The 2004 MCLLM Chairs!!!

We have our triumvirate to lead us successfully through next year's Midwestern Conference on Literature, Language & Media, and the lucky devils are:

Leah Kind
Mark Branson
and
Shannon Baisden

Yay!! Be nice to them -- they are brave souls! I know that there are a lot of other courageous folks eager to help out, too, and that rocks. May the queue of volunteers wrap 'round Reavis!

Please give our new chairs a hug or handshake of encouragement when you see them, and thank you in advance to all you future (and veteran) helpers!

It's a beautiful thing!

Emotional Encouragement for You Dissertation and Thesis Folks!

DISSERTATION AND THESIS SUPPORT GROUP

Intro from Alli Glore, Ph.D.:

The Counseling and Student Development Center is sponsoring a support group for graduate students working on a thesis or dissertation. Similar support groups are popular at counseling centers nationwide such as: Indiana University, Purdue, Berkeley, University of Michigan,etc.

This group is not "therapy," but rather uses a "coaching" approach to help students maintain accountability and forward momentum on this project.

Attached is our promotional flyer. The group begins this summer (May 21st) and will meet on Wednesdays from 11 am - 12:30 pm. We will accept new members at any time. Please do not hesitate to call me with any questions you have.

Thank You,
Alli Glore, Ph.D.
Counseling & Student Development, NIU
aglore@niu.edu

The Flyer!...

WHEN: Beginning Wednesday, May 21st, 2003
Meets Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

WHO: Any NIU graduate student from any department working on a thesis
or dissertation project.

WHERE: Campus Life Building, Room 200

WHAT: Students support one another on thesis and dissertation
projects by:

-Offering emotional support and stress relief,
-Sharing experiences and seeing you're not alone,
-Coaching one another and being coached by students at different
stages in the process,
-Sharing campus, community, and internet resources,
-Sharing tips for time management, budgeting, etc.,
-Proofreading each others' work, helping others outline, etc.,
-Reporting back to a group to keep momentum and avoid
procrastination, and
-Working through delicate issues (e.g., how to choose a committee).

HOW: You can join by calling 753-1206 and setting up a 30-minute
interview with Alli Glore, PhD at the Counseling and Student
Development Center.

It's cool, fun, and WAY beneficial, folks. Don't delay, check 'em out today!

Shahrzad Mahootian Here Tuesday, April 15th

Something for everyone! (Hot scoop from Ms. Melina)

Shahrzad Mahootian will present "It's All Coming Together: Forms and Functions of Codeswitching," talking about linguistic-y stuff that might interest many of us. Her work explores the "rules" that control when and how codeswitching is appropriate.

Why do you want come, you ask? If you're a linguist - it's about language, hello. If you're in ESL - it's about using more than one language, at that. If you're in literature - you'll get a crash-course in how codeswitching works (and why), which might help you in experimenting with your own writing or in reading. Think Junot Diaz, Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, Louise Erdrich, Jack London, Maxine Hong Kingston, ... I could go on all day.

So, come out. Shahrzad's "extremely wonderful" (Birner 2003), and her work is a great link between our disciplines.

To recap:

What: Shahrzad Mahootian, linguist, presenting "It's All Coming Together: Forms and Functions of Codeswitching" on codeswitching and bilingualism.
When: at 4:30 pm on April 15, 2003.
Where: Reavis 211 (tentatively)

Thanks! See you there.

-Melina
Outgoing (as in lame-duck) EGSA President

motivation and scoop from FYComp Director, Dr. Michael Day!:

First, a big thanks to Jayne Higgins, Jamie Schultz, Susan Smith, and others who came to share their ideas at yesterday's well-attended FYComp First Friday Colloquium. Twenty-Two people on a Friday afternoon, WOW! Stay tuned for information on our next FYComp First Friday event, a "Reading Day Reading" by FYComp program creative writers on, what else? Reading Day, May 2.

Second, it isn't too late to participate in the Computers and Writing Conference at Purdue University this year, May 22-25. You can still participate in the Graduate Research Network May 22nd!

Third, if you can't attend the conference at Purdue, consider participating in the online conference:

Computers & Writing Online 2003 will be held from April 20 - May 18. It will involve a mix of MOO and email discussions. While time is short -- we appologize for this, if you would like to propose a MOO discussion, a presentation, a week-long email "roundtable" or anything else, please do. Despite any deadlines you may see on the Web site, we're asking for an email of intention, if not a proposal, by April 7. Our intent is to have 3 - 4 MOO sessions a week, including Graduate Research Network Online events, and 4 week-long email discussions.

