Arrival and Departure — If you have driven to the Charlotte Douglas International Airport lately, you may have noticed the new control tower that is currently under construction. This spring the tower topped out at 370 feet, making it the second tallest control tower in the United States. The new control tower will not be operational anytime soon, but its exterior appearance is already pretty close to what it will look like when it replaces the current control tower in 2020.
My interest in this topic stems in part from my short-lived ambition to become an air traffic controller when I was in high school. I had read Arthur Hailey’s Airport, and I was intrigued by his depiction of the inner workings of a busy airport. For some peculiar reason, the prospect of overseeing the arrivals and departures of lots of planes struck me as the perfect career choice. In fact, back then I thought I couldn’t ask for anything more. I never dreamed of becoming a pilot, like the cab driver in Harry Chapin’s hit song “Taxi.” However, like the cab driver in Chapin’s song, I sort of got what I “asked for such a long, long time ago.” Chapin’s cab driver imagines that he is flying in his taxi, and I spend part of my time dealing with arrivals and departures.
If I had an “Arrivals and Departures” sign in the lobby of the English Department, I would list Clayton Tarr on the arrivals side of the sign. In fact, Clayton has already touched down in Charlotte, and he will soon be arriving at his gate. Well, it’s not actually a gate; it’s a freshly painted office. Clayton is joining the English Department this fall as a lecturer. He has a joint appointment with the English Department and the University Writing Program. On the departures side of my make-believe sign, I would list Kailan Sindelar. Kailan has taught in our English Department as a visiting lecturer in our technical communication program for the past year, but she will soon be taking off to begin Clemson University’s PHD program in Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design.
I welcome Clayton to our English Department, and I wish Kailan all the best as she pursues her doctoral degree.
Kudos — As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department. Here is the latest news:
Joan Mullin, Jan Rieman, and Heather Vorhies recently gave a joint presentation titled “The Work Continues: Identity Building in an Evolving Multi-Unit Independent Writing Program” at the Council of Writing Program Administrators conference in Sacramento, CA. Also at this conference, Joan presented a paper titled “The Crossover of FYW, WAC, WID to BS (BA): Using What We Know as WPAs to Create and Sustain Undergrad Degrees in Writing.”
Upcoming Events and Meetings Here is a list of upcoming events and meetings related to the start of the fall 2018 semester:
–University Convocation Thursday, August 16 8:30am reception in Lucas Room/9:30am-11:00am Convocation in McKnight Hall
–Classes Begin Monday, August 20 Classes begin at 5:00pm/First day of daytime classes is on August 21</span
–CLAS All Faculty Mtg Friday, August 24 8:30am-12:00pm in McKnight Hall
–English Department Mtg Friday, September 7 11:00am-12:30pm in Fretwell 280C (English Department Conference Room)
Quirky Quiz Question — “Taxi” was Harry Chapin’s first hit single. One of his other hit singles is a song about the relationship between a father and his son over the course of many years. What is the title of this song?
Last week’s answer: Penny Marshall
One of the films that Chris Arvidson will be covering in her course on Baseball in Film is A League of Their Own. Does anybody know the name of the woman who directed this film?