Monthly Archives: October 2015

Monday Missive - October 26, 2015

October 26, 2015 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

epic-fest-logo

EpicFest — Over the years, I have collaborated with the the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library on many worthwhile events and projects, but I am especially pleased to be on the Planning Committee for EpicFest. Sponsored by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation, EpicFest is a free literary festival for children of all ages. It will take place on Saturday, November 7, at ImaginOn, and it will feature nine award-winning children’s authors. The festival will also include learning activities, a family concert, and book signing opportunities. Students from our English Learning Community will be volunteering at this event. For more information about EpicFest, please click on the following link: http://foundation.cmlibrary.org/epicfest

Poetry Reading — Our creative writing program is having a poetry reading on 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28 in Fretwell 290B. The reading will feature Cedric Tillman and Coen Crisp. The poets also will hold a Q&A with the audience, and light refreshments will be provided. The event is sponsored by the Department of English with support from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Here is more information about the featured poets:

Cedric Tillman holds a BA in English from UNC Charlotte and graduated from American University’s Creative Writing MFA program. He is a prestigious Cave Canem fellow and a former Boston Review “Discovery” contest semifinalist. Cedric’s poems appear in several publications including Crosscut, Folio, Kakalak, The Chemistry of Color, and Home Is Where: An Anthology of African American Poets From the Carolinas, edited by Kwame Dawes. His debut collection, Lilies in the Valley, was a semifinalist selection for the 2011 42 Miles Press Poetry Award, and was published by Willow Books in 2013. He is the inaugural winner of the Willow Books Emerging Poets & Writers Award. Cedric lives in Charlotte.

Coen Crisp is a writer living in Greensboro, NC. His recently published book of haiku, 575, deals with life as a transgender male transitioning in the South. His work has also appeared
in Original Plumbing Magazine, FTM Magazine, and TransLife.

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:

Malin Pereira recently published an article titled “A Seat at the Front of the Bus of American Poetry: Wanda Coleman’s ‘Retro Rogue Anthology’ in Mercurochrome” in Hecate 40.1: 97-115. The article appeared in a “Focus Section” of the issue, with six essays on Coleman, the first issue of a journal focusing on Coleman’s work.

Alan Rauch recently gave a presentation titled “Rain, Steam and Speed: What’s So Great about the Greatest Painting of the 19th Century” at an area assisted living center.

Becky Roeder recently co-presented a talk titled “Simultaneous Innovation and Conservation: Unpacking Victoria’s Vowels” at the New Ways of Analyzing Variation conference in Toronto, Ontario.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:

November 4 — Bryn Chancellor will give a reading and sign her new book, When Are You Coming Home?, at Park Road Books at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4. http://www.parkroadbooks.com/event/2015-11

Quirky Quiz Question — EpicFest follows in the tradition of an earlier literary festival sponsored by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. Does anybody remember the name of this earlier festival?

Last week’s answer – Dia de las Muertes

In Latino/Latina culture, a major holiday is celebrated in the beginning of November.  What is the name of this holiday?  For extra credit, what is the Spanish name for this holiday?

Monday Missive - October 19, 2015

October 19, 2015 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive
nuevolution
¡NUEVOlution! Latinos/Latinas and the New South — Over the next two weeks both the UNC Charlotte’s Center for the Study of the New South and the Charlotte Teachers Institute are sponsoring events related to Latinos/Latinas in the New South.  On Wednesday, Oct. 21, the Center for the Study of the New South is co-sponsoring a community conversation about the relationship between the Latino and the African-American communities in Charlotte.  The program will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Palmer Building (formerly known as Fireman’s Hall) at 2601 East Seventh Street. The event is open to the public without charge, but registration is requested: register here.   On Tuesday, October 27, the Charlotte Teachers Institute is focusing one of its “Exploding Canons” events on the changing role of Latinos/Latinas in the New South.  The program will begin at 5:15 p.m. at the Levine Museum of the News South and will feature a panel discussion moderated by our Dean, Nancy Gutierrez.  Participants will also be able to view the Levine Museum’s “¡NUEVOlution!” exhibit.  The event is free and open to the public.

