Location, Location, Location — This past weekend, I saw Being There, the final film in the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library’s film series titled “Hal Ashby in the Seventies.”  Sam Shapiro, the organizer of this film series and a part-time faculty member in our English Department, introduced the film by commenting on the making of the film and discussing the relationship between Hal Ashby (the director) and Peter Sellers (the star of the film).  For Sellers, Being There was his final film.  Being There was released in 1979, and Sellers died in 1980.  Sam then concluded his introductory comments by mentioning that most of the movie was filmed at Biltmore House in Asheville.

Having toured Biltmore House, I enjoyed seeing the various ways in which this house figures in the film.  I took pleasure in recognizing specific rooms, gardens, and landscape features associated with Biltmore House, but it all seemed different seeing these features within the context of the film.  When I toured Biltmore House, it struck me as something of a grand tourist attraction.  However, when I saw Biltmore House portrayed as a lived-in residence in the movie, it seemed more like a real house to me.

The first time I ever gave much thought to film locations was in 1969, and it involved the movie Downhill Racer, starring Robert Redford.  Several scenes in the movie were shot less than a mile from my childhood home on South Turkey Creek Road near Conifer, Colorado.  In the movie, these scenes are presented as taking place in the Colorado town of Idaho Springs.  However, I knew exactly where these scenes were shot, and they were many miles from the town of Idaho Springs. Our whole family went to see the Downhill Racer as soon as it was released, and we couldn’t help but announce to everyone in the theater that those scenes took place on our road.   I enjoyed seeing our familiar road in the movie, but I remember thinking that the film was distorting reality.

Forty-two years after the release of Downhill Racer, the topic of film locations again surfaced in my life.  Gavin, our son, found out that The Hunger Games was being filmed in the Charlotte area, and he auditioned to be an extra.  He ended up spending the entire summer of 2011 working as an extra, although he is only in the film for about a nano-second.  Because of Gavin’s involvement in the film, I knew the specific places in the Charlotte area where the film was shot.  Nevertheless, when I saw the film in the theater, I did not have a sense that I was seeing scenes from Charlotte on the screen.   Through the magic of movie making, the real places that were used in the film were so completely transformed that they appeared to be from an entirely different world that had nothing to do with Charlotte.

By studying films, we can better understand how talented filmmakers, such as Hal Ashby, use their films to portray, distort, and transform reality.  In a sense, films provide with us with opportunities to see our familiar world in different ways. This theme runs through the various film studies courses that we offer in the English Department.  In the spring 2019 semester, for example, we are offering several such courses, including Sam Shapiro’s “Paranoid Cinema:  American Movies in the 1970s” and Henry Doss’s “Southern Childhood in Films, Stories, and Performance.”  These various film studies courses will cover many movies, which were filmed in many different locations.  However, if one were to look for a great location to study films, one need look no further than our own English Department.

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:

Balaka Basu recently presented a paper titled “Fan Fiction as Literature: Post Canonical Writing and the Poetics of Genre” at Fan Studies Network – North America in Chicago at DuPaul University.

Clayton Tarr recently presented a paper titled “Counting Cards: Enumeration and Revolution in A Tale of Two Cities and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” at the Victorians Institute Conference in Asheville.

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

November 14 — As part of International Education Week, on Wednesday, Nov. 14th from 9-3:30 Sarah Minslow’s War and Genocide in Children’s Literature class will host their annual Promoting Peace Project. This year they will create murals of handprints to symbolize the role each of us plays in creating a more peaceful society. Stop by to make a donation and add your handprint for peace to the mural. All donations will support refugee children. It will be held in the courtyard between CHHS and CoEd.

Quirky Quiz Question — In addition to starring in Being There, Peter Sellers starred in the original Pink Panther movies.  What was the name of the character he played in these films?

Contributing to Charlotte’s Literary Scene — Members of our English Department regularly contribute to the Charlotte area’s literary scene, but this past week our department shifted into overdrive.  Members of our department made contributions to three separate literary events in the span of three days.

