Professor/Chair, Department of English
AUTHOR

Mark West

Monday Missive - May 13, 2019

May 13, 2019 by Mark West
Categories: Updates

A Commencement to Remember —  Last Saturday the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences held its spring commencement ceremony, and it was a memorable experience for everyone who participated.  Coming just eleven days after the tragic shooting that took place on the UNC Charlotte campus, the commencement ceremony provided our campus community with an opportunity to remember and honor the victims of the shooting while at the same time celebrate the successes of our graduating students.  This dual function presented a difficult balancing act for all involved, and yet everyone rose to the occasion.   

Associate Dean Banita Brown and the other administrators and staff members charged with organizing and running the event all pitched in and made the best of what could have been a very difficult situation.  Despite the terrible weather and the long delays associated with the heavy security measures, the great majority of graduating students still showed up and waited patiently as they filed through the metal detectors.  Chancellor Phil Dubois and the other speakers all addressed the campus community’s sense of grief and loss caused by the shooting, but they still made a point to celebrate the graduation of the students.   

The phrase “Charlotte strong” has taken root on our campus since the tragic shooting.  The success of Saturday’s commencement is yet another example of why this phrase rings as true as the UNC Charlotte Bell–the bell that one of the graduating students rang to mark the end of a most memorable commencement ceremony.

Commencement Report —   For 104 of our students, the spring commencement ceremony marked their transition from current students to graduates.  A total of 15 of our graduate students are listed in the commencement program, and 89 undergraduate students are listed. 

I was especially impressed with how many of our BA students fall under the heading of “Graduation with Distinction.”  Of the 89 students, 22 earned the distinction of Cum Laude (GPA between 3.4-3.7), 13 earned the distinction of Magna Cum Laude (GPA between 3.7-3.9), and 6 earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude (GPA between 3.9-4.0).  This total comes to 41 students. I am very proud of all of our graduating students, but I want to mention by name the 6 students who earned the distinction of Summa Cum Laude.  Their names are Kellyanna Grace Atwell, Kristina Marie Duemmler, Lydia Ashlee Hopkins, Alyson Mary Jordan, Sarahan Elizabeth Moser, and Marissa L. Neale.  

I also want to mention by name the 12 students who graduated with English Honors.  Their names are Edison Gabriel Angelbello, Kellyanna Grace Atwell, MaKalea Danielle Bjoin, Catherine Joy Butt, Kristina Marie Duemmler, Lindsey Taylor Herndon, Hilary Claire Hoyt, Alyson Mary Jordan, Mark Jarrett Moseley, Jr., Sarahan Elizabeth Moser, Marissa L. Neale, and Emily Ann Sanders.

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 presented an invited talk on the topic of agency and language learning at the University of Essex, in Colchester, England.

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

May 14 — Final grades for the Spring 2019 term must be submitted by Tuesday, May 14, 2019, at noon.

May 20 — The first day of class for the first summer session is Monday, May 20, 2019.

Quirky Quiz Question —  According to the 2019 Spring Commencement Program, the UNC Charlotte Bell was donated to “Charlotte College in 1960 to be rung on ceremonial occasions.”  One such occasion took place on March 2, 1965.  What was celebrated on this occasion?

Last week’s answer: Thomas Jefferson  

The third president of the United States once wrote, “Let the eye of vigilance never be closed.”  What is the name of this president?

Monday Missive - April 29, 2019

April 29, 2019 by Mark West
Categories: Updates

Party Favors — Most people think of party favors as small gifts that are given to the guests at a party.  After the party is over, they can take these party favors home with them as mementos of the occasion.  I remember purchasing inexpensive toys that my wife and I gave away as party favors to the children who came to our son’s birthday parties during his early childhood years.  Nowadays, however, I like to think of party favors in a less materialistic way.  In a sense, the memories of our experiences at a party are similar to party favors.  Like conventional party favors, these memories are the takeaways that we bring home with us after going to a party, but unlike most conventional party favors, these memories can last for years.
 
During my thirty-five years as a member of our English Department, I have many lasting memories from the dozens of department parties that I have attended over the course of my career.  I remember dancing with Kay Horne at one of my first department parties back when Fred Smith was the chair.  I remember talking about Judy Blume’s novels with Ron Lunsford’s son, Christopher, back when Ron was the chair and Christopher was still a boy.  I remember having a long conversation with Blair Rudes about his experiences as a consultant on the film The New World back when Cy Knoblauch was the chair. I remember talking with Ernest Pereira about our mutual love of Greek food back when Malin Pereira was the chair.
 

Now that my wife and I host most of the department parties, I pay more attention to the experiences of the attendees of the department parties.  Like any party host, I want everyone at the party to have an enjoyable experience.  This past weekend, nearly fifty people came to the English Department’s spring party, which took place in our backyard.  During the the party, I took pleasure in seeing lots of people laughing and talking, but I was especially pleased to see Deje McGavran and Matt Rowney engaged in a long conversation.  As Jim McGavran’s wife, Deje has attended many English Department parties over the years, but prior to Saturday’s party, she and Matt had never met.  Matt, as many of you know, now teaches the courses on British Romanticism that Jim had taught for decades.  After the party, Deje told me how meaningful it was to her to get to know Matt.  I am sure that for both Deje and Matt their conversation  provided them with a sense of continuity and community.  There can be no better party favor.

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 received a one-month research fellowship at the Library Company of Philadelphia (founded by Benjamin Franklin) and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.  Also, Alan recently presented a paper titled  “Knowledge, Assertion, and Contestation: Children and the Making of Expertise” at the British Women Writers Conference in Auburn, Alabama.

Thomas Simonson, one of our former undergraduate honors students in literature, will be entering the doctoral program in English at UNC Chapel Hill in the fall with a full-funding package.

