Talk to UClub on profs' pet peeves article

The Huffington Post article on professor's pet peeves resonanted among my colleagues at ISU.  So I'll be talking about professors' pet peeves as well as how I was able to be a source on that article and some other articles.

My talk to the University Club audience is Friday, Sept. 16 at 4:30 pm. 

Here's a link to the University Club website with more information.

ENG 470 Course Description for Fall 2011

Now available for those scheduling their classes for next fall: the course description for English 470: Studies in Children’s Literature.  The topic will be Tween Literature & Culture.  For a complete course description with tentative book list, click here for a .pdf file.

This course will examine the often times confusing and contradictory world of middle school literature.   We from The Diary of the Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney, a book we'll be reading next fallwill attempt to explore the growth of tween literature that has been produced in part with the development of middle schools in the United States since the 1960s, while looking at several influential examples from earlier time periods.  Many of these texts attempt to provide younger readers with a transition from childhood to adolescence as they progress from the sixth to eighth grade.  We will attempt to slip inside those overstuffed backpacks and lockers and try to understand some of the physical, social, and emotional concerns and issues that tweens face in contemporary culture by reading some of the books they are either assigned in school or that they are reading on their own outside of class.  Since this age group gains much of its information and entertainment from other sources, in addition to books we will also be examining other texts that tweens consume including magazines, television, films, music, and new media.

Middle School is Worse than Meatloaf, by Jennifer Holm, another book we'll be reading next fall in ENG 470Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, also on the ENG 470 reading list

Group reading of Lincoln's Farewell Address at Milner Library

Stovepipe hats, amazing hoop skirt fashions, and train whistles carried us back 150 years during a group reading of Lincoln's Farewell Address at ISU.  We were part of a national record-breaking effort to have the most people reading en masse.  The reading was the short speech that Abraham Lincoln said to well-wishers as he left Springfield, Ill., to his new position as President in Washington, D.C.  The words are heartfelt, melancholy, yet hopeful.

I would like to thank the librarians at ISU's Milner Library who helped organize the event and particularly asked if Jacob would enjoy leaving school for awhile and participating in the event as one of the lead readers.  We were happy to have him participate in a different educational setting for a few hours.  He appreciated being part of the interesting Lincoln event.  He wore the stovepipe hat that my parents bought for him at Lincoln's birthplace in Kentucky.  He also wore a black t-shirt from the Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, which we have visited many times.  We thought it was great to see his name as a lead reader in the program.  And it's cool that he's in the lead of the article by the Pantagraph reporter.

When the Lincoln re-enactor gave the speech again after our first mass reading, he had a wonderful way of conveying the sadness and optimism that the new President must have felt. Gary Simpkins, playing Lincoln, understood the gravity of the situation that the Illinois man was facing.

The reading was also the kick-off for the Sesquicentenial of the Civil War.  Guess I'll have to work to remember how to spell that word because remembering the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is going to be an important moment to recollect the War Between the States.  Sometimes that seems long ago.  Then we read books, such as Russell Freedman's wonderful Lincoln: A Photobiography or Candace Fleming's The Lincolns: A Scrapbook, visit the battlefields of Gettysburg or Antietam or Shiloh, see the first capital of the Confederacy in Montgomery, contemplate the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., listen to the wistful tunes of the day, re-read Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, examine dagguereotypes, consider the long-term effects of slavery, listen to the continuing battle of states rights vs. federal rights, and suddenly those days don't seem so long ago.  The historical anniversary is welcome.

How Lewis Carroll revolutionized children's literature

"Lewis Carroll did a lot to revolutionize the field of children's literature," Jan Susina noted. "In the 19th century, most stories for kids were very moralistic or industructive. Carroll's Alice tales were pure fantasy, fun and entertainment.  Children and adults alike loved the stories, and their popularity and commercial success helped to legitimize children's literature as an important and marketable genre."

That quotation is from me in the article "The Importance of Alice" by Eric Jome that was recently published in American Conceirge Magazine.  Thanks to Eric for interviewing me and writing the feature about Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and how I link the classic book to contemporary trends in children's literature and culture.  Of course, we discussed in detail the 2010 Alice film directed by Tim Burton, but I also talked about Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, Beatrix Potter, and Mark Twain. Download the .pdf to see how they all fit together.

The Illinois State University English Department has featured the article in its "In the News" website page.  Thanks for that recognition.

ISU Graduation

ISU's December graduation was a fun event.  Nice to see Marjorie and all the students graduate -- they've all accomplished so much.  The president's speech was not as upbeat as perhaps it might have been at other times.  But the thrilled smiles of graduates and their family and friends was very positive.  Graduation ceremonies for December 09 ISU graduates at Redbird Arena