Storied Charlotte

Monday Missive - October 10, 2016

October 10, 2016 by Mark West

Personally Speaking/Scientifically Speaking — Our colleague Alan Rauch will deliver a presentation about his book Dolphin on Tuesday, November 1, at UNC Charlotte Center City. His presentation will begin at 6:30. A reception and book-signing will follow his presentation. His presentation is part of the Personally Speaking Series, which is co-sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the J. Murrey Atkins Library with support from UNC Charlotte Center City. The series is open to the public without charge, but attendees are expected to register in advance. To register for Alan’s presentation, please click on the following link: http://bm5150.com/public/webform/render_form/3trujsrfvrddxuhx0lbtxfwiob8lu/e0c636a0a0b654955db464ffd7a53301/addcontact

In Dolphin, Alan combines his expertise in literature and culture with his scientific background in zoology. He discusses the dolphin’s place in mythology, literature, and popular culture, but he also provides a scientific overview of the evolution and biological characteristics of dolphins. Alan is one of several faculty members in the English Department to take a scholarly interest in science and technology. Jen Munroe and Matthew Rowney both study the relationship between the natural environment and culture. Lara Vetter is interested in how the tension between science and religion is reflected in the works of several modernist writers. Katie Hogan has an interest in gender and medical humanities, and this interest is reflected in her book Women Take Care: Gender, Race, and the Culture of AIDS. Tony Jackson and Ralf Thiede both work at the intersection of cognitive science, language, and texts, and Boyd Davis is currently working on several research projects that deal with the relationship between Alzheimers and language. Aaron Toscano and Greg Wickliff have both conducted research on the history and rhetoric of technology. Similarly, Heather Vorhies is interested in the history of scientific rhetoric. I could mention several more examples of English faculty members who write about science and technology in their scholarship, but my list list is getting a bit long already. Needless to say, our English Department is very much a player in the emerging field of Science and Technology Studies (STS).

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

Bryn Chancellor was featured in a column in the Charlotte Observer on local authors.

Jennie Mussington recently received the Golden Nugget Award “for going above and beyond the call of duty” in recognition of her calm and professional response to a student with a medical concern.

Quirky Quiz Question — In Dolphin, Alan Rauch writes about the depiction of dolphins in popular culture, including a hit television series from the mid-1960s that features a bottlenose dolphin. Does anybody remember the name of this television show?

Last week’s answer: Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, was an important British writer, but so was her famous mother. Does anybody know the name of Mary Shelley’s mother?

Monday Missive - October 3, 2016

October 03, 2016 by Mark West

Check Out Frankenstein at the Public Library — The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is celebrating Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein during the month of October. This celebration is tied to the library’s Community Read Program, and it includes a wide variety of events and activities, including a presentation by our own Matthew Rowney. Matt will give a talk titled “Frankenstein: The Making of a Novel in the Year Without a Summer” this comingSaturday, October 8th, at 2 pm at the Main Library. He will give the talk again onSaturday, October 29, at 2 pm at the Myers Park Branch of the library.

As part of the Community Read Program, Sam Shapiro (a part-time faculty member in our department) has organized a Frankenstein Film Series. One of the films that he will be showing is Mel Brooks’ comedy Young Frankenstein. This film will be shown onSunday, October 16, at 2 pm at the Main Library. For more information about this film series, please click on the following link: https://www.cmlibrary.org/blog/frankenstein-film-series-october

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

Boyd Davis‘s “virtual poster” titled “More Than a Story: Narrative Formats in Alzheimer’s Conversation” is on display at the Aging in Society 2016 Conference in Linkoping, Sweden.

Alan Rauch recently presented a paper titled “The Private Subscription Library as Intellectual Collective: Sharing Ideas of Science in the Early 19^th Century” at the 7th International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science in Prague.

Quirky Quiz Question — Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, was an important British writer, but so was her famous mother. Does anybody know the name of Mary Shelley’s mother?

Last week’s answer: Kevin Siers

Doug Marlette is one of several award-winning editorial cartoonists who have worked for the Charlotte Observer. Does anybody know the name of the current editorial cartoonist who works for the Charlotte Observer?