Sophie Yates, one of our current graduate students, recently presented a paper titled “Moving between Space and Time: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Short Residence in Sweden as Travelogue and Speculative Document” at the British Women Writers Conference in Auburn, Alabama.

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

May 8 — Paula Martinac will launch her new novel, Clio Rising, at Park Road Books on Wednesday,  May 8, 2019, at 7:00 p.m.

May 11 — The Commencement for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will take place on Saturday, May 11, 2019, at 3:00 p.m.

May 13 — Final grades for the Spring 2019 term must be submitted by Monday, May 13, 2019, at noon.

Quirky Quiz Question —  Deje McGavran taught as a lecturer in our English Department for several years before joining the faculty in the English Department at a sister institution of higher education.  What is the name of this sister institution?

Last week’s answer: Malin Pereira, Becky Roeder, and Liz Miller

I am not the only member of the English Department who has connections to Madison, Wisconsin.  Three members of our faculty earned graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison although only two of them earned their doctoral degrees from there.  Interestingly, two of these three faculty members started out in the same cohort of MA students.  What are the names of these three faculty members?  

Monday Missive - April 22, 2019

April 22, 2019 by Mark West
Categories: Updates

Big Mouth hatching the giant purple Easter egg!

Behind the Scenes — Here is a little behind-the-scenes information about my Monday Missive.  I send it out on Monday, but I usually write it on Sunday.  And so I am writing this Monday Missive on Easter.  Every Easter I flash back on my most memorable Easter-related experience.  It happened in 1978 when I was making my living as a puppeteer in Madison, Wisconsin.  The manager of one of Madison’s big shopping malls hired me to do a series of puppet shows on the weekend before Easter.  I wrote a special show titled “The Giant Purple Easter Egg” for the event, and I still have the giant purple Easter egg that I used as a prop in the show.

That Saturday I arrived early in the morning before the mall opened to the public.  Upon my arrival, I discovered that the mall had also hired a young woman to hop through the mall dressed up as the Easter bunny.  She and I exchanged greetings, and then we met with the mall manager.  He and his crew took charge of setting us up in the middle of the mall.  They assigned me to a roped-off platform, and they situated the Easter bunny in a little garden patch with fake flowers and plastic carrots.

As I was assembling my stage and testing the mall’s booming sound system, I watched as all of the usually unseen workers prepared the mall for this big “Spring Gala” event.  They busily put up decorations, built a temporary runway for a spring fashion show, and set up signs, including a sign indicating when I would be doing my puppet shows.

The Easter bunny and I performed throughout the weekend, but the mall manager gave us a few opportunities to take breaks in an unmarked staff break room.  I will always remember the Easter bunny taking off her bunny head, revealing her sweat-drenched human head.  She then gulped down glass after glass of water.  When our break was over, she put her bunny head back on and resumed her hopping duties.  I think her job was harder than mine.

The experience of performing at this mall made me more aware and appreciative of all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting on big events.  Similar preparatory work is taking place in the English Department this week for two big events that the department is sponsoring.  The first of these events is Gardens and Verses: An Earth Day Celebration, which will take place on Tuesday, April 23.  The second is the English Department Awards Ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday, April 24.  Please see below for more details about these events.  I know that members of our staff and faculty are already doing a lot of behind-the-scenes activities related to these events, and my appreciation goes to all of them. They are working hard to get ready, but at least they don’t have to hop around the campus in Easter bunny costumes.

The CLGO Powerhouse Takes Washington, D.C., by Storm —  The 2019 Popular Culture Association National Conference took place in Washington, D.C., from April 17 through April 20, and our department was very well represented.  Four members of the Children’s Literature Graduate Organization presented papers at this conference. Cassandra Grosh presented a paper titled “The Uglies Inside: Mental Health within Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies.”  Shannon Murphy presented a paper titled  “Exploring Reality and the Gender Binary in Little Women‘s ‘The P.C. and the P.O.'”  Jacquelyn Schaefle presented a paper titled “The Limited Perspective in the Journey to Self-Acceptance in Annie on My Mind,” and Jasmin Gonzalez Caban presented a paper titled “The Hybridity of Humanity: Posthumanism within Marissa Meyer’s The Lunar Chronicles.”  Paula Connolly, the faculty advisor for CLGO, was also at the conference, and she sent me the following email message from the conference:  “Our CLGO superstars have done a phenomenal job at PCA!!!”

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 published an article titled “Leveraging Digital Spaces for Pre-service Teachers to Practice Reading and Responding to Student Writing” in the Journal of Language and Literacy Education. Please click on the following link to read her article:  http://jolle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/BarnesChandler_JoLLE2019.pdf  She also published a book review of Educating for Empathy: Literacy Learning and Civic Engagement by Nicole Mirra in the Journal of Language and Literacy Education.

Paula Connolly recently presented a paper titled “Counterpointing the Cozy: Louise Penny’s Three Pines” at the Popular Cultural Association National Conference in Washington, D.C.

Boyd Davis recently gave the plenary address, “Aging Care Is a World Concern,” at the International Conference on Seniors, Foreign Caregivers, Families, Institutions: Linguistic and Multi-disciplinary Perspectives, co-sponsored by University of Insubria and University of Milan.

Dina Massachi, a graduate of our M.A. program, recently published an article titled “Metal Malleable Male:  The Tin Creations of L. Frank Baum and Todrick Hall” in The Baum Bugle.

Kirk Melnikoff was the invited respondent in the seminar “Shakespeare’s Enemies” at the Shakespeare Association of America Conference in Washington, D.C.

