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STUDENTS, SHAKESPEARE and (RL) STINE
NEW YORK CITY TOUR
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TOUR SHAKESPEARE’S ENGLAND see page 14
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Department of English News • 2016 CONTENTS
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Black Lives/Writers Matter Searching for Salinger Cecily Hill Profile Two Alumnae Share Stories Dahir’s Journey to the Rhodes Introducing New Faculty Margaret Price Creative Writing Community Celebrates Success Department Offers New Medical Humanities minor R.L. Stine Scholarship Winner NYC Tour/ R.L. Stine Visit Maggie Smith’s Poetry Goes Viral Photos: Breakfast with our Graduates Tour Shakespeare’s England English department Advisory Committee
On the cover: A group of students from “Shakespeare’s Henriad” course, taught by Alan Farmer, awaiting a performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Brooklyn, New York. See story on Page 12.
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BLACK LIVES/WRITERS
MATTER By J. Brendan Shaw (PhD, 2016)
Ebony Bailey “I Can’t Move”
Associate Professor Carmen Kynard delivering the Edward P.J. Corbett Lecture
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I want to place my faith in our connection. — Koritha Mitchell, associate professor, Department of English
Speaking on the first day of the Black Lives/Writers Matter symposium (April 4-5, 2016), hosted by the Department of English, Associate Professor Koritha Mitchell defined our coming together as an “embodied practice of belonging.” Mitchell considered the use of vernacular knowledge, such as call and response, as a means of creating community. She told the attendees, “I want to place my faith in our connection” to build an intellectual community that cuts across identity categories. “#BlackLivesMatter urges us to recommit to thinking critically ourselves and to teaching others to do the same, and this requires us all to directly address power and power differentials.” Ebony Bailey, PhD student, followed with her arresting dance piece I Can’t Move, which incorporated black dance forms to illustrate the pain and confines of black experience in the history of the United States. Bailey’s strong yet graceful contractions and releases were accompanied by projected names of African Americans whose lives were lost to police brutality. Locally based spoken word poet Speak Williams launched the first panel, “Protest Poetry and Literary Activism,” which presented the black poetic protest tradition as a model for engaging contemporary conversations about race. Visiting Assistant Professor Marcus Jackson, MFA student Chris Morris and undergraduate student Nikki Smith read a series of poems about experiences related to race, gender and sexuality. The next panel, “Countering the Violence of Civility and the State,” looked to literature as a critical lens to understand the history of racial protest and the potential of literary works to imagine radical futures. Associate Professor Joe Ponce turned to Karen Tei Yamashita’s experimental historical novel I-Hotel and the complex intersections of black and Asian Civil Rights activism alongside queer desires. Through the analysis of a scene from Paul Beatty’s White Boy Shuffle, Krupal Amin, PhD student, questioned who has access to and benefits from the privileged literary canon. In her reading of Octavia Butler’s speculative fiction alongside Judith Butler’s theories of subjectivity, Toni Calbert, PhD student, suggested that vulnerability serves as a space for black resistance. As part of the “Black Lives/Writers Matter in the Composition Classroom” panel, Associate Professor Beverly Moss discussed hegemonic notions of literacy as white property, a premise that undergirds the idea of black illiteracy. She highlighted her attempts to counter such notions in her second-year writing course, “Literacy Narratives of Black
Columbus,” in which undergraduates interview black Columbus natives about their literacy experiences. PhD students Michael Blancato, Pritha Prasad and Sherita Roundtree considered how writing classrooms might benefit diverse students and advance diverse ways of knowing. Two panels of graduate and undergraduate student work were featured: “What Popular Culture Can Teach Us About Contemporary Race Relations” and “Black Girls, Black Women, Black Feminisms.” Graduate student Jacinta Yanders and undergraduates Moriah Cheatham, Sarah Ebersole and Clarence Johnson discussed invocations of the Black Lives Matter movement in popular television dramas, the risks of cultural appropriation, the challenges of teaching young adult neo-slave narratives to middle- and high school students and divergent public responses to the inspiring work of the nonprofit organization, Black Girls Rock! The symposium ended with a pedagogy workshop, Race-ing Straight Male Curricula facilitated by senior lecturers Mira Kantafaris and Lizzie Nixon and attended by more than two dozen faculty and graduate students. The workshop provided a space