Commencement 2011: The December Version

In 1905, Einstein was an "obscure Swiss patent clerk."

This fall's commencement address was delivered by Reggie Whitten, co-founder and managing partner of the Whitten Burrage law firm in Oklahoma City, co-founder of the Whitten-Newman Foundation, "which helps children realize their potential," and Pros for Africa, an international relief organization that "provides necessities for disadvantaged children of war, poverty and natural disaster."  Mr. Whitten used the example of Albert Einstein and the power of the atomic bomb to remind graduates that "world-changing events . . . can come from one person." "Through the power of education, you can make your dreams come true," he added, so "make sure that you don't dream small."


I counted eight English majors listed in the program as candidates for Bachelor's degrees:  James K Brockman, Jenny Lynn Crelia, Ashley Renee Deskin, Allison Renee' Finley, Travis Lynn Gasaway, Shannon Allie McKim, Trevor Michael Smith, and Coby Lynn Thornton.

Anthology of Oklahoma Writing Released

Mongrel Empire Press, An Eclectic Publishing House specializing in regional and unusual literary works, announces the upcoming release of Ain't Nobody That Can Sing Like Me: New Oklahoma Writing.

The anthology's title is taken from a Woody Guthrie lyric entitled "Way Down Yonder in the Minor Key": "Way down yonder in the minor key/There ain't nobody that can sing like me." (Click here to see a video featuring a version of the song performed by Billy Bragg and Natalie Merchant.)

Jeanetta Calhoun Mish

The collection was first compiled and released as a special edition #35 of Sugar Mule Literary Journal (www.sugarmule.com). The print version includes all selections from the online version, plus works from four additional authors. An introduction by the editor, award-winning Oklahoma poet Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, opens the collection.

This groundbreaking anthology includes 188 selections of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, essays, and visual art by 78 writers and 2 visual artists who currently live in the state. Many of the authors have published their work previously; several are published here for the first time. Oklahomans will be pleased to find many of their favorite regional authors and will undoubtedly find new favorites. Ada area authors include: Michael West, ECU student Christopher Clark, and ECU faculty and instructors Jeanne Dunbar Green, Ken Hada, Hugh Tribbey, Mark Walling and former dean Alvin Turner.  People from outside the state can enjoy top-notch writing that is not limited by regionalism but instead energized by it. 

The anthology is available at BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com, and Powells.com. Bookstores and other retailers can order either directly from the Press (at any time) or from Ingram & Taylor (after December 15); Mongrel Empire Press offers standard trade discounts and return (www.mongrelemprie.org).

Billy Bragg and Natalie Merchant sing Woody Guthrie's "Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key"

Fall Honors Showcase 2010

English majors Kaci Plunkett, Alex Taussig, Ben Nicolls, and Jenny Crelia (who will be graduating December 11th, and who successfully defended her thesis last week) will be presenting Honors Projects at the Honors Showcase Thursday, Dec 2, at 4 p.m. in Estep Auditorium.

They would appreciate your interest and support.

Hada at Red Lion Square

This link will take you to Red Lion Square, where Dr. Hada's poetry is featured today.  (Hada rhymes with Ada, by the way;  not intifada.)

The Eye of the Writing Center Tiger

We came, we saw, we colloquiued . . . twice!

Today at 11 a.m. and Friday at 9 a.m. (see photo at right), Drs. Benton, Grasso, Hada, McMahon, and Walling, Yarbrough participated in a colloquy on literary analysis. We also distributed literary analysis guidelines. If you would like one, just let one of us know.

And please use the comment space at the bottom of this post if you have something to contribute to the discussion (or a question to raise).

Colloquium on Literary Analysis--Friday at 9, Monday at 11

You are invited to attend a Colloquy on Literary Analysis:

Friday, October 29th (that’s tomorrow!) at 9 a.m. in HM 342 (Dr. Hada’s Critical Approaches to Prose class)

OR

Monday, November 1st (that’s Monday) at 11 a.m. in HM 333 (Dr. Yarbrough’s American Literature Survey class).

