Mark West

Partnerships — The University’s website includes links to recent press releases, and last week one of these releases caught my attention. Titled “Charlotte Teachers Institute Partners with Discovery Place and Gantt Center,” this release relates directly to two faculty members in the English Department: Alan Rauch and Paula Connolly. Both Alan and Paula are leading seminars for the Charlotte Teachers Institute (CTI) in 2014, and both are drawing on the resources of Charlotte museums. Alan is leading a seminar on “The Intersections of Science, Technology and Culture,” and his seminar will meet at Discovery Place. Paula’s seminar is called “Visual Storytelling in Children’s and Young Adult Literature,” and she is holding her seminar at the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts and Culture. For more information about these partnerships, please click on the following link: http://publicrelations.uncc.edu/news-events/news-releases/charlotte-teachers-institute-partners-discovery-place-and-gantt-center

Alan and Paula are by no means the only faculty members in the English Department who have partnered with Charlotte-area institutions and organizations. Two other examples that immediately come to mind are Jeffrey Leak and Lil Brannon. Through his work as the Director for the Center for the Study of the New South, Jeffrey often collaborates with the Levine Museum of the New South, and he has held several programs at the Levine Museum. About a year ago, he worked together with the museum’s administrators and staff in co-sponsoring a conference. Through her work with the Charlotte Writers Project, Lil has collaborated with a number of Charlotte organizations. Recently Lil received a substantial grant from the National Writing Project to fund a collaborative program involving the Charlotte Writing Project and Discovery Place. Titled “Making STEAM,” this program encourages Charlotte-area students to write across numerous disciplines, including science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM). Through such partnerships, the faculty members in our department have an impact that extends well beyond the boundaries of our campus.

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:

Brittney Chalmers, one of our graduate students, is spotlighted in the Graduate School’s newsletter (The Graduate Source) for being the recipient of 2014-15 John Paul Lucas, Jr. Scholarship for Educational Leadership.

Aaron Gwyn’s Wynne’s War received a rave review from the Chicago Tribune. Here is the link: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/books/chi-wynnes-war-aaron-gwyn-20140606,0,4346196.story

Jeffrey Leak will be a guest on WFAE’s Charlotte Talks on Thursday, June 19. He will talk about his new book Visible Man: The Life of Henry Dumas.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:

June 21 — Jeffrey Leak will sign copies of Visible Man: The Life of Henry Dumas at Park Road Books at 2:00 pm on Saturday, June 21, 2014.

Quirky Quiz Question — The above mentioned news release about the Charlotte Teachers Institute seminars reminds me that English faculty have led more CTI seminars than the faculty from any other department at UNC Charlotte. Who is the English faculty member who led a CTI seminar in 2013?

June — Did you ever see the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel? I always think about Carousel around this time of the year because it features the famous song “June Is Bustin’ Out All Over.” When I was a junior in high school I performed in Carousel. The director made sure I had one of the few non-singing roles. I played the part of the stodgy banker who ends up shooting Billy Bigelow, the central character in the play. Nevertheless, I have great memories of being in the play, and I believe that the experience of performing a role in this play has carried over to my teaching career. When I teach, for example, I often act out scenes from the books that I am covering.

Another way in which performing and teaching can go together is when professors have their students take a performative approach to the texts that they are studying. Several professors in the English Department take such an approach in their classes. I know that that Kirk Melnikoff and Jen Munroe have their students act out scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. Similarly, Beth Gargano has her students perform versions of fairy tales. Lil Brannon encourages the students in her English education courses to engage in role playing. I am sure that there are other examples, and I would love to hear about them. Sometimes stories need to bust out from the pages of books. As I see it, June is a great time for stories to be bustin’ out all over.

Kudos— As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of our department. For those people who think English faculty sit back and relax over the summer, the following listing will prove them wrong. Here is the latest news:

Paula Connolly recently received a Caleb Loring, Jr. Fellowship from the Boston Athenaeum for 2014-2015 (for a 4-week residency). Also, her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature just received a glowing review from the Journal of American History.

Amanda Dykema, a former graduate of our M.A. program in literature, received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland last weekend. She has accepted a two-year Visiting Assistant Professor position at Rhodes College.