Monday Missive - September 26, 2016

September 26, 2016 by Mark West

Prizes — I have been thinking about prizes lately in part because of the North Carolina Humanities Council’s series of programs commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Pulitzer Prize. These programs are focusing on people from North Carolina who have won the Pulitzer Prize. I am playing a role in one of these programs, which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, September 27, at 11:00 AM in the Halton Theater on the CPCC’s Central Campus. I will be talking about Doug Marlette, who was a Pulitzer-Prize winning editorial cartoonist for the Charlotte Observer. My talk, however, will be on his comic strip, Kudzu. If you are interested learning more about this event, here is a link with more information: http://www.pulitzernc.org/events/2016/9/27/old-southnew-south-through-media-panel-discussion

Of course, being awarded the Pulitzer Prize makes headlines, but I think that being awarded lesser known prizes is also significant. Such prizes often recognize achievements that might not be noticed by the larger public but are highly regarded by people within the recipients’ field. Our colleague Chris Davis has just been informed that he has won such an award. His poem titled “Against Pride” has been selected as the winner of the Betsy Colquitt Poetry Award. This award is given by the creative writing journal Descant. The award is given annually to the single poem deemed the strongest in each edition of the journal, and the award includes a $500 prize. Even though the title of Chris’s award-winning poem is “Against Pride,” I am still very proud of Chris for winning this award. As everyone in our English Department knows, we have a very strong creative writing program. Chris’s latest award adds to the program’s already excellent reputation.

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

Balaka Basu just signed a contract for a co-edited collection titled The Harry Potter Generation. Her co-editor is Emily Lauer.

Kirk Melnikoff gave the invited-paper “Shakespeare’s Early Comedies and the Lure of Conycatching” at the Southeastern Renaissance Conference in Winston-Salem, NC.

Liz Miller recently presented a paper titled “Individual Positioning Work and the Mobilzation of Responsibility in Organizational Discussions on Social Sustainability” at a critical discourse analysis conference in Catania, Sicily.

Quirky Quiz Question — Doug Marlette is one of several award-winning editorial cartoonists who have worked for the Charlotte Observer. Does anybody know the name of the current editorial cartoonist who works for the Charlotte Observer?

Last week’s answer: September 15 is the date that all of these countries gained their independence from Spain.

Does anybody know why September 15 is a significant day in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua?

Monday Missive - September 19, 2016

September 20, 2016 by Mark West

National Hispanic Heritage Month — During President Lyndon Johnson’s administration, the United States began observing the Hispanic Heritage Week. This week-long celebration expanded into the National Hispanic Heritage Month in 1988. The current celebration takes place from September 15 to October 15, and it provides an opportunity to recognize the many ways in which Hispanic Americans have contributed to American culture. For more information about this month-long event, please click on the following link: http://www.hispanicheritagemonth.gov/

In thinking about the English Department’s connections to the National Hispanic Heritage Month, I quickly realized that many of our faculty members do research, teaching, or service work that relates to this topic. However, for the purposes of today’s Monday Missive, I will focus on the work of three of our faculty members: JuliAnna Avila, Becky Roeder, and Maya Socolovsky.

Much of JuliAnna’s service work relates to this topic. She is serving as the Secretary for CLAS’s Latino/a Caucus this year. Since she has been in Charlotte, she has volunteered at Hawthorne High School working with ELL students as well as with Circle de Luz, a community organization that mentors adolescent Latinas and helps them prepare for college.

Becky’s dissertation was on assimilation to local dialect norms in Lansing, Michigan, by Mexican American enclave residents. Her most recent work with the Latino population is an investigation into language use on public signage in areas of Charlotte that are more densely populated by Latinos. Both projects have given her the opportunity to interact with members of the local population, raising awareness among community residents about research at a local university.

Maya has been been conducting research in this field for almost twenty years. Initially, she worked on Chicana, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican writing about memory, migration, and history. Her most recent work is moving into U.S. Latino/a children’s and young adult literature. She recently published an article in the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly on Julia Alvarez’s Return to Sender, and she is currently studying depictions of immigration and border crossings in picture books. She also regularly teaches courses on Latino/Latina literature for both the English Department and the Latin American Studies Program.

