Remembering Marty Shapiro — When I became a member of the English Department in 1984, many of the faculty members who had built the Department in the 1960s were still teaching, including Morton (Marty) Shapiro. Marty joined the English Department in 1964 and continued to teach in the department until he retired in 1993.
I have many fond memories of Marty. I remember talking with him about his childhood in New York City. My father grew up in New York around the same time period, and this connection led me to feel a sense of kinship with Marty. He was an avid lover of films, and I occasionally ran into him at the Manor Theater where we would talk a bit about whatever film we had just seen. Marty helped found the Charlotte Film Society, and he sometimes shared with me news of the Film Society’s doings. Marty was proud of his children, Sam and Julie, and he liked to talk about them. I struck up a friendship with Sam, and Marty seemed pleased that his son and I were friends The last time I saw Marty was at Park Road Books quite some years ago, but I remember talking with him about a course that Sam was teaching for the American Studies Program. I was the director of the program at the time, and Marty liked the fact that Sam was teaching at the same university where he had pursued his teaching career for nearly thirty years. When I learned that Marty had died on September 11, I contacted several faculty members who also knew Marty and asked them about their memories of Marty.
In her email to me, Boyd Davis wrote, “Marty Shapiro liked good books, good films, and good talk, which he defined as being wit and crackle about good books and good films. He was passionate about his field, American Literature, and especially concerned that students work first to become critical and thoughtful readers of primary source material before doing anything else.”
Jay Jacoby wrote about Marty’s tastes in food and literature: “Marty and I did not always have the same tastes for food (he loathed my gefilte fish balls suspended in horseradish gelatin–go figure, right? We both liked, and dined together at, Katz’s Deli in NYC–famous for its “Send a salami to your boy in the army”) or literature (I never understood his liking Henry James or Saul Bellow). We did enjoy many of the same films and, in my early days at UNCC, playing tennis at the old JCC on Sharon Amity. It was good to have a landsman in the department, someone to say Happy New Year to every fall and to exchange Hanukkah at the department Holiday parties.”
Anita Moss wrote about Marty’s approach to teaching: “When I was a young instructor in the English Department in 1972, Marty was exceptionally kind and generous to me. He invited me to sit in on his classes if we happened to be teaching the same texts. Once in the summer he was teaching American Literature, and I was teaching British literature, but we were both exploring the Victorian period. Marty invited me and my class to join him and his class on a field trip to a lovely Victorian home on The Plaza, named “Victoria.” The home-owners gave us a well-informed tour, but I was delighted with how much Marty knew and shared about architecture and interior design of the period. As other colleagues have mentioned, Marty loved classical music, but I remember how we shared our enthusiasm for great jazz singers–Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughn, Lena Horne, and the much younger singer, Chris Connor. Marty did not enjoy tedious meetings, but he came alive when the talk was about literature, art, or music. Then he became animated with his vital interests in ideas and art. I am glad that I knew him and that he shared his interests with colleagues, friends, and students for so many years.”
Paula Eckard took a course from Marty as an undergraduate student, and she sent me an email about this experience: “As a young undergraduate in Marty Shapiro’s Major American Writers course, I was introduced to many of the writers that I teach today. I took his class, which met in Winningham, during a hot summer school session. I recall the course being equally intense, especially when we discussed Melville. One day I was late for class after running out of gas at the intersection of Highways 29 and 49. I was fearing my professor’s wrath when I finally got to class. Instead he responded with kindness and humor, something I had not expected. Since then, I’ve tried to treat students with the same positive regard that he showed to me.”
Marty’s family will have a visitation on Wednesday, October 7, and the clubhouse of Quail Hollow Estates, from 5:30pm until 7:30 pm. The address is 7301 Quail Meadow Lane, Charlotte, NC 28210. Here is the link to an obituary: http://www.throbertson.com/index.php/2014-12-25-20-56-36/299-morton-shapiro-september-11-2015
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:
Aaron Gwyn‘s Wynne’s War was recently published in France. The novel has received very positive reviews from the French press including a glowing review in Le Monde. For those of you who read French, here is the link: : http://www.lemonde.fr/livres/article/2015/09/24/westerns-sans-frontieres_4769426_3260.html.