Liz Miller recently published a co-authored article in the journal Language Teaching Research titled “Caring and Emotional Labour: Language Teachers’ Engagement with Anxious Learners in Private Language School Classrooms.”

Jen Munroe recently presented a paper titled “Ecofeminism and the Restlessness of Motion,” in a roundtable she organized, “Wherefore Ecofeminism?” at the Shakespeare Association of America meeting in Washington, D.C.

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

April 23 — On Tuesday, April 23, our English Department and the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens will co-sponsor an event titled “Gardens and Verses:  An Earth Day Celebration.”  The event will take place in the Botanical Gardens from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  The event will feature poetry readings about nature, on-site writing opportunities, and games all in celebration of the relationship between gardens and language.  Jen Munroe and Matt Rowney from the English Department and Jeff Gillman from the Botanical Gardens are the key organizers of this event.

April 24 — On Wednesday, April 24, our English Department Student Awards Ceremony will be held in the Dale Halton Room of the Atkins Library starting at 11:30am.

April 26 — On Friday, April 26, our last English Department meeting of the academic year will be held at 11-12:30 in the conference room (Fretwell 280C).

Quirky Quiz Question — I am not the only member of the English Department who has connections to Madison, Wisconsin.  Three members of our faculty earned graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison although only two of them earned their doctoral degrees from there.  Interestingly, two of these three faculty members started out in the same cohort of MA students.  What are the names of these three faculty members?

Last week’s answer: Jimmy Carter
As a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, Angie Williams now has a point in common with one of our former presidents. What former president regularly volunteers for Habitat for Humanity?

Monday Missive - April 15, 2019

April 15, 2019 by Mark West
Categories: Updates

This Is What Community Engagement Looks Like —  Last week was National Volunteer Week.  In support of this national campaign, UNC Charlotte’s Office of Community Relations organized several volunteer opportunities for university employees.   Jennie Mussington and Angie Williams from our English Department both participated in this campaign.

On Monday, April 8, 2019, Jennie volunteered for “Operation Sandwich.”  Jennie and the other volunteers made over 2,000 sandwiches.  Jennie’s group made over 600 turkey and ham sandwiches within an hour, breaking their record from last years.  All of these sandwiches were donated to the Urban Ministry, the Men’s Shelter of Charlotte, McCrorey YMCA, the United Way of Cabarrus County, and other groups that help people in need of food. That same day, Angie volunteered for the Second Harvest Food Bank.  As part of her volunteer work, she helped put together 1,200 meal supplement backpacks.  On Thursday, April 11, Jennie volunteered at the Crisis Assistance Ministry, where she helped sort donation and stock shelves in their free store.  The next day, Angie volunteered for Habitat for Humanity.  She thought she was going to paint, but she ended up spending the day putting up sheet rock.

The Jennie’s and Angie’s willingness to volunteer on projects benefiting our community is in keeping with our departmental commitment to community engagement.  Many members of our department regularly participate in community engagement activities.  Here are just a few examples.  Meghan Barnes often volunteers with the homeless people who find shelter and assistance at Moore Place.  Janaka Lewis frequently gives talks and workshops on African American literature and history at area schools.  In fact, this week, she is giving a presentation called “Telling Stories, Talking about Biography” to third graders at Carl A Furr Elementary in Concord.  Many of our students also engage in community projects.  For example, at the recent Center City Literary Festival, students from both the English Learning Community and the Children’s Literature Graduate Organization volunteered their time.

When Angie was volunteering for Habit for Humanity, she wore a special shirt for the volunteers.  The following sentence was stamped on the front of this shirt:  “This is what community engagement looks like!”  And it’s true.  Community engagement does look like Angie, and Jennie, and Meghan, and Janaka, and ….  Well, the list is too long to mention everybody, so let’s just say that community engagement looks like the English Department.

Misty Morin’s Fulbright Award — Misty Morin, who is double majoring in English and Spanish, recently learned that she received a Fulbright Award to support her to travel to La Rioja, Spain, to teach.  In response to an email asking about the details of her Fulbright, she wrote, “I will be traveling to the autonomous community of La Rioja, Spain, to teach English to children.  My term begins in September and lasts through June.  I am also expected to lead an engagement project, and my proposal for this is to host events at libraries or community centers that invite children and their partners to engage in active reading.”  Speaking on behalf of the English Department, I congratulate Misty on receiving this Fulbright Award.

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:

Christine Arvidson is featured on a podcast interview.  Please click on the following link to hear this interview:   https://charlottereaderspodcast.com/the-love-of-baseball-essays-by-lifelong-fans/

Meghan Barnes is featured in a podcast interview.  Please click on the following link to hear this interview:  olle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Leveraging-Digital-Spaces-for-Pre-Service-Teachers-to-Practice-Reading-and-Responding-to-Student-Writing.m4a

Pilar Blitvich currently has the following three essays in production.  Her article titled “Politeness in Discursive Pragmatics” has been accepted for publication in a quo vadis issue of the Journal of Pragmatics.   Her book chapter titled “Spanish Retailer-Consumer Interactions on Facebook: A Variational Pragmatics Perspective on Conflict” will appear in Pragmatic Variation in Service Encounter Interactions (London: Routledge), and another book chapter titled “‘You are shamed for speaking it or for not speaking it good enough’: Paradoxical Status of Spanish in the US Latino Community” will appear in Handbook of Language in Conflict (London: Routledge).

Janaka Lewis recently presented a paper titled “Real Talk:  Social Justice, Adolescent Literature, and the Movement 4 Black Lives” at the College Language Association Conference in Raleigh.

Liz Miller recently gave an invited talk titled “‘Everything is Dangerous’: Exploring Research on Agency and Language Learning” at the Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan, at the University of Oslo.

