Back in the Groove — In August 1998, the film How Stella Got Her Groove Back made its debut.  Based on Terry McMillan’s 1996 novel of the same title, this film had a great opening weekend, and it went on to become one of the most successful romantic comedies from the 1990s.  Shortly after the release of the film, I started hearing more and more people saying the word “groove,” and this pleased me.  I like the word “groove” because it is associated with the grooves on vinyl records, and I have never lost my love of vinyl records.  It is for this same reason that I still use the old hippy word “groovy.”  Thus, even though Stella (a stockbroker on the rise) and I (an aging English professor) don’t have that much in common, the title of her film appeals to me.

For Stella, getting her groove back involves taking a vacation at a luxury resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  For those of us in the English Department, however, getting our groove back involves settling into the routines and rhythms of our work.  Now that our students have returned and our fall classes are well underway, I have a sense that the English Department is back in business.  The quiet summer months are conducive to doing research, but the department just doesn’t feel right to me without the presence of students.

The energy that our students bring to the department was evident at last Friday’s Graduate Student Social.  Hosted by our English Graduate Student Association, this event took place off campus at the nearby Wine Vault, and it provided an opportunity for graduate students and faculty members to socialize.  I went, and I enjoyed hearing our students talk excitedly about their classes and their research projects.  I also enjoyed hearing our faculty members sharing stories with our students.  Kirk Melnikoff, for example, entertained all of us with his tales about his new office mate, who happens to be a mouse.  I am not sure how a mouse got into Kirk’s office, but I am pretty sure that the mouse is in for an educational experience.  When faculty, students, and perhaps an occasional mouse interact in this way, I know that the English Department is back in the groove.

Working the Game — We all know how hard our staff work in the department, but what many people don’t know is that our staff often also work at UNC Charlotte sporting events on the weekend.  Last Saturday, Monica Burke, Jennie Mussington, and Angie Williams all worked at the home football game.   I am pretty sure that this is the real reason the home team won!

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:

Daniel Shealy published an article titled “‘Wedding Marches’: Louisa May Alcott, Marriage, and the Newness of Little Women” in Women’s Studies, vol. 48, no. 4, 2019.

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

September 24— The Provost’s Awards Reception will take place on Tuesday, September 24, 2019, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. in the Halton Reading Room (Atkins Library).

Quirky Quiz Question — Three years before the release of How Stella Got Her Groove Back another film based on a popular McMillan novel made its debut.  This film is about the friendship of four women.   What is the title of this film?

Last week’s answer: Piedmont Airlines

Our English Department is not the only place in Charlotte with international connections.  The Charlotte Douglas International Airport offers international connections of a different sort.  The Charlotte airport became an international airport in 1987 when a now defunct airline introduced flights between Charlotte and London. What is the name of this airline?

International Connections — Every September UNC Charlotte holds its now famous International Festival.  This year’s 44th annual International Festival will take place on Saturday, September 21, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in and around the Barnhardt Student Activity Center.  For more information about this year’s International Festival, please click on the following link:  https://ifest.uncc.edu/

Given that the International Festival is just around the corner, I started thinking about the English Department’s many international connections. Numerous members of our department are engaged in research projects that are international in nature.  Examples include Liz Miller’s research on the teaching of foreign languages in Germany, Jeffrey Leak’s research on the Dutch/British editor Rosey Pool and her promotion of African American poetry, and Pilar Blitvich’s recent article titled “Globalization, Transnational Identities, and Conflict Talk: The Complexity of the Latino Identity,” which appeared in the Journal of Pragmatics in 2018.The English Department’s international connections are also reflected in the courses that we teach.

This semester, for example, Boyd Davis is teaching a course on the “History of Global Englishes” in which she provides her students with an overview of how English became the global lingua franca.  Another example from this semester is Juan Meneses’s “Modern World Literature.”  As Juan states in his official course description, “This course investigates a series of 20th- and 21st-century works with the objective of studying some of the most important questions at the center of world literature:  universal values, the dissemination of ideas across borders, the relationship between national literary traditions, translations, and cosmopolitanism.” 