It all started on Thursday, November 1, with Verse & Vino, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation’s annual celebration of literature.   This gigantic fund-raising event takes place at the Charlotte Convention Center in the largest ballroom in the city.   Setting up for this event is a tremendous challenge, but there is no challenge too big for our Angie Williams.  This year, just as she has done for the past three years, Angie volunteered to help set up for Verse & Vino.  I know the organizers who put Verse & Vino together, and they all commented to me on how valuable Angie’s help was in transforming the cavernous ballroom into a celebratory space.

The very next day, Bryn Chancellor played host to the North Carolina Writers’ Network’s conference.  I emailed Bryn asking her for news about the conference, and she sent me the following response:

The nonprofit North Carolina Writers’ Network, the state’s oldest and largest literary arts services organization, holds three annual conferences that bring together hundreds of writers from around “The Writingest State” for workshops, readings, and lively discussions in support of their mission statement that writing is “necessary both for self-expression and community spirit, that well-written words can connect people across time and distance, and that the deeply satisfying experiences of writing and reading should be available to everyone.” The network rotates conference locations, and Charlotte was the city for fall. Organizers reached out to UNC Charlotte Department of English to see if we would want to sponsor an event, which we did: a pre-conference “tailgate” open to all to kick off the weekend. I led writers in exercises focused on observation and memory intended to help them find material for their stories and poems as well as to sink into the writing mindset. Throughout the weekend, the conference offered myriad sessions focused on the craft and business of writing, as well as panels, social events, and readings, including a wonderful staged performance during the evening banquet. Paula Martinac presented a session on creating diverse characters, and I led one on dialogue and setting in fiction writing.

On Saturday, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation held EpicFest, a free literary festival for children and their families that takes place at ImaginOn.   I serve on the steering committee for this festival, but I was not the only member of our department who contributed to the success of this event.   A number of the students from our English Learning Community volunteered.  Several of our graduate students also volunteered, including Samantha Holt and Shannon Murphy.  Moreover, Kelly Brabec, who recently graduated with an English major, volunteered for the third year in a row.

One of the reasons our English Department is able to play such important roles in supporting so many cultural events in the Charlotte community is that our department is itself an inclusive community that encompasses not just faculty members but also staff members, undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni.  With such a large and diverse community, we have the people, expertise and willingness to help out with a wide variety of cultural projects and events.

Southeastern Renaissance Conference — The 75th annual meeting of the Southeastern Renaissance Conference (SRC) took place on October 19-20, 2018, at Queens University of Charlotte and the UNC Charlotte Center City campus. The conference was supported by the English Department and College of Arts and Sciences at Queens and by the UNC Charlotte English Department. Helen Hull from Queens University and Kirk Melnikoff served as the conference co-hosts.  Both Kirk and Jen Munroe also presided over sessions at this conference.

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:

JuliAnna Ávila‘s article titled “Compliant ‘Devices of Art’: Enlisting Dewey to Question Mandates” was just published in Teachers College Record.

Meghan Barnes recently wrote a piece about the women at the homeless shelter, and this story has been published on the Urban Ministries Center blog. You can check it out by clicking on the following link:  https://www.urbanministrycenter.org/what-is-community/

Mark de Castrique, a graduate of our M.A. program, recently published a mystery novel titled Secret Undertaking.

Quirky Quiz Question — Veterans Day will take place on Sunday, November 11.  What was the original name for this holiday?

Come and Sit for a Spell (or a Potion) — One of the reasons I like Halloween so much is that it harks back to a time when children knew all of their neighbors and felt free to visit them–a time when people sat on their front porches and invited passersby to sit on the porch swing for a spell.  However, with the rise of the suburban ranch house, the sociable front porch has given way to the private back patio or deck, and this change in domestic architecture has altered the ways in which neighbors interact.  Nowadays, many children hardly know their neighbors, and they certainly don’t feel free to ring their neighbors’ doorbells and ask for a treat–except for on Halloween.  On Halloween, we give ourselves permission to open our doors to our neighbors, to play, and to not take ourselves too seriously even if it’s just for a day.

