Monthly Archives: September 2017

Monday Missive - September 26, 2017 (a day late)

September 27, 2017 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Narratives Are Us — I have a longstanding interest in story-based amusement parks and literary playgrounds, so it was with great anticipation that I visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter this past weekend. One of the star attractions of Universal Orlando, this totally immersive world truly provides visitors with a sense that they have somehow magically entered the pages of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. My wife, son, and I are all great admirers of Rowling’s fantasy books as well as the movies based on the books. For us, exploring this world brought back memories of reading the books aloud as a family. I think that for many Harry Potter fans, playing in this world augments the experience of reading Rowling’s books. Visitors feel as if they are actually attending Hogwarts or shopping for wands in Diagon Alley, or riding Hogwarts Express. After we explored the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, we spent an hour checking out Seuss Landing, which is devoted to the Dr. Seuss’s books. The architecture and rides in this part of the park look like three-dimensional Seuss illustrations with their bold colors, curvy lines and whimsical representations of real-world objects.

I am currently working on a book about how narrative elements are embedded in such places. I am also interested in how interacting with and in these places is like playing in stories. As I see it, my research on this topic relates to the ever-expanding field of narrative studies.

I am by no means the only person in our English Department who is pushing the boundaries of narrative studies. Balaka Basu is currently doing research on how Harry Potter fans respond in creative ways to Rowling’s narratives.

Pilar Blitvich is interested in how aggressive language comes into play in the narratives that are presented on reality television programs.

Jen Munroe is conducting research in the ways in which women from the early modern period told narratives about their lives through the writing of recipes.

Greg Wickliff is studying the ways that 19th-century scientists used photographs to help tell scientific narratives. As these few examples indicate, narrative studies has become one of pillars of our English Department.

It was 20 years ago today [plus ten] Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play — My wife and I got married exactly thirty years ago today. I remember inviting every person in the English Department to the wedding. Almost everybody showed that Saturday morning and wished us well as we set out for our honeymoon adventure in San Francisco. There are just a few people who were in the department then who are still in the department today, but many things have not changed. Nancy and I (and Gavin) still enjoy having adventures together, and we still feel that that interaction with members of the English Department is an important thread woven through our lives.

Quirky Quiz Question — One of the rides at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter takes visitors on a wild ride into the underground vaults beneath a bank. What is the name of this bank?

Last week’s answer: textile mill
Bookout Blooms is located in Atherton Market. Does anybody know the original purpose of this facility before it became a market?

Monday Missive - September 18, 2017

September 18, 2017 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

3 Under 30 — The website Charlotte Agenda recently ran an article titled “30 Under 30”  in which they featured thirty young people who are making a difference in the Charlotte community.  Inside UNC Charlotte picked up this story and noted that of the people featured in the article six graduated from UNC Charlotte, including one who majored in English.  For more information, please click on the following link:  http://inside.uncc.edu/news-features/2017-09-11/alums-make-%E2%80%9930-under-30%E2%80%99-list In response to this article, I decided to celebrate the accomplishments of three young people who recently received degrees from our English Department.

Ashley Pittman Bookout is the English major who is included in Charlotte Agenda’s “30 Under 30.”   Ashley graduated in 2011 after which she worked in corporate Charlotte for a few years.  However, Ashley’s long-time love of flowers and flower arranging, combined with her entrepreneurial spirit, led her to found Bookout Blooms in the fall of 2015.  Located in Atherton Market in the Southend, Bookout Blooms is already recognized as one of Charlotte’s premier florists.  According to Paul Redd (another one of our former students), “This is the best florist in Charlotte. Hands down! Ashley has done the flowers for my daughter’s celebrations, my grandmother’s funeral, and everything in between. I will continue to support these fine people. Plus you get to see her smiling face when you go to pick them up at Atherton Market.”

