2010-2011 Food for Thought: UO Hosts Conference on Food Justice

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Newsletter of the University of Oregon Department of English English 2010-2011 Food for Thought: UO Hosts Conference on Food Justice

Allison Carruth English Department Professor n February, the English Department makers and practitioners; connecting mem- and answer session with Darra Goldstein, joined forces with the Wayne Morse bers of the local food and agriculture com- founding editor of Gastronomica, and an Center for Law and Politics and King munity with groups from around the world; art exhibition. The exhibition, held in the Estate Winery to present “Food Jus- investigating the relationship between so- LaVerne Krause Gallery at Lawrence Hall, Itice: Community, Equity, Sustainability,” cial media and the rise of regional food featured work by artists concerned with is- a three-day conference exploring the his- movements; and considering the roles that sues related to farming, community gar- tory and future of the food system. Orga- women, youth, and indigenous groups play dening, sustainability, and urban food. nized by Allison Carruth (Assistant Pro- in farming and food culture. The Food Justice conference conclud- fessor of English) and Margaret Hallock The conference opened with an ad- ed with a plenary address by world-re- (Director of the Wayne Morse Center), the dress on food security by Dr. Frederick nowned writer, scientist, and environmen- conference brought together scholars, pol- Kirschenmann, a leading voice in the inter- tal activist Dr. Vandana Shiva. Shiva’s talk, icymakers, artists and farmers for a wide national conversation on sustainable agri- entitled “Food and Seed Sovereignty: Cre- range of panels and events. culture. Conference highlights included a ating a People’s Food System,” drew 1,000 The goals of the Food Justice confer- food fair, a keynote panel on food system attendees. As Caruth explained to The Reg- ence included providing scholars from dif- futures with Amy Bently (New York Uni- ister-Guard, Shiva “shows us that we need ferent disciplines with an opportunity to versity) and Timothy S. Griffin (Tufts Uni- community-centered agriculture and glob- share their research; promoting collabo- versity), a roundtable discussion with food al, interdisciplinary coalitions…if we are to ration between scholars, activists, policy- leaders from around the country, a question confront the agricultural status quo.”

Inside This Year’s Newsletter Center for Teaching Writing: A New Writing Tutorial 6 Greetings from the Department Head 2 UO Honors English Alumnus Jeff Whitty 7 Department Hosts Distinguished Speakers 3 In Memoriam 8 Professor Suzanne Clark Prepares to Retire 4 UO Hosts Kesey Day 9 Course in the Spotlight: Theories of Literacy 5 New Faculty Books 10 UO Commemorates the Freedom Riders 5 Department Notes 12 A Winter in Literary London 6 Lisa Gilman, Director of Folklore, Completes Documentary 16 English 2010-2011 Greetings from the Department Head ear Friends, Learned Societies for the 2011-12 aca- Stanford, Berkeley, Washington, and other As my fifth and penultimate year demic year. The intellectual energy these great universities by building the Fund for in the Department Head’s office new colleagues will introduce to the De- the Support of Graduate Students. As I am draws to a close, I am delighted partment promises to make next year an sure everyone reading his letter already Dto reflect on what we have accomplished exciting one for all of us. knows, the importance of strong graduate during the last twelve months. It was a Faculty were by no means the only tar- students at a major public university can- spectacular year for the recruitment of fac- gets of our ambitious recruiting efforts this not be overstated. Our PhD candidates re- ulty, and we will be welcoming four new year. In addition to bringing accomplished ceive a year of training in composition and colleagues to the Department in Septem- literary pedagogy, after which they spend ber. I am very pleased to announce that five or six years as UO classroom teach- Mark Whalan, currently a Senior Lecturer ers. Indeed, it would not be too much to at the University of Exeter in England, will say that the quality of a UO undergradu- become the Robert D. and Eve E. Horn En- ate education, especially in the area of dowed Chair in English. Mark’s specialty writing, is directly linked to the strength is American modernism, and he has written of the English Department’s graduate pro- extensively on the fiction and poetry of the gram, which provides the intellectual and Harlem Renaissance era. Mark’s wife, Dr. instructional backbone of the undergradu- Lee Rumbarger, is also an accomplished ate experience. If supporting undergradu- scholar of modernism and an experienced ate education in English is a priority for teacher of writing, and we are very fortu- you, we invite you to help us by contrib- nate to welcome her to the Department as uting to the Department’s Fund for Excel- a Career Instructor. lence in Graduate Studies. Experience has As if this were not enough excitement shown that contributions to this fund have for one year, we have added two talented a strong ripple effect on the quality of the junior colleagues to the faculty, as well. Harry Wonham University as a whole. English Department Head Stephanie Clark, a recent PhD from the I would like to thank everyone who is University of Illinois, specializes in Old scholars into the Department, we are pre- receiving this newsletter—colleagues, stu- and Middle English and will be joining us paring to welcome one of the strongest dents, friends, and alumni—for your sup- as a tenure-track Assistant Professor. And groups of incoming PhD and MA students port and encouragement as we close the arriving from the University of Texas at we have ever had. We attribute some of books on one academic year and gear up Austin, where he is completing his doc- this success to the increasing prominence for 2011-12, my last as Department Head. torate in Native American literary studies, and visibility of our academic programs; It remains an honor and a pleasure to serve will be Kirby Brown. Kirby joins the fac- but our ability to bring the most talented this vast organization of hard-working, ulty as a tenure-track Assistant Professor graduate students in the nation to UO also creative, and generous people. in September, but he has already hit the has a great deal to do with the support of ground running by earning a prestigious alumni and friends of the Department, who Sincerely, fellowship from the American Council of have helped us become competitive with Harry Wonham Annual Giving Reminder The English Newsletter is published annually by the If you receive a letter or phone call from UO Department of English. UO Annual Giving and decide to make a contribution to the University, consider des- Please send your news or This year’s newsletter was ignating the English Department as a recipi- comments to: prepared by: ent of your gift. Such gifts make a difference in what the Department can do to enhance [email protected] Janna Ireland educational opportunities for our students or Writing and Design and provide valuable research and instructional resources for our faculty. If you wish to make a contribution now, Paul Peppis Richard Stevenson please make your check payable to the Uni- Newsletter Editor Photographs versity of Oregon Foundation, designated Department of English for the Department of English, and send it 1286 University of Oregon Paul Peppis directly to the University of Oregon Foun- Eugene OR 97403-1286 Faculty Editor and Writer dation, 1720 East 13th Avenue, Suite 410, Eugene, OR 97403-1905. Thank you!

2 Department Hosts Distinguished Speakers his spring, the English Depart- ment helped bring to campus two distinguished speakers. At the 2011 Collins lecture, held in TApril, renowned political theorist, activist and professor of linguistics at the Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology Noam Chomsky spoke about “Global Hegemony: The Facts, the Images.” In May, award- winning author Mat Johnson read from his new novel Pym and discussed Ameri- can and African American literature, black superheroes, and his work writing graphic novels about African Americans.

