Schedule
05.01.2013
Wednesday-Thursday, May 1 and 2, in Davies:
English Fest at CERCA—Schedule of Presentations
Wednesday, May 1, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm Dakota Ballroom A (Room 340A)
Moderators: Erin Stevens and Johnathan Walker
Braden Krien (English Creative Writing)
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: Dr. Jeff Vahlbusch
The Role of Virgil in Dante's Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri’s poem, The Divine Comedy, holds an indisputable place in the highest echelons of world literature. One of the central characters in the first two parts of this travelogue is Virgil, who acts as Dante’s guide in context of the story and is his poetic predecessor off the page. This research project critically examines the role of Virgil in classic and more recent scholarship. In the Divine comedy, this project illuminates the role of Virgil as guide, teacher, theologian, protector, and as one of the creators of the poetic tradition which Dante, the poet, inherits.
Kimberly Schnurr (English Literature)
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: Dr. Audrey Fessler
Researching the Forgotten: The Revival of "New Women" Writers to 21st Century Scholars
When one thinks of canonical Victorian literature a few names instantly come to mind: Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and Charlotte Bronte. Although these writers were talented indeed, their fame can overshadow other writers of the time period. Sarah Grand and George Egerton are two such authoresses that I argue are just as worthy of literary legacy as all of the aforementioned. By reviving these forgotten women writers into Victorian literary canon, we come to understand so much more about the Victorian period and of women's movements happening during that time. Their unorthodox subject matter, including sexually transmitted infections in Grand's "The Heavenly Twins" and the celebration of female sexuality in Egerton's "A Cross Line," as well as the natures of their gender as women writers contributed to them being snuffed out of Victorian anthologies. It is my contention that these women were too courageous, too postmodern, and too brilliant to be left to the dreary, dusty bookshelves of literary history. We not only deny ourselves as scholars the knowledge that these women and their works can teach us, but we rob future generations of those lessons, as well. If we don't recover women writers like Grand and Egerton, who will?
Ryan Vingum (English Literature)
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: None
Conceiving the Western Novel: Anti-Essentialism and Gender in Willa Cather’s O Pioneers!
Through a critical feminist viewpoint, I examine Willa Cather’s novel O Pioneers! in order to explore the role of women in the Western genre. In Western literature, there exists a model with men at the forefront as heroes, and women in the background, quiet and passive. By evaluating the role of women in O Pioneers!, the preconceptions of gender are revealed to be not quite as clear and rigid in this male dominated genre. I have discovered that women are capable of fulfilling the role typically shouldered by men in Western literature.
Wednesday, May 1, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Dakota Ballroom A (Room 340A)
Moderators: Erin Stevens and Johnathan Walker
KC Coughlin (English Creative Writing), Quinn Forss (English Creative Writing and Women’s Studies), and Laura Becherer (English Graduate Program)
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: Dr. Erica Benson, Dr. Theresa Kemp, and Dr. Angela Pirlott
Roundtable Discussion: Developing a Non-Sexist/Non-Gendered Language Policy at UW-Eau Claire
Creating inclusive language for underrepresented bodies – specifically, the feminine and other “unmarked” gender categories – creates a reality that acknowledges the existence of said bodies (e.g., Wattman & Treichler, Pauwels). Through a multidisciplinary effort (Women’s Studies, English Linguistics, and Psychology), faculty-student collaboration, administrative partnership with Affirmative Action, and support from our Commission on the Status of Women at UW-Eau Claire, we are developing a language policy that eliminates language that renders unmarked genders invisible or subordinate. In considering the need for such a policy, we examined uses of gendered and sexist language in university documents and investigated language attitudes and experiences with sexist/gendered language (collected via surveys and interviews). We contend that awareness of inclusive language does more than affect the social dialect; it strives toward a reality where language usage more accurately represents its referents.
Wednesday, May 1, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Dakota Ballroom A (Room 340A)
Moderators: Johnathan Walker and Sarah Weinmann
Panel Presentation: How Far Can Fiction Go?
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: Prof. BJ Hollars
All of these pieces of fiction, gathered and shown side by side, illustrate the vast amount of variation that fiction writers have to work with and the infinite array of topics available to their creative minds.
Erin Stevens (English Creative Writing)
Chronicles of a Part-Time Waitress
Erin will read an excerpt from the first half of her story “Chronicles of a Part-Time Waitress” which documents the mundane and unfortunate experiences of Cara, a part-time waitress at a poorly run restaurant.
Josh Bauer (English Creative Writing)
Bets
Josh will read from his story “Bets” which explores the relationship of two college students through the seemingly innocuous activity of making five-dollar bets during a freak August snow shower.
Rebekah Morrisson (English Creative Writing)
Creases
“Creases” briefly explores the comfortable marriage of Gertrude and Dan, which takes a complicated turn for the worst; in connection to a deceased feline and an enveloped message, the reader gradually uncovers the story behind the two characters’ strained facial expressions.