Professors Benton, Grasso, Hada, McMahon, Walling, and Yarbrough will appear at one or both of these colloquium to discuss the qualities of the best, student-written literary analyses, and answer questions about how students can improve their skills as writers of literary analysis. We will also distribute a 4-page guideline to literary analysis that we have collectively authored.

If you are not already enrolled in Dr. Hada’s or Dr. Yarbrough’s classes, but would like to attend, please send me a note so we can make sure there are enough seats for everyone.

Thank you,

Steve Benton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Department of English and Languages

sbenton@ecok.edu

Hamlet at ECU--Thursday, November 4 at noon!

You are invited to a free, one-hour presentation of:

     The Time is Out of Joint: A Study of Hamlet

       on Thursday, November 4, 2010,  at 12:00 noon

       in the Ataloa Theater of the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center,

       presented by the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival.

ECU’s Department of English and Languages and the Center of Continuing Education and Community Services host the 15th Annual Oklahoma Literary Arts Festival next Thursday, which offers workshops for high school students and teachers from 8:30-11:30 a.m.  Then, the general session is from 12:00-1:00 p.m., and features the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival’s touring version of Hamlet. The front section of the Ataloa Theater is reserved for the registered high school participants, but we are delighted to open up the rest of that beautiful auditorium to any ECU students, faculty, staff, or community members who would like to enjoy an hour of award-winning Shakespearean Theatre:

Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival presents the award-winning production of The Time Is Out of Joint: A Study of Hamlet.  This 50-minute version of Shakespeare’s classic provides all the pageantry, drama, and action of the original but in an abbreviated format.  Six highly talented actors play multiple parts in this touring production.  This show, under the nationally award-winning direction of Dell McLain, provides a fresh but respectful interpretation of one of the greatest dramas of all time.  McLain is a member of Actor’s Equity Association, the National Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, is a recipient of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Bronze Medallion and National Directing Fellowship, and is the Associate Artistic Director for the Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival.

The Time Is Out of Joint:  A Study of Hamlet was originally created by the late OSF Artistic Director Dr. Molly Risso.  McLain divided the role of Hamlet itself among three actors who collectively represent the besieged young prince of Denmark.  “I went back to the work of legendary theatre innovator of the 60’s and 70’s Paul Baker,” McLain added.  “Baker was Molly’s mentor and had begun experimenting with this division of the part prior to founding the Dallas Theatre Center.”  McLain recently directed the production at the Blackbird Theatre in New York City.

  Admission is free.  If you have any questions, please call Ms. Charlee Lanis at 580-559-5457 (clanis@ecok.edu) or Dr. Teresa Rothrock at 580-559-5439 (trothrock@ecok.edu). 

Midsummer Night's Dream at ECU--Tuesday, November 2nd

On Tuesday November 2^nd at 7:30pm Aquila Theatre will present Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the Hallie Brown Ford Fine Arts Center Ataloa Theatre. This timeless comedy has delighted audiences for centuries, and Aquila’s imaginative interpretation will renew the magic of Shakespeare’s plot. Set against a classical Athenian backdrop, A Midsummer Night’s Dream deals with the universal theme of love, and its attendant complications: passion, lust, frustration, depression, confusion, and, of course, marriage.

    

 Aquila’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been praised by The New York Times as “Timely and pleasing...this “Dream” soothes the eye and tickles the funny bone”. Aquila’s comedic mastery, physical ensemble techniques, and proven successes with their critically acclaimed productions of Shakespeare promise that this will be a Dream you won’t soon forget.

 

   Tickets are $18 for adults, and $15 for ECU Faculty, Staff & Students. Tickets may be purchased in advance by credit card at the ECU Bursar’s Office or at the HBFFAC Ticket Booth starting at 6pm the night of the performance.  Reservations are recommended. There is a free pre-performance discussion at 6:30pm in the Chalmers Herman theatre.

For more information, visit www.ecok.edu/hbffac

This performance is sponsored in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council & ECU Cultural Activities Committee.