Collins Speaker: Noam Chomsky This April, the University of Oregon and the English Department welcomed Noam Chomsky Mat Johnson Noam Chomsky as the third speaker of Photo © Donna Coveney Photo courtesy of Mat Johnson the Collins Distinguished Speakers Se- ries, an occasional public forum devoted Noam Chomsky to be the 2011 Collins edu/channel/2011/04/23/noam-chomsky- to the intellectual exploration of moder- Speaker: “From Manufacturing Consent: global-hegemony-the-facts-the-images/ nity, ethnicity, and globality in the culti- The Political Economy of the Mass Media vation of a democratic public. Organized (1988), through Profit over People: Neo- Mat Johnson and administered by Professor David Li, Liberalism and Global Order (1998), to In May, the English Department wel- the series features writers, scholars, and 9-11 (2001), Professor Chomsky has been comed Mat Johnson, an award-winning artists of national and international rec- the most persistent and sagacious voice of author of novels, non-fiction, and graph- ognition. Past speakers include National universal reason, the voice of global demic novels. Among other honors, Johnson Book Award Winner, Ha Jin and Junot ocratic dissent.” In response to Professor is a recipient of the James Baldwin Fel- Díaz, the Pulitzer-winning novelist. Con- Li’s invitation to share his views on “neo- lowship and the Hurston/Wright Legacy sidered one of the fathers of modern lin- liberal capitalism and its global hegemo- Award. He is a faculty member in the guistics, Chomsky has been better known ny, especially its seductive discourse of Creative Writing Program at the Univer- since the 1960s as a political dissident, ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty,’” Chomsky spoke sity of Houston. Johnson has written the social critic, and trenchant commentator for nearly an hour to an overflow crowd of novels Drop (2002), Hunting in Harlem on world politics. He received his Ph.D. enthusiastic students, faculty, and commu- (2003), and Pym (2011), the nonfiction in linguistics from the University of nity members on “Global Hegemony: The novella The Great Negro Plot (2007), and Pennsylvania in 1955, attended MIT, and Facts, the Images.” According to Profes- the graphic novels Incognegro (2008) in 1961 was appointed professor in the sor Li, Chomsky’s lecture confirmed once and Dark Rain (2010). While on campus, MIT Department of Modern Languages again his stature as “an intellectual giant Johnson read from his celebrated new and Linguistics. Professor Chomsky has of our time, […] the tireless champion of novel, Pym, a seriously funny send up of received honorary degrees from universi- social justice, and the indispensible criti- Edgar Allan Poe’s only novel, The Nar- ties around the world, and is a Fellow of cal conscience of our America.” Profes- rative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantuck- the American Academy of Arts and Sci- sor Li’s introduction, Professor Chom- et, discussed his work on graphic novels, ences and the National Academy of Sci- sky’s lecture, and the question and answer and answered audience questions. Pro- ence. period were videotaped by the UO Center fessor of African-American Literature, In his introductory remarks, Profes- for Media and Educational Technologies sor Li elaborated his reasons for inviting and can be seen at: http://media.uoregon. Speakers continues on page 7

3 English 2010-2011 Professor Suzanne Clark Prepares to Retire ne of the English Depart- of her father, Robert D. Clark, President ous committees, departmental, university, ment’s most beloved profes- of the University of Oregon from 1969- and professional, including the Executive sors has announced plans to 75 (http://robertdclark.uoregon.edu), an Committees of the Modern Language As- retire. After over thirty years archival website with access to over 2000 sociation Twentieth Century American Oof service, scholarship, and teaching (the searchable texts. Literature Division, the Semiotic Soci- last 21 at UO), Professor Suzanne Clark A prolific and distinguished scholar, ety of America, and the Oregon Council is preparing to enter the ranks of emeriti Professor Clark has also been a devoted of Teachers of English. At UO, she has faculty, poised to demonstrate that retire- served as Director of Graduate Studies in ment is a beginning rather than an end. English, on the President’s Task Force on We offer this abbreviated account of her Athletics, on the search committee for a intellectual journey and academic accom- new athletics director, on the Executive plishments as an insufficient expression Committee on Diversity, and as President of gratitude for her incredible contribu- of the University Senate. In 2007, she re- tions to the Department and the Univer- ceived the University’s highest recogni- sity. Join us in paying tribute to this ex- tion for good-citizenship, The Wayne T. ceptional teacher, citizen, and leader for Westling Award for University Leadership her years of devoted service. and Service. Reflecting her exceptional After completing a BA and MA at commitment to teaching and service, Pro- the University of Oregon, Suzanne Clark fessor Clark encourages her colleagues earned a PhD in English from the Uni- and students “to get involved.” versity of California, Irvine, where she Never one to rest on her laurels, Pro- also attended the distinguished School of fessor Clark is busily working on two Criticism and Theory. Before joining the articles about the radical modern poet, faculty at UO as an Associate Professor in Edna St. Vincent Millay, and two new 1990, she taught at Dickinson State Col- book projects, The Natural History of lege, Western Washington University, and Modernism, a monograph, and The Rhe- Oregon State University. torical Presidency of Robert D. Clark, Professor Clark is the author of two co-authored with David Frank, Dean of ground-breaking books on twentieth cen- Suzanne Clark the Robert D. Clark Honors College. No tury literature and culture: Cold War- English Department Professor doubt, these texts, like her other works, riors: The Crisis of Manliness and the teacher and academic citizen. She has will enrich and reshape scholarly un- Rhetoric of the West (Southern Illinois taught courses not only for the English derstandings and earn the admiration of UP, 2000); and Sentimental Modernism: Department, but for Comparative Lit- colleagues and scholars. She has also Women Writers and the Revolution of the erature, Environmental Studies, and the been enjoying her newest intellectual Word (Indiana UP, 1991). She recalls with Honors College as well. Her classes have adventure, working on a series of film particular fondness the positive reception covered a wide range of topics: The Nat- projects with Miller; she has discovered that Sentimental Modernism received ural History of Modernism; The Rhetoric that the license of the filmmaker/journal- when first published because her disser- of Science and Environmental Writing; ist opens interesting doors—for example, tation advisors at UC Irvine had warned The Politics of Style; Women, Environ- she and Miller recently traveled to Paris her against working on women writers; mental Writing, and Ecocriticism; Mod- to interview Marceline Loridan-Ivens, a “the lesson,” she explains, “is that some- ernist Women Writers; and Bombs, Beats, filmmaker herself, star of one of the first times you just have to carry on.” She has Bebop, and Subversives, to name a few. cinéma verité films, Chronique d’un été, written articles on a wide variety of au- She has directed a score of dissertations, survivor of Auschwitz who wrote about thors and topics, from the work of Hur- and served on over 40 other disserta- the experience in her autobiography, Ma ston, Hemingway, Dillard, Malamud, and tion committees. In 1998, she founded, vie balagan, and widow of the celebrated LeGuin, to essays on argument, senti- with Professor Elizabeth Wheeler, the documentary filmmaker, Joris Ivens (who mental literacy, rural schools, pedagogy, University of Oregon Literacy Initiative. made the celebrated documentary film and critical theory and rhetoric. She has This spring, she organized, with her part- on the Spanish Civil War, The Spanish written tens of book reviews and deliv- ner, Professor Daniel Miller (UO School Earth, with Ernest Hemingway). ered numerous lectures and public pre- of Journalism), a two-day conference Congratulations once more to Profes- sentations. She has created websites on commemorating the fiftieth anniversary sor Clark on her impending retirement and the New Research possibilities associ- of the Freedom Rides during the Civil thanks for so many years of hard work, ated with online resources (http://newre- Rights Movement. service, and sacrifice for the Department search.uoregon.edu/) and on the papers Professor Clark has served on vari- of English and the University of Oregon.

