Scissortail 2011: Mark your calendars!

Honors Convocation 2010

Dr. Trisha Yarbrough, English professor and University Honors Program Director, welcomed everyone to the 2010 Honors Convocation at the Ataloa Theater today. Dr. Mark Hollingsworth (see image at left), new Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, played the bagpipes and led the procession to the ceremony (see video above), which featured a barefoot poetry reading by English major Ben Nicolls (who gave a shout out to the inspirational Gothic Literature course he took here last spring; that's Ben in the photo at right). Also of note: English major, Lindsey Dugan, was recognized an outstanding Honors sophomore, and Dr. Bill Osborne, who gave the convocation address, informed us that Walt Disney is one of his favorite leaders. Dr. Osborne's message? Dream, Dare, Do.

Among those representing the English and Languages department at the event: Chair Dr. Jennifer McMahon (with Ben below to the left), Honors Society Faculty Sponsor Dr. Robin Murphy, and her esteemed colleague Dr. Eril Hughes (at right).

Honors students in the English and Languages department (in addition to Ben and Lindsey) include: Audreana Lynn Cameron, Jenny Lynn Crelia, Allison R. Finley, Nathan C. Griffin, Zachery Tylor Hubbard, Macy Renae McDonald, John Michael Norman, Kaci Leigh Plunkett, Marc Ryan Ruhnke, Jennifer D. Sanchez, Alexandra R. Taussig, Tahrea W. Millberry, Emily Rae Starkey, Megan Taylor Van Eaton, and Hailey Dawn Wansick.

Mental Courage

The following article by David Brooks, "A Case of Mental Courage," was published on the New York Times website on August 23, 1010 (click here to read Brooks's article there or just follow the jump) :

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In 1811, the popular novelist Fanny Burney learned she had breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy without anesthesia. She lay down on an old mattress, and a piece of thin linen was placed over her face, allowing her to make out the movements of the surgeons above her. (Ed. The painting of Burney at left was made by her cousin, Edward Francesco Burney, in 1782.)

“I felt the instrument — describing a curve — cutting against the grain, if I may so say, while the flesh resisted in a manner so forcible as to oppose & tire the hand of the operator who was forced to change from the right to the left,” she wrote later.

“I began a scream that lasted intermittingly during the whole time of the incision — & I almost marvel that it rings not in my ears still.” The surgeon removed most of the breast but then had to go in a few more times to complete the work: “I then felt the Knife rackling against the breast bone — scraping it! This performed while I yet remained in utterly speechless torture.”

The operation was ghastly, but Burney’s real heroism came later. 

To read the rest of the article, click on the "Read more" link below.

Plagiarism is Not a Big Moral Deal

check out the following article by Stanley Fish, which was published ONLINE at the nytimes website on  AUGUST 9, 2010 at 9 PM. 

During my tenure as the dean of a college, I determined that an underperforming program should be closed. My wife asked me if I had ever set foot on the premises, and when I answered “no,” she said that I really should do that before wielding the axe.

And so I did, in the company of my senior associate dean. We toured the offices and spoke to students and staff.  In the course of a conversation, one of  the program’s co-directors  pressed on me his latest book. I opened it to the concluding chapter, read the first two pages, and remarked to my associate dean, “This is really good.”

But on the way back to the administration building, I suddenly flashed on the pages I admired and began to suspect that the reason I liked them so much was that I had written them.

And sure enough, when I got back to my office and pulled one of my books off the shelf, there the pages were, practically word for word. I telephoned the co-director, and told him that I had been looking at his book, and wanted to talk about it. He replied eagerly that he would come right over, but when he came in I pointed him to the two books — his and mine — set out next to each other with the relevant passages outlined by a marker.

To read the rest of the article, click here or on the link below . . .

Attention Storytellers

A message from Luke Cypert:

A group of ECU students is working to create a very high quality, professional short film this fall. But without an incredible story, all our work will be in vain. So we need students from your department to help us tell the best story we can. I've had the pleasure to be in a few classes with some English Majors, and the ones I've seen are great story tellers!

So here's what we need: two-three students to come to our brainstorming/story meeting on the 23rd of this month. Then, depending on who is the head writer and what support they need, there will be three days to write the script. It will then be reviewed and hopefully approved by the head production staff and then the dialogue will be rewritten as needed to better fit the actors that will be cast after the 23rd. On September 6, filming will begin and the writers should basically be done.

The script length will be from 5-25 minutes, and that will be decided on the 23rd.

Please let me know if you know of anyone who would be interested.

Thanks!

Luke Cypert

Executive Producer

580-272-3056

Image source: Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929) http://www.uniondocs.org/conflux-2007-film-program/

Sugar Mule is here!

Now online:  The Sugar Mule special edition of Oklahoma Writing, featuring ECU writers Christopher W. Clark, Jeanne Dunbar-Green, Ken Hada, Hugh Tribbey and Mark Walling (congrats to you all!).  Click here to check it out.


The print edition should be out after the first of the year (2011).


Don't miss the introduction, by guest editor Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, who gives a shout-out to the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival, which is, Mish writes:  "the heart and soul of Oklahoma writing. Every April, writers from across Oklahoma, and some who just like to visit every once in a while, gather in Ada (at East Central University) to read their work. Nationally-known writers read for fifteen minutes alongside beginning and mid-career writers who read for the same fifteen minutes. [Festival Director Ken] Hada's mantra is 'Check your egos at the door,' and the result is a homegrown celebration of creativity that easily rivals festivals I've attended in New York."