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Monthly Archives: May 2015

Monday Missive - May 25, 2015

May 25, 2015 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Memorial Day — The history of Memorial Day dates back to the conclusion of the Civil War. The holiday started as a way to commemorate the soldiers who died during the Civil War, but gradually the scope of the day expanded to include the commemoration of all Americans who died while serving in the military. Memorial Day became an official federal holiday in 1967, and nowadays most Americans have the day off from work but not everyone.

Josh Edwards and Josh Blaney

Josh Edwards and Josh Blaney

Unlike the faculty and students at UNC Charlotte, the members of the staff are expected to report to the University on Memorial Day or take the day as one of their vacation days. This practice seems wrong to me. Many members of our staff have family members and friends who died while in service to their country, and I believe that these staff members should not have to use their vacation time to observe Memorial Day. Angie Williams, for example, always thinks about her son, Josh Edwards, and her son’s best friend, Josh Blaney, on Memorial Day. The two Joshes served in the Army with tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Angie’s son lived to come home, but Josh Blaney lost his life in Afghanistan. UNC Charlotte prides itself as an institution that honors the men and women who have served in the military. Making Memorial Day a holiday for everyone who works at UNC Charlotte would provide concrete evidence that the University really does honor military service. So long as the University expects the staff to report to work on Memorial Day, the University’s proclamation that it is “veteran friendly” rings a bit hollow.

On Turning Sixty — This week I turn sixty. Reaching this milestone prompts me to reflect a bit on my career as an English professor. For the past thirty-one years I have taught children’s literature in this English Department. During that span of time, I have never taken a semester off from teaching, not because I have some sort of martyr complex but because I find teaching in this department to be immensely rewarding. I have friends who teach children’s literature at other universities who often feel belittled and besieged because their colleagues do not take children’s literature seriously. I have not had this experience. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to pursue my career in a department that values children’s literature as legitimate field of study.

Even though I know that the majority of my teaching days are already receding in the rearview mirror, I hope to continue teaching in this department for many years to come. There are two professors who have taught in this department for more years than I have—Boyd Davis and Anita Moss—and they are my role models. My other role model is my father. He did not retire until he turned eighty, so perhaps I will be lucky enough to follow in his footsteps and keep teaching for another twenty years.

Quirky Quiz Question — Memorial Day dates back to the late 1860s, but the holiday was not originally called Memorial Day. What was the original name for this holiday?

Last week’s answer:

Quirky Quiz Question — Summer is a special time of the year in the lives of young people, which might explain why so many coming-of-age stories take place during the summer. Below are descriptions of three classic coming-of-age novels all of which have the word summer in their title. See if you can the titles of these books:

1. This classic story of first love takes place in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in the late 1930s.    Seventeenth  Summer

2. This novel deals with a Jewish girl who befriends an enemy soldier who escapes from a prison camp in Arkansas.   Summer of My German Soldier

3. This novel is set on Nantucket Island and deals with an adolescent boy’s infatuation with the a young woman whose husband is killed during World War Two.  Summer of ’42

Monday Missive - May 18, 2015

May 18, 2015 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Stonehenge at sunrise

Summer — The builders of Stonehenge seemed to think that the start of summer had something to do with the summer solstice, for they designed the monument so that the the sun rises above a stone known as the Heel Stone on the morning of the summer solstice. What the builders of Stonehenge apparently did not understand is that the real start of summer is the first day of the first summer session at UNC Charlotte, which falls on the 18th of May this year.

This summer the English Department will be offering a little more than two dozen classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Of these classes around half are 100% online courses. The English Department faculty are also teaching seven Liberal Studies courses for the General Education Program. As of Friday, our English and LBST courses had about 600 of their seats filled, which is a record high at this point in the summer registration process. In addition to our regular summer offerings, the English Department is offering several new topics courses, such as Reading the Whedonverse (ENGL 2090), African-American Writers Writing the Sixties (ENGL 3050) and Children’s Literature and Childhood Trauma (ENGL 6070). My thanks go to Kirk for organizing our summer schedule.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

May 18 — Classes for the first summer session begin on May 18.

May 19 — Last day to add or drop a class with no grade.

Quirky Quiz Question — Summer is a special time of the year in the lives of young people, which might explain why so many coming-of-age stories take place during the summer. Below are descriptions of three classic coming-of-age novels all of which have the word summer in their title. See if you can name the titles of these books:

1. This classic story of first love takes place in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in the late 1930s.

2. This novel deals with a Jewish girl who befriends an enemy soldier who escapes from a prison camp in Arkansas.

3. This novel is set on Nantucket Island and deals with an adolescent boy’s infatuation with a young woman whose husband is killed during World War Two.

Last week’s answer: Prospero

Monday Missive - May 11, 2015

May 11, 2015 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Remembering Ken Burrows — Ken Burrows died on the first day of May, but for those of us who had the privilege of knowing him, he will live on in our memories for years to come. Ken ran the summer programs at UNC Charlotte for many years, and it was because of this role that I came to know Ken.