The Conference Web site, The CFP, and The Proposal form.

Any questions about Computers and Writing at Purdue or online? Just ask me.

Thanks,
Michael
mday@niu.edu

stick it to The Man

Are you being lied to?

Visit Grrilla Media for an alternative to the officially approved sources of information.

Sez them: This is YOUR Democracy. It's time to take it back. Be seen. Be heard. Resist.

So check it out: Grrilla Pub by a couple of our very own.

and for educational viewing:

The boys of Grrilla Media are showing The Truth and Lies of 9-11 this week on Wednesday at 6:00 pm and Friday at 2:00 pm in the Cole Hall Preview Room.

Contact Mark Dickson or Jeremy Shipley for information or to participate in the resistance.

new officers

EGSA's new officers are

Adam Kotlarczyk, Secretary
Andy Sidle, President
Sarah Weber, Treasurer

Congratulate 'em!

grad sa committee members needed

From Bob Self:

The Graduate School needs students willing to serve on the Graduate Student Advisory Committee and on the Graduate Council for the next academic year. They provide a good experience that can also grace your resume.

Please let Dr. Bob know this week (by Friday, March 14) if you are interested in either of these important university committees.

and an addendum by Dave Gugin

"Just wanted to add on to Dr. Self's posting about the grad council. I was the representative for 2001-2002, and I found it to be a fairly useful experience. Also, as Dr. Self mentioned, it is a good way to get several quick and painless entries on the vita. The time constraints are not overwhelming - for me it was a couple of Monday mornings (10-12) a month. If anyone has any further questions, feel free to contact me.

Arnold Fox submissions!

Graduate students in the English Department are invited to submit a paper, or papers, that they wrote for any course--including the summer term--during 2002 for the annual Arnold Fox Research Writing Award. This award carries a monetary prize, and the winner will present a version of it at the next Arnold Fox Symposium in Fall 2003.

Submissions should be submitted to the appropriately marked box in Jan Arwood's office, Reavis 215, by Friday, April 18. Each submission should have a cover sheet indicating that the paper is indeed a Fox submission and also indicating the student‚s name and the course for which it was originally written. (Submissions may be revised versions of the original paper.) The student's name should not--NOT!--appear anywhere in or on the body of the paper, however.

this puppy's sneakin' up!

From the MCLLM Crew, some propaganda:

This year's Midwestern Conference on Language, Literature, and Media (previously Film, Language, and Literature) will be the tenth anniversary of our graduate conference. Each year, scholars from all over the world come to DeKalb to discuss everything from cognitive linguistics to
renaissance literature to Slim Shady. Since its founding by graduate students Charles Bowie and John Carlberg, the MCLLM has undergone two name changes, an increasingly expanding range of topics, and a global popularity that draws participants from every continent.

This conference, our tenth anniversary, will call back world-renowned poet and translator (and former NIU professor) Lucien Stryk to speak on "West Meets East: Zen's Impact on Western Literature." We also welcome our technology keynote, Meg Hourihan, author of a monthly column for the O'Reilly Network, and co-creator of the popular online diary software Blogger. Professor Judith Mayne, author of Woman at the Keyhole: Feminism and Women's Cinema, will be speaking on "Marlene Deitrich and Hollywood's Representation of the Aging Female Star." Professor Mayne's presentation is co-sponsored by Department of English and the Women's Studies Program.

MCLLM also welcomes back our founders, Charles Bowie and John Carlberg, along with over a hundred other scholars from all over America and the world. Panels on the Japanese internment, cognitive approaches to metaphor, addiction and drug use in film, technological pedagogy, and
family systems therapy are scheduled, along with over twenty other panels on diverse topics.

A number of special sessions are also in the works. Elizabeth Hall Weatherall is scheduled to present on the Thoreau Project, a thirty-seven year project to compile the writings of Henry David Thoreau. Jeff Chown, graduate director of the communications department, is also scheduled to
present on "Compilation Documentaries and Michael Moore," a discussion of the use of "found" footage in documentary. Finally, a poetry reading is scheduled at the House on Friday night, featuring several local poets.

This year's conference will also be revolutionary in its use of the "virtual conference," an online conference designed by Matt Duncan. The virtual conference will allow people from all over the world to participate in real time, as well as to receive online updates from panels. The directors of the conference are particularly grateful to the Communication Department for all their help in making this exciting possibility a reality.

