The English Channel. Free Scholarship Courtney King (2011) The Official English Department Newsletter. Come hear scholarship for free on November 18!

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1 The English Channel The Official English Department Newsletter November 17, 2010 Free Scholarship Courtney King (2011) Come hear scholarship for free on November 18! Volume vii, Issue iii Session I 4:00-5:30 Ritch Banquet Hall Keith Menhinick: Left Out of America: How Julia Alvarez Writes a New Identity Consciousness Hannah Edwards: The Illusion of Success: How Deficit Educational Practices Skew Students Views of Writing Julianne Jones: Literate Identities: Education and Multiliteracies in the 21st Century Session II 6:30-8:30 Ritch Banquet Hall Collyn Warner: The Mythical O : Exploring Female Orgasms in Beat Generation Women s Writings Elizabeth Cashwell: Writing the Current : Women and Spiritualism in the Works of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Nikki Raye Rice: Bakhtin, Glee, and Me: A High Class Analysis of a Low Class Text April Rice: The Demise of the Textile Industry: New Opportunities for Education in Gaston County, NC Graduation: one of the biggest achievements that we look towards with anticipation and anxiety. It is a milestone that we all strive to reach, wanting to hear our family say We re so proud of you and our friends say We did it! But for Gardner-Webb English Majors we have to jump the hurdle of senior thesis presentations. Seven majors who have called the English Department their home will be presenting on Thursday, November 18 in two sessions. (Continued on page 2)

2 Features (Continued from page 1) The writer s block, anxiety, stress overload, and tearful nights in the library have paid off. Come out on November 18th and support your fellow students and cheer them on through their big day. A few of these busy students were able to give us a little insight on this major journey that have embarked upon over the last two semesters. 1) What have you learned throughout this lengthy process? Keith Menhinick: I ve learned not to be intimidated by others voices just because they have fancy degrees and titles I m a scholar too. I have important and new things to say, things that might not get said if I don t say them. Hannah Edwards: I guess something I ve learned is that no matter how daunting a task may seem, it s always doable. If you work hard and put yourself into a project, it ll all work out. April Rice: The most important thing I have learned is to trust Dr. Land have faith in the good Lord above, and in Dr. Land and her wisdom. Collyn Warner: Being organized is the key to not stressing out about thesis writing and life in general. 2) What was the most difficult part of this project? Keith Menhinick: The hardest part was the writing. Getting all the mess swirling around in my head fleshed out onto the paper. That was the toughest. After I got everything down, it was easier to sort through it, organize it, edit it, revise it, and get it to make sense. Hannah Edwards: The most difficult part for me was figuring out what I wanted to argue/explore. My topic transformed significantly since the beginning of 391, and it wasn't until the very end of 391, when I was writing my prospectus, that I figured out my angle. And there was a lot of exploring, reading, and smacking against brick walls before that happened. April Rice: Deciding on a topic was pretty difficult make sure that your topic is something that has been discussed by others. A lot of my sources had to be face-to-face interviews because my project does not have a lot of research out there my project possesses a lot of statistics that I had to search for week after week, month after month. I had to make hundreds of phone calls. Often, people would give the phone numbers of other people. Many did not want to talk about the negative elements of the county I had to do a lot of digging to get to the people that were not afraid to speak plainly to me. Collyn Warner: Writing. Writing is such a dynamic process of ideas merging together. Attempting to take a ton of information to compose at least 40 pages of coherent language for my honors/english thesis is difficult. It is difficult to keep everything together.

3 Features 3) What advice/recommendations would you have for English 391 students who will be in your shoes next semester? Keith Menhinick: Don t stress. I wasted a lot of time worrying about my thesis; it ll all come together in the end. Hannah Edwards: Word vomit is still writing, no matter how messy it may seem Freewrite your hand off, and I promise, when you re writing your paper, you ll look back at your ramblings and they won t look like simple ramblings anymore. April Rice: Trust the process pace yourself make sure that your topic is something that you are passionate about because before your project is over, your topic will go to bed with you at night and will wake up with you in the morning. Collyn Warner: Be very methodical about how you arrange your notes and what notes will fit into specific parts of your thesis. 4) If your thesis presentation/project was optional, after what you have experienced throughout this process, would you do it still? Why or why not? Keith Menhinick: Definitely. I ve learned a lot about discipline, research, and the writing process. Hannah Edwards: Yes. First of all, because what I have learned throughout the exploration of my thesis project, I have no doubt, will help me with my future career as an English teacher. And second of all, because thesis-ing is a process that I think everyone needs to go through. You learn how to research; you learn how to argue for and against the writing of the "experts;" you learn to synthesize; you learn to question; you learn time management; and you learn that not only are you a scholar, but that your scholarly voice has a rightful place amongst the scholarly voices of others. April Rice: I would like to say, Yes, of course!, but that might be a lie. I have enjoyed my research and I have learned things that I will carry with me into the classroom, as a teacher. However, if it was optional, I probably would have started the project with good intentions but probably would not have followed through with the process if it were merely a paper project, it would not be so bad. It's the presentation part that I am stressing over! Collyn Warner: Absolutely. What point is working on a project in academia if you cannot share it with those in your learning community, or world for that matter? With academics, I feel we should always work to better the world with what we learn.