News from the Blogosphere — Jen Munroe is a regular participant in “The Recipes Project,” the award-nominated blog site in the UK that features an international group of scholars talking about recipes (Medieval through 19th century). She recently posted a blog about the unanticipated consequences of teaching recipes and the birth of our student group, EMPS (Early Modern Paleography Society). Here is the link to Jen’s blog: http://recipes.hypotheses.org/8442

Three of the EMPS past-and-current officers (Kailan Sindelar, Breanne Weber, and Nadia Clifton) have also written a blog for “The Recipes Project.” Their submission, which was by invitation, is titled “Cooking for a Crowd: Recipes and the Transcribathon.” Here is the link to their blog: http://recipes.hypotheses.org/8319

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

Boyd Davis recently published a co-authored article titled “Conversing with the Elderly in Latin America: A New Cohort for Multimodal, Multilingual Longitudinal Studies on Aging” in the Proceedings of the 7th Workshop on Cognitive Aspects of Computational Language Learning. She also presented a co-authored paper titled “Reducing Pediatric Patient Safety Risks for Families with Limited English Proficiency” at the SC Practice Network Annual Conference, Charleston.

Paula Eckard‘s book Thomas Wolfe and Lost Children in Southern Literature has been nominated for the 2016 Warren-Brooks Award. For more information about this prestigious award, please click on the following link: https://www.wku.edu/rpw/navigation/rpw_bookprize_about.php

Sam Shapiro recently published a book review of Braxton Bragg: The Most Hated Man of the Confederacy in the Charlotte Observer.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is information about an upcoming event:

The English Graduate Student Association is holding its first Faculty/Student Mingle on Friday, September 23. The event will will take place at the Wine Vault (9009 J.M. Keynes Drive) at 7:00 pm.

Quirky Quiz Question — Does anybody know why September 15 is a significant day in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua?

Last week’s answer: Winston Salem

In her guest blog, Lara Vetter discusses H.D.’s roots in the Moravian Church. A city on North Carolina has strong ties to the Moravia Church. Does anybody know the name of this city?

Monday Missive - September 12, 2016

September 12, 2016 by Mark West

Celebrating Authors’ Birthdays — I think the fact that we have ten fingers has something to do with why we pay particular attention to birthdays that are divisible by ten. I wonder if we had evolved from octopi if we would emphasize birthdays that are divisible by eight. Regardless of the reason, however, we tend to take notice of birthdays that have associations with the number ten, and two prominent authors have such birthdays in the first half of September. The 130th birthday of Hilda Doolittle (more commonly know as H.D.) took place on September 10, and the 100th birthday of Roald Dahl will take place on September 16.

Lara Vetter is widely recognized as a leading authority on H.D., so it is fitting that Oxford University Press asked Lara to write a guest blog about H.D.’s 130th birthday for their Oxford Bibliographies Blog. In addition to writing about H.D.’s contributions to the modernist literary movement, Lara devotes much of her guest blog to discussing H.D.’s distrust of nationalism. Here is a link to Lara’s blog: <http://blog.oup.com/2016/09/hd-130-birth-anniversary/>.

The upcoming 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl’s birth is attracting world-wide attention. The Special Collections Department of UNC Charlotte’s Atkins Library is joining in the celebrations by installing a display devoted to Dahl and Beatrix Potter, whose 150th birth anniversary took place this past July. When the organizers of this display learned that I knew Dahl and that I have a large collection of Dahl-related material, they requested permission to borrow some of my Dahl books and correspondence for their display. Needless to say, I am looking forward to seeing this display.

Special Team — I know very little about football, but a few years ago I learned that each team has its own “special teams.” Well, at this pastSaturday’s UNC Charlotte’s home game, there was an extra special team. What made this special team so darn special is that its members are all tied to the English Department. Jennie Mussington played in the greeter position at the Judy Rose Field House where all of the players and coaches made their entrances. Angie Williams worked the Team/Player Guest and Media Gate, where she greeted all of the special guests and examined their bags. Rounding out this extra special team were the members of the English Learning Community, who hosted a tailgate event for students and others. Chelsea Moore and Nicole Jones played key roles in organizing this tailgating event. With so many people from the English Department contributing to the effort, it’s only fitting that the 49ers were victorious on the field.