Aaron Gwyn recently published an essay in the Huffington Post titled “Nine Classic Contemporary Westerns You Need to Read” Here is the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-gwyn/9-classic-contemporary-we_b_5397760.html?utm_hp_ref=books

Jeffrey Leak presented a paper titled “Robert Hayden: A Man of Few Poetic Boundaries” at the Ninth Biennial MESEA (Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and the Americas) Conference, which took place at Saarland University in Saarbruken, in Germany.

Malin Pereira presented a paper titled “Crossing Race, Class, and Nation: Natasha Trethewey’s Mixed Race Interrogations in Beyond Katrina and Thrall” at the Ninth Biennial MESEA (Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and the Americas) Conference, which took place at Saarland University in Saarbruken, in Germany.

Daniel Shealy presented “‘Playing with Edge Tools’: Teaching Louisa May Alcott’s Moods” at the American Literature Association conference on 24 May in Washington, DC. Also, his book Little Women: An Annotated Edition just received a glowing review from The Lion and the Unicorn.

Lara Vetter delivered a keynote address entitled “H.D., World War II, and Forms of Mysticism” at a conference on Women Modernists and Spirituality at the University of Stirling, Scotland, UK, on May 23, 2014.

Quirky Quiz Question — Carousel takes place in the state of Maine. Maine is also the home of several prestigious colleges, including the college where Nathanial Hawthorne and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow were once students. What is the name of the college?

Today is Memorial Day.  Although it is a federal holiday and there are no classes today, the University does not close on Memorial Day.  While thinking about what I should say about Memorial Day in today’s Monday Missive, a series of associations came to mind.

Memorial Day is intended to commemorate members of the military who lost their lives in the line of duty.  I am fortunate in that no one in my immediate family died while in service, but I had a high school friend who died in the Vietnam War, and I always think about him on Memorial Day. Angie’s son, Josh Edwards, served in Afghanistan along with his best friend, whose name was also Josh.  Angie’s son survived his tour in Afghanistan, but his best friend, Josh Blaney, was killed in action.  Angie has a photograph of the two Joshes in her office, and every time I see that photograph, I am reminded of the high cost of war.

Memorial Day got its start shortly after the Civil War.  Initially it was called Decoration Day because on this day people decorated the graves of soldiers who died during the Civil War.  In a sense, Memorial Day is one of many reminders of the continuing impact of the Civil War on our culture.   In reflecting on this aspect of American history, I am reminded that both Daniel Shealy and Paula Connolly have taken a scholarly interest in this topic.  Daniel is currently working on a book about the pivotal role that the town of Concord, Massachusetts, played in the Civil War, and Paula has written extensively on the impact of the Civil War on American children’s literature, especially as it pertains to the issue of slavery.

Of course, Memorial Day is also associated with the beginning of summer. For many people Memorial Day means backyard cookouts, family gatherings, and NASCAR events.   For me, the kick-off of summer has associations with planting tomatoes. My father always waited until the end of May before he put his tomato plants outside, which made sense for him, given that he was gardening in the mountains of Colorado where it often snowed in May.  In Charlotte, we don’t get snow storms in May, but I still waited until yesterday to plant my tomatoes.    

My last association with Memorial Day has to do with my birthday, which is tomorrow.   Since Memorial Day and my birthday are always so close together, the two days blur together in my addled brain.  However, I will always remember that on my second birthday I got a wonderful birthday present, although I did not recognize it at the time.  My sister, Anna, was born on my second birthday.  According to my parents, when they brought Anna home from the hospital, they told me that she was my birthday present, and I reportedly said, “But I wanted a truck.” 

So those are my associations with Memorial Day.  Whatever you are doing on this Memorial Day, I hope it’s a day to remember.

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:

Balaka Basu received a 2014 Faculty Research Grant from the Children’s Literature Association for a project titled “Playing the Game:  Reading Digitally with Children’s Literature.”

Ron Lunsford presented a paper titled “Manipulative Arguments in Political Speech” at EPICS VI:  Sixth International Symposium on Intercultural. Cognitive and Social Pragmatics, which took place in Seville, Spain, from May 12-15, 2014.  