The English Department also provides students with opportunities to include international experiences as part of their education.  Next semester, for example, Jen Munroe will take a group of students over spring break to London and Stratford for “Shakespeare in England.” More than just experiencing Shakespeare’s works in performance in the cities that shaped his career, though, this course exposes students to a new country, with its own traditions and way of being. Students have regularly commented after taking the course that they were amazed by the differences between the US and the UK, despite our speaking the same language.

As the aforementioned examples illustrate, our English Department’s international connections are numerous, diverse, and ongoing. 

Kudos  — As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department.  Here is the latest news:

Boyd Davis has been named to the Data Safety Monitoring Board as part of the NIA-funded SPEEKO dementia caregivers project headed by Kristine Williams, U. Kansas.  Also, Boyd and Margaret Maclagan are presenting a poster titled “Pictures without Frames: Lexical Bundles and Multiword Expressions in Dementia Discourse” at the 13th World Congress on Dementia.

Tiffany Morin and Malin Pereira were selected as finalists for the 2019 J. Murrey Atkins Library Faculty Engagement Award. Both Tiffany and Malin will be recognized at a ceremony and social on October 2 at 4:00 PM. For more information please click on the following link: https://library.uncc.edu/2019FacultyEngagement

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

September 13— English Department meeting will take place on Friday, September 13, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Fretwell 290B (seminar room).

September 13— The EGSA Graduate Student Social will take place at the Wine Vault on Friday, September 13, at 5:00 p.m.

Quirky Quiz Question — Our English Department is not the only place in Charlotte with international connections.  The Charlotte Douglas International Airport offers international connections of a different sort.  The Charlotte airport became an international airport in 1987 when a now defunct airline introduced flights between Charlotte and London. What is the name of this airline?

Last week’s answer: Industrial Workers of the World

Mother Jones was one of the founders of a union whose members were often called Wobblies.  What is the name of this union?

Remembering Mother Jones on Labor Day — Since Labor Day always falls on a Monday, I have written about Labor Day in several of my Monday Missives over the years.  While contemplating the focus for this week’s Monday Missive, I gave some thought to writing about another labor novel.  I wrote about John Steinbeck’s labor novel titled In Dubious Battle in the Monday Missive that I wrote on Labor Day in 2016, so I thought it might be time to pick another labor novel to highlight, but which one?  I decided to enter the phrase labor novels in Google and see what titles showed up most often.  Lists of famous labor novels popped up just as I expected, but to my surprise, I also came across lists of novels that deal with childbirth and motherhood.  Well, this surprise prompted me to think about famous mothers associated with the labor movement, and Mother Jones immediately came to mind.

Nowadays many people associate the name Mother Jones with the magazine that goes by this name, but there really was a labor leader named Mother Jones.  Her official name was Mary Harris Jones, but for much of her adult life, everybody called her Mother Jones.  She was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1837.  At the age of ten, she moved to Canada with her family.  After attending school in Toronto, she moved to the United States where she worked first as a teacher and then as a dressmaker.  In 1861 she married George Jones, who was a member of the National Union of Iron Moulders, and he introduced her to America’s fledgling labor movement.  They settled in Memphis and had four children, but her children and her husband all died in 1867 when a yellow fever epidemic swept through Memphis. Following this personal tragedy, Mother Jones moved to Chicago where she became increasingly involved in union activities.  

Throughout her many years as a labor organizer, Mother Jones worked on behalf of exploited children.  She fought to end child labor and improve the living conditions of children from mining communities and textile factory towns.  In 1903, she organized a massive event billed as a “Children’s Crusade” in which children who worked in mines and textile mills marched and carried signs demanding an end to child labor.  Mother Jones’s dedication to helping children, workers, and immigrants is reflected in her most famous quotation:  “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.”

