UW-L English Studies Blog

"Six Key Terms in the Transition from High School to College Writing" - February 10, 2:30-3:30, 113 Wimberly Hall

A Presentation of the English Department's William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series.

Dr. Virginia Crank, English Department faculty member, will continue the 2011-2012 William J. and Yvonne Hyde English Department Colloquium Series with a presentation entitled "Six Key Terms in the Transition from High School to College Writing." The presentation will discuss key concepts that Dr. Crank has identified from the large body of research on writing in high school and college English classes. Understanding and discussing these concepts with new college students can help those who teach freshmen (particularly in writing-intensive courses) build on the skills and concepts their students bring with them to UWL. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, February 10th, in 113 Wimberly Hall. The event is free and open to the public. To arrange for disability accommodations, contact english@uwlax.edu or call 785-8295.

 

 

Red Cedar Call for Submissions

Red Cedar, University of Wisconsin - Barron County's annual journal of the arts and literature, is now accepting submissions of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and other creative writing for our Spring, 2012, edition.

Submissions of creative writing are welcome from anyone. Please share with students, colleagues, and writers:  We are now accepting submissions by email to redcedar@uwc.edu. Send up to five poems, or 1-3 prose pieces of up to 1500 words each.  Mixed submissions of both poetry and prose are also acceptable.   

Please include all contact information, including a postal address, and a very brief bio note. Red Cedar will continue to accept submissions by email until Mon., Feb. 27, 2012.  (For priority consideration, please submit early!)

Thanks,Red Cedar 2012 Editorial Staff

Red Cedar - Sustainable Literature Program 
Joel Friederich, Advisor / Program Director
Univ. of Wisconsin - Barron County
1800 College Drive
Rice Lake WI 54868
redcedar@uwc.edu / joel.friederich@uwc.edu 
715-234-8176 / FAX: 715-234-1975

"Journalism of the 19th Century: A Survey of Major Novelists and Poets" - December 9, 2:30-3:30, Wimberly 113

A Presentation of the English Department's William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series.

Dr. Thomas Pribek, English Department faculty member, will continue the 2011-2012 William J. and Yvonne Hyde English Department Colloquium Series with a presentation entitled "Journalism of the 19^th Century: A Survey of Major Novelists and Poets." Some form of journalism was the original--even continuous--work of nearly every popular American writer, from Benjamin Franklin all the way to the 1930s, when the "new media" of the day contributed to creating the image we have (and teach) today of the journalist as fact-based, objective, even impersonal. The presentation will talk about how a narrative-based reporting was typically part of any prose writer's career, and often poets too: journalism was part of the literary mainstream, not a separate genre or rival point of view. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, December 9^th, in 113 Wimberly Hall. The event is free and open to the public. To arrange for disability accommodations, contact english@uwlax.edu or call 785-8295. For more information, visit http://rhetor.blogs.com/english.

 

A Presentation by Dr. Konas: "The Bipolar Expedition: next to normal and Its Abnormal Path to the Pulitzer Prize" - December 2, 12:00-1:00, 1303 Centennial Hall

Please join us

Friday, December 2, 2011
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Centennial Hall
Room 1303
for Dr. Gary Konas' Presentation 

 "The Bipolar Expedition: next to normal and Its Abnormal Path to the Pulitzer Prize." 

Synopsis: next to normal, which opened on Broadway in 2009, began over a decade earlier as a 10-minute class exercise for composer Tom Kitt and lyricist Brian Yorkey. The musical was expanded and revised during subsequent productions in Washington State, Off-Broadway, D.C., and finally Broadway. It won three Tony Awards and enjoyed a surprisingly long run, considering that it is about a bipolar housewife--not exactly standard musical fare. It followed yet another tortuous path to winning the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. My multimedia presentation will attempt to convey the strengths of the show to an audience that has yet to see it in person. All are welcome to attend!