Liz Miller recently learned that her co-edited volume titled Interdisciplinary Approaches to Theorizing and Analyzing Agency and Second Language Learning has been accepted for publication by Multilingual Matters. Her co-editors include Ping Deters, Xuesong Gao and Gergana Vitanova.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:

May 27 — Aaron Gwyn will read from his new novel, Wynne’s War, at Park Road Books at 7:00 pm.

Quirky Quiz Question — The subject of Balaka Basu’s recent faculty research grant (see above) relates to her larger research project on the relationship between games and children’s literature.  She is currently on a research trip related to this project.  Where is the world is Balaka Basu? 

Of War and Literature — With the publication of Wynne’s War, Aaron Gwyn joins an impressive list of authors and poets who have responded through their writing to war and al of war’s complexities and high costs. As is the case with Aaron’s novel, many war stories combine intensely personal stories and far larger stories of geo-political conflict. This summer marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War One, and there are many great works of literature that respond to this war. In my view, Wynne’s War and its depiction of the complexities of the current war in Afghanistan pairs up well with some of the war novels that deal with the complexities of the First World War. Here is a list of a few literary works about World War One that I recommend:

C.S. Foster’s The African Queen (1935)
Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms 1929).
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Rilla of Ingleside (1921).
Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)
Jeff Shaara’s To the Last Man (2005)
Dalton Trumbo’s Johnny Got His Gun (1939)
Candace Ward’s World War One British Poets (1997)

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:

Liz Miller recently presented a talk to the Linguistic Circle at the University of Edinburgh titled “Adult Immigrants’ ‘Theories of Agency’ as Dialogical Performatives.”

Meaghan Rand received her Ph.D. in the Urban Literacy (English) at the recent commencement ceremony. Tony Scott directed her dissertation, and Lil Brannon participated at the ceremony to “hood” her. She currently is a full-time Lecturer in the FYW program.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:

May 20 — Last day to add or drop a class with no grade for the first summer session.

Quirky Quiz Question — Aaron Gwyn’s Wynne’s War deals with the current war in Afghanistan. The publication of this novel reminds me that Angie William’s son served a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Does anyone know his first name?

Commencement — Last Saturday the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held its first stand-alone commencement ceremony, and for nearly 90 of our students, this ceremony marked their transition from current students to graduates. A total of 14 of our graduate students are listed in the commencement program, and 74 undergraduate students are listed.

I was especially impressed with how many of our BA students fall under the heading of “Graduation with Distinction.” Of the 74 students, 15 earned the distinction of Cum Laude (GPA between 3.4-3.7), 7 earned the distinction of Magna Cum Laude (GPA between 3.7-3.9), and 5 earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude (GPA between 3.9-4.0). This total comes to 27 students, which means that 36.5% of our graduate seniors earned this special distinction. I am very proud of all of our graduating students, but I want to mention by name the 5 students who earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude. Their names are Kristin Nichole Brown, Yekaterina N. Dolmatova, Mary-Elizabeth Greene, Sarah Elizabeth Story, and Breanne Elaine Weber.

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:

Monica Alston recently completed all of the training workshops to earn certification in the Grants and Contract Administration Program. She will receive her certificate this afternoon during a special ceremony for the staff who have completed this rigorous training program.

Ron Lunsford recently learned that a book he co-edited some years ago titled Linguistic Perspectives on Literature has just been re-released by Routledge Library Editions.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

May 19 — Classes for the first summer session begin on May 19.

May 20 — Last day to add or drop a class with no grade.

Quirky Quiz Question — The recent re-release on Ron Lunsford’s book Linguistic Perspectives on Literature underscores for me many ways in which members of our department combine linguistics and literature. Another example of this approach is the recent publication of a special issue of the Southern Journal of Linguistics on “Linguistics and Child Literature.” Who is the member of our department who served as the guest editor of this issue?

