Monday Missive

A Summer of Lunar Dreams — Fifty years ago, the moon was on everyone’s mind.  The summer began with regular updates about the preparations to send Apollo 11 and its three crew members–Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins–to the moon.  On July 16, 1969, the whole nation watched as Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy and set course for the moon.  On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin landed the Apollo lunar module on an area of the moon called the Sea of Tranquillity, but no one was feeling tranquil at the time.  The national lunar obsession reached its apex six hours after the landing when Neil Armstrong climbed out of the module and became the first person to step onto the surface of the moon. 

I was fourteen at the time, but I still have vivid memories of that summer.  I remember kicking off the summer by building an elaborate model of the Apollo capsule and being so pleased that I got the decals on straight.  My family did not have a television, but I remember going to our closest neighbor’s house a quarter-mile up the road to watch the landing on his television.  I remember my mother keeping the radio on almost continuously that summer so that she could keep up with the latest the news related to the Apollo 11 mission.  I even remember buying a Peter Max poster that had something to do with the moon landing.  

One of the reasons that the Apollo 11 mission captured the public imagination is that it tapped into our culture’s longstanding focus on all things related to the moon.  For most of us, the moon is part of the culture of our childhood.  We grow up listening to nursery rhymes, folk tales, and fairy tales about the moon. We see countless images of the moon in our picture books.   We draw pictures of the moon in school.  The cultural associations that we have with the moon have become inextricably entwined with the Apollo 11 mission.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, Monica Burke and I created a two-part moon exhibit in the lobby area of the English Department.  Part of the exhibit includes images associated with the moon landing.  The part of the exhibit that is in the display case features images of the moon from picture books, including Good Night Moon, Where the Wild Things Are, and Harold and the Purple Crayon.  The next time you are in the English Department, check out the exhibit.  It is your chance to travel back to the summer of lunar dreams.

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:

Pilar Blitvich will deliver the plenary presentation at the Approaches to Digital Discourse Analysis Conference this week at the University of Turku in Finland.  Her presentation is titled “Moral Indignation, Moral Panics, and Online Shaming.”  Abagail Higgins, one of our recently graduated undergraduate students, served as Pilar’s research assistant on this project, and she will be attending the conference with Pilar.

Lara Vetter recently gave a talk on H.D.’s short fiction in Yale University’s Visiting Scholars Seminars series, jointly organized by the Yale Center for British Art, the Lewis Walpole Library, and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines — Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:
May 20 — The first day of class for the first summer session is Monday, May 20, 2019.
May 21 —The last day to add or drop a class with no grade is Tuesday, May 21, 2019.

Quirky Quiz Question —  What is the name of the name of the Apollo lunar module that landed on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission?  Here is a hint:  Neil Armstrong said the name of the lunar module when he reported that they had safely landed.

Last week’s answer: When Charlotte College became the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
According to the 2019 Spring Commencement Program, the UNC Charlotte Bell was donated to “Charlotte College in 1960 to be rung on ceremonial occasions.”  One such occasion took place on March 2, 1965.  What was celebrated on this occasion?

A Commencement to Remember —  Last Saturday the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held its spring commencement ceremony, and it was a memorable experience for everyone who participated.  Coming just eleven days after the tragic shooting that took place on the UNC Charlotte campus, the commencement ceremony provided our campus community with an opportunity to remember and honor the victims of the shooting while at the same time celebrate the successes of our graduating students.  This dual function presented a difficult balancing act for all involved, and yet everyone rose to the occasion.   

Associate Dean Banita Brown and the other administrators and staff members charged with organizing and running the event all pitched in and made the best of what could have been a very difficult situation.  Despite the terrible weather and the long delays associated with the heavy security measures, the great majority of graduating students still showed up and waited patiently as they filed through the metal detectors.  Chancellor Phil Dubois and the other speakers all addressed the campus community’s sense of grief and loss caused by the shooting, but they still made a point to celebrate the graduation of the students.   

The phrase “Charlotte strong” has taken root on our campus since the tragic shooting.  The success of Saturday’s commencement is yet another example of why this phrase rings as true as the UNC Charlotte Bell–the bell that one of the graduating students rang to mark the end of a most memorable commencement ceremony.