for conversations about institutional obstacles and challenges, and, as Professor and former Chair Debra Moddelmog reminded us, anti-racist pedagogy is ongoing, as we constantly consider who has the right to have access to education, who has a right to be literate (to read and write), who has the right to an equal education, whose history will be taught, whose literature and literary history will be taught, who does the educational system value, nurture, and reward, and who does the educational system devalue, reject or hinder with obstacles. “Anti-racist education,” she said, “including our own, especially if we are white,” is an ongoing process of unlearning attitudes and habits of mind, of recognizing and overcoming what Eve Sedgwick calls the privilege of unknowing, of developing ways to relate ethically to our own whiteness in a racialized and still racist society, of learning new ways of teaching old material and introducing ourselves to new material that we have to learn how to teach. The Department of English Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Black Lives/Writers Matter Ad-Hoc Committee, under the leadership of Professor and Vice Chair Wendy S. Hesford, organized the Black Lives/Writers Matter Symposium. This symposium followed the campus-wide Black Lives Matter in the Classroom Conference (April 1, 2016), which featured presentations by student activists, scholars, lawyers, artists, and poets, including Associate Professor Carmen Kynard, who delivered the English department’s 2016 Edward P.J. Corbett Lecture.
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SEARCHING FOR SALINGER By Renee Shaffer (Adapted from an Ohio State Alumni magazine article)
I’ve loved J.D. Salinger since I stole The Catcher in the Rye from my brother’s backpack when he was in high school.
It occurred to me that I had never been closer, nor further, from J.D. Salinger in my entire life. I was walking down a dirt road from my makeshift parking spot in a forest clearing toward his home in Cornish, New Hampshire — what used to be his home, at least. Salinger lived there as a recluse from 1956 until his death in 2010. I received a research grant from Ohio State’s Undergraduate Research Office to spend this past summer studying Salinger’s works. And in May, I took a two-week trip to the East Coast to better understand the voice behind my favorite Salinger character, the beloved Holden Caulfield. The author’s brown, two-story home overlooked the White Mountains. There was a deck, a pile of chopped wood, a small vegetable garden and a hammock. All of it likely belonged to the new owners, but I preferred to think they knew how important it was to keep Salinger’s place intact. Yet as close as I felt to him, I realized I may have reached an end. I had been to the archives at Princeton and read the five unpublished stories. I had seen unpublished letters. I had touched his handwriting. I had read every biography out there and watched a sensational documentary on Netflix. He gets me I’ve loved J.D. Salinger since I stole The Catcher in the Rye from my brother’s backpack when he was in high school. I was in sixth grade, and I remember reading it over his shoulder and seeing a swear word. I needed that book! It went over my head the first time, so I read it again in eighth grade and again my senior year. The images would guide me through most of my major life decisions. I would recount Salinger’s Phoebe on the carousel reaching for the rings as Holden watched from a distance
The author.
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I began to read Salinger’s other works and met the Glass Family in Franny and Zooey, Nine Stories and Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction. This was a family of “artist-seers,” effortlessly in tune with beauty, who shy away from the rational and often are overwhelmed by their own consciousness. “Me!” I thought, as a college freshman with a creative writing minor. The enigma lives in words Later, I drove across the Connecticut River to Windsor, Vermont. It is here that a famous photo of the elderly Salinger was taken in 1979, after a photographer staked out the town for two days.
I ate at the Windsor Diner, where Salinger sat many a time. It was lunchtime, but the sole occupants were two waitresses. I ordered a grilled cheese and a side of mashed potatoes and gravy, unsure of what this ascetic man would have ordered. The day ended with a trip to a pond in Windsor that seemed pretty enough for Salinger to visit. I stared at the stagnant water. Did Salinger come here? I realized I had little to no basis for understanding Salinger’s Cornish. Those who really knew him were hiding in the hills with stacks of manuscripts. I left town somewhat happy, feeling he would never be uncovered. Our relationship could remain as it was — unending. I was reminded that despite the sensation, the media and the chase, my best chance of finding Salinger is still to look toward his writing. Renee Shaffer is a senior English major. To read the entire article, visit go.osu.edu/salinger .
