CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON THEa necdote THE NEWSLETTER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, COMPARATIVE LITERATURE, AND LINGUISTICS
inside:
200 years of frankenstein — students awarded mellon mays fellowships — new faculty books
V O L U M E 9 — 2019 c o nt ent s — vo l . 9 — 2 019 CONTENTS
11
2 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR STEPHEN J. MEXAL
3 SCHOOL SUPPLIES CHRIS RUIZ-VELASCO
5 GONE WILD IRENA PRAITIS
7 MUGGLE STUDIES CHRIS RUIZ-VELASCO
9 “ALL THE LEARNED AND AUTHENTIC FELLOWS” IRENA PRAITIS 17
11 TRACE ELEMENTS
13 OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IRENA PRAITIS
14 THE “E-WORD” AKEEM FHAMI
15 200 YEARS OF FRANKENSTEIN JESSICA SHAW AND NICOLE VANDEVER
17 BUILDING BRIDGES CHRIS RUIZ-VELASCO
19 THE EDIT BACK MATTER 11 5
ON THE COVER: The recently renovated Titan Student Union. Photo courtesy CSUF News Center.
1 — THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 a letter from the chair — stephen j. mexal
letter from the chair
ven though the California with, but those books also retain their legislature recently ap- value. This is true in a literal sense— proved a funding increase students can easily resell books if pub- for the California State Uni- lishers aren’t rushing out a new and versity (CSU) system, it’s no revised edition—but it’s true in a fig- Esecret that California, like many states, urative sense, too. It’s correct that has seen a slow disinvestment in high- English majors can easily sell their er education over the past several books. But they often don’t want to. decades. According to the Public Pol- The books that English majors pur- icy Institute of California, the CSU sys- chase represent a durable value. They tem has seen its state funding-per- represent a type of worth that has student fall by about 25%, in inflation-adjusted dol- stood the test of time. For many of our students, the lars, over the past forty years. In response, the CSU books they read for their major earn permanent places has steadily increased tuition in order to cover the on their bookshelves, well into their adult lives. I still loss. And in response to that, there’s been increased have—and still teach from—my tattered, marked-up grumbling that college, and all its associated costs, copy of Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury that I had has simply grown too expensive. to buy in my junior year of college. One recent bugaboo is textbook costs. It’s true that When people get indignant about textbook costs, I textbooks costs overall have spiked, far outstripping sometimes wonder if they’re really upset that other the rate of inflation. According to one study, they’ve books don’t represent the same sort of permanent increased by as much as 88% in the past ten years. value that English majors derive from their books. But it’s also true that not all textbooks are equally Of course, books alone don’t make a degree. As we expensive. were preparing this issue of The Anecdote, I was re- According to one study by the website Price- minded of the many outstanding experiences availa- onomics, English majors have the lowest per-textbook ble to students in English, Comparative Literature, and cost of any major, and some of the lowest textbook Linguistics. Those students are taught by award- costs overall. winning faculty, they’re supported by scholarships, This isn’t surprising. Many “textbooks” read by Eng- and they have innovative educational experiences. lish majors are not really textbooks at all, and are long In other words, it isn’t just the books that hold value. out of copyright. (Last I checked, Jane Austen’s not Our degree confers a durable value, too. cashing any fat royalty checks.) Yet the fact that English majors’ low book costs get Best, overlooked feels significant. It’s as if critics are for- getting all the things that makes an English degree Stephen J. Mexal great. After all, English majors’ book costs are low to begin
THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 — 2 student awards — vo l. 9 — 2 01 9
SCHOOL SUPPLIES
Students acknowledge ten years of support from the department’s largest scholarship
BY CHRIS RUIZ - VELASCO
3 — THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 o n c a mp us — jevid scholarships
s teachers, one of our main mis- difference. Through the JEVID Scholarship, For Lizette Arellano the JEVID Scholarship sions is to support our students. students have pursued their educations helped to ease the financial burden of We encourage them and we and goals. They have been able to put Graduate School despite facing very real help them along in their studies aside some of their worries in order to con- obstacles. “I currently work three jobs and and in their lives. This kind of centrate on the very real demands that live with my sister; therefore, I knew finan- supportA tends to be less quantifiable in higher education places on them. The JEV- cially it would be challenging to pay for nature. We offer advice, write letters of ID scholarship helps to meet student needs this program. Thankfully, the JEVID scholar- recommendation, and suggest other pro- in very real and material ways. ship was able to assist me in covering the fessors that might offer insights. Perhaps the best way to understand the tuition fees for my first year of graduate But we all know that, despite the popular support the JEVID Scholarship provides is school.” image of professors as cerebral creatures, through the voices of students who have Guadalupe Espinoza-Romero was able to unconcerned with banalities of daily life, been helped by the scholarship. use the support from the JEVID Scholarship we live in a world that requires us to use Christina Kolias, who applied for and to pay off pressing debt and to purchase a material resources, that makes life without received a JEVID Scholarship three times, lap top to assist in her studies. “I greatly material resources difficult, if not impossi- writes, “This scholarship has played a sub- appreciate the help and will be forever ble. In other words, we all need money, stantial role in my collegiate journey.” The grateful. Thank you for believing in me and and no one needs it more than our stu- JEVID Scholarship has provided Kolias with my dreams,” she writes. dents. opportunities to explore what being an The generous and flexible view of what That need is, for most departments, a English major means. She writes, “Because constitutes need is also a feature that has need that can rarely be met. We, however, of this scholarship, I have been able to assisted many of our students. For exam- in the Department of English, Comparative focus more on taking on other challenges ple, Elissa Saucedo was unable to qualify Literature, and Linguistics are extremely in and outside of the classroom instead of for many forms of financial assistance, de- fortunate. For ten years, since the 2007- getting rattled down with financial distress. spite her very real need. Saucedo explains. 2008 academic year, we have fortunately JEVID has allowed me the opportunity to “I was often discouraged from applying counted the JEVID Scholarship as a re- place more of my energy into working as a because my parents’ incomes exceed the source to help support students. high school and college tutor, working as amount that would allow me to receive As department chair Stephen Mexal an intern editorial assistant for Boom Cali- financial assistance; however, my parents pointed out, “Part of what makes the JEVID fornia, and getting involved on campus to are unable to help me financially, leaving a unique scholarship is its emphasis on become a more well-rounded scholar.” The me to pay for my schooling on my own.” need.” The JEVID Scholarship allows us to scholarship also plays an important role in Thanks to the JEVID Scholarship, Saucedo help students who have needs that might the realization of her larger ambitions. “My was able to receive support to pursue her not be met through other types of support. end goal is to become a community col- education, support that she could not get As Mexal further points out, “‘Need,’ for lege English professor and there are no elsewhere. “It has been the most influential this scholarship, is understood broadly. It