Mark West

Divine Discontent— Last Thursday marked the first day of spring, and for me the arrival of spring always brings to mind the opening chapter of The Wind in the Willows.  In this chapter, Mole is spring cleaning when he is overcome by the mood of the season:  “Spring was moving in the air above and in the earth below and around him, penetrating even his dark and lowly little house with its spirit of divine discontent and longing.”   This weekend, I felt a sense of kinship with Mole.  I spent much of the weekend reading a dissertation written by a graduate student in the College of Education.  I am a member of the student’s dissertation committee, so I really had no choice in the matter.  Still, when the sun came out yesterday afternoon, I joined Mole as he “bolted out of the house.”  I grabbed my shovel, dug up one end of my garden, and planted some radish seeds and lettuce seeds, and my sense of discontent subsided a bit.  As we head into the final stretch of the spring semester, I hope that you are able to carve out a little time to share with Mole “the delight of spring without its cleaning.”

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:

Kirk Melnikoff ran a workshop on “Digital Tools and Resources for Exploring the Early Modern Book Trade” at the Renaissance Association of America’s Annual Meeting in New York City.

Paula Rawlins, one of our former M.A. Students, has been accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Georgia, with four years of funding.  She plans to study contemporary Southern literature.

Aaron Toscano presented a paper titled “Outsourcing Technical Writing: Multiple Technical Writing Futures” at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in Indianapolis, IN.

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

April 3 — Henrietta Goodman will read and discuss her poetry on Thursday, April 3, at 6:00 pm in the English Department Lounge.   She is a 1991 graduate of UNC Charlotte’s English Department and is the author of two widely acclaimed books of poetry: Take What You Want (2006) and Hungry Moon (2013).

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

Quirky Quiz Question — In the beginning of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, Mole bolts out of his home and ends up having a picnic that consists of “coldtonguecoldhamcoldbeefpickledgherkinssaladfrenchrollscressandwidgespottedmeatgingerbeerlemonadesodawater.”  With whom does he share this picnic?

Graduate Research Symposium — This past Saturday I attended the 2014 Graduate Research Symposium. Two of our graduate students delivered presentations at this event. Laura Erturk gave a presentation titled “The Construction of Race and Identity in the American Stand-up Comedy of George Lopez and Margaret Cho.” Brook Blaylock gave a presentation titled “Now and Then: The Twin Voices of Narrative and Cultural Identification in Nick Lake’s In Darkness.” Both Laura and Brook gave polished and thoughtful presentations. During the awards ceremony at the end of the day, Laura received an award for delivering one of the top presentations in the humanities category. In addition to Laura and Brook, we had a number of other graduate students who served as volunteers throughout the day-long symposium. These students were Traci Cruey, Sarah Davis, Jessica Morton, Erika Romero, and Jennifer Vogt. All of these graduate students impressed me with their high level of engagement and professionalism.

Mary Turner Harper — For those of you who have long-time associations with the English Department, you will remember Dr. Mary Turner Harper. A specialist in African American literature, she taught in our department during the 1970s and ’80s. She is interviewed in this week’s edition of Inside UNC Charlotte. Here is the link: http://inside.uncc.edu/inside-unc-charlotte-looks-legacy-mary-harper-and-herman-thomas

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:

Lil Brannon received $20,000 grant from the National Writing Project for Preparing Teacher Leaders in the Teaching of Writing. Also, she just returned from the Conference of College Composition and Communication s where she received the Braddock Award and gave a paper titled “Critical Creativity and Rhetorics of the Body Politic.”

Paula Connolly recently learned that her book Slavery in American Children’s Literature has been selected as one of the four books that will be featured during the 2014-2015 Personally Speaking Series. She is scheduled to give her presentation on March 24, 2015.

Juan Meneses presented a paper titled “Futurities of Resistance: Thatcher and Contemporary Neoliberalism in Ian McEwan’s The Child in Time” at the American Comparative Literature Association Conference.

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

March 26 — Last day for students to withdraw from a course with the grade of W.

April 3 — Henrietta Goodman will read and discuss her poetry on Thursday, April 3, at 6:00 pm in the English Department Lounge. She is a 1991 graduate of UNC Charlotte’s English Department and is the author of two widely acclaimed books of poetry: Take What You Want (2006) and Hungry Moon (2013).