4 Course in the Spotlight: Theories of Literacy he English Department regularly tiative (UOLI). Established by Professors is always jolting,” she explains, “to dis- offers a unique course opportu- Clark and Elizabeth Wheeler in 1998 as cover the distance between worlds that nity for advanced undergraduates an outreach program of the English De- exists right at the edge of the green quad and graduate students committed partment, UOLI trains students to do lit- or within a few miles of campus.” One Tto community service. Professor Suzanne eracy-related volunteer work at internship year, interns brought a group of homeless Clark’s ENG 413/513: Theories of Lit- sites of their choice. Literacy Interns have teenagers to the campus on a bus through eracy not only provides students with a worked with numerous community part- downtown Eugene. What those teenagers comprehensive theoretical understanding ners, including Eugene and Springfield told her students about life on the streets of literacy, but also takes its theories out- public schools, Lane County Juvenile De- was, her students confirmed, “an educa- side the classroom, into the community, tention Center, SMART reading program, tion.” At the same time, she concludes, facilitating dialogue between theory and Boys and Girls Club of Emerald Valley, “when the homeless teenagers arrived the students’ experiences of literacy work and Centro Latinoamericano. Professor at the UO library, they walked through in the community. Clark always tells students taking the class the book stacks with a sense of glee and Professor Clark’s Theories of Litera- that they will learn as much from the chil- amazement.” cy is one of two English courses integral dren and adults they tutor as those chil- to the University of Oregon Literacy Ini- dren and adults will learn from them. “It Spotlight continues on page 8 UO Commemorates the Freedom Riders his May, Professors Suzanne Clark and Professor Dan- iel Miller, UO School of Journalism, organized a series of events commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Free- dom Rides. In May 1961, a group of volunteers—blacks Tand whites—rode buses from the nation’s capital to New Orleans, defying Jim Crow laws and fighting segregation in transit systems and interstate travel. Despite being met by hatred and violence, even being jailed, their efforts galvanized and transformed the Civil Rights Movement. Fifty years later, scholars, award-winning film- makers and community members gathered on the UO campus to re- member and celebrate their bravery and courage. The events included a lecture on the Civil Rights Movement in the Pacific Northwest by Quintard Taylor, Jr., the Scott and Doro- thy Bullitt Chair of American History and Professor of History at the University of Washington, and screenings of three documentary films on the Freedom Riders and the Civil Rights Movement: Freedom Riders (2011), introduced by director Ron Craig, Emmy nominated producer and founder of the Astoria International Film Festival and Portland African American Film Festival; Bridge to Freedom, an episode from the PBS documentary series, Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years (1987), introduced by Jon Else, series producer and cinematographer for Eyes on the Prize; and Soundtrack for a Revolution (2009), introduced by Dylan Nelson, producer of the film, artist-in-residence at Colorado College, and UO alumna. The organizers and sponsors of the Freedom Riders Commemoration events, including the Robert Donald Clark Honors College, the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity, the Oregon Humanities Center, the Cinema Studies Program, and the Depart- ments of History and English, were especially proud to welcome the participation in the commemorative events of Father Gil Avery, a Freedom Rider who participated in the Prayer Pilgrimage from New Orleans, LA to Jackson, MS in September 1961.

5 English 2010-2011 A Winter in Literary London n January, 2011, a group of UO students traveled to the United Kingdom to participate in the English Department’s “London Program.” The students took Iclasses on a variety of subjects: “Tudor History”; “Victorian Art and Architec- ture”; “Contemporary Theatre”; “Shake- speare In London”; and a class on the psychogeography of the city that included several graphic novels, entitled “Graphic London.” Accompanied by Professor Ben Saunders, who taught the last two of these five classes, the students also journeyed to such destinations as Hampton Court, Ox- ford, Salisbury, and Stonehenge, and spent three days in the city of York—one of the most ancient (and architecturally splen- did) settlements in the British Isles, and home to the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. Other highlights included regular trips The Houses of Parliament in London. to the British Museum (a short walk from ferent plays! (Among the theatrical treats: low as Sir Toby Belch.) Students in Pro- the Program headquarters in Blooms- Danny Boyle’s acclaimed production of fessor Saunders’ “Graphic London” class bury); a visit by David Lloyd, the comic Frankenstein at the National; a revival of also visited St. Paul’s Cathedral, toured artist and co-creator of V For Vendetta, Jonathan Miller’s ground-breaking The the six London churches of Wren’s sin- one of the most successful graphic novels; Mikado at the London Coliseum; and John countless gallery exhibits; and eleven dif- Barton’s 12th Night, featuring Simon Cal- London continues on page 9 Center for Teaching Writing: A New Writing Tutorial elping virtually every undergradu- and for many years they were taught in “ba- first-year graduate students to be trained and ate student at the University learn sic” or “developmental” writing classes, hired as tutors and for refurbishing a room in to write for college has been part but these were suspended in the 1980s be- PLC dedicated to the tutorial. of the mission of the English De- cause students could not receive credit for For two years, PhD students Sarah Hpartment since it was founded in 1876. The pre-college courses. Since then, these stu- Stoeckl and Rachel Edford have helped first head of the English Department was a dents have been mainstreamed into Writ- Gage oversee the tutorial and design a so- professor of rhetoric, Luella Clay Carson, ing 121 and 122. Special sections are avail- phisticated on-line scheduling and report- who taught writing according to the pro- able for some of these students, created by ing network. From 2009-2011, twenty-six gressive educational ideas of her day, be- James Crosswhite when he was Director graduate students have worked as tutors ginning a long history of teaching writing of Composition in the 1990s. and over two thousand 50-minute tutoring as argumentation and critical thinking that Now, such students and others enrolled sessions have served 300+ writing students. persists in our nationally prominent Com- in required writing classes are able to receive To earn one hour of credit for the tutorial, position Program. credit for attending one-on-one writing tuto- students must successfully complete up to The newest development in this histo- rials. This tutoring program was developed seven tutorial sessions during the term, in ry has been the introduction of a writing tu- by John Gage, the Director of the Center for coordination with their assignments in the torial for students enrolled in Composition Teaching Writing, and Carolyn Bergquist, writing class. Students in writing classes courses that fulfill the University’s Writing the current Director of Composition. English who are not enrolled in the tutorial may Requirement. Many students are admitted Department Head Henry Wonham worked to the University with writing deficiencies, with them to create funding resources for Writing continues on page 8

6 UO Honors English Alumnus Jeff Whitty or the past 16 years, the UO Col- Let’s talk about your current project, lege of Arts and Sciences has Tales of the City. What made you want been recognizing outstanding to adapt the novels into a musical? alumni with the CAS Alumni Fel- It’s an epic story—the whole puz- Flow Awards. These awards honor CAS zle of it was very interesting. Also, it alumni who have helped transform so- just sings. When someone has a con- ciety through their career achievements, cept for a musical, people ask, “Does it and who have used their University expe- sing?” The Old Man and the Sea, you riences as springboards to greater success. know, wouldn’t make a good musical— One of three honorees for 2010-2011 was it doesn’t sing. Jeff Whitty (BA ‘93), playwright and actor who won the 2004 Tony Award for Best Can you also talk about your cheerlead- Book of a Musical for Avenue Q, and a ing musical, Bring It On? graduate of the University of Oregon Eng- I always talk about the show with a lish program. Whitty’s musical adaptation glint in my eye, because I know people of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City expect it to be a trifle, and it goes in an premiered in San Francisco in May. While entirely different direction. I’m a huge on campus to attend the annual “Profiles fan of low expectations. Avenue Q lives in Achievement” award banquet at UO, on low expectations; people think it’s Whitty stopped by to talk about majoring “the dirty puppet show,” and then they in English and becoming a writer. see this other story unfold. Bring It On Jeff Whitty is very much the same way. One charac- Your success offers a great response to Photo courtesy of Jeff Whitty ter is transgender, another is overweight, the question posed in Avenue Q: “What able to utilize the range of the education and a lot of it is about defying people’s do you do with a B.A. in English?” Is you get there. expectations. The secret message of the there anything in particular about your show, for me, is about bohemianism and experience at the UO English Depart- What else influenced your artistic devel- finding an alternative way of living in ment that influenced your career? opment as a young writer? the world. I’ve always been proud to be from I realized I was gay when I was 13. here, I would never want to have gone This was 1984, and it was very lonely. What advice would you give to people anywhere else. I had amazing teachers— What I developed out of that, as a lot of looking to make their way in creative Francis Cogan in the Honors College, do gay people do, was a sense of humor. I pursuits? you know her? She’s wonderful. Linda am only moved by art that has a sense of Whatever you’re curious about, Kintz was also a huge influence. It was humor. In musicals and plays, you can that’s your talent. Follow that, and don’t a great department, and it gave me a cu- actually go to a very moving moment di- listen to people who try to tell you how riosity and exposure to all kinds of ma- rectly after a laugh because laughs open you should be in order to be successful. terial that I draw on all the time. That’s people up and keep sentiment at bay. Go for what stimulates you, and that will why I would say, get a BA in English: no And sentiment is the enemy of every- become universal through your artistic matter what you do, you’re going to be thing. expression of it.

