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The students’ voice since 1901 • Vol. 112 No. 3 • Thursday, August 30, 2012 • Check us out online
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Poet laureate to hold reading on campus A lex H osack hosack@esubulletin.com During her parents’ self-described “larger-than-life” divorce when she was 14, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Kans.’ current poet laureate, began writing as a way to cope. These writings would, 40 years later, evolve into her most recently published work, “The Divorce Girl.” “I say that if you really want to write, write,” Mirriam-Goldberg said in an interview with The Bulletin. “Don’t let anything stop you. Most of all, you learn about writing by writing.”
Mirriam-Goldberg will be the first author to visit Emporia State as part of the Visiting Writers Series on campus this semester. At 7 p.m. on Friday, she will read from “The Divorce Girl” in Plumb Hall room 303. “In the Visiting Writers Series, we seek to provide ESU students with as many models of literary citizenship as we can,” said Amy Sage Webb, professor of English and co-director of the creative writing program, in an email. “There are so many ways to be a writer in the world, and the Visiting Writers Series is a way to gain exposure to those possibilities, especially when a student might be planning
her or his own career.” Webb also said she thinks Merriam-Goldberg is a “good role model” for writers in Kansas. Having only experienced the poet laureate’s poetry, Webb said she was excited to hear her fiction. “I love traveling around Kan., and I really have a connection to ESU through some of the great programs that have happened there in the past for writers,” Mirriam-Goldberg said. In addition to writing fiction, non-fiction and poetry, she is also a mentor and a facilitator of community writing workshops and a distance education professor for Goddard
College in Vermont. “The Divorce Girl,” MirriamGoldberg’s first novel, is described as a touching and often comical book inspired by her parents’ dramatic divorce during which both “barricaded” themselves in separate parts of the house, each refusing to move out, Mirriam-Goldberg said. She has also written 14 other books, including four anthologies, a memoir, four collections of poetry, and an award-winning writing guide. “It is a distinct honor to have her come and read from her new work at ESU,” said Kevin Rabas, professor of
See Poet ...Page 3
Courtesy photo of Mirriam-Goldberg
Courses are ‘anti-aging medication’ for non-trad student
“She would not have wanted me S usan W elte to hibernate,” Bennett said. welte@esubulletin.com And as his dental practice, which At 73, Richard Bennett is certainly not the average 18 to 25-year- was a major “brain concentration old college student at Emporia State. for 53 years,” winded down, Bennett But Bennett isn’t avidly studying decided he needed something else to keep his brain functioning. So he to be a doctor, teacher or scientist. enrolled in Amy Sage Webb’s Intro In fact, he has been a dentist for nearly 50 years. Instead, he is simply to Creative Writing class last spring and is currently enrolled in Webb’s taking creative writing classes for Fiction his own enjoyment. “What I’ve enjoyed tre- Writing class. Webb is co “I look at mendously is seeing director of these writing what’s in the minds of the creative classes I have probeen taking as the young students I’m writing gram. an anti-aging sitting with…we’re cre- “I was a little medication,” ating. It’s a good thing apprehensive Bennett said. to sit in class Bennett’s for people to be able to with the life change imagine and then put it bright young dramatically minds of 10 years ago down in words.” today’s colwhen his wife’s –Richard Bennet lege students, breast cancer but I took returned. She the plunge,” Bennett said. had originally been diagnosed with But Bennett said that the way breast cancer at age 40. Three years ago, she passed away. See Non-trad ...Page 3
Richard Bennett attends Fiction Writing class Tuesday in Plumb Hall. Bennett decided to return to school to keep his mind active. Yohan Kim/The Bulletin
Students cope with bunked dorm beds out,” Sipe said. Wade Redeker, director of Residential Life, said it is not required for students to bunk their beds. He added that to his knowledge, those who choose to do so have not requested bars thus far. “Since becoming the director of Residential Life in June, I have received no complaints about safety in our halls,” Redeker said. There are also no ladders on the sides of the bunk beds because they are built so that the end serves as a sort of makeshift ladder, Redeker said. But Kayla Lansing, freshman accounting major, said that she is thinking about de-bunking her and her roommate’s beds and also agreed that a bar on the side would be a Because there are no ladders on the beds, freshman accounting major “great addition.” Kayla Lansing said it is “difficult to get in and out of bed in the morning.” “I want to unbunk the beds Jenny Pendarvis/The Bulletin because it’s hard to get in and out of early in the morning,” Lansing said. early morning topple. S usan W elte Redeker said that student safety “I never felt like I was in danger welte@esubulletin.com is a primary concern for Residential or anything (living in the dorms),” Life and that they ask residents to Last year, then freshman Travis Sipe said. “Like communicate Sipe, now sophomore biology major, my dad always “I never felt like I was any safety reached from his top bunk bed in said, ‘Stupidity in danger or anything concerns they North Towers Complex to turn off his ought to may have alarm clock. (living in the dorms). hurt.’” with their But he reached just a little too far. Sipe said Like my dad always Resident Sipe fell out of his bed, hit his head adding bars said, ‘Stupidity ought to Assistant and on the door knob and fell to the floor. on the side of Complex “I was all right, and then I went hurt.’” the top bunks Coordinators. to get up and then I passed out,” Sipe might help “Student - Travis Sipe said. “Apparently, according my room- increase safety safety is mate, I started seizing, too.” for those who important Sipe was okay, though. He sleep on the top bunk. and is a shared responsibility within received no medical treatment and “If someone did roll over in their the ESU community,” Redeker said. had no long-term effects from the sleep, it would stop them from falling
We Regret the Error The infographic that accompanied “Administration, faculty swap jobs” in the Aug. 23 edition of The Bulletin incorrectly listed salaries for administrators whose job duties and titles changed recently. This corrected graphic indicates the percentage of pay increase for the following individuals, comparing the last fiscal year with the present one: Gwen Alexander, formerly library dean and now interim provost and vice president of academic affairs, whose salary increased by 29 percent, from $112,850 to $145,712; Ken Weaver, formerly associate dean of the teachers college, now dean of the teachers college, whose salary increased by 18 percent, from
Infographic by Ellen Weiss
$110,500 to $130,000; Tes Mehring, who stepped down as provost and is now a professor in phased retirement, and whose salary decreased by 60 percent, from $170,500 to $68,882; John Rich, formerly an associate professor and now interim dean in the school of business, whose salary increased by 42 percent, from $122,218 to $173,742; and Jim Williams, formerly associate provost for enrollment management and vice president for strategic partnerships, now vice president for student affairs, whose salary increase by 1 percent, from $138,500 to $139,886. A letter from the editors on the mistake appears on Page 4.