Monday Missive - August 1, 2016

August 03, 2016 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Coming and Going — Every summer I teach a graduate seminar called Children’s hello+goodbye+windowLiterature Award Winners in which I cover the most recent winners of some of the big awards in the field of children’s literature.  Because I teach this course, I am familiar with most of the picture books that have won the Caldecott Medal.  In 2006 the book that won this award was The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster and illustrated by Chris Raschka.  In this book, a young girl thinks of the kitchen window in her grandparents’ house as a special gateway.  When she visits her grandparents, she first sees them through this window.  When she returns to her home, her grandparents wave goodbye to her through this same window.  I sometimes think that the door to my office is a bit like the kitchen window in this picture book.   Some people come through the door to say hello, and some come to say goodbye.

This week it is time to say “Hello” to Sarah Minslow and “Goodbye” to Sonya Brockman.  On August 1, Sarah officially becomes the English Department’s first full-time, professional advisor.  Sarah has already served as a part-time advisor in the English Department, so she is well prepared to assume her new responsibilities.  I am so pleased that Sarah will be joining our English Department as full-time employee, and I know that our students will be in good hands when they are advised by Sarah.  At the same time that Sarah is arriving, Sonya Brockman is preparing to leave.  Sonya accepted a full-time teaching position starting this fall in the English Department at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado.  Sonya has been teaching for us as an adjunct faculty member since 2012.  However, her connections to our department go back even further.  She received her M.A. degree from our department in 2005.  I thank Sonya for her many contributions to our department, and I wish her all the best has she starts her new position in my home state of Colorado.

Quirky Quiz Question —   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?

Last week’s answer: Somerville College

The novelist Dorothy L. Sayers is one of the first women to earn a degree from Oxford University. In her novel Gaudy Night, Sayers calls the Oxford college that she attended Shrewsbury College, but this is a fictional name. Does anybody know the real name of the college within Oxford University that Sayers attended?  

Monday Missive - July 25, 2016

July 25, 2016 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive
Oxford University
Oxford Connections — I received an invitation to speak next week at Oxford University.  I will be delivering a paper titled “The Concept of Infant Depravity and Its Role in the Birth of Didactic Children’s Literature in Puritan America.”  This talk will be my first academic presentation at Oxford University, although I have been there twice before.  I even wrote about Lewis Carroll’s connections to Oxford University in my book A Children’s Literature Tour of Great Britain.  

In preparing for this presentation, I started thinking about the English Department’s connections to Oxford University.  Many of our faculty members, both past and present, have Oxford connections, but in three cases these connections are especially significant.  When UNC Charlotte became a university in 1965, one of the founding members of the English Department was Roy Clifton Moose.  Roy received a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Renaissance Literature from Oxford University.  For many years, Roy taught courses on Shakespeare in the English Department.  Dennis Kay, the first Robinson Distinguished Chair in Shakespeare, was also connected to Oxford University.  He taught at Oxford for many years before he joined our English Department in 1995.  Among our current faculty members, Maya Socolovsky has the most significant Oxford connections.  She received both her M.Phil. and her D.Phil. in English from Oxford University.   As these examples demonstrate, our English Department, although an ocean away from Oxford, has longstanding ties to Oxford University.

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 recently presented a paper titled “‘Before I’ll not be wanting visitors for a while’: The Social Consequences of Pregnancy in the works of L.M. Montgomery” in a plenary session at the L.M. Montgomery Institute’s 12th Biennial Conference, “L.M. Montgomery and Gender,” at the University of Prince Edward Island.

Kirk Melnikoff has agreed to edit The Tragical Reign of Selimus for Queen’s Men Editions. His scholarly edition will be published in 2018 or 2019.
Alan Rauch recently presented a paper titled “The Intentions of the Image:  Illustrations, Transtextuality, and Ideology in Nineteenth-Century Texts for Children” at the annual meeting of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing.  The meeting took place in Paris.

Quirky Quiz Question —  The novelist Dorothy L. Sayers is one of the first women to earn a degree from Oxford University.  In her novel Gaudy Night, Sayers calls the Oxford college that she attended Shrewsbury College, but this is a fictional name.  Does anybody know the real name of the college within Oxford University that Sayers attended?

