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Pete Galarneau: Communications Professor

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WVWC chapter.

Read any good books lately?

 A response to that question is most likely something like, “No way, the semester is almost over, and there is so much work to be done.”

 While it’s true that the semester is quickly coming to an end and class work seems to be piling up but is it really too hectic to pick up a good book?

 If you need a break from all of the stresses of tests, papers, and projects, Professor Pete Galarneau has the book for you.

Pete Galarneau is a Wesleyan graduate of ’98. He was the school’s first webmaster and also served as the Sports Information Director. He started teaching in 2003 and is now an Assistant Professor of Communication as well as the faculty advisor of the school newspaper and the radio station.

Pete also serves as a volunteer sports photographer, works with the Arts Alliance in town and works with several non-profit organizations to place students for service learning and internships.

Pete also enjoys spending his “free” time designing web sites, riding bicycles, and kicking Hacky Sacks.You might say Pete has a lot on his plate, but he is not so busy that he neglects his love for writing. On October 31, Pete had his most recent work, Crazy House published, and now has eight pieces of published work including: short stories, novellas, and novels.

 Crazy House is about a boy named Jeremy who has his fair share of struggles. Among those struggles are a disappearing best friend, a Grammy who had a stroke, a divorced mother headed for a breakdown, and the abandoned asylum on the hill, which could hold the solution to all of his problems, if he isn’t haunted by the ghosts inside first.

 Galarneau explained how his reality, in a way, shaped the book.

 “I started writing it in the summer of 2013 after visiting my father who had suffered a stroke and was placed in a rehab center in VA,” said Galarneau.

 “Seeing him that way really struck a nerve with me,” Galarneau said. “I had been writing another piece called Cain Wyse (to be completed in the next several months) but my experience in that center, seeing my dad like that, and the fact that I had already been researching an interesting asylum outside of Wheeling, all came together to inspire Crazy House.”

 Galarneau describes the prognosis of his book as, “one of his favorites to date.”

 If you are interested in Crazy House track Pete down on campus, or you can check out his novella’s web site. Http://www.petergalarneau.com/CrazyHouse

West Virginia Wesleyan College, English Writing and Communications major.