The house.
The road.
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TAKING LITERATURE TO THE FACTORY FLOOR: SPOTLIGHT ON
CECILY HILL
really cool” plus being a literature-based nonprofit made them a shoe-in for the next phase of her journey, and she became their second full-time hire. Books@Work partners with companies and other organizations to bring professor-led literature seminars to workplaces and community settings. The purpose is to give an opportunity to read books and to learn about them in a structured fashion. The organization provides an educational opportunity for individuals in the workforce.
by Kent Grosswiler (English major) Cecily Hill (PhD, 2015) may be small in physical size and softspoken but her enthusiasm for reading and helping others gives her the appearance of filling a room as effectively as any WWE superstar. Hill has parlayed those two interests into a career. Her current position as communications and marketing director for Books@Work is living proof that a long course of English study can lead to a full and satisfying life of employment that’s not strictly relegated to academia. Hill’s English journey began early in life. She’s been a voracious reader for as long as she could remember. A double major in English and music, she completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her love for and connection to stories led to Hill’s decision to pursue doctoral studies in literature, particularly narratology, at Ohio State. Her dissertation, on didactic form, gender, and the realist novel dealt with how narrative shapes gender-identity and how stories shape our identity overall. While a doctoral student, Hill helped many of her graduate student colleagues see how they could transfer their academic knowledge and skills to careers outside the academy. When Books@Work entered her field of vision, she decided maybe she should practice what she’d been preaching to the students she’d been helping. She’d been involved with nonprofits for three years, including a position as chair of the development committee at Glass Axis, a non-profit, public access art gallery. The combination of Books@Work “looking
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Books@Work offers employees of participating companies something less daunting than a class with homework but much more organized than a book group in someone’s home. Participants get a book to read and are taught the book in a formal setting by a professor. There’s no homework outside of reading the book and being open to engaging in discussion. A very easy way to describe this process would be a literature study without essays, just structured reading and talking sessions. Books@Work works with a wide variety of employees and employers – including manufacturing, healthcare, human services, food services, professional services, education, municipalities and nonprofit. The group works with employees at all levels, including engineers, nurses and executives; its ultimate goal is to reach the employees on the shop floor; the factory and warehouse workers, the bluecollar employees. The organization brings seminars to the workplace and places importance on selecting engaging narratives so that these participants keep coming back. Once they engage, they often bring their own unique life experiences back to class. Outcomes for this process have been fantastic. These classes have completely changed how people think about narratives and literature within the workplace. Employees are supported as lifelong learners, which boosts morale and confidence. Many go on to take college courses. Employees who were hesitant to make their voice heard on the jobsite are now more likely to speak up. Trust is built between coworkers. A greater tolerance for diversity and difference in opinions also takes hold. Overall, a much improved dynamic takes over the work environment. Cecily Hill is an excellent example of what can be achieved from a passion for reading and a commitment to public service.
Hillary Doyle Chloe Goodhart
ALUMNAE INTERVIEWS Hillary Doyle (2013)
Chloe Goodhart
English alumnae Hillary Doyle (Scholastic, Inc.) and Chloe Goodhart (Penguin Books) talk with former English advisor Ruth Friedman about their moves from Ohio State’s English department to the publishing industry. (2011)
Why did you decide to pursue the English major at Ohio State? What about your minors (if you had any)? I was in the Exploration Program for my first two years at Ohio State, as there were many different areas of study I was interested in, and I couldn’t bring myself to choose just one! However, I’ve always loved reading, writing and learning languages, so I eventually decided to double-major in English and linguistics, which turned out to be a perfect fit.