Speakers continued from page 3 discourse that America has entered a ‘post- experimentation both to expand our defini- Courtney Thorsson, who invited John- racial’ phase with the election of Barack tion of blackness and engage with a long son to campus, describes him as “part of a Obama.” Like his contemporaries, Vic- tradition of African American narrative.” cohort of contemporary African American tor LaValle, Colson Whitehead, Percival Mat Johnson’s talk can be seen at: http:// writers who are using fiction to rethink the Everett, and Danzy Senna, among others, media.uoregon.edu/channel/2011/05/17/ meanings of race while resisting the current Johnson uses “humor, satire, and formal author-mat-johnson-reading/

7 English 2010-2011 In Memoriam embers of the English Depart- federal judge in 1980. She earned the John Haislip, Professor Emeritus, ment were saddened this year UO School of Law’s Meritorious Service passed away March 13th following a sud- to learn of the passing of three Award in 2000. Judge Frye “expressed her den windstorm. Born in 1925 in Lancaster devoted alumni, Helen J. Frye gratitude for the education she received in PA, he earned a doctorate in English from M(BA ‘53; MA Education ‘61), Paul Mi- English,” explains Professor John Gage. “It the University of Washington. From 1966 chael Hanson (BA ‘97), and Susan Dear- provided her with a respect for words and to 1989, he taught in and, at various times, born Jackson (MS Folklore ‘92), and the role of interpretation in understanding, directed the UO Creative Writing Program, a beloved emeritus faculty member, the which she said prepared her for her career and edited the Northwest Review. He stud- poet, teacher, and editor John Haislip. in the law.” A regular and generous donor ied under Theodore Roethke and became We send our best wishes and support to to the English Department, Judge Frye himself a strong regional Northwest voice, all their families, friends, and former col- specified that remembrances be made to singing especially of the Oregon Coast. leagues and students. the Oregon Humane Society and the UO He was a friend to the region’s most cel- Born in Klamath Falls, Helen Frye at- English Department. ebrated poets, including Richard Hugo and tended the University of Oregon, where she Paul Michael Hanson, who first ar- Carolyn Kizer, and a mentor to many of studied English. She served as president of rived at UO in 1975, but did not complete its younger ones. The author of four books her sophomore class, was a member of Phi his BA in English until 1997, died unex- of poems, he won the coveted Oregon Beta Kappa, and earned her BA in English pectedly at his home in Jackson, WY at the Book Award for his collection, Seal Rock in 1953. She returned to UO and earned an age of 54 on February 20, 2010 of compli- (1986), which contains the poem, “After MA in education in 1961. After teaching cations from multiple sclerosis. He would the Storm”: high school English in Eugene for several have been 55 in July. We wake and listen still for any sound years, she enrolled in the University of Susan Dearborn Jackson of Eugene the house empty silent the storm done Oregon Law School, graduating in 1966. died April 27th at the age of 59. Born in the crows in the crown of the dead pine After passing the Oregon bar, she worked 1951 in Laconia, NH, she would go onto cawing we count to six cawing a pause for private law firms. She was appointed earn an MS in Folklore from the Universi- splashes of noise out of their black throats as Oregon’s first female circuit court judge ty of Oregon in 1992. She was an astrolo- their hunger like buckshot scattering in 1971 and became Oregon’s first female ger, Jungian counselor, and folklorist. far and down over the vegetation.

Spotlight continued from page 5 practice. Writing continued from page 6 This spring, Professor Clark’s Theo- Charlie Horowitz, an English major also make appointments with tutors. ries of Literacy course included twenty- and aspiring teacher, judged the class “a Student satisfaction with the tutorials two undergraduates, mostly English ma- breath of fresh air.” It provided him an has been very high. They consistently re- jors, and eight graduate students, from “eye-opening” knowledge of the “dismal” port getting effective instruction that helps a range of fields (International Studies, lack of literacy at local, national, and in- them understand grammatical and rhetori- Education, and Journalism, among oth- ternational levels, and exposed him to a cal principles they can put into practice in ers). Participants discussed key works range of theoretical and real-world efforts their writing assignments. According to on literacy and pedagogy, including Greg to redress that lack. But what Horowitz the progressive pedagogy of our times, tu- Mortenson’s Stones into Schools, Paolo found most valuable, most unusual, was tors do not edit or rewrite student work, but Freire’s Pedagogy of Hope, and Linda the opportunity the literacy internship teach them how to be better revisers and Flower’s “Partners in Inquiry: A Logic for provided, “to put all that’s been preached editors of their own writing. The graduate Community Outreach,” as well as influ- into practice”; Horowitz’s internship with tutors also benefit by adding this experi- ential theory by Butler, Fanon, Foucault, Nearby Nature, a Eugene-based non-prof- ence to their year-long training to become and Lacan. The class hosted visiting ex- it education organization, allowed him to instructors of Writing 121 and 122. perts from inside and outside the acad- help teach local children environmental Anyone interested in the long history emy, local community service leaders and literacy. Asked if he would recommend of rhetoric and composition in the English organizers, even a panel of students from the class to others, Horowitz responded Department may wish to read Clarify Your South Eugene High School discussing the with passion and conviction: “I challenge Vision, Then Write: Reflections on the His- pressures they experience. The course anyone who thinks they posses a genuine tory of the University of Oregon Composi- culminated in individual research proj- heart, helping hand, and a will to make a tion Program, written by John Gage. Please ects that synthesized participants’ study difference to enroll in this course—they request a free copy of this booklet from of theories of literacy and their internship won’t regret it.” Professor Gage at [email protected].

8 UO Hosts Kesey Day en Kesey fans and scholars gathered at the University of Oregon in April for a day-long celebra- tion of Kesey’s life, work, and Klegacy as Oregon’s iconic author and counterculture personality. “From Ken’s Pen: Celebrating the Ken Kesey Collec- tion at the University of Oregon Librar- ies” included talks by Merry Pranksters and Kesey scholars, a special collection open house, an art exhibit of “Kesey’s Jail Journal,” tours of the second incarna- tion of Kesey’s famed magic bus, “Fur- ther,” readings of Kesey’s unpublished works by UO faculty and local authors (including our own Miriam Gershow, Associate Director of Composition and author of The Local News), and, as part of the annual Cinema Pacific Film Festi- val, the West Coast premiere of the new Ken Kesey documentary, “Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place,” directed by Academy Award-winner Alex Gibney. Kesey Day events were sponsored by Cinema Pacific, the Jordan Schnitzer Mu- Photo courtesy “Further” Image Services, UO Libraries. seum of Art, and the UO Libraries Special Collections and intended to support the given UO the opportunity to purchase the ment, 1299 University of Oregon, Eugene, UO Libraries’ ongoing effort to purchase Collection and keep it in its current home, OR 97403 (http://libweb.uoregon.edu/giv- the Kesey Collection, a comprehensive ar- the Knight Library, as Kesey wished. For ing/kesey.html). chive of typewritten and handwritten man- more information and to contribute to The As it has for the past decade, the Eng- uscripts, journals, artwork, photographs, Ken Kesey Fund in support of the library’s lish Department is offering again this Au- correspondence, personal papers and effort to purchase the Kesey archive, con- gust a four-week intensive undergraduate other material Kesey amassed during his tact: Lisa Manotti, Director, or Keri Aron- course devoted to the study of Kesey’s lifetime. The Kesey family has generously son, Assistant Director, Library Develop- literary works and cultural impact.