The directors of this year's conference, Andy Sidle, Patrick Dunn, and Matt Duncan, invite all students, graduate and undergraduate, to come to this historic conference. Further information about the conference and registration materials can be found at http://www.engl.niu.edu/mcllm.

job seekers:

Dr. Bob says:

I write to alert you to the excellent services of the university's Career Planning and Placement Center. You can and should start a placement file with them if you are looking for a job. The file will
contain your vita (or resume or cv), your undergrad and grad transcripts, and your letters of recommendation.

Whenever you apply for a job, you ask the CPPC to send the potential employer your credential file, and they will send it, neatly and professionally packaged, to the people you want to hire you. This way you ask Registration and Records to send your transcripts once; you ask your
recommendors to write a letter once, and thereafter Career Planning and Placement copies your file for every position you seek. It's an excellent and free service, and it's an expected one. That is, most employers expect that your credentials will be sent them from such an office at whichever school you graduate from.

We also have samples in Jan's office (from CPPC's "Job Hunter's Guide") of a wide range of resume formats you may use in developing your own resume.

You may also want to visit the CPPC website for more information on all their services.

jobs, anyone?

1. Two tenure-track openings at Joliet Junior college

2. An announcement of a community college internship program at the College of Lake County.

3. Two tenure-track positions at the University of Missouri-Rolla--one in American Studies and the other in Technical Communication.

Jan Arwood has the job descriptions if you are interested.

From Dr. Bob

Calls for Papers:

Dear Graduate Students--

We have received these call for papers:

1. Midwestern American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, November 6-9, Chicago

2. Midwest Popular Culture Association Convention, October 17-19, Minneapolis
(I'm recruiting Lit/Film papers for this one)

3. Black Graduate Student Association Research Symposium, NIU, April 5

Please see Jan Arwood for copies of these calls.



Jan has these announcements as well.

looking for money?

Look here:

The January 2003 newsletter link contains a number of different funding opportunities with March through mid-April deadlines for graduate students. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the GSGFO at (815) 753-9283, or ospgrad@niu.edu.

A PDF version (recommended for printing) of the January 2003 newsletter can be accessed at http://www.grad.niu.edu/osp/Jan2003grad.pdf.

In addition, the 2003 GSGFO Spring Bulletin, listing over 90 grant and fellowship opportunities with deadlines between February and November 2003, is available at http://www.grad.niu.edu/ospgsgfo/spring03bulletin.html.

Call for Papers at ADS

The following is a call for papers for ADS at MMLA. The meeting will be November 7-8 in Chicago.

American Dialect Society at the 45th Annual Midwest Modern Language Association Convention, November 7-9, 2003, Chicago, Congress Plaza Hotel

Topic: "New Directions in Language Variation and Change"

They're accepting papers beyond traditional dialectology to include various aspects of language variation and change, including but not limited to discourse analysis, narratology, African American English, language and gender, Hispanic English, and language contact.

Please submit abstracts, maximum 250 words. Presentations may be based in traditional dialectology, or in other areas of language variation and change, including sociolinguistics, historical, anthropological or folk linguistics, language and gender, critical discourse analysis, or
narratology. Email submissions preferred.

Please submit by 1 April 2003 to Kate Remlinger.

By mail to
Kate Remlinger
Department of English
Grand Valley State University
1 Campus Drive
Allendale, MI 49401

copy-left and online texts

More Discuss!from Eric, the tech-mastah - 'round January-ish:

We've talked about intellectual property laws and copyright. In the spirit of those conversations, let me suggest you go look at http://www.baen.com/library/. Eric Flint, the general editor, speaks eloquently about texts, publishers, commercialism, and free downloads. You can also download FOR FREE about 60 books from such authors as Larry Niven, Mercedes Lackey, David Drake, and others. The section called "Prime Palaver" is particularly good, and contains a number of very well written essays that discuss copyright and the utter greed and stupidity of the corporate publication model.

Following this same "copyleft" model, you may also want to check out http://www.nap.edu/ (the home page for the National Academies Press, a publisher of science, engineering and medicine works), that includes free online versions of ALL ITS BOOKS!!!! That's about as far from the get-away-from-my-stuff-unless-you-pay-me-an-exorbitant-amount ideology that currently seems to inform much of the academic publishing industry.

