Mark West

Turning Over the Keys —  On August 1, 2012, I began serving as the Interim Chair of the English Department, and on August 6 of that year, I sent out my very first Monday Missive.  Since then I have sent you a Monday Missive every week.  The only exceptions have been during the weeks when UNC Charlotte has been closed for the holidays and one week in March 2017 when Jen Munroe wrote the Monday Missive because I was hospitalized.  I did some quick calculations, and I am pretty sure that today ‘s edition is the 370th Monday Missive.  It is also the last one.

I searched through my old email and found my first Monday Missive.  In it, I used David Bowie’s song “Changes” as a springboard to discuss the changes that were taking place in the English Department at the time.  Today’s Monday Missive is also about changes.  At the end of this week, I am literally turning over the keys of the English Department to Paula Eckard.  She officially becomes the new chair of our department on January 1, 2020, but she has already transformed the chair’s office and has made the space her own.  

At the same time that Paula is taking on the role of English Department Chair, Liz Miller is assuming the role of Associate Chair/Director of Undergraduate Studies from Jen Munroe, and Beth Gargano is assuming the role of Director of the English Honors Program from Kirk Melnikoff.  Lara Vetter is staying on in her role as the Director of Graduate Studies.

This current period of transition is not the first time that I have turned over the administration of a program to Paula.  When I became an associate dean in 2002, I needed to step down as the Director of the American Studies Program.  Paula took over the administration of the program at the time.  During her long and successful tenure as its director, she has done an excellent job of building the American Studies Program.  When I turned it over to her in 2002, there were about 50 students minoring in American Studies. Today, the program has more than 350 minors, making it one of the largest minors in the university.

Just as she did when she became the Director of the American Studies Program, Paula will draw on her experience and excellent judgment in her new role as the Chair of the English Department.  As I conclude my time as your chair, I pledge to do all I can to help Paula and the department through this period of transition.  I know that I am leaving the English Department in good hands.

Commencement Report — Last Saturday the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held its winter commencement ceremony.  Jen Munroe, Liz Miller, Lara Vetter and I took responsibility for lining up our graduating students in alphabetical order before they filed into the Dale F. Halton Arena.

For 76 of our students, this ceremony marked their transition from current students to graduates.  A total of 9 of our graduate students are listed in the commencement program, and 67 undergraduate students are listed.  I am especially impressed with how many of our BA students fall under the heading of “Graduation with Distinction.”  Of the 67 students, 12 earned the distinction of Cum Laude (GPA between 3.4-3.7), 10 earned the distinction of Magna Cum Laude (GPA between 3.7-3.9), and 3 earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude (GPA between 3.9-4.0).  This total comes to 25 students.  Also, 4 of our students graduated with English Honors.  I am very proud of all of our graduating students, but I want to mention by name the 3 students who earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude.  They are Riley Michelle Davoren, Britney Lussier, and Amy Eileen Murray.

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

Everyone in the English Department —  I commend all of the members of the English Department (both past and present) for building and sustaining an inclusive department that is dedicated to teaching high-quality courses, producing thoughtful and innovative scholarly and creative publications, and promoting a sense of departmental citizenship.  

Upcoming Events and Meetings — Here is a list of upcoming events and deadlines:

January 8 — First day of classes for the Spring 2020 semester.

January 15 — Last day for students to add or drop a course with no grade.

Quirky Quiz Question — In my first Monday Missive, I asked the following Quirky Quiz Question:  “I am not the first Interim Chair of the English Department.  Who was the last person to serve as the Interim Chair of our department?”  Paula Eckard was the first person to provide the correct response (Jay Jacoby), and this seems very fitting to me.   Here is my last Quirky Quiz Question–what is the connection between Jay Jacoby’s current place of residence and Paula Eckard’s research interest in Thomas Wolfe?

Last week’s answer: Mathematics

In addition to writing children’s books, Lewis Carroll spent many years teaching at Oxford University.  What subject did he teach?

Storied Places — I just return last night from participating in a symposium at Oxford University.  The symposium was interesting, but what I enjoyed the most was wandering the streets of Oxford.  As a children’s literature professor, I think of Oxford is a special place.  It is associated with a number of important children’s books, including Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  The good people of Oxford celebrate their connections to the classic works of children’s literature that were written there.  There are plaques and guidebooks that point out special places in Oxford associated with children’s literature, and most everyone, including me, is eager to help visitors as they go on their literary pilgrimages.  When I walked to the site of the symposium, I went right by the pub called The Eagle and Child, where Tolkien, Lewis and some of their colleagues met every week to visit and to critique each other’s manuscripts.  As I was walking by the pub, a woman asked me if I would take her picture standing under the sign.  We ended up chatting for several minutes about Tolkien.  This type of interaction is common in Oxford.  The city’s connections to children’s literature fosters a sense of community that I find appealing.