As we celebrate this Labor Day, I think we should take a moment to remember Mother Jones.  For those who want to know more about her eventful life, I recommend The Autobiography of Mother Jones. This book came out in 1925, just five years before her death in 1930.  I read her autobiography when I was a college student, but I still remember being impressed with her life story and her unwavering commitment to helping the most vulnerable members of our society.  She died nearly ninety years ago, but the story of her life still resonates today.  

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:

Greg Wickliff recently presented at paper titled “Communicating Mathematics and Science” at the 15th International Conference of The Mathematics Education for the Future Project at Maynooth University in Kildare, Ireland.

Quirky Quiz Question — Mother Jones was one of the founders of a union whose members were often called Wobblies.  What is the name of this union?

Last week’s answer: The Little House

In addition to writing Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel and Katy and the Big Snow, Virginia Lee Burton wrote a famous picture book about an anthropomorphic building.  This picture book won the Caldecott Medal.  What is the title of this book?

The English Department That Could —  When I was a young boy, my favorite picture books were those featuring anthropomorphic machines.  This preference is not that surprising since my favorite toy was a bulldozer, which I still have.  I liked Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel (1939) by Virginia Lee Burton.  I also liked Burton’s Katy and the Big Snow (1943) in which a snowplow named Katy saves the day.  However, the anthropomorphic machine book that I liked the most was The Little Engine That Could (1930) by Watty Piper.  Well, I thought it was by Watty Piper until I became a children’s literature professor and learned that Watty Piper is actually the pen name of Arnold Munk. I felt a bit disappointed when I made this discovery, but my disappointment did not undermine my fond memories of reading this book over and over again during my early boyhood.  There was something about the Little Blue Engine’s willingness to help others and her sense of determination that appealed to me as a boy, and it still appeals to me.  Even today, when I am tackling a difficult task, I sometimes find myself repeating the Little Blue Engine’s mantra: “I think I can–I think I can–I think I can.” 

The Little Engine That Could popped into my head last week as I was going over some of the student numbers related to the current state of the English Department.  These numbers are still preliminary, but they are encouraging.  This semester we have about 425 majors, which is up by about ten students compared to last fall.  This increase is noteworthy given that the overall enrollment at the university is down this fall when compared to last fall.  Most of the other departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences are seeing declines in the number of students in their majors, but not English.  Some of the other numbers are also encouraging.  Our English Learning Community, for example, has 26 students participating in it this fall, which is a significant increase over last year’s total of 19 participants.  The number of students in our graduate program is 55, which matches last year’s figure, and last year’s numbers were way up from the year before.   It’s too early to tabulate numbers for our English Honors Program, but all indicators suggest that our Honors Program will continue to be one of the largest departmental honors programs in the university.

When viewed together, these numbers tell a story.  It’s the story of a determined and dedicated department that meets challenges and overcomes obstacles.  It’s the story of a department that thinks it can.  It’s the story of the English Department That Could.

Kudos  — As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department.  Here is the latest news:

Boyd Davis recently published a co-authored article titled “Mode Shifts in Conversations with People with Dementia Can Cause Confusion” in Gerontology and Geriatric Studies. 

Liz Miller recently had a co-authored chapter appear in the edited volume Qualitative Research Topics in Language Teacher Education (Routledge). Her chapter is titled “Emotions in Language Teacher Education and Practice.”

Becky Roeder together with Elsie Berman from the Anthropology Department recently presented a paper titled “Non-standard English Speakers as English Learners: Marshallese Students and the Effects of Language Policy on Neocolonial Subjects” at the Multidisciplinary Approaches in Language Policy and Planning Conference in Toronto.

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

August 26— Last day to register, add, or drop classes with no grade.
September 2— Labor Day (no classes, university closed).

Quirky Quiz Question — In addition to writing Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel and Katy and the Big Snow, Virginia Lee Burton wrote a famous picture book about an anthropomorphic building.  This picture book won the Caldecott Medal.  What is the title of this book?