Jessalee Simonson (English Creative Writing)
The Backyard Burial
Jessalee will read her story “The Backyard Burial” about a couple experiencing marital discord while burying their beloved pet.
Wednesday, May 1, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Moderators: Rebekah Morrisson and Johnathan Walker
Kaitlyn Johnson (English Literature)
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: Dr. Carey Applegate
No Unity: An Ethical Analysis of The Boondock Saints
This presentation is an analysis of the film The Boondock Saints based on the theories explained in Alan Badiou's Ethics: An Understanding of Evil. This analysis uses a critical approach to explore the relationship between religion and ethics, as well as how the film exemplifies Badiou's ideas of an event, a subject, and that subject's fidelity to the event.
Greta Schultz (English Education)
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: Dr. Carey Applegate
Climbing the Socioeconomic Ladder in Disguise: A Look at the Masking of Socioeconomic Status in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
This presentation uses a critical approach to analyze the disguises used by characters in the Sherlock Holmes short stories and the role that socioeconomic status plays.
Thursday, May 2, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Chancellors (Room 311)
Moderators: Erica Benson and Johnathan Walker
Panel Presentation: The Work We Do Outside the Center for Writing Excellence: A Roundtable on the Challenges and Opportunities of Community Outreach
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: Dr. Alan Benson
This round-robin conversation will consider the often-overlooked work of outreach via building campus writing communities, reimagining methods of interacting online, and creating strategies for bringing faculty into the center as writers/learners.
Lindsey Fenner (English Graduate Program)
Community Outreach Activities
This presentation explores how community building outreach activities can help change a writing-reticent campus into a community of writers, but only when the outreach is strategic and focused. Using activities from community organizing, participants will reflect on past practices of writing center outreach and generate a transformative vision of a community of writers.
Nicholas Freitag (History Graduate Program)
Outreach via Social Media
This presentation narrows the focus to one specific means through which outreach takes place: social media. Many centers have responded to the potential of social media without thinking through how they present themselves and how “improper use” of the space can work against outreach efforts.
Daniel Henke (English Graduate Program)
Strategies for Reaching Out and Engaging with Faculty Writers
In this presentation, we invite participants to contribute to a conversation about how encouraging faculty to use the center themselves can both promote better relationships with individual instructors and foster the development of a writing-centric campus culture. What strategies exist for reaching out and engaging with faculty writers?
Thursday, May 2, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Chancellors (Room 311)
Moderators: Rebekah Morrisson and Erin Stevens
Johnathan Walker (English Literature)
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: None
"Shattered Crowns": A Passage of Memory
This reading is an excerpt from a longer creative work currently under development. James is an intuitive young blacksmith-in-training, living alone with his mother. While digging through the attic he comes across a tattered journal. Through reading it, James learns about a missing part of his life. This memory-in-a-memory alters the way James views his world.
Crystal Kloth (English Creative Writing)
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: Dr. Carey Applegate and Dr. BJ Hollars
The Willow Tree
Crystal will be reading from “The Willow Tree”, a story about Annalise, a fifteen year old girl, whose father has been abusing her for years. Will Annalise let Damien, a kind stranger whom she met in the woods, help her escape or will she be stuck hiding under her willow tree? This story combines the themes of abuse, courage, and guilt to take the reader on a journey through an unlikely relationship beginning and ending along a memorable crick. [NOTE: CRYSTAL WANTS “CRICK” TO STAY AS IS]
Thursday, May 2, 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm Chancellors (Room 311)
Moderators: Rebekah Morrisson and Erin Stevens
Panel Presentation: Creating the Human Experience
Faculty Mentor/Collaborators: Dr. Carey Applegate and Dr. Gloria Hochstein (Advisor Emerita)
These creative works share a common theme of understanding relationships and the human condition.
Caitlin Bittner (English Creative Writing)
Riding a Bike
Caitlin reads an excerpt from her story “Riding a Bike”, in which a father is getting ready to give his daughter away on her wedding day while having flashes of the past that deal with his recovery from alcoholism.
Briana Galbraith (English Creative Writing)
Liquid Blue
Briana reads a story that examines the friendship of two former high school students and how it has changed over time.
Allison Puestow (English Literature)
Night to Day
Allison reads from a collection of poetry that follows time from midnight until dawn, talking about the changes that bring darkness to light.
Mike Seitz (English Creative Writing)
Bad Habits
In “Bad Habits,” a teen growing up without a father and a strained relationship with his mother finds himself getting caught up in smoking, which leads him to meet an old trucker with worldly information.
This Year's Theme
Landscape of Language
Drawing on the ideas of our diverse offerings this year, language has the power to transcend boundaries and take us on an adventure. It narrates
our past, present, and future while teaching us about ourselves.