Commencement Report —   For 104 of our students, the spring commencement ceremony marked their transition from current students to graduates.  A total of 15 of our graduate students are listed in the commencement program, and 89 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 89 students, 22 earned the distinction of Cum Laude (GPA between 3.4-3.7), 13 earned the distinction of Magna Cum Laude (GPA between 3.7-3.9), and 6 earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude (GPA between 3.9-4.0).  This total comes to 41 students. I am very proud of all of our graduating students, but I want to mention by name the 6 students who earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude.  Their names are Kellyanna Grace Atwell, Kristina Marie Duemmler, Lydia Ashlee Hopkins, Alyson Mary Jordan, Sarahan Elizabeth Moser, and Marissa L. Neale.  

I also want to mention by name the 12 students who graduated with English Honors.  Their names are Edison Gabriel Angelbello, Kellyanna Grace Atwell, MaKalea Danielle Bjoin, Catherine Joy Butt, Kristina Marie Duemmler, Lindsey Taylor Herndon, Hilary Claire Hoyt, Alyson Mary Jordan, Mark Jarrett Moseley, Jr., Sarahan Elizabeth Moser, Marissa L. Neale, and Emily Ann Sanders.

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:

Liz Miller recently presented an invited talk on the topic of agency and language learning at the University of Essex, in Colchester, England.

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

May 14 — Final grades for the Spring 2019 term must be submitted by Tuesday, May 14, 2019, at noon.

May 20 — The first day of class for the first summer session is Monday, May 20, 2019.

Quirky Quiz Question —  According to the 2019 Spring Commencement Program, the UNC Charlotte Bell was donated to “Charlotte College in 1960 to be rung on ceremonial occasions.”  One such occasion took place on March 2, 1965.  What was celebrated on this occasion?

Last week’s answer: Thomas Jefferson  

The third president of the United States once wrote, “Let the eye of vigilance never be closed.”  What is the name of this president?

Keeping Vigil —  Like 7,000 other members of the UNC Charlotte community, I attended last week’s vigil for the victims of the tragic shooting that took place on our campus on Tuesday, April 30, 2019.  A group of remarkable students organized and held the vigil just one day after the shooting.  Bryn Chancellor and I sat together, and we both felt moved by the students’ compassion for the victims and victims’ families and the students’ resolve not to let this tragedy undermine their commitment to their university.  Over and over, the students used the phrases “Niner strong” and “Charlotte strong” when expressing their responses to the shooting.

After the vigil, I retreated to the solitude of my office for half an hour and quietly reflected on the experience of attending the vigil.  I started thinking about the word vigil and its sister word vigilance.  Both words come from the Latin word vigilia, which means wakefulness.  As the word has evolved, vigil now means staying awake, being watchful, keeping guard.  The phrase keeping vigil means being present and attentive even when one would normally be tired or asleep.

For our students, the vigil that they attended last Wednesday gave them an opportunity to take comfort by spending time in the presence of their fellow students.  It also provided them with an opportunity to articulate the importance of guarding, in a deliberate and attentive way, their identification with UNC Charlotte.  That is why almost all of them wore their Forty-Niner tee shirts to the vigil.  The students left the vigil knowing that they were about to face difficult days in the aftermath of the shooting, but they also came away with a renewed sense of vigilance in terms of their refusal to be defeated or defined by the shooting.

As a member of the UNC Charlotte community, I can relate to the sentiments expressed at our students’ vigil.  However, my personal response to the shooting is also tied to my role as a faculty member.  When I first learned of the shooting, I told my wife that this tragic event was taking away the joy that I have always associated with teaching.  The day after the vigil, I spent nine hours in my office dealing with the aftermath of the shooting, meeting with distraught students and faculty members and attempting to answer the countless emails and phone calls about the hastily revised finals schedule.  For much of that time, I just wanted to go home and take our dog for a walk.  For a few minutes, I even contemplated retirement, but then I thought about the students’ vigil.  I thought about their resolve not to let the shooting rob them of their college education, and it dawned on me that I could and should learn from our students and emulate their vigilance.  