Daniel Shealy recently wrote a blog post for the Little Women at 150 blog.  Please click on the following link to read his post:  https://lw150.wordpress.com/2019/03/18/chapter-xxxiv-a-friend/

Clayton Tarr recently had an essay titled “The Loss of Maidenhead: Rape and the Revolutionary Novel” published in Eighteenth-Century Fiction.

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

April 23 — On Tuesday, April 23, our English Department and the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens will co-sponsor an event titled “Gardens and Verses:  An Earth Day Celebration.”  The event will take place in the Botanical Gardens from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  The event will feature poetry readings about nature, on-site writing opportunities, and games all in celebration of the relationship between gardens and language.  Jen Munroe and Matt Rowney from the English Department and Jeff Gillman from the Botanical Gardens are the key organizers of this event.

April 24 — On Wednesday, April 24, our English Department Student Awards Ceremony will be held in the Dale Halton Room of the Atkins Library starting at 11:30am.

April 26 — On Friday, April 26, our last English Department meeting of the academic year will be held at 11-12:30 in the conference room (Fretwell 280C).

Quirky Quiz Question — As a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, Angie Williams now has a point in common with one of our former presidents.  What former president regularly volunteers for Habitat for Humanity?

Last week’s answer: Lucille Ball
One of Ginger Rogers’s best friends ran an entertainment company called Desilu Productions. What is the name of this friend of Ginger Rogers?

Monday Missive - April 8, 2019

April 08, 2019 by Mark West
Categories: Updates

Shall We Dance — Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were both magnificent dancers on their own, but when they danced together they created cinematic magic.  One of the ten films that they did together was Shall We Dance, which came out in 1937.  I watched this film several years ago on my return flight after giving a talk at the National University of Singapore. The airline offered a whole array of old musicals, and I watched one after another.  I saw Shall We Dance on a tiny screen with the sound coming through the cheap earbuds that airlines provide on transoceanic flights, and yet I was still swept away by the power of Astaire and Rogers’s performance.  When the two of them appeared together on the screen, they seemed to engage in conversations just through their movements.   As dance partners, each augmented the performance of the other.  By lifting each other up, they succeeded in reaching heights that neither could reach as solo dancers.

Like Astaire and Rogers, our English Department excels when it collaborates with partners.  In recent years, the department has had the good fortune to dance with some wonderful partners, both in the Charlotte community and the campus community.  Two of our most frequent dance partners are the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library and the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens, and both of them are on our dance card this month.

On Wednesday, April 10, our English Department and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library will co-sponsor a production titled “Challenging the Good Ole Ways:  Exploring Southern Childhood Narratives.”  The production will take place in the Francis Auditorium of the Main Library of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library from 6:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. The production will feature twenty of our students who will perform a series of scenes and skits that reflect their inquiry into the unique experiences of Southern childhood.  The students will be joined by Ashley Hanson, a 2018 Obama Foundation Fellow, and actress Dame Jasmine Hughes from Placebase Productions.  Sarah Minslow, Henry Doss, and Sam Shapiro are the key organizers of this event.  This production is supported by a grant from the NC Humanities Council.

On Tuesday, April 23, our English Department and the UNC Charlotte Botanical Gardens will co-sponsor an event titled “Gardens and Verses:  An Earth Day Celebration.”  The event will take place in the Botanical Gardens from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.  The event will feature poetry readings about nature, on-site writing opportunities, and games all in celebration of the relationship between gardens and language.  Jen Munroe and Matt Rowney from the English Department and Jeff Gillman from the Botanical Gardens are the key organizers of this event.

As these two upcoming events demonstrate, the reach of our English Department is far greater because of our partnerships.  Our willingness to collaborate with various partners is a trait of the department that I just take for granted.  In a sense, the title of the film Shall We Dance captures this trait.  The phrasing suggests that it is a question, but there is no question mark.  The title is more of a statement than a question.  Perhaps the film should have been titled We Shall Dance.  In all of the films starring Astaire and Rogers there is no question that they will be dance partners  The same can be said about our department’s willingness to collaborate with our dance partners.

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 led a workshop titled “Writing on the Fringes” at the NC English Teachers Association Spring Symposium in Statesville this past Saturday.

Pilar Blitvich recently co-organized the inaugural Radical Right Research International Network (RIN) Workshop which was held at Swansea University. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together a network of researchers and stakeholders interested in the study of extreme far right groups from an interdisciplinary and global perspective.  This invitation-only event hosted scholars from Europe, Australasia, North America, and South America.  The panels consisted of papers which examined current trends within the radical right-wing scene, insights into current online/offline activities, hate speech and social media, as well as identity constructions of the far right.  Besides co-organizing the event, Pilar also presented a co-authored paper titled “Radical Right Women in Greece and Spain.”

Cara DeLoach, a recent graduate of our M.A. with a concentration in literature, will be entering the Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy Studies program at Vanderbilt University in the fall, with a full funding package.

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

April 10 — The last EMPS (Early Modern Paleography Society) meeting of the year will take place Weds, April 10, 3:30-5pm in the Conference Room (280C).

April 10 — A group of twenty of our students will participate in a performance titled “Challenging the Good Ole Ways: Exploring Southern Childhood Narratives” on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, in the Francis Auditorium of the Main Library of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. This “Performance Narrative” is part of a grant from the NC Humanities Council.

Quirky Quiz Question — One of Ginger Rogers’s best friends ran an entertainment company called Desilu Productions.  What is the name of this friend of Ginger Rogers?

Last week’s answer: Batman
What crime-fighting icon of American popular culture turned eighty this week? 

