Monthly Archives: December 2019

Turning Over the Keys —  On August 1, 2012, I began serving as the Interim Chair of the English Department, and on August 6 of that year, I sent out my very first Monday Missive.  Since then I have sent you a Monday Missive every week.  The only exceptions have been during the weeks when UNC Charlotte has been closed for the holidays and one week in March 2017 when Jen Munroe wrote the Monday Missive because I was hospitalized.  I did some quick calculations, and I am pretty sure that today ‘s edition is the 370th Monday Missive.  It is also the last one.

I searched through my old email and found my first Monday Missive.  In it, I used David Bowie’s song “Changes” as a springboard to discuss the changes that were taking place in the English Department at the time.  Today’s Monday Missive is also about changes.  At the end of this week, I am literally turning over the keys of the English Department to Paula Eckard.  She officially becomes the new chair of our department on January 1, 2020, but she has already transformed the chair’s office and has made the space her own.  

At the same time that Paula is taking on the role of English Department Chair, Liz Miller is assuming the role of Associate Chair/Director of Undergraduate Studies from Jen Munroe, and Beth Gargano is assuming the role of Director of the English Honors Program from Kirk Melnikoff.  Lara Vetter is staying on in her role as the Director of Graduate Studies.

This current period of transition is not the first time that I have turned over the administration of a program to Paula.  When I became an associate dean in 2002, I needed to step down as the Director of the American Studies Program.  Paula took over the administration of the program at the time.  During her long and successful tenure as its director, she has done an excellent job of building the American Studies Program.  When I turned it over to her in 2002, there were about 50 students minoring in American Studies. Today, the program has more than 350 minors, making it one of the largest minors in the university.

Just as she did when she became the Director of the American Studies Program, Paula will draw on her experience and excellent judgment in her new role as the Chair of the English Department.  As I conclude my time as your chair, I pledge to do all I can to help Paula and the department through this period of transition.  I know that I am leaving the English Department in good hands.

Commencement Report — Last Saturday the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held its winter commencement ceremony.  Jen Munroe, Liz Miller, Lara Vetter and I took responsibility for lining up our graduating students in alphabetical order before they filed into the Dale F. Halton Arena.

For 76 of our students, this ceremony marked their transition from current students to graduates.  A total of 9 of our graduate students are listed in the commencement program, and 67 undergraduate students are listed.  I am especially impressed with how many of our BA students fall under the heading of “Graduation with Distinction.”  Of the 67 students, 12 earned the distinction of Cum Laude (GPA between 3.4-3.7), 10 earned the distinction of Magna Cum Laude (GPA between 3.7-3.9), and 3 earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude (GPA between 3.9-4.0).  This total comes to 25 students.  Also, 4 of our students graduated with English Honors.  I am very proud of all of our graduating students, but I want to mention by name the 3 students who earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude.  They are Riley Michelle Davoren, Britney Lussier, and Amy Eileen Murray.

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:

Everyone in the English Department —  I commend all of the members of the English Department (both past and present) for building and sustaining an inclusive department that is dedicated to teaching high-quality courses, producing thoughtful and innovative scholarly and creative publications, and promoting a sense of departmental citizenship.  

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

January 8 — First day of classes for the Spring 2020 semester.

January 15 — Last day for students to add or drop a course with no grade.

Quirky Quiz Question — In my first Monday Missive, I asked the following Quirky Quiz Question:  “I am not the first Interim Chair of the English Department.  Who was the last person to serve as the Interim Chair of our department?”  Paula Eckard was the first person to provide the correct response (Jay Jacoby), and this seems very fitting to me.   Here is my last Quirky Quiz Question–what is the connection between Jay Jacoby’s current place of residence and Paula Eckard’s research interest in Thomas Wolfe?

Last week’s answer: Mathematics

In addition to writing children’s books, Lewis Carroll spent many years teaching at Oxford University.  What subject did he teach?

Storied Places — I just return last night from participating in a symposium at Oxford University.  The symposium was interesting, but what I enjoyed the most was wandering the streets of Oxford.  As a children’s literature professor, I think of Oxford is a special place.  It is associated with a number of important children’s books, including Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  The good people of Oxford celebrate their connections to the classic works of children’s literature that were written there.  There are plaques and guidebooks that point out special places in Oxford associated with children’s literature, and most everyone, including me, is eager to help visitors as they go on their literary pilgrimages.  When I walked to the site of the symposium, I went right by the pub called The Eagle and Child, where Tolkien, Lewis and some of their colleagues met every week to visit and to critique each other’s manuscripts.  As I was walking by the pub, a woman asked me if I would take her picture standing under the sign.  We ended up chatting for several minutes about Tolkien.  This type of interaction is common in Oxford.  The city’s connections to children’s literature fosters a sense of community that I find appealing.

I am not the only member of our English Department who is interested in the connections between place and stories.  Daniel Shealy, for example, has a deep-seated interest in the many authors from Concord, Massachusetts, including Lousia May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.  As a frequent visitor to Concord, Daniel has developed an expertise in the unique literary culture that emerged in Concord in the mid-nineteenth century and persists to this day.  Another example is Bryn Chancellor.  Bryn spent some of her formative years in the American southwest, and she often sets her stories in this region. For Bryn, the desert-like conditions in American southwest spark her imagination.  In her novel Sycamore, the setting is so important to her story that almost seems like a character.

In reflecting on the relationship between places and stories, I am reminded that stories can also take us to places just through the act of reading.  For me, one of the pleasures of being an English professor is that I am able to introduce students to a wide variety of wonderful places.  My students might not be able to stroll the streets of Oxford, but they can experience some of the magic of storied places by picking up a book.  As Dr. Seuss once said, “You’re off to Great Places!”