Peter Fields received both his BA (2015) and MA (2017) in English from our department.  Peter is now working as an outdoor educator in Florissant, Colorado.  In a recent email that Peter sent to me, he wrote, “Teaching on the trail at High Trails Outdoor Education Center has been one of the most unique, stimulating and fulfilling experiences of my life.  Each lesson requires a different approach, and the variety of material covered has far exceeded expectations.  My time learning under the English Department’s wonderful professors has undoubtedly contributed to my preparedness as an instructor and provided examples of how to bring out the inquisitive nature in students.”

Mark Taylor received both his BA (2011) and MA (2014) in English from our department, where he specialized in Technical and Professional Writing.  Since 2015, he has worked for IMPLAN Group a global software company headquartered in Huntersville.  Mark currently has the title of Applied Support Economist.  In this role, he analyzes economic impact data and modeling to governments, universities, and public and private sector organizations for assessing the economic impacts of project decisions in all industry sectors.  Mark will be one of our featured speakers at our upcoming Major’s Day, which will take place on October 23.

As these brief profiles indicate, our English majors go on to pursue a wide variety of careers.  So what can you do with an English major?  The correct answer is just about anything.

English Learning Community News — The English Learning Community has put up their new bulletin board. ELC Peer mentors Bethany Hyder and MaKalea Bjoin have designed something a little different this year, giving it an Alice in Wonderland theme as well as making it a bit more interactive. In addition to seeing pictures and learning about the individual members, you can also leave them little notes of encouragement. Please stop by and learn a bit more about the newest members of our department. Let’s make them feel like a part of our department. Please let Tiffany Morin know if there is any events coming up that the ELC can be involved with.

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:

Ron Lunsford (and Christopher Daniel Lunsford) delivered a paper titled “Insurance Claims and Denials: Insights Provided by Rhetorical Genre Theory” at the third biennial meeting of The Symposium on the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine, Sept 14-15, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Quirky Quiz Question —  Bookout Blooms is located in Atherton Market.  Does anybody know the original purpose of this facility before it became a market?

Last week’s answer: 1989
I remember well when Hurricane Hugo hit Charlotte?  Does anybody remember what year Hugo came to town?

Monday Missive - September 11, 2017

September 11, 2017 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

The English Department Has Received a Grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council — I am pleased to announce that the English Department has just been awarded one of the North Carolina’s Humanities Council’s “Large Grants” to support a series of community events around the theme of “The Child Character in Southern Literature and Film.” This $20,000 grant will make it possible for the English Department to bring several authors to Charlotte, engage in collaborative literacy projects with area educational organizations and programs, and co-sponsor a film series with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library. Sarah Minslow and I co-wrote the grant proposal with valuable input from Paula Eckard and Sam Shapiro.

As I see it, this project is part of the English Department’s larger commitment to engage with the Charlotte community. Our department has a long record of sponsoring or co-sponsoring cultural and educational events that are open to everyone in the Charlotte area. These events include the Center City Literary Festival, the Shakespeare in Action’s lectures and performances, and the annual Seuss-a-Thon.

As I reflect on our record of community engagement, I have a sense that we are truly of the city for which our university is named. The official name of our institution is the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, but when it comes to the English Department, I think it might be more accurate to say that we are of Charlotte, not just at Charlotte.

Reflecting on Hurricanes — Like most everyone else, I have been closely following the distressing news about hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Perhaps more than any other meteorological event, hurricanes command our attention. Not only are they amazingly powerful and destructive, but they seem almost sentient as they relentlessly advance toward land. It is no wonder to me that we give them human names and anthropomorphize their behavior. One gets a sense that they are indeed hellbent on destruction. Even after they die, hurricanes continue to haunt us. They transform lives and communities, and in the process, they resurrect themselves in the form of stories.

JuliAnna Ávila and Paula Connolly have turned their attention to hurricane stories, in particular stories related to Hurricane Katrina. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, JuliAnna moved to Louisiana, where she worked with children displaced by the hurricane. One of the ways in which JuliAnna helped these children deal with the trauma in their lives was by creating opportunities for them to create stories about their experiences. JuliAnna wrote about this work in several articles. She also maintains a website with some of the then-young Katrina survivors’ stories as an ongoing tribute to them: storyagainstsilence.org Paula has studied children’s books that deal with Katrina. She published her findings in an article titled “Surviving the Storm: Trauma and Recovery in Children’s Books about Natural Disasters,” which appeared in Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature.