I am not the only member of our English Department who is interested in the connections between place and stories.  Daniel Shealy, for example, has a deep-seated interest in the many authors from Concord, Massachusetts, including Lousia May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau.  As a frequent visitor to Concord, Daniel has developed an expertise in the unique literary culture that emerged in Concord in the mid-nineteenth century and persists to this day.  Another example is Bryn Chancellor.  Bryn spent some of her formative years in the American southwest, and she often sets her stories in this region. For Bryn, the desert-like conditions in American southwest spark her imagination.  In her novel Sycamore, the setting is so important to her story that almost seems like a character.

In reflecting on the relationship between places and stories, I am reminded that stories can also take us to places just through the act of reading.  For me, one of the pleasures of being an English professor is that I am able to introduce students to a wide variety of wonderful places.  My students might not be able to stroll the streets of Oxford, but they can experience some of the magic of storied places by picking up a book.  As Dr. Seuss once said, “You’re off to Great Places!”

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

Meghan Barnes recently presented the following three papers at the Literacy Research Association Conference held in Tampa: “You Can’t Un-See Color:  A PhD, a Divorce, and The Wizard of Oz;” “Contested Pasts, ComPlicated Presents:  Pre-Service Teachers’ Developing Conceptions of Community;” and “Activism and the Academy:  Public Literacy Scholars’ Reflections on our Past and Future Work.”

Paula Connolly recently published a book review of Radiant with Color & ARt:  McLaughlin Brothers and the Business of Picture Books”  in the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly.

Dina Massaachi, one of our part-time faculty members, recently published an article titled “’Written Soley to Please Children’: Is Oz Still A Story for Kids?” in The Baum Bugle.

Ralf Thiede published an article titled “Synesthetic Entrainment in Interactive Reading Sessions of Children’s Books” in the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly. His was one of five articles selected for a special issue on “Cognitive Approaches to Children’s Literature.” The same issue also contains a very favorable review by Hugh Crago of Ralf’s book Children’s Literature, Brain Development, and Language Acquisition.

Quirky Quiz Question — In addition to writing children’s books, Lewis Carroll spent many years teaching at Oxford University.  What subject did he teach?

Last week’s answer: Tom Hanks

Fred Rogers was a big advocate of pretend play as is reflected in the following quotation by Rogers: “When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality.  A stick can be a magic wand.  A sock can be a puppet.   A small child can be a superhero.”  What is the name of the actor who plays the role of Fred Rogers in the current film about Fred Rogers’s life? 

The Intersection of Play Studies and Narrative Studies — This week I am heading off to Oxford University to participate in the Oxford Education Research Symposium for the fourth time since I have been chair of the English Department.  Last year, I had lunch with one of the symposium’s organizers, and I expressed my appreciation at being invited back repeatedly.  He responded by saying, “We like your stories.”  I suppose that is a good thing for me since this year I am presenting a paper titled “Astrid Lindgren’s Stories, Junibacken, and the Playful Approach to Literacy Education.”  This paper is based on research I did last summer when I interviewed the Manager of Public Operations at Junibacken, a children’s cultural center in Stockholm that celebrates stories by Astrid Lindgren and other Scandinavian children’s authors.  In the paper, I discuss the ways in which Junibacken uses dramatic play in their literacy education program. 

For the past ten years, I have been researching and writing about the relationship between children’s play and children’s literature.  I have learned that the emerging field of play studies has many connections with the more established field of narrative studies.  Children’s dramatic play, for example, always involves a narrative element.   I have also learned that I am not the only member of the English Department who is doing research that relates to play studies.  Janaka Lewis and Aaron Toscano are also currently engaged in research projects related to this area.

I contacted Janaka about her interest in the field of play studies, and she sent me the following summary of her current research:  “My current research related to play looks at both child’s play as well as children’s performance of roles that they will be expected to perform upon entering adulthood.   I am interested in how this type of play is used by children and specifically Black girl protagonists to negotiate difficult circumstances that challenge their social mobility.  Through an examination of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, The Bluest Eye, and PUSH, I am looking at how Black girl characters (both real and fictional) use creative play as an opportunity to escape from trauma or to overcome trauma.  I am also looking at how readers, who see themselves represented in the stories, can draw on these depictions of play to navigate where they are and where they can be.”

Aaron’s interest in play studies directly relates to his current research into the playing of video games.  In his forthcoming book titled Video Games and American Culture:  How Ideology Influences Virtual Worlds, Aaron places the playing of video games within a cultural context.  Lexington Books, the publisher of Aaron’s book, provides the following summary of Aaron’s approach to this topic:  “Although video games have a worldwide audience, this book focuses on American culture and how this multi-billion dollar industry entertains us in our leisure time (and sometimes at work), bringing us into virtual environments where we have fun learning, fighting, discovering, and acquiring bragging rights. When politicians and moral crusaders push agendas that claim video games cause a range of social ills from obesity to mass shooting, these perspectives fail to recognize that video games reproduce hegemonic American values. This book, in contrast, focuses on what these highly entertaining cultural products tell us about who we are.”

