Kevin Carollo’s new hybrid memoir restores faith in humanity one mile at a time
The book’s format looks like a running log but reads like a conversation with a dear friend with memories, facts and poetry blended together
By Brandi Malarkey, Special to The Arts Partnership
Like so many of us, when COVID-19 hit in 2020, writer, accomplished distance runner and MSUM English Professor Kevin Carollo’s plans went awry.
Instead of spending several months of his planned academic sabbatical in Italy, he ended up on his couch.
“And I’ve been there ever since, really,” Carollo laughs while discussing his new book, “SHRED! Running and Being,” published by NDSU Press earlier in 2024. “I just started writing these sort of random journal entries as a coping mechanism.”
As a professor of world literature and a published poet, it’s no surprise that Carollo turned to writing as a strategy for coping with the sudden changes in his life. The classes he teaches at MSUM incorporate fiction, nonfiction, poetry, art and contemporary politics, so it is no surprise that those elements are all integral to the themes and rhythms of “SHRED!”
What does appear surprising is the structure — storytelling in the form of an old-school running log.
Within the structure of logged miles and running times, “SHRED! Running and Being” reads like a conversation with a dear friend. Meandering back and forth through time and topic, Carollo shares memories, drops facts and pauses for a poem.
“Writing works on many levels. You can write for something bigger, while still tying yourself to other people. A message in a bottle. It’s an oddball book, you know, but it has a message,” Carollo said. “Though I don’t necessarily think you should read it all the way through in one sitting.”
The narrative is packed with rock music references, weather reports, existential anxieties, life-changing relationships, daily tasks, political observations and small joys. Acknowledging that connection starts with truth, Carollo allows himself to be vulnerable and authentic within its pages — and getting to know someone takes time.
Restoring faith in humanity
“We’re all isolated, and I think the pandemic gave further justification to that. We’re constantly connected with the internet, but persistently alone — aware of our own separation from people,” Carollo said of his own feelings of isolation.
While he is open about his struggles to strive past his own depression to create moments of connection with others, Carollo also stresses the value of intentionally searching out opportunities that will foster stronger faith in humanity.
“Everybody’s beaten down. Everybody’s busy. We can’t vote harder. We can’t hate half the country. We have to learn to see each other. Running, writing, anything really, can be a practice of seeing each other,” Carollo said. “We have to find places that build a capacity for empathy and compassion. I feel my faith in humanity somehow restored by hanging around people who have been forgotten.”
Carollo cites four locations that restore his faith in humanity the most: First is the psychiatric ward, a place he got to know intimately during an intensely low time in his life. “These are actual places, but it’s also the people who react to the state of the world and can’t handle it,” he said.
Second is the classroom where he feels vulnerability is key to teaching. He’s taught world literature and creative writing at MSUM since 2003.
Third is the memory care unit where he spent much of the past 10 years helping care for his mother-in-law Elizabeth Gregory and the inspiration for a poetry chapbook titled “Elizabeth Gregory.” Gregory is referenced several times in “SHRED!” and has continued to inspire Carollo’s creative endeavors even after her death from Alzheimer’s in 2023.
His fourth and final source of inspiration: former prison inmates-turned runners. Carollo spent much of the pandemic social-distance running with felons.