Department of English Newsletter November 2019

Upcoming Department Events

Nov
1
6:30 pm
Nov
7
7:00 pm
Nov
14
3:30 pm
Bailey Library
Nov
22
3:30 pm
Center for Great Plains Studies Commons
Nov
26
3:30 pm
Bailey Library

Publications & Acceptances

Marco Abel and Dominik GrafMarco Abel published “‘I Am No Moralist’: An Interview with Dominik Graf on the Role of German Unification in His Films.” This interview was commissioned by the Goethe Institute USA to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Oct. 3, 1989) as part of their “Wunderbar: A Celebration of German Film” series.

Crystal Bock Thiessen’s article,“Promoting Your Department and Practice with Twitter,” was published in the University of Kansas’s Issues in Language Instruction journal in September 2019 as a part of a special issue featuring select presentations from the Building Bridges for English Language Centers conference at KU in December 2018.

James Brunton had two lyric memoir pieces accepted for publication in New South.

Joy Castro’s article “Intimate Terrains: Contemporary German Cinema, Migration, and the Films of Aysun Bademsoy” appeared in the October issue of Senses of Cinema. Her short story “Betrayed” appeared in Gulf Coast.

Still from John Wick Chapter 3Wheeler Winston Dixon has published a feature article in Senses of Cinema 92 (October 13, 2002), as part of the dossier “this is what defined cinema in the 2010s.” Dixon’s essay, “What Happened? The Digital Shift in Cinema” is free to all, and not behind a paywall. Dixon also published a review of the new book “Static in the System: Noise and the Soundscape of American Cinema Culture” by Meredith C. Ward, in Choice (December 2019): #57-1255, and a new article, “Something Out of Nothing: or, The Essence of Cinema,” in Quarterly Review of Film and Video (October 25, 2019). Finally, Dixon’s film Diagonal will be screened by invitation at the The Cinema Museum, London, on November 9, 2019.

Film still of Louise Brooks in BEGGARS OF LIFEPIAF Official Selection stamp

Gwendolyn Audrey Foster published Defeating the Sexual Predator: Beggars of Life (William Wellman, 1928). The film centers around the struggles of a young girl (Louise Brooks) who cross-dresses as a boy to avoid the law after she kills her sexually abusive step-father. Several sections of Foster’s book, Identity and Memory: The Films of Chantal Akerman are republished in Chantal Akerman Retrospective Handbook, edited by Joanna Hogg and Adam Roberts, published by Anos Amours in London. Three of Foster’s short avant garde films, Dada Ship, Séance for Hilma af Klint, and Fountains for the Baroness played at Kino Klub Split in Croatia on October 11th. Kino Club Split is a non-profit film arts space offering resources for educational purposes and production and curated screenings of cultural and artistic films since 1952. Foster is simply over the moon to hear that her handpainted direct-animation 16mm short, Kitchen Sink Film is an official selection for the Palm Springs International Animation Film Festival, held in December.

Ted Kooser’s long story, “Cora,” has been published in a limited letterpress edition by Route 1 Press in Anamosa, IA. Other than for the short narratives of his four children’s books, this is the first publication of Ted’s fiction in almost fifty years.

Katie Schmid Henson’s poem “At the Bus Stop,” was accepted at Redivider, her poems “False Starts” and “God-machine” were accepted at Under a Warm Green Linden, and her poem “At their First Meeting, My boyfriend asks my father ‘what prison was like’” was accepted at The Southeast Review.

Charlotte Kupsh’s essay, “‘On Belay’: Chaos and Embodiment in the Composition Classroom,” will be published in the fall issue of Writing on the Edge.

Erika Luckert has two poems published in the latest issue of The Rupture. Her poetry manuscript was also listed as a “Manuscript of Extraordinary Merit” in Tupelo Press’s July Open Reading Period .

Shawn Rubenfeld’s novel, The Eggplant Curse and the Warp Zone, is forthcoming in Spring 2021 from 7.13 Books.

David Winter’s poems “W.W. II S.S. Wiking Division Badge, $55.00” and “W.W. II German S.S. Lebensborn Stickpin, $30.00,” which reflect critically on the ongoing sale of Nazi “militaria” in antique stores, and the phenomenon of WW II reenactment, have been accepted for publication by Beloit Poetry Journal.

Conferences, Readings, Workshops & Presentations

Rachel Azima, together with Kelsey Hixson-Bowles of Utah Valley University and Neil Simpkins of the University of Washington-Bothell, presented “Crafting Our Conferences: The Racial Climate Survey for Writing Center Professional Gatherings” at the International Writing Centers Association conference in Columbus, OH.

Promotional image for Nov 8 Nebraska Lecture - image text also in paragraphThe November 8 Nebraska Lecture will feature a poetry-inspired song cycle for soprano and piano composed by Greg Simons, Assistant Professor of Composition in the Glenn Korff School of Music. Simon’s piece, entitled “Nebraska Songbook,” draws on four poems from the 2007 anthology Nebraska Presence edited by Greg Kosmicki and UNL English alumna Mary K. Stillwell. The selected poems include “Hawk shadow, early May; The November hawk” by professor Stephen Behrendt and “Recent angels” by alumna Kim Tedrow. Simons will open the lecture with a discussion of the meaning and inspiration behind the piece. Jamie Reimer, associate professor of voice, and Brenda Wristen, professor of piano and piano pedagogy, will then perform “Nebraska Songbook” for soprano and piano. A reception will follow the lecture.