Quirky Quiz Question — I am looking forward to Henrietta Goodman’s poetry reading on April 3rd. Thinking about this reading, I am reminded that we now have another talented poet in the department who is teaching creative writing courses for us as a part-time faculty member. What is the name of this part-time faculty member?

St. Patrick’s Day — I am going to be out of the office tomorrow, so I decided to send you my Monday Missive on Sunday instead.  As I am sure you know, Monday is also St. Patrick’s Day, which of course has lots of Irish connotations. Those of us without Irish connections, however,  can still get in on the fun.  I remember last year seeing a Muslim woman student wearing an emerald green scarf on St. Patrick’s Day.  

Over the history of the English Department, we have had several faculty members who have published scholarly works on famous Irish writers.  Perhaps the most notable example is Fred Smith, who served as Chair of the English Department from 1984 through 1990.  Fred published a great deal about the famous Irish writer Jonathan Swift. Fred’s book titled The Genres of Gulliver’s Travels was widely praised when it came out in 1990.  

Whether you have Irish connections or not, I wish you all a happy St. Patrick’s Day.

Children’s Literature Association Conference — Three of our graduate students have recently had papers accepted for presentation at the upcoming Children’s Literature Association Conference, which will take place in Columbia, South Carolina, in June.  These students are Brook Blaylock, Traci Cruey, and Julia Morris.   Also, Joanne Rohan, one of our former graduate students, had a paper accepted.   There will be plenty of faculty members to keep an eye on these students when they present their papers.  Balaka Basu, Paula Connolly, Sarah Minslow, Daniel Shealy, and I will also be giving presentations at the conference.  I should point out that the paper selection process was very competitive, so the fact that so many students and faculty from UNC Charlotte received acceptances reflects well on our department.

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 Faculty Research Grant from the Children’s Literature Association to support her project titled Playing the Game:  Reading Digitally with Children’s Literature.

Paula Connolly‘s book Slavery in American Children’s Literature just received a rave review in Slavery and Abolition:  A Journal of Slave and Post-Slave Studies.  

Sarah Minslow presented a paper titled “Teaching War and Genocide in Children’s Literature” at a conference titled Understanding Atrocities: Remembering, Representing, and Teaching Genocide at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Maya Socolovsky presented a paper titled“Material Commodities and Judaism in a Wireless World: Exploring Allegra Goodman’s The Cookbook Collector,” at MELUS, Oklahoma City, OK. 

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

March 20 — In honor of Women’s History Month, please join English/AFRS 2301 and 4050-5050 for “A Celebration of Women’s Literature” featuring poet and playwright Murhl Bussey.  The evening will feature an open mic session (you may bring a short piece written by a woman author to share) and a reading of an excerpt of Bussey’s play “The Devil’s Playground.” The event will be held on Thursday, March 20 at 6 pm in McKnight Hall, Cone Center.

March 21 — Becky Roeder will give a presentation titled “Understanding Accent:  The Canadian Shift as Default” in the Conferecne Room from 1:00-2:00.  This presentation is sponsored by the Development Committee.  

Quirky Quiz Question — After publishing extensively on Jonathan Swift, Fred Smith switched his research to another Irish writer.  This writer is especially famous for his play Waiting for Godot.  What is the name of this writer?

Our English Major Days are just around the corner, and we should all make an effort to participate in this carefully coordinated series of events.  I hope that everyone can attend Mayor Terry Bellamy’s keynote address titled “How an English Major from UNC Charlotte Became Mayor of Asheville.”  Her presentation will take place on Wednesday, March 12, at 4:30 in Storrs 110.  

The English Major Days are especially designed to meet the needs of our English majors and other students who might be interested in declaring English as their major, but this initiative also helps maintain the strength of the English Department.  For those of us who teach in the humanities, we need to help students understand the value of humanities majors, such as English.  My thanks go to Kirk Melnikoff and the members of the Undergraduate Committee (Balaka Basu, Aaron Gwyn, Liz Miller, Anita Moss, and Aaron Toscano) for organizing our English Major Days.  My thanks also go to Alan Rauch for helping to arrange Mayor Bellamy’s appearance.

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:

Alan Rauch recently gave two invited presentations at the University of Florida.   He delivered a lecture titled “The Cradles of Nineteenth-Century Science:  Women Writers, Curious Children, and the Dissemination of Knowledge” at the University of Florida’s Baldwin Library of Historical Children’s Literature.  He also gave a talk titled “The Culture of Dolphins and the Dolphins of Culture” at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Florida.

