UNC Charlotte’s Professors of Herbology — As anyone who has read the Harry Potter series knows, herbology is what the study of plants is called at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Botany is the term used in the mundane (or muggle) world, but for me the language of the mundane world just does not capture the magic of UNC Charlotte’s McMillan Greenhouse and its associated gardens. For many years, the person who has presided over this magical corner of UNC Charlotte is Dr. Larry Mellichamp. His official title is Professor of Botany and Director of the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, but I think Larry’s title should be Professor of Herbology. After 38 years at UNC Charlotte, Larry is about to retire. His retirement reception will take place on Wednesday, November 19, from 3:00-4:15 in the lobby of Robinson Hall. I will be there.

Let me tell you a story about Larry. Some years ago I ran a week-long Harry Potter summer camp at UNC Charlotte, and I devoted a day to herbology. I contacted Larry and the assistant director of the greenhouse, Paula Gross, and I asked them if they would talk to my campers about unusual plants. Larry is a world-famous expert on the Venus flytrap and other carnivorous plants, and I knew that the campers would be interested in these odd plants. Larry and Paula not only agreed to talk with the campers, but they threw themselves into the spirit of the Harry Potter camp. We met at the McMillan Greenhouse, and Larry and Paula introduced the campers to many bizarre plants. Then Larry gave the kids a tour of the greenhouse, paying particular attention to the carnivorous plants that grow there. Larry’s zeal for these plants and his willingness to engage with the kids in a playful way won over the campers. That afternoon, they all enthusiastically drew pictures and wrote stories based on the plants they observed in the greenhouse. Many gardeners have green thumbs, but Larry has more than special thumbs. He has the magical power to spark a curiosity about plants in the minds of all who come into contact with him.

The English Department has its own professor of herbology, and that person is Dr. Jen Munroe. Like Larry, Jen has a passion for gardens. She writes about gardens in her first two books, a monograph titled Gender and the Garden in Early Modern English Literature and an edited volume titled Making Gardens of Their Own: Gardening Manuals for Women, 1500-1750. As Jen makes clear in these books, gardens are much more than a collection of plants. They combine science, aesthetics, and self-expression. Planting and tending gardens can become part of one’s identity. For both Jen and Larry, gardens transcend the mundane world.

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:

Brook Blaylock, a graduate student in the English Department, delivered a paper titled “These Ruined Walls: The Gender of Nature and the Nature of of Gender in William Wordsworth’s The Ruined Cottage” at the SAMLA Conference in Atlanta.

Janaka Lewis moderated a panel on Black Women in Literature at the National Women’s Studies Association Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Jessica Morton, a graduate student in the English Department, delivered a paper titled “Writer Seeks Readers Willing to Work: Chuck Palahniuk’s Avant-Garde” at the SAMLA Conference in Atlanta.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

November 21 — The English Department meeting will take place on November 21 from 11:00-12:30 in the English Department Conference Room.

November 21 — The ELC is sponsoring a Faculty Meet and Greet event starting at 12:30 in Faculty/Staff Lounge.

November 21 — The Development Committee is sponsoring a faculty talk by Dr. Tony Jackson on November 21 from 1:00-2:00 in the Conference Room. The title of Tony’s talk is “Social Neuroscience, Imitative Identity, and Aronofsky’s Black Swan.

Quirky Quiz Question — What is the name of the Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts School throughout most of the Harry Potter series? For extra credit, who becomes the new Professor of Herbology at the end of the series?

Last week’s answer – Jeffrey Leak and Cy Knoblauch

Armistice Day, Poetry and Poppies — Veterans Day started out as Armistice Day, which is why it is celebrated on the eleventh day of November. The armistice agreement that marked the end of World War I took effect on the “eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month” of 1918. Initially Armistice Day commemorated all those who lost their lives during World War I. After World War II, the United States changed the name of the holiday to Veterans Day while in Great Britain and most of the Commonwealth Nations, the name was changed to Remembrance Day.