I am pleased to report that the convivial spirit of Halloween pervaded the English Department last Friday thanks to the efforts of the students in Sigma Tau Delta, the English Graduate Student Association, and the Children’s Literature Graduate Organization.  These students held their second annual Haunted English Department Take Over on Friday, October 26, from 4:00 to 8:00 pm, and it was a smash hit.  We flung open the front doors of the English Department, and lots of students and children showed up in costumes.  A number of faculty and staff members, including me, opened our office doors to trick-or-treaters.  The student organizers decorated the department, held a costume contest, and set up Halloween-related craft projects.  They showed a scary movie and provided an abundance of pizza and other tasty snacks.  Everyone who participated had a great time.

I had to leave around 6:00, but the English Department was still rollicking when I headed home.  Seeing so many children, students, faculty, and staff members all having fun together, I concluded, as I drove home, that our English Department is not just an academic unit.  For many of us, it also functions as a community or a neighborhood of sorts.  If it’s haunted, I suspect that it’s haunted by friendly spirits who just want to sit for a spell and enjoy the convivial company.

 

Personally Speaking Dates — We have confirmed the dates next semester for not one but two English Department faculty who will be discussing their books at Personally Speaking:

Last week’s answer: John F. Kennedy

When Robert Frost was 86, he read a poem at the inauguration of a President.  What is the name of this President?

October and Robert Frost — As I was raking the leaves in our backyard on Sunday morning in preparation for the English Department’s fall party, I suddenly flashed on Robert Frost’s poem “October.”   The opening lines of this poem read:

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.

Ever since my days at Franconia College, I have had an interest in Frost’s poetry in part because of Frost’s connections to the town of Franconia, New Hampshire.  Frost purchased a farmhouse outside of Franconia in 1915 and lived there until 1920.  Even after Frost moved, he kept the house and often spent his summers there.

When I lived in Franconia, the Frost property came on the market, and the citizens of the town initiated a campaign for the town to purchase and preserve the property.  I went to several of the meetings where this idea was being discussed, and I remember being thrilled when the town purchased the property in 1976 and turned it into a museum and poetry center called The Frost Place.  For more information about The Frost Place, please click on this link: https://frostplace.org

At the time it seemed like everybody in Franconia, including me, was quoting lines from Frost’s poems.  We thought of Frost as our poet, our man of letters, our favorite former resident of our historic New England town.  Even now, I am proud of the town of Franconia for rallying behind a poet.  I cannot think of any other town that owns and operates a poetry center.

What appeals to me the most about Frost’s poetry is the way he captures the rhythms of nature and the pulse of place.  His poems celebrate the subtle ways in which nature and places shape our day-to-day lives.  For me, Frost’s poetry resonates most strongly when I am outdoors, perhaps with a rake in my hand, leaves fluttering around my head, and a sense that our backyard works pretty well as my own Frost place.

October Sky — The Fall Film Series of the NC Humanities Council grant funded project, The Child in Southern Literature and Film, begins today at 5pm in the Student Union Theater. October Sky, a film in which teens in West Virginia start building rockets following the launch of Sputnik, will be screened and discussed. Everyone is invited to attend. The other films in this series include Night of the Hunter on November 28 and Remember the Titans on December 5.

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:

Juan Meneses was recently interviewed by The Massachusetts Review. The interview is available here: http://www.massreview.org/node/7159

Sam Shapiro recently published a review of The Big Fella: Babe Ruth and the World He Created in the Raleigh News & Observer. Here is the link:  https://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/books/article219636675.html

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

October 31 — Balaka Basu will deliver a talk titled “Learning from the Harry Potter Generation” on October 31 at 2pm in the Dale Halton Room of the Atkins Library.

Quirky Quiz Question — When Robert Frost was 86, he read a poem at the inauguration of a President.  What is the name of this President?

Last week’s answer: CLAS Associate Dean Greg Weeks

National Hispanic Heritage Month — Today marks the culmination of the 2018 National Hispanic Heritage Month.  Officially described “as a way to promote the history, culture and contributions of Hispanic-Americans. Specifically — those whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America,” National Hispanic Heritage Month takes place each year from September 15 though October 15.  Given the goals associated with this special month, I think it is especially fitting that members of our English Department recently launched several initiatives that relate to these goals.