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

March 11 and 12 — English Major Days.  For more information about the this event, please click on the following link:  http://english.uncc.edu/sites/english.uncc.edu/files/media/pdfs/English-Majors-Days-2.20.2014.pdf

March 20 — In honor of Women’s History Month, please join English/AFRS 2301 and 4050-5050 for “A Celebration of Women’s Literature” featuring poet and playwright Murhl Bussey.  The evening will feature an open mic session (you may bring a short piece written by a women author to share) and a reading of an excerpt of Bussey’s play “The Devil’s Playground.” The event will be held on Thursday, March 20 at 6 pm in McKnight Hall, Cone Center.

Quirky Quiz Question — March is Women’s History, which is intended to highlight the contributions of women to our history.  One of the many ways that women have shaped our history is by writing works of literature.   UNC Charlotte’s English Department faculty have published a number of books that focus on major women writers.  Here is a list of some of these books.  See if you can identify the authors or editors of these scholarly books the deal with women writers:

 A:  Maternal Body and Voice in Toni Morrison, Bobbie Ann Mason and Lee Smith

B.  Alcott in Her Own Time 

C.  Ecofeminist Approaches to Early Modernity

D. Troubling Nationhood in U.S. Latina Literature

E.  The Poems of Phillis Wheatley 

F.  H. D.’s Poetry and Prose

G.  Rita Dove’s Cosmopolitanism

H.  Westward to a High Mountain:  The Colorado Writings of Helen Hunt Jackson

Seuss-a-Thon — The third annual Seuss-a-Thon took place this past Saturday at Park Road Books, and the English Department was very well represented.  Jeffrey Leak and his son did a great job of reading Green Eggs and Ham.  The audience really had a sense that Jeffrey does not care for green eggs or ham or annoying people who keep pestering him with repetitive questions.   Angie Williams read Horton Hears a Who, and her granddaughter hung on every word.  Alan Rauch read If I Ran the Zoo.  At one point he broke into a Russian accent, and it added a whole new dimension to Dr. Seuss.  The children’s literature faculty all participated. Paula Connolly read The Sneetches, Beth Gargano read Horton Hatches the Egg,  and Anita Moss read And to Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street.  Our advisors also showed up.  Tiffany Morin kicked off the event by reading The Cat in the Hat, and Sarah Minslow practically performed The Butter Battle Book.  Valerie Bright, one of our part-time faculty members, read Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  Several of our graduate students and former graduate students also participated.  In the publicity leading up to the Seuss-a-Thon, I described it as an English Department event. Well, to paraphrase a line from Horton Hatches the Egg, I meant what I said, and I said what I meant, Dr. Seuss is at home in English—one hundred per cent. 

Dr. Jeffrey Leak and son reading Green Eggs and Ham

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:

Brook Blaylock and Laura Erturk, two of our graduate students, have been invited to give presentations at the upcoming Graduate Research Symposium.

Paula Eckard was recently awarded  a Publication Grant from the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies in support of a project related to her work with the Thomas Wolfe Review.

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

March 4 — The deadline for mid-term grades has been changed due to concerns from faculty about missed classes because of the inclement weather.  The online entry of Unsatisfactory Grades submission deadline has been extended. The web will be open for grading until noon on Tuesday, March 4^th..

March 11 and 12 — English Major Days.  For more information about the this event, please click on the following link: http://english.uncc.edu/sites/english.uncc.edu/files/media/pdfs/English-Majors-Days-2.20.2014.pdf

Quirky Quiz Question — Dr. Seuss never completed a doctoral degree, but he did attend graduate school with the goal of earning a PhD in English.  Where did Dr. Seuss go to graduate school?  For extra credit, from what college did Dr. Seuss earn his BA in English?