Monday Missive - April 1, 2019

April 01, 2019 by Mark West
Categories: Updates
Going Beyond the Classroom — The learning process is not limited to the classroom, and the same holds true for the teaching process.  Examples of how learning and teaching go beyond the classroom abound in our English Department.  Over the past week, three such examples came to my attention, and I thought I would share them with you in today’s Monday Missive.

Last week, students from Jen Munroe’s ENGL 4072/5072: Ecologies of Eating in Early Modern England course traveled to Washington, DC, where they participated in a workshop on rare materials at the Folger Shakespeare Library, co-lead by Jen and the Folger’s Education Outreach Specialist, Rachel Dankert. Students spent the first part of the day viewing and discussing the material qualities and print production of early/first editions of the early modern print books and manuscripts they were studying in class, which included the first folio of Shakespeare’s works; in the afternoon they received training in working with rare materials and were able to work with the same rare texts as they did original research for their final papers (though the first folio sadly had to be put away). That day, the students were also able to mingle with scholars researching at the library as they attended the daily afternoon tea. Students commented during and after the trip about how meaningful it was to view these materials and to use them in their research as well as to spend time together and strengthen their sense of community with each other.

Just as Jen’s students were returning from their trip to the Folger Shakespeare Library, Alan Rauch took a group of students from our chapter of Sigma Tau Delta to Saint Louis to participate in the 2019 Sigma Tau Delta International Convention, which took place from March 27 to March 30.  Our students presented creative pieces and participated in a roundtable discussion.  However, they also took advantage of opportunities to learn from the students from other chapters and developed their networking skills.

A third example took place much closer to home.   On Friday, March 29, several of our students participated in UNC Charlotte’s Undergraduate Research Conference, which took place in the James H. Barnhardt Student Activity Center.  All of the student participants worked with a faculty advisor in preparing their presentations.  Clayton Tarr worked with Kathleen Griffin, one of our English undergraduates.  Kathleen presented an essay titled “The Unattainable Body of the Female Child in Children’s Literature: How Adults Control Parameters.”  Clayton reports that Kathleen “did a great job, especially during the question/answer period.”  Meghan Barnes served as the faculty advisor for two of our English majors who presented at the conference: Corinne Rigordaeva presented a paper titled “Building Classroom Rapport: How Teacher and Student Gender Roles Influence Communication,” and Charity Clark presented a paper titled “Communication: Male and Female Professors in the Classroom and Its Effects on Students.” Meghan reports that “and they each did a fabulous job!  For both students, this was their first experience conducting their own human subjects research and presenting in a ‘conference’ — I was incredibly proud of them.

As these three examples illustrate, the work of our English Department often transcends the classroom.  For our students and faculty members, the process of learning and teaching knows no bounds.

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

Meghan Barnes recently published a co-authored article titled “You stick up for all kids”: (De)politicizing the enactment of LGBTQ+ teacher ally work” in Teaching and Teacher Education.  Please click on the following link to access the article:  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X18313295?dgcid=author

Boyd Davis recently published “Formulaic Language” in the Sage Encyclopedia of Human Communication Sciences and Disorders.   She also published a co-authored article titled “Represented Speech in Dementia Discourse” in the Journal of Pragmatics.

Janaka Lewis recently delivered a presentation titled “Finishing a Dissertation without Losing your Soul” for Social Science Research Council Proposal Writing and Dissertation Development Seminar, in Atlanta, Georgia.  She was also one of three speakers on the Local Leaders Panel, Levine Museum of the New South HERstory Day.

Juan Meneses participated as a respondent following the screening of Raoul Peck’s documentary I Am Not Your Negro as part of the UNC Charlotte International film Festival.

Alan Rauch was recently appointed to a three-year term on the PMLA Advisory Committee.

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

April 10 — A group of twenty of our students will participate in a performance titled “Challenging the Good Ole Ways: Exploring Southern Childhood Narratives” on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, in the Francis Auditorium of the Main Library of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. This “Performance Narrative” is part of a grant from the NC Humanities Council.

Quirky Quiz Question — What crime-fighting icon of American popular culture turned eighty this week?
Last week’s answer: Novello
The impetus to create the Center City Literary Festival was in response to the demise of a community-wide literary festival that was sponsored and organized by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library for many years. What is the name of this former literary festival?

Monday Missive - March 25, 2019

March 25, 2019 by Mark West
Categories: Updates

The Center City Literary Festival as a Cultural Catalyst — In what has become an annual event, the Center City Literary Festival will take place on Saturday, March 30, 2019, at UNC Charlotte Center City, 320 E. 9th Street.  Co-sponsored by the English Department and UNC Charlotte Center City, this festival is divided into two parts.  The day-time part is intended for children and their families and will run from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.  The evening part is intended for adults and will run from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.  Both parts of the festival are free and open to the public.  For detailed information about the festival, please click on the following link:  https://centercitylitfest.uncc.edu/

The part for children will feature appearances by children’s authors, creative activities, a live puppet show, a demonstration of giant puppets from the World of Creations, and a dance performance by Dances of India.  Among the children’s authors who will participate are Zaidoon Al-Zubaidy, Tia Capers, Heather Freeman, Lisa Kline, Janaka Lewis, Jessica McEachern, Linda Phillips, Stephanie Prysiazniuk, Brandon Reese, Candice Smith, Greg Wiggan, and Kim Wilson.

The part for adults will feature appearances by four writers, an opening reception with live music by the Mark Larson Combo, poetry and fiction readings, and a book signing.  The writers who will participate are Allison Hutchcraft, Patrice Gopo, Hannah Dela Cruz Abrams, and Tony Earley.

The organization of the Center City Literary Festival is a collaborative effort, but three people have played especially important roles in planning for this event:  Bryn Chancellor, Janaka Lewis, and Angie Williams.  Without the hard work of these three members of the English Department, there would be no Center CityLiterary Festival.