I have no doubt that hurricanes Harvey and Irma will generate their own stories in the coming years, but for now I am just hoping that the loss of life will be minimal, and we can all pull together to help with the recovery.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines—Here is a list of an upcoming meeting that will take place this month:

-English Department Mtg Friday, Sept. 15 11-12:15pm
Fretwell 280C (English Department Conference Room)

Quirky Quiz Question — I remember well when Hurricane Hugo hit Charlotte? Does anybody remember what year Hugo came to town?

Last week’s answer: New York Public Library

The animal characters in Winnie-the-Pooh are based on toy animals that A. A. Milne’s son (Cristopher Robin) played with during his childhood.  These toys are now on display in a public library.  In what city is this library display located?

Monday Missive - September 4, 2017

September 05, 2017 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

 

Working and Making — When I think about the meaning of Labor Day, I think about the meaning of work in our daily lives.  One of the most memorable books I have ever read on the meaning of work is Studs Terkel’s Working:  People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.  I read this collection of oral history interviews when it first came out in 1974.  I was an undergraduate student at the time, and I read it for one of my classes.

Many of the people featured in this book felt alienated from their jobs, but others took great satisfaction from their work.  A pattern that I noticed is that people who made things or who exercised creativity as part of their jobs tended to feel positively about their work.  The stonemason who was interviewed, for example, stood out for me as a person who found great meaning in his work.  I just re-read this interview, and it still resonates deeply with me.  I especially like what he had to say about the pride he took in the stone buildings he helped create: “I can see what I did the first day I started.  All my work is set right out there in the open, and I can look at it as I go by.  It’s something I can see the rest of my life. … That’s the work of my hands.”

The satisfaction that comes from making things is a pleasure that many contemporary Americans do not experience in their jobs.  However, for those of us who live in the Charlotte region, Labor Day presents us with an opportunity to make something and, in the words of the stonemason, “set it out there in the open.”  This opportunity is Yard Art Day, an annual community event founded and organized by Deborah Triplett.  As she explains on her website, “Yard Art Day is a grassroots arts exhibition, curated by the community for the community.  The annual Labor Day event is for anyone and all to celebrate their creative spirit by displaying or performing their works of art in their front yard for the public.”

I always participate in Yard Art Day.  This year  I created a scene from Winnie-the-Pooh in which Owl is standing at his front door.  I carved Owl from a piece of pecan wood, and built his porch much as it is depicted in the book, complete with Eeyore’s missing tail.  So that’s what I did on this Labor Day weekend.  Whatever you have done this weekend, I hope you have made the most of it.  http://www.yardartday.org/yad-2017-highlights/

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 is the recipient of a 2017-18 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship in the categories of literature, musical composition, and songwriting; she is among nineteen recipients from across the state. https://www.ncarts.org/meet–2017-nc-arts-council%E2%80%99s-artist-fellowship-recipients

Allison Hutchcraft  is the recipient of a 2017-18 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship in the categories of literature, musical composition, and songwriting; she is among nineteen recipients from across the state. https://www.ncarts.org/meet-2017-nc-arts-council%E2%80%99s-artist-fellowship-recipients

Upcoming Events and Deadlines—Here is a list of upcoming meetings and events that will take place this month:

–Provost’s Awards Reception    Tuesday, September 5       
3:30-5:00 pm  Halton Reading Room, Atkins Library

–Bank of America Award Reception and Dinner   Friday, September 8
6:00 pm  Hilton Charlotte Center City

Quirky Quiz Question —  The animal characters in Winnie-the-Pooh are based on toy animals that A. A. Milne’s son (Cristopher Robin) played with during his childhood.  These toys are now on display in a public library.  In what city is this library display located?

Last week’s answer: Windex
In addition to being interested in the ancient Greeks, the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding has a peculiar obsession with a particular product.  What is this product?