Ken was always ready to experiment with new programs offered during the summer. He thought that the campus should hum with activity during the summer and that the University should offer summer programs for people of all ages, including children. For these reasons, he started our Camps on Campus summer enrichment program. Ken knew of my background in children’s literature, and he asked me if I would be willing to develop a summer camp based on children’s books. I liked the idea and said that I would give it a try. A few weeks later, he contacted me again and said that he thought that the camp should have a tighter focus. At the time the Harry Potter phenomenon was all the rage, so I suggested that we focus the camp on Harry Potter. With Ken’s help, I wrote a description of the camp in which I said that for one week in the summer our UNC Charlotte campus was going to be transformed into Hogwarts Extension. Over the next several months, Ken and I met many times to plan the camp, and our efforts were rewarded beyond anything we had imagined. The kids had a great time, their parents thanked me endlessly for providing their children with this opportunity, and the camp attracted a tremendous amount of press coverage. Running this Harry Potter camp proved to be one of the most memorable experiences in my career at UNC Charlotte, and I owe it all to Ken.

Commencement Notes — Last Saturday the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held its commencement ceremony. For nearly 90 of our students, this ceremony marked their transition from current students to graduates. A total of 19 of our graduate students are listed in the commencement program, and 70 undergraduate students are listed.

I was especially impressed with how many of our BA students fall under the heading of “Graduation with Distinction.” Of the 70 students, 14 earned the distinction of Cum Laude (GPA between 3.4-3.7), 7 earned the distinction of Magna Cum Laude (GPA between 3.7-3.9), and 4 earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude (GPA between 3.9-4.0). This total comes to 25 students, which means that 36% of our graduating seniors earned this special distinction. I am very proud of all of our graduating students, but I want to mention by name the 4 students who earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude. Their names are John Stuart Cloer, Ashley Michelle Helms, Jessica Katlin Lamp, and Taryn Kandace Summer Walls.

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:

Allison Hutchcraft has been awarded the Hillary Gravendyk Memorial Scholarship from the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. She will travel to Squaw Valley, CA, this June to attend their 2015 Poetry Workshop Program. Allison also has four poems appearing this month in a special feature of eco-poetry in the Kenyon Review.

Maya Socolovsky’s Troubling Nationhood in U.S. Latina Literature received a very positive review in the most recent issue of Latino Studies.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

May 18 — Classes for the first summer session begin on May 19.

May 19 — Last day to add or drop a class with no grade.

QuirKen Burrowsky Quiz Question — In addition to running UNC Charlotte’s summer programs, Ken Burrows also participated in several UNC Charlotte theatrical productions. He played a central role in a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. What is the name of this character that Ken brought to life?

Last week’s answer: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Monday Missive - May 4, 2015

May 04, 2015 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

old man of the mountainThe Old Man of the Mountain — My undergraduate degree is from Franconia College, which was a small and now defunct experimental college located in northern New Hampshire. During my college days, I often traveled between Boston and Franconia, and I always went through Franconia Notch on these trips. In my native state of Colorado, we would have called Franconia Notch a canyon, but in New Hampshire they like the term notch. On my many drives through Franconia Notch, I always looked up and marveled at an amazing rock formation known as the Old Man of the Mountain. This famous stoney profile collapsed on May 3, 2003.

This past weekend, I paused to remember the Old Man of the Mountain, which brought up memories of Franconia College. It’s all gone now. The Old Man has been reduced to broken rocks, Franconia College has long since closed, and the buildings where I studied have disappeared without a trace. But my memories persist. I can remember in detail the adventure-filled trips I took to Boston, the hikes I took through New Hampshire’s beautiful White Mountains, and the stimulating courses I took at Franconia College. As we come to the close of another semester, we should be mindful that we are helping shape the memories of our students. Someday they will look back on their college days, and I hope that their memories are as precious to them as my memories are to me. Here’s to you, Old Man of the Mountain.

Community Engagement — When I think about the English Department’s efforts in the area of community engagement, I tend to think of members of the department participating in programs and events sponsored by organizations and institutions in the Charlotte area. However, community engagement also involves bringing people from the Charlotte area to our campus. Last week members of our department sponsored two such examples of community engagement. On April 28, Greg Wickliff hosted ten members of the Charlotte chapter of the Society for Technical Communication at an exhibit of student work related to our courses in technical and professional writing. I attended this event, and I was very impressed with the interactions between our students and these working professionals. On May 2, Lil Brannon hosted a day-long gathering of Charlotte-area teachers that took place in our seminar room. This event was the orientation to the Invitational Summer Institute for the UNC Charlotte Writing Project. While I did not participate in this event, I was in the office while it was taking place, and I sensed the the energy and enthusiasm of the participants.

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:

Balaka Basu just returned from NEMLA in Toronto, having co-chaired a panel called Queer/Geek: Theorizing the Convergence of Fandom, Camp, and Other Deviances, for which she co-wrote an introduction called “Eve Sedgwick’s Unicycle.”

Maya Socolovsky recently presented a paper titled “Documenting the Undocumented: The Drama of Epistolary Writing in Julia Alvarez’s Return to Sender” at the U.S. Latina/o Literary Theory and Criticism Conference, which took place in New York City.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

May 9 — The Commencement for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will take place May 9, 2015 at 10:00 AM in the Halton Arena: https://exchange.uncc.edu/event/commencement-college-of-liberal-arts-sciences-may-2015/

May 11 — Final grades for the Spring 2015 term must be submitted by Monday, May 11 at noon.

Quirky Quiz Question — I am not the only person who was inspired by the Old Man of the Mountain. A famous America author wrote a story about this rock formation titled “The Great Stone Face.” Who wrote this story?

Last week’s answer: Richard Armitage

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