Summer’s end

Tags

double rainbow, education, Joss Whedon, literature, medieval, pop culture, Slayage Conference, students, travel, university, Vancouver, World Literature

Oh, all right–summer actually ended a few days ago, if you think Labor Day marks the end of summer. Or if the start of the school years marks the end of summer, then for me and other professors at my university, summer ended August 16, when we gathered for the annual “faculty orientation.” Students moved in the following weekend and classes began August 21. Summer has well and truly ended.

I’m declaring an end to this blog’s summer vacation, as well.

What did we do on our summer vacation? Taught summer school (British Lit 1); wrote and presented a paper at the 5th Biennial Slayage Conference on the Whedonverses, “Banter, Battles, and ‘Kissy th’ Face’: Sugarshock!‘s Quintessential Whedonverse.” Others have reported on the conference, and a comprehensive report (co-authored by Ian Klein, Ami Comeford, and me) will be published in Slayage later this year.

I enjoyed my first visit to the northwest, even if a week allowed only glimpses of Vancouver, BC, and Washington state. My cousins in Walla Walla took me to see the Pioneer Park Aviary. Just as we arrived, a double rainbow appeared over the park! Perfect.

I slipped in a couple days at the beach, thanks to an invitation from an aunt and uncle. All in all, a very good summer.

It’s near the beach!

Medieval literature, World literature survey, and first-year comp classes are well underway now with first paper assignments coming in soon. Next week, I’ll be traveling again, so expect some photos and color commentary.

Teaching with grace

Tags

education, students, teaching, university

Any teacher loves to point to his or her students’ successes and achievements of varioius kinds, both in the classroom and after graduation. One of the pleasures of Facebook (alongside its manifest irksome qualities) has been reconnecting with past students and learning the ups and downs of their lives since we last saw one another, whether that was at a commencement or in a classroom.

Today I’ve added former student Renee’s Quiet Anthem to my blogroll. She’s now a writer & English teacher, with a family, so she’s got plenty to keep her busy! I  especially want to highlight her latest post about some particular frustrations and triumphs faced in the classroom. This is her experience, but I think many college teachers can empathize.

What can push a teacher to the breaking point? How to deal with academic dishonesty both justly and with grace? Perils of technology and social networking–all these figure in her recent experience. Admire.

Back to the classroom

Tags

Buffy rewatch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, cats, education, Firefly, Joss Whedon, London, Murpjy's Law, pop culture, students, teaching, TV

Since returning from London–which seems years away, somehow, not just a little over a month–I’ve had lots to catch up on, including unexpected appliance repairs/replacements, course syllabi, and an essay on Joss Whedon’s Firefly that I hope will see publication sometime next year. Not to mention medical checkups for me and one of the cats, many last minute revisions to the course syllabi, faculty and student orientation activities, all mixed in with the inevitable operations of Murphy’s Law: Whatever can go wrong, will.

Senior Cat is not amused

Today was the first day of classes, and since some of the first-year comp students had been primed to ask me about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I’m reminded to check in with the ongoing year-long Great Buffy Re-Watch, now well into Season Five. I’ll be posting some thoughts in a few weeks when we get to Season Six.

For now, there’s a lot of reading to do before Monday.

London, Week Two

Tags

CUSA, Hampton Court, London, Museum of London

The second week began with church, at least for the two professors. The students were worn out and slept in. We went to St. James the Less in Pimlico, an evangelical Anglican congregation I first visited when I was here on behalf of Biola England back in 1997 or 1998. Their all-ages service was a fascinating contrast with the high church Westminster Abbey service, and though I usually prefer traditional hymns, they had some contemporary worship music that was both catchy and substantial.

Monday, 6/20: the Museum of London pretty much gives you what it says on the tin, objects and displays that represent the history and development of the city. Notable presentation on the Great Fire of the 17th century. Helpful, we hoped, for contextualizing the literature students are reading.

Tuesday 6/21: The entire group went to Hampton Court Palace, where we received fascinating presentations of Tudor-era grandeur and the later Christopher Wren-era/William-and-Mary grandeur.