As Janaka’s and Aaron’s research demonstrates, the field of play studies is not just about fun and games.  The study of play, like the study of literature, is rooted in culture.  I am reminded of a famous quotation about play by Johan Huizinga:  “Culture arises and unfolds in and as play.”

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

Boyd Davis recently presented a co-authored paper titled “A Closer look at Formulaic Language in Dementia Discourse” at the Linguistic Society of New Zealand Conference in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Jordan Costanza, one of our graduate students, just published an article titled “Of Ravens and Romanticism: Edgar Allan Poe’s Enduring Legacy in American Education and the Juvenile Adaptations of his Poetry and Prose” in the journal Edgar Allan Poe Review. This article was originally Jordan’s Honors thesis.

Allison Hutchcraft recently published a poem titled “Alice in the Cloisters” in Western Humanities Review.

Janaka Lewis recently published an article titled “Building the Worlds of Our Dreams:  Black Girlhood and Quare Narratives in African American Literature” in the fall 2019 issue of the journal South. 

Upcoming Events and Deadlines — Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:

December 9 — The English Department holiday party will be held from 11:30-1:30 on Monday, December 9, in the department lounge.

Quirky Quiz Question — Fred Rogers was a big advocate of pretend play as is reflected in the following quotation by Rogers: “When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality.  A stick can be a magic wand.  A sock can be a puppet.   A small child can be a superhero.”  What is the name of the actor who plays the role of Fred Rogers in the current film about Fred Rogers’s life? 

Last week’s answer: The Macy’s Parade

There are many traditions associated with Thanksgiving, including a large parade in New York City.  What is the name of this parade?

Giving Thanks — With Thanksgiving just around the corner and the end of my term as chair of our English Department just around the next corner, I decided to devote this Monday Missive to expressing my thanks to all of you.  

I thank you for not factionalizing along disciplinary lines.  We are a very diverse department, encompassing creative writing, digital studies, film studies, linguistics, literature, pedagogy, technical communication, and several other fields of study.  We could have easily broken up into competing factions, but I am grateful that we chose not to go down that road.  Instead, we try to support and learn from one another.  I think it is significant that Liz Miller (a linguistics professor) recently served as a literary judge for Sanskrit, the students’ literary/arts journal.  Such willingness to reach across disciplinary lines is more the norm than the exception in our department.  Fulfilling my responsibilities as chair would have been much more difficult if we were a factionalized department.

I thank you for taking such a supportive interest in our colleagues’ work and for wholeheartedly celebrating our colleagues’ successes.  Whenever I announce a faculty member’s accomplishment, such as the publication of a book or the awarding of a grant, the whole department chimes in with congratulatory emails.  This aspect of the department carries over to our curricular and administrative successes.  At last week’s department meeting, we spontaneously applauded the accomplishments of faculty members who have built curricular programs, such as our new dual-degree MA/MFA program in creative writing with Kingston University and our highly successful departmental honors program.  Many academic departments are divided by rivalry but not our department.  For me, serving as the chair of such a community-oriented department has been a source of pleasure and satisfaction.

I thank you for your ongoing commitment to teaching our students.  We have a strong record in research and publishing, but our success in the areas of research and publishing does not lessen our dedication to teaching.  One of the highpoints for me during my time as chair came in 2017 when the Department of English received the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

I thank our amazing staff for their many contributions to the smooth functioning of our department and for helping me in my role as chair.  Throughout my seven and a half years in this role, Angie, Jennie, and Monica have made my job much easier.  Because of Angie, I have been able to deal with the department’s budget.   Whenever I need information about particular courses, Jennie always has the answer.  When I decide to install a new exhibit in the departmental display case, Monica joins forces with me and adds her own creative touches.  These are just a few of the many examples of how I have benefitted from the help provided by the legendary terrific trio.

Finally, I thank everyone in the English Department, both past and present, for recognizing the value of children’s literature.  One of the reasons our English Department is recognized in the English-speaking world as a major center for the study of children’s literature is because the entire department has given its support to the development of our children’s literature program.  In fact, a number of our faculty members who were not originally hired as specialists in children’s literature have taken an interest in children’s literature and have published in the field.  Examples of such faculty members include Janaka Lewis, Maya Socolovsky, and Ralf Thiede.  This level of support is not the norm in many English departments.  I know children’s literature specialists from other English departments who often feel that they have to defend the legitimacy of their courses and their scholarship.  I am grateful for the support that you have given me and the other children’s literature faculty members over the years.  
I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