Last week’s answer: Slade

Toni Morrison co-wrote several children’s books with her son, including The Big Box (1999)and Please, Louise (2014).  What is the name of her son?

Honoring Toni Morrison — On the fifth of this month, the great American author Toni Morrison died in New York City at the age of eighty-eight.  The English Department has just installed an exhibit honoring Morrison and her literary legacy.  The exhibit includes copies of many of her books as well as photographs of Morrison at various stages in her long life.  Numerous members of the English Department helped with the installation of the exhibit.  Janaka Lewis, Paula Eckard, Bryn Chancellor and Jeffrey Leak all provided copies of Morrison’s books from their personal libraries.  Monica Burke, Angie Williams, and I all worked on installing the Morrison exhibit.  I encourage everyone to take a look at the exhibit, which is located in the main lobby area of the English Department.

One of the other ways in which members of our English Department honor Morrison is by conducting scholarship on Morrison’s writings.  For the purposes of this Monday Missive, I mention four examples of professors who have conducted Morrison-related scholarship.  

In her monograph titled Maternal Body and Voice in Toni Morrison, Bobbie Ann Mason, and Lee Smith, Paula Eckard examines the portrayal of motherhood in three of Morrison’s novels:  The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Beloved.  As Paula points out in her monograph, “In these three novels, Morrison presents motherhood with compelling and brutal honesty.  She juxtaposes silence and voice in each novel and uses the maternal body as a source of myth and metaphor to undergd the realities of female experience.”

In his monograph titled Racial Myths and Masculinity in African American Literature, Jeffrey Leak examines the depiction of black masculinity in Morrison’s Song of Solomon.  As Jeffrey discusses in his monograph, “Morrison appreciates the rich lives of black men, but she reveals two tenuous strands of black male heterosexual identity formation:  virulent differentiation from women and homophobia.”  In his analysis of Song of Solomon, Jeffrey shows how these two strands play out in the experiences of the novel’s protagonist.

Janaka Lewis participated in Language Matters: Toni Morrison NEH workshops and met Morrison there and at her curated exhibit “Foreigner’s Home” at the Louvre in Paris as part of the Toni Morrison Society.  She notes the influence of Morrison on the field of Black women’s writing in her book Freedom Narrativesand writes about Sula in a forthcoming article in South journal called “Building Worlds of Our Dreams.”

While Malin Pereira’s scholarship for the past two decades has been devoted to contemporary black poetry, Toni Morrison’s first six novels were the focus of her earliest work, published in four journal articles, an essay in a collection on women’s revisions of Shakespeare, and a chapter in her first book, Embodying Beauty: Twentieth-Century American Women Writers’ Aesthetics. In all of these publications, Malin writes, “I was obsessed with how Morrison wrote back to canonical authors and dominant Western ideas about female identity, beauty and blackness, always seeking to decolonize the black mind.” Malin has a yet-unfulfilled desire to write on Morrison’s libretto for the opera Margaret Garner and why it substantially differs from her novel Beloved.

As the aforementioned examples illustrate, our English Department is a place where Morrison and her writings are taken seriously.  Ever since Morrison burst on the literary scene in the late 1970s, members of our English Department have read, studied, and taught Morrison’s novels.  In so doing, we honor Morrison and her lasting contributions to American literature.

Kudos  — As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department.  Here is the latest news:

Allison Hutchcraft published five poems in the summer issue of The Missouri Review.

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

August 20— First day of classes for the fall 2019 semester.

August 23— The CLAS All Faculty Meeting will take place on Friday, August 23, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the SAC Salons A & B. The meeting will be preceded by a light breakfast beginning at 8:30 a.m.

August 23— The first English Department meeting for the fall 2019 semester will take place on Friday, August 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Fretwell 290B (seminar room).

Quirky Quiz Question — Toni Morrison co-wrote several children’s books with her son, including The Big Box (1999)and Please, Louise (2014).  What is the name of her son?