Although the term Armistice Day is not widely used today, the term lives on in the world of poetry. In 1915, three years before the signing of the armistice agreement, a Canadian physician and soldier with the Allied Forces named John McCrae wrote a poem titled “In Flanders Field” in which he expressed his grief over the death of a fellow soldier who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. His friend was buried in a field in Flanders, which is located in Belgium. The poem begins with the line “In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row.” This poem came to be associated with Armistice Day, and it started the connection between Armistice Day and poppies. In 1919, an American poet named Moina Michael wrote a poem in response to McCrae’s poem. She called her poem “We Shall Keep the Faith,” and in it she vowed to wear a red poppy in honor of those who died during World War I. Because of these two poets, poppies are now associated with Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, and Veterans Day.

My father was an avid gardener, and his favorite flowers to grow were poppies. He planted poppies all around the home were I grew up in the mountains of Colorado. My father was also a veteran. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War era. As we commemorate the service of our veterans, my thoughts turn to my father. He died on Thanksgiving nearly two years ago, but the poppies he planted live on. For John McCrae, the poppies in Flanders field represented the life spirit of his fallen friend. For me, the poppies that still grow in my Colorado home represent the most important veteran in my life—my father, Walter West.

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:

Nancy Gutierrez delivered her presidential address at the Annual Meeting of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences in San Antonio, Texas, on November 7. Titled “Storytelling and the Deanship,” her address explored the relationship between effective leadership and the ability to construct meaningful narratives.

Juan Meneses presented a paper titled “Divided and Doubled: The Modernist Character as Postcolonial Model” at the Modernist Studies Association conference in Pittsburgh.

Alan Rauch delivered a paper titled “Taking the ‘***perature’ of Interdisciplinary Studies: What Happened to the ‘TEM’ in STEM?” at the National Collegiate Honors Council Meeting, which took place in Denver.

Daniel Shealy presented the keynote address to open the “Concord and Abraham Lincoln Exhibit & Lecture Series” on November 7 at the Concord Free Public Library in Concord, MA. His presentation was “‘The pulse of twenty millions throbbing in his heart’: Abraham Lincoln and Concord’s Civil War.”

Lara Vetter served as invited respondent to a session titled “The Project of Digitizing the Texts of Modernist American Women Poets: Editing, Annotating, Re-evaluating, and the Pedagogy of Making It New” at the Modernist Studies Association conference on November 9, 2014.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

November 12 — On Wednesday, November 12, 12-4pm Sarah Minslow’s War and Genocide in Children’s Literature class is hosting “Be a Piece of Peace,” a rally for peace on the fields in front of Robinson Hall at the main entrance to campus from University City Boulevard. There will be live entertainment, trivia, face painting, book and poetry readings, crafts, and free food. Please stop by and encourage your students to stop by.

November 13th — The ELC is holding the second Engagement Seminar with Henry Doss this Thursday at 3:30 in the Fretwell Faculty Lounge.

Quirky Quiz Question — The English department includes veterans among the faculty. Can you name them?

Last Quirky Quiz answer – Bill O’Reilly

Democracy in America — As this year’s mid-term election process builds to its crescendo on Tuesday, I can’t help but reflect on how we conduct our elections. Our democracy seemed so pure in the civics books I read as a boy in school, but in real life our democratic elections are messy affairs. One of the first writers to take a serious look at how our democracy functions in real life was a Frenchman named Alexis de Tocqueville. He traveled throughout America during the early 1830s, observing our elections and political processes. He wrote about his findings and observations in his now famous two-volume work titled Democracy in America, which came out in 1835 and 1840. In part because he did not grow up in America, he was able to take a clear-sighted view of the political contradictions and complexities inherent in our then fledgling democracy.

In a number of ways, Pilar Blitvich reminds me of Tocqueville. Like Tocqueville, Pilar grew up in Europe and has travelled widely. Just as Tocqueville did in his time, Pilar has taken a keen interest in the American political process. She has studied the inner workings of our elections, paying particular attention to how digital forms of communication shape our elections and political discourse. She has written several scholarly articles about the impact of YouTube on political campaigns. She has also conducted groundbreaking research on the aggressive language used on political television programs. However, unlike Tocqueville, Pilar is not just an observer of American democracy. She is a participant observer. Several years ago, Pilar became an American citizen, and she now eagerly casts her vote during our elections. In this regard, Pilar has one up on Tocqueville.