The Birth of a Journal —  After noticing that there was not a North Carolina state journal for English teachers, Meghan Barnes worked with colleagues at NC State (Michelle Falter) and UNC Greensboro (Amy Vetter) to develop one. Meghan, Michelle, and Amy successfully proposed the journal to the NCETA board last fall and have just published their first issue as co-editors. The journal is titled Fringes, to represent and celebrate the practices and research that educators are doing that are unconventional and peripheral, or fringe. The journal is peer-reviewed and publishes a combination of empirical research articles, practitioner articles for teachers, and creative pieces. For more information about Fringes, please click on this link: http://www.ncenglishteachersassociation.org/journal/

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

Meghan Barnes recently delivered the following two papers at the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) annual conference in Baltimore:  “Drafting A Win-Win: Maximizing Learning for Pre-Service Teachers and Students Through Digital Writing Spaces” and” Creating Spaces for Inquiry through Expanded Notions of Communities and Texts.” 

Jasmin Gonzalez Caban, a recent graduate of our M.A. program, recently presented a paper titled “A Multiplicity of Monsters: Coping with Death in A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness” at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference held in Atlanta.

Shannon Murphy, one of our graduate students, recently presented a paper titled “Circe as Monster? Redefining the Monster in Madeline Miller’s Circe” at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association Conference held in Atlanta.

Clayton Tarr recently published an article titled “Big Oil: Petroleum Politics in Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s The Coming Race” in Symbiosis 19.2 (Fall 2019).  He also presented a related paper titled “Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Petroleum Politics: Democracy and Vril in The Coming Race” at the Victorians Institute, Charleston, SC (November 2019).

Upcoming Events and Deadlines — Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:

December 9 — The English Department holiday party will be held from 11:30-1:30 on Monday, December 9, in the department lounge.

Quirky Quiz Question — There are many traditions associated with Thanksgiving, including a large parade in New York CIty.  What is the name of this parade?

Last week’s answer: Look Homeward Angel

Mary Rebecca Denny’s interest in the writings of John Milton overlaps with Paula Eckard’s interest in the writings of Thomas Wolfe.  The title of one of Wolfe’s novels is based on a line from Milton’s poem Lycidas.  What is the title of this novel by Wolfe?

From Mary Rebecca Denny to Paula Gallant Eckard — I recently received an email from JuliAnna Ávila in which she mentioned Mary Rebecca Denny, the woman for whom the Denny Building is named (see the story below for more information about JuliAnna’s email).   I remember asking about Denny when I first came to UNC Charlotte in the mid-1980s since I often taught in the Denny Building at the time.  The person I asked told me that Denny was one of the first faculty members hired to teach at Charlotte College, the predecessor to UNC Charlotte.  That conversation was the last time I thought about Denny until I received JuilAnna’s email.  However, now that I have done some research on Denny, I am convinced that we should all know something about her, for she truly is the founding mother of our English Department.

In 1946, Bonnie Cone hired Mary Denny as the first full-time faculty member at what was then called the Charlotte Center of the University of North Carolina.  Denny had been an English professor at Queens College (now called Queens University), but she decided to leave her position at Queens College and join forces with Bonnie Cone.  When the Charlotte Center evolved into Charlotte College in 1949, Denny stayed on and created the English Department.  From 1949 until 1964, she served as the chair of Charlotte College’s English Department.  Shortly after Charlotte College became the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Denny retired, becoming UNC Charlotte’s first professor emerita.  During her time as the chair of the English Department, she founded the college newspaper and a college literary magazine.  Denny continued to support UNC Charlotte, the university she helped create, until her death in 1979. 

Last Friday, I talked with Paula Eckard about my research on Denny, and she shared a story with me about an experience she had in the Denny Building while she was an undergraduate student at UNC Charlotte.  I asked her to send me an email about this experience, and here is what she wrote:

I met my husband as a freshman taking Introduction to Chemistry in one of the big lecture halls in Denny.  During the first two weeks of the semester I sat in the back of the room with friends, but one day I was running late to class and someone had already taken my seat.  I suddenly remembered I had passed a vacant seat next to a dark, handsome young man a few rows closer to the front.  I hurried back down the aisle and took the empty seat. Not being shy, I introduced myself and shortly thereafter we started going out. Three years later we were married during my senior year of nursing school.  I guess the Chemistry was right.

I think it is fitting that Paula is about to become the chair of the department that Mary Denny founded seventy years ago.  Paula never met Denny, but she met her husband in the building named after Denny, and Paula studied English in the department founded by Denny.  Like Denny, Paula developed her leadership skills in this department.  As I see it, Paula is the perfect person to carry on Denny’s legacy.  The chemistry is right.