The topic of Latinos/Latinas in the New South is of interest to several members of the English Department.  Maya Socolovsky addresses this topic in her book titled Troubling Nationhood in U.S. Latina Literature.  In her book, Maya examines fiction by several contemporary Latina authors, and she shows how these works reflect changing attitudes concerning nationality among recent immigrants to the New South and elsewhere in the United States.  Another member of the English Department who has taken an interest in this topic is Becky Roeder.  Recently, Becky, in collaboration with former graduate student Chase Walden, has studied Spanish on public signage in the first ring suburban area of Charlotte along Eastway between N. Tryon and Central.  Liz Miller is addressing this topic in one of her classes.  Liz’s graduate-level class, Seminar in Language, Culture, and Society (ENGL 6127), will be focusing on the intersection of language, race and ethnicity over the next few weeks. One of the research articles that her students will present and discuss focuses on the ideologies that inform Anglo-Americans’ joking use of “Mock Spanish” and how such seemingly innocuous utterances can reinforce racial/ethnic inequality.  As these three examples illustrate, the English Department is engaged in the recent conversations related to Latinos/Latinas in the New South.

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:

Pilar Blitvich recently gave a presentation on “Digital Discourse, Conflict and Identity” at the Oberman Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Iowa. She also led a round-table discussion on the topics of her most recent research (digital discourse, multiparty communication, massive on-line polylogues, native digital versus digitized theoretical models, globalization/transnational identities and the digital transnational public sphere).

Valerie Bright recently published an article titled “My Hedgehog Stories” in RISE:  A Children’s Literacy Journal.

Paula Martinac‘s short story, “Comfort Zone,” was accepted for publication by The Raleigh Review.

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

October 28 — A poetry reading featuring Coen Crisp and Quentin Talley will take place on October 28 at 4:00 p.m. in Fretwell 290B.
November 4 — Bryn Chancellor will give a reading and sign her new book, When Are You Coming Home?, at Park Road Books at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4. http://www.parkroadbooks.com/event/2015-11

Quirky Quiz Question — In Latino/Latina culture, a major holiday is celebrated in the beginning of November.  What is the name of this holiday?  For extra credit, what is the Spanish name for this holiday?

Last week’s answer: DC

The Folger Shakespeare Library was founded by Henry Clay Folger and Emily Jordan Folger.  It opened in 1932 and is known today as the premier center for Shakespeare studies outside of Great Britain.  In what American city is the Folger Shakespeare Library located?

Monday Missive - October 12, 2015

October 12, 2015 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Folger Shakespeare Libary transcribathon

Researching at the Folger Shakespeare Library — Last Wednesday, Jen Munroe participated in the first annual EMROC transcribathon (Early Modern Recipes Online Collective, for which she is on the Steering Committee and a founding member). The event was held in partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library and took place at their site. Jen coordinated the event with the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Curator of Manuscripts, Heather Wolfe, and Paul Dingman, Project Manager for EMMO (Early Modern Manuscripts Online). A total of 89 transcribers, including some of our MA students (Taryn Dollings, Robin Kello, Kailan Sindelar, and Breanne Weber), worked on site or remotely from Berlin to California over twelve hours to transcribe the manuscript recipe book of Rebeckah Winche (1666) from the Folger’s holdings. Over the course of the day, the participants collectively finished transcribing the entire book (over 200 pages). The transcribed manuscript will be housed in the Folger’s EMMO database (which will be public access).

The EMROC transcribathon was covered by the BBC, who also interviewed Jen and the Folger’s Curator of Manuscripts about the event. Those interviews and story should be out soon. The following is a link to the blog post from the EMROC website that recaps the day and includes a wonderfully strange set of recipes transcribed by our own Breanne Weber (who, by the way, won both of the transcribathon sprints last Wednesday): http://emroc.hypotheses.org/714

Shakespeare in Action Presents… Garret Sullivan from Penn State University will deliver a presentation titled “A Pair So Famous: Memory, Sexuality, and Selfhood in Antony and Cleopatra” on Wednesday, October 14, at 4:00 pm in Fretwell 290B. Sullivan is the author of several books, including The Drama of Landscape: Land, Property, and Social Relations on the Early Modern Stage, Memory and Forgetting in English Renaissance Drama: Shakespeare, Marlowe, Webster, and Sleep, Romance and Human Embodiment: Vitality from Spenser to Milton.

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

October 16 — The English Department Meeting will take place on October 16 from 11:00 to 12:30 in Barnard 244.