Explore — This past weekend, Aaron Toscano and Tiffany Morin served as ambassadors of English Department. I asked Aaron about the experience, and he sent me this statement: “Tiffany and I greeted prospective students at EXPLORE UNC Charlotte on Saturday. We had more prospective students come to our table than I ever remember, and, more importantly, I didn’t have skeptical parents in the background seemingly humoring their children by letting them talk to a Humanities Major. The parents were supportive.” My thanks go to Aaron and Tiffany for representing the English Department at this event.

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 and Mohamed Shehab (SIS) received a Mosaic grant this fall for a project called “Investigating Seniors’ Preferences for Receiving Information about Internet Security.”

Katrina Holmes, an English major, has been selected for membership in the Pinnacle Honor Society. Created in 1989 to recognize outstanding adult students (24 years of age or older), Pinnacle celebrates academically successful seniors and rising seniors who have displayed leadership and community engagement.

Quirky Quiz Question — While conducting her research on aggressive language used on political television programs, Pilar spent countless hours dissecting the language used by a regular host on Fox News. What is the name of the person whose language usage she studied?

Last Quirky Quiz answer – Rip Van Winkle

title: Monday Missive – October 20, 2014

Of Poetry and Flight — The opening of the art exhibit titled “Icarus: An Exploration of the Human Urge to Fly” and the Center City Literary Festival both took place this past weekend at UNC Charlotte Center City. I had the pleasure of viewing the exhibit, which is in the Projective Eye Gallery. The exhibit includes an image of the Wright brothers’ famous plane as well as many other examples of visual art in nearly every medium one could imagine. The exhibit also includes a poem by Chris Davis titled “Phaeton,” which deals with flight. Seeing Chris’s poem in the same gallery with an image of the Wright brothers’ plane got me thinking about the connections between the Wright brothers and poetry.

Most Americans know something about the key role the Wright brothers played in launching America into the era of mechanized flight, but the Wright brothers also played a pivotal role in launching the career of Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the nation’s foremost African American poets. Orville Wright and Paul Laurence Dunbar were classmates at Ohio Central High School in Dayton, and they often studied together. Orville started a printing business while still in high school, and he was the first person to print Dunbar’s poems. He also printed a weekly newspaper Dunbar wrote and edited for six weeks. When Orville and Wilbur Wright started manufacturing bicycles, they gave one of their first bicycles to Dunbar. That bicycle still exists and is on exhibit at the Dunbar House. Orville Wright helped Dunbar find a publisher for his first collection of poetry, Oak and Ivy, in 1893. Over the years, the Wright brothers took every opportunity to promote their friend’s poetry. Dunbar died at the age of 33 in 1906, two years after the Wright brothers’ legendary first flight. The connection between the Wright brothers and Dunbar lives on, however, at Wright State University in Dayton. The library at this university is called the Dunbar Library in honor of Paul Laurence Dunbar.

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:

JuliAnna Ávila’s co-edited book titled Critical Digital Literacies as Social Praxis: Intersections and Challenges has been awarded the 2014 Edward B. Fry Book Award by the Literacy Research Association.

Sonya Brockman presented a paper at the Sixteenth Century Conference in New Orleans this weekend titled “‘My falcon now is sharp’: Shakespeare, Falconry, and Femininity, or You Can’t Tame a Haggard.”

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

October 24 — The English Department meeting will take place in the Conference Room from 11:00-12:15.

October 24 — Undergraduate Committee has scheduled a brown bag meeting on online teaching for October 24 from 12:30 until 2:00PM in the conference room. The focus of this brown-bag will be online teaching.

October 24 — The EGSA’s Professional Day will take place in the Conference Room from 2:00-4:30. A reception at the Wine Vault will begin at 5:00.