Mary Rebecca Denny’s Thoughts on the Purpose of a Liberal Education — JuliAnna Ávila is a member of the group of faculty and administrators who are writing the college’s Phi Beta Kappa application.  One of her roles in this process is to proofread the application. While proofreading, she noticed a paragraph about Mary Rebecca Denny’s thoughts on the purpose of a liberal education.  JuliAnna sent me an email in which she quoted this paragraph, and she suggested that I share it with the English Department.  I concur with JuliAnna’s suggestion.  Here is the paragraph:

Writing in the student newspaper in October 1960, Mary Rebecca Denny, the first Chair of the English Department, quoted John Milton’s 1644 tract Of Education, that “A liberal education is that which best fits a man to perform justly, skillfully, and magnanimously all the duties both public and private of peace and war.” This comprehensive perspective, she wrote, includes intellectual and spiritual development as well as social responsibility: a combination of self-discovery, self-discipline, and the development of the power of independent judgment. In an age before formal Mission Statements, Denny summarized the purpose of the university’s core enterprise. “The purpose of a liberal education then,” she concluded, “is human excellence, both public and private.”

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

Boyd Davis is the co-author of a paper titled “Challenges of Creating an E-Mobile Support & Archive for Community Dementia Caregivers: The Emerging Story-Call Collection” presented at the VA VISN7 Research Summit, Birmingham, AL, November 14, 2019.

Janaka Lewis recently participated on the following two Program Administration and Development panels of National Women’s Studies Association Conference held in San Francisco:  “Advice to New Chairs and Directors” and “Africana Motherwork in the Academy.”

Upcoming Events and Deadlines — Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:

November 21 — The Fifth English Honors Colloquium will take place on Thursday, November 21, from 4:00 to 4:50.  There will be two panels. The panel titled “Addressing Subjugation” will take place in the English Departmentment Conference Room, and the panel titled “Elements of Gothic Literature” will take place in Fretwell 206.

November 22 — The English Department faculty meeting will take place on Friday, November 22,  from 11:00 to 12:30 in the English Department Conference Room (Fretwell 280C).

November 22 — The English Learning Community’s “Meet and Greet Coffee Hour” will take place on November 22 from 1:00 to 2:00 in the Faculty/Staff Lounge.

November 22 — There will be a gathering to celebrate the life of Leon Gatlin and to honor his many contributions to our department on Friday, November 22, from 3:00 to 4:30, in the English Department Seminar Room (Fretwell 290B).  

Quirky Quiz Question — Mary Rebecca Denny’s interest in the writings of John Milton overlaps with Paula Eckard’s interest in the writings of Thomas Wolfe.  The title of one of Wolfe’s novels is based on a line from Milton’s poem Lycidas.  What is the title of this novel by Wolfe?

Last week’s answer: Imaginon

EpicFest always takes place in a unique facility in Charlotte that houses both Children’s Theatre of Charlotte and a large children’s library.  What is the name of this facility?

For the Love of Libraries —  Our English Department has a long history of supporting the libraries in our area as is reflected in the fact that many members of our department have volunteered their time to support library events and programs over the years.  Last week, however, our English Department shifted its support of libraries into high gear.  

For the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, the beginning of November is a special time of the year, for this is when two of the public library’s signature events take place.  On November 7, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation held Verse & Vino, the library’s biggest fundraising event.  On November 9, the public library held EpicFest, a free, daylong festival celebrating children’s literature and literacy.  I am pleased to report that members of our English Department contributed in significant ways to both of these events.

Peter Larkin, one of our part-time faculty members, is also a member of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation.  In his role with the Foundation, Peter is one of the community leaders who helps make Verse & Vino a reality.  Angie Williams also helps make Verse & Vino happen by volunteering each year with the preparation for the event. 

EpicFest relies heavily on volunteers to staff activity tables and help make this festival run smoothly.  Chauna Wall, the Volunteer Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, informed me that our students played a crucial role in helping out with EpicFest.  Members of our English Learning Community, the Children’s Literature Graduate Organization, and the English Graduate Association as well as students in several of our classes stepped up and volunteered their time.  Our new advisor, Gina Kelley, volunteered by serving as a bodyguard for a pig character named Mercy Watson.  Peter Larkin’s daughter Mia also volunteered.  Approximately half of the total number of community volunteers who helped with EpicFest this year were associated with our English Department.

Members of our English Department also play important roles roles in supporting the Atkins Library.  Our department is very well represented on the Atkins Library Advisory Board. Paula Connolly serves as a faculty member and supporter. Peter Larkin serves as vice-chair, and Twig Branch (a friend of the English Department) serves as the chair. All three are dedicated to promoting the mission of the Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte.

One of the reasons that our English Department is such a big supporter of area libraries is that we all share core values.  We all embrace the importance of literature and literacy, and we are all committed to engaging in meaningful ways with the larger Charlotte community.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines — Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:

November 22 — The English Department faculty meeting will take place on Friday, November 22, from 11:00 to 12:30 in the English Department Conference Room (Fretwell 280C).

November 22 — There will be a gathering to celebrate the life of Leon Gatlin and to honor his many contributions to our department on Friday, November 22, from 3:00 to 4:30, in the English Department Seminar Room (Fretwell 290B).