Last week’s answer: Prince Edward Island

Charlotte is named after Queen Sophia Charlotte, the wife of England’s King George III.  The capital of Canada’s smallest province is also named after this same queen.  What is the name of this Canadian province? 

Urban Connections — Our university has long identified itself as an urban institution.  Our university is named after the city of Charlotte.  Our university’s tag line is “North Carolina’s urban research university.”  Our university has a large facility called UNC Charlotte Center City.  This urban focus is also reflected in our teaching and service work.  I was reminded of our urban emphasis during a recent conversation I had with Janaka Lewis about the seminar for teachers that she is leading for the Charlotte Teachers Institute (CTI) this fall.    

Titled “Childhood and the City Space in Literature,” Janaka’s seminar is all about growing up in urban environments.  In her official description of her seminar, Janaka writes, “This seminar will examine representations of childhood in city settings, with specific focus on underrepresented populations and themes that feature them in literature.”  Among the books that she will be covering are Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Rita Williams-Garcia’s One Crazy Summer,Sandra Cisneros’s The House on Mango Street, and Angie Thomas’s The Hate U Give.

In addition to having the participants study works of literature, Janaka also plans for them to incorporate the city of Charlotte in their examination of urban childhoods.  As she states in her description of the seminar, “Participants will also draw upon Charlotte as a cityscape by examining how local art, science, and history museums represent or could connect to underrepresented experiences of children in Charlotte.” 

Janaka’s CTI seminar is but one of numerous examples of community engagement activities performed by members of our English Department.  For many members of our department, the city of Charlotte is not just the location of our university;  it’s also the urban nexus where our teaching and our commitment to community service converge. 

Kudos  — As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department.  Here is the latest news:

Allison Hutchcraft published a poem titled “Steller and the Sea Cow” in The Southern Review.

Matt Rowney recently presented a pre-conference workshop titled “Romanticism Now” and a conference paper titled “‘Strange look’d it there!’: Palms, the Explosion of the Palm Oil Industry, and the Poetry of Felicia Hemans” at the North American Society for the Study of Romanticism Conference in Chicago.

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

August 12— Final grades for the second summer session courses are due by noon on Monday.

August 15— The University Convocation will take place on Thursday, August 15, at 9:30 a.m. in McKnight Hall. The Convocation will be preceded by a reception beginning at 8:30 a.m. in the Lucas Room.

August 20— First day of classes for the fall 2019 semester.

August 23— The CLAS All Faculty Meeting will take place on Friday, August 23, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the SAC Salons A & B. The meeting will be preceded by a light breakfast beginning at 8:30 a.m.

August 23— The first English Department meeting for the fall 2019 semester will take place on Friday, August 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Fretwell 290B (seminar room).

Quirky Quiz Question — Charlotte is named after Queen Sophia Charlotte, the wife of England’s King George III.  The capital of Canada’s smallest province is also named after this same queen.  What is the name of this Canadian province? 

Last week’s answer: Gary Trudeau

One of the ways in which the counterculture movement lives on is through the comic strip Doonesbury, which made its debut as a daily comic strip in 1970.  What is the name of the person who creates Doonesbury?

Woodstock and the Counterculture Movement — Fifty years ago this month, nearly 500,000 young people converged on a dairy farm in White Lake, New York, to participate in the music festival known as Woodstock.  Promoted as “3 Days of Peace & Music,” Woodstock featured many of the most prominent rock and folk-rock stars of the time, including the following: Joan Baez; The Band; Blood, Sweat and Tears; Creedence Clearwater Revival; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; The Grateful Dead; Arlo Guthrie; Jimi Hendrix; Jefferson Airplane; Janis Joplin; Melanie; Santana; Ravi Shankar; Sly and the Family Stone; and The Who.  Woodstock stands out for the remarkable array of talent that performed for one of the largest and most enthusiastic audiences in the history of rock ‘n’ roll concerts.