words sufficient enough for me to express source of financial assistance that I have might refer to a student who’s the first how much this JEVID Scholarship has been received. As a student that does not re- member of her family to attend college, a a blessing in assisting me to reach my per- ceive financial aid, or assistance from my student who’s from a group who’s histori- sonal and professional goals.” For Kolias, parents, this has made my education far cally underrepresented in higher educa- “the support has meant the world.” more attainable. I cannot express how tion, a student who has family responsibili- The JEVID Scholarship has provided sup- much this has helped me to focus on my ties, a student who has financial burdens, port for students that need relief from fi- studies and encouraged me to pursue or any number of other things.” In other nancial pressure. Jordan Tharp explains, “I higher education.” words, the JEVID Scholarship takes a very graduate this May, and I know I was able to These are just a few of the students that generous view of need, seeing the needs of do so thanks to the scholarship. It has have been helped by the JEVID Scholar- students from more than a singular per- allowed me more freedom to spend time ship. To date 124 students have received spective, thus making the JEVID especially on my schoolwork and certainly gave me JEVID Scholarships. That is a lot of support effective for a department such as ours. motivation to do well.” Education is, for so for a lot of lives that have been changed The JEVID scholarship began as an anon- many students, the foundation for their through the generosity that the JEVID ymous donation that was designed specifi- future lives based on their work in the pre- Scholarship has extended to our students. cally to support our majors. The funding, sent. As Tharp states, “It gave me the finan- This scholarship is unique to the depart- as was later revealed, was provided by Da- cial support I needed to be able to focus ment, and as such, it is one more resource na Praitis, the mother of professor Irena on my classes and succeed in them the that we have to support our students. As Praitis. best I could. Now in my last semester at Stephen Mexal put it, “The generosity and The depth of funding is uncommonly CSUF, I look forward to what the future philanthropic faith of the JEVID is some- generous. Each year the JEVID Scholarship holds for me, and I cannot wait to use the thing that the students will carry with them provides multiple awards, each anywhere knowledge I have acquired in the English throughout their lives and will, perhaps, from $500 to as much as $5,000. This is the department to assist me on the rest of my one day pass along to others.” kind of support that makes a real, solid journey.”
THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 — 4 new b oo ks — vol . 9 — 2 01 9 GONEWILD
Nicole Seymour’s Bad Environmentalism
A professor’s new book explores the role of satire and irony in the environmental movement
BY IRENA PRAITIS
5 — THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 new b oo ks — nicole seymour
Environmentally conscious programming environmentalists disrupt those assump- too defensive, or apathetic, but people often follows a standard script. Viewers tions, revealing them as problematic. Isn’t don’t go around measuring feminist art receive awe-inspiring images of the natural it inevitable, though, that people will take and saying, “Did the Equal Rights Amend- world, get presented with the dire ways up a rhetorical stance? Given that there ment get passed after this painting was those wonders are threatened, and then really are major problems related to envi- produced?” They simply recognize it as are told what, if anything, they might do to ronments in the world today, how should some kind of cri de coeur. That’s what I’m save them. What often goes unquestioned those problems be addressed? trying to do with these works—to say, I are the assumptions that shape these de- don’t know if they’ll change the world, but pictions. To what extent are we too sancti- Oh yes, I think a rhetorical stance is always they’re telling us something about our monious, too focused on our cherished inevitable! I don’t think any of these texts current moment, and we should listen. And environmental fictions, to consider other are trying to say, “there’s a way to be neu- maybe even be entertained. WILD ways of thinking about the world around tral, and that’s what would be best.” I see us? Associate professor Nicole Seymour’s them as trying to push things to the other Can you speak more about the idea of new book, Bad Environmentalism: Irony end of the rhetorical spectrum, often to affect and how you engage in a multiplic- and Irreverence in the Ecological Age (U. make a point. So, instead of being sancti- itous play with affect in the analyses pre- of Minnesota Press, 2018) explores works monious or sentimental about nature, sented in the book? that provide a range of approaches to de- they’re showing us that we can be silly and picting the natural world. We asked Sey- perverse, and that doesn’t make us any Sure. Affect is kind of a fancy word for mour to further illuminate her ideas and less committed to nature or the environ- “mood,” or “tone.” So I’m interested, again, approaches in the book. ment. And in fact, in some cases, it might in works that have what mainstream envi- make us more committed: texts like ronmentalists might call “good” politics—a TA: What were the foundational ideas that Wildboyz or Green Porno or Goodbye general interest in animals, or a belief that led to your interest in writing this book? Gauley Mountain are showing us a fuller climate change is real—but “bad” affect. What did you see, or not see, in the litera- vision of the more-than-human world, one They’re inappropriately lewd, or goofy, or ture? that’s less straightwashed and edited-for- what have you. TV, for example. Affect also works in really complicated NS: I read a tweet the other day about how As for optimal approaches, or how things ways in the texts I look at. So, for example, all academics, somehow, engage in “should” be addressed, I personally don’t there’s a performance art project I discuss “mesearch”—research that’s in some way want to prescribe that. All of the texts I called the Lesbian National Parks and Ser- about themselves. I certainly did not set discuss are emerging from particular social vices. These are butch women who act out to do that with this project, at least not and artistic positions: queer environmen- overtly serious about being “Lesbian Park consciously, but maybe it was inevitable! I talism and traditions of performance art, Rangers,” and preserving “lesbian wildlife,” have very strong political convictions, but Native American environmental justice and that’s where the humor actually comes I’m also a ham, a compulsive, sometimes movements and sketch comedy style, etc. from; how they seem serious, not how they inappropriate, joke-cracker. So I kept being I’m mainly just here to say, hey, check out act silly. drawn back to this set of texts and how how incredibly diverse environmental art they balance strong convictions and com- can be; check out these perspectives and Do you have a favorite example of bad mitments (in this case, around the environ- performances that rarely get acknowl- environmentalism? ment) with a silly sense of humor. edged. In terms of other research in my field, I It’s too hard to choose a favorite. But I can kept seeing an insistence on asking, or Sanctimonious or maudlin environmental- talk about one example that didn’t make it even measuring, if environmental art ism perhaps pulls so hard on the expected into the book, because it came out around “made a difference”—educated people, strings of seriousness because of how lim- the time I’d finished the manuscript. That’s changed their minds, etc. But it didn’t ited human power schemas are in relation Tommy Pico’s book-length poem Nature seem as if many scholars were open to the to “solving” environmental crises. Are the Poem, which I just taught. He has a line other things that environmental art might works you explore drawing attention to where he says, “I would slap a tree across be doing: providing comic