What the Critics Say…

“Unmistakable fun…” ~ Headline- Los Angeles Times

“…eclectically entertaining…” ~The New York Times

“This is the most exhilarating, inventive theater company that has put down roots here in many years.”~ The American Reporter

“…a truly innovative and potent theatrical achievement…” ~ The Bermuda Royal Gazette

 “The classics made relevant with superb acting and clever staging.” ~ The New Yorker

ECU Haiku

The following are first-time attempts at haiku, recently written by students in Dr. Hada’s Non-Western literature course.

schoolyard merry-go-round

withering Oak

bum perched on sidewalk

(Tarek Nakad)

through winter wood

a bounding fox

to an icy glade

(Kaitlyn Hatton)

melting moon cloud

Indian Summer froze time

interstate love

(Sommer Stevens)

majestic mountains

green, yellow, red, orange, gold

refreshing autumn

(Kadee Wilbanks)

lonely dirt road

Autumn trees whisper

sunlight glows

(Angela Skinner)

unappreciated stone

ostentatious horizon

resigned ending

(Stephanie Davis)

memories shaken

thoughts painfully unraveled

unknown desires found

(Joshua Francis)

light shines in darkness

eyes closed protect against light

but still the light shines

(Rain Harrell)

Photo by Tim Byrne

changing of leaves

a dancer glides gracefully

tired hearts smile

(Sierra Barnhart)

contorted it lives

aware of the passing sun

uncurled it grasps

(KC Cole)

simple life

undesired obstacles abundant

distinct change

(Kasey Sheppard)

Photo by Adam Jones

old man in rocking chair

leaves falling at dusk

casualties of Time

                                (Lacie McCaskill)

leaves change

stone bench beside icy pond

large mocha - $3.49

(Josh McNeely)

dancing butterflies

fluttering in spring air

new beginnings

(Candace Grissom)

friends smiling, no worries

pain, loss and heartache

memories and laughter

                        (Betty Hargus)

Photo by Patrick Henson

cold breeze gray sky night

no lights as sky cries loud

screams are forgotten

(Rain Harrell)

Sycamore leaf

floating over granite

short-lived grace

(Ken Hada)

wind-swept grass

thunderheads

partners in creation

                        (Ken Hada)

dripping eaves

eventually

move a mountain of snow

(Ken Hada)

Photo by E. A. Roberts

caterpillar

crawling over cracked sidewalks

what might be

(Ken Hada)

crisp autumn air
moonlight shining bright
laughter, so full of life

(Angela Jasna)

Party!

Personal Statement Workshop

Who:                Writing Center director Kevin Davis will conduct a

What:               workshop for students needing to write a Personal Statement for admission to graduate school or a professional program on

When:              Thursday, 28 October, 4:00-5:00 in the

Where:            Academic Engagement Center, Faust Hall 159.

Please call (559-5331) or e-mail (kdavis@ecok.edu) for additional information.

Prairie Home Hada

This just in:

Garrison Keillor, host of A Prairie Home Companion and of The Writer's Almanac, would like to include poems by Ken Hada in his program [That's Keillor on the left in the photo at right]. The poems and broadcast date are:

“Old Men” from Spare Parts October 25, 2010
“A Blessing” from Spare Parts October 27, 2010
“Mormon Missionaries Pay Me a Visit” from Spare Parts October 30, 2010

The Writer’s Almanac is a daily radio program produced by American Public Media (APM). In each program Mr. Keillor presents a list of cultural events and anniversaries, many associated with literature and literary figures, then ends with the poetry reading. APM currently distributes the program for broadcast to about 320 non-commercial public radio stations around the country. The program audio is also streamed and podcast from and archived on the APM website at http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org and may be streamed, archived on carrying station websites as well. In addition, we would appreciate permission to put the text of the poem on those websites and promotional materials, only in connection with The Writer’s Almanac.

This, of course, means that all of us who know Dr. Hada are now just two degrees of separation away from Lindsey Lohan!  (And Meryl Streep.)  Woo hoo!


Congrats, Dr. Hada!

"The Hollow Men" is 75 years old

T. S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men" was published 75 years ago. Here are two video/readings of the poem:

Submit to Originals!

Originals, ECU's student literary magazine, is currently accepting submissions for its 2011 volume.