I’ve always had an interest in language and literature, and it seemed natural to pursue this passion in Ohio State’s English department. I also knew that I wanted to get into the publishing industry, and a strong background in writing and literature, combined with the business and financial knowledge gained through my minor in business, seemed like the best way to achieve this goal.
What was your favorite aspect of being an English major at Ohio State? What do you remember/value the most? My favorite aspect of being an English major was the wide variety of courses and topics we could explore, while also developing our writing and critical thinking skills. (I was never envious of my friends in other majors who had strict course programs they had to follow!) I especially valued the opportunity to evaluate my peers’ writing (both in the classroom and through membership on the board of The Grove Undergraduate Literary Journal), as many internships and jobs in publishing require one to be able to provide thoughtful comments on a manuscript or other piece of writing.
I loved the sense of community in the English department at Ohio State. Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honors Society, was such a big part of my college experience, and I still stay in touch with many of the friends I made there. I also remember so many of the unique classes offered by the English department that really challenged me and kept me engaged. I especially loved the science-fiction class that really expanded my understanding of the genre and the Shakespeare course that taught me there was more to the Bard than the traditional “to be or not to be” and inspired a love of Shakespeare that continues today.
What do you currently do for a living? I currently work at Scholastic, Inc. as an international rights associate. My team is responsible for sub-licensing Scholastic titles to foreign publishers, who then publish translated, local-language editions of our titles in countries all over the world. I also manage domestic sub-licenses, which can include audio, book-club and large-print editions.
I am currently the brand coordinator at Penguin Young Readers. I help manage a number of our key children’s brands. I do everything from putting together regular business reviews and sales analysis to assisting in unique marketing initiatives and overseeing our consumer products program.
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Hillary Doyle
Chloe Goodhart
What does a typical day look like for you (before, during, and after work)? In other words, what’s your daily life like and what does your job actually involve in terms of tasks and activities? Like many of us, I start every workday by checking my email. Most of the people I communicate with on a daily basis are based overseas, so they’ve usually been in the office for several hours before I even wake up! I also take some time to read the headlines on Publishers’ Weekly, as well as a few other publishing-specific news outlets to catch up on the latest industry news, starred reviews, acquisitions, etc. As for the rest of the day, it can vary widely depending on what’s happening at the moment. My daily tasks can range from submitting manuscripts to editors at foreign publishing houses and negotiating new translation deals, to preparing for the two international book fairs my department attends each year. Every day is different, which I love!
When I first moved to New York and started doing informational interviews, everyone told me that there is no typical day in publishing, and that is certainly true! Every day is a little bit different, which keeps my work life exciting. In addition to the sales reports and analysis I provide each week, I also manage our consumer products program. This means I work with our licensees to develop toys, t-shirts and more products based on our books. I often can be found wandering the office with an armful of stuffed animals or children’s pajamas to share with our editors. I have a number of special projects like helping to plan company presentations and author-business reviews; designing and refreshing our brand sheets and decks; and planning and organizing unique consumer marketing events, such as our Mad Libs pop-up shop at consumer conventions, like San Diego Comic Con.
How did the English department community and the English major help you get the job you have today? My coursework in the English department definitely helped me develop the skills I needed to get the job I have today. My coursework and internships, (as well as my time with The Grove), helped me hone my writing and communication skills, which are so valuable in publishing. I also took some classes that included reading outside of my typical areas of interest, and being both well and widely read is certainly helpful in the publishing field!
The English department fed my love of reading and challenged me to read outside my comfort zone. The wonderful, thoughtful professors in the English department taught me not to be intimidated by writers like Dickens and encouraged me to read critically. They inspired me to share my passion for literature with others, which is why I pursued a career in children’s books. I believe that every child deserves the chance to fall in love with a book, and this belief was supported and nourished by the passion I saw in the English department.
What side projects or other activities are you engaged in outside of work? Outside of work, I’m involved in an industry group for young professionals in children’s book publishing called the Early Career Committee. I also volunteer with an after-school reading program for kids. For fun, I take Irish dance classes (which I’ve been doing since I was a kid) and see as many Broadway shows as I can afford!