relief or cathar- the ways we keep asserting and insisting the face” – but then the next line is, “I say sis, commenting on the status quo of on human power in relation to the envi- to my audience.” I think those lines encap- mainstream environmentalism, reaching ronment because of how frequently we’re sulate the trajectory of the book. As a Na- unexpected audiences, diagnosing our taught our powerlessness? tive American (Kumeyaay), his first impulse current emotional state around the envi- is to reject the cultural baggage of the ronment, etc. So I wanted to attend to Hmm, I don’t know if I see it that way. “Ecological Indian” stereotype—the kind of those possibilities. Sometimes the humor of these works actu- Pocahontas, Indians-are-closer-to-nature ally comes out of this feeling of powerless- narrative—and he does so in these sassy, As I was reading the book, I thought about ness—we’re screwed, we don’t know what funny ways. But this is largely a perfor- how representations of nature take up to do, so we crack a nervous, darkly hu- mance; ultimately, he does care about the rhetorical stances—we are stewards of the morous joke! And I think it’s important to environment, but he doesn’t want to be natural world, we should feel pain at suf- pay attention to those impulses too. As I reduced to that stereotype. I just love the fering in the natural world—and often mentioned above, seeing these works as goofy shock value of that first line; it these stances safeguard human assump- diagnoses of our current moment is just as makes me laugh! And if nothing else, tions and problematic behaviors. “Bad” important as anything else. Not to sound that’s what I appreciate about these texts.
THE ANECDOTE #9— 2 0 1 9 — 6 english classes — vo l . 9 — 2 01 9 MUGGLE
The department celebrates the tenth anniversary of an innovative elective on the Harry Potter novels
he link between magic and language is old and deep. course. I thought it would provide a chance for students to en- To cast a spell is to perform magic, to transform. To gage critically with something that they love.” spell a word is to write it out. To tell a story is a combi- No one seems more surprised at the success of the course than nation of the two. It is also its own form of magic, one Hollis herself. I asked her if she thought at the time that the that affects and possibly transforms its readers and lis- course would be as popular as it has been, and she said that she Tteners. Without a doubt, the most widely read, acclaimed, and didn’t. But she added, “The first time I taught it, there was a lot of loved story about magic in recent times is author J.K. Rowling’s buzz around it, and I guess that buzz has continued.” In fact, that story of Harry Potter, the boy wizard who, over the course of sev- buzz has continued unabated since the course was first taught. en novels, learns of his powers, grows up, and finds his place in The responses to the course have been overwhelmingly posi- the world. tive. Unsurprisingly, though, students have questions relating to It is hard to believe that Harry Potter first appeared on the cul- the nature of the course. According to Hollis, “The most common tural landscape over twenty years ago. It’s equally hard to believe comments I get when people learn I teach the course are: ‘what that the final installment in the Harry Potter series was published do you do in the course?’ and ‘do you read all the books?’” just over ten years ago. Harry Potter feels like he has always been Tongue in cheek, Hollis replies, “Usually I tell people we make with us, and, for some readers, he really has been. potions.” But what she does try to convey to students is an Likewise, it’s hard to believe that for ten years associate profes- “understanding of what the course actually is—a study of a liter- sor Erin Hollis has been teaching a course on Harry Potter. But it’s ary series.” While the topic of the course is what many would re- not hard to believe that the course has been wildly popular, filling gard as something light, a series of children’s books, the study of regularly and drawing eager students from across disciplines who the course is much more rigorous, demanding, and, ultimately, want to explore Rowling’s novels. rewarding. When I asked Hollis what drew her to Harry Potter, she replied, I asked Hollis what she felt makes Harry Potter so captivating “When I was a graduate student, I started reading the series as a for our students. After all, they aren’t children, so the stories must way to relax. I quickly realized that the series was providing me have a draw. Hollis answered, “Many of the students grew up with with more than entertainment and that it was helping me learn the series, which I think makes it compelling and nostalgic for about the world in new ways. After a few years as a professor, them. However, I do have a number of students who haven’t and after the seventh book came out, I had the idea to create the read the series take the course. I think they are interested in
7 — THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 ten years of harry potter — erin hollis STUDIES
BY CHRIS RUIZ - VELASCO
Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons looking further into something that has such a presence in popu- Teaching the course has also changed the course. As a result, lar culture.” For Hollis there are other reasons, too, that the nov- Hollis says that that the “course has become more rigorous and els fascinate readers. “The reason why the series is so compelling the discussions have become deeper.” Time has also seemed to to me is because it models for its readers how to resist those in change the ways in which students respond to the course. There power who are being unethical and it also provides many exam- is more of an expectation to respond to Harry Potter as literature ples of how to maintain a loving attitude in a difficult world.” so that, according to Hollis, “Students have also become more Teaching the course is not without its own idiosyncrasies. How, willing to respond to the series critically.” for example, do you teach a literature course that has a high per- As new films and works based on the seven original novels con- centage of students who aren’t literature majors, students who tinue to be released, the world of Harry Potter seems to only bring a different set of skills and expectations to the classroom? grow in popularity. This also applies to the Harry Potter course as According to Hollis, “Non-English majors definitely expect some- it continues to be tremendously popular with students. As Hollis thing that the course is not—they often expect a fan club. One of notes, “I don’t think Harry Potter is going anywhere anytime the most common comments I get from students is that they soon.” wish we had talked about the books more. We discuss the books Often overlooked in our discussions of college coursework is every day, but they mean they wish we had discussed the plot how those classes change those who teach them. For Hollis, more. I think students expect the class to discuss lighter topics teaching the Harry Potter course has been as transformative for than it does; we discuss very serious issues that are raised in the her as it has been for her students. She closed our discussion series, which I think surprises some students.” about ten years of Harry Potter with the following remarks: For Hollis, this diversity of majors is another positive aspect of “Teaching this course in recent years has been a comfort and an the course. Students from a variety of majors bring with them a inspiration. The series seems to so clearly respond to some of variety of perspectives and viewpoints. Hollis uses this diversity to the recent events and issues that have been happening. Seeing help enrich the conversations about the Harry Potter novels. She how students respond to the ideas raised in the series in connec- says, “Having a variety of majors turns out to always be a good tion to growing hatred throughout the world gives me hope. Our thing, because different majors bring different perspectives to the students are going to change the world with their ideas, and for series. I try to pull out the strengths of the different majors dur- the better.” ing discussion.”
THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 — 8 Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons
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— BY IRENA PRAITIS
THE ANECDOTE #9
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Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows at CSUF —
“ALL THE “ALL
AUTHENTIC
FELLOWS
LEARNED — Comparative Literature and Linguistics students are among the inaugural 9 mellon mays fellowships student accomplishments — mellon mays fellows
alifornia State University, Fuller- colonialism has shaped particular values tics major mentored by professor Franz ton, has been selected to join a regarding womanhood in Vietnamese Mueller, developed an interest in Linguis- prestigious program dedicated poetry,” adding that Ms. Ngo is “really tics when studying French. She is especial- to maintaining the vitality of learning how graduate research operates.” ly interested in studying language acquisi- C the humanities far tion and the influence of lan- into the future. guage on personality. “When I The Mellon Mays Undergradu- received the phone call from our ate Fellowship program (MMUF) head coordinator saying that I was established by the Andrew was selected, I was very excited W. Mellon Foundation to en- and a bit overwhelmed,” she courage and support un- said. Ms. Narciso has enjoyed derrepresented students in the the community she has discov- pursuit of PhDs. The program ered. “I have made so many new provides mentoring, a stipend, friends within the Cal State con- support networks, meetings and sortium, all thanks to the Sum- workshops, undergraduate con- mer program held for MMUF last ferences, and graduate school year. I am very close to my co- preparation. hort at CSUF, and keep in touch While the program has long with fellows at other Cal State been established at top-tier institutions as well.” research universities and elite She added that another high- liberal arts colleges, in 2018 it light was the MMUF Western created a California State Uni- Regional Conference, where she versity consortium comprising presented her research in No- five universities including Cal vember. “The conference was an State Fullerton. intellectually stimulating experi- Despite the program’s broad Danielle Narciso ence, as I was able to discuss my mandate, during its first year at CSUF, two Dr. Piñuelas observes that this experience research with other students and venture of the four students selected as Mellon will be especially important for her. “I around the UCLA campus and learn more Mays Undergraduate Fellows were from think completing the project paper and about the research workforce.” the Department of English, Comparative presenting it at the Mellon conference will Dr. Mueller, Ms. Narciso’s mentor, notes Literature, and Linguistics. Vivi- that “Danielle has long had a an Ngo, a sophomore majoring broad intellectual curiosity rang- in Comparative Literature, is ing from how the language you drawn toward Spanish, Vietnam- speak affects your personality to ese, and English literature. Men- the role of code switching be- tored by assistant professor Ed- tween English and Korean in ward Piñuelas, Ms. Ngo hopes to contemporary K-Pop music.” Dr. attend graduate school at Co- Mueller also notes that the pro- FELLOWS lumbia University, fulfilling a gram has provided Ms. Narciso lifelong dream of studying in with knowledge and skills critical New York. Ms. Ngo was sur- for future academic success: “The prised and pleased to learn she MMUF program systematically had been chosen for the MMUF builds up the recipients’ program. knowledge and skills on how to “I wasn’t expecting to win a do research as well as the ins fellowship for graduate school and outs of getting into gradu- so early in my career,” she said. ate school.” “Being chosen gave me hope Dr. Mueller has already noticed that my dream of obtaining my CSUFPhoto credit: HSSDean the impact on Ms. Narciso. “The PhD would soon become a reali- fruits of this process were evi-
ty.” She has already felt the ben- dent in my sociolinguistics class ’ efits of the fellowship. “The best Office s last semester, when Danielle
part about the Mellon Mays Un- presented a term paper on the dergraduate fellowship is con- Vivian Ngo use of language by one specific necting with other scholars. Having a offer a great opportunity to develop her Korean rapper that was well written and group of fellows who are in the same writing and communicate with a real audi- thoroughly grounded in published theo- place makes the journey of academia less ence in mind—as opposed to the abstract retical proposals in the academic litera- scary.” audience of most coursework. I also ex- ture.” Dr. Piñuelas, Ms. Ngo’s mentor, says that pect her grad school applications will be With their intelligence, drive, and work “it’s been great to see Vivian develop a much stronger with the guidance offered ethic, Ms. Ngo and Ms. Narciso have a project that began as a general interest by Mellon Mays.” great future in academia ahead of them. and has since built into a study of how Danielle Narciso, a sophomore Linguis-
THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 — 10 new b oo ks — vol . 9 — 2 01 9
ELEMENTS
A professor’s new book delights in the connection between science and everyday life
11 — THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 new b oo ks — irena praitis
Professor Irena Praitis’s poems, transla- quotation from Vitruvius. On the oppo- antennas perched on roofs, an image tions, essays, and reviews have been site page is a poem titled “Porifera.” How that is itself a little dated now. How published in over one hundred literary did you want the different types of poet- were you gesturing at different anxieties journals. Her new book, Rods and Koans ry and prose on the right and left pages about the future, whether from 1858 or (Red Mountain Press, 2018), is an in- to interact? from the golden age of television? ventive cycle of poems that seeks to imagine the unseen connections be- I didn’t want there to be just one way This poem speaks to counter anxieties I tween everyday objects and events. We that the material on the left and right believe are especially prevalent to- sat down with her to talk about science, jumps the “gutter” between the two pag- day. We want everything new, updated, exploration, and structuring book-length es to interact. Some of the associations upgraded, fastest, slickest, best—while collections of poetry. simultaneously hoping to be noticed and remembered for a long time. Yet even in TA: This is your sixth book of poet- that desire for remembrance, what pass- ry. When you were first thinking es as a major achievement in life, win- about Rods and Koans, how did you ning a Pulitzer Prize, say, doesn’t neces- envision it being different from your sarily guarantee lasting recogni- previous books? tion. Even doing something really well, exceptionally well, doesn’t hold up IP: I began this book more than a decade against the increasingly demanding in- ago. I had all the ordinary object poems sistent momentum to move to the next written, but the book didn’t feel finished thing. I find these competing anxieties to me. I then turned to three historically to be something of a dilemma. -themed books (One Woman’s Life, Straws and Shadows, and The Last Stone You’ve got a number of poems titled in the Circle). After those books, I need- after rare earth metals (“Samarium ed a different direction and I remem- [62SM],” “Yttrium [39Y]” “Neodymium bered this older manuscript. I pulled it [60ND]”), which are chemical elements up and I began to see that I could start typically used in technological applica- with the poem, choose a title that point- tions. How did you see those poems ed in a related but different direction, working with some of the overarching and then choose an epigraph pointing in themes of the book? yet another direction. Once I had this basic process structure in place, each of I love the idea of rare earth metals, or the poems could call up something rare earth elements. They’re elements unique. After having written about war, I Irena Praitis’s sixth book of poetry, Rods and Koans that are increasingly essential to our wanted this book to be more about play, technology and yet they’re difficult to and more specifically about play, explo- from left to right