{"id":1133,"date":"2017-07-10T11:30:04","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T15:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=1133"},"modified":"2017-07-11T16:00:03","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T20:00:03","slug":"monday-missive-july-10-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2017\/07\/10\/monday-missive-july-10-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Missive – July 10, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bast<\/b>ille Day, Jules Verne, and Revolutionary Power of Science Fiction<\/b>\u00a0— The French celebrate Bastille Day on the\u00a014th of July<\/span><\/span>, just ten days after Americans celebrate Independence Day.\u00a0 Both holidays are rooted in revolutions, and both commemorate the efforts of brave people who took stands against monarchies.\u00a0 Bastille Day commemorates the storming of the Bastille, which occurred in Paris on July 14, 1789.\u00a0 The Bastille was a fortress-like prison where opponents of the royal government were often held without trials.\u00a0 For many common people in France, the Bastille was seen as a symbol of tyranny.\u00a0 For this reason, they saw the storming of the Bastille as a way to make a statement not only against the royal government but also for “liberty, equality and fraternity,” which was their motto.\u00a0 The leaders of the French Revolution, like the leaders of the American Revolution, were trying to shape the future.\u00a0 They imagined a world that differed in significant ways from the world in which they lived, and then they attempted to come up with a plan to bring their vision of the future into reality.<\/div>\n
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\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>About a half a century after the French Revolution, a French author named Jules Verne also began imagining an alternative future, and in the process he gave birth to the genre of science fiction.\u00a0 Verne envisioned a future in which technology was much more advanced than the technology of the mid-nineteenth century.\u00a0 Verne envisioned a more interconnected world where the contributions of scientists were valued and innovation was celebrated.\u00a0 He provided readers with glimpses of the future that he envisioned through the pages of his novels, such as\u00a0From\u00a0<\/i>the Earth to the Moon\u00a0<\/i>(1865),\u00a0Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea\u00a0<\/i>(1870),\u00a0and\u00a0Around the World\u00a0in Eighty Days<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/i>(1873).\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>Verne died in 1905, but the genre that he started is alive and\u00a0prospering, and it is well represented in our English\u00a0Department.\u00a0 Several members of our department have taken a serious interest in science fiction, including Aaron Toscano, Sandy Govan, and Andrew Hartley.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Aaron regularly teaches works of science fiction in his classes.\u00a0 In fact, the honors seminar that he developed and taught is focused on science fiction.\u00a0 Aaron has also written a scholarly article that relates to Isaac Asimov’s classic 1950 work of science fiction,\u00a0I, Robot.<\/i>\u00a0 Aaron’s article is titled “Using\u00a0I, Robot\u00a0<\/i>in the Technical Writing Classroom:\u00a0 Developing a Critical Technological Awareness,” and it appeared in\u00a0Computers and Composition.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Sandy (who retired several years ago but who is still very much a member of our department) has an ongoing interest in African American writers of science fiction.\u00a0 Sandy has a particular interest in Octavia Butler, the author of\u00a0Parable of the Sower\u00a0<\/i>and many other works of science fiction.\u00a0 Sandy has published a number of scholarly articles about Butler’s work, including\u00a0\u201cConnections, Links, and Extended Networks in\u00a0Octavia Butler’s<\/i>\u00a0Science Fiction,\u201d which appeared in\u00a0Black American Literature Forum. \u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a>Andrew has taken an interest in writing science fiction.\u00a0 He recently published\u00a0<\/span>a science fiction novel titled\u00a0Cathedrals of Glass: Planet of Blood and Ice<\/i>.\u00a0 He is also co-writing a science fiction series\u00a0<\/span>called the Sekret Machines series (co-written with Blink 182 front man, Tom DeLonge).\u00a0 The first book in this series is titled\u00a0Chasing Shadows<\/i>.<\/p>\n

As Aaron, Sandy, and Andrew can attest, science fiction provides a lens through which we can see future possibilities.\u00a0 There is something inherently revolutionary about science fiction, for it is predicated on the assumption that our present conditions are changeable.\u00a0 No one knows for certain what is in store for us in the future, but science fiction authors can help us imagine what the future might look like and in the process help us look at our present world from a different perspective.For those of you who are interested in participating in a science fiction reading group, you will be pleased to know that Aaron and honorary member of the English Department Alison Walsh have started a book club they call\u00a0The RITAs (Reading Interesting Tales Association).\u00a0 On Bastille Day (7\/14) the group will be discussing\u00a0The Handmaid’s Tale.<\/i>\u00a0Next month on 8\/18–the\u00a0Friday<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0before classes start–the group will be discussing Octavia Butler’s\u00a0Dawn<\/i>.\u00a0 If you are interested in participating in this group, please contact Aaron.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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New Members of the Honors Faculty<\/b>\u00a0— The Honors College recently appointed Jeffrey Leak, Janaka Lewis, and Aaron Toscano to the Honors Faculty.\u00a0 In their letters of appointment, Malin Pereira wrote, “Only full-time faculty who have already taught and\/or served honors programs on campus or at another institution are eligible for Honor Faculty appointment and, thus for assuming governance roles for honors.\u00a0 It is an honor and also a responsibility.”<\/p>\n

Kudos<\/b>\u00a0— As you know, I like to use my\u00a0Monday<\/span>\u00a0Missives<\/span>\u00a0to share news about recent accomplishments by members of our department.\u00a0 Here is the latest news:<\/span><\/p>\n

Allison Hutchcraft<\/b>\u00a0completed a two-week residency at the Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Sciences in the mountains of North Georgia.<\/p>\n

Sam Shapiro<\/b>\u00a0published a review of a book about American films from the 1970s in the\u00a0Charlotte Observer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>Here is the link:\u00a0http:\/\/www.charlotteobserver.com\/entertainment\/books\/article159474939.html<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Quirky Quiz Question<\/b>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\u00a0 Several leaders of the American Revolution went on to support the French Revolution, including the famous pamphleteer who wrote\u00a0Common Sense\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Rights of Man.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>Does anybody know the name of this writer?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Last week’s answer: Prince Edward Island<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
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When Balaka Basu gave her presentation last summer at the L.M. Montgomery Institute\u2019s 12th Biennial Conference, she traveled to Canada’s smallest province, which is also the setting for\u00a0Anne of Green Gables.\u00a0\u00a0Does anybody know the name of this province?\u00a0 Here is an extra credit question:\u00a0 What does the capital of this province have in common with our city?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Bastille Day, Jules Verne, and Revolutionary Power of Science Fiction\u00a0— The French celebrate Bastille Day on the\u00a014th of July, just ten days after Americans celebrate Independence Day.\u00a0 Both holidays are rooted in revolutions, and both commemorate the efforts of brave people who took stands against monarchies.\u00a0 Bastille Day commemorates the storming of the Bastille, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monday-missive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1133"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1149,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1133\/revisions\/1149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}