Monthly Archives: October 2018

Come and Sit for a Spell (or a Potion) — One of the reasons I like Halloween so much is that it harks back to a time when children knew all of their neighbors and felt free to visit them–a time when people sat on their front porches and invited passersby to sit on the porch swing for a spell.  However, with the rise of the suburban ranch house, the sociable front porch has given way to the private back patio or deck, and this change in domestic architecture has altered the ways in which neighbors interact.  Nowadays, many children hardly know their neighbors, and they certainly don’t feel free to ring their neighbors’ doorbells and ask for a treat–except for on Halloween.  On Halloween, we give ourselves permission to open our doors to our neighbors, to play, and to not take ourselves too seriously even if it’s just for a day.

I am pleased to report that the convivial spirit of Halloween pervaded the English Department last Friday thanks to the efforts of the students in Sigma Tau Delta, the English Graduate Student Association, and the Children’s Literature Graduate Organization.  These students held their second annual Haunted English Department Take Over on Friday, October 26, from 4:00 to 8:00 pm, and it was a smash hit.  We flung open the front doors of the English Department, and lots of students and children showed up in costumes.  A number of faculty and staff members, including me, opened our office doors to trick-or-treaters.  The student organizers decorated the department, held a costume contest, and set up Halloween-related craft projects.  They showed a scary movie and provided an abundance of pizza and other tasty snacks.  Everyone who participated had a great time.

I had to leave around 6:00, but the English Department was still rollicking when I headed home.  Seeing so many children, students, faculty, and staff members all having fun together, I concluded, as I drove home, that our English Department is not just an academic unit.  For many of us, it also functions as a community or a neighborhood of sorts.  If it’s haunted, I suspect that it’s haunted by friendly spirits who just want to sit for a spell and enjoy the convivial company.

 

Personally Speaking Dates — We have confirmed the dates next semester for not one but two English Department faculty who will be discussing their books at Personally Speaking:

Last week’s answer: John F. Kennedy

When Robert Frost was 86, he read a poem at the inauguration of a President.  What is the name of this President?

October and Robert Frost — As I was raking the leaves in our backyard on Sunday morning in preparation for the English Department’s fall party, I suddenly flashed on Robert Frost’s poem “October.”   The opening lines of this poem read:

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.

Ever since my days at Franconia College, I have had an interest in Frost’s poetry in part because of Frost’s connections to the town of Franconia, New Hampshire.  Frost purchased a farmhouse outside of Franconia in 1915 and lived there until 1920.  Even after Frost moved, he kept the house and often spent his summers there.

When I lived in Franconia, the Frost property came on the market, and the citizens of the town initiated a campaign for the town to purchase and preserve the property.  I went to several of the meetings where this idea was being discussed, and I remember being thrilled when the town purchased the property in 1976 and turned it into a museum and poetry center called The Frost Place.  For more information about The Frost Place, please click on this link: https://frostplace.org

At the time it seemed like everybody in Franconia, including me, was quoting lines from Frost’s poems.  We thought of Frost as our poet, our man of letters, our favorite former resident of our historic New England town.  Even now, I am proud of the town of Franconia for rallying behind a poet.  I cannot think of any other town that owns and operates a poetry center.

What appeals to me the most about Frost’s poetry is the way he captures the rhythms of nature and the pulse of place.  His poems celebrate the subtle ways in which nature and places shape our day-to-day lives.  For me, Frost’s poetry resonates most strongly when I am outdoors, perhaps with a rake in my hand, leaves fluttering around my head, and a sense that our backyard works pretty well as my own Frost place.

October Sky — The Fall Film Series of the NC Humanities Council grant funded project, The Child in Southern Literature and Film, begins today at 5pm in the Student Union Theater. October Sky, a film in which teens in West Virginia start building rockets following the launch of Sputnik, will be screened and discussed. Everyone is invited to attend. The other films in this series include Night of the Hunter on November 28 and Remember the Titans on December 5.