As I see it, the Center City Literary Festival functions as a sort of cultural catalyst.  In the realm of chemistry, a catalyst, according to my dictionary, “is a substance that enables a chemical reaction to proceed.”  Put another way, a catalyst facilitates the bringing together of chemicals to form new compounds.   Our Center City Literary Festival serves a similar function in relation to Charlotte’s cultural realm.  The festival is bringing together authors, musicians, and dancers.  It’s bringing together adults and children.  It’s bringing together members of the university community and members of the broader Charlotte community.   In the process of organizing the Center City Literary Festival, the English Department is contributing to Charlotte’s evolving cultural scene.

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

Meghan Barnes recently posted a new blog post on the work that she is doing at the Moore Place homeless shelter.  Here is the link:  https://www.urbanministrycenter.org/hugs-faith-cookies/

Allison Hutchcraft published a poem titled “Alice in Millefleurs” in Third Coast. Her poems are also forthcoming in Boulevard, Five Points, Image, The Missouri Review, and The Southern Review.

Jen Munroe recently had an essay on the role that gardens play in women’s writings from the the early modern period.  The essay is for an online series titled “Thirty Years, Thirty Ideas.”  Here is the link:  https://wwp.northeastern.edu/context/#munroe.30gardens.xml

Maya Socolovsky recently presented a paper titled “Documentation and Disappearance in Latinx Children’s Literature” at MELUS.

Aaron Toscano recently presented a paper titled “Facts, Fears, and Futurism: Isaac Asimov’s Lessons for the 21st Century” at the North Eastern MLA conference in Washington, DC.

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

March 26 — The Personally Speaking presentation featuring Bryn Chancellor will take place on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, at UNC Charlotte Center City.  Bryn’s presentation on her book Sycamore will begin at 6:30 p.m.  A book signing and reception will follow her presentation. For more information and to RSVP, please click on the following link: https://clas.uncc.edu/community/personally-speaking/sycamore-novel

March 29 — The Children’s Literature Graduate Organization (CLGO) is sponsoring a Harry Potter Trivia Night on Friday, March 29th, at 7pm in the Halton Reading Room in Atkins Library.  CLGO is using it as a fundraiser for Read Charlotte, and all the teams will donate $10 as an entry fee.

March 30 — The Center City Literary Festival will take place on Saturday, March 30, at UNC Charlotte Center City. The children’s part of the festival will run from 10:00am to 1:00pm, and the adult part will run from 6:00pm-9:00pm.  For more information, please click on the following link:  https://centercitylitfest.uncc.edu/

Quirky Quiz Question — The impetus to create the Center City Literary Festival was in response to the demise of a community-wide literary festival that was sponsored and organized by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library for many years.  What is the name of this former literary festival?

Last week’s answer: Shakespeare

During her career at UNC Charlotte, Ann Carver taught many different courses, but she most frequently taught courses on a particular topic related to her academic area of expertise.  What was this topic?

Monday Missive - March 18, 2019

March 18, 2019 by Mark West
Categories: Updates

Celebrating the Connections between the English Department and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program — Beginning in 1987, March has been designated as Women’s History Month in the United States.  Since I am writing this Monday Missive in the middle of March, it seems like an appropriate time to write about the longstanding relationship between our English Department and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program.

UNC Charlotte’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program can be traced back to the late 1970s, but it wasn’t until the 1981-82 academic year that it made its first appearance in the university’s official catalog.  This catalog contains the following description of the program:  “The Women’s Studies Program at UNCC is designed to meet the needs of women and men for an educational program which recognizes the equal value of women’s experience and contribution to humanity.”  Ann Carver, an English professor, was named the first Coordinator of UNC Charlotte’s Women’s Studies Program.  Several other English faculty members also helped launch the program, including Shelley Crisp and Stan Patten.

In recognition of Ann Carver’s leadership in establishing women’s studies as a field of study at UNC Charlotte, the Women’s and Gender Studies Program now sponsors the Dr. Ann C. Carver Essay Contest.  The deadline for this contest is March 22, 2019.  For more information about this contest, please click on the following link:  https://womensandgenderstudies.uncc.edu/node/629

Throughout the history of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, members of the English Department have played important leadership roles in the program.  This pattern is especially evident in the recent history of the program.  The three most recent directors of the program are all faculty members in the English Department.  From 2012 to 2014, Paula Eckard served as the program’s director.  From 2014 to 2017, Katie Hogan served as the director.  Since 2017, Janaka Lewis has served as the program’s director.

Today the Women’s and Gender Studies Program is one UNC Charlotte’s largest and most influential interdisciplinary programs.  The success of this program has a lot to do with the many contributions by members of the English Department.

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:

Janaka Lewis spoke on “Freedom and Family Narratives of African American Women” for the Charlotte Chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society today (3/16) and did a “meet the author” talk on her books and research process for 4th and 5th grades at Winding Springs Elementary on Monday 3/11.

Kirk Melnikoff‘s co-edited essay collection Christopher Marlowe, Theatrical Commerce, and the Book Trade was recently reviewed in TLS.  Also, Kirk recently delivered the paper “‘[H]e that likes not this’: Elizabethan Publishing, Browsing, and the Book” at the RSA conference in Toronto, Canada.

Malin Pereira currently has the following three essays in production:  “Thylias Moss’s Slave Moth: Liberatory Verse Narrative and Performance Art.” Slavery and the Post-Black Imagination. Eds. Bert Ashe and Ilka Saal. In press, U Washington P, 2019;  “An Angry, Mixed Race Cosmopolitanism: Race, Privilege, Poetic Identity, and Community in Natasha Trethewey’s Beyond Katrina and Thrall.” Cosmopolitanism, Race and Ethnicity. Eds. Ewa Luzcak, Anna Pochmara and Samir Dayal. In press, de Grunter, 2019; and “Brenda Marie Osbey’s Black Internationalism.” Summoning Our Saints: The Poetry and Prose of Brenda Marie Osbey. Ed. John Lowe. In press, Lexington Books, 2019. 