Quirky Quiz Question — In addition to writing poetry, Paul Laurence Dunbar wrote several novels. His last and most important novel came out in 1902 and is one of the first works of African American literature set in Harlem. What is the title of this novel?

Last week’s answer – The Ice Age

Columbus Day — I remember learning about Christopher Columbus in fourth grade. He was presented to us as a great hero who discovered the New World and helped introduce civilization to the Indians. Some years later, I learned more about the devastating impact that Columbus and his fellow European explorers had on Native Americans, so I understand why Columbus Day is such a problematic holiday. There is now a movement to discontinue celebrating Columbus Day and replace it with an Indigenous People’s Day or Native Americans Day. I support the movement to set aside a day to recognize and celebrate Native Americans, but I think that Columbus Day also provides an opportunity to reflect on the significance of the immigration process on the history of America.

I am a descendant of immigrants from Poland (on my father’s side) and Sweden (on my mother’s side) who came to the United States via Ellis Island in the early 20th century, so when I think of the immigration process I automatically bring up associations with Ellis Island. In 1954, Ellis Island closed, and it is now an historic site, but that does not mean that immigration has come to an end. Immigrants continue to arrive in the United States, many from Latin America, and they continue to shape our culture and language.

Ellis Island

Two recently published books by English faculty members provide keen insights into the current immigration process in terms of both culture and language. Maya Socolovsky’s Troubling Nationhood in U.S. Latina Literature: Exploration of Place and Belonging (Rutgers University press, 2013) explores how a number of contemporary Latina writers from Mexican American, Puerto Rican and Cuban American backgrounds respond to the concept of nationhood in their writings. As Maya argues in her book, these writers are redrawing the cultural map of the United States so that it reflects a broader, more Pan-American vision of the United States. Elizabeth Miller’s The Language of Adult Immigrants: Agency in the Making (Multilingual Matters, 2014) examines the connection between power dynamics and second-language acquisition in the lives of recent immigrants. As Liz makes clear in her book, these recent immigrants see the learning of English as being associated with the political and social dimensions of their lives.

Christopher Columbus never settled in America, but he played a role in one of the most significant population shifts in human history. On this Columbus Day, I think it makes sense to take a “big picture” view of the impact of immigration in the history of America. I am very pleased that several of our colleagues are already contributing to our understanding of this important aspect the American experience.

Student Engagement — The upcoming Center City Literary Festival takes place this Friday and Saturday, and I am happy to report that all four of the English Department’s student organizations have stepped forward to help. Students from the English Learning Community, Sigma Tau Delta, the English Graduate Student Association, and the Children’s Literature Graduate Organization have volunteered their time to help with this festival. I feel fortunate that we have such engaged students associated with the English Department. For more information about the festival, see attached flyer.

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:

Laura Eason, an English major, has been named to CLAS-ACT, which is an undergraduate student advisory council for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Sarah Minslow presented a paper titled “Offering a Place to Stay: Academic Advisors at the Center for First Generation College Students’ Experiences” at the NACADA (National Academic Advisor Association) conference in Minneapolis. She co-wrote the paper with Pamela Richardson-Nowak.

Alan Rauch recently gave a paper titled “The Urban Squirrel” as part of the session “Humans and Other Animals” (which he chaired) at the 28th Annual meeting of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts in Dallas.

Aaron Toscano recently presented a paper titled “Video Games and Aggressive Word-Play: Media Sensationalism on the Effects of Playing Violent Video Games” at the Popular Culture Association of the South/American Culture Association of the South Conference in New Orleans.

Quirky Quiz Question — Christopher Columbus is credited with introducing horses to North America during his second voyage to America, which took place in 1493. In reality, however, horses evolved in North America, and they populated much of the continent during the Pleistocene Epoch. Some of them moved to Eurasia when there was a land bridge between the two contents. Horses eventually went extinct in North America, but they thrived in Eurasia. What caused this land bridge to appear and then disappear?