LONDON continued from page 6 went to the Tate Modern planning to spend derstand it.” ister student, Nicholas Hawksmoor, and a few hours checking it out, only to realize We hope that even more students will followed the trail of Whitechapel’s most that if I wanted to see everything the muse- be able to enjoy such experiences in fu- famous murderer, Jack the Ripper, in the um had to offer I’d not only have to spend ture versions of the program. Next year, company of former Chairman of the Brit- the rest of the day there, but make several Professor Warren Ginsberg will lead an- ish Crime Writers Association, Donald trips back.” Emily Hart acknowledged both other intrepid band to explore the literary Rumbelow—a world renowned expert on the challenge and the rewards of spend- history of the British Isles. If you would the case. ing a winter in London “as a ‘stranger in be interested in helping more students This was the second year of our Lon- a strange land.’ [It] was an experience of take advantage of all London has to offer, don Program, and many of the students who indescribable discomfort, excitement, and we hope you will consider making a dona- took the trip have described it as a pivotal gratification—one I would not trade for the tion. Checks can be made out to the Eng- and even life-changing experience. Trace world. As an English major, especially, the lish Department (be sure to write “London Cabot recalled being overwhelmed by all chance to immerse myself in the life of the Program” on your check) and sent to the there was to see and do: “There’s always city was wonderful; it drastically changed English Department, University of Or- more than you will have time to explore. I and enhanced the way I read about and un- egon, Eugene, OR, 97403.

9 English 2010-2011 New Faculty Books ianne Dugaw has edited a new five volume scholar- studies how popular culture and debates within and about femi- ly edition of memoirs of 18th-century British women, nism inform each other. Since the 1990s, when Reviving Ophelia Memoirs of Scandalous Women (Pickering & Chatto, became a bestseller and “Girl Power” a familiar anthem, girls have 2011). These memoirs were written by women forced assumed new visibility in the culture. Yet in asserting their new Dto live lives of impropriety, often after ill treatment from unscru- power, young women pulous men. Their tales of survival in the face of hardship and have redefined feminin- privations not only make illuminating and inspirational reading, ity in ways that often but also challenge conventional understandings of female char- mystify their mothers. acter, questioning gender, class and sexual norms, and contesting They have also largely sexual double standards at the heart of eighteenth-century cul- disavowed feminism, ture. Dugaw has selected and written scholarly notes for six strik- even though their new ing memoirs, including An Apology For The Conduct of Mrs. influence is a likely leg- Teresia Constantia Phillips (1748), Elizabeth Gooch’s The Life acy of feminism’s Sec- of Mrs. Gooch (1792), The Life and Adventures of Mrs. Christian ond Wave. At the same Davies (1740); and Mary Ann Talbot’s The Life and Surprising time, popular culture Adventures of Mary Ann Talbot (1809). Dugaw’s editions make has persisted in ideal- these extraordinary Memoirs of Scandalous Women available for izing, demonizing, or the first time in modern scholarly editions. erasing mothers, rarely depicting them in strong Southern Illinois University Press is publishing John Gage’s and loving relation- edited volume The Promise of Reason: Studies in The New Rheto- ships with their daugh- ric (2011). No single work is more responsible for the heightened ters. Surveying a range interest in argumentation and informal reasoning—and their rela- of films and television tion to ethics and jurisprudence in the late twentieth century—than shows that have defined Chaïm Perelman and girls in the post-femi- Lucie Olbrechts-Tyte- nist era, Karlyn explores how class, race, and generational conflicts ca’s monumental study have shaped both Girl Culture and feminism’s Third Wave. Tying of the philosophy of ar- feminism’s internal conflicts to negative attitudes toward mothers gumentation, La Nou- in the social world, she asks whether today’s seemingly material- velle Rhétorique: Trai- istic and apolitical girls have turned their backs on the feminism té de l’Argumentation. of their mothers or are Published in 1958 and redefining unruliness translated into English for a new age. as The New Rhetoric in 1969, this influential Priscilla Peña volume returned the Ovalle’s Dance and study of reason to clas- the Hollywood Latina: sical concepts of rhet- Race, Sex, and Star- oric. Gage has edited dom (Rutgers Uni- and written introduc- versity Press, 2010) tions for essays by 17 asks why every Lati- international scholars na star in Hollywood about the significance history, from Dolores of Perelman and Ol- Del Rio in the 1920s brechts-Tyteca’s study. to Jennifer Lopez in The collection was developed out of the international conference, the 2000s, began as The Promise of Reason, held in Eugene in 2008 and sponsored by a dancer or danced the English Department and the Center for Teaching Writing. onscreen. While cin- ematic depictions of In Unruly Girls, Unrepentent Mothers: Redefining Feminism women and minori- on Screen (University of Texas Press, 2011), Kathleen Karlyn ties have seeming-

10 ly improved, a century of representing brown women as natural lied, or Milton’s Par- dancers has popularized the notion that Latinas are inherently pas- adise Lost. Nor is a sionate and promiscuous. Yet some Latina actresses became stars European, novel-cen- by embracing and manipulating these stereotypical fantasies. In- tered narrative the- troducing the concepts of “inbetween-ness” and “racial mobility” ory an appropriate to further illuminate how racialized sexuality and the dancing fe- lens through which male body operate in film, Ovalle focuses on the careers of Dolo- to view higher narra- res Del Rio, Rita Hayworth, Carmen Miranda, Rita Moreno, and tives from elsewhere Jennifer Lopez. Dance and the Hollywood Latina helps readers across the globe: the better understand how the United States grapples with race, gen- Japanese Tale of the der, and sexuality through dancing bodies on screen. Heiki and The Tale of Genji; the pre-mod- Brash, bold, and sometimes brutal, superheroes might seem to ern Korean narra- epitomize modern pop-culture at its most melodramatic and mind- tive, The Nine-Cloud less. But as Ben Saunders argues in Do The Gods Wear Capes? Dream; the Chinese Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes (Continuum, 2011), the ap- Journey to the West peal of the superhero is fundamentally metaphysical—even spiri- and The Dream of the tual. In chapter-length analyses of the early adventures of Super- Red Chamber; the In- man, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and Iron-Man, Saunders ex- dian epics the Rama- plores a number of yana and the Mahab- complex philosoph- harata; or the oral ep- ical and theological ics from Africa, such as the Sunjata. The volume’s essays on epic issues, including: and higher narratives cast significant new light on this ancient, the problem of evil; widespread and understood genre, and help advance the study of the will-to-power; intercultural comparative literature. the tension between intimacy and vul- Just as mariners use triangulation, mapping an imaginary nerability; and the triangle between two known positions and an unknown loca- challenge of love, in tion, David J. Vázquez contends in his Triangulations: Narrative the face of mortali- Strategies for Navigating Latino Identity (University of Minne- ty. Saunders argues sota Press, 2011), Latino authors in late twentieth-century Amer- that the best super- ica employ the coordinates of familiar notions of self to find their hero comics are way to new, complex not only significant identities. Through this aesthetic achieve- metaphor, Vázquez re- ments—expressions veals how Latino autobi- of a misunderstood ographical texts, written and under-appre- after the rise of cultural ciated art-form as nationalism in the 1960s, distinctly Ameri- contest mainstream no- can as jazz or rock tions of individual iden- & roll—but that their aesthetic significance derives in part from tity and national belong- their unique handling of these religious and spiritual themes. He ing in the US. In tradi- concludes that comic book fantasies of the superhuman ironically tional autobiographical reveal more than we might care to admit about our human limita- work, the protagonist tions, even as they expose the falsehood of the characteristically frequently opts out of modern opposition between religion and science. his or her community. In the memoirs, autobiog- Edited by Steven Shankman and Amiya Dev, Epic and Other raphies, autobiographi- Higher Narratives: Essays in Intercultural Studies (Pearson Edu- cal novels, and testimo- cation, 2011), collects twelve essays by distinguished international nios that Vázquez takes scholars devoted to defining a form of narrative characterized by up in Triangulations, elevation, dignity and grandeur. Narrative theory in the West has protagonists instead opt been novel-centered. But such novel-centered theory cannot ac- in to collective groups—often for the express political purpose of count for the peculiar power of higher narratives dominant in ear- redefining that collective. Vázquez shows how the self-portrayed lier periods in the West, the ancient Greek and Roman epic poems, in contemporary Latino writing articulates a dissident communal the Old English Beowulf, the Middle High German Niebelungen- identity that contests mythologies of American exceptionalism.