Quirky Quiz Question — EpicFest always takes place in a unique facility in Charlotte that houses both Children’s Theatre of Charlotte and a large children’s library.  What is the name of this facility?

Last week’s answer: John Lennon and Paul McCartney

What are the names of the song-writing collaborators associated with the band informally known as the Fab Four?

Four Collaborations — One of the pleasures I derive from serving as the chair of our English Department is receiving email messages from members of our department in which they share news about their recent accomplishments.  People send me these emails so that I can include their good news in my Monday Missive, but I enjoy reading and responding to their emails when they hit my inbox.  I received such an email message this week from Jen Munroe informing me of the publication of a book chapter titled “Teaching Environmental Justice and Early Modern Texts: The ‘Co’ in Collaboration,” which is included in Teaching Social Justice Through Shakespeare (Edinburgh University Press).  She also mentioned that she co-wrote this chapter with Rebecca Laroche.  Jen’s email caused me to think about collaborative research.  Many members of our department engage in collaborative research projects, but for the purposes of today’s Monday Missive, I will focus on four collaborations involving members of our department.

I will start with Jen’s collaborative work with Rebecca Laroche, who is a professor in the English Department at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs.  Since 2012, Jen and Rebecca have been working together on the Early Modern Recipes Online Collective to create a database of transcriptions of early modern recipe books. She and Rebecca have also co-written numerous articles and book chapters on ecofeminism and early modern literature.  Their Shakespeare and Ecofeminist Theory is the first book-length study to use ecofeminist theory to think about Shakespeare.   Jen will speak about this book as part of the Personally Speaking Series on February 4, 2020.  For more information about her presentation, please click on the following link:  https://clas.uncc.edu/community/community/2019-2020-personally-speaking/shakespeare-and-ecofeminist-theory

In some cases, members of our English Department collaborate on projects with UNC Charlotte faculty members from other departments.  Such is the case with Ralf Thiede and Dan Boisvert from the Department of Philosophy.  From 2014 to 2016, they offered a Prospect-for-Success course in Liberal Studies on the relationship between language and power.  Their collaboration on this class has resulted in a book manuscript.  Combining their areas of language philosophy, ethics, linguistics, and cognitive science, they developed a novel approach to linguistic power: Languages, they argue, encrypt information to exclude “others,” not to optimize understanding.  They develop this argument in their forthcoming book, Language, Mind, and Power: Why We Need Linguistic Equality, which is scheduled to be published by Routledge in 2020.

Becky Roeder is also collaborating on a research project with a faculty member from another department at UNC Charlotte.  The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving Becky, Elise Berman from UNC Charlotte’s Department of Anthropology, and Vicki Collet from the University of Arkansas’s College of Education.  Their research focuses on Marshallese children in Springdale, Arkansas, which has the largest Marshallese population outside the Marshall Islands. The research goal is to understand why a disproportionate number of these children, who are native speakers of English but whose parents are from the Marshall Islands, are finding themselves stuck in long-term English Learner status at school. Pending research funding, the initial phase of the project will involve spending time in Springdale collecting ethnographic, assessment, and linguistic data on a cohort of roughly two dozen kindergarteners and their families.

On occasion two members from our English Department collaborate on scholarly projects.   Recently, for example, JuliAnna Ávila and Meghan Barnes have embarked on a collaborative project.  Both JuliAnna and Meghan already have collaborated with researchers from other universities.  JuliAnna has published two edited books and several articles with Jessica Zacher Pandya from California State University-Long Beach, and Meghan has published co-authored articles with several collaborators, including Lindy L. Johnson from the College of WIlliam and Mary.    Now JuliAnna and Meghan are joining forces.  They are co-guest editing an issue of English Teaching: Practice and Critique. The theme of the issue is critical literacies in community spaces, which brings together their research interests. The issue is scheduled to be published in February 2020.  

The aforementioned collaborations are just a few of many collaborative research projects associated with our English Department, but these four examples are sufficient to show how collaborative research extends the reach of our department.  Through such collaborations, our faculty are able to bridge disciplines, form new research networks, and participate in wide-ranging scholarly conversations.  As I see it, scholarly collaborations are more like multiplication than addition.  The results of such collaborations are often greater than the sum of adding the work of researcher #1 to the work of researcher #2.   Instead of coming up with two, you just might come up with today’s magic number, which happens to be four.

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

Alan Rauch recently learned that he has been selected as a TEDxCharlotte 2020 speaker finalist.

Quirky Quiz Question — What are the names of the song-writing collaborators associated with the band informally known as the Fab Four?

Last week’s answer: Clio Rising

The title of Paula Martinac’s most recent novel makes reference to the muse of history from Greek mythology.  What is the title of this novel?

