The Value of Sharing Stories — On the afternoon of July 4, 1862, Lewis Carroll took Alice Liddell and her two sisters on a three-mile boating trip along the Thames River. During the course of this excursion, Carroll told the girls a story that he initially called “Alice’s Adventures Underground.” The origins of Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, can be traced back to the afternoon when Carroll shared his topsy-turvy story with the Liddell girls. As this historical tidbit demonstrates, the process of sharing stories can lead to the creation of great works of literature.
However, the wonders associated with the sharing of stories transcend the world of literature. For example, our colleague Boyd Davis is doing pioneering work on the importance of sharing stories when caring for people with dementia. She has helped develop a smartphone app called Story-Call that facilitates storytelling within the context of dementia care-giving. In a recently published co-authored article on a pilot-study involving Story-Call, she discusses the value of “storytelling as a way to promote more healthful and resilient living.” Here is a link to the article: http://ojni.org/issues/?p=3095
Celebrating the Successes of Our Former Graduate Students — This past week, I took pride and pleasure in the successes of three of our former graduate students.
Bobbie Cavnar was a featured guest this past week on Charlotte Talks. Bobbie received his M.A in English from our department several years ago, and he recently was named North Carolina Teacher of the Year. Here is the link: http://wfae.org/post/nc-teacher-year-profound-gentlemen
Dina Schiff Massachi, a recent graduate of our M.A in English (with a concentration in children’s literature) just published an article titled “Why the Wizard of Oz Still Resonates with Americans” in The Charlotte Viewpoint. Here is the link: http://www.charlotteviewpoint.org/article/3615/Wizard-of-Oz-American-Psyche
Cindy Urbanski, a graduate of our Curriculum and Instruction Ph.D. Program, just published a book titled Untangling Urban Middle School Reform. Here is the link: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=cm#search/cindy.urbanski%40gmail.com/1559dac1a2bd0f2c?compose=155b76b1f620bf17&projector=1
Quirky Quiz Question — In coming up with today’s Quirky Quiz Question, I tried to think of a connection between Lewis Carroll and Boyd Davis. Here’s what came to mind: In addition to teaching linguistics courses, Boyd Davis has also taught courses on Geoffrey Chaucer. Both Chaucer and Lewis Carroll are memorialized in a place called Poets’ Corner. In what building is Poets’ Corner located?