Two long-time friends of the English Department are about to retire.  Jo Ann Fernald (the Director of the Office of Disability Services) and Pamela King (the Director of Sponsored Research for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) are both retiring at the end of this academic year.  Like many of you, I have had extensive contact with both of these colleagues, and I have long been impressed with their professionalism and dedication.   Over the years, Jo Ann has helped me better serve my students who have various disabilities, and I know that she and her staff have helped countless students succeed in their studies at UNC Charlotte.   My connections with Pam King go back to the day she interviewed for her current position.  I was working in the Dean’s office at the time, and I remember thinking that she would be a perfect person for the position.  In her ten years at UNC Charlotte, Pam has not only provided leadership and expertise in the area of sponsored research, but she has also played a major role in cultivating the College’s support for research.  I’ve long been impressed with her willingness to help all faculty members with their grant proposals even if their grants were for comparatively small amounts of money.  Both Jo Ann and Pam are looking forward to their new adventures, and I know that we all wish them well, but they should also know that they will be missed.

Graduate Program News — Pilar Blitvich and I recently talked about encouraging developments in our graduate program, and we thought we should share some of this news the department.  In addition to our regular seven TAships, tied to the WRC/FYWP, this year we were able to secure two exceptional student awards, which waive the student’s first-year tuition costs, and two New Time Limited Assistantship funds ($10,000 each). Furthermore, our three prospect courses (taught by Jen, Kirk, and Ralf) also generated Taships.  Moreover, we were able to offer a Dean’s Graduate Scholar Award to an incoming English Education student.  We are also very pleased to report that Robin Kello was awarded the Russell Robinson Scholarship.

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:

Pilar Blitvich recently published a co-authored article titled  “Despierten, Latinos” (Wake up, Latinos): Latino Identity, US politics, and YouTube” in Journal of Language and Politics.  She has also had a number of other articles and book chapters recently accepted for publication. 

Kaitlyn Chapman, an undergraduate student in Jen Munroe’s interdisciplinary honors course on food systems and sustainability, won first place for the Honors College for her poster at the recent Undergraduate Research Conference. 

Nicholas DeArmas, one of our graduate students, has been accepted into the Ph.D. program in rhetoric and composition at the University of Central Florida with full funding. 

Alan Rauch recently learned that Scientific Americans : The Making of Popular Science and Evolution in Early-twentieth-century U.S. Literature and Culture by John Bruni was just published in the series that Alan edits (with Martin Willis)  for University of Wales Press (distributed in the US by University of Chicago Press) called Intersections in Literature and Science.  It is the first book in the series.  Also,  Alan was the sole guest on Charlotte Talks on April 25th (http://wfae.org/post/alan-rauch).  He discussed his book Dolphin.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

May 10 — The CLAS Commencement will be held on Saturday, May 10^th beginning at 10:00 a.m.  Please forward the letter to all EPA and SPA staff members in your departments.April 30 — The English Department meeting will take place in the Library (Atkins Room 130) from 11:00-12:30.

May 12 — Final grades for the Spring 2014 semester must be submitted by Monday, May 12th at noon. 

Quirky Quiz Question — Alan’s news about being a recent guest on the radio show titled Charlotte Talks underscores for me the importance of this show in terms of Charlotte’s cultural scene.  Who is the host of this show?  For extra credit, who are some other English faculty members who have recently been guests on Charlotte Talks?  

Earth Day – Today is John Muir’s birthday, and tomorrow is Earth Day. These two dates belong together, for John Muir (1838-1914) played a key role in the early days of the conservation movement.  Muir founded the Sierra Club and helped establish Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.  He was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson, President Theodore Roosevelt, and many other major figures who shared his commitment to preserving the natural environment.  Throughout his career, Muir enjoyed writing about his experiences as a naturalist and his observations of special places, such as the Sierra.  As we look forward to celebrating Earth Day, we should note that the English Department has faculty members who share Muir’s interest in promoting the natural environment.  Two who come immediately to mind are Greg Wickliff and Jen Munroe.

Greg regularly teaches a summer course called “Writing about Place.”  In this course, Greg has his students immerse themselves in a particular place and then write about that place in terms of its natural resources as well as its human inhabitants, both past and present.  This summer, Greg is having his students write about Badin, North Carolina.  Located on the Yadkin River, this small twon is about forty miles east of UNC Charlotte.  It is also a significant archeological site, and research indicates that humans have lived in this area for more than 12,000 years.

