1. October23, 2016
To Whom It May Concern,
JoshuaAaronTinkerhas informedme of hisdesire tosecure ateachingpositionhere in
Alabama. Aaronhas receivedhisB.A.inEnglish fromthe Universityof Alabama inMayof 2016 and is
nowat workon a M.S. inSecondaryEducationwhichhe expectstocomplete inJune 2018.
Aaronwas my studentinthree upper-divisionEnglishcourses,andsoIhave come to knowhim
pretty well . He was always a special pleasuretohave inclass. He waseverattentive andresponsive.
He especiallywonmyesteemwithhis superiorwrittenwork,bothontestsandin the papers he
produced.
Aaronwas firstmy studentinSpring2014 for a senior-level seminaron“Ekphrasis inEpic.” The
epicpart of the course requiredthatwe familiarize ourselveswith Homer’sIliad,Vergil’ Aeneid,and
Milton’sParadise Lost, and finallywith HermanMelville’s MobyDickas an example of prose epic. The
word“ekphrasis”referstoprolongeddescriptionsof worksof visual art;that is, somethingthatdraws
our attention tothe ideaof the spatial withinthe largertemporalframeworkof epic. We focusedon
keyekphrasticmomentsinthese epics(e.g.,the shieldof Achilles; the muralsrecountingthe fall of Troy
inthe temple of JunoinCarthage;the imagesonCaptainAhab’sgolddoubloon). We examined what
theymeantand howthe added somethingimportant tothe overall epiceffectof these works. Thiswas
obviouslyachallengingclass. ItisalsowhenAaronfirstcame to myattention. He quicklyrose to notice
withsuperiorworkontestsand the papershe produced, performingverywell inclassasa whole. He
was one of seven students whoearnedgradesinthe A-range inaclassof 20, all of themEnglishmajors.
Aaronsalsodidwell the secondtime around, thistime inaclass I taughtin Spring2015, another
upper-divisionclass filledwithEnglishmajors. Thiswas EN 347, my classinthe English,Irish,and
Scottishliterature of the Enlightenment.Some of the mostimportantwriterswere,understandably,
English:Dryden,Pope,SamuelJohnson,andThomasGray. But otherssuchas JonathanSwiftandOliver
Goldsmithwere Irish,while still otherssuchasJamesBoswell andBobbyBurnswere Scottish.Our
central concern,however,wasHenryFielding’s TomJones(1749), a long,butveryentertainingprose
fictionthatispart of the birthof the novel asa new literaryform. We alsotooka careful lookat
Voltaire’s Candide;or,Optimism(1759) as anotherexample of 18th
-centurysatire. There were frequent
readingquizzes,two-out-classpapers,andacomprehensivefinal exam. AaronearnedanA-,andto his
credit, thathis A- wasone of onlysix gradesinthe A-range inthisclass of 22.
Aaronwas my studentfora thirdtime inSpring2016, thistime fora course thatwas essentially
a self-study. The self-studywasonthe topicof the novel asepic,focusingonLeoTolstoy’s War and
Peace (1865-68) as histestcase. Once again,Aaronperformedwithdistinction,earningyetanotherA-
fromme forhisgood work.

2. I have gone intothiskindof detail tohelpyouunderstandwhyIthinkso highlyof AaronTinker.
He isa topstudentandthat meanshe would be up to whateverintellectualchallengeshe will have to
face as a professional educatorinthe 21setcentury. But there ismuch more thana goodmindhere. He
alsoexudespersonal warmthbecausehe hasa goodheart,and that may be the most important
ingredientforanyone inthe fieldof teaching. Italsoworth notingthat he was an active andspirited
baseball playerwhile inhighschool andthathe has continuedtonourishhislove of the game by
volunteeringtoserve asan assistantcoachat HoltHighSchool,and I believe elsewhere. This addsyet
anotherdimensiontoan overall warm,engaging, andvery likablepersonality. AaronTinkeris,to my
mind, the kind of youngman whowouldbe able to work generouslyandeffectively withAlabama’s
childrenfromeverywalkof life. Thatiswhy I recommendhimtoyou withthe highestpossible degree
of enthusiasm.
. Sincerely,
JohnJ.Burke Jr.
Professorof English,Univ.of Alabama
Tuscaloosa,Alabama