Most importantly, I read a lot outside of work. I try to read as widely as possible, since it’s important to keep up to date with what’s happening all over the publishing industry. I started a book club with some of my coworkers, where we read and reread a variety of classics and organize fun-themed events based on what we’re reading. I’m also a member of a feminist book club and a crafting club. I participate in many Young to Publishing’s networking events, and I especially enjoy volunteering at New York’s Project Cicero book drive to serve underprivileged schools. On top of that, I try to take advantage of everything a big city has to offer. I love going to the theater, and I enjoy finding quirky, offbeat things to do around the city.
What was the most valuable skill you honed through your English major coursework? Writing! Being able to express yourself clearly (and concisely) in writing is so important in many fields, including publishing. I still use Professor Renker’s revision exercise all the time when reviewing something I’ve written to make sure I’m saying what I need to in an organized manner!
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My ability to think critically and analyze information. These skills, which were strengthened through all the class discussions and papers, have been invaluable both in my personal life and in work life. The ability to ask questions and find answers through analysis has made me a better person and a stronger professional.
by Kory Smith (English major, minors in Professional Writing and Communications Technology, class of 2017), communications assistant for the English department “I don’t recall ever making a conscious decision to live a life in service of refugee communities,” said Ilhan Dahir, Ohio State’s sixth recipient of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, who grew up in Columbus. “Instead, I believe it was the values of my family and the city I grew up in that’s shaped the person that I am today.”
English Alumna’s Service Earns Her Prestigious Rhodes Scholarship
Ilhan Dahir … I believe it was the values of my family and the city I grew up in that have shaped the person that I am today.
Decision or no, Dahir’s dedication to serving communities in need is undeniable. She began her service with Face to Face – Faith to Faith, an organization that brings together Christian, Jewish and Muslim teenagers from all over the world in an effort to develop effective leaders for a multifaith, global society. After going through the program, she returned as a counselor. Her experience led Dahir to start a service group at her high school, Interfaith Service Youth Corps. In addition, she tutored middle- and high-school Somali students and participated on the Columbus Youth Commission. These efforts lead to her being recognized as a White House Champion of Change in 2012. Dahir’s inspiration is her grandmother, who was widowed at age 21 and left with three sons to care for in a deeply patriarchal country. “She seldom spoke of individual achievement,” Dahir said. “Her sentences lilted with the assistance of her neighbors, her spine was straightened by the strength of her community — her children were raised in the arms of a village. My father was shaped by this notion — that to belong to a community is to contribute as much as one can hope to gain. I hope to embody this legacy and allow this awareness and appreciation to dress my days like a spiritual heirloom.” Dahir’s dedication to service has earned her a spot in the Department of Homeland Security’s Community Engagement Program, and now has earned her two years at the University of Oxford, in England, where she will earn master’s degrees in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies and Global Governance and Diplomacy. After earning her degrees, she will return to the U.S. to attend law school and begin a career as an international human-rights attorney. Dahir cited her English degree as an important part of her time at Ohio State, saying “The classes I took challenged me to expand my understanding of language and literature and the power that these concepts have in shaping our world.” She added that her English degree will play a crucial role in her studies at Oxford.
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mind, or are imagined as being located in the mind. So, this is an interesting way to bring together, for example, intellectual disabilities, mental illness, brain injuries, chronic illnesses that may affect mental functions and cognitive disabilities. It’s a really interesting and important thing to think about the commonalities among those states of being in the world. What does it do in terms of your communication? What does it do in terms of how you’re perceived as a viable rhetor in the world? That’s what rhetoricians would call rhetoricity, whether you’re received as a viable speaker — how persuasive your appeal to ethos is. Amy: What have you been working on since your awardwinning book Mad at School was published? Margaret: In the last five years or so, since I wrote Mad at School, I’ve become interested in material and spatial analyses around disability. My current project looks at a concept that I’m calling crip spacetime. I’m thinking in particular about how disabled people, or those culturally affiliated as crips, move together and how we gather.
