UW-L English Studies Blog

Three English Department Capstone Presentations This Week -- May 7, 8, 9

2013-05-06T08:29:17-05:00

The next three Capstone Colloquia featuring presentations by Rhetoric & Writing and Literature Majors will take place this week. A brief question-and-answer period follows each presentation. Light refreshments will be served. Please drop in for any or all of the presentations and encourage your students to attend.

Tuesday, May 7^th (259 Cartwright)

Rhetoric and Writing Capstone Colloquium:

9:00-10:30am

· Olivia Allen: “Like us on Facebook. A look at Social Media in Today's Economy”

· Rose Davey: “Growing Pains: Capitalism and the Commerce of Hurt”

· Michael Gibson: “Redundancy, Mediocrity, and Merit in Online Culture”

· Xiaoqi Wu: “Do Translators need to be Creative?”

11:00-12:30pm

· Caleb Brown: “Missing the Meaning”

· Megan Couch: “The Growing Implications of Social Media in Student Administrative Affairs”

· Melissa Holen: “Affirmative Action: A Progressive Initiative or An Outdated Program?”

· Mitch Marty: “Control of Cultural Objects in the Digital Marketplace”

Wednesday, May 8^th (3214 Centennial Hall)

Literature Capstone Colloquium:

8:45-10:40am

· Ashley Dillard: “Questioning the Boundaries of Humanity: Gender and Species in Chaucer's ‘Parliament of Fowls’”

· Amber Griffin: “Crime and Punishment’s Ambiguities through a Sociological Lens”

· Phillip Hernandez: “Crash: A Linguistic Analysis of the Impact of Race on Language”

· Rachael Hillegass: “Food as a Means of Feminine Resistance in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar”

· Patrick Lee: “Decentering Ellison and Eliot: Implications of Intertextuality”

· Ryan O'Grady: “The Heritage of Spanish, the Importance of English, and the Language of Assimilation: A Study of Spanglish and its Role in Benjamin Alire Sáez's Sammy & Juliana in Hollywood”

· Sarah Pedretti: “Nature and Human Relations: William Wordsworth’s The Prelude through Humanist, Post-Humanist, and Christian Stewardship Perspectives”

· Teresa Turner: “The Transition of Fairy Tales from Then to Now”

· Andrew Wolcott: “Blood in the Gutters: Trauma and Time in Spiegelman's Maus”

Thursday, May 9^th (259 Cartwright)

Rhetoric and Writing Capstone Colloquium:

9:00-10:30am

· Elizabeth Bowman: “The Emergence of Digital Art: Breaking New Ground and Dissociating the Human”

· Natalie Goodman:”(De)constructing the Gender Binary”

· David Briggs: “The Compensation of Independence: How Digital Media and Direct Sales Are Finally Making Creativity Both Popular and Practical”

· Xi Ming Yu: “Crisis on Public Transportation: Analyses and Suggestions”

· Rebecca Franzel: “Voices Behind the Screen: Social Change Through Anonymity or Pseudonymity in the Digital Age”

11:00-12:30pm

· Emily Jones: “Technical Communication and Perceptions on Disability”

· Lindsey Casto: “Choosing your Words Wisely: Rhetorical Ethics in Technical and Professional Writing”

· Amanda Specktor: “The Value of the Arts and Arts Education”

· Nicole Meulemans: “Language Revolution through Digital Technology”

Steam Ticket Release Party - May 9th, 4:00pm, 228 Wimberly

2013-04-29T13:54:29-05:00

Steam Ticket is a literary journal produced annually by students enrolled in ENG 320, featuring poetry, creative writing and artwork from gifted minds across the country. Come join us in celebrating the release of volume 16! There will be short fiction and poetry readings from local authors published in this year's issue, as well as free refreshments!

First of Four English Department Capstone Colloquia Presentations - May 1st, 8:45-10:40, 3214 Centennial Hall

2013-04-28T21:24:58-05:00

Over the next two weeks, the English Department will hold four Capstone Colloquia for Majors in Literature and Rhetoric & Writing. The Colloquia presentations are for ENG 484 and ENG 413. In the first Colloquium, on Wednesday, May 1^st in 3214 Centennial Hall, eight English majors from ENG 484 will present their Literature Capstone projects.

