EGSA Digest 02.14.14

English Graduate Student Association

EGSA Digest 02.14.14

February 14, 2014 EGSA Digests 0

EGSA,

The wait is over. It’s finally here. It will be a weekend to remember. Just you, that special someone, that prospie you agreed to let sleep on your couch, and men’s figure skating.

Announcements

English Program Preview Weekend (formerly, and maybe still unofficially, the Prospective Student Weekend)

  • This is (probably) your last invitation to participate in this weekend’s events, so refer to the schedule below and come support your colleagues, the department, and the prospective students. Obviously we want many of these visitors to join us here in the fall, so show up, be friendly, and, if you can manage, avoid asking too many of them which primary methodology they anticipate employing in their dissertation and from what theoretical framework they anticipate approaching it.

 

Preview Weekend Events
Friday, Feb. 14            3:00 p.m.         Departmental Tea                    Fourth Floor Faculty Lounge
                                  5:30 p.m.         Dinner at Panera (must pay for)
Saturday, Feb. 15        8:45 a.m.         Breakfast (free)                      Fourth Floor Faculty Lounge

9:00 a.m.          Orientation, Introductions, and Examples of Faculty Research
Agendas

Greetings from Dr. Larry Lyon and Dr. Dianna Vitanza
Dr. Michael-John DePalma     Rhetoric and Composition
Dr. Sarah Ford                        American Literature
                                                            Dr. Melisa Dracos                   Linguistics
Dr. Joshua King                      British Literature
                                    10:00 a.m.       Mini-conference on Cormac McCarthy in CS 101
“‘Take care with whom you break bread’: The Sacramental Meal in Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses”
Julie Ooms, PhD Candidate
“Living Out the One Tale: The Role of Witnessing in Cormac McCarthy’sThe Crossing
Christina Boyles, PhD Student
“Of Shadow and Rumor: Sacraments and Storytelling in Cormac McCarthy”
Ryan Womack, PhD Student
“‘Books are made out of books’: A Study of Influence from the Cormac McCarthy Papers
Michael Crews, PhD Candidate
                                    12:00 p.m.       Lunch at Shorty’s or Food for Thought (must pay for)
2:00 p.m.         Common Grounds Coffee with Michael M. and Sarah C. (must pay for)
or
                        Cameron Park Hike with Elizabeth T. 

Candidate Presentation, Today, 2pm, CS 101

  • Dr. Luke Taylor, “Burton and Digressive Humanities”
  • This is a good opportunity to sit in a room and reflect on the good fortune of still being a student.

Valentine’s Departmental Tea, Today, 3pm, CS 4th

  • This is a good opportunity to stand in a room and reflect on the good fortune of locating yourself near the refreshments table.

Upcoming Events

Edmondson Lecture Series, Dr. Helen Horowitz, “Thinking about the Mind and Body in Nineteenth-Century America,” 17-18 Feb., Kayser Auditorium

  • Mon., 17 Feb., 3:30pm, “Why Were They Ill? Thinking About the Mind and Body in Nineteenth-Century America”
  • Tues. 18 Feb., 3:30pm, “‘The Yellow Wall-Paper’ and the Case of Charlotte Perkins Gilman”
  • No really, creepy. Get it?

Life on the Grad Line, Tues., 18 Feb., 12:00-1:30pm, Baines Room

  • Dr. Rishi Sriram, “Preparing to Write Your Dissertation or Thesis”
  • Do you think it’s anything like preparing to write other papers? You know, get out your laptop. Check your email. Check Facebook. Check out pictures of the men’s figure skating team. Realize you need to do some prewriting before you just up ‘n’ dive right in. Realize that by “prewriting,” you actually meant “brainstorming.” Put away your laptop. Watch some Big Bang Theory. Get out an academic article and draw a flower garden or a superhero in the margins. Color it. You’ll need crayons. Ask your roommate what he or she is having for dinner. Join him or her. Ask him or her if he or she has any good ideas about connections between Chaucer and McCarthy. Reflect a bit on the awkwardness of gender-specific pronouns in the English language. Get out your laptop. Check your email.
  • Cuz if it is anything like that, no offense, but I think we got this, Dr. Sriram.

MRRS, Fri., 21 Feb., 2:30–3:30pm, Jones 200

  • Dr. Barr, “Feminizing God’s Word? A Comparison of Biblical References in Medieval, Reformation, and Post-Reformation English Sermons”
  • Let’s see . . . there’s a joke here somewhere. Oh, there it is. Not going there. Hard experience has taught that you never mess with deity or feminanything.

19CRS, Fri., 21 Feb., 3:30–4:30pm, ABL Lecture Hall

  • Dr. Sarah Walden, “Tasteful Domesticity: Women’s Rhetoric and the American Cookbook”
  • Okay, so, seriously, and don’t tell her, but I got my wife a saucepan for Valentine’s Day, which I thought might be construed as a bit sexist and maybe a little selfish, but I’m starting to see the thing in a whole new light. If this is going to end poorly, I need you to speak up right away.

To conclude, is anybody else a little embarrassed by Team USA’s curling performance? It’s not so much that we suck; it’s that we agreed to participate in the event in the first place. Thank you, Jason Brown, for giving us back a bit of dignity.

See you around this weekend,

Jeremy Leatham

EGSA Secretary

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