Woodstock, however, was much more than a music festival.  It became a defining moment in the history of the counterculture movement of the late 1960s and early ’70s.  Not long after the festival, the term Woodstock Generation came into use.  Although I was still in high school when Woodstock occurred, I identified with the Woodstock Generation.  Not only did I listen to the musicians that performed at Woodstock, but I also took a strong interest in the literary side of the counterculture movement.
During my high school and college years, I read a number of books that are now associated with the counterculture movement.  I remember, for example, reading Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test a year or two after it came out in 1968.  I wrote a paper on this book for a high school English class, but before I could hand in the paper, I had to provide my teacher with proof that I had my parents’ permission to read the book because of the book’s drug references.  

In preparing to write this Monday Missive, I tired to remember all of the counterculture books I read during my hippie days.  Here is a partial list, which I have arranged chronologically in terms of when the books first appeared:  Soul on Ice (1968) by Eldridge Cleaver; Slouching Toward Bethlehem (1968) by Joan Didion; The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) by Tom Wolfe; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) by Maya Angelou; Portnoy’s Complaint (1969) by Philip Roth; Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) by Kurt Vonnegut; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972) by Hunter S. Thompson; Fear of Flying (1973) by Erica Jong; and If Beale Street Could Talk (1974) by James Baldwin.  Although these books deal with very diverse topics, they all question prevailing societal norms, and for this reason they all relate in one way or another to the counterculture movement.  

For those of us were part of the Woodstock Generation, the 50th anniversary of Woodstock brings to the surface personal memories, melodies of favorite songs from the era, and recollections of stories that we read or heard all those years ago.  I feel a sense of nostalgia when I remember that time in my life.  Although our country was in turmoil during these years, there was nonetheless an underlying sense of optimism that ran through the counterculture movement.  I am reminded of a stanza from Joni Mitchell’s song about Woodstock in which she expresses hope for a more peaceful future:

By the time we got to Woodstock

We were half a million strong

And everywhere there was song and celebration

And I dreamed I saw the bombers

Riding shotgun in the sky

And they were turning into butterflies

Above our nation

English Learning Community News —  Last week Tiffany Morin sent me the following update about our English Learning Community (ELC):  “The English Learning Community is pleased to announce that the 2019-2020 ELC is full. The 25 members, who are mostly English majors, are excited to begin their first year at UNC Charlotte. It is our belief that a Learning Community that contributes to the department will feel more like a part of the department, and become more invested in it, aiding in student retention.  We welcome department members to stop by our class to discuss organizations and programs or just introduce themselves.  We are always looking for ways to contribute, so if you would like to involve the ELC in upcoming events, projects, or ideas, please contact Tiffany Morin.”

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:

Dina Massachi, a graduate of our M.A. program, recently presented a paper titled ““Are You a Good Witch, or a Bad Witch?’: When Glinda Isn’t Good” at OzCon International in Pomona, California. 

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

August 12— Final grades for the second summer session courses are due by noon on Monday.

August 20— First day of classes for the fall 2019 semester.

Quirky Quiz Question — One of the ways in which the counterculture movement lives on is through the comic strip Doonesbury, which made its debut as a daily comic strip in 1970.  What is the name of the person who creates Doonesbury?

Last week’s answer: A monkey

Astrid Lindgren’s most famous character is a girl named Pippi Longstocking.   Pippi has a pet named Mr. Nilsson.  What sort of animal is Mr. Nilsson?

Making Connections through Literature — Last week my wife and I traveled to Stockholm so that I could research the connections between Swedish children’s author Astrid Lindgren and Junibacken.  Promoted as a “children’s cultural center with books at its heart,” Junibacken combines the elements of an interactive children’s museum, a children’s theater, and a children’s bookstore. Junibacken opened to the public in June 1996, and Lindgren attended the opening.  I knew before I took this trip that Lindgren played an important role in the creation of Junibacken, but I wanted to learn more about the details of Lindgren’s involvement.  