Stanley Ray Patten — I am pleased to announce that the Chancellor and the Provost have approved Stan Patten for emeritus status. Stan taught in our department from 1982-2000. He played a major role in building our Writing Resources Center, and he taught a wide variety of courses in writing, literary theory, and gender studies. Unfortunately, he has Myasthenia Gravis, and this disease forced him to retire early. Stan still lives in Charlotte. Please feel free to send him a congratulatory message. Here is his email address: spatten@carolina.rr.com

One Book Campaign — The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is organizing a community-wide literacy event that they are calling “One Book. One Week. One Community.” Their goal is to encourage readers throughout the Charlotte area to read and discuss a classic novel over the span of a week. The novel they selected is Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. They have scheduled this week-long event to take place April 13-19. Last week, I attended their kick-off meeting, and they made it clear that they would very much like for us to participate in this One Week Campaign. If you would like more information about this event, please click on the following link: http://www.cmlibrary.org/onebook

Seuss-a-Thon — The third annual Seuss-a-Thon will take place this Saturday (March 1) at Park Road Books from 11:00-3:00. This event is co-sponsored by the English Department and Park Road Books, and it involves a continuous reading of Dr. Seuss books for at least four hours. Many people associated with the English Department will be reading their favorite Dr. Seuss books. Please feel free to come and bring children. For more information, please click on the following link: http://www.parkroadbooks.com/event/book-event-seuss-thon

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 has recently published two co-authored essays. One is titled “Developing a Pilot E-mobile App for Dementia Caregiver Support: Lessons Learned.” It was published in Online Journal of Nursing Informatics (OJNI), vol. 18(1) http://ojni.org/issues/?p=3095. The other is titled “Exploring Communicative Interactions between Visitors and Assisted-living Residents with Dementia. It was published in The Routledge Handbook of Language and Health Communication (2014) http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415670432/.

Janaka Lewis convened a meeting of the Society for the Study of American Women Writers, Mid-Atlantic Chapter, on campus, and scholars from George Mason to UT-Knoxville were excited to spend the morning in Atkins Special Collections looking at rare books by African American and American women writers and the afternoon discussing texts published by black women writers from North Carolina.

Erika Romero, a graduate student in our children’s literature concentration, recently presented a paper titled “Product or Subject?: Identity Creation in the Corporation Controlled World of M. T. Anderson’s Feed ” at the Southwest Popular and American Culture Association Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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

February 26 — The Children’s Literature Graduate Organization will sponsor a screening of The Wizard of Oz at the Student Union Movie Theater at 4:30 pm. Mark West will delivery a brief introduction to the film.

March 11 and 12 — English Major Days. For more information about the this event, please click on the following link: http://english.uncc.edu/sites/english.uncc.edu/files/media/pdfs/English-Majors-Days-2.20.2014.pdf

Quirky Quiz Question — Stan Patten received his PhD from Purdue University. We have several other members of the English Department who who earned their doctoral degrees from Purdue. Who are they?

Visiting Brer Rabbit — This weekend my wife and I went to Macon, Georgia, in order for her to do some research for a novella she is writing that is set in and around Macon. On the way home, we drove through Eatonton, Georgia, and we saw two signs. One said “The Home of Joel Chandler Harris and Alice Walker” and the other advertised the Uncle Remus Museum. On a whim, we stopped to check out the museum. Located in several former slave cabins, the museum has been in operation since 1963. I regularly talk about Harris in my children’s literature classes, so I already knew some key information about him before we toured the museum.

Harris was born in 1848 and grew up on a plantation in Eatonton, where his mother worked as a cook. As a boy, he often visited the slave quarters, and it was during these visits that he first heard the Brer Rabbit stories. He went on to become a journalist, and he occasionally wrote down some of these stories in a column he wrote for the Atlanta Constitution. In 1880 he collected a selection of these stories in a volume titled Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings. Although this book helped perpetuate racist stereotypes, it also helped introduce the Brer Rabbit stories to a wide audience.

We arrived at the museum about 4:00 in the afternoon. The two women who worked there informed us that they closed at 4:00, but they told us to come in anyway, and they went out of their way to be helpful. Both appeared to be in their 60s or 70s. One was an African American and one was white, but both clearly loved the Brer Rabbit stories. When they found out that I knew something about the Brer Rabbit stories, they started pointing out little details and sharing stories about Harris’s associations with Eatonton. At one point, they started completing each other’s sentences. My favorite part of our visit was listening to these women share their passion for Brer Rabbit and his adventures.

When we got back in the car and continued our drive home, I thought a bit about this unexpected interlude on our trip. It seemed fitting to me that we visited this museum during Black History Month. The Brer Rabbit stories play an important role in African American culture, but they also help bridge some of the racial divides that still exist in America. These trickster stories are full of humor and wry observations about human nature, and they appeal to people from many different backgrounds. These stories are obviously tied to the history of American racism, and yet they somehow transcend this history. That’s the thing about Brer Rabbit stories—they are kind of tricky to pin down.