English Learning Community

English Learning Community — Tiffany Morin, the Director of our English Learning Community (ELC), recently shared with me her good news about the ELC. Here is what she wrote: “The English Learning Community is off to a successful start. This year, it is made up of twenty-two members and three peer mentors. They have begun their campus wide scavenger hunt, so you will likely see them wandering the halls of the English Department. You can learn more about the individual members from the ELC bulletin board, located by 290-B. They are beginning to plan their events this semester, so if you would like to involve the ELC in any upcoming events, please contact Tiffany Morin.”

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

Paula Eckard‘s third edited issue of the Thomas Wolfe Review (39.1-2: 2015; 196 pages) has been published. Still photos from the film Geniusare on the front and back covers. She contributed to an article on teaching Thomas Wolfe in the 21st century. Her section of the article is titled “Thomas Wolfe in Context: North Carolina and the Digital World.”

Katie Hogan has been invited to give a talk at the annual colloquium for the Cultural Studies Ph.D. Program at George Mason University onApril 13, 2017. Katie’s talk, “Complicit: On Being a WGSS Director in the Neoliberal University,” resonates with the colloquium’s 2016-17 theme, “State of the University.” A GMU doctoral student will also conduct an interview with Katie.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is information about an upcoming event:

The Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the UNC Charlotte Counseling Center are co-sponsoring an event titled “Just Me and Allah: A Queer Muslim Photo Project,” featuring the work of Samra Habib. Her presentation will take place on Wednesday, November 9, 2016 @7pm in McKnight Hall. Here are some articles on Samra’s work:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/samra-habib-instagram-takeover_us_57769d68e4b0a629c1a9d57f

http://qz.com/594969/between-me-and-allah-the-conflict-between-homosexuality-and-islam/

Quirky Quiz Question — In her guest blog, Lara Vetter discusses H.D.’s roots in the Moravian Church. A city on North Carolina has strong ties to the Moravia Church. Does anybody know the name of this city?

Last week’s answer: John Ford

Three years after the publication of In Dubious Battle, John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath, which is also set in California during the Great Depression. In 1940, The Grapes of Wrath was made into a movie starring Henry Fonda. Does anybody know the name of the famous director of this film?

Monday Missive - September 5, 2016

September 06, 2016 by Mark West

A Novel for Labor Day — The labor movement gave rise to Labor Day, but it also gave rise to a genre of literature that is often called the labor novel. When I was a student activist in the 1970s, I read many labor novels. They sort of blur together in my memory, for most of them have similar plots and similar central characters.

The labor novel that I remember the best is John Steinbeck’s In Dubious Battle. Published in 1936, In Dubious Battle is Steinbeck’s first full-length novel. The novel deals with a strike by farm workers who are picking apples in California. Like most labor novels, In Dubious Battle describes the deplorable working conditions that often spark labor unrest and sometimes strikes. However, what sets In Dubious Battle apart from most other labor novels is Steinbeck’s thoughtful portrayal of the tactics and strategies used by the organizers of the strike. Steinbeck shows how true believers in political causes can sometimes engage in questionable actions in the name of a greater cause.

When I first read this novel, I was moved by the plight of the farm workers who figure so prominently in the story, but I was also left pondering the question of whether or not the ends justify the means. In Dubious Battle is rooted in the labor movement and is certainly sympathetic to the movement, but it deals with themes that transcend the labor movement. It speaks to all of us who are tempted to place causes over ordinary people and doctrinaire principles over basic human decency. In Dubious Battle is one of my favorite novels, and I recently learned that it is one of President Obama’s favorite novels, too.

The film director Jame Franco has just released a film version of In Dubious Battle. The film premiered on September 3 at the Venice Film Festival. I always feel a bit anxious when one of my favorite books is made into a film, but I plan to see it in the hopes that the film does the book justice.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is information about an upcoming event:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/samra-habib-instagram-takeover_us_57769d68e4b0a629c1a9d57f

http://qz.com/594969/between-me-and-allah-the-conflict-between-homosexuality-and-islam/

Quirky Quiz Question — Three years after the publication of In Dubious Battle, John Steinbeck published The Grapes of Wrath, which is also set in California during the Great Depression. In 1940,The Grapes of Wrath was made into a movie starring Henry Fonda. Does anybody know the name of the famous director of this film?