The Department of English welcomes new faculty member in Disability Studies, Associate Professor
MARGARET PRICE Interviewed by folklorist and disability studies scholar Professor Amy Shuman ( March 15, 2016) Amy: Where do you situate yourself within Disability Studies?
Margaret: My area of specialization is mental health. I use “mental disability” as an umbrella term to bring together various disabilities that are imagined as having to do with the
I’m also working on an interview study with Stephanie Kerschbaum. In it, we’re interviewing faculty with a range of disabilities, investigating the rhetorical process of disclosure. We’ve also gotten interested in issues of emotional labor as it circulates around being disabled in the workplace. We’ve interviewed more than 30 faculty, but we have many more volunteers than that, and are still completing interviews. Amy: How has your transition from a small department at a liberal arts college to a large research university gone? Margaret: I’ve found that the English department at Ohio State is full of interesting connections to disability studies — through narrative medicine, history, folklore, professional communication and in other areas. I’m still learning how things work, but I’m already impressed by the substantial infrastructure around disability and health humanities that exists here — such as the interdisciplinary Disability Studies Graduate Student Group. I’m looking forward to learning more.
In Good Company: (adapted from an Ohio State Alumni magazine article, by Beth Lindsmith) Sitting on her front porch, Michelle Herman rattles off a slew of student achievements as she soothes her restless dog, Molly. “At least 75 books, Guggenheim fellowships, a bunch of literary prizes and at least one or two of our grads from each class is landing a tenure-track job right out of school, which is almost impossible. It’s all amazing for a very small program that’s just 22 years old,” she declares, now in full-on proud mama mode. Molly barks, apparently impressed.
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English Department Home to New Medical Humanities Minor by James Phelan The Department of English is home to a new, and increasingly popular, undergraduate interdisciplinary minor in Medical Humanities. Proposed by faculty from English (Jim Phelan), classics (Julia Nelson Hawkins), comparative studies (David Horn), French and Italian (Dana Renga) and history (Susan Lawrence), this 15 credithour minor bridges the divide between STEM fields and the humanities and social sciences by approaching medicine not just as a body of technical and scientific knowledge but as a historical and cultural process. The minor focuses on the social and cultural contexts of health, disability, illness and treatment. To complete the minor, students take one of three foundational courses — English 3361 Narrative and Medicine; Comparative Studies 3645 Cultures of Medicine; or Classics 2204 Medicine in the Ancient World — and four electives. These electives are offered in departments across the humanities and social sciences: anthropology, classics, communication, comparative studies, English, health and rehabilitation science, history, philosophy, psychology, public health, sociology and women’s, gender and sexuality studies.
This partial list of course titles provides an idea of the scope and diversity of issues students can explore in the minor: • Introduction to Medical Anthropology • Health Communication in Mass Mediated Contexts • Gender, Sexuality, and Science; History of Medicine in Film • The Disability Experience in the Contemporary World • Aging, Health, and Psychological Functioning in the Modern World • Role of Behavior in Public Health • Sociology of Global Health and Illness • Issues in Women’s Health The minor attracts three groups of students, including many English majors: those interested in going to medical school or doing graduate work in other fields related to the health professions; those seeking employment in the health professions immediately after graduation; and those seeking to expand their knowledge of issues in health care as part of their undergraduate education.
Creative Writing Community Celebrates Success Such success demands a celebration, Herman decided. A professor of English and director of the Creative Writing Program, she also is the unofficial program matriarch and gala dreamer-upper. The woman loves a good party, particularly one that a) involves dancing and b) brings together past and present students. “I thought we ought to be inviting alumni back more often,” she said, “partly to acknowledge their accomplishments, of course, but also because they can answer current students’ questions in a way that seems like advice coming from family.”
That idea inspired The Ohio State University Alumni Writers’ Extravaganza — Herman calls it OSU AWE — that was held last Oct. 2-4. Nineteen graduates with books published since January 2014, and three who work in movies or television, shared their experiences during panel discussions and, between sessions, read from their latest works. And yes, there was dancing (a writer/dancer/DJ/MFA alumna kicked off the festivities with a Friday evening party for students, faculty and alumni).