Three Acts — The English Department was a busy place last Friday.  In between the classes and committee meetings, three department-wide events took place over the course of the day:  the English Department meeting, Janaka Lewis’s presentation on her current research project, and the annual Halloween party organized by our various student groups.  As I scurried from event to event, I started thinking about these events as three acts in a larger play about community.

In act one, the players gathered in the conference room to consider a series of proposals related to the department’s graduate program.  What impressed me the most about this opening act was the sense of camaraderie that ran throughout the deliberations.  Each proposal received careful consideration, but everyone took a constructive and positive approach when asking questions and requesting clarifications.   With the close of the first act, I came away feeling pleased with the department’s commitment to faculty governance and to offering a high-quality and diverse graduate program.

Act two opened shortly after the close of act one, and it starred Janaka Lewis.  Janaka delivered a soliloquy titled “Black Girlhood and Radical Creativity.”  Based on the research project she did during her residency at the National Humanities Center this past summer, her presentation spanned African American literature, women’s and gender studies, and childhood studies.   While act two focused on Janaka, the people who came to her presentation also contributed to its success.  Many members of the English Department came, and they were joined by several other attendees from other departments.  I enjoyed the lively discussion following Janaka’s presentation.  People asked thoughtful questions and offered their own insights into the portrayal of black girlhood in literary works.  Act two underscored for me the department’s commitment to creating and sharing new knowledge.

The third act–the Halloween Party–brought our play to a festive close.  With the opening of act three, a major scene shift occurred.  Instead of taking place in one room, act three expanded to include every public space in the English Department.  New players also made their appearance in act three.  These new players represented every student organization in the English Department.  These students filled the department with energy, creativity, and a communal sense of fun. 

As is the case with most three-act plays, each of Friday’s three acts contributed to a larger story.  For me, the theme of this larger story is the importance of community.  Each act showed a different side of the community that is the English Department, but combined they showed a department that shares a commitment to teaching, scholarship, and good cheer.

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

Paula Martinac received a 2019-2020 North Carolina Arts Council Literature Fellowship. This is the second major fellowship that Paula has received in two years, and it is an indication of her prominence as a North Carolina fiction writer.   Here’s the link with the artist statements for all the recipients: https://www.ncarts.org/meet-north-carolina-arts-council%E2%80%99s-artist-fellowship-recipients?fbclid=IwAR3pTxY8Ege3kDBhiJr9pTpP57H2NC_I8y_zcHiIPVnC1XkDho5cIzCB2mk

Quirky Quiz Question — The title of Paula Martinac’s most recent novel makes reference to the muse of history from Greek mythology.  What is the title of this novel?

Last week’s answer: France

The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from another country.  What country gave this famous statue to the United States?

Two Poems for Now — I have long admired Elijah Cummings, the congressman from Baltimore who died last week, so I paid particular attention to the news coverage surrounding his passing.  Several of the stories that I saw on television included a video clip of the very first speech he ever gave in Congress back in 1996. In this speech, he recited the following poem titled “Just a Minute” by the famed civil rights leader Benjamin Mays:

I only have a minute,
60 seconds in it,
Forced upon me,
I did not choose it,
But I know that I must use it,
Give account if I abuse it,
Suffer if I lose it.
Only a tiny little minute,
But eternity is in it.

Hearing Cummings’s eloquent recitation of Mays’s poem, I had a sense that this short poem perfectly captures the spirit of Cummings’s purpose-driven life.  The fact that this poem was written by Mays, who was Martin Luther King’s mentor at Morehouse College, underscores for me how Mays and King and Cummings are all interconnected. 

In a sense, Mays’s poem is part of a larger American saga–a saga about the ongoing struggle for liberty, civil rights, and equal opportunities.  It has connections to other poems that also relate to this saga.  I am reminded of “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, a Jewish American poet from New York City.  In 1883, she wrote “The New Colossus” as her contribution to an art and literary auction organized to raise funds for the construction of the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty.  Twenty years after Lazarus wrote “The New Colossus,” a bronze plaque bearing the text of Lazarus’s poem was installed on one of the walls of the pedestal, and it has been associated with the Statue of Liberty ever since.  Although it was written 136 years ago, Lazarus’s poem is as relevant today as it was when she first penned these words:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Mays’s poem and Lazarus’s poem not only speak to each other but they also speak to us as we decide what role we will play in this great American saga.  These are two poems for now, for this minute.  By reciting Mays’s poem in the halls of congress, Cummings reminded all of us that we might just have a minute, so we should use it wisely.  Cummings made the most of his.   

News from the English Learning Community — Students in the English Learning Community are enjoying their first semester at UNC Charlotte both on and off campus. Last weekend they visited the Carolina Renaissance Festival along with their new advisor Gina Kelley, where they got to see a “Joust to the Death.” On Friday, they experienced their first SlamCharlotte Poetry Slam at the Knight Gallery, helping to judge some of the best spoken poets in the country. On campus, they are looking forward to becoming more involved with the English Department by helping out with the English Department Halloween Take-Over and hosting faculty at the Meet and Greet Coffee Hour on November 22nd. If you would like to include the ELC in your event or program, please contact Tiffany Morin.