Last week’s answer – Prince Charming!

Monica, Jennie, and Angie are the three official English Department staff members, but there is a fourth unofficial member of the staff who resides in Angie’s office. Does anybody know the name of this unofficial member of the staff?

Monday Missive - August 29, 2016

August 29, 2016 by Mark West

The Terrific Trio — At the English Department meeting that took place last week, Monica Alston, Jennie Mussington, and Angie Williams provided everyone with a smorgasbord of delicious goodies that they prepared themselves. This very pleasant surprise is but one of many examples of our staff going the extra mile to make our department such a pleasant work environment. As I said at the beginning of the meeting, we are all fortunate to have such a dedicated staff. Other departments have a great deal of turn over among their staff, but all three of our staff members have worked in the department for many years. In appreciation of our staff, I have come up with a list of nine facts you might not know about our staff:

1. Monica grew up on a farm outside of Chapel Hill with her father and three siblings. They raised pigs, chickens, and grew corn.

2. Monica started working for the UNC system in 1998. She worked in UNC Chapel Hill’s Undergraduate Admissions Office for a number of years before she joined our English Department in 2005.

3. Monica has a loyal cat named Lucy who wakes Monica up every morning.

4. Jennie was born in Roswell, New Mexico (often called Area 51). Her father served in the Air Force, and he was stationed at the Air Force Base in Roswell.

5. Jennie graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in business administration.

6. Jennie joined the English Department in 2000. Before joining our department, she worked for several years in the Mecklenburg County Tax Collection Office.

7. Angie grew up in the small town of Montgomery, West Virginia. This mountain town is located beside the Kanawha River in a picturesque valley. She graduated from Valley High School where she was a star cheerleader. When all of the cheerleaders stood on top of each other to form a triangle, Angie always held everybody up, a role she still plays today.

8. Angie joined UNC Charlotte in 1986. She started her career in the Department of Languages and Culture Studies and then transferred to the English Department in 2005.

9. Angie has worked with eight department chairs over the course of her career at UNC Charlotte.

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

Boyd Davis guest edited a special issue of the Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict, which has just been published. This special issue deals with dementia-compromised language conflict and aggression. The issue includes Boyd’s co-written article titled “The Silent Violence of Marginalization and Teasing in Dementia Care Residences.” Pilar Blitvich serves as a Co-Editor of the Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict.

Paula Martinac‘s short story “Daddy” has been accepted by the literary journal Minerva Rising and will appear in their next issue, which is due out at the end of the year.

Kirk Melnikoff‘s monograph Elizabethan Publishing and the Makings of Literary Culture is now under contract for publication with The University of Toronto Press. It will be published in 2017.

Rebecca Roeder and Bryan Walden (a graduate of our M.A. program in linguistics) recently published an article titled “The Changing Face of Dixie: Spanish in the Linguistic Landscape of an Emergent Immigrant Community in the New South” in Ampersand.

Lara Vetter‘s monograph, A Curious Peril: H.D.’s Late Modernist Prose, is under contract with the University Press of Florida.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is information about an upcoming event:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/samra-habib-instagram-takeover_us_57769d68e4b0a629c1a9d57f

http://qz.com/594969/between-me-and-allah-the-conflict-between-homosexuality-and-islam/

Quirky Quiz Question — Monica, Jennie, and Angie are the three official English Department staff members, but there is a fourth unofficial member of the staff who resides in Angie’s office. Does anybody know the name of this unofficial member of the staff?

Last week’s answer: Debbie Reynolds

The film Singin’ in the Rain stars Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor as the two leading male actors. Who is the leading female star in the film?

Monday Missive - August 22, 2016

August 22, 2016 by Mark West

Singin’ in the Rain — This past Saturday I went to the screening of Singin’ in the Rain at the main branch of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library. Our own part-time faculty member Sam Shapiro showed this classic musical as part of the library’s film series titled “Hollywood Shoots Itself: Movies about Movies.” For more information about this film series, please click on this link: https://www.cmlibrary.org/blog/hollywood-shoots-itself-film-series.