Last week’s answer: The Jewish Daily Forward

Cue the Music — The upcoming Center City Literary Festival will celebrate the literary arts, but it will also celebrate many other forms of artistic expression, including music. The festival will run for two days (October 17 and 18), and musical performances will be featured on both days. The musical dimension of this festival sets it apart from most literary festivals in the country.

The adult-focused part of the festival will take place on Friday, Oct. 17, from 6 to 9:30 p.m. UNC Charlotte professor and Music Department chair James A. Grymes will be reading from his new book, Violins of Hope: Instruments of Hope and Liberation in Mankind’s Darkest Hour. A stirring testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of music, Violins of Hope tells the remarkable stories of violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust, and of the Israeli violinmaker dedicated to bringing these inspirational instruments back to life. The New York Post calls Violins of Hope a “must-read book” and composer John Williams describes it as “a work of research and scholarship that forms one of the most moving chronicles in the history of Western music.” The presentation will include performances of Yiddish folksongs from the Holocaust by Idunn Lohne, a violin performance major at UNC Charlotte.

In addition to Grymes, other writers who will participate include poet Christopher Davis, mystery novelist Mark de Castrique, essayist Sandra Govan, and poet Grace Ocasio. Several of the participants are contributors to the just-released book, 27 Views of Charlotte: The Queen City in Prose and Poetry. They will read from their contributions to this collection, and all of the participants will be available for book signing.

The evening will conclude with a presentation about Charlotte’s history as a recording center for country music in the 1930s. After this presentation, the folk music group the Kollard Kings will perform examples of the old-time string band songs from Charlotte’s heyday as a recording center. Performing with the Kollard Kings are banjo picker Tom Estes, past president of Charlotte Folk Society and an authority on Southern music traditions, and fiddlin’ Tom Hanchett, staff historian at Levine Museum of the New South.

The children’s part of the the festival will take place on Saturday, Oct. 18, from 11:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m. The festival will feature literature, music, art, and theatre, and will provide children with hands-on activities. Featured artists include Caldecott Medal winning children’s author Gail Haley and her writing partner, Alice Phoebe Naylor; illustrator Matthew Myers and digital artist Heather Freeman. Many of the art-related activities also will tie into the opening of an art exhibit entitled “Icarus: A Study of the Urge to Fly” at UNC Charlotte Center City. In addition, Beth Murray from the UNC Charlotte Department of Theatre will coordinate performances based on picture books.

The children’s part of the festival will conclude with a family-friendly performance by UNC Charlotte’s Chamber Orchestra. Focused on the intersections of literature and music, it will include The Comedians by Dmitry Kabalevsky, originally intended as incidental music for a children’s play by Soviet Jewish writer Mark Daniel titled The Inventor and the Comedians about Johannes Gutenberg and a band of itinerant buffoons. The play has been lost, but the music survives. For the festival, the music will be set to a new narration of a Russian fairy tale, “The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship” by distinguished writer and conductor Jonathan Andrew Govias.

Staff Engagement — The English Department is fortunate to have such strong staff members. In addition to performing their official duties so well, all of the staff members are fully engaged in the department’s teaching and service activities. For example, Angie has taken on a major role in helping me organize the Center City Literary Festival. Her enthusiasm and organizational skills have been an immense help to me throughout the process of planning this event. Another person in our department who plans community events is Jeffrey Leak. In his role as the Director for the Center for the Study of the New South, Jeffrey has organized numerous events, including an event about “soul food” last week. I’ve noticed that Jennie has attended almost all of these events. Her willingness to participate in these events, even after having worked all day in the office, is a sign of her ongoing community engagement. As some of you know, Monica has been working closely with Lil Brannon with administering the grants that fund our Writing Project. In addition to performing these administrative functions, Monica has been attending Writing Project events and participating in their workshops. By being so engaged in the life of the English Department, Angie, Jennie and Monica help strengthen our department.

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:

Lil Brannon recently learned that UNC Charlotte Writing Project has been awarded $30,000 of National Science Foundation funds as a result of a proposal she wrote and submitted.