I left my office about 6:30 on Thursday evening feeling physically tired but also feeling like I had just awakened.  I realized that I needed to stand guard against the temptation to let the shooting and its aftermath undermine my commitment to teaching our students.   As I drove home that evening, it occurred to me that I wasn’t just keeping long office hours that day; I was, in my own way, keeping vigil.

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

May 8 — Paula Martinac will launch her new novel, Clio Rising, at Park Road Books on Wednesday,  May 8, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. 

May 11 — The Commencement for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will take place on Saturday, May 11, 2019, at 3:00 p.m. 

May 14 — Final grades for the Spring 2019 term must be submitted by Tuesday, May 14, 2019, at noon.

Quirky Quiz Question —  The third president of the United States once wrote, “Let the eye of vigilance never be closed.”  What is the name of this president?

Last week’s answer: Queen’s University

Deje McGavran taught as a lecturer in our English Department for several years before joining the faculty in the English Department at a sister institution of higher education.  What is the name of this sister institution?  

Last week’s answer: Malin Pereira, Becky Roeder, and Liz Miller

I am not the only member of the English Department who has connections to Madison, Wisconsin.  Three members of our faculty earned graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison although only two of them earned their doctoral degrees from there.  Interestingly, two of these three faculty members started out in the same cohort of MA students.  What are the names of these three faculty members?  

Big Mouth hatching the giant purple Easter egg!

Behind the Scenes — Here is a little behind-the-scenes information about my Monday Missive.  I send it out on Monday, but I usually write it on Sunday.  And so I am writing this Monday Missive on Easter.  Every Easter I flash back on my most memorable Easter-related experience.  It happened in 1978 when I was making my living as a puppeteer in Madison, Wisconsin.  The manager of one of Madison’s big shopping malls hired me to do a series of puppet shows on the weekend before Easter.  I wrote a special show titled “The Giant Purple Easter Egg” for the event, and I still have the giant purple Easter egg that I used as a prop in the show.

That Saturday I arrived early in the morning before the mall opened to the public.  Upon my arrival, I discovered that the mall had also hired a young woman to hop through the mall dressed up as the Easter bunny.  She and I exchanged greetings, and then we met with the mall manager.  He and his crew took charge of setting us up in the middle of the mall.  They assigned me to a roped-off platform, and they situated the Easter bunny in a little garden patch with fake flowers and plastic carrots.

As I was assembling my stage and testing the mall’s booming sound system, I watched as all of the usually unseen workers prepared the mall for this big “Spring Gala” event.  They busily put up decorations, built a temporary runway for a spring fashion show, and set up signs, including a sign indicating when I would be doing my puppet shows.

The Easter bunny and I performed throughout the weekend, but the mall manager gave us a few opportunities to take breaks in an unmarked staff break room.  I will always remember the Easter bunny taking off her bunny head, revealing her sweat-drenched human head.  She then gulped down glass after glass of water.  When our break was over, she put her bunny head back on and resumed her hopping duties.  I think her job was harder than mine.

The experience of performing at this mall made me more aware and appreciative of all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting on big events.  Similar preparatory work is taking place in the English Department this week for two big events that the department is sponsoring.  The first of these events is Gardens and Verses: An Earth Day Celebration, which will take place on Tuesday, April 23.  The second is the English Department Awards Ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday, April 24.  Please see below for more details about these events.  I know that members of our staff and faculty are already doing a lot of behind-the-scenes activities related to these events, and my appreciation goes to all of them. They are working hard to get ready, but at least they don’t have to hop around the campus in Easter bunny costumes.

The CLGO Powerhouse Takes Washington, D.C., by Storm —  The 2019 Popular Culture Association National Conference took place in Washington, D.C., from April 17 through April 20, and our department was very well represented.  Four members of the Children’s Literature Graduate Organization presented papers at this conference. Cassandra Grosh presented a paper titled “The Uglies Inside: Mental Health within Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies.”  Shannon Murphy presented a paper titled  “Exploring Reality and the Gender Binary in Little Women‘s ‘The P.C. and the P.O.'”  Jacquelyn Schaefle presented a paper titled “The Limited Perspective in the Journey to Self-Acceptance in Annie on My Mind,” and Jasmin Gonzalez Caban presented a paper titled “The Hybridity of Humanity: Posthumanism within Marissa Meyer’s The Lunar Chronicles.”  Paula Connolly, the faculty advisor for CLGO, was also at the conference, and she sent me the following email message from the conference:  “Our CLGO superstars have done a phenomenal job at PCA!!!”