Lara Vetter recently published an essay titled “Journeys Without Maps: Literature and Spiritual Experience” in British Literature in Transition, 1920-1940: Futility and Anarchy”  (Cambridge UP).

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

March 21 — The Children’s Literature Graduate Organization (CLGO) will hold their annual Graduate Student Colloquium on March 21 in Cone 111 from 9:30 to 2:30. The title for this year’s colloquium is “Modern Authors, Historic Influences:  Framing Children’s Literature in Historical Context.”

March 23 — Grace C. Ocasio will lead a poetry workshop, read from her two previous books, and read from her now under-contract collection (Family Reunion/Broadstone Books) at Press 53’s The High Road Festival on Saturday, March 23, in Winston Salem.

March 26 — The Personally Speaking presentation featuring Bryn Chancellor will take place on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, at UNC Charlotte Center City.  Bryn’s presentation on her book Sycamore will begin at 6:30 p.m.  A book signing and reception will follow her presentation. For more information and to RSVP, please click on the following link: https://clas.uncc.edu/community/personally-speaking/sycamore-novel

March 29 — The Children’s Literature Graduate Organization (CLGO) is sponsoring a Harry Potter Trivia Night on Friday, March 29th, at 7pm in the Halton Reading Room in Atkins Library.  CLGO is using it as a fundraiser for Read Charlotte, and all the teams will donate $10 as an entry fee.

March 30 — The Center City Literary Festival will take place on Saturday, March 30, at UNC Charlotte Center City. The children’s part of the festival will run from 10:00am to 1:00pm, and the adult part will run from 6:00pm-9:00pm.  For more information, please click on the following link:  https://centercitylitfest.uncc.edu/

Quirky Quiz Question — During her career at UNC Charlotte, Ann Carver taught many different courses, but she most frequently taught courses on a particular topic related to her academic area of expertise.  What was this topic?

Last week’s answer: Nancy Gutierrez

Bryn Chancellor’s familiarity with Arizona stems from the fact that she lived in the state for much of her youth.  She earned her B.A degree from Northern Arizona University and her M.A. degree in English from Arizona State University before earning her M.F.A. from Vanderbilt University.  Like Bryn, another person associated with our English Department has significant connections to the English Department at Arizona State University.   Who is this other person?

Monday Missive - March 11, 2019

March 11, 2019 by Mark West
Categories: Updates

Writing about Place — As a fiction writer, Bryn Chancellor stresses the importance of place in many of her stories.  The title of her debut novel, Sycamore, underscores this point.  The title is the name of the small town in Arizona where the novel takes place.  For Bryn, settings involve the natural world, the built environment, and the history of a place.  For Bryn, settings can be deceptive.  The places she describes have their secrets, and in the case of Sycamore, one of the secrets involves a mysterious death.

In some ways, Sycamore reminds me of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio.  Both are set in small towns where things are not always as they seem.  The residents of Sycamore and the residents of Winesburg have complex responses toward their towns, vacillating between feeling a sense of belonging and feeling a sense of isolation.

Bryn will talk about Sycamore and the secrets of this small Arizona town during her presentation for the Personally Speaking series on Tuesday, March 26, at UNC Charlotte Center City.  For more information and to RSVP, please click on the following link: https://clas.uncc.edu/community/personally-speaking/sycamore-novel

Bryn is not the only member of our English Department who is interested in the relationship between place and writing.  Nearly every summer, Greg Wickliff teaches a course titled “Writing about Place.”  I recently contacted Greg and asked him for more information about this course.  Here is his response:  “In my summer ‘Writing about Place’ course, students explore (at a distance) an experience of place through language and to a lesser extent, through photography. A sense of place, enduring or transient, can be deeply meaningful to us, whether we feel we inhabit it as a native, as a willing visitor, or even as a captive. Writing about place is the subject of diarists and travelers, of anthropologists and historians, of the young and the old. As writers of non-fiction, students in this course reflect upon their impressions of specific places  – researching their histories and imagining their futures – preserved, threatened, stagnant, or revitalized. Because this summer course is an online-only one, we also seek to understand how places that are or once were physical and real, become through our writing, virtual constructions of words and images.”

Bryn and Greg have different academic specialties.  Bryn teaches fiction writing while Greg teaches professional and technical writing.  However, for both Bryn and Greg, the act of writing about places is not just an exercise in description.  They are both interested in how writing about places can evoke memories, stir up emotions, and communicate the personal meanings that we often gain from interacting with physical places.  In a sense, Bryn and Greg are standing on common ground, and that common ground is called the English Department.

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:

Bryn Chancellor last week served as a speaker and literary table host for Poets & Writers’s gala benefit “In Celebration of Writers” in New York City.

Juan Meneses recently presented a paper titled “The Limits of Citizenship:  A Foreign Counter” at the American Comparative Literature Association Conference, which took place at Georgetown University.

Lara Vetter recently published an article titled “The Violence of Translingual Identity in Kazim Ali’s Bright Felon: Autobiography and Cities and Julia Alvarez’s The Other Side / El otro lado” in MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S. 44.1 (2019): 110-131.