Aaron Gwyn’s Wynne’s War received a positive write-up from The Los Angeles Review of Books. Here is the link: http://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/afghanistan-stage-without-play#

Daniel Shealy is featured in a promotional video recently produced by Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House. Here is the link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/632439913/orchard-house/posts/996173

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

October 6-7 — Fall break—no classes.

October 10 — The deadline to post mid-term unsatisfactory grades is noon on Friday, October 10th, and you must complete the process even if you have no unsatisfactory grades to report. Grades due by noon.

Quirky Quiz Question — Yiddish folksongs will be performed in conjunction with James Grymes’s reading from his Violins of Hope during the upcoming Center City Literary Festival. In the early decades of the 20th century, Yiddish language and culture played a major role in New York City. Does anybody know the name of the famous Yiddish newspaper that began publication in New York City in 1897?

Last week’s answer – Bob Dylan

National Coffee Day — I wish you all a happy National Coffee Day. As everyone who knows me can attest, I think every day should be national coffee day, but it is still great to have a special day set aside to celebrate coffee. The connections between the English Department and coffee run deep. There are endless associations with coffee shops and literature. During the late 19th century, Viennese coffee houses functioned as cultural meccas for European writers. During the 1950s, Greenwich Village coffee shops were where the Beat writers gathered to share poetry and play their bongo drums. Even today writers tend to congregate at Starbucks and other coffee shops. Of course , there are many other ways in which the English Department is tied to coffee. For me and many other members of the department, drinking coffee and writing are inextricably linked. For many of our students, drinking coffee helps them stay awake as they cram for midterms or try to finish their term papers. Coffee has also been the topic of some great quotations by some of our favorite writers. For example, one of Aaron Gwyn’s favorite writers is Albert Camus, and here is what Camus had to say about coffee: “Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee.” One of Daniel Shealy’s favorite writers is Louisa May Alcott, and here is what she has to say about coffee: “I’d rather take coffee than take compliments just now.” My favorite coffee quotation is by the famous composer Johann Sebastian Bach who said, “Without my morning coffee I’m just like a dried up piece of roast goat.”

Soul Food — How do our history, politics, and social traditions define the foods we eat today? How can we use our understanding of the historic and contemporary delivery of food to the table to ensure resources for future generations? Foodies, farmers, educators and advocates will explore these and more “farm to table” and sustainability questions during a community discussion of “Soul Food: A Contemporary and Historical Exploration of New South Food” on Thursday, October 2 at UNC Charlotte Center City, 320 E. Ninth St.

This is the fourth and final event in the yearlong “Soul Food” series presented by UNC Charlotte’s Center for the Study of the New South, which is part of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. The day opens with back-to-back panel discussions at 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. and culminates with a 6 p.m. talk by James Beard Award winner Adrian Miller, author of “SOUL FOOD: The Surprising Story of American Cuisine, One Plate at a Time.” A reception sponsored by Chartwells UNC Charlotte and a book signing follow Miller’s talk.

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:

Sarah Minslow spoke on a panel about Banned Books Week on Wednesday in the Halton Reading Room as part of the EGSA and CGLO’s Banned Books Week celebration. She also lead a roundtable discussion about censorship at the South Country Regional Library on Saturday.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines— Here are some dates to keep in mind:

October 2 — Shakespeare in Action is co-sponsoring a lecture by Richard Preiss on early modern clowning and comic performance in Robinson 103 at 4:00 pm.

October 6-7 — Fall break—no classes.

October 10 — The deadline to post mid-term unsatisfactory grades is noon on Friday, October 10th, and you must complete the process even if you have no unsatisfactory grades to report. Grades due by noon.

Quirky Quiz Question — One of the most famous coffee shops where the Beat writers gathered was the Gaslight Café. In the early 1960s, a young folk singer performed at the Gaslight. Many years later a recording of this performance was released under the title of Live at the Gaslight 1962. A few years ago this singer also performed at UNCCharlotte. Can you guess the name of this singer?