Students may submit original poetry, short fiction, drama, or screenplays.

Email submissions to ecuoriginals@yahoo.com by Oct. 29.

For more information, contact Dr. Mark Walling at 559-5440 or mwalling@ecok.edu.

World Literature Festival in Norman--October 20-22

Thank you, Dr. McMahon, for the heads up!  This happens during Fall Break, people, so it won't conflict with classes.

Mon dieu!

If you haven't welcomed Mindie Dieu back to campus yet, the wagging finger of shame wags for thee (and for the editor of this blog).

She rejoined the faculty of the English and Languages department way back in August.

Grasso, Defoe and the "True-Bred Merchant"

ECU's very own Dr. Joshua Grasso has just had an article published in The Defoe Society's journal (exclusively on-line), Digital Defoe (click here to visit the journal's website). Dr Grasso's article appears after an article by Max Novak, one of the biggest scholars in the field.  That's Novak above at left,  Dr. Grasso on the right, and Defoe himself, a little lower down on the left.

Check out this message from Digital Defoe:

Dear Colleagues,

We are excited to announce the publication of the second issue of Digital Defoe: Studies in Defoe & His Contemporaries, the peer-reviewed, multi-media online journal of the Defoe Society that celebrates the works and culture of the late seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century. You can now access the second issue of the journal [ by clicking on this link] .

This issue, “Strangers, Gods, & Monsters,” features scholarly and pedagogical articles, two book reviews, a note, and recent dissertation and conference paper abstracts. We are also very pleased to feature a special online collection of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century critical writings on Defoe researched and compiled by Penny Pritchard. The articles, book reviews and note are as follows:

*Geoffrey Sill, “Defoe and the Birth of the Imaginary”

*Maximillian E. Novak, “Defoe’s Spirits, Apparitions and the Occult”

*Joshua Grasso, “The Providence of Pirates: Defoe and the ‘True-Bred Merchant’”

*Scott Nowka, “Building the Wall: Crusoe and the Other”

*Allison Muri, “Digital Natives or Digital Strangers? Teaching the Eighteenth Century Online, from Ctrl-F to Digital Editions”

*George E. Haggerty’s Review of Defoe's Writing and Manliness: Contrary Men, by Stephen H. Gregg

*Gabriel Cervantes’s Review of A Critical Study of Daniel Defoe’s Verse: Recovering the Neglected Corpus of His Poetic Work, by Andreas K. E. Mueller

*Patrick Tonks’s Note on “Robinson Crusoe’s Brazilian Expedition and The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database” 

 . . . Thank you to all of our contributing authors and to all who helped make the second issue of Digital Defoe: Studies in Defoe & His Contemporaries possible,

Katherine Ellison and Holly Faith Nelson

Co-Editors, Digital Defoe

ISSN 1948-1802

Studying Non-Western Literature: "Boo!" or "Woo-hoo!"?

This Wednesday, September 28, 2010, Dr. Grasso and I will be guest speakers in Dr. Hada’s Non-Western Literature class. Dr. Hada has asked us to stage a discussion/debate about the value of studying Non-Western literature. I have been assigned the task of arguing that studying Non-Western literature is not something we should highly value.

In anticipation of our discussion, I suggested to Dr. Grasso that he and I do a little “prep” work in advance. At first, I thought we could do this via e-mail, but later it occurred to me that it would be better to do it in this public space so that other people could listen in or weigh in, either before or after Wednesday’s event. Drs. Grasso and Hada have agreed and so I am going to post some of the ideas I have already thrown out there to my distinguished colleagues via e-mail with the expectation that Dr. Grasso will cut and paste some of his responses into the comment sections of this post. And we'll go from there.  (There's more on the other side of the photo below.)

Click here to learn more about this strange advertisement.

At first glance, it seems to me that there are two major directions I could take my argument:

1) Reading Non-Western literature should not be a big priority for Westerners—especially, novice undergraduates—because as Westerners, we should first (and mainly) focus on a subject that is closer to our experience before we try to learn about something that is completely alien to us; and

2) Literature should be judged on its own merits, not because it is “Western” or “non-Western.” To require a class in “Non-Western” literature is to try enact some kind of Affirmative Action policy for literature that would not otherwise find its way into the syllabus. Such a policy is patronizing. Literature should be valued for its sophistication or its impact, not its country of origin (or the racial identity of its author).