The following students will present papers in the first Colloquium:

Wednesday, May 1, 8:45-10:40am (3214 Centennial Hall)

· Erin Anglin: "The Language of Privilege in Charles Chestnutt's The Conjure Woman and Other Conjure Tales"

· Jacob Brunclik: "Joyce's Gabriel Conroy and the Struggle Against Colonial Social Binaries in Early Twentieth Century Ireland"

· Elizabeth Chavalas: "'All of Russia is our orchard': New Historicism and Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard"

· Amanda Janikowski: "'We were irreconcilably other': Questioning Disability and Identity in Adolescent Literature"

· Dillon Mader: "New Materialism in Robinson Crusoe, Homo Economicus: An Application of Thing Theory, Vibrant Matter, and Alien Phenomenology"

· Steven Prihoda: "Shouting into a Hole in the Wall: Etgar Keret, Magical Realism, and Language"

· Kallie Schell: "The Poisonwood Bible: A Microcosm of Colonialism of the Congo"

· Samuel Slater: "Drowning in Dionysian Thirst: The Self-Destruction of Gustav von Aschenbach"

A brief question-and-answer period follows each presentation. Light refreshments will be served. Please drop in for any or all of the presentations and encourage your students to attend.

During the week of May 5^th, there will be two Rhetoric & Writing Colloquia, as well as a second Literature Capstone Colloquium. A second announcement with students’ names and paper titles will be posted next week. In the meantime, here are the dates and times of the second week of colloquia:

The Rhetoric & Writing Colloquia: 259 Cartwright

Tuesday, May 7^th : 9:00-10:30am and 11:00-12:30pm

Thursday, May 9^th : 9:00-10:30am and 11:00-12:30pm

Second Literature Colloquium: 3214 Centennial Hall

Wednesday, May 8^th: 8:45 – 10:40am

The Ethos of Monstrous Love and “Becoming Woman” in Robert Musil’s Man Without Qualities - May 3rd, 2:30-3:30, Wimberly 113

2013-04-28T21:18:56-05:00

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

Dr. Karen Hart, English Department faculty member, will conclude the English Department's 2012-2013 William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series with a presentation entitled "The Ethos of Monstrous Love and 'Becoming Woman' in Robert Musil’s Man Without Qualities." Dr. Hart's research investigates the ethical potential of what Gilles Deleuze calls "becoming woman" as it plays out through Robert Musil’s quasi-incestuous siblings Agathe and Ulrich. She will specifically consider how "becoming woman" transforms and challenges a life negating "'master consciousness"' In this context, "master consciousness" signifies a hegemonic mode of thought that forces the complexities of life into hierarchies such as male and female, and thought and feeling, for the purpose of mastering both nature and people. Metamorphosis out of this type of consciousness is at the base of Musil’s ethical guide for behavior. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, May 3rd, 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.

William Barillas to receive 2013 MidAmerica Award for outstanding contributions to the study of Midwestern literature

2013-04-24T12:41:13-05:00

UW-La Crosse English Professor William Barillas has been selected to receive the 2013 MidAmerica Award from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature (SSML). Barillas will receive the award during the society’s annual symposium May 9-11 at Michigan State University. The award for distinguished contributions to the study of Midwestern literature, presented annually since 1977, recognizes a body — rather than a single book or essay — of criticism or scholarship.

Barillas is the author of The Midwestern Pastoral: Place and Landscape in Literature of the American Heartland (2006), which won the Midwestern Studies Book Award from SSML and was designated an Outstanding Academic Title in Language and Literature by Choice magazine. He has also published many scholarly articles about Midwestern and Latino/Latina literatures, as well as creative nonfiction and poetry. He serves on the editorial boards of the peer-review journal MidAmerica and the forthcoming Dictionary of Midwestern Literature, Volume Two.

Full Story: http://news.uwlax.edu/uw-l-professor-to-earn-scholarly-award/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+uwlax%2FtUxm+%28Campus+News%29

Meshing academic, business worlds gives students a preview of future career possibilities

2013-04-24T12:31:41-05:00

Celia Groff and Kaitlindh Moubry remember age 22 well. Armed with degrees in English literature and classical humanities, respectively, they didn’t know the extent of their career possibilities.

The two came to a UW-La Crosse technical writing class to share the future they found in the not-so-familiar field of technical writing. Both work at Epic, a Verona-based company that develops and installs health care software. The company has grown significantly in the last 12 years and now employs nearly 120 technical writers.

“Being able to write well is not a common skill these days,” notes Groff. “We wanted to let students know Epic is a potential career path because we want to attract good colleagues.”

Epic employees visited English Professor Marie Moeller’s technical writing class twice during spring semester. They focused on project management, effective communication and the importance of working with and connecting to clients.