At the very least, you should be able to cull some very good articles to use in class if you ever talk about intellectual property, or publication, or Napster, and so on.
--
Eric Hoffman

PS -- I probably shouldn't have to say this, but please do not print out the novel or book you downloaded, at least not at a University printer. If you want to watse paper and ink on your own home printer, be my guest, but realize you're probably not saving any money over just buying the thing at B or BN.

From the MCLLM Boys

Fellow Citizens of Adventurous Intellectopolis! (Read: English and Communication Departments)

The Midwestern Conference on Literature, Language, and Media fast approaches. Exciting panels abound, including these 2 on Saturday, the 29th, at 8:30 and 10:30, respectively:

1) Between Memory and Imagination: Writing the Internment.
2) Narratives of Redress: Love, Loss and Community in Japanese American
and Japanese Canadian Writings of the Internment.

Kelli Lyon Johnson and Billy Clem will host and present on these panels that examine responses to these often forgotten American casualties of war and their history.

So, don't delay! Check out register. Early registration ends March 14th!!

See you there!
Andy, Pat, and Matt
Co-chairs Deluxe

From Patrick Dunn, sometime in January

Discuss!

Just found this online; I'm always complaining that my education leaves
me no time to read. Maybe there's something to that . . .

-----------------------------------------------------

Motion attacks curriculum

Nicholas Pyke
Friday March 7, 2003
The Guardian

The poet laureate delivered a broadside against the school curriculum last night, saying that the government's regime of tests and targets has left students with no time to read books. Speaking after the announcement that he is to step down as the head of the country's most prestigious creative writing course, at the University of East Anglia, Mr Motion said schools are trapped in a "creative crisis".

He complained that many of the students he came across had never read such classics as Great Expectations, or the works of Austen, Waugh and Greene because the school system treats pupils and teachers like rats in a wheel.

He suggested a list of books that students on his course should have a read. "There's a real crisis about creativity in general and about reading thanks to the way the curriculum is structured," he said. "It's target-driven and it's exam-driven. This is not the teachers' fault; it's the fault of the pressures put upon them. The amount of time available for creativity is sadly diminished. It's very noticeable. Almost every other academic colleague I've spoken to says the same. We turn out students from schools and into universities who have not been educated in a rounded way.
We know what's happened to art and music in schools. It's happening to reading as well."

He said that the students he met at UEA were hungry for literature. But unfortunately their time on the "educational rat wheel" had prevented them exploring the world of books.

Mr Motion has spent eight years leading the UEA creative writing course, whose alumni include Kazuo Ishiguro and Ian McEwan.

In September he takes up a new post as chair of creative writing at Royal Holloway, part of London University.

Motion's must-reads:

Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Ulysses by James Joyce
Emma by Jane Austen
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
Waterland by Graham Swift
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

To Journalism / English Departments:

ASSISTANT EDITOR POSITION AVAILABLE aec@ku.edu
Monthly business magazine located in Moline, IL seeks Assistant Editor with strong writing and computer skills, plus potential to assume higher responsibility. Position requires ability to handle a variety of assignments ranging from copyediting to proofreading to simple layout (Macintoch/Quark/Xpress) to basic journalistic writing. Ideal candidate will contribute value in professional-level editing and writing, design/graphic arts/illustration, DTP or other specialty. Bachelor's degree in journalism or English required. Experience or internship a strong plus. Some travel likely. Competitive benefits. Send resume to: gary.goldman@ararental.org

Stop complaining that you don't have vita-fillers, dernit

Go here. The Midwest Conference on Literature, Language, and Media is a great place to present a paper or two. Shine up something from a class or liberate yourself by presenting something fabulous and new. At the website, you'll find the call for papers (CFP), featured speakers, dates, times, and lodging information.

Please, for your own academic same, submit. Travel's cheap - you can get to Reavis, right? - and the audiences are friendly. Participate in your own department's health, and stop feeling the guilt that comes with leeching. If you need one more link to the conference, here it is. Now go.

Fun time with drawring

Just because I think you should know:
Visit The Boondocks by Aaron McGruder. It'll make your life better.

From a fellow graduate student

Says Susan Oppenborn:

"There were a few of us interested in having a Seminar in Dante and also a seminar in Swift. If there is anyone out there interested in either or both of these, please email me back. I am compiling the info for Dr. Bob and if there is enough response, he will find someone to teach it.

I am also interested in a Seminar in either Dickens, Trollope or Eliot. Please let me know if there is anyone out there interested in any of these.

Please respond to this by Sunday, November 24, 2002 if you are interested in any of these. List which one(s) and who you are. Thanks for your responses."