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:

Juan Meneses was recently interviewed by The Massachusetts Review. The interview is available here: http://www.massreview.org/node/7159

Sam Shapiro recently published a review of The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created in the Raleigh News & Observer. Here is the link:  https://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/books/article219636675.html

Upcoming Events and Meetings — Here is a list of upcoming events and meetings:

October 31 — Balaka Basu will deliver a talk titled “Learning from the Harry Potter Generation” on October 31 at 2pm in the Dale Halton Room of the Atkins Library.

Quirky Quiz Question — When Robert Frost was 86, he read a poem at the inauguration of a President.  What is the name of this President?

Last week’s answer: CLAS Associate Dean Greg Weeks

National Hispanic Heritage Month — Today marks the culmination of the 2018 National Hispanic Heritage Month.  Officially described “as a way to promote the history, culture and contributions of Hispanic-Americans. Specifically — those whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America,” National Hispanic Heritage Month takes place each year from September 15 though October 15.  Given the goals associated with this special month, I think it is especially fitting that members of our English Department recently launched several initiatives that relate to these goals.

Maya Socolovsky has been teaching a special topics course titled “Introduction to U.S. Latinx Literature” for a number of years, and the course has attracted strong interest from our students.  She recently proposed making this course a permanent course with its own course number.  At its last meeting, our Undergraduate Committee approved Maya’s proposal and sent it to forward for departmental approval.  During last week’s department meeting, the faculty voted in favor of this proposal.  By voting to make this a permanent course, the department not only embraced this particular course, but it also recognized the importance of Latinx literature as a vibrant and vital part of America’s diverse culture.

Of course, Latinx culture also involves more than literature.  Another important aspect of this culture involves foodways.  Next semester Consuelo Salas will teach a graduate seminar in which she will address this aspect of Latinx culture.  When I asked her for more information about her plans for this seminar, she sent me the following email: “In the Spring, I’ll be teaching ENGL 6062, which I have themed the Rhetoric of Food.  As part of the course, I plan to have students examine community foodway literacies and practices in the Charlotte area.  The students will be exposed to various Latinx communities, their foodways, and explore the ways that different Latinx communities have made a food home for themselves in the area.” 

JuliAnna Ávila is interested in helping Latinx students find a home for themselves within the university.  Last week, she initiated the formation of an honors society for Latinx students.  In an email that she sent to faculty, she wrote: “I’m working to create a university-wide Latinx Honor Society, and am looking for students to help establish this group. So, I’m writing to ask for your help with two things.  First, if you have students who you think might be interested, please send names along to me.  Although membership criteria will need to be set by the group itself, I’m guessing that it will include a g.p.a. of at least 3.5 and some level of community involvement.  Second, if you have had experience with helping create a student group and have advice, I would appreciate hearing it.”  I spoke to JuliAnna a few days after she sent out her email, and she informed me that she is already getting a very positive response, especially from members of the English Department.

As these three examples illustrate, our English Department will continue to support the goals associated with the National Hispanic Heritage Month even after the special month draws to close.

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:

Allison Hutchcraft is the subject of an interview that has recently been published on The Massachusetts Review website: https://www.massreview.org/node/7155.

Paula Martinac will be presenting and reading at the NC Writers’ Conference in Charlotte, Nov. 2-4. She was recently featured on their website: https://www.ncwriters.org/index.php/our-members/network-news/9929-fc18-pm

Kirk Melnikoff recently published the article “Shakespeare’s Urban Comedies and the Lure of True Crime and Satire” in The Oxford Handbook of Shakespearean Comedy. (Oxford UP 2018).

Daniel Shealy delivered a presentation titled “‘Duty chains me to my galley’: Publishing Louisa May Alcott” at the Concord Free Public Library in Concord, MA.  on October 13, 2018.  The presentation was in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Little Women.

Clayton Tarr recently presented a paper titled “‘[A] daring imposture’: Registration and Impersonation in Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White” at the North American Victorian Studies Association Conference.

Heather Vorhies recently presented a paper titled “Enthusiastic Bodies; Republican Minds” at the Rhetoric and Religion in the Twenty-First Century Conference.