11 English 2010-2011 Department Notes International Society for the Study of Ar- The Big Shot’s Funeral” in Cultural Citi- Faculty News gumentation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. He zenship and the Challenges of Globaliza- presented two other papers at the Rhetoric tion, eds., Wenche Ommundsen, Michael Louise Bishop presented three papers: Society of America meeting in Minneapo- Leach, and Andrew Vandenberg (Hampton “Chronology as History: Chaucer, Lang- lis, MN: “The New Rhetoric reads Law- Press, 2010). He contributed a review of land, Shakespeare,” New Chaucer So- rence v. Texas” and “The New Rhetoric: Xudong Zhang, Postsocialism and Cul- ciety Congress, Siena, Italy; “Desire in The Archive Project.” tural Politics: China in the Last Decade Langland and Shakespeare,” International of the Twentieth Century, to Comparative Piers Plowman Society Conference, Ox- Karen Ford published “The Last Qua- Literature (2010). ford University, UK; and, “‘Gnawen God train: Gwendolyn Brooks and the Ends of with the Gorge’: The Ethics of Excess Ballads” in Twentieth-Century Literature Glen Love (Professor Emeritus) pub- and the Limits of Imagination,” Interna- (Fall 2010). lished two articles: “Ecocriticism, Theory, tional Medieval Conference, University and Darwin” in ISLE (Autumn 2010); of Leeds, UK. Warren Ginsberg published “Chaucer and “Shakespeare’s Origin of Species and and Petrarch: S’amor non è and the Canti- Darwin’s Tempest” in Configurations: A Elizabeth Bohls was awarded an Oregon cus Troili,” in the new e-journal, Human- Journal of Literature, Science, and Tech- Humanities Center Faculty Research Fel- ist Studies and the Digital Age. He has nology (Special Issue on Ecocriticism lowship for Spring 2012 for her project on two other essays forthcoming: “Dante’s and Biology) (Winter 2010). His book, “African Exploration and British Slavery: Ovids,” in Ovid And his Influence (Cam- Practical Ecocriticism; Literature, Biol- Mungo Park’s Coffle.” bridge UP), and “Hell’s Borderlands: A ogy, and the Environment (U of Virginia Preliminary Cartography,” in Modern P 2003), has recently been translated Lara Bovilsky published “‘A gentle and Language Notes. Last summer, he gave into Chinese by Hu Zhihong and pub- no Jew’: Jessica, Portia, and Jewish Iden- a plenary lecture, “Found in Translation: lished by Peking University Press (2010). tity” in Renaissance Drama (2010). Chaucer in Italy” at the New Chaucer So- ciety Congress in Siena, Italy, and lectured Paul Peppis chaired one panel, organized Michael Copperman received a 2011 at Berkeley. He is currently organizing the another, and presented a paper, “Salvag- Individual Artist Fellowship in Literary next Chaucer Congress, which will be in ing Dialect in Claude McKay’s Constab Nonfiction from the Oregon Arts Commis- held Portland, OR, July 2012. Ballads,” at the Modernist Studies Asso- sion. His story “It” was nominated for the ciation Conference in Victoria, Canada. 2012 Pushcart Prize. His creative nonfic- Kathleen Karlyn gave two invited lec- He was appointed to the Advisory Board tion pieces “To Cut,” and “Want,” were tures: “Mothers and Daughters on Screen” of the Oregon Humanities Center and was published respectively in Gulf Coast and at Indiana University, South Bend; and elected as a regional delegate to the Del- The Literary Review. “Daughters and the Motherline: Women egate Assembly of the Modern Language and Power on Screen” at Boston Univer- Association, representing the Western US James Crosswhite edited a special issue sity. She presented “Aging, Eros and a and Western Canada. of the journal Philosophy and Rhetoric on Wicked Powerful Feminism” at the Soci- “The New Rhetoric Project: Philosophy’s ety for Cinema and Media Studies Confer- Mark Quigley’s essay, “Modernization, Rapprochement with Rhetoric”; the issue ence, New Orleans, LA. Republicanism, and the Free State: Re- also included his article: “Universalities.” reading Irish Nationalism Through Sean He travelled to China, where he delivered Anne Laskaya published “A Wrangling O’Faoláin’s King of the Beggars,” is the plenary address, “Rhetoric, Equity, Parliament: Terminology and Audience in forthcoming in Revivals and Revisions: Freedom,” at the International Forum of Medieval Studies and Lesbian Studies,” in Essays in Irish Criticism and Intellectual the Chinese Rhetoric Society, Peking Uni- The Lesbian Premodern, ed. Noreen Giff- History, ed. Conor McCarthy (Four Courts versity, and gave two other lectures on ney, et al (Palgrave, 2011). She presented Press). rhetoric at Peking University and at The “Caught in the Portcullis: Boundaries and Communication University. He delivered Buildings in the Middle English Sultan of William Rossi presented “Making Envi- the keynote address, “Rhetorical Univer- Babylon” at the Medieval Academy Con- ronmental Temporality in Thoreau’s Late salities,” at the International Conference ference, Scottsdale, AZ. Manuscripts” at the Modern Language As- of the Rhetoric Society of Korea. He pre- sociation Convention, LA, and published a sented a paper, “What makes Argumenta- David Li published “Cultural Studies and review essay, “Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller, tion Reasonable? Three Accounts,” at the Cultural Citizenship: Global Capital and and Transcendentalism,” in American Lit-