4 Features Thanksgiving Day Nothing Gold Can Stay By Robert Frost Nature s first green is gold, Her hardest hue to hold. Her early leaf s a flower; But only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf, So Eden sank to grief, So dawn goes down to day. Nothing gold can stay. By Emily Dickinson One day is there of the series Termed Thanksgiving day, Celebrated part at table, Part in memory. Neither patriarch nor pussy, I dissect the play; Seems it, to my hooded thinking, Reflex holiday. Had there been no sharp subtraction From the early sum, Not an acre or a caption Where was once a room, Not a mention, whose small pebble Wrinkled any bay,-- Unto such, were such assembly, 'T were Thanksgiving day. The Must Reads According to Dr. Bottoms 1. The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell Campbell identifies a much-used plot. Not only do we realize that we recognize the plot of the hero's journey after we read this book, we also begin to understand why this plot is used so often. 2. Losing Battles by Eudora Welty This is a long novel. It is a long Jack tale and thus has double value. Eudora Welty is an author every English major should read, and this particular work has elements of American folktales, basically trickster tales that are also present in many other cultures. 3. The Odyssey by Homer (I like the translation by Robert Fitzgerald. It is accessible and retains the power of the poetry.). Though The Iliad is considered to be the better of Homer's epic poems, I like the story and characters of The Odyssey. This story or parts of it have been much retold. It is a homecoming and a coming of age, and there is blood and gore if your tastes run to that. You can enjoy the story and the art of the telling of it.

Tony Capotosta Major: English Minor: Spanish Estimated Graduation Date: May 2012 Hometown: Kings Mountain, NC Features Our Majors and Minors IN THE ENGLISH SPOTLIGHT Which English classes are you

I also want to be a police officer and possibly go back to grad school for speech therapy If you could be any inanimate object, what would you be and why?

5 Tony Capotosta Major: English Minor: Spanish Estimated Graduation Date: May 2012 Hometown: Kings Mountain, NC Features Our Majors and Minors IN THE ENGLISH SPOTLIGHT Which English classes are you taking this semester? ENGL 362: Introduction to Linguistics ENGL 471: Literary Criticism ENGL 481: Methods of Teaching English Ideal Job: Being an advice columnist. I also want to be a police officer and possibly go back to grad school for speech therapy If you could be any inanimate object, what would you be and why? A tree so I could witness people in quiet moments; support climbers, nappers, and readers; be part of nature; and be a symbol of calm strength What is your favorite books? The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Aaron Tommie Major: English with a Professional Writing Emphasis Minor: Communications Estimated Graduation Date: May 2012 Hometown: Kannapolis, NC Which English classes are you taking this semester? ENGL 201: Introduction to English Studies ENGL 203: Newswriting ENGL 311: Medieval British Literature ENGL 339: American Crime and Detective Fiction Ideal Job: A screenwriter and movie producer or the founder of a non-profit organization in Africa If you could be any inanimate object, what would you be and why? Money, so that I could be used to help people have more opportunities in life and not have people worry or stress about the restrictions lacking money causes Who are your favorite authors? Agatha Christie and Toni Morrison

6 Upcoming Events Final Exam Schedule Want to go? Monday, Dec. 13 Tuesday, Dec. 14 Wednesday, Dec. 15 Thursday, Dec. 16 8:00 am 11:00 am 2:00 pm TR 2:40-3:55 MWF 9-9:50 MWF 10-10:50 TR 11:50-1:05 TR 8-9:15 TR 10:25 11:40 MWF 1-1:50 MWF 8-8:50 MWF 12-12:50 TR 1:15-2:30 MW 2-3:15 MWF 11-11:50 Happenings on campus and in the community Wednesday Nights Open Mic Nights, Broad River Coffee Shop 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18: English 491 Thesis presentations at 4pm and 6:30pm. November 24 28: Thanksgiving Break December 13-16: Final exams December 20: Commencement January 12: Classes resume at 8am. The English Channel Editor Katie Axelson Contributing Writers Lauren Fletcher Courtney King Advisor Dr. Matt Theado Thoughts? Ideas? Concerns? Desire to build your portfolio by writing for The Channel? The English Channel is now available online. Go to the Gardner- Webb homepage and type English Channel into the search bar.

Syllabus American Literature: Civil War to the Present

Syllabus American Literature: Civil War to the Present Dr. Michael Beilfuss E-mail: Office: Office Hours CATALOG DESCRIPTION: Expressions of the American experience in realism, regionalism and naturalism;