Crystal Bock Thiessen, instructor in Programs in English as a Second Language, presented “#LearnAndApply: Using Social Media for Language and Content Application” at the 2019 MidAmerica Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (MIDTESOL) Conference in Omaha, Nebraska on September 28, 2019. She also led the Intensive English Program Interest Section meeting as IS Chair.

Steve Buhler with Blackfriars Bear mascotSteve Buhler presented a paper, “The Dramaturg’s Progress: A Question of Audiences,” at the 2019 Blackfriars Conference at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, VA, October 23-27. The respondent to Steve’s paper was Sarah Enloe, Education Director for the ASC. Also participating in the conference was Walter Cannon (UNL English 1967), Emeritus Professor at Central College, Iowa, who co-ran a colloquy on “Hearing in Shakespeare.”

MOMA documentary title card from Dixon's documentaryNina Barr Wheeler’s film diaries, curated by Wheeler Winston Dixon, were included in the “Private Lives, Public Spaces” group exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, which runs from October 23 2019 - July 20, 2020. The museum reopened for a press viewing on October 18, 2019 after an extended renovation. You can see Dixon’s short documentary video of the event online.

Ken Price at Peking UniversityThis month and last, Ken Price has been giving talks afield in Tokyo, Hiroshima, Beijing, and Lisbon. He presented “How to Read Whitman and Leaves of Grass in the 21st Century” at Peking University on October 9-10.

Meredith Steck co-facilitated a workshop entitled “Suits, Ties, and Lies: The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Professionalism” at the International Writing Centers Association annual conference which was held in Columbus, OH (Oct. 16-19). Her collaborators included Dr. Katie Levin (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities), David Melendez (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities), and Eric Wisz (University of Central Florida).

Timothy Janda and Dawn Rammaha gave a presentation entitled “OER’s: A Bridge to Textbook Freedom” on Saturday, 9/28 at the regional MidTESOL Conference held in Omaha, NE. The presenters gave a brief history of OER’s, discussed the various kinds of licensing used with OER’s, and gave a survey of open source materials and textbooks currently available for
traditional ESL/EFL skills instruction.

Tim Meadows gave a presentation called “Using Self-Assessment to Improve Research-Based Essays” on September 27, 2019, at the MIDTESOL Conference 2019—Bridges to Success, in Omaha, Nebraska. He discussed ways that teachers can foster adaptive transfer by assigning students to write a short reflective essay at the conclusion of each writing project.

Tim Meadows and Tim Janda gave a presentation called “Am I Being Too Helpful?” on September 28, 2019, at the MIDTESOL Conference 2019—Bridges to Success, in Omaha, Nebraska. They discussed best practices for consultants in support labs designed to help international students improve their English proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Charlotte Kupsh presented her paper, “Tools of the Trade: Materiality, Dysfunction, and Embodiment in the Writing Center,” at the International Writing Center Association (IWCA) conference in October.

As part of the Big Ten Emerging Scholars lecture series, Anne Nagel gave a talk at the University of Minnesota on October 11. Her presentation, “Deleuzian Virtuality in the Victorian Bedroom: Transgressive Reverie in Charles Dickens’s Dombey and Son,” examined a series of bedroom scenes through a double lens, focused both on the material environment of the private bedroom and on the virtual undercurrents of affect and potential. Anne had a wonderful experience sharing her work at the University of Minnesota and is grateful to their English department for hosting her. She feels honored to have represented the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as their Big Ten Emerging Scholar.

Shawn Rubenfeld will be a featured speaker at the UNL Judaic Studies Colloquium Series. His presentation, “Maly Trostinets and the Khatyn Memorial: Issues of Holocaust Memory and Commemoration in modern-day Belarus,” will be on November 8th in Louise Pound Hall.

Alumnus Joshua Doležal (Professor of English at Central College) has announced a new podcast he is producing with his colleague Brian Campbell. The podcast, Mid-Americana: Stories from a Changing Midwest, explores the history and identity of the Greater Midwest through the lives and stories of individual people. The debut season, Homecoming, features eight native Iowans who left the Midwest then came back to stay; each episode asks what pulled them away, what drew them back, and what they contribute now to a changing Midwest. Campbell and Doležal plan to dedicate future seasons to a variety of themes including agriculture, immigration, climate change, education, energy, and religion. A launch party will take place at RAYGUN in Des Moines’ East Village on November 6 at 7 p.m.

Activities, Accolades, & Grants

Dr. Ng’ang’a Wahu-Mũchiri won a $5,000 College of Arts and Sciences ENHANCE Award for summer 2020. This grant will pilot the Ardhi Initiative, an Africana Digital Humanities project that curates colonial land treaties from across the African continent.

Screenshot of Livingstone Online home pageSince January, Adrian Wisnicki’s Livingstone Online project has received three Seals from the MLA Committee for Scholarly Editions for editions published by the site. The Seals indicate peer review and the MLA writes: “[...] the CSE takes great care in vetting editions for approval. These uses of the seal should help you to communicate the high esteem in which the committee holds this edition. The editions are Livingstone’s Final Manuscripts (1865-1873), Livingstone’s Manuscripts in South Africa (1843-1872), and Livingstone’s 1870 Field Diary. Additionally, since the publication of Wisnicki’s book Fieldwork of Empire earlier this year, the book has received favorable reviews in the Journal of Historical Geography and from the Société d’Étude de la Littérature de Voyage du Monde Anglophone.

Have news or noteworthy happenings to share?

The Department of English encourages our faculty and current students to submit stories about their activities and publications of note by filling out the Department Newsletter Submission Form.