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NYC: Students, In April 2016, about 50 English majors had the opportunity to travel to New York City and see four plays performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. These students included those enrolled in a course taught by Professor Alan B. Farmer, “Shakespeare’s Henriad,” students from Ohio State-Mansfield, taught by Professor Elizabeth Kolkovich, and students who had performed the previous spring in the English department’s production of Richard II, adapted and directed by Professor Sarah
Laura Esposto Wins 2016 R.L. Stine Scholarship Laura Esposto, who is studying English with a concentration in creative writing, has been awarded the R.L. Stine Scholarship. R.L. Stine, an award-winning author of the young people’s Goosebumps series of books and Ohio State alumnus (BA, English, 1965), provided this $11,000 tuition scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to students who are English majors with a serious interest in creative writing, like Esposto. Esposto grew up with Meskwaki traditions. Storytelling is a large focus within her poetry, and she hopes to continue to honor Meskwaki traditions by furthering her poetry and the history of her nation. This scholarship will be offered annually from 2016 to 2020.
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English major Emily Gardner in Times Square
Shakespeare and (RL) Stine Neville. In three packed days, the students watched the entirety of Shakespeare’s Henriad: Richard II, 1 and 2, Henry IV and Henry V. The RSC delivered a series of truly spectacular shows. Their productions brought so many new layers of meaning to the plays that students were running up to classmates during intermissions, pointing out nuances they had missed in their readings, but saw thrown into sharp relief by the RSC’s performance.
A handful of students also had brunch with renowned author and Ohio State alumnus R.L. Stine. All the students raved about R.L. Stine, whom they found to be welcoming, fun and enlightening. The students said they had all faced ribbing at one point or another for their interest in creating writing, but here was an author — from Ohio State, no less — who had gone on to achieve success in the same field. In that sense, getting to spend time with Mr. Stine was incredibly encouraging for all of the students.
Ohio State English majors from the Columbus and Mansfield campuses surround author and alumnus R.L. Stine.
Students Hannah Wood, Katherine Martinelli, Leah Schneider and Clara Davison at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) theatre.
L to R: Elizabeth Kolkovich, associate professor, Mansfield, and students Kenny Jordan, Will Sly, Joey Burley, Kaylor Montgomery and Ashley Van Hesteren in New York. english.osu.edu 13 english.osu.edu
Good Bones Goes Viral Maggie Smith, MFA 2003, and a visiting assistant professor in the Department of English in spring 2016, wrote a poem, “Good Bones,” that spread like wildfire on the Internet just after the Orlando Nightclub shooting in June. The poem was published three days after the massacre and a day before British politician Jo Cox was assassinated in northern England. In the midst of all this tragedy, Smith’s poem touched the hearts of many worldwide.
GOOD BONES Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
The poem focuses on how Smith wants to hide some of the world’s tragedies from her children. “I am trying to sell them the world,” she writes in “Good Bones.” The poem first appeared in Waxwing magazine and was later poem-of-theday on the Poetry Foundation website. Maggie Smith is the author of three books of poetry, Weep Up (Tupelo Press, forthcoming 2018); The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison (Tupelo Press, 2015); and Lamp of the Body (Red Hen Press, 2005); as well as three prizewinning chapbooks. She is a freelance writer and editor, and serves as a consulting editor to the Kenyon Review. In 2016, she was named Ohio Poet of the Year.
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate, though I keep this from my children. For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird. For every loved child, a child broken, bagged, sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world is at least half terrible, and for every kind stranger, there is one who would break you, though I keep this from my children. I am trying to sell them the world. Any decent realtor, walking you through a real shithole, chirps on about good bones: This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful.
