Tuesday — As the days of the week go, Tuesdays are usually unremarkable, but every now and then a remarkable Tuesday comes along. David Wiesner’s picture book Tuesday deals with such a day. In this Caldecott-winning book, an amazing phenomenon occurs one “Tuesday evening, around eight.” Hundreds of frogs are sitting on their lily pads in a quiet pond when suddenly the lily pads levitate. Flying on their lily pads, the frogs swoop into a nearby town and have a series of wild nocturnal adventures. Well, in our own way, we are about to have a remarkable Tuesday, too. We will start soaring tomorrow at 11:00 with the first of our English Major Day events, and we will continue with our adventures into the evening with Paula Connolly’s presentation for the Personally Speaking Series.
This year’s English Major Day features three workshops and a keynote address by Micah Nathan. The first workshop is titled “The English Major as Preparation for a 21st-Century Career” and will take place in Fretwell 290B from 11:00-12:15. The second workshop is on “Preparing for Graduate School” and will take place in Fretwell 290B from 12:30-1:45. The final workshop is titled “Publishing a Book” and will take place in Fretwell 290B from 2:00-3:15. Micah’s keynote address is titled “In Defense of the English Major.” He will speak in Storrs 110 starting at 4:00 pm. For more information about English Major Day, please click on the following link: http://english.uncc.edu/sites/english.uncc.edu/files/media/English_Majors_Days_2015_R.pdf
Paula Connolly’s presentation for the Personally Speaking Series will begin at 6:30 pm in the Halton Reading Room of Atkins Library. She will talk about her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010. A reception and book signing will follow at 7:30 pm.
As you make your plans for Tuesday, please make every effort to attend as many of these events as you can fit into your schedule. Also, please encourage your students to participate in these events. If you are flying in on a lily pad, let me know and I will try to arrange for special lily pad parking for you.
Kudos— As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of our department. Here is the latest news:
JuliAnn Ávila recently published a chapter titled “Traveling Down a Desire Line: Surviving Where Community and Academia Meet” in a volume titled Reimagining the Public Intellectual in Education: Making Scholarship Matter.
Pilar Blitvich recently presented a paper titled “Transnational Identity and Citizen Discourse: Latinos Versus Immigrants” at the Georgetown Round Table on Linguistics Conference: Diversity, Super-diversity: Socio-cultural Linguistics Perspectives. The conference was held at Georgetown University on March 13-15.
Lil Brannon had an essay titled “Unintended Consequences” published in the February issue of College Composition and Communication.
Nicole Cruse, one of our graduate students, has been accepted into the linguistics PhD Program at the University of Connecticut. She has also been chosen as an IGERT Fellow, which includes a substantial stipend. She’ll start there in the fall.
Laura Erturk, a graduate of our M.A. program, has been accepted into the linguistics PhD Program at the University of South Carolina. She’ll start there in the fall.
Jeffrey Leak recently participated in the Virginia Festival of the Book. He was one of the featured authors for a panel on “African Americans in Mid-Century America: Power, Literature, and the Black List.”
Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:
March 24 — The English Major Day will take place on March 24. The event will include three workshops and a keynote address by Micah Nathan.
March 24 — Paula Connolly will give the fourth and final presentation in this year’s Personally Speaking Series. The event will take place at the Atkins Library and will begin at 6:30 p.m. She will speak about her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010.
March 27 — The English Department Meeting will take place in the Conference Room from 11:00-12:30.
March 27 — Balaka Basu will deliver a presentation titled “Play the Game: Reading Digitally with Children’s Literature” in the Conference Room from 1:00-2:00. This presentation is sponsored by the English Department’s Faculty Development Committee.
Quirky Quiz Question — Paula Connolly’s talk for the Personally Speaking Series will focus on her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010. This book was published by the same press that published two of Jim McGavran’s collections. Does anyone know the name of this press?
Last week’s answer – Dennis Kay