Maya Socolovsky has been teaching a special topics course titled “Introduction to U.S. Latinx Literature” for a number of years, and the course has attracted strong interest from our students.  She recently proposed making this course a permanent course with its own course number.  At its last meeting, our Undergraduate Committee approved Maya’s proposal and sent it to forward for departmental approval.  During last week’s department meeting, the faculty voted in favor of this proposal.  By voting to make this a permanent course, the department not only embraced this particular course, but it also recognized the importance of Latinx literature as a vibrant and vital part of America’s diverse culture.

Of course, Latinx culture also involves more than literature.  Another important aspect of this culture involves foodways.  Next semester Consuelo Salas will teach a graduate seminar in which she will address this aspect of Latinx culture.  When I asked her for more information about her plans for this seminar, she sent me the following email: “In the Spring, I’ll be teaching ENGL 6062, which I have themed the Rhetoric of Food.  As part of the course, I plan to have students examine community foodway literacies and practices in the Charlotte area.  The students will be exposed to various Latinx communities, their foodways, and explore the ways that different Latinx communities have made a food home for themselves in the area.” 

JuliAnna Ávila is interested in helping Latinx students find a home for themselves within the university.  Last week, she initiated the formation of an honors society for Latinx students.  In an email that she sent to faculty, she wrote: “I’m working to create a university-wide Latinx Honor Society, and am looking for students to help establish this group. So, I’m writing to ask for your help with two things.  First, if you have students who you think might be interested, please send names along to me.  Although membership criteria will need to be set by the group itself, I’m guessing that it will include a g.p.a. of at least 3.5 and some level of community involvement.  Second, if you have had experience with helping create a student group and have advice, I would appreciate hearing it.”  I spoke to JuliAnna a few days after she sent out her email, and she informed me that she is already getting a very positive response, especially from members of the English Department.

As these three examples illustrate, our English Department will continue to support the goals associated with the National Hispanic Heritage Month even after the special month draws to close.

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 is the subject of an interview that has recently been published on The Massachusetts Review website: https://www.massreview.org/node/7155.

Paula Martinac will be presenting and reading at the NC Writers’ Conference in Charlotte, Nov. 2-4. She was recently featured on their website: https://www.ncwriters.org/index.php/our-members/network-news/9929-fc18-pm

Kirk Melnikoff recently published the article “Shakespeare’s Urban Comedies and the Lure of True Crime and Satire” in The Oxford Handbook of Shakespearean Comedy. (Oxford UP 2018).

Daniel Shealy delivered a presentation titled “‘Duty chains me to my galley’: Publishing Louisa May Alcott” at the Concord Free Public Library in Concord, MA.  on October 13, 2018.  The presentation was in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Little Women.

Clayton Tarr recently presented a paper titled “‘[A] daring imposture’: Registration and Impersonation in Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White” at the North American Victorian Studies Association Conference.

Heather Vorhies recently presented a paper titled “Enthusiastic Bodies; Republican Minds” at the Rhetoric and Religion in the Twenty-First Century Conference.

Quirky Quiz Question — The National Hispanic Heritage Month focuses mostly on cultural topics, but it also has connections to Latin American politics.  For those interested in keeping up to date on Latin American politics, they should check out the weekly blog on this topic that is written by a UNC Charlotte faculty member/administrator.  What is the name of the person who writes this Latin American Politics Blog?

Last week’s answer: Louis Armstrong

When the members of our English Department went to New Orleans to participate in the 2018 Conference of the Popular Culture Association in the South, they flew in and out of the major airport in New Orleans.  This airport is named for a famous former resident of New Orleans.  What is the name of this famous person? 

Popular Culture Studies — This past week several members of our English Department traveled to New Orleans to participate in the 2018 Conference of the Popular Culture Association in the South.  Shannon Bauerle, a graduate of our MA program and a faculty member in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, organized a roundtable discussion of the program’s annual performance based on Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues.  The participants in the roundtable discussion included Shannon, Roberta Dunn, Tiffany Morin, Angie Williams, and Alison Walsh.  During their presentation, they discussed how this annual performance has evolved beyond the scope of Ensler’s original work.  Aaron Toscano also attended this conference where he delivered a paper titled “Video Games and the Neoliberal Hero: Capitalism, Postmodernism, and American Exceptionalism.”

