1. Announcements
I begin these notes with warm congratulations to one and all for making it through yet another year, equally warm wishes for grand summers ahead, and a sad farewell. After three years of writing Every Other Thursday’s Notes, it’s time to turn the honors over to our new Senior Associate Chair, Anthony Dawahare. Now, I can admit to some trepidation when I first took over these Notes, but despite the sometimes daunting challenges of keeping track of our comings and doings, opportunities and achievements, deadlines and whatnots, I have grown oddly fond of posting them for you. I’m not going to say I will miss writing them, but I do know I will read them more closely than I ever did before I wrote them. Ours is a complex, accomplished, and thriving department, with amazing staff and faculty and equally amazing students, and it’s here that we get to read all about it. And anyway, in it’s own way, it’s been fun. Ah la la. — KH
But first, a few last announcements. The Honors Convocation will be held tomorrow night, May 16, at 6:00 p.m. on the Oviatt Library lawn. And next week, graduation! Here’s hoping we’ve all sorted out our regalia and tickets and such, and that the event will be as splendid and heartwarming as it always is. The ceremony will take place on Thursday, May 22, also at 6:00 p.m. on the Oviatt Library lawn. Earlier that day, for the first time, MA students will be honored at their own hooding ceremony, which will take place from 2:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. in Chaparral Hall. Immediately after, we will reconvene in the Linda Nichols Joseph Reading Room for our annual term end party, which will run from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Please plan to join us for either or both, and help our students celebrate their awards and achievements.
And don’t blink either, next year will soon be upon us. So please save the dates now listed below, keeping in mind that although some of them seem to pertain only to Composition people, all of us are Compositionists in a variety of ways. Here’s what we know now; additional details will be announced as available.
Tuesday, May 13th: Wings Reading to select samples for Wings, in the LNJ Reading Room (JR 319), from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m
Wednesday, May 28th: New Voices Reading to select samples for New Voices
Thursday, August 21st: Composition Orientation, featuring Professor Dana Ferris and focusing on Working with Multilingual Students, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the LNJ Reading Room (JR 319)
Sunday, September 7th: PARTY at 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon at Irene Clark’s house.
Friday, October 17th: Wings/New Voices Awards Ceremony, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m
On May 16, the 4Humanities@CSUN group will host a meeting of the Southern California 4Humanities chapters to plan a collaborative research project called WhatEvery1Wants. This long-term project will use text mining methods to explore perceptions of the humanities, what academics and others believe the core values of the humanities to be, and the way people “frame” narratives about the humanities. Further information about the meeting can be found on the DHSoCal website. Anyone interested is welcome to join the meeting.
For those of you who missed it, Stephanie Satie will be doing one last performance of her solo play, Silent Witnesses, on Sunday June 1, at 7:30 p.m. at The Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks.
And for those of you who can’t wait to get started on your summer projects, you might want to hunker down with some like-minded others in the College of Humanities Faculty Writing Boot Camp, which will take place in the COH Conference Room, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., from June 2 to June 19. Come join other COH faculty in daily writing sessions designed to provide an atmosphere where distractions are minimal and support is plentiful. You will be provided space to set up your laptops and relevant books and papers. However, you should expect to be working in a room alongside other writers (akin to a library/café atmosphere). For more information, please contact Amanda Baugh at amanda.baugh@csun.edu. And, happy writing.
2. Reminders
Um, summer?
3. Opportunities
Summer, again, an opportunity all its own — for fun, for rest, for reading and writing and creative and scholarly endeavors. Here’s hoping you all have a grand one.
4. Achievements
Former TA and current Lecturer Norma Aceves will be attending the PhD Program in English at the University of Florida next year with full funding for four years.
On May 8, Scott Kleinman presented a paper on The Archive of Early Middle English, which explored the challenges of creating and using digital resources for medieval manuscripts.
El Salvadoran immigrant and long time community activist, Rossana Perez, who is graduating with her MA in Literature, is being featured as one of CSUN’s Outstanding Graduates. Your can read all about Rossana’s incredible achievements on CSUN Today, at http://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/media-releases/hard-work-and-determination-pays-off-for-csuns-newest-graduates/. And those of you who have had the pleasure of working with her can attest to how richly she deserves this recognition.
Two of our valued faculty — Lecturer Mary Shannon and TA Jared Thomas — have been honored with Polished Apples by students in the University Ambassadors program. The awards ceremony was on April 30. Mary was also honored as the faculty advisor for Sigma Tau Alpha, a new fraternity for veterans, at the “A Rose Like No Other” Awards Ceremony.
On May 11, Mother’s Day, three CSUN affiliated writers — former graduate student and current Lecturer Sean Pessin, graduating MA student Trista Payte, and current MA student Eric Barnhart — were featured in Sally Shore’s Emerging Voices evening for the New Short Fiction Series, L.A.’s longest running spoken word series. The event took place at the Federal Bar in North Hollywood, where professional actors, Alex Boling, Wilson Wong, and Sally Shore herself performed short stories by each of these writers and a fabulous time was had by all. Through the month of May, the stories may be downloaded for $.99 at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/New-Short-fiction-series?store=allproducts&keyword=New+Short+fiction+series.
Now that the year is ending, the letters are written, the students mentored, and the judging completed, here are the recipients of this spring’s Department Awards. Many thanks to those of you who supported them and, most especially, to the Amenities and Awards Committee, chaired by Lauren Byler, for doing the hard work of choosing among our many talented and accomplished students. Congratulations to them all.
The Linda Nichols Joseph English Merit Scholarship
Mary Estrada and Daniel Franklin
The Henry VanSlooten Scholarship in English
Katharine Mason
“Greed Is Not Good: Venality and Magical Realism in ‘The Rocking-Horse Winner’ and “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings'”
The Lesley Johnstone Memorial Award
Chelsey Berry
Slow Recurrence (poems)
The Robert apRoberts English Honors Essay Prize
Ah Jung Chang
“The Performance of Drag: An Army Nurse and the Vietnam War”
The Mahlon Gaumer Award
John Kubler
“The String Theorist of the 17th Century: A New Look at Margaret Cavendish’s Scientific Ideas”
The Harry Finestone Award in English
Nina Moon Ahn
“The Abominable Independence of Elizabeth Bennet: Spatial Renderings and Feminine Subjectivity in Pride and Prejudice”
The Academy of American Poets Prize
Winner: Emilio Sotelo, “Observations”
Honorable Mention: Cody Deitz, “Bridge”
The Professor Mitchell Marcus Prize in English
Hannah Jorgenson
And with that, farewell and good respites to all…