GET INVOLVED in ENGLISHFEST 2008

Enroll in English 398:  English Practicum.  You can receive 1 or 2 credits at a time for fall and/or spring semester.   See Gloria Hochstein in Hibbard 409 for permission to enroll, or email  hochstgj@uwec.edu

 

The annual English Festival is an entirely student-conceptualized and student-run event.

Missionary BooksYou come up with the individual sessions (which include panels, presentations, and performances), the dates, fund-raising opportunities, and the advertising and promotion . Most important, most of you are yourselves the panelists, performers, and presenters. One of you might imagine a particular panel discussion idea (e.g., Shakespeare, dance as text, film renditions of classic novels) and then recruit other student panelists, including students from departments other than English, to join you on the panel (or in the performance). In some ways our festival has resembled a typical academic conference, with papers and discussion; in other ways, it's been quite free-form. For instance, there could be a panel on Rap and Hip Hop, followed by a live rapper freestylin’ or a battle, and then reactions/discussion.

The make-up of the 2008 Festival is entirely dependent on what YOU are interested in. The ultimate responsibility for making it a success lies with the members of the English Festival.

The focus in the past has included topic areas that might come under the heading of English Studies. Previous Festival themes include "Literary Comma Sutra: Let Language Touch you," “WORDstock: Two days of Text, Fun, and Rock & Roll,” "The Joy of Texts," "Textually Explicit: Parental Advisory," "teXt Files: The Truth Between the Lines,” “Got English? Text Does a Body Good,” “TEXTformers: English in Disguise,” and last year’s "Textallica: Ride the Writing." Here's a sampling of the sessions in previous festivals: Slam Poetry

  • Student Plays
  • Book banning
  • Poetry readings
  • Student Film
  • Technical Writing
  • (Post)Modern Science (and relativism)
  • Film (as text)
  • Dance (as text)
  • Arthurian legends
  • Postcolonial literature
  • Music (as text)
  • Student Plays
  • Native American Lit
  • African American literature
  • Shakespeare
  • Creative writing workshops
  • Comic books as lit.
  • Dramatic readings/improvisational acting
  • Updated fairy tales

 

In addition, we’ve had a long line of famous guest speakers, such as Jon Shear an award winning director who’s also acted in Independence Day and Heathers. Last year’s speaker was Derrick Brown, an award-winning slam poet from LA, and our very own world famous writer, Professor Osonye Tess Onwueme. This year our focus is on independent presses and their writers. So, we’ll have hometown heroes reading like Ken Syzmanski, Bruce Taylor, and Frank Smoot and invited writers such as (author of his own graphic novel) Ben Wood, (author of his own book) Mike Darigan, and (former editor of Vibe Magazine and author) O. J. Lima. We’ve also had live music (rock, folk, funk, punk, hardcore, country, hip hop, emo, DJs to spin house and trance, etc.) on the campus mall during lunchtime on the Festival days and a "Poetry Booth" staffed by writers who answer requests on the spot from passing students for poems to Mom, Dad, girlfriend or boyfriend, roommate, grandparents, etc.

And we’ve sponsored an annual poetry and prose writing contest among Eau Claire area elementary and middle schools. Winners are chosen from various age categories.

In the way of advertising, students in past years have appeared on local TV and radio stations to announce the Festival and answer a question or two about it.

The Leader-Telegram gave us a nice write-up a couple of years ago and a brief mention last year, including the schedule. The Spectator should also run at least a brief story and/or the two-day schedule on the week of the event (though they usually need some prodding). Plus, students have appeared in a number of classes to generate interest. And finally, starting a week or two before the event, students have posted flyers all over campus.

Things to consider as you begin the planning process:

What will the 2008 Festival actually consist of and who will be responsible for generating ideas for it? (e.g., sessions, events, activities, participants

What sorts of committees do you need to form to help coordinate the planning (e.g., Steering Committee, Facilities Committee, Advertising and Promotions Committee, Fundraising Committee, Prizes Committee, Idea Generating Committee) and when should their work begin?

Do you plan to continue with the general textuality (“the joy of texts”) theme and, if so, will there be a particular focus under that umbrella? If not, what would you like the emphasis to be this year and how will that be decided?

Afiliation & Considerations

How committed are YOU to working on the Festival? That will determine how many credits you sign up for (one or two). Remember that once you’ve committed, there will be a number of people depending on you to fulfill your responsibilities.

A Final Final Consideration: Though it takes real work, this Festival is mostly about having fun. I hope you’ll decide to join us.

2007 Tee shirt design

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