Hampton Court gates:

The astrological clock:

Spotted a camel in this tapestry:

Medieval things to think about

Tags

British literature, Early modern period, education, England, history, Middle Ages, teaching

As my students and I make last-minute preparations to depart for our study-abroad in England, two recent posts remind me of the purpose of these courses and why it’s so fabulous to be studying medieval-early modern British literature in Great Britain.

First, the beginning of a series “debunking” popular misconceptions about the Middle Ages. Stay tuned for more from this blog.

Second, the story of a new medieval archaeological find in Gloucester. There’ve been quite a few of these in recent years, including the Staffordshire Hoard, which we probably will not get to see.

Encouraging words for English majors

Tags

Business, education, Employment, English major, English majors, students, university

Yes, English majors, there are jobs for you other than those involving teaching (which is a very good thing to do, of course, but not for everyone) or fast-food (also an important element of the economy). Be encouraged and enlightened by the exemplary story of how a graduate from our program found her first post-college job (linked by permission).

Notice how she added work-experience to her courses before graduation, and how she’s using her blog as a kind of resume—very creative. Congratulations, Sam, and thank you for sharing your valuable experience.

This is the kind of success sources like For English Majors love to hear about.

Grad School Reference Letter? Here’s How

Tags

Colleges and Universities, education, Graduate school, students, teaching, writing

Image via Wikipedia

Here are a couple of  ways, at least, to improve your chances of getting a positive graduate school reference, followed by one or two less good ways:

Scenario: for whatever reason, you’ve been out of touch with your college/university and the professor who you think might write a good letter for you. Seriously, it’s been several years.

1. Write to Professor X. Be cordial; recall the good old days of [class or classes you took with X]. Tell Prof. X about your plans and ask politely if he or she would be willing to serve as a reference.
2. In the same letter or e-mail, tell Prof. X what you’ve been doing since you left ye olde alma mater, whether it is teaching, inventing Post-Its, or sharing the Gospel in Peru. Prof. X would really like to be able to say something about you beyond “I had Josie Schmoe in Advanced Basketweaving five years ago and she was fab” (not that Prof. X would say it that way, because she really wants you to succeed).
3. This should be #1: Keep your best college papers. Offer to send copies of appropriate ones to Prof. X, who now has a job at a different university and couldn’t access your files even if they still existed. Assuming Prof. X has agreed to serve as one of your references, he can now write with complete sincerity, “Josie Schmoe wrote the best undergraduate essay on Joyce’s Ulysses that I have ever seen” or whatever it was.
4. Send Prof. X complete information on all the graduate schools where you are applying, including addresses or websites where references must be submitted, and deadlines. Include envelopes addressed to graduate schools that require printed letters; stamps are optional, but impressive. Yes, of course Prof. X’s department should provide stationery and postage, but doing so yourself demonstrates your self-reliance and thoughtfulness.
5. At least one e-mail reminder as deadlines near is OK if any references have not arrived. Prof. X is as busy and/or absent-minded as the next person, as seriously as he takes his responsibilities, and would feel worse if your recommendation didn’t get in on time.
6. After all your applications are in, including a glowing recommendation from Prof. X, send Professor X a handwritten thank-you note. To completely bowl Professor X over, tuck a coffeeshop gift card inside.

Some ways to get less than stellar  grad school recommendations, if any:

1. Contact Prof. X, who was your first-year comp. instructor (you got a C), when you are a senior, and say, “Hey! I need a reference for medical school. Can you help?” Since you were a forgettable student in that class, Prof. X has forgotten you and has no reason to recommend you, especially when you address her in such a casual way. I’d say she shouldn’t agree to write the reference, but if she agrees to do so, it won’t be very enthusiastic unless you go on to show her that you’ve become a different person in the past four years.
2. Run into Prof. X’s office and say, “Help! My other reference fell through and the deadline is tomorrow! Help!”  Variation: panicky e-mail message. If you are an outstanding student, Prof. X already knows and likes you well, and the stars align, this last-minute approach may work out, but it’s risky.
3. You have a good relationship with Prof. X and he agrees to write your reference letters well in advance of the deadlines, but after that you just go blithely about your life and forget it, assuming he’ll do everything without any further effort from you. Did you give him all the information about the school(s)? Addressed envelopes (if needed)? Deadlines? Reminders?