I knew I would see Sam there, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Aaron Toscano and Alison Walsh in the audience, too. After watching the film, I talked for a little while to Sam, Aaron and Alison, and then we all went our separate ways. For a second I thought I saw the three of them dancing down Tryon Street with Alison in the middle and Sam and Aaron on either side, but it was probably just my imagination.

Released in 1952, Singin’ in the Rain is not just a famous musical; it is also a film about the history of the American film industry during the transition between the silent film era and the advent of films with sound. The film is set in the late 1920s, just after the release of The Jazz Singer, which made history as the first “talking picture.” In Singin’ in the Rain, a movie production company must respond to this change or risk being marginalized. The production company, called Monumental Pictures, ends up embracing this change. The company releases a film that takes full advantage of sound, and in the process it sets into motion the rise of movie musicals.

As I drove home humming the title song from the film, I started thinking about connections between the film and our English Department. Like the production company represented in the film, our English Department is facing broader changes that have the potential of marginalizing the department. With the growing emphasis on STEM disciplines and programs that take an applied approach to education, many English Departments are currently experiencing sharp declines in their majors and course enrollments, but not our department. In recent years, our English Department has embraced change through our innovative concentrations, our collaborations with colleagues from the STEM disciplines, and our leadership in the emerging area of digital humanities. Unlike the many English Departments that seem disheartened as they are deluged with bad news, our English Department has a much more optimistic outlook. It is as if we are singin’ in the rain.

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

Antwan Alexander, one of our recent graduates, was recently honored as one of the “30 Under 30” by Charlotte’s Black Chamber of Commerce, an honor that recognizes Charlotte’s brightest young black entrepreneurs and business professionals 30 years and under.

Sarah Minslow recently published an article in the Journal of Popular Culture Studies titled “Treat Your Chicken-eating Children ‘Right’: The Conservative Political and Evangelical Values Reinforced in Chick-fil-A’s Classic Stories and Essential Values Series.”

Malin Pereira gave a paper at the conference for MESEA (The Society for Multi-Ethnic Studies: Europe and the Americas) in Warsaw, Poland, titled “Becoming a Minority Cosmopolitan: Reading Natasha Trethewey’s Mixed Race Identity from Beyond Katrina to Thrall.” On the way there, she gave a talk on Wanda Coleman’s “Retro Rogue Anthology” at the University of Wuppertal in Germany.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here is a list of upcoming meetings and events that will take place this week:

-CLAS All Faculty Mtg & Breakfast Friday, August 26 8:30-10:00am
Fretwell 100

-English Department Mtg Friday, August 26 11-12:15pm
Fretwell 290B (English Department Seminar Room)

Quirky Quiz Question — The film Singin’ in the Rain stars Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor as the two leading male actors. Who is the leading female star in the film?

Last week’s answer: the principal violinist

Like an academic departments, orchestras have their own hierarchies. In a traditional orchestra, who is second in command behind the conductor?

Monday Missive - August 15, 2016

August 15, 2016 by Mark West

Tuning Up the Orchestra — In the days of my youth, I played the bassoon in a community orchestra. One of my pleasant memories from this experience was the ritual involved in tuning up the orchestra before a performance. I remember the musicians assembling on the stage. I remember the initial sounds of a few instruments going through scales. And then more and more instruments would add to the growing cacophony of sounds. And then the oboe player would play an A, and all of the musicians would tune their instruments to the oboe. And then they would put down their instruments, the conductor would appear, and the performance would begin.

I flashed back on this memory today while sitting in my office listening to the sounds wafting through the department. Like the musicians assembling on the stage, the faculty members are assembling in the lobby and chatting in the mail room. The photocopy machine is making its rhythmic sounds as faculty members keep it busy running off course syllabi. Students keep ringing the bell at the front desk, asking for help finding offices. I regularly hear Sarah Minslow’s cheery voice as she greets students and brings them to her office for last-minute advising appointments. These are the sounds I associate with the beginning of the semester, and they remind me of the sounds that the members of an orchestra make as they prepare for their next performance. Our next performance starts in a week, and I am confident that by then we will all be tuned up and ready to go.

