My name is Benjamin D. Hagen, and I am an Associate Professor of English at the University of South Dakota.�?Sketching a Present�?represents neither the views of USD’s�?faculty nor its administration or the South Dakota Board of Regents. This site is merely a self-indulgent—even if somewhat professional—project of pain and pleasure that hopes at most to bump into the lives of other interested folks once in a while.�?This site is a space for a few of my�?hobbyhorses—reading poetry aloud, working�?slowly through a difficult book—but it’s also a drawing board where I might sketch�?out ideas�?I hope to�?explore in my teaching and research.