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 published an article titled “Leveraging Digital Spaces for Pre-service Teachers to Practice Reading and Responding to Student Writing” in the Journal of Language and Literacy Education. Please click on the following link to read her article:  http://jolle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/BarnesChandler_JoLLE2019.pdf  She also published a book review of Educating for Empathy: Literacy Learning and Civic Engagement by Nicole Mirra in the Journal of Language and Literacy Education.

Paula Connolly recently presented a paper titled “Counterpointing the Cozy: Louise Penny’s Three Pines” at the Popular Cultural Association National Conference in Washington, D.C.

Boyd Davis recently gave the plenary address, “Aging Care Is a World Concern,” at the International Conference on Seniors, Foreign Caregivers, Families, Institutions: Linguistic and Multi-disciplinary Perspectives, co-sponsored by University of Insubria and University of Milan.

Dina Massachi, a graduate of our M.A. program, recently published an article titled “Metal Malleable Male:  The Tin Creations of L. Frank Baum and Todrick Hall” in The Baum Bugle.

Kirk Melnikoff was the invited respondent in the seminar “Shakespeare’s Enemies” at the Shakespeare Association of America Conference in Washington, D.C.

Liz Miller recently published a co-authored article in the journal Language Teaching Research titled “Caring and Emotional Labour: Language Teachers’ Engagement with Anxious Learners in Private Language School Classrooms.”

Jen Munroe recently presented a paper titled “Ecofeminism and the Restlessness of Motion,” in a roundtable she organized, “Wherefore Ecofeminism?” at the Shakespeare Association of America meeting in Washington, D.C.

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

April 23 — On Tuesday, April 23, our English Department and the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens will co-sponsor an event titled “Gardens and Verses:  An Earth Day Celebration.”  The event will take place in the Botanical Gardens from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  The event will feature poetry readings about nature, on-site writing opportunities, and games all in celebration of the relationship between gardens and language.  Jen Munroe and Matt Rowney from the English Department and Jeff Gillman from the Botanical Gardens are the key organizers of this event.

April 24 — On Wednesday, April 24, our English Department Student Awards Ceremony will be held in the Dale Halton Room of the Atkins Library starting at 11:30am.

April 26 — On Friday, April 26, our last English Department meeting of the academic year will be held at 11-12:30 in the conference room (Fretwell 280C).

Quirky Quiz Question — I am not the only member of the English Department who has connections to Madison, Wisconsin.  Three members of our faculty earned graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison although only two of them earned their doctoral degrees from there.  Interestingly, two of these three faculty members started out in the same cohort of MA students.  What are the names of these three faculty members?

Last week’s answer: Jimmy Carter
As a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, Angie Williams now has a point in common with one of our former presidents. What former president regularly volunteers for Habitat for Humanity?

This Is What Community Engagement Looks Like —  Last week was National Volunteer Week.  In support of this national campaign, UNC Charlotte’s Office of Community Relations organized several volunteer opportunities for university employees.   Jennie Mussington and Angie Williams from our English Department both participated in this campaign.

On Monday, April 8, 2019, Jennie volunteered for “Operation Sandwich.”  Jennie and the other volunteers made over 2,000 sandwiches.  Jennie’s group made over 600 turkey and ham sandwiches within an hour, breaking their record from last years.  All of these sandwiches were donated to the Urban Ministry, the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte, McCrorey YMCA, the United Way of Cabarrus County, and other groups that help people in need of food. That same day, Angie volunteered for the Second Harvest Food Bank.  As part of her volunteer work, she helped put together 1,200 meal supplement backpacks.  On Thursday, April 11, Jennie volunteered at the Crisis Assistance Ministry, where she helped sort donation and stock shelves in their free store.  The next day, Angie volunteered for Habitat for Humanity.  She thought she was going to paint, but she ended up spending the day putting up sheet rock.