Last week’s answer: Cambridge
Sir Isaac Newton was not an early member of the English Department, but he was a professor.  Does anybody know the name of the university where Newton taught mathematics?

Monday Missive - July 18, 2016

July 18, 2016 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Isaac Newton

Standing on Shoulders —  In 1676 Sir Isaac Newton wrote, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”  Since then the phrase “standing on the shoulders of giants” has taken on a life of its own.  It is now used to acknowledge and appreciate the work of of those who came before us.  I often think of this phrase when I reflect on my role in the history of our English Department.  When I arrived at UNC Charlotte in August 1984, many of the department’s early faculty members were still teaching.  I feel fortunate that I got to know most of the faculty members who built the English Department from its beginnings in the mid-1960s through the pivotal years of the 1970s and early ’80s.  I truly believe that the current strengths of the English Department can be traced back to the hard work and visionary thinking of the people who came before us.

For the aforementioned reasons, I am very pleased to announce that Alan Rauch has completely updated the “Emeritus Faculty” section of our department website.  He has located photographs of nearly all of these faculty members.  I urge everyone to take a look at this section of our website, and I thank Alan for taking the time to locate and post photographs of these former faculty members.  Here is the link:  http://english.uncc.edu/people/emeritus-faculty

Quirky Quiz Question —  Sir Isaac Newton was not an early member of the English Department, but he was a professor.  Does anybody know the name of the university where Newton taught mathematics?

Last week’s answer: Dream a Little Dream of Me

The title of Bryn Chancellor’s debut novel is Sycamore. This title reminds me of the following line from a song recorded by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong:  “Birds singing in a sycamore tree.”  Does anybody know the name of this classic song?

Monday Missive - July 11, 2016

July 11, 2016 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Waves_in_pacifica_1

Creative Writers Make Waves — Our creative writing faculty members have been making waves this summer. Here are some of the most recent developments that have come to my attention. Bryn Chancellor’s debut novel, Sycamore, has been officially accepted by Harper Books (HarperCollins) and is scheduled to be published in May 2017. Chris Davis has recently had a string of poems accepted for publication by some of the leading creative writing journals, including Bennington Review, Cimmaron Review, Hawaii Review, Bloom, and New Madrid Review. Andrew Hartley’s new YA novel, Steeplejack, has just been published by Tor Teen. Paula Matinac has just had her story titled “Eds and Meds” accepted for publication in Main Street Rag. I congratulate all of these fine writers on their latest successes.

Sam Shapiro’s Film Fame — Sam Shapiro regularly teaches film studies courses in the English Department as a part-time faculty member, but his full-time job is with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library, where he runs the library’s film programming. This summer Sam has organized a film series titled “Hollywood Shoots Itself: Eleven Movies about Movies.” Here is a link with more information about this film series: https://www.cmlibrary.org/blog/hollywood-shoots-itself-film-series.

Sam’s film series often get great publicity, but his latest film series is getting such positive press coverage that even Sam has been pleasantly surprised. In the past week, Creative Loafing ran a cover story about the film series: http://clclt.com/charlotte/hollywood-turns-the-camera-on-itself-in-new-film-series/Content?oid=3759731 Lawrence Toppman from The Charlotte Observer also ran a very positive article about Sam and his latest film series: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/lawrence-toppman/article85844997.html

As the aforementioned articles make clear, Sam is a major player in Charlotte’s film scene, and we are fortunate that he shares his expertise with our students.

Quirky Quiz Question — The title of Bryn Chancellor’s debut novel is Sycamore. This title reminds me of the following line from a song recorded by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong: “Birds singing in a sycamore tree.” Does anybody know the name of this classic song?

Last week’s answer: Westminster Abbey

In coming up with today’s Quirky Quiz Question, I tried to think of a connection between Lewis Carroll and Boyd Davis.  Here’s what came to mind:  In addition to teaching linguistics courses, Boyd Davis has also taught courses on Geoffrey Chaucer.  Both Chaucer and Lewis Carroll are memorialized in a place called Poets’ Corner.  In what building is Poets’ Corner located? 