are more pointedly extract (they’re often not so much rare as ration, riddling, and meditation as heal- direct. Others remain more allusive, or broadly dispersed, and thus challenging ing processes. elusive. I invite the reader to form con- to mine as only small amounts can be nections or disjunctions between the gathered at a time). The difficulty of The structure of the poems in the sets of texts. At their best the pages extracting something essential spoke to book—the way the poems play off other, should offer both a landing point, an me. Further, the idea that we can use not-strictly-poetic material—does seem insight, while simultaneously providing a this essential material positively or dan- different. Each set of facing pages has a jumping off point—a counter narrative, a gerously heightened the idea of poem on the right-hand page, and then path to explore. choice. How we find and apply what is on the left-hand page, there will typically essential in life impacts our sense of be a set of interlocking definitions or One poem in the book that seemed unu- life’s quality. We aren’t always aware of references. So for instance, on one sually pitched to our present moment is and thus able to acknowledge what con- page, you’ve got a definition of Porifera, titled “Too Fast for the Truth,” which, you tributes to meaningfulness in life. Some- the phylum that comprises sponges, tell us, is a phrase from a New York times, rather than the large gestures and followed by a short fact about Leonardo Times article from 1858. The poem events, it’s the trace elements, the small da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man,” followed by a opens with an image of silver television moments, that prove most resonant.
THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 — 12 awards and honors — vo l . 9 — 2 01 9 OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Professor receives award for outstanding untenured faculty
BY IRENA PRAITIS
ssociate professor Nicole Seymour received the broader California system, having been recently the 2018 Outstanding named a coordinator for a new, Untenured Faculty multi-university initiative on cli- Member Award from mate change education called the the College of Humani- UC-CSU Knowledge Action Net- tiesA and Social Sciences. Seymour, work for Transformative Climate a newly tenured scholar of litera- and Sustainability Education and ture and the environment, has Action. amassed an impressive list of ac- The award also recognizes Sey- complishments and accolades. mour as a gifted teacher. She has In a few short years, Seymour has expanded the boundaries of her established herself as a power- classroom, often literally, by taking house in her field. In 2015, her students to different learning envi- first book, Strange Natures: Futuri- ronments. Students in her classes ty, Empathy, and the Queer Eco- have helped with art installations logical Imagination (University of in galleries, attended plays, and Illinois Press), was awarded the visited the Fullerton Arboretum. Ecocriticism Book Award by the Seymour has also been instrumen- Association for the Study of Litera- tal in updating the English curricu- ture and the Environment. Her lum. She has developed two new second book, Kelly Reichardt: elective courses, “Literature and Emergency and the Everyday the Environment,” an undergradu- (University of Illinois Press), co- ate course, and “Queer Theory,” a authored with Katherine Fusco, graduate seminar. was published in 2017. And her “The honor is certainly well- third book, Bad Environmentalism: deserved,” said Stephen Mexal, Irony and Irreverence in the Ecological Age (University of chair of the Department of English, Comparative Litera- Minnesota Press), was published in 2018. She’s been ture, and Linguistics. “Dr. Seymour has been one of the awarded a number of grants, including a Water Re- most productive and inventive junior faculty we’ve ever sources and Policy Initiatives Incentive Award from the seen in this department.” California State University system. She was also one of After winning the Untenured Faculty Award, Seymour two faculty members from CSUF to be nominated for a did not remain untenured much longer. She was award- National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Sti- ed tenure and promoted to associate professor at the pend. And she has made her mark as a researcher within start of the 2018-2019 academic year.
13 — THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 guest lecturers — vo l. 9 — 2 01 9 THE “E-WORD” Students experience a guest lecture and an engaging new documentary
BY AKEEM FHAMI
n February 25, 2019, a group of students came to in the last several years. Professor Wyatt has found that AAL is answer a not-so-simple question: what is the role of “more relevant than ever,” citing examples from popular culture Ebonics in the modern-day fabric of American cul- as well as the wave of social liberalism that she saw sweeping ture, and how do we make others aware of its rele- the United States. O vance, some 22 years after the Oakland School Board Following Dr. Wyatt’s lecture on the status of AAL, Dr. Williams Resolution brought it to the forefront of and her class proceeded with a screening of the national conversation? Jonathan Gayles’s documentary The E Word: Ebonics refers to African American Ver- Ebonics, Race, and Language Politics, a fea- nacular English (AAVE) or, more broadly, to ture on the “linguistic patterns that define African American Language (AAL). In early Ebonics” and how it “entered the larger 1997, the Oakland School Board approved American public through media and public a resolution recognizing AAL as a lan- policy.” The film tracks the traditions and guage, not a dialect, and announcing its history of AAL, featuring a wealth of inter- intention to train teachers to understand views with some of the foremost scholars of the structure of that language. African American Language such as John These issues were discussed in assistant Baugh, John A. Rickford, and Lisa Green. The professor Bonnie Williams’s class ENGL familiarity of the term “Ebonics” with the 410, Language and Power in African Amer- audience and the issue surrounding its use ican Culture. In it, students uncovered the sparked a valuable discussion led by Dr. cultural significance of African American Williams’s students. Language and studied how the power and Perhaps most saliently, a group of local structure of Standard English, compound- high school students invited by their teach- ed with “whiteness,” works to exclude oth- er and ENGL 410 student, Todd Hedell, er language systems. Eager to help stu- spoke about their experiences with AAL as dents better understand these types of young people in Southern California. In struggles Williams reached out to profes- their experience, AAL was a linguistically sor Toya A. Wyatt, a veteran faculty mem- dexterous and culturally significant lan- ber in CSUF’s College of Communication guage system whose lack of full representa- Sciences and Disorders. Wyatt was a tion in schools reflected an education policy prominent voice in the study of African deficit. The students of Los Altos High American Language and the Oakland Res- School identified AAL with the disenfran- olution, who visited the class to lend her Toya A. Wyatt chisement of Spanish-speaking populations experience and expertise to a room full of be- and shared their own experiences with the barri- lievers, non-believers, and people who had never heard of Ebon- ers explained by Dr. Williams and Dr. Wyatt. ics or its history prior to that evening. Dr. Williams, along with the students in her class, proved that Throughout Professor Wyatt’s lecture, nearly one hundred the education they were receiving in the class had a real-world attendees were audience to a discussion about how the Oakland application and through the unity of their efforts were able to Resolution brought the nature of Ebonics into the national spot- establish tangible and visible change in our campus community light and how its role in American society has been augmented and the communities of groups of young scholars who are now by the Oakland Resolution, the influx of Spanish-speaking popu- able to disseminate this information further in their academic lations in the United States, and the rise of conservative politics paths.
THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 — 14 student projects — vo l. 9 — 2 01 9 200 YEARS OF FRANKENSTEIN
Members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature Club
Students, faculty, and the campus community celebrate Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
BY JESSICA SHAW AND NICOLE VANDEVER
15 — THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 frankenweek — vo l . 9 — 201 9
Two graduate students in English reflect fanatics: Deans, professors, students tributor. Joy Sage, Pollak research librarian on the “Frankenstein Meme” Gallery Ex- dressed as the Creature and his Bride, and Frankenreads organizer, aptly named hibit and Events at the Pollak Library dur- Writing Center tutors, members of SFLC, the area an “altar to Mary Shelley.” Dollar- ing “Frankenweek,” which highlighted librarians, and even CSUF President Fram store fake green tealight candles filled Mary Shelley’s legacy of a modern partici- Virjee brought Shelley’s creature to life on mason jars and a fireplace projected into patory and interdisciplinary monster cul- Halloween day. the darkness of the vast room, punctuated ture. Students from the SFLC and CSUF’s First by periodic shocks of lightning and thun- der. n the last week of October 2018, a The week continued in the Villa Diodati manifestation of the incorrigible room with the SFLC’s “It’s a-Zine!” release influence of Mary Shelley’s Franken- party, a writer’s workshop featuring novel- stein came to life at CSUF’s own ists and CSUF English alumni James Blay- Pollak Library. As part of the inter- lock (BA ’72) and Tim Powers (BA ’76), and Inational “Frankenreads” event celebrating a screening of James Whale’s 1931 movie the 200th anniversary of the publication starring Boris Karloff. The week symboli- of Shelley’s infamous novel, CSUF’s own cally culminated with the Frankenreads celebration, “Frankenweek,” stitched to- event on Halloween, as all who worked gether students, faculty, and staff from hard to piece together Frankenweek gath- across disciplines. ered to read in unison with other campus- Among the cross-campus collaborators es and Franken-fans worldwide. were English professor David Sandner, The Frankenstein Meme exhibit evi- illustration professor Cliff Cramp, our denced a growing cultural identification wonderful University Archives and Special with the Creature, revealing how many Collections librarian Patricia Prestinary, a L to R: Kalei Lehua, Nicole Vandever, Jessica Shaw, James Blaylock, Tim Powers increasingly trace the sympathetic mon- hoard of Pollak Library’s eager outreach Year Experience program worked with a ster’s roots and footsteps, misshapen and librarians, and the Science Fiction and team of librarians to create a photobooth, misplaced, as their own. This story contin- Fantasy Literature Club (SFLC). Inspiration decorations, and advertisements. Mem- ues to resonate with the marginalized; for the event grew from Dr. Sandner’s bers of the “Fullerton Flashers,” a group Sandner claimed Frankenstein is “the emergent Frankenstein Meme database, monster we need” through time, for which he built in collaboration with stu- “reflecting the quiet or unquiet injustices” dents of his Romanticism and Science for the socially awkward, the losers, or Fiction classes over the course of two those of us who, like Dr. Sandner, “love years. lots of niche, weird things.” Frankenstein Students from Cramp’s advanced illus- is “Mary Shelley’s gift to monster studies” tration classes were tasked with rendering he said, with trademark Sandnerian whis- artistic interpretations of Frankenstein and pered intensity. “History has not been Shelley’s Creature; the results would hang kind to her – she deserves better. So yes, in the Atrium Gallery throughout the it’s for her.” month of October, luring innumerable It was easy, for those of us who worked students into the beautifully and haunt- the event, to consider ourselves a partici- ingly designed gallery space. To build pant, a facilitator, audience member, and anticipation for the gallery opening, spe- a fan of Shelley all at once. Invested par- cial library installations entitled ticipants came from off campus and “Frankenstein’s Literary Family Tree” and across disciplines, stitched together be- “Mary Shelley’s Bookshelf” both displayed cause of our love for Shelley’s writing and the real life and literary history behind Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature Club members with librarian Patricia Prestinary the cultural icon the Creature has become. Shelley and her Creature. Meanwhile, the that draws its members form CSUF’s Reflecting on the event, Patricia Prestinary SFLC had spent the year collecting art, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, per- told of her discovery of Frankenstein: poetry, and fiction from students of vari- formed an impromptu choreography set “Once I read the novel...and dozens of ous disciplines for their 3rd annual DIY to Michael Jackson’s monster anthem articles about Mary Shelley, her family, her magazine publication – aptly titled “It’s a- “Thriller” in elaborate monster makeup. friends, I was hooked. It is one of those Zine!” During the events, Pollak Library North rare novels that is as much biography, Stitched together like the monster itself, room 130 was temporarily christened the social commentary, as it is entertainment.” this event illuminated the deep connec- “Villa Diodati,” Romantic poet George She elaborated, striking upon the deep tion Shelley’s Creature has forged across Gordon Lord Byron’s summer mansion importance of the event: “It is as impera- the humanities, the campus, and the overlooking Lake Geneva where Shelley tive for us to recognize and acknowledge globe. Among the events and exhibits was first dreamed up her creature on a fateful that all humans are flawed, selfish, short- CSUF’s participation in the international Halloween night. The overall effect of the sighted, and impulsive as well as creative, Frankenreads read-a-thon, a public read- room was a rather sincere tributary camp- compassionate, resourceful, and inventive. ing of the entirety of Shelley’s original macabre: on a table placed amongst cop- How we reconcile those differences is a 1818 novel. The list of “Frankenreaders” ies of “It’s a Zine!” was a framed portrait question Shelley asked that we have yet drew a surprising multitude of monster of Mary Shelley rendered by a zine con- to answer.”
THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 — 16 new faculty — vo l. 9 — 2 019 BUILDING BRIDGES The department welcomes Linguist Ken Van Bik, its newest faculty member
BY CHRIS RUIZ - VELASCO
aculty collegiality is essential to making a department last name is Van Bik, but I am not Dutch. ‘Van’ in Hakha Chin great. Here in the department of English, Comparative means ‘heaven,’ and ‘Bik’ is a superlative marker. ‘Most Heavenly’ Literature, and Linguistics, we are doubly fortunate. We perhaps.” It seems appropriate that he is often thinking of things, have great colleagues and we are able to add to their even his own name, in terms of linguistics. Van Bik’s parents and number fairly regularly. family played an important and formative role in his upbringing, F Recently, assistant professor Ken Van Bik joined us in Linguis- education, and scholarly interests. “My mother was a primary tics. Like so many of our faculty, Van Bik brings not only school teacher and my father was a Bible translator for the United knowledge, but also a distinctive background that adds to our Bible Society. I am the fourth son and we have one sister,” he diverse and varied understanding of cultures as well as of linguis- notes. Van Bik also has a family of his own. “I am married and we tics. have a daughter who is working on her Master’s degree in Speech Van Bik’s upbringing is unique among our faculty. He explains, Pathology at Cal State East Bay.” His formative years have played “I grew up in a mountain town named Hakha in Chin State, Myan- a role in shaping his interests. “Being a highlander, I like hunting mar (formerly known as Burma). I went to high school and college and fishing.” Van Bik also played badminton and tennis in college in Yangon (aka Rangoon), the capital of the country.” When I and continues to enjoy tennis as well as walking on the trails here
asked Van Bik about his last name, he clarified it for me. “Yes, my in Fullerton. Photo credit: WikipediaPhotoCommons credit:
17 — THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9
new faculty — ken van bik
Ken Van Bik’s interest in linguistics de- at international conferences, an important Van Bik uses a student-centered strate- veloped early and in the context of his part of the research process. “I am work- gy in his teaching. “I approach my class as family. “Linguistics was one of the many ing on two conference papers which have an adaptation between the instructor and topics at our dinner table since my father been accepted for presentation at the the students, and therefore I tend to em- was a Bible translator, spending about 17 South East Asian Linguistics Society in phasize teaching methods that involve years to translate the entire Bible into Tokyo, and the International Conferences maximal interaction between the instruc- Hakha Chin. My interest in linguistics was on Historical Linguistics in Canberra, Aus- tor and students. I see myself as the one sown quite early then. I was fascinated by tralia.” who enables students to master the sub- the translation of ideas from Greek and Finally, Van Bik is continuing his re- ject matter, expand their knowledge in Hebrew into other languages. Linguistics, search by heading back to Myanmar, and their own creative way, build a habit of as I know now, is the bridge to connect his field studies there are being funded by life-long scholarly and critical inquiry, and different cultures.” This fascina- become responsible citizens of tion with linguistics as a bridge the world.” In addition to plac- to other cultures continues, and ing students at the center of the it informs Van Bik’s research. learning process, Van Bik sees Van Bik focuses on historical their interactions outside of the linguistics, the study of lan- classroom as an important goal guages as they change over to teaching. time, and especially in how lan- Van Bik’s interest extends guages group into language across many cultures and lan- families. As Van Bik explains, “My guages, including English. He is main research area is compara- currently designing a course tive-historical linguistics with an that explores how English has in emphasis on investigating hypo- recent years become the lingua thetical ancestors of language franca of nearly the entire world. families. I find this subject very For anyone who has travelled interesting because one needs outside the United States, the to consider every aspect of lan- extent to which English perme- guage when talking about lan- ates global culture is fascinating. guage change.” In keeping with Van Bik’s course studies the his- his research, Van Bik is actively tory and the extent of the engaged in a number of areas. spread of English as well as When asked what most drew some of the aspects of English him to the position here, Van Bik as a global language and its replied, “The three-pronged potential pitfalls. This course too mandate of Cal State Fullerton— is perfectly in keeping with Van teaching, research, and service— Bik’s interest in linguistics as a attracted me the most in addi- way to understand culture. “I am tion to the position of Historical very happy that I am a faculty Linguistics.” Of our department member in a very diverse uni- in particular Van Bik stated, “It is versity where different cultures an honor to be a part of the Ken Van Bik are found among its faculty department where faculty mem- members and student popula- bers support each other in a collegial spir- a well-respected grant. “I am planning for tion. Every class is a potential ground for it.” my research trip to work on documenting learning different cultures.” This is a re- One of those three mandates is re- an endangered language, Lamtuk, spoken frain that appears in Van Bik’s work again search, and Van Bik has recently scored a now by only two villages in Chin State, and again. success in that area. “My first peer- Myanmar.” Van Bik’s attitude is especially appropri- reviewed article since I started working Van Bik’s attitude toward teaching was ate here at CSUF. Our department in par- here, on the origin and spread of gender formed early on. “Being the son of a pri- ticular, addresses people, languages and suffixes -a and -i in Mizo personal names, mary school teacher, the teaching profes- customs, and it is colleagues like Ken Van has just been accepted for publication in sion was my aspiration.” His thoughtful Bik who help to build “the bridge to con- a highly competitive journal, Linguistics of approach is in evidence in the classes he nect different cultures.” Tibeto-Burma Area.” teaches and the way that he teaches In addition, Van Bik is presenting papers them.
THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9 — 18 back matter — vo l. 9 — 2 019 the edit : MISCELLANEA AND ADDENDA FACULTY PUBLICATIONS works cited— AND PRESENTATIONS, 2018 -2019 Publications ·“‘Wendy and Lucy’ @10.” With Kathe- ·“Pedagogy Roundtable.” Acacia Con- ·“Pedagogy Roundtable.” Acacia Con- Marlin Blaine: rine Fusco. Public Books. Dec. 14, 2018. ference. April 2019. ference, April 2019. ·“Lauda 48 (O Signor, per cortesia),.” ·Bad Environmentalism: Irony and Lana Dalley: David Sandner: Trans. and commentary of Jacopone da Irreverence in the Ecological Age. ·“‘A baby is not very much’: Maternal ·Keynote Address, Acacia Conference, Todi. Delos: A Journal of Translation University of Minnesota Press, 2018. and Economic Futures in Olive Schrein- March 2018. and World Literature 34.1 (2019) 28-38. ·“The Queerness of Environmental e r ’ s Story of an African ·“Frankenstein by the Numbers: An Lana Dalley: Affect.” Affective Ecocriticism. Ed. Jen- Farm and Undine.” Victorian Interdisci- Initial Report on the Frankenstein ·“Mediations on Value in Mansfield nifer K. Ladino and Kyle Bladow. Uni- plinary Studies Association of the Meme Project.” International Confer- Park, or Jane Austen tries to balance versity of Nebraska Press, 2018. Western United States. Palm Springs, ence of the Fantastic in the Arts. Orlan- the books.” Women’s Writing (Fall ·“Middlesex and the Biopolitics of CA, November 2018. do, FL, March, 2019. 2018). Modernist Architecture.” The Goose: A ·“Tangible Costs, Intangible Rewards: Nicole Seymour: ·“Women’s Movements & The Main- Journal of Arts, Environment, and The Balance Sheet of Mothering in ·“Decolonizing Museum Practice streaming of Political Econo- Culture in Canada. Ed. Kaitlin Blanchard Olive Schreiner’s The Story of an Afri- through Humor: The Art of Wendy Red my.” Routledge Companion to Litera- and Catriona Sandilands. September, can Farm and Undine.” North American Star.” With Salma Monani. American ture and Economics (2018). 2018. Victorian Studies Association. St. Pe- Society for Environmental History Timothy Henry: ·“Citation in the #metoo Era.” Edge tersburg, FL, October 2018. (ASEH). Columbus, OH, April, 2019. ·“A Mitsqanaqa’n Ventureño – English, Effects. University of Wisconsin- Timothy Henry: ·“Environmental Excess: Affect and English – Mitsqanaqa’n Ventureño Madison. 11 September, 2018. ·“Number systems in Ventureño.’ Lan- Aesthetics under Corruption.” Center Dictionary.” Forthcoming. Ken Van Bik: guage and Culture Research Centre, for American Literary Studies (CALS). Irena Praitis: ·“Building a Common Voice corpus for James Cook University, Cairns, Austral- Pennsylvania State University. State ·Rods and Koans, Red Mountain Press, Laiholh (Hakha Chin).” ComputEL-3 ia, July 2018. College, PA, March, 2019 . 2018. Conference Proceedings, University of David Kelman: ·“Queer Ecologies, Queer Architecton- ·“Biopoiesis,” Verse Daily, October 28, Hawaii. Forthcoming. ·“The Subterranean Babel, or the Crypt ics.” Constructing Architectural Ecolo- 2018. ·“The origin and spread of Mizo gender of Politics in Piglia’s El camino de gies Symposium. California College of ·“Laikraštinis/Newspaper,” Paryčiais/ suffixes *-a and *-i on personal Ida.” American Comparative Literature the Arts. San Francisco, CA, September Early Morning,” Carolina Quarterly, names.” Linguistics of the Tibeto- Association. Georgetown University, 2018. Spring 2019. Forthcoming. Burman Area 42:1, 2019. Forthcoming. March 2019. ·“A Queer Ecology of Glitter.” Interna- David Sandner: J.C. Westgate: Stephen Mexal: tional Conference on the Environmen- ·Philip K. Dick, Here and Now. Ed. ·Performing the Progressive Era: Immi- ·“The Old Iron Days: Conservative Tem- tal Humanities. University of Alcalá. McFarland, 2019. Forthcoming. gration, Urban Life, and Nationalism on porality and the Western Imagination Alcalá de Henares, Spain, July 2018. ·“Fantasy,” The Cambridge History of Stage. Ed. with Max Shulman. Univer- in the Writing of Theodore Roosevelt Steve Westbrook: Children’s Literature in English, Volume sity of Iowa Press, 2019. and His Circle.” Western Literature ·“On Behalf of Others: Allies in the One, Origins to 1830. Association. St. Louis, MO, October Creative Writing Classroom. Associa- ·“Rambles in the Fantastic: Digital Conference Presentations/Readings 2018. tion of Writers and Writing Programs. Mapping Mary Shelley’s The Last Man.” Marlin Blaine: Mike Norton: Portland, OR, March 2019. Spaces of the Fantastic, Routledge. ·“Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129: Ironizing ·“Aesthetic Attunement in Early Eight- ·“A Dialogue with the Editors of Forthcoming. Pauline Ethics.” Renaissance Confer- eenth-Century Britain.” Western Society Bloomsbury's New Book Series in ·The Frankenstein Meme. Website, ence of Southern California. Hunting- for Eighteenth-Century Studies Creative Writing.” Association of Writ- October, 2018. ton Library, San Marino, CA. 9 March (WSECS). Arizona State University. ers and Writing Programs. Portland, ·"Stinky, Stinky Little Pig.” Space and 2019. Tempe, AZ, February 2019. OR, March 2019. Time, December, 2018. ·“What Does It Mean to Teach the Bible Irena Praitis: ·"Crack." Dissections, March, 2018. as Literature?" Chin Baptist Churches ·“Rods and Koans Book Launch Read- Grants ·"What You Need To Know USA Ministers Retreat. Long Beach, ing,” 1888 Center, October 23, 2018. Timothy Henry: About Monsters." Dissections, March, CA. September 2018. ·“Talking Poetry with Irena Praitis,” OC Documenting Endangered Language 2019. Leslie Bruce: Register. Interviewed by Danielle Fellowship, National Endowment for ·The Cambridge Guide to the English ·“Supporting Collaboration in Interdis- Bauter. October 23, 2018. the Humanities (Summer 2018-Summer Novel, 1660-1820, misc. entries. Forth- ciplinary Composition Courses.” Inter- ·“The Last Stone in the Circle, Author 2019). coming. national Writing Across the Curriculum Interview and Book Podcast,” 1888 Nicole Seymour: Conference, Auburn, AL. 4 June 2018. Center, July 12, 2018.
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THE ANECDOTE #9 — 2 0 1 9