Full Story: http://news.uwlax.edu/writing-for-work/

College Writing I Symposium - Friday, April 26th, 9:00-2:00, Hall of Nations, Centennial Hall

2013-04-24T11:35:52-05:00

On Friday, April 26th, 2013, the UW-L English Department will host the second annual UW-L College Writing I Symposium. UW-L students currently enrolled in our ENG 110 and 112 (College Writing I) courses will present original papers on a wide variety of research topics.

There will be multiple hour-long paper sessions that will begin at 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 1:00 pm. Please come to the registration and welcome room in the Hall of Nations, Centennial Hall, and join us for one, two, or all three sessions. Together, we will celebrate the work of our College Writing I students. If you have questions, contact Dr. Darci Thoune, Freshman Writing Program Coordinator, at dthoune@uwlax.edu or 608-785-6921.

Science and Chinese Buddhism - May 2nd, 4:30-6:30, 3212 Centennial Hall.

2013-04-22T13:09:25-05:00

The English Department is sponsoring a pair of presentations on Science and Chinese Buddhism on May 2nd at 4:30 in 3212 Centennial Hall.

Master Xianqi
"The Scientific Spirit in the Development of Chinese Buddhism"

Ven. Xianqi, PhD, is a member of the Management Committee of Beijing Longquan Monastery, in charge of the Charity Dept. (Beijing Ren Ai Charity Foundation), the Culture Dept., Voice of Longquan website, Beijing Great Sinology Foundation, and the Cartoon and Animation Group.

Master Xianwei
“The Dialogue Between Buddhism and Science”

Ven. Xianwei, MA and ABD, is Secretary to the Management Committee of Beijing Longquan Monastery.

"A consummation devoutly to be wished": Observations on sleep and dreams in Agrippa's philosophy, Shakespeare's plays, and Lovecraft's horror. - April 19th, 2:30-3:30, Wimberly 113

2013-04-15T10:30:30-05:00

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

Dr. Ryan Friesen, English Department faculty member, will continue the English Department's 2012-2013 William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series with a presentation entitled "'A consummation devoutly to be wished': Observations on sleep and dreams in Agrippa's philosophy, Shakespeare's plays, and Lovecraft's horror." Today, when we ask "Why did I dream that?" we likely mean "What does it say about me that my brain authored that dream?" However, in the early modern works Dr. Friesen will examine, characters asking "Why did I dream that?" are more likely to mean "How did that dream end up in my head? Where, outside of me, did it come from, and why?" Comparing the insights of twentieth and twenty-first century science to the early modern understanding of sleep and dreaming in order to better comprehend this biological "constant," Dr. Friesen will focus on dreams described in literature as mundane, non-mystical, non-prophetic experiences related to the inner life of the dreamer. These dreams, having originated within the dreamer, provide the closest functional overlap with our time period's perspectives on the dreaming phenomena. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 19^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.

"The Quest for Knightly Identity: Knight-Errant or Knight-Domestic?" - March 8th, 2:30-3:30, Wimberly 113

2013-03-01T14:03:48-06:00

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

Dr. Rebekah Fowler, English Department faculty member, will continue the English Department’s 2012-2013 William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series with a presentation entitled "The Quest for Knightly Identity: Knight-Errant or Knight-Domestic?" Medieval romances are rife with tales of knight errantry, but what happens when a knight wishes to replace a life of adventure and tournaments with one of domestic stability and defense of home and family? In this presentation, Dr. Fowler will examine how Chrétien de Troyes’ Yvain, ou le Chevalier au Lion represents the emergence of the "domestic knight" as an alternative knightly identity to the more common romance ideal of the knight errant. In particular, she will consider the social construction of masculine identity and the quest for suitable social (and individual?) roles. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, March8^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.

Faculty-Student Collaboration Yields Publication

2013-02-15T16:13:41-06:00

Article Excerpt:

“Preservice teachers entering their field experiences face challenges even when they are well prepared with course work in research-based writing pedagogy. Erika Kramer was one of those preservice teachers. She had completed a full semester course in writing pedagogy with Dr. Virginia Crank before beginning her Teaching and Learning English in the Secondary Schools course with Dr. Margaret Finders. The Teaching and Learning course included a required co-enrollment field experience that was supervised by faculty in the Education Department. At the end of the semester, we (Virginia and Margaret) asked to talk with Erika because she was especially adept at negotiating the competing expectations; while Dr. Finders asked her to teach writing rhetorically, her cooperating teacher wanted her to teach compound and complex sentence worksheets. Erika sat down across from us and remarked, “I was surprised when I first went into the field. I thought teachers would be teaching writing the way I was learning it.” Erika’s admission troubled us.