Monday Missive - July 4, 2016

July 05, 2016 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive
Thames RiverThe Value of Sharing Stories — On the afternoon of July 4, 1862, Lewis Carroll took Alice Liddell and her two sisters on a three-mile boating trip along the Thames River.  During the course of this excursion, Carroll told the girls a story that he initially called “Alice’s Adventures Underground.”  The origins of Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, can be traced back to the afternoon when Carroll shared his topsy-turvy story with the Liddell girls.  As this historical tidbit demonstrates, the process of sharing stories can lead to the creation of great works of literature.

However, the wonders associated with the sharing of stories transcend the world of literature.  For example, our colleague Boyd Davis is doing pioneering work on the importance of sharing stories when caring for people with dementia.  She has helped develop a smartphone app called Story-Call that facilitates storytelling within the context of dementia care-giving.  In a recently published co-authored article on a pilot-study involving Story-Call, she discusses the value of “storytelling as a way to promote more healthful and resilient living.”  Here is a link to the article:  http://ojni.org/issues/?p=3095

At first glance, it might seem a bit odd to pair up the origin story behind Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland with Boyd’s Story-Call smartphone app, but both of these examples underscore the value of sharing stories.  Although the members of our English Department come from very diverse backgrounds in terms of our areas of expertise, we work well together in part because we all recognize and celebrate the power of storytelling.

Celebrating the Successes of Our Former Graduate Students — This past week, I took pride and pleasure in the successes of three of our former graduate students.

Bobbie Cavnar was a featured guest this past week on Charlotte Talks.  Bobbie received his M.A in English from our department several years ago, and he recently was named North Carolina Teacher of the Year.  Here is the link:  http://wfae.org/post/nc-teacher-year-profound-gentlemen

Dina Schiff Massachi, a recent graduate of our M.A in English (with a concentration in children’s literature) just published an article titled “Why the Wizard of Oz Still Resonates with Americans” in The Charlotte Viewpoint. Here is the link:  http://www.charlotteviewpoint.org/article/3615/Wizard-of-Oz-American-Psyche

Cindy Urbanski, a graduate of our Curriculum and Instruction Ph.D. Program, just published a book titled Untangling Urban Middle School Reform.  Here is the link: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=cm#search/cindy.urbanski%40gmail.com/1559dac1a2bd0f2c?compose=155b76b1f620bf17&projector=1

Quirky Quiz Question —  In coming up with today’s Quirky Quiz Question, I tried to think of a connection between Lewis Carroll and Boyd Davis.  Here’s what came to mind:  In addition to teaching linguistics courses, Boyd Davis has also taught courses on Geoffrey Chaucer.  Both Chaucer and Lewis Carroll are memorialized in a place called Poets’ Corner.  In what building is Poets’ Corner located?

Last week’s answer: Baton Rouge
In addition to figuring prominently in this Monday Missive, the word baton can be found in other places, including the map of Louisiana.  What is the place name in Louisiana that includes the word baton?

Monday Missive - June 27, 2016

June 28, 2016 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive
Passing the Baton
Passing the Baton — In a relay race, one runner passes a baton to another runner, transforming an individual sport into something of a team sport.  Nowadays, the term “passing the baton” also means the transference of responsibility from one person to another, but I think that we should ponder for a moment the racing origins of this phrase.  By handing off the baton from one runner to another, the runners are able to go faster collectively than each runner would go if that runner were running the entire course alone.  At the moment that a runner hands off the baton, the new runner is fresh and ready to add to the record already established by the previous runner.

This process will come into play at the end of this week when three of the English Department’s best runners will pass their batons to new runners.  Kirk Melnikoff, the Undergraduate Coordinator and and Associate Chair, will pass his baton to Jen Munroe, who will take over Kirk’s administrative responsibilities.  Pilar Blitvich, the English Department’s Director of Graduate Studies, will hand off her baton to Lara Vetter.  Aaron Toscano, the Director of Advising, will pass off his baton to Sarah Minslow, the English Department’s new full-time advisor.  Actually, Tiffany Morin will run a lap with the advising baton until the first of August when she will pass it to Sarah, who is eager to get in the race.