12 erary Scholarship 2009 (Duke UP, 2011). International Conference on Arts and Hu- manities in Honolulu, HI. Graduate Gordon Sayre’s translation of François- Benjamin Dumont de Montigny, The Mem- Courtney Thorsson presented “‘There oir of Lieutenant Dumont, 1715-1747 is were lives in the Building’: Gwendolyn Student News under contract for publication with the Brooks’ Black Aesthetic of the Domestic” Drew Beard presented “‘A Dirty Trailer Omohundro Institute for Early American at the Northeast Modern Language Asso- is a Playground for the Demonic’: Diag- History and Culture / University of North ciation Conference in New Brunswick, NJ. nosing and Treating the Paranormal with Carolina Press. He has also been named the Ghost Hunter” at the Society for Cin- a Fulbright Scholar and will be a Fellow Cynthia Tolentino published three es- ema and Media Studies conference. His at the Université Laval in Quebec during says: “Post-1898 Imaginative Geogra- article, “Strange Bedfellows: The Chau- spring 2012 studying history curricula, phies: Puerto Rican Migration in 1950s cerian Dream Vision and the Neoconser- historical sites, and scholarly analysis of Film,” Journal of Transnational Ameri- vative Nightmare,” was published in The the seven years war as a turning point in can Studies, Special Forum: “Circa 1898” Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Stud- North American history in Anglo-Canada (forthcoming 2011); “Philippine Studies ies (June 2010). and the USA. and the End of the American Century,” Kritika Kultura (February 2011); and “‘A Megan Benner received an Oregon Hu- Steven Shankman published Epic and Deep Sense of No Longer Belonging’: manities Center Graduate Dissertation Other Higher Narratives: Essays in In- Ambiguous Sties of Empire in Ana Lydia Fellowship and presented a work-in-prog- tercultural Studies (co-edited with Amiya Vega’s Miss Florence’s Trunk,” in Strange ress talk, “‘Incalculably Diffusive’ Gifts Dev) as well as several articles. He gave Affinities: The Gender and Sexual- Poli in Middlemarch,” in February as part of invited talks at Princeton and Harvard and tics of Comparative Racialization, eds. this fellowship. a plenary address at the annual meeting of Grace Kyungwon Hong and Roderick A. the North American Levinas Society enti- Ferguson (Duke UP, 2011). With a Coun- Maggie Evans’s article, “‘Itself is All the tled “Turned Inside-Out: Teaching Levinas cil on International Educational Exchange Like’: Selfsameness as Metaphor in the and Literature Behind Prison Walls.” grant, Professor Tolentino will participate Poetry of Emily Dickinson,” is forthcom- in a faculty seminar on decolonization and ing in the Emily Dickinson Journal. She Carol Stabile published “George the globalization at Cheikh Anta Diop Uni- was also awarded the Jane Grant Disserta- Queer Danced the Hula” in Intimacy and versity in Dakar, Senegal this June; the tion Fellowship from the UO’s Center for Italian Migration: Gender and Domestic faculty seminar will provide opportunities the Study of Women in Society as well as Lives in a Mobile World, eds. Loretta Bal- to extend and update cultural studies of a UO College of Arts and Sciences Naomi dassar and Donna R. Gabaccia (Fordham Asian communities in Africa by focusing Luvaas Graduate Fellowship. UP, 2010) and “‘You are Fags.’ jk” In Me- on questions about how literature and art dia Res (March 2011). She presented three negotiate the politics of migration, diaspo- William Fogarty published “Wallace Ste- conference papers: “Feminist Process and ra, and community within the postcolonial vens, in America, Thinks of Himself as Digital Media Art: Strategies from the Art- landscape of contemporary Senegal and Tom MacGreevy” in the Wallace Stevens ists, Designers, Producers, Researchers, Africa. Journal (Spring 2010). and Radicals,” International Communica- tion Association conference, Boston, MA; Louise Westling (Professor Emerita) Brian Gazaille received one of two Ex- “Bachelor’s Ball: Videogames and the presented “Merleau-Ponty, Biosemiot- cellence in Teaching Awards for his work Need for Feminist Game Studies,” Soci- ics, and Ape Language” at the ASLE in the UO Composition Program. ety for Cinema and Media Studies Con- UKI conference on “Environmental ference, New Orleans, LA; “‘Oy, Jake, Change, Cultural Change” in Bath, UK. Matthew Hannah presented “‘familiar By Me Dot Looks Like a Sickness’: Ger- A book chapter, “Literature and Ecol- things’: Objects and Repression in Re- trude Berg and the Broadcast Blacklist,” ogy,” is forthcoming in Teaching Eco- becca West’s The Return of the Soldier” Society for Cinema and Media Studies criticism and Green Studies (Palgrave). at the conference, Echoes of Trauma: Ex- Conference, New Orleans, LA. She also ploring the Intersections Between Trauma organized and chaired a panel, “Women Elizabeth Wheeler presented “‘Intense, and Culture, Baton Rouge, LA. OWN,” PAX Prime (Penny Arcade Game Extravagant, and Problematic’: Seizing Expo), Seattle, WA. Space in Disability Narratives” at the So- Marcus Hensel presented “The Gift of ciety for Disability Studies meeting in San Good Land?: Settled Lands and Waste- Nathaniel Teich (Professor Emeritus) Jose, CA. lands in Anglo-Saxon Thought” at the presented “The Use of Familiar Idioms BABEL Working Group Conference in for Quantitative Analysis of Language John Witte has published poems in The Austin, TX. He received the UO Out- Development and Cognitive Function- New Yorker, Narrative Magazine, Agni, standing Composition Teacher Award and ing: Implications for Humanistic Lan- Iowa Review, Antioch Review, and the guage Study and Teaching” at the Hawaii Southern Review. continued on page 14

13 English 2010-2011 Department Notes cont. has been appointed to serve as one of two with Fire: Learning in Niche Online Com- Does’: Bride of Frankenstein, Reproduc- Assistant Directors of Composition at UO munities,” at the Digital Media and Learn- tion, and the Normal,” UO Hollywood’s next year. ing conference in Long Beach CA. She Golden Age film series lecture. delivered “Trolls and the Trolls Who Troll Chelsea Henson presented “Hyperreal Them” as part of the Oregon Think Tank’s Veronica Vold won the Northeast Popu- Blessings: Chaucer’s Pardoner’s Relics as “Why Do We Laugh: The Psychology & lar/American Culture Association Gradu- Simulacra” at the Rocky Mountain Me- Culture of Humor” panel, and she present- ate Student Prize for her essay, “Risk and dieval and Renaissance Association con- ed “Trolls!!!” at the UO Digital Scholars Hope in David Small’s Stitches,” which ference in Salt Lake City, UT. Her panel Symposium. Her interview article, “Free she presented at the NEPCA’s 2010 con- proposal, “Ocean Translations,” was ac- Speech, Privacy and Control: An Inter- ference in Boston, MA. She also presented cepted for the 2012 New Chaucer Society view with Paulie Socash,” is forthcoming “Grocery Shopping as a Practice of Black Congress in Portland, OR. in a special issue of the UK Journal, Index Masculinity in Geoffrey Canada’s Fist on Censorship, on privacy. Stick Knife Gun” at the Food Justice Grad- Nick Henson’s article, “California Tra- uate Student Symposium at the University verses: Lines of Resistance in Pynchon’s Sarah Ray Rondot received the UO Col- of Oregon. Vineland and Against the Day,” is forth- lege of Arts and Sciences Charles A. Reed coming in a collection from the bi-lingual Graduate Fellowship. She has also been journal, Profils Américains. He presented offered a Graduate Teaching Position in a paper on Wallace Stegner’s Joe Hill at the UO Women’s and Gender Studies De- Alumni News the Western Literature Association confer- partment for next year and will be teach- John Addiego (BA ‘75, MFA ‘77), a for- ence. ing Women’s and Gender Studies 101: mer poetry editor at the Northwest Re- Gender and Power. view, published his second novel, Tears of Kom Kunyosying presented “R. Crumb, the Mountain (Unbridled Books, 2010); Geek Rage, and the Originating Tropes of Stephen Rust chaired a panel and present- his first novel, The Islands of Divine Mu- Geek Melodrama in Film and Television” ed a paper at the Society for Cinema and sic, was published by Unbridled Books in at The Society for Film and Media Studies Media Studies conferences and published 2008. Conference in New Orleans, LA. a book review of Animals and Agency (edited by English department alumni Sarah Michael Arnzen (PhD, ‘99) was awarded Josh Magsum presented two papers, McFarland and Ryan Hediger) in the jour- 2010-11 Professor of the Year at Seton “Seemingly Seamless: The Illusion of nal ISLE. Hill University (Greensburg, PA), where the Magical, Indexical ‘I’ in Hamlet,” he has taught full-time since completing Rocky Mountain MLA, Scottsdale, AZ; Matthew Shedd published “Unapolo- his dissertation on The Popular Uncanny and “Hamlet’s Neurophenomenological getically Improper and Unkempt: Elvis’s at UO in 1999. Arnzen was promoted to Caveman and the Evolution of Theory,” Style of Sex Appeal in 1954 and 1955” in full Professor in 2009 and is currently Shakespeare Association of America Con- Chitrolekha International Magazine on serving as Division Chair of the Humani- ference, Bellevue, WA. Art and Design (April 2011). His essay, ties at Seton Hill. He continues to teach “Prophecy and Apocalypse in Bob Dy- not only in the English curriculum, but Jenny Noyce has been appointed to serve lan’s Later Work,” is forthcoming in Rup- also mentors horror novelists in their as one of two Assistant Directors of Com- katha Journal: Interdisciplinary Studies Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. position at UO next year. in the Humanities (July 2011). He is also He recently co-edited a textbook, Many a featured contributor to the journal, No Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Whitney Phillips won a one-year Depression: The Roots Music Authority. Popular Fiction (Headline Books, 2011). HASTAC Digital Humanities fellow- A revision of his dissertation is in prog- ship. She was interviewed by the Houston Stephen Siperstein received one of two ress for publication by Guide Dog Books Chronicle and the Daily Mail for her work Excellence in Teaching Awards for his in the year to come. You can catch up with on cyber-trolling, and by BBC radio for work in the UO Composition Program. Mike at http://www.gorelets.com a story on Facebook memorial trolling. She was invited to contribute to the vol- Erik Wade presented three papers: Andrew Brottlund (MA ‘10) is currently ume Spreadable Media, ed. Henry Jenkins “Knowledge, Language, and the Fantasti- teaching courses in writing and literature (forthcoming New York UP); she served cal in Solomon and Saturn I,” Kalamazoo at Chemeketa Community College. on one panel on “Privacy in the Age of International Congress of Medieval Stud- Facebook” for USC’s Visions and Voices ies; “Queer Theory and Film,” Communi- Stephanie Callan (PhD ‘07) has accept- lecture series, and on another, “Playing ty Conversations Series, UO; “‘As Nature ed a tenure-track job as Assistant Profes-