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 — The Folger Shakespeare Library was founded by Henry Clay Folger and Emily Jordan Folger. It opened in 1932 and is known today as the premier center for Shakespeare studies outside of Great Britain. In what American city is the Folger Shakespeare Library located?

Last week’s answer: Rootabaga

Carl Sandburg is most famous for his poetry and his biography of Abraham Lincoln, but he also wrote original fairy tales for children.  His collection of children’s tales has the name of a vegetable in its title.  What is this vegetable?

Monday Missive - October 5, 2015

October 05, 2015 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive
Carl Sandburg and Harry Golden
Harry Golden and Carl Sandburg — In the recently published Carolina Israelite:  How Harry Golden Made Us Care about Jews, the South, and Civil Rights, Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett writes about Golden’s vast network of friends and colleagues.  One of his dear friends was the writer Carl Sandburg, and Hartnett does a wonderful job of describing this relationship in her biography.  As Hartnett explains, Golden and Sandburg had many of the same heroes, including Clarence Darrow, Abraham Lincoln, and Margaret Sanger.  Golden was also a great admirer of Sandburg’s poetry. Golden and Sandburg met in 1948, and the two soon became close friends.  Sandburg was then living on a farm near Flat Rock, North Carolina, and Golden often traveled to Flat Rock to visit Sandburg.  Eventually, Golden wrote a book about Sandburg.  In her biography, Hartnett captures the nuances of Golden’s friendship with Sandburg.  She draws on the correspondence between the two men as well as their personal recollections.  As a result, readers of her biography come away with a sense of sitting on the porch with these two giants, listening in on their conversations.  Such are the treats that await the readers of Hartnett’s biography.

Hartnett will be talking about her biography tomorrow evening in the Atkins Library’s Halton Reading Room.  Her talk will be followed by a panel presentation, and our own Paula Eckard is one of the panelists.  This event starts at 6:30 and concludes at 8:00 with a reception and book signing.  For more information, please click on the following link:  http://library.uncc.edu/harrygoldentalk

Our Newest Honorary Member of the English Department — By the power vested in me as the Chair of the English Department, I am proud to proclaim Alison Walsh to be our newest honorary member of the English Department.  Alison is the Director of Student Support Services, but she has a long-time interest in the field of English Studies.  She was an English major at Appalachian State University with a concentration in creative writing.  She has studied film history and criticism, and she took film classes with Sam Shapiro.  This past weekend, Alison gave her first paper at an academic conference (see below for details).   She gave her presentation on the films of Coen Brothers, and from all accounts her presentation was a big success.   Since she is now an honorary member of the English Department (retroactive to cover this past weekend), her success is our success.

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 gave a reading from her new book, When Are You Coming Home?, last week at University of North Carolina at Greensboro, hosted by its MFA program in creative writing as part of its visiting writers’ series.

Paula Eckard‘s review of Carolina Israelite:  How Harry Golden Made Us Care about Jews, the South, and Civil Rights was recently published in The Charlotte Viewpoint.  Here is the link:  http://www.charlotteviewpoint.org/article/3465/Carolina-Israelite%5D%5D-How-Harry-Golden-Made-Us-Care

Beth Gargano‘s entry on “Victorian Education and Literature” recently came out in the  Blackwell Victorian Encyclopedia. Also, two of her poems– “The Dream Visit” and “Harvest”–appeared in Fall 2015 in Vox Populi: A Public Sphere for Politics and Poetry.

Jeffrey Leak was interviewed for an NPR story dealing with Henry Dumas.  Here is the link:
http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/10/01/433229181/henry-dumas-wrote-about-black-people-killed-by-cops-then-he-was-killed-by-a-cop

Aaron Toscano recently gave a presentation titled “Games of Conquest:  A Cultural Analysis of Video Games” at the annual conference of the Popular Culture Association of the South.

Alison Walsh recently gave a presentation titled “A Cruel Sense of Humor:  Comedic and Disruptive Violence in the Films of the Coen Brothers”

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:
October 9 — Mid-semester reports of unsatisfactory grades are  due on Friday, October 9th at noon.
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 — Carl Sandburg is most famous for his poetry and his biography of Abraham Lincoln, but he also wrote original fairy tales for children.  His collection of children’s tales has the name of a vegetable in its title.  What is this vegetable?

Last week’s answer: Tuscaloosa
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?