My appreciation and admiration go to Kirk, Pilar, and Aaron for setting such an impressive pace and for devoting so much energy to the running of the English Department.  My thanks also go to Jen, Lara, and Sarah, who are about to grasp their batons take off running.  They will bring new energy and ideas to their positions.  It’s clear to me the English Department is very much a department on the move.  You will have to look elsewhere if you are looking for the summer doldrums.

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

Pilar Blitvich delivered a paper at a conference in London on Language and Conflict: Politics of Language and Identity across Context. The conference was organized by SOAS, University of London and was sponsored by the Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict.
Boyd Davis edited a special issue of the Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict on Dementia-compromised language and aggression.  Boyd contributed an Introduction and a co-authored article titled “The Silent Violence of Marginalization and Teasing in Dementia Care Residences.”

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

July 5  —  The second summer session begins on Tuesday, July 5.

Quirky Quiz Question —  In addition to figuring prominently in this Monday Missive, the word baton can be found in other places, including the map of Louisiana.  What is the place name in Louisiana that includes the word baton?

Last week’s answer: The Lost Boy
The title of Paula Eckard’s Thomas Wolfe and Lost Children in Southern Literature alludes to the title of a novella by Wolfe.  Does anybody know the title of this novella?

Monday Missive - June 20, 2016

June 20, 2016 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

raining books

Raining Books — Like a weather forecaster, I try to predict the future. In recent weeks, I have found out about some promising developments related to future publication of books by members of the English Department. Paula Eckard’s Thomas Wolfe and Lost Children in Southern Literature will soon be published by the University of Tennessee Press. Aaron Gwyn has co-edited a collection of short stories by veterans, and Pegasus Books plans to publish the collection in the near future. Janaka Lewis recently learned that her monograph titled Civil Discourse: Black Women’s Narratives of Freedom and Nation has been accepted for publication by McFarland Press. Jen Munroe’s 2011 co-edited collection titled Ecofeminist Approaches to Early Modernity is coming out in a new paperback edition. Lara Vetter’s edition of H.D.’s By Avon River, which came out in hardcover 2014 with the University Press of Florida, will be released in paperback this fall. My forecast for the English Department is that it will soon be raining books, and this is good news.

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

July 5 — The second summer session begins on Tuesday, July 5.

Quirky Quiz Question — The title of Paula Eckard’s Thomas Wolfe and Lost Children in Southern Literature alludes to the title of a novella by Wolfe. Does anybody know the title of this novella?
Last week’s answer: To Market, To Market
The line “home again, home again, jiggety-jig” comes from a nursery rhyme. Does anybody know the title of this nursery rhyme?

Monday Missive - June 13, 2016

June 13, 2016 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

To marketHome Again, Home Again, Jiggety-Jig — I have just returned home from two children’s literature conferences.  On June 1, I left for Qingdao, China, to participate in the 2016 China-US Symposium for Children’s Literature.  I returned to Charlotte on June 7, and the very next day I flew off to Columbus, Ohio, to attend the Children’s Literature Association Conference.  While there, I received the Anne Devereaux Jordan Award, which is a career-achievement award in the field of children’s literature.  

My experiences at these conferences underscored for me how fortunate I am to teach in an English Department that highly values the study of children’s literature.  My career as a children’s literature professor has benefited a great deal from the support I have received from my colleagues and students at UNC Charlotte.  

The award plaque I received from the Children’s Literature Association has lots of text, but my favorite line reads, “UNCC is considered one of the centers of study of children’s literature in North America.”  This recognition reflects the scholarship and teaching of many people, not just me.  Our children’s literature program was started by Anita Moss and Sarah Smedman in the 1970s.   Over the years, Paula Connolly, Daniel Shealy, Beth Gargano, and Balaka Basu have played significant roles in building the program.  