Share Your Research

This just in from Vivian W. Whitney:

"Cameron University  will host Oklahoma Research Day on November 12.  The deadline to register and submit an abstract is October 4^th. . . . We need your help to ensure that ECU research efforts are well represented at this statewide event. If you have conducted research, please submit an abstract of your work.

"ECU faculty and student  involvement in research increases each year.  Let’s make sure that these efforts are displayed on Oklahoma Research Day. 

"So, please register to attend Oklahoma Research Day and/or to submit an abstract online at the following link: http://www.cameron.edu/okresearchday/registration.

"Please contact Nancy Thomason for additional information @ x259  nthmsn@ecok.edu  and Norma Stettler @ x667  nstettlr@ecok.edu  to sign up to ride the bus to Lawton."

Monday at 3 in the Salon (HM 345): Meet and Greet Your Departmental Comrades

Dr. Hada's New Website

Check it out (click here)!

The 7th Annual R. Darryl Fisher Creative Writing

East Central University 

                                                                             Ada, Oklahoma

                               

Presents the 7th Annual R. Darryl Fisher Creative Writing Contest

Oklahoma’s Most Prestigious High School Writing Competition

Prizes awarded at the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, March 31 - April 2, 2011

     Fiction:      1st Place $250                            Poetry:       1st Place $250

                        2nd Place $150                                              2nd Place $150

                        3rd Place $100                                              3rd Place $100

                                       20 Honorable Mention Awards of $25 each

Guidelines:

* All Oklahoma high school students (9th - 12th grade) are eligible.

* Poetry (up to 100 lines) or Short Fiction (up to 6,000 words) is acceptable.

* Limit 5 poems and 1 short fiction piece per student.

* All entries must be the original work of the student.

* All entries must be neatly typed; please double-space fiction entries.

* Entries will not be returned, so keep your originals.

* No identifying marks should be on the manuscript itself, except for the title.

* Provide cover page with contact information: 1) Student’s name; 2) Teacher’s name 3) School 4) Classification 5) Phone number, Email and mailing address.

* Work may be submitted through conventional mail or email.

DEADLINE: Conventional mail must be postmarked on or before February 4, 2011.  Email entries must be sent by 11:59 p.m. on February 4, 2011.  There will be no exceptions.

* Winners will be notified by March 1, 2011.  Winners will be presented with awards at the Scissortail Writing Festival held on the East Central University campus.   List of winners and winning entries will be posted online at www.ecuscissortail.blogspot.com.  Winning entries from 2010 are available on this website.      

Poetry Submissions: send work electronically as attached files to jgrasso@ecok.edu or mail to Dr. Joshua Grasso, East Central University, Dept. of English & Languages, 1100 E. 14th St., Ada, OK 74820

Fiction Submissions: send work electronically as attached files to mwalling@ecok.edu or mail to Dr. Mark Walling, East Central University, Dept. of English and Languages, 1100 E. 14th St., Ada, OK 74820

Contest Information: Dr. Joshua Grasso (580-559-5430); Dr. Mark Walling (580-559-5440).  Scissortail Creative Writing Festival Information: Dr. Ken Hada (580-559-5557)

10 Tips on How to Write Less Badly

The article excerpted below is by Michael C. Munger, professor at Duke University, was published in the September 6, 2010, issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education. Thanks to Dr. Rothrock for giving us the heads up.  (Click here to read the whole article.)

September 6, 2010

By Michael C. Munger [ed. that's Munger at right, when he ran for as the Libertarian candidate for governor of North Carolina in 2008]

Most academics, including administrators, spend much of our time writing. But we aren't as good at it as we should be. I have never understood why our trade values, but rarely teaches, nonfiction writing.

In my nearly 30 years at universities, I have seen a lot of very talented people fail because they couldn't, or didn't, write. And some much less talented people (I see one in the mirror every morning) have done OK because they learned how to write.