14 sor in English at Spring Hill College in sor of English at West Texas A & M. He ed. Lisa Shahriari and Gina Potts (Pal- Mobile, AL, where she will be teaching is editor The Geographical Imagination grave Macmillan, 2010.) courses in twentieth century literature. of Annie Proulx: Rethinking Regional- ism (Lexington Books, 2008) and co-ed- Sarah Jaquette Ray (PhD ’09, Environ- Richard Collins (BA ‘76) became the itor with his wife Bonnie Roos (PhD ‘01 mental Studies with English focus), Assis- founding Dean of Arts and Humanities at COLT) of Postcolonial Green: Ecocritical tant Professor and Program Coordinator, California State University Bakersfield in Politics and World Narratives (U Virginia Geography and Environmental Studies at fall 2010. P, 2010). At West Texas A & M, he won University of Alaska Southeast, has been the university research award in 2010 and offered a contract for her book, The Eco- Nina Chordas (PhD ‘98), associate pro- a Chancellor’s Teaching Award. logical Other, from University of Arizona fessor, English, University of Alaska Press. She published an article, “Endan- Southeast, Juneau, published a book, Scott Knickerbocker (PhD ‘06) has a gering the Desert: Immigration, the En- Forms in Early Modern Utopia: The Eth- number of accomplishments to report. His vironment, and Security in the Arizona- nography of Perfection (Ashgate, 2010). book, Ecopoetics: The Language of Na- Mexico Borderland,” in Interdisciplinary She spent spring term, 2010 as AHA Pro- ture, the Nature of Language is forthcom- Studies in Literature and the Environment fessor in Angers, France, where she taught ing from the University of Massachusetts (Autumn 2010). Next June, she will co- two courses, one on French Utopias and Press. Over the past three years, he has host an ASLE symposium, “Environment, one on Rabelais. published the following articles: “Emily Culture, and Place in a Rapidly Changing Dickinson’s Ethical Artifice,” Interdis- North,” at Alaska Southeast. Kevin Desinger (BA ‘79) published a ciplinary Studies in Literature and the novel, The Descent of Man (Unbridled Environment (Summer 2008); “Organic Carter Soles (PhD ‘08) has accepted a Books, 2011). Based in an unnamed town Formalism and John Witte’s The Hur- tenure-track Assistant Professorship in very much like Portland, Oregon, the nov- tling,” Kenyon Review (August 2008); Film Studies in the English Department at el tells the story of how an ordinary man and “‘Bodied Forth in Words’: Sylvia The College at Brockport (SUNY). puts his quiet life and marriage at risk by Plath’s Ecopoetics,” College Literature reacting to a series of menacing events in (Summer 2009). His essay, “Country Kelly Sultzbach (PhD ‘08) is Assistant a less and less civilized manner. and Old-Time Music: an Ecoformalist Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Account,” is forthcoming in the Oxford La Crosse. Her article on “The Contrary Thomas Dodson (BA ‘79) was appointed Handbook of Ecocriticism. Most impor- Nature of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Professor, Oral and Maxillofacial Sur- tant, Scott and his wife Megan welcomed Fruits” will be published in a special gery, Harvard Medical School. “Health- their son, Rowan Maki Knickerbocker, on Victorian Ecology issue of Green Letters: care may not seem a common career path July 10, 2010. Studies in Ecocriticism (December 2011). of English majors,” Dr. Dodson explains, She has won a university research fellow- but he found it “a viable choice, enhanced Frederik Byrn Køhlert (MA ‘07) pub- ship allowing her to spend this summer by having a liberal arts degree.” He “re- lished The Chicago Literary Experi- working on Virginia Woolf papers in the members fondly” studying the Histori- ence: Writing the City, 1893-1953 (Mu- Berg Collection of the New York Public cal Novel with Professor Richard Stein, seum Tusculanum Press, 2011). Frederik Library. Chaucer with Professor James Boren, is working on his PhD in English at the and Shakespeare with Professor Stanley University of Montreal. Corbett Upton (PhD ‘10) presented a pa- Greenfield. Based on his experience as a per, “Jamaican Shadows: Extending the scientific writer, Dr. Dodson offers three Katarzyna Marciniak’s (PhD ‘98) arti- Borders of Claude McKay‘s Poetry,” with principles for successful writing: “(1) cle, “Pedagogy of Anxiety,” Signs (Sum- the African American Literature and Cul- no manuscript is too short, (2) use short, mer 2010), received the 2010 Florence ture Society at the American Literary As- declarative sentences, and (3) have some- Howe Award for feminist scholarship sociation annual conference in Boston. thing to say.” in the field of foreign languages and lit- eratures by the Women’s Caucus for the Cody Yarbrough (BA ‘07) has written Robert F. Garratt (PhD ‘72) published Modern Languages at the MLA Annual the screenplay for Wuxia Knight, a $25 Trauma and History in the Irish Novel: Convention in LA. million budgeted youth-oriented martial The Return of the Dead (Palgrave/Mac- arts movie, ideally the first in a franchise millan, 2011). Michael Payne (PhD ‘69), Professor of movies based on the Chinese fiction Emeritus of English, Bucknell Univer- genre, Wu Xia, which involves martial Rachel Hanan (PhD ‘10) has accepted sity, has recently published a second arts, magic and flying. a tenure-track Assistant Professorship edition of A Dictionary of Cultural and in the English Department at Northwest Critical Theory (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) Erin Young (PhD ‘09) has accepted a College in Wyoming. and “Woolf’s Political Aesthetic in ‘To tenure-track position as Assistant Profes- Spain,’ Three Guineas, and Between the sor of Cultural Studies at the Long Island Alex Hunt (PhD ‘01) is Associate Profes- Acts,” in Virginia Woolf’s Bloomsbury, Center of Empire State College (SUNY).

15 Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage College of Arts and Sciences PAID Department of English 1286 University of Oregon Eugene, OR Eugene, OR 97403-1211 Permit No. 63

The University of Oregon is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Dis- abilities Act. This publication will be made available in accessible formats upon request. © 2011 University of Oregon Lisa Gilman, Director of the UO Folklore Program, Completes Documentary Film his May, Associate Professor of English, Director of the Folk- lore Program, and CSWS affili- ate, Lisa Gilman, completed and Tscreened on campus her new documentary film, Grounds for Resistance: A Film about Contemporary G.I. Resistance. In November 2008, a group of U.S. veterans opened Coffee Strong, a coffee shop locat- ed outside the gates of the U.S. Army base Fort Lewis in Washington. Inspired by the Vietnam-era G.I. coffee house movement, Coffee Strong provides a safe space where service members, military families, and veterans drink coffee and talk, regularly reflecting on as their experiences of war, deployment concerns, the hardships of life in the military, and veteran benefits. At the center of the film are men and film examines the stories of these men and to Coffee Strong. It records how their rela- women whose experiences in the military women, including their decisions to join tionships with one another and their efforts and war compel them to commit to helping the military, their experiences of war, and to make a more peaceful and just world help others who are serving or have served. The their motivations for devoting themselves them cope with their own experiences.