One of the ways in which our children’s literature program is unique is that many members of the English Department who were not initially hired to teach children’s literature have made important contributions to the field.   Two notable examples from the past are Jim McGavran, who edited three books on the relationship between romanticism and children’s literature, and Susan Gardner, who often taught courses on Native American children’s literature.  Current faculty members who are doing work in the field of children’s literature include JuliAnna Avila, Andrew Hartley, Janaka Lewis, Alan Rauch, Maya Socolovsky, and Ralf Thiede.  We also have several part-time faculty members who participate in our children’s literature program, including Valerie Bright and Sarah Minslow.   I am pretty sure that there is no other English Department in North America in which so many faculty members are involved in children’s literature.

While I take a tremendous sense of pride and satisfaction in being selected as this year’s winner of the Anne Devereaux Jordan Award, I believe that this award is as much a recognition of the English Department’s children’s literature program as it is my own work in the field.

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 represented the Gerontology Society of America at the Taiwan Association of Gerontology in May, in Taipei, where she presented a paper titled “Technology Aids for Older Persons with Impairments.”  Then she went snorkeling with the giant sea turtles at Xiao liu qiu, a coral island in the South China Sea.
 
Paula Eckard presented a paper at the Thomas Wolfe Conference (the 38th Annual Meeting of the Thomas Wolfe Society) in Asheville in May.  Her paper was titled “Eliza Gant’s Illness Narratives of Loss and Restitution.”  She also participated in a poetry reading of poems about Wolfe recently published in Magic Again, a collection of poems published by the Wolfe Society about Wolfe or inspired by Wolfe by various writers, including Fred Chappell, Robert Morgan, and Pat Conroy. 

Beth Gargano published a book review of Empire, Education, and Indigenous Childhoods in the most recent issue of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly.
 
Janaka Lewis contributed a guest blog for the African American Intellectual History Society called “Black Childhood and Freedom to Play.” Here is the link:  http://www.aaihs.org/blog/.

Jen Munroe‘s co-edited (with Rebecca Laroche) collection, Ecofeminist Approaches to Early Modernity (Palgrave, 2011) has just been reissued it in paperback.  Here is the link:

 
Alan Rauch presented a paper titled “Anon, a Lady, and Other Rational Dames” at the Children’s Literature Association Conference this past weekend.

Heather Blain Vorhies presented “Painting the Mind: Cognitive Function in Hugh Blair’s Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres” at the Rhetoric Society of America over Memorial Day weekend. She also hosted a Grand Opening of her Little Free Library this past weekend. Little Free Libraries (littlefreelibrary.org) started in Wisconsin in 2009 with one red schoolhouse library; there are now more than 40,000 internationally. James Vorhies of Atkins Library constructed the bungalow-style library, and Tiffany Morin came along to help out at the Grand Opening. 

Quirky Quiz Question —  The line “home again, home again, jiggety-jig” comes from a nursery rhyme.  Does anybody know the title of this nursery rhyme?

Last Monday Missive answer: OdenseHans Christian Andersen spent most of his life in Copenhagen, but he was not born in Copenhagen.  Do you know the name of the city in Denmark where Andersen was born and lived until he was fourteen.

Monday Missive - May 30, 2016

May 30, 2016 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive
Hans Christian Anderson

The Land of Hans Christian Andersen — I just returned from a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, where I researched the connections between Hans Christian Andersen and Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen’s legendary amusement park.  Before I set foot in Copenhagen, I knew that the city takes pride in its associations with Andersen, but it still came as a surprise to me how central Andersen and his fairy tales are to the culture of the city.

Andersen’s presence is felt throughout Copenhagen.  The famous Little Mermaid statue serves as an icon for the city, but it is only one of many Andersen-related statues scattered throughout Copenhagen.  A larger-than-life statue of Andersen is located on Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard, which borders Tivoli Gardens.  It is sometimes hard to see this statue close up because it is usually surrounded by people who want to have their photograph taken next to this representation of Andersen.  The residents of Copenhagen are also remarkably familiar with Andersen’s fairy tales, and they often make references to these tales in their everyday conversation.