Our English Department’s presence at this conference reflects the department’s varied contributions to the study of popular culture.   Over the years, many of our faculty members have taught courses that deal with popular culture.  A few examples include Chris Arvidson’s course on Baseball in Film, Aaron Gwyn’s course on the television series Breaking Bad, and Katie Hogan’s course titled Girl Cultures.  Our faculty have also published scholarly works that deal with popular culture.  A few examples include Pilar Blitvich’s Real Talk:  Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, Sarah Minslow’s recently published essay that deals with the impact of Winnie-the-Pooh on children’s popular culture in America, and Alan Rauch’s scholarship on the portrayal of dolphins in popular culture.

The field of popular culture studies as an academic specialty got its start at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), which is where I earned my doctoral degree.  Ray Browne, a longtime English professor at BGSU, began building the field of popular culture studies shortly after he joined the English Department at BGSU in 1967.  He founded the Journal of Popular Culture in 1967, established the Center for Popular Culture Studies in 1968, and launched the Popular Culture Association in 1970.  He went on to establish BGSU’s Department of Popular Culture in 1973 and then founded the Journal of American Culture in 1979.  He and his wife, Pat Browne, also organized and developed what is now known as the Ray and Pat Browne Popular Culture Library.

When I arrived at BGSU in 1980, Ray was still teaching, and I had the privilege of taking several courses from him.  Also at BGSU, I met my friend and frequent collaborator, Kathy Merlock Jackson.  Since we both were strongly influenced by Ray, we decided to dedicate our book Disneyland and Culture to Ray and Pat Browne.  In our dedication, we praise their “enduring work in popular culture.”  As I see it, the prominent role that popular culture studies plays in UNC Charlotte’s English Department is a testament to Ray’s enduring legacy.

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:

Janaka Lewis recently participated in a roundtable presentation titled “Teaching in the Age of Trump and Black Lives Matter:  Possibility, Pedagogy, and Positionality” at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) Conference held in Indianapolis.

Heather Vorhies recently learned that her article titled “Ordering the Mind:  Reading Style in Hugh Blair” has been accepted by Rhetoric Review. This is a top-tier journal in Heather’s field.

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

October 12 — The English Department meeting will take place on Friday, October 12, from 11:00-12:15 in the Conference Room (Fretwell 280C).

Quirky Quiz Question — When the members of our English Department went to New Orleans to participate in the 2018 Conference of the Popular Culture Association in the South, they flew in and out of the major airport in New Orleans.  This airport is named for a famous former resident of New Orleans.  What is the name of this famous person?

The quotations by Daniel Shealy in The Hollywood Reporter article about film and television adaptions of Little Women relates to a recent surge of publicity surrounding an important anniversary associated with Little Women.  What is this important anniversary?

Communal Aesthetics — This past week, my family and I participated in Chihuly Nights at the Biltmore House in Asheville.  During this special evening viewing of the garden exhibition of Dale Chihuly’s glass sculptures, the artwork is made even more striking by the use of lighting effects.  The light plays off the colored glass, deepening the hues and sometimes creating a prism effect.  The light also plays off the plants in the garden, casting dramatic shadows and enhancing the visual connections between the plants and the glass sculptures.  Since Chihuly draws much of his inspiration from the botanical world, participating in Chihuly Nights is like touring a wondrous midnight garden.

Chihuly Nights has proven to be very popular. On the night that we went, we were joined by hundreds of other people as we wandered down the dimly lit garden paths and gazed at the glass sculptures.  For me, viewing this exhibition in the presence of many other admirers of Chihuly’s art made the visit even more pleasurable.  I did not know any of these people, but we were brought together through a shared aesthetic experience.  I enjoyed observing the other participants’ reactions to the sculptures and listening to their comments.  On several occasions, a person standing next to me struck up a brief conversation with me about some aspect of the artwork that we were viewing together.  For the span of a few hours, the participants in Chihuly Nights became part of a community–a community that flickered into existence because of the catalyst of Chihuly’s sculptures.

My interest in communal aesthetics is not limited to the visual arts.  One of the reasons I helped establish the Center City Literary Festival is that it provides participants with an opportunity to enjoy oral readings of poems and stories in the presence of other people who turn to the literary arts for pleasure and meaning.  To this end, I am pleased to report that Angie Williams and I met last week with Ann Duplessis, the Associate Director of UNC Charlotte Center City, and we worked out the financial details for this year’s Center City Literary Festival.  Although we still have not set a firm date for the festival, we know that it will take place in March 2019.