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 has been invited as a plenary speaker at the im/politeness conference, which will take place at the University of Athens in Greece in July 2015.

Becky Roeder has recently published two articles. One is titled “The Canadian Shift in Non-Urban Southeastern Ontario: Transmission or Diffusion?” and appeared in the Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics. The other is titled “The Phonology of the Canadian Shift Revisited: Thunder Bay and Cape Breton” and appeared in the University of Pennsylvania Working Papers in Linguistics. Also, she has just became an editor for the Strathy Student Working Papers on Canadian English for Queens University in Kingston, Ontario.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines—

February 18 — The Center for the Study of the New South is sponsoring a screening of the film Pride and Joy as part of a cultural series titled “Soul Food: A Contemporary and Historical Exploration of New South Food. The screening will take place in the Student Union Movie Theater at 2:00 pm.

February 19 — The Center for the Study of the New South is sponsoring a panel discussion on “The Future of Food in the New South” as part of a cultural series titled “Soul Food: A Contemporary and Historical Exploration of New South Food. The panel discussion will take place UNC Charlotte Center City at 6:00 pm. http://newsouth.uncc.edu/

February 26 — The Children’s Literature Graduate Organization will sponsor a screening of The Wizard of Oz at the Student Union Movie Theater at 4:30 pm. Mark West will delivery a brief introduction to the film.

Quirky Quiz Question — Joel Chandler Harris’s stories are discussed at length in a scholarly book titled Slavery in American Children’s Literature. What is the name of the English faculty member who wrote this book?

New Student Award — I am pleased to announce the establishment of the Deborah S. Bosley Technical Writing Award. This new award is designed to support annually one graduate student in the English Department who is pursuing an MA with a concentration in Technical/Professional Writing or a Graduate Certificate in Technical Communication. The student who wins this award will receive $500. Deborah has provided the funding to support this award, and Mai Li Munoz, the Director of Development for CLAS, has shepherded this award through all of the official channels. As of last week, the paperwork has been processed, and we are now ready to grant this award for the first time during this year’s award ceremony. Please join me in thanking Deborah for her generosity in establishing this award.

Prospect for Success Courses — As many of you know, Kirk Melnikoff and Kent Brintnall are among the very first faculty to teach the Prospect for Success courses. These interdisciplinary courses are tied to our General Education Program, and they are administered by John Smail, the Dean of University College and Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies. I recently received information from John informing me that two more English faculty members have been selected to teach Prospect courses. Ralf Theide and Daniel Boisvert from Philosophy will jointly teach a course, and Jen Munroe will teach a course on her own.

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 and Juan Meneses participated in the first brown bag of UNC Charlotte’s newly formed Digital Arts, Sciences, and Technology group (DAST http://pages.charlotte.edu/dast/) on Thursday, January 30, where they talked about their research and teaching activity.

Lara Vetter has been invited to be one of two keynote speakers at a symposium entitled “Women Modernists and Spirituality” at the University of Stirling in Scotland, 22-23 May 2014.

Quirky Quiz Question — The Prospect for Success courses make reference to our region’s gold-mining history. Our university mascot also relates to this history. What is the name of our mascot?

My wife (Nancy) and I spent the weekend exploring the Okefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia. As some of you know, Nancy is writing a series of novels set in and around the Okefenokee Swamp. This was not our first visit to the swamp, but until this trip we had never seen the swamp during the winter months. On this trip, we focused on the western side of the swamp. The western side is harder to get to than the eastern side, but it is well worth the effort. During the 1920s, many of the ancient cypress trees on the eastern side were cut down and sold for lumber, but the logging company did not harvest nearly as many of the cypress trees on the western side. The famous Suwanee River starts on the western side of the Okefenokee Swamp, and Nancy and I spent many hours exploring the headwaters of this notable river.

The entrance to the western side of the swamp is through the Stephen C. Foster State Park. Stephen Foster was America’s first prominent song writer, and the Suwanee River figures in one of his best known songs. Sometimes called “Old Folks at Home,” and sometimes called “Swanee River,” the song opens with the line, “Way down upon the Swanee River, far, far away.” This line kept running through my head this weekend, and it prompted me to think about other American songs that celebrate rivers. One of my favorites is Paul Robeson’s version of “Ol’ Man River.” Another is Pete Seeger’s “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy.”