Joan Mullin, along with Jan Rieman and Cat Mahaffey from the University Writing Program, recently gave a presentation titled “Practicing What We Preach: Growing Pains of a Stand Alone Unit” at a meeting of the Carolina Writing Program Administrators.
Kristen Reynolds, one of our graduate students, received a 2015-16 Graduate Life Fellowship.
Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:
Quirky Quiz Question — Marty Shapiro grew up in New York City, but he moved to the South after serving in the Army during the early 1950s. He received his Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Alabama. Does anybody know the name of the city where the University of Alabama is located?
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is published by Algonquin Books. Although Algonquin Books is now a division of Workman Publishing, the editorial office is still located in the same community where the publisher was founded in 1983. Where is Algonquin Books located?
Monday Missive - September 21, 2015
Jay Jacoby – Art
Cy Knoblauch – Biology
Ron Lunsford – Philosophy
Jim McGavran – Dance and Theater
Malin Pereira – Africana Studies
Mark West – Art
There is no other department in the College that has provided six interim chairs for other departments. The various leadership roles that English professors have played over the years is a reflection of the strength of the English Department, but this record of leadership also reflects the versatility of the discipline of English. The critical insights and the reading and writing skills associated with English are readily transferable to other disciplines as well as to interdisciplinary fields. It is worth noting that the current directors of four of the interdisciplinary programs in the College come from English. Here is the list:
Paula Eckard – American Studies
Katie Hogan – Women’s and Gender Studies
Aaron Toscano – Humanities, Technology, and Sciences Minor
The versatility of English also benefits our students. I was reminded of this last week when I viewed a a video about our Technical/Professional Writing Program. One of our current graduate students, Yekaterina Dolmatova, interviewed two of our recent program graduates and produced a short, five-minute video. It’s now on the University’s Youtube channel. As this video demonstrates, the versatile nature of our program helps prepare our students to succeed when they enter the workforce. Here is the link to the video: https://youtu.be/glp1fHcjSD8
Mecklenburg Library is sponsoring a series of events designed to encourage members of the Charlotte community to read and discuss a common text this fall. This program will take place between September 28 and October 17. The text that has been selected for this year is Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry. This 2014 novel deals with a cranky bookstore owner who gradually forges connections with other people through their shared love of books. In many ways, the novel is a celebration of books, bookstores, and the reading life. I have agreed to lead several book discussions focused on this novel at various library locations. For more information about this program, please click on the following link: http://www.cmlibrary.org/about_us/in_the_news/#!/pressrelease/charlotte-mecklenburg-library/r/charlotte-mecklenburg-library-unveils-2015-community-read-titles,c9820275
Sarah Minslow will be speaking at local libraries about censorship as part of Freedom to Read Week. She will speak on Monday, Sept. 28th 6pm at Independence Library, Thursday, Oct. 1st at 6pm at Matthews Library, and Saturday, Oct. 3 at 2 pm at Uptown Library. Please come along and add to the conversation.
Lara Vetter recently presented a paper titled “Espionage and Psychoanalysis in H.D.’s Late Prose” at a conference on “H.D. and Feminist Poetics” in H.D.’s birthplace, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:
Quirky Quiz Question — The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is published by Algonquin Books. Although Algonquin Books is now a division of Workman Publishing, the editorial office is still located in the same community where the publisher was founded in 1983. Where is Algonquin Books located?
Monday Missive - September 14, 2015
With the birth of our son (Gavin), my wife and I decided to introduce Gavin to some Jewish traditions, and one of the people I turned to for advice on this matter was Jay Jacoby. Jay was then a professor in the English Department, and he and I had many conversations over the years. An expert on Jewish culture, Jay explained to me the significance of several of the major Jewish holidays. Like my father, I am not a religious man, but I took an interest in the stories that Jay told about these holidays.
Several current members of the English Department share Jay’s interest in Jewish literature and culture. Here are three examples. Jeffrey Leak is currently researching the connections between mid-twentieth-century African American poets and Rosey Poole, a Jewish scholar and editor who lived in Holland and Great Britain. Alan Rauch has taken an interest in graphic novels that deal with Jewish themes, and he will be teaching a course on this topic in the spring semester. Maya Socolovsky has written on Allegra Goodman’s most recent novel, The Cookbook Collector, which deals with contemporary Jewish-American culture.