As I see it, Chihuly Nights and the Center City Literary Festival both tap into the the communal aesthetic that I associate with shared cultural experiences.  This type of shared experience adds a new dimension to the works of art that the participants are enjoying together. The actual work of art, be it a glass sculpture of red reeds or a poem about a dodo bird, doesn’t change when it is the focal point of a communal aesthetic experience, but the perception of it does change.  I am reminded of the umami flavor that foodies often mention.  It is hard to define, but it makes a real difference.

English Learning Community News — The English Learning Community volunteered at KidsFest on Saturday.  Members set up an activity table and helped kids of all ages create bookmarks.  The festival was well attended, and the ELC stayed busy throughout the day making sure their young visitors had fun.

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 and Juan Meneses have published two translations of contemporary Spanish poet Concha García’s poems in the current issue of The Massachusetts Review.

Quirky Quiz Question — The exhibit of Chihuly glass sculptures at the Biltmore House will close on October 7.  However, there is a long-term exhibit of his work at a museum called Chihuly Garden and Glass, which is located in the city where Dale Chihuly currently lives.  What is the the name of this city?

Zero Mostel won a Tony Award for his performance in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  Two years later he won the Tony Award for his performance in another musical in which he played a character named Tevye.  What is the title of this 1964 musical hit?  

A Funny Thing Happened — I think that the word forum is more interesting than the word meeting, although the two words are listed as synonyms in most dictionaries.  What I like about the word forum is that it has two related meanings.  According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, the word can be used when referring to “a public meeting involving audience discussion,” but it can also be used when referring to “a public meeting place for open discussion.”  The word forum also has interesting historical and cultural associations.  The word dates back to the ancient Romans, and it is featured in works of popular culture, such as the 1962 musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, starring the great Zero Mostel.

I started thinking about the word forum after I adjourned Friday’s English Department meeting.  Even after the official meeting ended, many faculty members stayed in the department, talking in clusters.  They were not wearing togas, but they reminded me of pictures I have seen of Roman citizens standing together while engaging in lively debates.  I saw several faculty members in the hallway talking with Natalie Ornat, our guest speaker from Atkins Library, about various library-related projects.  I saw Chris Davis and Aaron Gwyn in the lobby area talking about their various creative-writing endeavors.  I saw a number of the faculty members who teach British literature courses gathered together in the faculty/staff lounge talking about their courses and research projects.  It seemed that everywhere I went in the department I saw people carrying on conversations and sharing their plans for the year.  This prompted me to come up with a slightly altered version of the title of the aforementioned musical.  My new title is A Funny Thing Happened on the Way from the Forum.  The funny thing that happened is that the English Department forum kept going long after the official English Department meeting came to a close.  It just relocated to other areas in the department.

Another thought popped into my head as I contemplated the two meanings of the word forum. The definition of forum as “a public meeting place for open discussion” is a perfect description of the space that houses our English Department.  Nearly every day I see faculty, staff and students gathered in the public areas of our department talking about classes, books,  research projects, and current events.  In some ways, our department is like an inclusive version of a Roman forum.

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 recently co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Pragmatics (the flagship journal in the field) on im/politeness and globalization.  The special issue includes seven articles and a state-of-the-art introduction.  Pilar co-authored the introduction and was single author of one of the articles, which is titled “Globalization, Transnational Identities, and Conflict Talk: The Superdiversity and Complexity of the Latino Identity.”

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

September 12 — The Early Modern Paleography Society (EMPS) will have its first fall meeting of 2018 on September 12th, 2018, from 3:30-5:15 in Fretwell 290B. Pizza will be provided.

Quirky Quiz Question — Zero Mostel won a Tony Award for his performance in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  Two years later he won the Tony Award for his performance in another musical in which he played a character named Tevye.  What is the title of this 1964 musical hit?

Last week’s answer: Matilda
Roald Dahl’s belief in the importance of reading is especially evident in his children’s book about a brilliant girl who taught herself how to read at the age of three. A musical based on this book will be performed by the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte this fall. Do you know the title of this book?