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:

Meghan Barnes recently presented the following three papers at the Literacy Research Association Conference held in Tampa: “You Can’t Un-See Color:  A PhD, a Divorce, and The Wizard of Oz;” “Contested Pasts, ComPlicated Presents:  Pre-Service Teachers’ Developing Conceptions of Community;” and “Activism and the Academy:  Public Literacy Scholars’ Reflections on our Past and Future Work.”

Paula Connolly recently published a book review of Radiant with Color & ARt:  McLaughlin Brothers and the Business of Picture Books”  in the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly.

Dina Massaachi, one of our part-time faculty members, recently published an article titled “’Written Soley to Please Children’: Is Oz Still A Story for Kids?” in The Baum Bugle.

Ralf Thiede published an article titled “Synesthetic Entrainment in Interactive Reading Sessions of Children’s Books” in the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. His was one of five articles selected for a special issue on “Cognitive Approaches to Children’s Literature.” The same issue also contains a very favorable review by Hugh Crago of Ralf’s book Children’s Literature, Brain Development, and Language Acquisition.

Quirky Quiz Question — In addition to writing children’s books, Lewis Carroll spent many years teaching at Oxford University.  What subject did he teach?

Last week’s answer: Tom Hanks

Fred Rogers was a big advocate of pretend play as is reflected in the following quotation by Rogers: “When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality.  A stick can be a magic wand.  A sock can be a puppet.   A small child can be a superhero.”  What is the name of the actor who plays the role of Fred Rogers in the current film about Fred Rogers’s life? 

The Intersection of Play Studies and Narrative Studies — This week I am heading off to Oxford University to participate in the Oxford Education Research Symposium for the fourth time since I have been chair of the English Department.  Last year, I had lunch with one of the symposium’s organizers, and I expressed my appreciation at being invited back repeatedly.  He responded by saying, “We like your stories.”  I suppose that is a good thing for me since this year I am presenting a paper titled “Astrid Lindgren’s Stories, Junibacken, and the Playful Approach to Literacy Education.”  This paper is based on research I did last summer when I interviewed the Manager of Public Operations at Junibacken, a children’s cultural center in Stockholm that celebrates stories by Astrid Lindgren and other Scandinavian children’s authors.  In the paper, I discuss the ways in which Junibacken uses dramatic play in their literacy education program. 

For the past ten years, I have been researching and writing about the relationship between children’s play and children’s literature.  I have learned that the emerging field of play studies has many connections with the more established field of narrative studies.  Children’s dramatic play, for example, always involves a narrative element.   I have also learned that I am not the only member of the English Department who is doing research that relates to play studies.  Janaka Lewis and Aaron Toscano are also currently engaged in research projects related to this area.

I contacted Janaka about her interest in the field of play studies, and she sent me the following summary of her current research:  “My current research related to play looks at both child’s play as well as children’s performance of roles that they will be expected to perform upon entering adulthood.   I am interested in how this type of play is used by children and specifically Black girl protagonists to negotiate difficult circumstances that challenge their social mobility.  Through an examination of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, The Bluest Eye, and PUSH, I am looking at how Black girl characters (both real and fictional) use creative play as an opportunity to escape from trauma or to overcome trauma.  I am also looking at how readers, who see themselves represented in the stories, can draw on these depictions of play to navigate where they are and where they can be.”

Aaron’s interest in play studies directly relates to his current research into the playing of video games.  In his forthcoming book titled Video Games and American Culture:  How Ideology Influences Virtual Worlds, Aaron places the playing of video games within a cultural context.  Lexington Books, the publisher of Aaron’s book, provides the following summary of Aaron’s approach to this topic:  “Although video games have a worldwide audience, this book focuses on American culture and how this multi-billion dollar industry entertains us in our leisure time (and sometimes at work), bringing us into virtual environments where we have fun learning, fighting, discovering, and acquiring bragging rights. When politicians and moral crusaders push agendas that claim video games cause a range of social ills from obesity to mass shooting, these perspectives fail to recognize that video games reproduce hegemonic American values. This book, in contrast, focuses on what these highly entertaining cultural products tell us about who we are.”

As Janaka’s and Aaron’s research demonstrates, the field of play studies is not just about fun and games.  The study of play, like the study of literature, is rooted in culture.  I am reminded of a famous quotation about play by Johan Huizinga:  “Culture arises and unfolds in and as play.”

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:

Boyd Davis recently presented a co-authored paper titled “A Closer look at Formulaic Language in Dementia Discourse” at the Linguistic Society of New Zealand Conference in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Jordan Costanza, one of our graduate students, just published an article titled “Of Ravens and Romanticism: Edgar Allan Poe’s Enduring Legacy in American Education and the Juvenile Adaptations of his Poetry and Prose” in the journal Edgar Allan Poe Review. This article was originally Jordan’s Honors thesis.

Allison Hutchcraft recently published a poem titled “Alice in the Cloisters” in Western Humanities Review.

Janaka Lewis recently published an article titled “Building the Worlds of Our Dreams:  Black Girlhood and Quare Narratives in African American Literature” in the fall 2019 issue of the journal South. 

Upcoming Events and Deadlines — Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:

December 9 — The English Department holiday party will be held from 11:30-1:30 on Monday, December 9, in the department lounge.

Quirky Quiz Question — Fred Rogers was a big advocate of pretend play as is reflected in the following quotation by Rogers: “When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality.  A stick can be a magic wand.  A sock can be a puppet.   A small child can be a superhero.”  What is the name of the actor who plays the role of Fred Rogers in the current film about Fred Rogers’s life? 

Last week’s answer: The Macy’s Parade

There are many traditions associated with Thanksgiving, including a large parade in New York City.  What is the name of this parade?