For me, the high point of this trip was the time I spent interviewing Sanna Pedersen, who serves as the Manager of Public Operations at Junibacken.  We talked for three and a half hours about Lindgren’s life, her children’s books, and her participation in the design of Junibacken.   I had never met Sanna before this interview, but we found it easy to talk for hours since we both share an interest in Lindgren’s contributions to the world of children’s literature.  

As I walked back to the hotel after concluding my interview with Sanna, I thought about the role that literature can play in helping us make connections with other people.   When we share a familiarity with the same stories, we automatically have much to discuss.  In a sense, literature can provide us with a cultural common ground, and that certainly was the case in my interview with Sanna.  However, literature can play a similar role on a far larger scale.  In Sweden, Lindgren’s children’s stories are an important part of the national culture.  Nearly everyone in Sweden has read at least some of Lindgren’s children’s books.  This common literary experience has become one of the connecting points that brings Swedes together but not in an exclusive sort of way.  All one needs to do to join the conversation and become part of this aspect of Swedish culture is read some of Lindgren’s children’s books.  Such is the power and magic of literature.  

Kudos  — As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department.  Here is the latest news:

Allison Hutchcraft published a poem titled “So I Try to Picture the Priests” in the summer issue of Five Points..

Janaka Lewis recently presented a paper titled “Girlhood Remembrance in African American Literature” at the second MLA International Symposium in Lisbon.

Kirk Melnikoff signed a contract to contribute the chapter “Agents of Book Making: Publishers” to The Oxford Handbook of the Book in Early Modern England (Oxford University Press, 2021).

Upcoming Events and Deadlines — Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:
August 12— Final grades for the second summer session courses are due by noon on Monday, August 12.

Quirky Quiz Question — Astrid Lindgren’s most famous character is a girl named Pippi Longstocking.   Pippi has a pet named Mr. Nilsson.  What sort of animal is Mr. Nilsson?

Last week’s answer: Australia

Sarah Minslow is a native of North Carolina, but she actually holds citizenship in two countries.  What is the name of the other country she is a citizen of in addition to being a citizen of the United States? 

Participating in the Personally Speaking Series — While reading the current issue of Exchange, I experienced a brief moment of disbelief when I started reading Susan Jetton’s article titled “Personally Speaking Series:  Authors Series Uncovers Stories Behind the Books.”  In the first sentence, Susan writes that the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is about to “kick off the 10th season” of the Personally Speaking Series.  For a second, I felt certain that Susan must have made a mistake about this 10th season business since it seems to me that the Personally Speaking Series just started a few years ago.  However, Susan was right.  Dean Nancy Gutierrez started the series ten years ago.  In launching this series, she set out to create a forum for CLAS authors not only to talk about their recently published books but also to share the stories behind the writing of these books.  

I am pleased to report that members of the English Department have participated in this series throughout its ten-year history.  During the first season of the series, Tony Jackson gave a presentation based on his book The Technology of the Novel:  Writing and Narrative in British Fiction.  Since then Aimee Parkison gave a presentation on The Innocent Party, Paula Connolly talked about Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010, Jeffrey Leak presented on Visible Man:  The Life of Henry Dumas, Alan Rauch discussed Dolphin, and Paula Eckard spoke about Thomas Wolfe and Lost Children in Southern Literature.  During last year’s season, two members of the English Department participated in the series.  Janaka Lewis gave a presentation about Freedom Narratives of African American Women:  A Study of 19th-Century Writings, and Bryn Chancellor talked about her novel, Sycamore.The English Department will again be represented during the upcoming season of the Personally Speaking Series.  Jennifer Munroe will give a presentation on Shakespeare and Ecofeminist Theory, which she co-wrote with Rebecca Laroche.  The exact date of Jen’s presentation is not yet set, but it will be in the spring 2020 semester.  