Jen has established herself as a leader in the University’s sustainability initiatives, but she has also made a name for herself in the area of eco-criticism.  Her scholarship in this area is reflected in her books Making Gardens of Their Own:  Gardening Manuals for Women, 1500-1750 (2007), Gender and the Garden in Early Modern English Literature (2008), and Ecofeminist Approaches to Early Modernity (2011).   Last month Jen received a contract for a new co-authored monograph titled Shakespeare and Ecofeminist Theory.  It will appear as part of the Arden “Shakespeare and Theory” series. 

The celebration of Earth Day helps us remember the importance of preserving and understanding our natural environment, but only so much can be accomplished in one day.  Through teaching and scholarship, Greg and Jen help sustain throughout the year the goals we associate with Earth Day.  I am sure John Muir would approve.

Leadership — I am pleased to report that we now have three more faculty members who have completed the leadership program offered by the ADVANCE Faculty Affairs Office.  These faculty members are Pilar Blitvich, Liz Miller, and Aaron Toscano.  By participating in this program, these and the other faculty members who have already gone through this program are positioning themselves to play leaderships roles in the department as well as the wider university.  Jeffrey Leak, for example, is a previous participant in the ADVANCE Program, and he is now one of two candidates for the position of Faculty President.  In my opinion, one of the great strengths of the English Department is the willingness of our faculty and staff to serve in leadership roles.

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:

Andrew Hartley was the subject of a feature article that ran in last Sunday’s Charlotte Observer.  Here is the link to the article: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/04/18/4850175/unc-charlottes-andrew-hartley.html#.U1VPiRlmWTg

Lisa McAlister, one of our current graduate students, recently presented a paper titled “Relational Knowledge and the Knowledge of Power between the Human and the Nonhuman in Early Modern Culture: The Knowledge of Experience and the Knowledge of Experiment” at the joint University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and King’s College London (UNC/KCL) Graduate Student Conference.

Liz Miller will be a guest speaker—via Skype—in a doctoral class at Pennsylvania State University this evening.

Jacqueline Plante, one of our former M.A. students, has been accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland, College Park, with a fellowship that includes five years of funding.  She plans to study twentieth-century poetry and digital humanities.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

April 24-26 — The Shakespeare in Action Initiative is sponsoring a workshop titled “Devising Shakespeare:  The Shrew Project.”  The workshop will take place in the Black Box Theater in Robinson Hall, starting at 7:30 (Thursday-Saturday).  Andrew Hartley, Kirk Melnikoff, and Jen Munroe all helped organize this event.

April 30 — The English Department Student Awards Ceremony will take place in the Dale Halton Room in the Library from 12:30-2:00.   

Quirky Quiz Question — I first took an interest in John Muir when I was living in Madison, Wisconsin.  Muir lived in Madison and attended the University of Wisconsin, although he never graduated.  We have several faculty members in the English Department who have degrees from the University of Wisconsin.  Name one of these faculty members.

I just got back from presenting a paper at the 5th Annual Public Intellectuals Conference.  This conference has a cap of 25 participants, and it’s unlike any other conference that I regularly attend.  Everyone sits around a conference table for two days.  Each participant gives a presentation for about 15 minutes, and then the entire group discusses the presentation for another 15 minutes.  The conference is amazingly interdisciplinary in nature.  This year the participants included scholars from English, history, sociology, psychology, communication studies, political science, and philosophy.   The experience of interacting in a scholarly way with academics from such diverse backgrounds underscored for me the value of approaching problems and topics from a variety of academic disciplines.

From my perspective, one of the great strengths of our English Department is our receptivity to interdisciplinary studies.  This strength is reflected in the active participation of our faculty in the American Studies Program, the Center for the Study of the New South, the Gerontology Program, the IDEAS (Infrastructure, Design, Environment, and Sustainability) Center, the M.A. Program in Liberal Studies, the Minor in Children’s Literature and Childhood Studies, and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.   There are more faculty from the English Department represented among the directors of such programs than from any other department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Jennie Mussington and Her Super Powers — A month or two ago I was channel surfing when I came upon a show on the History Channel called Stan Lee’s Superhumans:  Real Humans with Super Abilities.  I watched for a few minutes and saw a young man jump over a car racing toward him at 60 miles per hour (do not try this at home or the parking deck).  I know only one person with super human abilities, and that person is Jennie Mussington.  Jennie has an uncanny ability to win contests.  Over the years, Jennie has won five TVs, a Jeep, a camper, a bicycle, a trip to San Francisco to watch a 49ers game, sports memorabilia, and lots of smaller prizes.  This past weekend she won $104 from a local radio station. Jumping over moving cars is impressive, but I am even more impressed with Jennie’s super powers. 