 

 

"Triplets, Sidewalk Chalk, and Squirrels: A UW-L Folktale" - December 2, 2:30-3:30, Wimberly 113

A Presentation of the English Department's William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series.

Continuing the 2011-2012 William J. and Yvonne Hyde English Department Colloquium Series, please come and enjoy a UW-L folktale created by students in Dr. David Hart's "World Literatures: Migrations of Folklore" class. It features squirrels (not thrown at people), sidewalk chalk, and a princess in distress. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, December 2nd, in 113 Wimberly Hall. The event is free and open to the public. To arrange for disability accommodations, contact english@uwlax.edu or call 785-8295.

Dr. DeFazio's book, The City of the Senses, published

Dr. Kimberly DeFazio’s book, The City of the Senses, has been published by Palgrave.

Through an analysis of a wide range of literary and cultural texts—from Wordsworth’s The Prelude and Dickens’s Hard Times, to Lost in Translation, Crash and Ikea—The City of the Senses argues that the city is essentially a material place where people live, work, and participate in social practices within historical limits set not by sensory experience or cultural meanings but material social conditions. 

Further information about the book can be found here: 
http://us.macmillan.com/thecityofthesenses/
KimberlyDeFazio

 

 

"Yeats's Shakespeare and Joyce's Objection: Two Dogmas of Cosmopolitanism" - November 11, 2:30-3:30, 113 Wimberly

A Presentation of the English Department's William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series.

Continuing the 2011-2012 William J. and Yvonne Hyde English Department Colloquium Series, Adam Putz, IAS in English, will present his research on the influence of Shakespeare in Dublin during the Celtic Revival on W. B. Yeats, the figurehead of this movement, and James Joyce, an early critic of its nationalist excesses. In his objection to Yeats’s Shakespeare, Joyce offers an answer to the crisis of authenticity undermining the concerted effort undertaken by cultural figures during the Revival "to speak on behalf of the Irish" after the fall of Ireland’s "uncrowned king," Charles Stewart Parnell. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, November 11, in 113 Wimberly Hall. The event is free and open to the public. To arrange for disability accommodations, contact english@uwlax.edu or call 785-8295. For more information please visit http://rhetor.blogs.com/english.

 

Jim Ferris, poet, performance artist, and Disability Studies Scholar - November 1 - 5:30 pm

Jim Ferris, poet, performance artist, and Disability Studies Scholar, will read from his new book, Slouching Towards Guantanamo

Tuesday, Nov. 1, 5:30 p.m., 1400 Centennial Hall  

Jim Ferris is author of Facts of Life and The Hospital Poems, which Edward Hirsch named winner of the 2004 Main Street Rag Book Award.  He holds a doctorate in performance studies, and has performed at the Kennedy Center and across the United States, Canada and Great Britain; his performance work includes the solo performance piece "Scars: A Love Story." He holds the Ability Center Endowed Chair in Disability Studies at the University of Toledo.

CFP: The Catalyst

Greetings students, staff and faculty from UW-L’s online magazine, The Catalyst! This year’s theme is… 

"I didn't see you there."  

In a university setting, you feel your brain being worked in ways you suddenly enjoy.  The Catalyst asks what you see now, with eyes wide open, staring into the static of everyday life. Send us your original essays, poems, stories, music, photos, and/or art dealing with the beauty of life when we finally open our eyes. Submit it to our Winter 2011 issue of The Catalyst! Tell us what your eyes see! (Although we encourage the use of the theme, we do accept pieces outside of it.)

 Submissions should be received by Wednesday, November 30th to catalyst@uwlax.edu. Please feel free to direct any questions to this address as well.

 * All photos and artwork should be submitted in .jpeg format, music files are preferred to be submitted in mP3 format.

** The Catalyst is an independent journal and does not discriminate against the views of artists regardless of race, religion, political affiliation or sexual orientation. Please respect the opinions of fellow artists as you would your own views.