– Maggie Smith
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2016 Graduate Breakfast
Rachel Benton and Professor Karen Winstead nd Second Name
Moriah Maresh
Michael Carozza and Grace Lower
Karim Ragab
Dr. Debra Moddelmog and Lynette Santoro-Au
Moriah Maresh and Professor Hannibal Hamlin
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Be part of the Ohio State Department of English tour of Shakespeare’s England, June 23 to July 2, 2017
The English Department Sponsors 2017 Tour of Shakespeare’s London June 23 – July 2
Join other lovers of Shakespeare and the age of Elizabeth I on this 10-day visit to London and Stratford-upon-Avon. With the expert guidance of Ohio State English Professor Chris Highley, a specialist in Renaissance literature, history and culture, participants will delve into the world of William Shakespeare and Elizabeth I, the “Virgin Queen” and last Tudor monarch. The tour will include educational and cultural activities, as well as time for participants to explore on their own. They will attend plays at the famous replica of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre on the bankside, London, and in the two recently remodeled Royal Shakespeare Company playhouses in Stratford-upon-Avon. Through informal talks and discussion, Professor Highley will lead the group through Westminster Abbey, the Banqueting House and the National Portrait Gallery in London. They will also spend time in historic Greenwich before heading north to Stratford. There, the group will see the plays, go behind the scenes at the theatre and visit Shakespeare’s birthplace, family home and grave. They also will explore the countryside around Stratford, including Charlecote house and gardens, where a young Shakespeare was allegedly caught poaching!
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DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Possible Activities • A production of a Shakespeare play at the Globe Theatre in London • Face-to-face with the age of Shakespeare at the National Portrait Gallery • River taxi trip from the Tower of London to Greenwich, birthplace of the Virgin Queen • Shakespeare performance by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon • Walking in Shakespeare’s footsteps around his hometown of Stratford and visiting his grave in Holy Trinity Church • Traveling to an Elizabethan country estate near Stratford; dining in fine local hostelries. For information and registration details, contact: Professor Christopher Highley Highley.1@osu.edu
THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ADVISORY COMMITTEE In 2007, under the leadership of former chair Valerie Lee, the Department of English Advisory Committee (EAC) was established. With its membership expanding, this year to 10, the EAC members are Ohio State English alumni from across the U.S. who are engaged in a variety of careers and who share a passion for giving back to their home department. As stated in the Advisory Committee’s charter, “the Department of English Advisory Committee is an alumni group designed to serve as a multi-purpose resource to the Department of English. The Committee’s roles include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) supporting the goals of the Chair and the English department, (2) generating resources to further the Department’s initiatives, (3) raising awareness of the Department’s priorities and strengths, and (4) serving as a liaison between the Department, alumni and the community at large.” Members serve three-year terms and attend an annual fall and spring meeting in Columbus. We’re always looking to grow the English Alumni Advisory Committee, so if you’re an alumi and might be interested in adding your wisdom and perspective, now or in the future, don’t hesitate to reach out to the English Department Chair Robyn Warhol, at warhol.1@osu.edu.
english.osu.edu
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Department of English 421 Denney Hall 164 Annie & John Glenn Ave Columbus, OH 43210-1370
english.osu.edu
Dear Alumni and Friends, Please consider a gift or donation to the Department of English. Each and every gift makes a tangible difference in the lives of our students and faculty.
(All gifts are tax deductible as permitted by law.)
For the department to realize its opportunities for excellence, it must build upon the base established with state and tuition funding by drawing support from its alumni and friends. Here are a few ways you can invest in this department and its programs. The Edward P. J. Corbett Fund Fund #641447
The David Frantz Fund Fund #48077
Dr. Marlene B. Longenecker English Faculty Teaching and Leadership Award Fund #312659
Arnold and Frances Shapiro International Scholar Fund Fund #309620 Friends of the English department Fund Fund #307563
The Valerie Lee Support Fund for English Graduate Studies Fund #313111
Department of English Discretionary Fund Fund #307050
These funds are but seven of many that support the department. For a complete listing of funds that support the department, please visit: english.osu.edu/alumni/ways-give
MAIL DONATION INFORMATION TO: Ohio State Foundation 1480 W. Lane Avenue Columbus, OH 43221
OR
CONTACT: Leigh Briggs briggs.103@osu.edu (614) 270-4584
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, CONTACT: Wayne Lovely, HR and Fiscal Manager Department of English (614) 292-6065 lovely.9@osu.edu