I’m probably not the only person ever to write on this subject, but I thought it might be useful. To the former students who inspired this post & sent a thank-you note: Thank you.

Spring semester 2011 begins

Tags

literature, medieval, teaching

This winter (including December) we’ve had more snow already than I can recall since I’ve been living here, so we’re off to a good start. Or an unusual start. This is my medieval “on” year–with medieval literature last semester and Chaucer this semester. In addition, I’m teaching two world literature surveys (ancient to 17th c.) for the first time in two years, so there’s been a lot of revising.
Excelsior!

2010 in review

Tags

education, English major, English majors, literature, Social Networking, university, WordPress.com

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 4,300 times in 2010. That’s about 10 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 29 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 266 posts. There were 13 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 15mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was November 3rd with 46 views. The most popular post that day was What can you do with an English major? Go to med school!.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were jobsforenglishmajors.com, en.wordpress.com, facebook.com, twitter.com, and lomagirl.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for english major medical school, what you can do with an english major, things you can do with an english major, things to do with an english major, and the future of literature.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

What can you do with an English major? Go to med school! January 2009
8 comments

2

Things you can do with an English major (continuing series) August 2007
5 comments

3

The future of literature? November 2007
2 comments

4

What can you do with an English major? (continuing series) January 2010

5

What can you do with an English major? (continuing series) November 2008
1 comment

 

So interesting! I have indeed noticed that those “careers for English majors” posts get a lot of traffic. I’ll be sure to add more this year. In the meantime, I direct all humanities majors to For English Majors and The Liberal Arts Advantage—for Business to find practical advice on how to put your degree to work in a variety of areas outside the stereotypical (if nonetheless valued) teaching.

Wishing everyone a happy 2011!

 

Going medieval!

Tags

Anglo-Saxon, books, dorothy dunnett, history, literature, medieval, Middle Ages, Old English

Image via Wikipedia

The extremely helpful Medievalists.net recently posted this video request asking:

Why and how did you get interested in medieval history? We want to hear your stories about you discovered the Middle Ages and medieval history. We are setting up a page on Medievalists.net to post your videos and stories – you can post them here on Youtube, or on our Facebook page, or email them to us at medievalists.net@gmail.com

Since I study medieval literature, to which medieval history is merely (!) vital background, I’m not sure I’m truly invited to this party, but I’m inspired to answer for my interest in the Middle Ages.

Several elements contributed to my interest in medieval literature. I was always a reader, and I loved books and stories with medieval settings. I was good at languages. But through college and my MA program, I thought I was going to focus on modern or contemporary literature–in fact, I was planning to be a poet. Fortunately, that didn’t work out.

By the time I started my PhD, I’d read some modern historical novels that made medieval literature seem really intriguing (e.g., Dunnett, Walton, White), but I still hadn’t made up my mind between 20th century or medieval literature by the time I arrived at UNC-Chapel Hill. At this point, chance or fate (Wyrd in Anglo-Saxon) or God took a hand.

I took Old English, because we all had to (those were the days!), which introduced me not only to the language but also to several students planning to major in medieval lit. One afternoon, as I was riding home on the bus, a fellow grad student asked me what I planned to major in. I told him I hadn’t decided. He invited me to a party for medieval studies majors that weekend. The deciding factor: medievalists were kind, funny, cheerful, pleasant people. Even the moody ones weren’t mean about it. The 20th c. majors were mostly sarcastic, snarky, and morose. I foresaw a depressing future full of angst as a 20th c. major, and declared my intentions the next week.

My interest in languages and linguistics got a workout (Old and Middle English, Provencal, Old French, Latin, German, Old Irish, Middle Welsh), and I could follow the paths of the old tales back to their origins. It’s like archaeology–but less dusty. And so much, much more. Still enjoying it. Thanks, Michael Kuczynski—although I could and should thank many other people who contributed to my medieval studies, if Mike hadn’t invited me to that party, I might never have gotten to know any of them.