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:

Boyd Davis‘s proposal to the Veterans Administration, “Story-Call: E-mobile Support for Community Caregivers of Veterans with Dementia,” has been selected for funding. This is a 3-year project.

Susan Gardner, together with Vail Carter (UNC Charlotte’s first Native American graduate), gave a presentation at UNC Pembroke this past weekend. The title of their presentation is “Why Is Telling Our Lives a Subversive Thing to Do?”  

Janaka Lewis recently presented a paper titled “A Black Woman’s Guide to Freedom and Southern Conduct” at the College Language Association Conference in New Orleans.  

Kirk Melnikoff led the workshop “Digital Resources for the Early Modern Book Trade” at the annual Shakespeare Association of America meeting in St. Louis.

Juan Meneses has an essay in the recently published collection The Paradox of Authenticity in a Globalized World (Palgrave). The title of the essay is “‘Like in the Gringo Movies’: Translatorese and the Global in Roberto Bolaño’s 2666.”

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

April 15 — Elly Bavidge from Kingston University in London will give a presentation titled “London on Film” in the English Department Seminar Room from 3:30-4:30.

April 30 — The English Department Student Awards Ceremony will take place in the Dale Halton Room in the Library from 12:30-2:00.   

Quirky Quiz Question — The faculty in the English Department serve as the directors of several interdisciplinary programs/centers.  Name the directors of the following interdisciplinary programs/centers:

American Studies Program

Center for the Study of  the New South

M.A. Program in Liberal Studies

One Book. One week.  One community— The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is sponsoring a week-long,  community-wide reading of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.  This project will take place from April 13-19, and it involves many related events at the various library branches and other places in the community.  I am scheduled to lead a book discussion at the the Beatties Ford Road Branch of the library on April 17 from 6:00-7:30.  For more information about these various events, please click on the following link: www.cmlibrary.org/onebook

Fahrenheit 451 came out in 1953, the height of the McCarthy era, and the book’s anti-censorship theme had direct connections to the wave of censorship that was sweeping America at the time. However, the problem of censorship is not, unfortunately, a relic of days gone by.  Just last month In our neighboring state of South Carolina, the state’s legislators voted to cut state funding to the University of South Carolina Upstate and to the College of Charleston to punish these institutions of higher learning for assigning LGBT books.  The two books these legislators are attacking are Out Loud:  The Best of Rainbow Reading and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. As Ray Bradbury makes so clear in Fahrenheit 451, the suppression of books is really about the suppression of ideas and ultimately the suppression of people.  Bradbury’s classic is 60 years old, but the theme of his book is still very relevant to our world and our time.

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:

Liz Miller recently attended the annual conference of the American Association of Applied Linguistics in Portland, Oregon. She co-organized a colloquium on “Socially Mediated Agency and Second Language Learning: Theory, Analysis, Pedagogy” which included scholars from Finland, Sweden, France, Spain, Canada and the US. She also presented a paper titled “Social Sustainability: Is there a Definition in the House?”.  This past weekend she presented a poster titled “Starting the Conversation: Social Sustainability as Discursive Object” at the second annual conference of the Integrated Network for Social Sustainability, hosted at the Center City building in Charlotte. She also spoke on the same topic to the full assembly.

Becky Roeder and Matt Hunt Gardner (U Toronto) recently presented a paper titled “A Tale of Two Phonologies: English in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia” at the Southeastern Conference on Linguistics.

Erika Romero, one of our M.A. Students, has been accepted into the Ph.D. program at Illinois State University, with full funding.  She plans to study children’s literature.

Ralf Thiede recently presented a paper titled  “Grammar for Writing: Discovering the Language of Power and the Power of Language” at the Southeastern Conference on Linguistics.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a date to keep in mind:

April 11 — The EGSA Professional Day will take place throughout the afternoon.

Quirky Quiz Question — The central character in Fahrenheit 451 is Guy Montag.  What is Guy’s job?