CFP: MMLA 2013

"The first iteration of the [MMLA] 2013 Call for Papers is now posted.  The list contains listings for our permanent sections and associated organizations.  The deadline for special sessions proposals has been extended to April 5th.  Special session proposal will be reviewed and posted by April 16th.

Individuals who have abstracts that do not fit into any of the listed sessions soliciting abstracts, may submit individual proposals to the MMLA until June 7, 2013.  New panels will be created from the individual abstracts accepted.

This year the Midwest Modern Language Association is proud to welcome the Festival of Language to our annual convention.  The organizer, Jane Carman, is now accepting abstracts for this year's Festival of Language.  We know that this festival will add to the our rich selection of panels.

To view the Call for Papers, visit:http://www.luc.edu/mmla/callforpapers.html

To obtain a Special Session proposal form, visit: http://www.luc.edu/mmla/forms.html

Sincerely,
Bernadette Steele
Associate Director"

Samyn Reading Rescheduled

Due to indisposition, Mary Ann Samyn's reading has been rescheduled for Wednesday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. in 130 Colson Hall.

Mike Buso Is Famous

It's turning out to be quite the semester for doctoral student Michael Buso. First of all, his Joss Whedon-themed section of English 258, Popular American Culture, was just featured in Flavorwire's "Syllabi for 10 Real College Pop-Culture Classes We'd Love to Take." It seems like only a matter of time before he attracts the attention of Perez Hilton, and, after that, as some of the older Tenants speculate, it will all be limousines and bodyguards.

Not to mention that, a few weeks back, Mike passed his Qualifying Exams and is now officially ABD, with the hearty congratulations of his committee (Ryan Claycomb, Michael Germana, Melissa Latimer, Katy Ryan, and yours truly) and the Tenants too.

The Tenants are given to understand that plans for Mike to do a joint tour with Taylor Swift this summer are still under negotiation, but we'll let you know if that works out.

Mary Ann Samyn In Person

You've read her poem on Verse Daily. You thrilled to her blog entry about her exploits at West Preston Middle School (squirrel brain soup! poetry!). Now, for one night only, you can actually see Mary Ann live and in person. Mark your calendars for this Wednesday, March 20th, at 7:30 in 130 Colson Hall when Mary Ann will read from her work. No cover charge!*

*Valet parking not available.

"You are the author of you!"

—I think this is what we call "agency." Right? Maybe? But in middle school, which is where the grad poets and I were these last two days, such words don't fly.

Other words did, though. We were writing poems. About West Virginia. Really, really good poems.

Along the way, we learned some pretty amazing things.

For instance, do you know about squirrel brain soup? We didn't. And of course I got confused and immediately pictured squirrel face soup... the little nose and eyes looking up from the bowl, etc. But that's not how it is, just so you know. And grandmas make it. So if you want some, you'll probably need to be or find a grandma.

Anyway, wow: the kids (110 of 'em!) we met at West Preston Middle School were awesome.

We talked of everything from hunting and dirt bikes to aggressive chickens and snow days and what poetry is (some of them: "it rhymes." me: "sometimes"). We also learned about special names for special mountains and favorite trees and a dog named Coal, because that's "the center of our state."

Indeed.

Our thanks go to the students who wrote beautiful, surprising, evocative poems; to their teachers, Mrs. Kibler, Miss Collins, and Mrs. Peaslee (I was "Miss Mary Ann" while I was there...); and to CTB/McGraw-Hill for sponsoring the workshop.

We had a great time, as you can see from these photos. And, again: wow: middle school is intense! I had to take a nap after day one. How do these kids and teachers do it every day?

Oh, and lest you think the girl in red—Sydney, pretty sure—was unhappy with the writing, let me assure you: she wasn't. When I asked, on day two, if these sixth graders needed more time to write and revise or were ready to type, she said, "ready!" And you know what: she was. She wrote a terrific poem; she's a poet.

Mary Ann Samyn on Verse Daily

When she's not posting on the department blog, Mary Ann can often be found writing poems. Today, she's on Verse Daily, which you can check out at: http://www.versedaily.org

Do it now! After all, the site isn't named Verse Yesterday.

Update: If you procrastinated and put off until tomorrow what should have delighted you today, Mary Ann's entry is now archived here. Look for March 14th.