After conversations, the three of us decided to write together. Given the complexities of the field experience, we asked ourselves what can we do to help our preservice teachers hold to theoretical and pedagogical tools appropriate in the teaching of writing when they face a field context in which writing may be reduced to teaching a set of rules and prescriptions?

---

For new teachers, understanding what is expected of them in the context in which they work is essential for their success and for the success of their students. Yet we in higher education may tend to ignore or degrade the contexts which our preservice teachers enter as they begin their field experiences. We may simply say “don’t do it that way” if we talk about the context at all. We, most often, design our coursework around theoretical and pedagogical research-based writing pedagogy, ignoring the realities of the contexts into which they enter. It is important to note that each field’s context may be different: some preservice teachers may find a rigid environment while others find they have a cooperating teacher who provides a rhetorical approach to teaching writing; many may find themselves somewhere between. Most will have varied expectations throughout their field experiences through student teaching and into their first years of teaching. Erika and other preservice teachers like her must negotiate these competing expectations with or without the help of university teachers. We should not let them meet the field with surprise and without the tools needed to negotiate any nonalignment. Certainly there are many cooperating teachers who employ a theoretical research-based approach to writing pedagogy, and perhaps we have provided enough support for those preservice teachers who work with them. But preservice teachers will likely face nonalignment in expectations at some time throughout their early years of teaching. In this article we will address how Erika, one preservice teacher, attempted to confront this nonalignment. Promoting a more complex view of writing in the school contexts can be quite a challenge and is one that we are attempting to meet as teacher educators. The purpose of this article is to share the complexities that Erika faced. More specifically, what we offer here is an account of her instructional approach as she attempted to teach writing meaningfully. And finally we will reflect on what might happen in a content pedagogy course to better prepare preservice teachers to meet the challenges and be better prepared to navigate any nonalignment in more pedagogically sound ways.”

Read the full article in Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Rhetoric and Writing Senior Presentations - December 11th, 11:00-12:30, Wimberly 229

2012-12-04T21:44:45-06:00

On December 11th, from 11:00-12:30, in Wimberly 229, senior Rhetoric and Writing majors who are currently taking English 413 will present papers engaging some of the most pressing issues in contemporary writing studies, including e-publishing, political rhetoric, and posthuman representations.

Presenters:

Jessica Haugen
Amanda McAllister
Melissa Moss
Kathleen Powers
Cassandra Schwarzenstein

The presentations are free and open to the public and everyone is welcome to attend!

“The Battle Without Killing: Eliza Haywood and the Politics of Attempted Rape” - December 7th, 2:30-3:30, Wimberly 113

2012-11-29T11:38:19-06:00

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

Dr. Kate Parker, English Department faculty member, will continue the English Department’s 2012-2013 William J. and Yvonne Hyde Colloquium Series with a presentation entitled “The Battle Without Killing: Eliza Haywood and the Politics of Attempted Rape.” This presentation brings eighteenth-century poetry into conversation with the burgeoning domestic novel through a case study of Haywood’s The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless (1751) and its mock-heroic depictions of attempted rape. Dr. Parker contends that, through Haywood’s parodic and often disturbingly comic representations of sexual violence, she both instantiates and resists a mock-heroic model of rape (elsewhere exemplified by poems like Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock) that trivializes both the female experience of desire and the social dynamics of courtship in eighteenth-century fiction. The presentation runs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. on Friday, December7^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.

English Club Poetry Reading - December 6th, 4:00-6:00, at the Myrick-Hixon Gun Club Shelter

2012-11-27T13:21:56-06:00

On Thursday, December 6th, from 4:00-6:00pm the English Club will be hosting a fireside reading of poetry (or a paragraph from any other favorite fictional story or non-fiction essay) at the Myrick-Hixon Gun Club Shelter. We will provide hot beverages and some treats to share.

Dessa -- essayist, rapper, and spoken word artist -- November 27th, 6:00-7:15 -- Valhalla

2012-11-26T11:29:10-06:00

We are excited to welcome Dessa Darling to UWL as a speaker on Tuesday, November 27th, 6:00-7:15 pm in Valhalla, meet-and-greet to follow in the Ward Room.

Dessa is an essayist, rapper and spoken word artist from Minneapolis, MN. For the past 7 years Dessa has been involved in the Minneapolis hip-hop scene as a member of the rap-collective Doomtree. In addition, Dessa has released two solo projects, A Badly Broken Code and Castor, The Twin. Dessa has also published a collection of essays (Spiral Bound), taught at Smith McNally College of Music, and writes for The Star Tribune. Dessa visits to speak on the ethical relationships between art, academia, language, and class -- she is locating this particular discussion in rap, but the ramifications of the talk will be wide-reaching.