If you're interested in these or other seminars or classes, let your grad director (Dr. Bob) know. Let him know when you've got any ole thing to say about your status in the program. We keep him young.

From Angela in FY-Comp:

Book orders for the classes you're teaching are due November 27. Get 'em in or she'll get ya.

Addendum to the previous post:

A link to the Study Abroad Office at NIU.

If it itches, scratch it

If you're interested in spending the summer overseas, consider studying abroad through the NIU at Oxford or the Media and Culture in Ireland programs.


The NIU at Oxford program allows you to spend six weeks (June 29 - August 8, 2003) living and studying at Oriel College at Oxford University in England. Several English department MAs have been (say . . . me, for example) who'd be more than happy to tell you the pros and (few) cons of the program and the ins and outs of life in the U.K. The program costs $5599, which includes the following:

1. Housing, accommodation, and meals as described in this program description
   
2. Use of an Oriel College Common Room and the College Library
   
3. Two field trips
   
4. International Student Identity Card (ISIC)
   
5. NIU tuition for 3-9 semester hours of undergraduate or graduate credit
   
6. NIU major medical insurance

Here's a link to the English Dept's Oxford website. It hasn't been updated since the last trip, but it's got more persuasive photographs.


For information on the Ireland program, see Dr. Bob in English or Dr. Jeff Chown in the Communication Department. (I hear Matt Duncan's been through the program, and I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you what to expect . . . don't tell him I sent you.) From Dr. Bob: "The program takes place in Dublin; it carries six hours undergraduate or graduate credit, in English or in Communication, and runs for four weeks in June and July." The program runs from June 22 - July 18, 2003 and costs $2750, which includes the following:

1. Housing and meals in a private residence during the period June 22 to July 19 (28 nights).
   
2. Most admission fees required during program related field trips.
   
3. Intra-city Transportation.
   
4. International Student Identification Card.
   
5. NIU tuition for 6 semester hours of undergraduate or graduate credit.
   
6. NIU major medical insurance.

Here's a link to the English Dept's Ireland website. It hasn't been updated since the last trip either, but it's got some very persuasive photos.


You know you wanna . . . .

From Michael Day:

"I sent out a call for papers for the Allerton Conference a few weeks
ago. Please remember that if you intend ask for funding to support your
travel to the conference, you need to see Jan Arwood well before you
attend the conference. "

Here's a link to the Allerton Articluation Conference on composition and literature. See Michael for the CFP or for more information.

Registration, anyone?

Dr. Bob reminds us that it's time to REGISTER! Call TRACS at 753-8100 or register online at WebConnect.

Money, money, money, moooneyy

Here's the monthly information from the Graduate Student Grants and Fellowships Office. Find money there.

You're the coolest

Thanks to all who participated in the Arnold Fox presentation by Richard Tony Thompson and Dr. David Gorman. The papers and the following discussion were refreshing and exciting. Thanks all!

ahh, poetry

Also of note, but not sponsored by EGSA, Richard Tony Thompson and Mark Driscoll (oops! Dixon (oops! Dickson)) will read their poetry at the House on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 7:00 in the p.m.

Stuff upcoming:

Friday, Nov. 1: Poetry Reading at Mister Crum's coffee shop on Lincoln Hwy. It starts at 7:00, featuring Matt Duncan (sick f***) and Patrick Dunn (maniacal genius).

Friday, Nov. 8: First Hundred Days Celebration in honor of Michael Day and Bob Self. In Reavis 211 from 2:00 - 4:00. Refreshments served, and maybe a hokey state-of-the address. We'll see.

Wednesday, Nov. 13: Arnold Fox presentation. Student winner Richard Tony Thompson will present "Metaphertigo" on metaphor in language, and faculty speaker David Gorman will talk on some complementary metaphor-related topic. In Reavis 211 from 3:30 - 5:00. Again, we'll have treats.

Directions to Melina and Richard's place for the Halloween party:

We're at 431 College. From Lincoln Hwy: Turn north on Park Ave., between American Liquors and the Shell station. The first cross-street is Locust, the second is College. Take a left, and we're four houses down on the right. Park on the opposite side of the street or on John, just one road up. A map from Mapquest.

Will post directions to Melina and Richard's and to the Selfs' soon.

Welcome to the NIU English Graduate Student Association weblog!

Here, we'll post updates, pertinent class information, announcements, and supplemental information to the Stencil.