Once again, UW-Eau Claire professors have been proven to be awesome. This time the honors are going to English professor emerita Karen Loeb for her new fiction story “The Walk to Makino.” Loeb won first place in Wisconsin People and Ideas magazine’s fiction contest. Her story focuses on a woman’s relationship with her father during his visit to her home in Japan – a tale inspired by Loeb’s real-life experience living and teaching in Japan as part of an exchange program. “The Walk to Makino” will be published in May and will be available in print and online. As part of the contest, Loeb also won $500 and a one-week residency at the Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point. Loeb, who teaches creative writing and literature, has been published in the North American Review, Louisville Review, and Thema, and won a Minnesota Voices Project award for her collection Jump Rope Queen.