It starts in graduate school. There is a real transformation, approaching an inversion, as people switch from taking courses to writing. Many of the graduate students who were stars in the classroom during the first two years—the people everyone admired and looked up to—suddenly aren't so stellar anymore. And a few of the marginal students—the ones who didn't care that much about pleasing the professors by reading every page of every assignment—are suddenly sending their own papers off to journals, getting published, and transforming themselves into professional scholars.

The difference is not complicated. It's writing.

Rachel Toor and other writers on these pages have talked about how hard it is to write well, and of course that's true. Fortunately, the standards of writing in most disciplines are so low that you don't need to write well. What I have tried to produce below are 10 tips on scholarly nonfiction writing that might help people write less badly.

1. Writing is an exercise. You get better and faster with practice. If you were going to run a marathon a year from now, would you wait for months and then run 26 miles cold? No, you would build up slowly, running most days. You might start on the flats and work up to more demanding and difficult terrain. To become a writer, write. Don't wait for that book manuscript or that monster external-review report to work on your writing.

Research?

Dr. Kevin Davis writes:

"Hear this story on NPR about specialized search engines?  

"The religious search engine Seekfind, for example, responds to a search for 'democratic party' with sites on Marxism, and a search for 'Barack Obama' returns with 'Is Barack Obama the antichrist' as the #1 source."

Thanks for the heads up, Dr. Davis!

Dear Ishmael

Dr. McMahon just called our attention to this invitation:

"The innovative blog LETTERS WITH CHARACTER (the blog name is a link) asks visitors to submit the letters in which they write directly to a character from their favorite piece of fiction. As the site says, the letters can be sad, digressive, trenchant, or trivial; the only rule is that the letters must be written by a real person to an unreal one.

"With contributors writing to famous literary characters ranging from Margaret of Judy Blume's Are You There God?  It's Me, Margaret to Moby Dick's Ishmael, the blog demonstrates a wide variety of literary experiences in an inspiring way."

Copenhagen in Norman

Rilla Askew writes:

Hi friends. 

I wanted to let you know that my husband Paul Austin is here in Oklahoma acting in a play at OU that opens later this week.  Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen is a fascinating play based on a meeting that took place between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg at Bohr's home in Copenhagen in 1941 in the early years of WWII when both sides were working to develop the atomic bomb.

The play originally debuted in London in 1998, and the New York production won a Tony for Best Play in 2000 [see image at right].  It’s really an amazing work, and this production, directed by Susan Shaunessy, looks to be outstanding.  Paul is Niels Bohr and Tom Orr, chairman of the OU Theatre Department and a really outstanding actor, plays Heisenberg.  Although Paul has performed in films, television, and all over New York, this is his first time to act in Oklahoma. I hope you’ll get a chance to see it. 

The show opens Thursday, September 9 at the Weitzenhoffer Theatre in the Fine Arts Center on the OU campus. It runs Thursday-Saturday, September 9-11, at 8:00 PM, with a Sunday matinee on September 13 at 3:00 PM.  After the Sunday matinee there will be a Symposium and Reception in the theatre lobby to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of OU’s Physics Department.  The Theatre Box Office phone is 405-325-4101. More information on the attached poster.

All best,

Rilla

Everett Poetry Series: Ken Hada

Poet Ken Hada, Director of the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, will read from his new book of poetry, Spare Parts.  Book signing and reception to follow.

7:00pm – 8:30pm

Jacobson House Native Art Center
609 Chautauqua Avenue, Norman, OK 73026
(405) 366-1667
 http://tiny.cc/EverettPoetrySeries

Free!

Sigma Tau Delta: Today at Two

Please join us at 2:00 in the Tower Room of the University Center for the first Sigma Tau Delta meeting of the Fall 2010 semester. We will be discussing a recent article on "Plato's Pop Culture Problem," and following this debate wherever it takes us. Hope you can make it!


Remember, we meet the first Friday of every month at 2:00 during the fall semester, so mark it on your portable electronic calendar simulacrum devices!


Joshua Grasso