My experiences in Copenhagen underscore for me the role that stories can play in building and maintaining a sense of community.  Copenhagen is a large city with a population of well over a million residents, but nearly all of them feel connected to Andersen and his fairy tales.  His stories are part of the glue that holds the city together.  They readily share their love of his fairy tales with others, so outsiders who are familiar with Andersen’s fairy tales soon feel like they too have a place in this unique city.  The motto for this city is “Wonderful Copenhagen,” and for me and other lovers of Andersen’s fairy tales, the motto rings true.

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:

Stephanie Devine, a recent graduate of our M.A. program, won the NANO Prize for her flash fiction piece titled “Of Felling.”  Here is a link to an interview with her:  http://nanofiction.org/weekly-feature/interviews/2016/05/five-questions-with-2015-nano-prize-winner-stephanie-devine.

Daniel Shealy recently presented a paper titled “‘Allurements of the Flesh’: Louisa May Alcott, Popular Culture and the Education of Youth” at the American Literature Association Conference in San Francisco.Quirky Quiz Question —  Hans Christian Andersen spent most of his life in Copenhagen, but he was not born in Copenhagen.  Do you know the name of the city in Denmark where Andersen was born and lived until he was fourteen.

Last week’s answer: Geometry
Madeleine L’Engle did not invent the term “tesseract.”  She borrowed the term from a field of study that can be traced back to a Greek scholar from Alexandria.  What is this field of study?

Monday Missive - May 16, 2016

May 18, 2016 by Mark West
Categories: Monday Missive

Gavin graduation

Parallel Universes — Until this week, for the entire time that I have served as the Chair of the English Department our son, Gavin West, has been a college student at Tulane University.  Over the years, I have sometimes felt as if I’ve been traveling back and forth between parallel universes.  When I am in one universe, I see the work of universities from the perspectives of faculty members and university administrators.  When I am in the other universe, I see this work from the perspectives of students and parents.

This sense of shifting from one universe to another came into play this past weekend as my wife and I attended Gavin’s commencement and other related activities.  Tulane’s commencement and UNC Charlotte’s commencement both occurred this past Saturday.  As a department chair and professor, I tend to view my participation in commencement-related activities as an obligation that goes with the job, but as the proud parent of a newly minted graduate of Tulane’s School of Architecture, I viewed Tulane’s commencement as a meaningful moment in our son’s life.

Over the course of this past weekend, I periodically remembered that on the same day that our son was walking across a stage while his name was being called out, many of our department’s students were also walking across a stage to the sound of their names being announced.  At the same time that he was taking satisfaction in completing his degree in architecture, many of our students were experiencing a similar sense of satisfaction in completing their English degrees.  While my wife and I were practically bursting with pride at Gavin’s accomplishments, I am sure that the parents of our graduating students were beaming with pride at their students’ accomplishments.

In Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, the central characters use something called a “tesseract” to jump through space and time, and each time they make these jumps it changes their perspectives.  This past weekend, I had my own private tesseract that ping-ponged me back and forth between New Orleans and Charlotte, and it helped change my perspective on the hoopla surrounding commencement ceremonies.  As most of my friends and family members know, I feel uneasy wearing regalia, and I don’t usually respond positively to pomp and circumstance,.  However, my very recent experience at Tulane changed my perspective a bit.  Although participating in commencement ceremonies is still not my favorite activity, I now better appreciate the pleasure that many students and parents associate with such ceremonies.

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:

Jen Munroe gave an invited paper titled “Teaching Recipes in the Digital Age” on bringing together manuscript transcription and digital humanities work in the classroom, at the Manuscripts Cookbook Conference at NYU, May 11-13, 2016.

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

May 23  —  The first summer session begins on Monday, May 23.

Quirky Quiz Question —  Madeleine L’Engle did not invent the term “tesseract.”  She borrowed the term from a field of study that can be traced back to a Greek scholar from Alexandria.  What is this field of study?

Last week’s answer: Cheshire Cat 

Andrew Hartley’s new collaborator, Tom DeLonge, became famous when his band, Blink-182, released their debut album in 1995.  The title of this album comes from the name of a fading feline from British children’s literature.  Can you guess the title of Blink-182’s debut album?