*** Be sure to check out www.uwlax.edu/catalyst to view past and present issues.

****The Catalyst is a publication of UWL’s English Club.

 Thank you, and happy creating!

 Carly Frerichs and Eric Van Ramshorst

The Catalyst Editors

 

Book Club Discussion of "The Tell-Tale Heart," 10/26

On Wednesday, October 26th, the English Club is sponsoring a Book Club event open to ANY interested students and faculty.  We will be discussing Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart."  Please share this event with your friends and students--and feel free to join us. 

We will gather at the Cyber Cafe from 5:30-7pm on 10/26.  More information and a copy of the story are available on the Book Club's Facebook page: 

http://www.facebook.com/groups/184449131631162/ 

--> Listen to the story

"Adaptation: From Short Story to Short Film" - October 21, 2:30-3:30, 122 Wimberly Hall

As part of the 2011-2012 William J. and Yvonne Hyde English Department Colloquium Series, Matt Cashion, Associate Professor of English, will present a screening of the short film, LAST WORDS OF THE HOLY GHOST, adapted from his short story, first published in Willow Springs Literary Journal. The film premiered July 27 at the LA Shorts Film Festival; it has also appeared at the Lucerne International Film Festival, the Austin Film Festival, the Coney Island Film Festival, and the Driftless Film Festival. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, October 21, in 122 Wimberly Hall. The event is free and open to the public. To arrange for disability accommodations, contact english@uwlax.edu or call 785-8295.

 

 

 

Read the short story here

UW-L’s Writing Center presents Magnetic Poetry SLAM! on Oct. 20

Craft poetry with magnetic words from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, at the Hoeschler Tower.

UW-L’s Writing Center staff is hosting Magnetic Poetry SLAM! and will take pictures of poets with their poems and post them on the Writing Center’s Facebook page. Go on the page and “like” the poem you like best. The top three poets with the most “likes” will receive a $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble.

The “Why English?” Reading Group: A Vivisection

Several members of the English Department have formed a reading group to address the role of English Studies in academic and social contexts. We have investigated the question “Why English?” as it might be asked by a student pondering what it means to be an English major, as it might be asked by educators, researchers, and theorists within the fields of literary and rhetorical scholarship, and as it might be asked by observers outside the field.

This investigation has entailed comparing books and articles focused on the  profession and practice of teaching English (by Martha Nussbaum, Marjorie Garber, and Cristina Vischer Bruns, for example), as well as texts concentrating on the social and cultural valuing of English study (by Louis Menand and Frederick Luis Aldama), and on the historical definition and identity of the humanities (Robert Black), as well as the capacity of writing to serve as political identification (Jacques Rancière).

Our contemporary interrogation and assessment of the worth and worthiness of English studies as a discipline and a profession follows in a centuries-old tradition of fluid self-definition and ceaseless internal examination that has kept the humanities in general, and English studies in particular, relevant to the political, social, and educational controversies of the moment while opening the minds of scholars and citizens to an awareness of cultural, artistic, and intellectual patterns remote from our current place and time.

As our reading group continues its efforts in the coming months, we will  explore questions inspired by our readings and our stimulating conversations about them.

Download the "Why English?" Reading Group Questions and Bibliography

Dr. Wilkie's book, The Digital Condition, published

Dr. Rob Wilkie's book, The Digital Condition: Class and Culture in the Information Network, has just been published by Fordham Univerity Press.

Addressing the literature and cinema of cyberpunk, digital commodities like the iPod, as well as the writings of such thinkers as Hardt and Negri, Heidegger, Deleuze and Guattari, Derrida, Haraway, and Castells, The Digital Condition investigates the continuing importance of class in shaping the contemporary.

Further information about the book can be found at: http://www.fordhampress.com/detail.html?id=9780823234233

 

"Journalism of the 19th Century: A Survey of Major Novelists and Poets" has been postponed.

Dr. Pribek's presentation has been postponed until a later date.