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

Liz Miller recently accepted an invitation to serve as Co-editor of Brief Research Reports for TESOL Quarterly. She will begin her three-year term in March 2020.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines — Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:

October 25 — The English Department faculty meeting will take place on Friday, October 25, from 11:00 to 12:30 in the English Department Conference Room (Fretwell 280C).

October 25 — Janaka Lewis will deliver a faculty talk titled “Black Girlhood and Radical Creativity” on Friday, October 25, from 1:00 to 2:00 in the English Department Seminar Room (Fretwell 290B).

October 25 — A Halloween Party will take place in the English Department from 4:00 to 8:00. Jointly sponsored by the Children’s Literature Graduate Organization, the English Graduate Student Association , and Sigma Tau Delta, this party will feature a costume contest, games, prizes, and food.

Quirky Quiz Question —The Statue of Liberty was a gift to the United States from another country.  What country gave this famous statue to the United States?

Last week’s answer: Bank of America Finalist

In 2004, David Amante received an important honor from the university, earning him a spot on our department’s Wall of Fame.  What honor did he receive?

Bridging the Years — For me, attending Leon Gatlin’s memorial service last week had a bittersweet quality to it.  I felt a sense of sadness, but I also took pleasure in seeing so many former members of our department gathered together to remember and honor Leon.  As I exchanged greetings with these retired members of our department, memories of my early days in the department kept surfacing.  

Seeing David Amante and John McNair together, I flashed back to the days when the three of us regularly carpooled to the university.  At the time David and John lived in Dilworth, and when they learned that I had just moved to Dilworth, they invited me to join their carpool.  For my first year at the university, we took turns driving.  When it was my turn to drive, David and John braced themselves for a time-travel experience.  I had an ancient, gas-guzzling, gigantic,  green Ford LTD that was once a luxury car but had devolved into something that resembled a gangster car.  David dubbed it the Green Hornet.  However, whether we were riding in the Green Hornet or the more normal cars that David and John owned, we spent much of the drive talking about the English Department.  Both of them had already been teaching in the department for many years when I join their car pool, and their willingness to share their experiences and insights provided me with a sense of the history of the department.  They helped me better understand departmental dynamics and provided me with sage advice about building my career as a UNC Charlotte English professor.

The willingness of David and John to reach out to a new colleague is not an isolated incident in the history of our department.  Still today established members of our department often reach out to newer members.  Here are just a few of the examples that come to mind.  Julianna Ávila and Meghan Barnes have formed a great partnership, and JuliAnna has helped Meghan pursue her career as a specialist in English education within the context of an English Department.  Jen Munroe has reached out to Matt Rowney, and the two of them have cultivated a connection over their shared interest in eco-criticism.  Greg Wickliff extended a helping hand to Heather Vorhies while she was still a member of our department.  Drawing on their mutual interest in the history of science and science writing, they formed their own writing group.  Before Heather resigned and moved to the Washington, D.C., area, she told me how much she valued Greg’s support. 

In reflecting on this aspect of our department, I am reminded of a nautical phrase that dates back to the days of sailing ships.  When new recruits would join a ship’s crew, the experienced sailors would teach the new members of the crew how to manipulate the sails, and this always involved moving and tying ropes.  This process gave rise to the phrase “learning the ropes.”  I salute David, John and all of the members of our department, both past and present, who have taken it upon themselves to help the new members learn the ropes.

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

Alan Rauch was recently recognized by the Executive Director of Sigma Tau Delta for his excellent leadership as a faculty advisor for our chapter of Sigma Tau Delta.

Aaron Toscano recently presented a paper titled “Neoliberalism and American Entrepreneurial Lore: How Showtime’s Billions Reflects Capitalist Vacuity” at the Popular Culture Association of the South/American Culture Association of the South Conference in Wilmington.

Upcoming Events and Deadlines — Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:

October 25 — The English Department faculty meeting will take place on Friday, October 25, from 11:00 to 12:30 in the English Department Conference Room (Fretwell 280C).

October 25 — Janaka Lewis will deliver a faculty talk titled “Black Girlhood and Radical Creativity” on Friday, October 25, from 1:00 to 2:00 in the English Department Seminar Room (Fretwell 290B).

Quirky Quiz Question — In 2004, David Amante received an important honor from the university, earning him a spot on our department’s Wall of Fame.  What honor did he receive?

Last week’s answer: Cy Knoblauch and Ron Lunsford

Leon Gatlin long valued the English Department’s sense of camaraderie and collegiality.  In fact, on the day that he died, he and Mike Doyle from the Department of Languages and Culture Studies were heading to Topsail Island to socialize and play a little golf with two former chairs of the English Department.  Can you identify these two former chairs of our department?