The topic of cookbooks reminds me that Jewish holidays almost always have some sort of food connection. Apples dipped in honey is associated with Rosh Hashanah. In keeping with this culinary tradition, I will bring in some apple-honey tarts of my own invention tomorrow and set them out in the faculty/staff lounge. In the meantime, I wish you all a happy Jewish New Year.
Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:
Quirky Quiz Question — In addition to teaching in the English Department, Jay Jacoby served as the interim chair for two departments. Can you name these departments?
Monday Missive - September 7, 2015
Fostering Creativity — Today is Labor Day, but in the Charlotte area, it is also Yard Art Day. Deborah Triplett, a Charlotte photographer, created Yard Art Day a few years ago. As she explains on the event’s website, she invites participants “to celebrate their creative spirit by displaying or performing their own works of art in their front yards or balconies for the public” (http://www.yardartday.org/). This year I created a “book mobile” for Yard Art Day. I love books and I love mobiles and other forms of kinetic art, so I decided to create a work that integrates both of these loves.
One of the main reasons I am a big supporter of Yard Art Day is that it fosters creativity. Most of us who participate in Yard Art Day are not professional artists, but we enjoy being creative and sharing our creations with an appreciative audience. Fostering creativity is also at the core of the English Department’s DNA. The most obvious example of this side of our department is our burgeoning creative writing program. Many of the students who take our various creative writing courses relish the opportunity to write poems and short stories, and they take pleasure in sharing their creative work with their classmates.
However, our creative writing teachers are not the only members of our department who foster their students’ creativity. For example, our faculty members in the area of technical and professional writing regularly sponsor an exhibition of their students’ work. I attended this event last semester, and I was very impressed with the high level of creativity that our students brought to their projects. Other faculty members in our department encourage their students to experiment with theatrical projects, film and digital productions, and various visual presentations, ranging from formal conference posters to free-for-all collages.
The creative dimensions of our department spin around us in unpredictable but appealing ways. It’s sort of like a mobile.
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:
Chris Davis recently had a poem titled “Idol” accepted by Hawaii Review for a “Literature of Crime” issue.
Andrew Hartley was a guest speaker this Labor Day weekend at Dragon Con, which is one of the largest fantasy conventions in the world. An interview with him appeared in the Daily Dragon. The person who conducted the interview is Nancy Northcott, who is an affiliated member of our department. Here is the link: http://dailydragon.dragoncon.org/2015/discussing-books-and-audiobooks-with-a-j-hartley/
Liz Miller recently presented a paper titled “Relational Agency: An Emerging Perspective in Applied Linguistics” at the annual conference of the British Association of Applied Linguistics, held in Birmingham, England.
Jennifer Munroe recently had an article titled “Shakespeare and Ecocriticism Revisited” published in Literature Compass. Here is the link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/enhanced/doi/10.1111/lic3.12251/
Lance Phillips’s poem “Sericulture” was published last month in 33rd edition of New American Writing. Here’s a link: http://www.newamericanwriting.com/current.htm.
Daniel Shealy recently had a chapter titled “Little Women in Its Time” published in Critical Insights: Little Women, edited by Gregory Eiselein and Anne K. Phillips.
Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:
September 10 — Shakespeare in Action is co-sponsoring a guest lecture by Sujata Iyengar titled “Why Shakespeare’s King John Leaves out the Magna Carta” at 4:30 in Fretwell 290B.
October 19 — The deadline to apply for a Faculty Research Grant is October 19. For more information, click on the following link: http://research.uncc.edu/proposal-development/locating-funding
Quirky Quiz Question — What is the name of the American sculptor who is largely responsible for introducing mobiles to the art scene?
Last week’s answer: runcible spoon
In her article about Edward Lear’s nonsense poetry, Sarah Minslow discusses many of Lear’s poems. One of Lear’s most famous poems is “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.” In this poem, the owl and the pussy-cat eat “slices of quince” with an unusual utensil. What is this utensil called in the poem?