{"id":1400,"date":"2018-03-19T10:27:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T14:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=1400"},"modified":"2018-03-19T10:27:06","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T14:27:06","slug":"monday-missive-march-19-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2018\/03\/19\/monday-missive-march-19-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Missive – March 19, 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Frankenstein’s Creature, the Tin Woodman, and Me<\/b>\u00a0—\u00a0 Almost exactly a year ago, a surgeon implanted a biventricular pacemaker in my chest.\u00a0 In the process, he not only saved my life, but he also turned me into a cyborg, which is defined as “a person whose physiological functioning is aided or dependent upon a mechanical or electronic device.” Ever since then, I have become much more attuned to the recent discussions about the concept of\u00a0post-humanism.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>Although this concept is still in its formative stages, most of the commentary and debates about post-humanism deal with the impact of technology on the evolution of humans.\u00a0 Scholars interested in this topic are asking provocative questions, such as: Is medical technology changing what it means to be human?\u00a0 Is technology accelerating the evolution of humans?\u00a0 Are cyborgs fully human?\u00a0 The debates over these and similar questions are certainly germane to our current intellectual climate, but it seems to me that such questions are not all that new.\u00a0 Mary Shelley addressed similar questions 200 years ago in her classic novel,\u00a0Frankenstein,\u00a0<\/i>and L. Frank Baum touched on these questions in\u00a0The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,\u00a0<\/i>which came out in 1900.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In\u00a0Frankenstein,\u00a0<\/i>Victor Frankenstein uses science and technology to bring to life a humanoid “creature.” \u00a0 Victor does not call his creation a human, but Shelley suggests that this creature, despite his hideous appearance, is at his core a human.\u00a0 The creature is much larger and stronger than normal humans, but he has human emotions.\u00a0 The creature identifies with humans and longs for human companionship.\u00a0 Shelley implies that the creature essentially becomes a human through his associations and interactions with humans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In\u00a0The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,<\/i>\u00a0Baum introduces a character called the Tin Woodman who is a “man made entirely of tin.”\u00a0 We learn that he was not always made of tin.\u00a0 He was once a flesh-and-blood woodman, but he fell under a witch’s curse that took control over his axe.\u00a0 As a result of this curse, the axe repeatedly chopped off parts of his body, which the local tinsmith replaced with tin parts.\u00a0 Eventually, his entire body was replaced with a tin version.\u00a0 The Tin Woodman is especially concerned about the loss of his heart.\u00a0 He fears that “no one can love who has not a heart.”\u00a0 As the story progresses, however, we learn that the Tin Woodman is the most compassionate and humane of all the central characters in the book.\u00a0 Even though his body is entirely artificial, he maintains his core humanity by caring for others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As I ponder the questions related to post-humanism, I am inclined to turn to Shelley and Baum for my answers.\u00a0 Frankenstein’s creature and the Tin Woodman are both post-human in terms of their physical bodies, but both have deep desires to connect in meaningful ways with others.\u00a0 Their sense of humanity is defined, not by their physical selves, but rather by their social associations–so too with me.\u00a0 As I mark the end of my first year as a cyborg, I know that the device in my chest is not the only reason my story has not come to an end.\u00a0 My sense of self and my strong will to live are influenced by the people in my life, including my dear colleagues in the English Department.\u00a0 The device in my chest keeps my heart pumping, but it is the people in my life who have sustained me through this difficult year.\u00a0 My thanks go to all of you.<\/p>\n

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Kudos<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u2014\u00a0As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department.\u00a0 Here is the latest news:<\/p>\n

Three of our M.A. students presented papers at the Association of English Graduate Students conference at North Carolina State University:\u00a0Amy Arnott<\/b>\u00a0(“Education, Capital, and Punishment in Charlotte Bront\u00eb\u2019s Jane Eyre<\/i>\u00a0and George Eliot\u2019s\u00a0The Mill on the Floss<\/i>“),\u00a0Melissa LaFrate<\/b>\u00a0(\u201c’I Can Make You a Man’: Masculinity and Identity in Mary Shelley\u2019s\u00a0Frankenstein<\/i>“), and\u00a0Katherine Tallent<\/b>\u00a0(“‘The beauty of his voice wove a magic spell\u2026’: The Magic of Education in Elizabeth George Speare\u2019s\u00a0The Witch of Blackbird Pond<\/i>“).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Consuelo\u00a0Salas<\/span>\u00a0<\/b>recently\u00a0presented a paper titled “Consumption of Cultural Identity: Buying and Selling Mexican Foodstuffs” at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in Kansas City, Missouri in a session titled “Languaging Foodways: Community Approaches to Land, Food, and Literacy”<\/p>\n

Heather Vorhies<\/b>\u00a0recently presented a paper titled “An Un-Curious Partnership: Religion and Medicine in the New Nation” as part of a panel on Religion and Technical Communication for the Conference on College Composition and Communication.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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At this year’s Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), our colleagues in the University Writing Program received the CCCC Writing Program Certificate of Excellence Award.\u00a0 According to the CCCC website, the award recognizes up to 20 programs per year for their contributions to the field.\u00a0 For more information about this award, please click on the following link: \u00a0http:\/\/cccc.ncte.org\/cccc\/awards\/writingprogramcert<\/a><\/p>\n

Upcoming Events and Deadlines<\/b>\u00a0\u2014 Here is information about an upcoming event:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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March 24<\/span><\/span>\u00a0— The English Department and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library are co-sponsoring a screening of\u00a0To Kill a\u00a0<\/i>Mockingbird<\/i>\u00a0at the Francis Auditorium in the Main Library (310 N. Tryon Street<\/a>) on\u00a0Saturday, March 24, at 2:00 p.m.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 This event is supported by a grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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April 10<\/span><\/span>\u00a0— The English Department\u00a0will be hosting Leslie Howsam, one of the most renowned historians of the book in North America, to give an open talk titled: “Book<\/span>\u00a0History: a Niche for\u00a0Nerds<\/span>, or Essential Knowledge?<\/b>” on\u00a0April 10th at 4:00 pm<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0in the Atkins Library (Halton Room).<\/p>\n

Quirky Quiz Question<\/b>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\u00a0Mary Shelley’s\u00a0Frankenstein\u00a0<\/i>has a subtitle that is tied to Greek mythology.\u00a0 What is this subtitle?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Last week’s answer: Besides Brooklyn, there’s Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
Brooklyn is one of New York City’s official\u00a0boroughs.\u00a0 How many boroughs are there in New York City?\u00a0 For extra credit, can you name all of the boroughs?<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frankenstein’s Creature, the Tin Woodman, and Me\u00a0—\u00a0 Almost exactly a year ago, a surgeon implanted a biventricular pacemaker in my chest.\u00a0 In the process, he not only saved my life, but he also turned me into a cyborg, which is defined as “a person whose physiological functioning is aided or dependent upon a mechanical or […]<\/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-1400","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\/1400","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=1400"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1404,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1400\/revisions\/1404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}