Last week’s answer – Scotland

The Play of the Imagination — This past weekend, my wife and I celebrated our 27th anniversary by taking a trip to southern Georgia. We took a ferry to Cumberland Island, which is now largely owned by the National Park Service. As we explored the island, we paid particular attention to the remains of once grand mansion known today as the Dungeness Ruins. Built by the Carnegie family in the late nineteenth century, Dungeness functioned as a secluded retreat for one of America’s wealthiest and most prominent families. By the 1920s, the family stopped using the mansion on a regular basis, and in the 1950s the mansion burned, leaving an eerie-looking skeleton made of stone, bricks and metal. Although the interior of the ruined mansion is fenced off, visitors can walk right up to the walls and peer through the barred windows,

As Nancy and I explored the Dungeness Ruins, I was reminded of the many ruined castles we visited in England while I was researching and writing A Children’s Literature Tour of Great Britain. Of course, the Dungeness Ruins are far newer than the ruined castles in England, but Dungeness sparked my imagination in the same way that the castles did. I began wondering about the people who once lived in this ruined mansion. I wondered about their stories, their secrets, and their relationships to this special place. For me, at least, ruins arouse my curiosity in ways that well-preserved historic buildings do not. I have similar reactions to yellowed letters found in attics or personal inscriptions written on the title pages of old books. What I like about such reminders from the past is that they provide plenty of room for the play of the imagination. In our work as teachers, I believe that we should nurture our students’ imaginations, and perhaps one way to accomplish this goal is to bring our students to ruins.

Engagement Seminar — The English Learning Community is holding its first Engagement Seminar with Henry Doss this Thursday in our faculty/staff lounge from 3:00-4:00. This seminar is open to all students and faculty. Please invite your students to attend.

Quirky Quiz Question — The Dungeness mansion was built by the wealthy Carnegie family. The Carnegie fortune was initially made by Andrew Carnegie. Although Andrew Carnegie became one of the richest people in America, he was not born in America. Where was Andrew Carnegie born?

Last week’s Quirky Quiz answer – Daedalus

The Center City Literary Festival —The second annual Center City Literary Festival will take place on October 17 and 18 at the UNC Charlotte Center City. This festival showcases authors and performers associated with UNC Charlotte and is sponsored by UNC Charlotte Center City and the Department of English. This event is free, and everyone is welcome to attend.

The part of the festival that is intended for adults will take place on the 17th (Friday) from 6:00 to 9:00 pm. James A. Grymes will read from his recently published Violins of Hope. Violinists will also perform in conjunction with this reading. Other writers who will participate include poet Christopher Davis, mystery novelist Mark de Castrique, essayist Sandra Govan, and poet Grace Ocasio. Several of the participants are contributors to the recently released 27 Views of Charlotte: The Queen City in Prose and Poetry, and these participants will read from their contributions to this collection. The evening will close with a book signing during which the folk music group the Kollard Kings will perform bluegrass music.

The part of the festival that is intended for children will take place on the 18th (Saturday) from 11:00 to 3:00. The festival will feature literature, art, theatre, and music and will provide children with many hands-on activities. The featured authors and illustrators include Caldecott Medal winner Gail Haley, illustrator Mathew Myers, and digital artist Heather Freeman. Many of the art-related activities will relate to the opening of an art exhibit titled “Icarus: A Study of the Urge to Fly.” This exhibit will be in the gallery at Center City and participants will be able view the exhibit. Beth Murray from the Department of Theatre will coordinate performances based on picture books. Finally, the festival will conclude with a family-friendly musical performance by UNC Charlotte’s Chamber Orchestra.

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:

Lil Brannon delivered the keynote address at UNC Charlotte’s inaugural First-Year Writing Conference, which took place at UNC Charlotte Center City on September 12, 2014.

Alan Rauch recently presented a paper titled “Women and the Matrix of Science in 19th-Century Britain” at the European History of Science Society Conference, which took place in Lisbon, Portugal.

Quirky Quiz Question — The myth of Icarus will figure in the children’s part of the upcoming Center City Literary Festival. The father of Icarus plays a major role in this myth. Does anybody remember the name of the father?Last week’s Quirky Quiz answer – Catalan