Quirky Quiz Question — The National Hispanic Heritage Month focuses mostly on cultural topics, but it also has connections to Latin American politics.  For those interested in keeping up to date on Latin American politics, they should check out the weekly blog on this topic that is written by a UNC Charlotte faculty member/administrator.  What is the name of the person who writes this Latin American Politics Blog?

Last week’s answer: Louis Armstrong

When the members of our English Department went to New Orleans to participate in the 2018 Conference of the Popular Culture Association in the South, they flew in and out of the major airport in New Orleans.  This airport is named for a famous former resident of New Orleans.  What is the name of this famous person? 

Popular Culture Studies — This past week several members of our English Department traveled to New Orleans to participate in the 2018 Conference of the Popular Culture Association in the South.  Shannon Bauerle, a graduate of our MA program and a faculty member in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, organized a roundtable discussion of the program’s annual performance based on Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues.  The participants in the roundtable discussion included Shannon, Roberta Dunn, Tiffany Morin, Angie Williams, and Alison Walsh.  During their presentation, they discussed how this annual performance has evolved beyond the scope of Ensler’s original work.  Aaron Toscano also attended this conference where he delivered a paper titled “Video Games and the Neoliberal Hero: Capitalism, Postmodernism, and American Exceptionalism.”

Our English Department’s presence at this conference reflects the department’s varied contributions to the study of popular culture.   Over the years, many of our faculty members have taught courses that deal with popular culture.  A few examples include Chris Arvidson’s course on Baseball in Film, Aaron Gwyn’s course on the television series Breaking Bad, and Katie Hogan’s course titled Girl Cultures.  Our faculty have also published scholarly works that deal with popular culture.  A few examples include Pilar Blitvich’s Real Talk:  Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, Sarah Minslow’s recently published essay that deals with the impact of Winnie-the-Pooh on children’s popular culture in America, and Alan Rauch’s scholarship on the portrayal of dolphins in popular culture.

The field of popular culture studies as an academic specialty got its start at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), which is where I earned my doctoral degree.  Ray Browne, a longtime English professor at BGSU, began building the field of popular culture studies shortly after he joined the English Department at BGSU in 1967.  He founded the Journal of Popular Culture in 1967, established the Center for Popular Culture Studies in 1968, and launched the Popular Culture Association in 1970.  He went on to establish BGSU’s Department of Popular Culture in 1973 and then founded the Journal of American Culture in 1979.  He and his wife, Pat Browne, also organized and developed what is now known as the Ray and Pat Browne Popular Culture Library.

When I arrived at BGSU in 1980, Ray was still teaching, and I had the privilege of taking several courses from him.  Also at BGSU, I met my friend and frequent collaborator, Kathy Merlock Jackson.  Since we both were strongly influenced by Ray, we decided to dedicate our book Disneyland and Culture to Ray and Pat Browne.  In our dedication, we praise their “enduring work in popular culture.”  As I see it, the prominent role that popular culture studies plays in UNC Charlotte’s English Department is a testament to Ray’s enduring legacy.

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:

Janaka Lewis recently participated in a roundtable presentation titled “Teaching in the Age of Trump and Black Lives Matter:  Possibility, Pedagogy, and Positionality” at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Conference held in Indianapolis.

Heather Vorhies recently learned that her article titled “Ordering the Mind:  Reading Style in Hugh Blair” has been accepted by Rhetoric Review. This is a top-tier journal in Heather’s field.

Upcoming Events and Meetings — Here is a list of upcoming events and meetings:

October 12 — The English Department meeting will take place on Friday, October 12, from 11:00-12:15 in the Conference Room (Fretwell 280C).

Quirky Quiz Question — When the members of our English Department went to New Orleans to participate in the 2018 Conference of the Popular Culture Association in the South, they flew in and out of the major airport in New Orleans.  This airport is named for a famous former resident of New Orleans.  What is the name of this famous person?

The quotations by Daniel Shealy in The Hollywood Reporter article about film and television adaptions of Little Women relates to a recent surge of publicity surrounding an important anniversary associated with Little Women.  What is this important anniversary?