In Praise of Our Students — I recently participated in two events involving our students, and I was impressed with their generous spirit, intellectual curiosity, and willingness to take initiative. I was so proud of them that I decided to sing their praises in today’s Monday Missive.
The first
of these events was EpicFest. Sponsored by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library, this literary festival for children and teenagers took place at ImaginOn on November 7, 2015. Over 2,000 people attended. Many volunteers, including a bunch of students from our English Learning Community, helped with this festival. These students spent their whole Saturday working at craft stations, answering questions, and doing whatever was needed to make this event a success. By their actions, these students demonstrated that they are truly committed to the values associated with community service.
The second of these events was Alice’s (un)Birthday Party, which took place on November 11, 2015, in the Student Union. Sponsored by the Children’s Literature Graduate Organization with assistance from the English Graduate Student Association, this event commemorated the 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Our 
graduate students organized this event entirely on their own. They arranged for Professor Jan Susina from Illinois State University to come to our campus and deliver the keynote address. They put together a panel discussion featuring Jan Susina, Sarah Minslow, and Alan Rauch. They organized a British high tea, complete with sandwiches, scones and various types of tea. They enthusiastically promoted the event, and they succeeded in attracting a tremendous turn out of undergraduate and graduate students. They had to keep bringing in extra chairs because so many students made the effort to attend this event even though it was late in the afternoon. The students who organized this event did a superb job, and the great attendance demonstrates to me that many of our students have a passion for learning.
The student involvement in these two recent events underscore for me the many and diverse strengths of our students.
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:
Bryn Chancellor recently read and discussed a short memoir titled “The Front Step” on the Creative Non-Fiction Panel at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association conference in Durham, NC.
Chris Davis recently published a review essay of The Crooked Letter i: Coming Out in the South in Charlotte Viewpoint. Here is the link to his review: http://www.charlotteviewpoint.org/article/3494/CrookedLetter
Lance Phillips was recently a featured reader for the MFA program at Boise State University. Here’s a link to some promotional material from BSU: https://english.boisestate.edu/2015/11/11/attend-lance-phillips-reading-111315-at-730/
Maya Socolovsky‘s book Troubling Nationhood in U.S. Latina Literature recently received a very positive review from sx salon. Here is the link: http://smallaxe.net/wordpress3/reviews/2015/11/09/remapping-spaces-of-nationhood-and-us-latina-identity/
Greg Wickliff has a poster on microscopy history featured in Atkins Library’s exhibit titled Visualizing Science: Microscopic Images from UNC Charlotte.
Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:
November 20 — The English Department meeting will take place from 11:00–12:15 in the Seminar Room (Fretwell 290B).
Quirky Quiz Question — The high tea at CLGO’s recent event was inspired by the mad tea party in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In addition to Alice, who else participates in this mad tea party? Here is hint: there are three other participants.
Last week’s answer – Alice Pleasance Liddell