The Jennie’s and Angie’s willingness to volunteer on projects benefiting our community is in keeping with our departmental commitment to community engagement.  Many members of our department regularly participate in community engagement activities.  Here are just a few examples.  Meghan Barnes often volunteers with the homeless people who find shelter and assistance at Moore Place.  Janaka Lewis frequently gives talks and workshops on African American literature and history at area schools.  In fact, this week, she is giving a presentation called “Telling Stories, Talking about Biography” to third graders at Carl A Furr Elementary in Concord.  Many of our students also engage in community projects.  For example, at the recent Center City Literary Festival, students from both the English Learning Community and the Children’s Literature Graduate Organization volunteered their time.

When Angie was volunteering for Habit for Humanity, she wore a special shirt for the volunteers.  The following sentence was stamped on the front of this shirt:  “This is what community engagement looks like!”  And it’s true.  Community engagement does look like Angie, and Jennie, and Meghan, and Janaka, and ….  Well, the list is too long to mention everybody, so let’s just say that community engagement looks like the English Department.

Misty Morin’s Fulbright Award — Misty Morin, who is double majoring in English and Spanish, recently learned that she received a Fulbright Award to support her to travel to La Rioja, Spain, to teach.  In response to an email asking about the details of her Fulbright, she wrote, “I will be traveling to the autonomous community of La Rioja, Spain, to teach English to children.  My term begins in September and lasts through June.  I am also expected to lead an engagement project, and my proposal for this is to host events at libraries or community centers that invite children and their partners to engage in active reading.”  Speaking on behalf of the English Department, I congratulate Misty on receiving this Fulbright Award.

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:

Christine Arvidson is featured on a podcast interview.  Please click on the following link to hear this interview:   https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/the-love-of-baseball-essays-by-lifelong-fans/

Meghan Barnes is featured in a podcast interview.  Please click on the following link to hear this interview:  olle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Leveraging-Digital-Spaces-for-Pre-Service-Teachers-to-Practice-Reading-and-Responding-to-Student-Writing.m4a

Pilar Blitvich currently has the following three essays in production.  Her article titled “Politeness in Discursive Pragmatics” has been accepted for publication in a quo vadis issue of the Journal of Pragmatics.   Her book chapter titled “Spanish Retailer-Consumer Interactions on Facebook: A Variational Pragmatics Perspective on Conflict” will appear in Pragmatic Variation in Service Encounter Interactions (London: Routledge), and another book chapter titled “‘You are shamed for speaking it or for not speaking it good enough’: Paradoxical Status of Spanish in the US Latino Community” will appear in Handbook of Language in Conflict (London: Routledge).

Janaka Lewis recently presented a paper titled “Real Talk:  Social Justice, Adolescent Literature, and the Movement 4 Black Lives” at the College Language Association Conference in Raleigh.

Liz Miller recently gave an invited talk titled “‘Everything is Dangerous’: Exploring Research on Agency and Language Learning” at the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan, at the University of Oslo.

Daniel Shealy recently wrote a blog post for the Little Women at 150 blog.  Please click on the following link to read his post:  https://lw150.wordpress.com/2019/03/18/chapter-xxxiv-a-friend/

Clayton Tarr recently had an essay titled “The Loss of Maidenhead: Rape and the Revolutionary Novel” published in Eighteenth-Century Fiction.

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

April 23 — On Tuesday, April 23, our English Department and the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens will co-sponsor an event titled “Gardens and Verses:  An Earth Day Celebration.”  The event will take place in the Botanical Gardens from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  The event will feature poetry readings about nature, on-site writing opportunities, and games all in celebration of the relationship between gardens and language.  Jen Munroe and Matt Rowney from the English Department and Jeff Gillman from the Botanical Gardens are the key organizers of this event.

April 24 — On Wednesday, April 24, our English Department Student Awards Ceremony will be held in the Dale Halton Room of the Atkins Library starting at 11:30am.

April 26 — On Friday, April 26, our last English Department meeting of the academic year will be held at 11-12:30 in the conference room (Fretwell 280C).

Quirky Quiz Question — As a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, Angie Williams now has a point in common with one of our former presidents.  What former president regularly volunteers for Habitat for Humanity?

Last week’s answer: Lucille Ball
One of Ginger Rogers’s best friends ran an entertainment company called Desilu Productions. What is the name of this friend of Ginger Rogers?