with.鈥�
Murray鈥檚 workshops continued when she arrived in Washington state. When families were being separated at the United States-Mexico border during the Donald Trump administration, Murray took Spanish-speaking UW students with her to the Selma Carson Home 鈥� a detention facility in Fife for undocumented youth 鈥� to teach poetry workshops. 鈥淐ollateral鈥� then .
鈥淔or many of the children, it was their first time writing,鈥� Murray said. 鈥淭hey were learning to read and write. It was really challenging on a lot of levels, for the poets and for the instructors, especially emotionally. It was also incredibly beneficial.”
Murray currently holds workshops at an assisted living facility in south Tacoma where her grandmother resides.
鈥淚 go in on the last Sunday of every month, and we talk about poetry,鈥� Murray said. 鈥淭he residents tell their stories, and we talk about how these stories still matter. A lot of people in assisted living struggle with the feeling of being abandoned, even though there are still a lot of great stories to be told.鈥�
For more information, contact Murray at amurray1@uw.edu.