Pete Seeger, as you likely know, died last week. He wrote and recorded many lasting songs, and I listened to these songs for hours during my college days. In addition to “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” he wrote “If I Had a Hammer,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” and “Turn, Turn, Turn.” To me, these are more than songs; they read like poetry. With the death of Seeger, I feel that we have lost a great American poet. However, as Seeger put it in “Turn, Turn, Turn,” life and death flow together. Even as we mark Seeger’s passing, we should remember, to quote Seeger himself, that there is “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.”

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:

Kirk Melnikoff received a contract from the Arden Early Modern Drama Guide series for Edward II: A Critical Reader. The edited collection of essays is due out in late 2015.

Stars of the Stage — Angie Williams, Janaka Lewis, and Tiffany Morin all participated in the UNC Charlotte Faculty and Staff reading of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues to benefit Safe Alliance on this past weekend. They raised much needed funds for a worthy cause, and they showed that our department is a hotbed of theatrical talent. I have attached a photograph of the cast. I should point out that some years ago Sandy Govan and Susan Gardner played roles in an earlier staging of this play.

Vagina Monologues 2014 UNC Charlotte faculty/staff cast

Quirky Quiz Question — Now that I have been recalling Pete Seeger’s songs, I remember that he was a member of a famous musical group that performed extensively during the 1950s. What is the name of this group?

The Story of a Book — About a week ago I took several bags full of books to a used bookstore on Central Avenue called Book Buyers, which is a bit of a misnomer since they no longer buy books. However, they still give store credit. The woman behind the counter checked the books I brought in and gave me $50 in credit that I could use to purchase books in the store. I started browsing the classics section, and I immediately noticed a copy of Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s The Story of a Bad Boy. I know this book well because it played a key role in the history of American children’s literature. It originally came out in 1869, and it set the stage for boys’ adventure stories. It is often seen as the precursor to Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

I took the book down from the shelf and opened it to the title page. On the inside back cover, written in a child’s careful handwriting, is the following inscription: “Grade VI Horace Mann School. Elbert K. Fretwell. 1933-34.” I quickly realized that this very copy of The Story of a Bad Boy had been owned by the former Chancellor of UNC Charlotte, the person after whom our building is named. My guess is that he kept this book his entire life, and when he died in October 2012, the book was packed up and delivered to the used bookstore. Needless to say, I bought the book, and it has now found a home in the building named after its former owner. I feel a connection to Chancellor Fretwell when I hold this book. I guess that is part of the magic of books.

English Graduate Student Association Conference —The 14th Annual English Graduate Student Association Conference took place last Friday at UNC Charlotte Center City, and the conference was a great success. Our graduate students did an excellent job of organizing this conference, and the quality of the papers presented impressed all of us who attended. This year’s conference attracted graduate students from many universities. In fact, of the twenty-three papers presented, twelve were by students from other universities. Among the other universities represented were Clemson University, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, and Virginia Tech. The conference ended with the EGSA’s Professor of the Year Presentation. This year the award went to Lara Vetter. Please join me in congratulating Lara on winning this important award.

English Learning Community — The English Learning Community is pleased to announce that eight members of the ELC were honored yesterday at the Learning Community Honor Roll Reception. The reception honored all Learning Community students who made the Dean’s List and Chancellor’s List in the Fall Semester. Each student was recognized on stage and given a certificate to honor his or her achievement. Congratulations to Chelsea Moore, Miranda Tyson, Morgan Helton, Elizabeth Moss, Kimberly Faiai, Haley Russel, Carter Wenger, and Lauren Price!

English Actresses — Angie Williams and Janaka Lewis will be participating in the UNC Charlotte Faculty and Staff reading of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues to benefit Safe Alliance on this Friday, Jan. 31, 8 pm at McKnight Auditorium in Cone. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at www.women.uncc.edu. There will also be a combined student/faculty/ staff performance on Saturday 2/1 at 1 pm, in which Angie is also participating.

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:

Aaron Gwyn’s forthcoming novel, Wynne’s War, received a starred and boxed advance review from Publishers Weekly. Here is the link to the review: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-544-23027-9

Alan Rauch recently published a column in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Here is the link:
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/285-ecce-emendator-the-cost-of-knowledge-for-scholarly-editors?cid=chesectionpromo

Quirky Quiz Question — This year’s EGSA Conference took place at UNC Charlotte Center City. This comparatively new facility is located just a few blocks from Charlotte’s newest park, which is named after a famous artist with Charlotte connections. What is the name of this park?