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

Eric Linne, a graduate of our M.A. program, recently learned that his new novella titled MillVille will be released in serial form online in the Charlotte Agenda. Beginning this Tuesday, they will be publishing two chapters a week for five weeks.

Sarah Minslow presented two papers at international conferences this summer. In June she presented a paper titled “They All Fall Down: Representations of Child Soldiers in Literature and Film” at a conference on Children’s Lives in Historical Contexts, which took place at Kings College London. In July she presented a paper titled “Representing War and Genocide in Children’s Literature at the Children and War, which took place at the University of Salzburg.

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

Here is a list of upcoming meetings and events that will take place this month:

–University Convocation Thursday, August 18

8:30am coffee, 9:30-11 Convocation McKnight Hall

–Day of Convocation Monday, August 22

11:00-5:00pm (faculty arrive at 10:15) Halton Arena

–Classes Begin Monday, August 22 (at 5:00pm)

–CLAS All Faculty Mtg & Breakfast Friday, August 26

8:30-10:00am Fretwell 100

–English Department Mtg Friday, August 26

11-12:15pm Fretwell 290B (English Department Seminar Room)

Quirky Quiz Question — Like an academic departments, orchestras have their own hierarchies. In a traditional orchestra, who is second in command behind the conductor?

Last week’s answer: Chris Bongartz

Manu Vida is a graduate student of a former faculty member from our English Department who now teaches at the University of Cologne. Does anybody know the name of this former member of our English Department?

Monday Missive - August 9, 2016 (a day late)

August 09, 2016 by Mark West

Going Global — I just returned from Great Britain where I presented a paper at the Oxford Education Research Symposium. This symposium drew scholars from around the globe. Among the many countries represented at the symposium were Australia, Brazil, Iran, Italy, Kenya, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. During the symposium, everyone talked about education within a global context. We talked about how technology is used in schools from many different parts of the world. We talked about bilingual education and how other language issues impact schools in countries where more than one language is commonly spoken. We talked about how global cultural conflicts affect education. We talked about how global economic and political developments often lead to changing attitudes toward children and child rearing. I came away from this symposium with a heightened awareness of how educational systems and approaches are affected by global trends and movements.

My experience at Oxford University got me thinking about our English Department’s global connections. Of course, many of our faculty members participate in international conferences. Just this summer Balaka Basu, Pilar Blitvich, Boyd Davis, Janaka Lewis, Malin Pereira, and Alan Rauch have all presented papers at conferences held outside of the United States. However, our global connections also extend into the classroom. I could mention many cases of our faculty members’ involvement in international teaching, but I will limit myself to two notable and very recent examples. For the second half of the summer, Becky Roeder has been teaching college English to Chinese students in Shanghai, China. Also during the second half of the summer, Manuela (Manu) Vida from the University of Cologne in Germany has been teaching a section of ENGL 3132 (Introduction to Contemporary American English) here at UNC Charlotte. I think it is a sign of the global nature of linguistics that Manu, who is a linguist from Germany, can come to the United States and teach our students about American English. As these two examples illustrate, the teaching in our English Department is already going global.

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

Dina Schiff Massachi, a recent graduate of our M.A. program in English, recently published a chapter titled “Suffragist Matilda Gage’s Influence on Oz” in a book titled Poor Richard’s Ozmanac.

Anita Moss published an article titled “Completing the Circle: Storytelling and Community in Michael Dorris’s Sees Behind Trees in the spring/summer 2016 issue of RISE: A Children’s Literacy Journal.

Quirky Quiz Question — Manu Vida is a graduate student of a former faculty member from our English Department who now teaches at the University of Cologne. Does anybody know the name of this former member of our English Department?

Last week’s answer: The Phantom Tollbooth

Norton Juster spent most of his career working as an architect, but he also enjoyed writing for children. In addition to writing The Hello, Goodbye Window,he wrote one of the most famous American fantasy novels intended for children. This novel came out in 1961. Does anybody know the title of this classic novel?

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