"D.H. Lawrence, Misogynist?"--Dr. Erin Johns Speese's Current Thoughts Lecture

The English Graduate Organization

Proudly Presents:

“D.H. Lawrence, Misogynist?: The Possibility of Sublime Intersubjectivity in

The Rainbow”

By (the new) Dr. Erin Johns Speese

Spring 2013 Current Thoughts Series Lecture

18 Mar. 2013 at 4PM

Colson 130

Michael Germana's Research Talk Tomorrow 3/13

 

The Department of English presents: The Faculty Research Colloquium

Rhopographic Photography and Atemporal Cinema:

Ralph Ellison’s Polaroids and Three Days Before the Shooting . . . by Michael Germana

As many Ellison scholars already know, Ralph Ellison was an accomplished photographer before he was a celebrated author, and the portraits and street photographs he took during the late 1940s and early 50s demonstrate his compositional and technical skills. Sara Blair has convincingly shown how Ellison’s 1952 novel

Invisible Man is informed by, if not rehearsed in, his early street photography. But until now, no one has examined Ellison’s later photographic endeavors alongside his post-Invisible Man fiction. In this presentation, I examine the relationship between Ellison’s post-1952 photography and his ultimately unfinished novel, Three Days Before the Shooting… Picking up where Sara Blair left off, I illustrate how the Polaroid photographs Ellison took between 1966 and 1994—years Ellison was composing Three Days—articulate deep connections between temporality, visual media, subjectivity, and materiality that inform his unfinished novel in complex ways. Of especial interest to me is the ekphrastic dialectic between the still image and the motion picture that Ellison explores in his long fiction and negotiates via Polaroid photography.

March 13, 2013

2:30 p.m., 130 Colson Hall

2013-2014 GTA Positions in Women's Studies

2013-2014 GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS IN WOMEN’S & GENDER STUDIES

The WVU Center for Women’s and Gender Studies is an academic unit in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences with a university-wide mission to support teaching, research and advocacy that is based on feminist perspectives and centered on analyses of gender and its intersection with race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, age and ability. The Center offers both an undergraduate major and a minor in women’s and gender studies. Graduate students may earn the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (M.A.L.S.) with an emphasis in women’s studies or a graduate certificate in women’s studies. GTA applicants may be graduate students in any discipline. Previous GTAs, for example, have come from English, Social Work, Counseling, History, Education, Public Health, Public Administration, Law, Art, and the Women’s Studies-Directed Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program.

Dates of Employment: Academic Year 2013-2014 (fall 2013 and spring 2014 semesters); renewable based on program needs and candidate performance.

Stipend: TBA. Recipients will also receive a university tuition waiver and hospitalization insurance. The Center for Women’s and Gender Studies will provide limited additional financial support for GTAs to enhance their educational and professional development through our Women’s and Gender Studies Difference Fund.

Duties: Teach one or two sections of WGST 170 Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies in each semester as part of the teaching team; one GTA will also assist with other undergraduate courses. GTAs are directly supervised by Brian Jara, Senior Lecturer in Women’s and Gender Studies, and will attend two mandatory one-day orientation and trainings in May and August. GTAs have full responsibility for sections of WGST 170, including grading exams and papers, consulting with students on their writing and projects, and enroll in a weekly teaching practicum with Professor Jara.

Qualifications: BA degree in any field; some graduate work preferred. Previous research and/or community experience in women’s and gender studies and current research and/or course work focusing women and gender are preferred. Teaching experience is strongly preferred. The Center for Women’s and Gender Studies values inclusiveness and diversity in the public it serves and on its staff. Nontraditional and minority candidates are encouraged to apply. Students must be full-time degree candidates to qualify as GTAs, and must register for the teaching practicum in both fall and spring semesters.

Application Procedure: The application is available online at: http://wmst.wvu.edu/students/scholarships_and_awards

COMPLETED APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY 4PM ON THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2013. 

Questions: Visit the Center's web site at http://wmst.wvu.edu/, or contact Dr. Ann Oberhauser, Director, Center for Women's and Gender Studies at ann.oberhauser@mail.wvu.edu.

 

Short Term Fellowships at the Boston Athenaeum

An absolutely for real, no fooling picture of the Boston Athenaeum

The Boston Athenæum offers short-term fellowships to support the use of Athenæum collections for research, publication, curriculum and program development, or other creative projects. Each fellowship pays a stipend for a residency of twenty business days and includes a year’s membership to the Boston Athenæum. Scholars, graduate students, independent scholars, teaching faculty, and professionals in the humanities as well as teachers and librarians in secondary public, private, and parochial schools are eligible.  

The Boston Athenæum, a membership library, first opened its doors in 1807, and its rich history as a library and cultural institution has been well documented in the annals of Boston’s cultural life. Today, it remains a vibrant and active institution that serves a wide variety of members and scholars. Members take advantage of its large and distinguished circulating collection, a newspaper and magazine reading room, the exquisite fifth floor reading room, quiet spaces and rooms for reading and researching, a children’s library, and wireless internet access throughout its building. The Special Collections resources are world-renowned and include maps, manuscripts, rare books, and archival materials. 

Please see this website for information on applying for fellowships:
http://www.bostonathenaeum.org/node/42