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

March 12 — Sam Shapiro is presenting a 90-minute program on the “art of adapting books into film.”  He is focusing primarily on Katherine Anne Porter’s novella Noon WIne.  Here is the link to Charlotte Lit’s website, with further information: https://www.charlottelit.org/event/shapeshifting-adapting-the-novella-for-screen/?mc_cid=a38f543029&mc_eid=69ee4ca45f

March 21 — The Children’s Literature Graduate Organization (CLGO) will hold their annual Graduate Student Colloquium on March 21 in Cone 111 from 9:30 to 2:30. The title for this year’s colloquium is “Modern Authors, Historic Influences:  Framing Children’s Literature in Historical Context.”

March 23 — Grace C. Ocasio will lead a poetry workshop, read from her two previous books, and read from her now under-contract collection (Family Reunion/Broadstone Books) at Press 53’s The High Road Festival on Saturday, March 23, in Winston Salem.

March 26 — The Personally Speaking presentation featuring Bryn Chancellor will take place on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, at UNC Charlotte Center City.  Bryn’s presentation on her book Sycamore will begin at 6:30 p.m.  A book signing and reception will follow her presentation. For more information and to RSVP, please click on the following link: https://clas.uncc.edu/community/personally-speaking/sycamore-novel

March 30 — The Center City Literary Festival will take place on Saturday, March 30, at UNC Charlotte Center City. The children’s part of the festival will run from 10:00am to 1:00pm, and the adult part will run from 6:00pm-9:00pm.  For more information, please click on the following link:  https://centercitylitfest.uncc.edu/

Quirky Quiz Question — Bryn Chancellor’s familiarity with Arizona stems from the fact that she lived in the state for much of her youth.  She earned her B.A degree from Northern Arizona University and her M.A. degree in English from Arizona State University before earning her M.F.A. from Vanderbilt University.  Like Bryn, another person associated with our English Department has significant connections to the English Department at Arizona State University.   Who is this other person?

Last week’s answer: Lincoln College, Oxford University

Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) received many honorary doctoral degrees, but he never completed the PhD in English that he started after graduating from Dartmouth College.  What is the name of the university where Dr. Seuss pursued his graduate studies?

Monday Missive - March 4, 2019

March 04, 2019 by Mark West
Categories: Updates

Bridging Generations at the Seuss-a-Thon — The eighth annual Seuss-a-Thon will take place on Saturday, March 9, at Park Road Books (4139 Park Road) from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  This community event is co-sponsored by the English Department and Park Road Books, Charlotte’s only full-service, independent bookstore.   At the Seuss-a-thon, many members of the English Department and other literacy advocates will participate in a four-hour marathon of reading Dr. Seuss books aloud to listeners of all ages.  The Children’s Literature Graduate Organization (with help from Monica Burke and Kelly Brabec) will run a Dr. Seuss-themed crafts table, and his books will be on sale for the day.

One of the pleasures that I gain from organizing the Seuss-a-Thon every year is observing how the event brings together participants from multiple generations.  I am especially pleased when the event spans three generations within one family.  I am already aware of one example of such generational bridging that will take place.  Heather Vorhies, her daughter (Aniela), and her mother (Janice Blain) are all planning to participate.  Heather will read I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!, and Janice will read One Fish, Two Fish.

I am also aware of another special example of generational bridging that will take place at this year’s Seuss-a-Thon.  At last year’s event, our dearly missed friend and colleague Anita Moss read Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?  I still remember how much energy and expression she put into her reading.  She had a special way of looking directly at the children in the audience and asking them the question that runs as a refrain throughout the book:  “Mr. Brown can do it.  How about you?”  Well, nobody can read Dr. Seuss books quite like Anita, but her daughters are also very talented at reading Dr. Seuss books, and both of them will be participating in this year’s Seuss-a-Thon.  Pam Hausle will read Horton Hatches the Egg, and Heather Smith will read Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?   In a sense, Anita’s presence will be felt at the Seuss-a-Thon thanks to the magic of Dr. Seuss and the love of her daughters.

I will be there.  How about you?

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:

Janaka Lewis recently gave an invited Black History keynote presentation titled “Where Are We in Our Stories?” and read excerpts of her books to the staff, parents and students at the CT Walker Traditional Magnet School in Janaka’s hometown of Augusta, Georgia.

Tiffany Morin published a review of Growing Up with Vampires:  Essays on the Undead in Children’s Media in the most recent issue of the Children’s Literature Association Quarterly.  

Alan Rauch recently received a research grant from the Lilly Library at Indiana University to conduct a research project titled “Science, Women, and the Mother Tongue:  Translating Knowledge for Young Readers.”

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

March 21 — The Children’s Literature Graduate Organization (CLGO) will hold their annual Graduate Student Colloquium on March 21 in Cone 111 from 9:30 to 2:30. The title for this year’s colloquium is “Modern Authors, Historic Influences:  Framing Children’s Literature in Historical Context.”

March 26 — The Personally Speaking presentation featuring Bryn Chancellor will take place on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, at UNC Charlotte Center City.  Bryn’s presentation on her book Sycamore will begin at 6:30 p.m.  A book signing and reception will follow her presentation. For more information and to RSVP, please click on the following link: https://clas.uncc.edu/community/personally-speaking/sycamore-novel

March 30 — The Center City Literary Festival will take place on Saturday, March 30, at UNC Charlotte Center City. The children’s part of the festival will run from 10:00am to 1:00pm, and the adult part will run from 6:00pm-9:00pm.  For more information, please click on the following link:  https://centercitylitfest.uncc.edu/

Quirky Quiz Question — Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) received many honorary doctoral degrees, but he never completed the PhD in English that he started after graduating from Dartmouth College.  What is the name of the university where Dr. Seuss pursued his graduate studies?

 

Last week’s answer: University of Chicago

John Dewey developed many of his ideas about education at a famous laboratory school associated with the university where he was then teaching. What is the name of this university?