Although I still find it hard to believe that the Personally Speaking Series is marking its 10th anniversary, I am proud that so many members of the English Department have participated in this innovative series over the years. 

Thank You, Sarah Minslow — Last Friday was Sarah Minslow’s last day as our English Department advisor.  Sarah has done an excellent job as our advisor, and I know that we will all miss her.  I also know that we all wish her the very best as she starts her new position as a tenure-track assistant professor at California State University, Los Angeles. 

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

August 12— Final grades for the second summer session courses are due by noon on Monday, August 12.  

Quirky Quiz Question — Sarah Minslow is a native of North Carolina, but she actually holds citizenship in two countries.  What is the name of the other country she is a citizen of in addition to being a citizen of the United States?

Last week’s answer: Morocco

Casablanca is set in a country located in north Africa.  What is the name of this country?

Partnering with Kingston University — On Friday of last week, Provost Joan Lorden officially approved our proposed MA/MFA Dual Degree Program with Kingston University.  Since her counterpart at Kingston University had already signed the agreement, we are now cleared to launch this dual degree program in creative writing.  We will begin the process of launching the program this coming fall semester, and we expect to enroll students in the program starting in the fall 2020 semester. 

The approval of our MA/MFA dual degree program with Kingston University marks the culmination of a long and complex negotiation process involving many administrators from both UNC Charlotte and Kingston University.  It also, however, marks an important moment in our English Department’s long relationship with Kingston University.  UNC Charlotte and Kingston University have been partners since 1981, and members of our department have participated in this partnership in various ways over the years.  

Two members of our English Department have served as the Kingston Resident Director, which is a position that involves advising UNC Charlotte students who participate in our longstanding exchange program with Kingston University.  Susan Gardner served as the Resident Director during the 2006-07 academic year, and Beth Gargano served in this position during the 2012-13 academic year.

Our English Department has also hosted several visiting writers from Kingston University.  The first of these writers was Micah Nathan, who taught an advanced fiction writing course for us during the spring 2015 semester.  In 2016, Michelle Cahill visited the department followed by Howard Cunnell in 2017.  Last year poet and critic Siobhán Campbell visited the department and also participated in our Center City Literary Festival.  Kirk Melnikoff, Allison Hutchcraft, and Bryn Chancellor played key roles in organizing these visits.

Our faculty exchange program with Kingston University has also involved members of our department leading workshops and giving readings at Kingston University.  Over the years, Aimee Parkison, Andrew Hartley, and Allison Hutchcraft have all participated in activities organized by Kingston University’s creative writing program.  I should also note that James McGavran was scheduled to teach a course on memoir writing at Kingston University, but his unexpected death prevented him from teaching this course.

With the implementation of our MA/MFA dual degree program, our longstanding relationship with Kingston University has evolved into a true collaboration.  I am reminded of the famous line from the end of Casablanca in which Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, says, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”  

Allison Hutchcraft’s “Good News!” —  Last week Allison Hutchcraft sent me an email that started with this re message: “Good News!”  I like good news, so I opened her email right away, and I was thrilled to read the following:  “I’m writing with very good news. My poetry collection Swale has been named the 2019 Editor’s Choice by New Issues Poetry & Prose and will be published in the fall of 2020. I am ecstatic. I’ve long admired New Issues and the wonderful poets they publish, and I am honored to be in their company.” 

In my opinion, this news deserves more than one measly explanation mark.  I know that Allison is a very talented poet and all, but I think that her re message needs to be revised.  Here is my edited version:  “Fantastic News!!!!!!!!!”  For more information about Allison’s Fantastic News!!!!!!!!!, please click on the following link:  https://newissuespress.com/

Quirky Quiz Question — Casablanca is set in a country located in north Africa.  What is the name of this country?

Last week’s answer: John Travolta

Welcome Back, Kotter launched the acting career of a now-famous actor.  This actor has starred in such films as Urban Cowboy and Pulp Fiction.  What is the name of this actor?