The English Majors’ Weblog
Always connect.

This from Dale Rigby, proud as if he had won himself,

John Owen won the Undergrad Prize for the 10th Annual Women’s Writing Contest.
Michael Sobiech won the Graduate Prize for the same contest (each get, I believe, $100.00).
And Kristen Fisher was one of only two or three Undergrads who got an award in this
year’s AWP Intro Journals Project–oddly, the contest has undergrads compete with graduates
in MFA Programs from across the country.

Here are their poems. Take a look and send them some praise for work well done that makes us all proud and makes the English Department look very good indeed.

“Three Bird Elegies” by John Owen
“VD” by Michael Sobiech
“The Last Living Castrato Speaks” by Kristen Fisher

This from Dale Rigby

Dear mourners…I’m forwarding the thoughts of distinquished WKU alum Aubrey Videtto, meditating on the recent death of Kurt Vonnegut.

The first Vonnegut book I read was in a 20th C. Lit class at the University of Louisville. We read Slaughterhouse-Five along with other incredible works - some were The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Handmaid’s Tale, Steppenwolf, and The Trial. The company of writers in that course would have made for an interesting dinner party, to say the least. And when the significance of the title of Vonnegut’s work dawned on me, while I savored the book jacket one afternoon prior to diving into its body, I had a shocking realization about words and literature.

(more…)

Kathryn Abbott, a former associate professor in the history department here at Western and now an editor for Bedford/St. Martin’s, passed along this job announcement and gave me permission to share it with all of you.

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT (HISTORY)
BEDFORD / ST. MARTIN’S

We are seeking an Editorial Assistant for History. Duties include supporting editors by running manuscript review programs, preparing manuscripts for production, eventually undertaking own book development projects, as well as performing clerical tasks that include copying, filing, requesting checks, and corresponding with authors. The successful candidate should have excellent written, verbal, and computer skills and work well in a fast-paced environment where attention to detail is important. A college degree is required. Graduate work a plus. This position is based in our Boston office.
job posted: March 13, 2007

If you are interested in a position at Bedford/St. Martin’s but not currently available to apply for this one, you may want to bookmark the job posting website and check it regularly to see what is available.

This notice from Dr. Schneider about more kudos to WKU English grads.

Some of you will remember Nora Handy, who is now teaching English in Louisville. She has been accepted to a prestigious postgraduate summer program (6 weeks), the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury in Vermont, w/ full fellowship. Another success story.

Dear WKU Writers…My name is Jeffrey Bean, and I am the 2006-2008 Axton Fellow in Poetry at the University of Louisville.
I’m writing to you in the hope that you will spread the word about
Split the Lark: The Border of Poetry and Music, a two-day interdisciplinary conference that I’m organizing here at U of L. The link is below:

Split the Lark

Please announce this festival, which examines the connection between
poetry and music, in your classes, and forward this link to colleagues and students (or listservs) who might share this interest.Many thanks,

Jeffrey Bean
Axton Fellow

Another alum does good by doing well.

Dear Professor Schneider,

… I received my MA in English from WKU back in 1990. I then moved back to Calgary, Alberta with my wife, LuAnne (who completed her Master’s in Folklore at WKU in the same year). We then moved down to Carbondale (SIU, obviously), where I began work on my Ph.D. We moved back to Calgary, Alberta in 1998, and we have been living here since.

I (finally) completed my Ph.D. in May of 2004. I revised my dissertation for publication, and in fact my monograph (Dorothy Wordsworth’s Ecology) was published just last month by Routledge. I will be joining the faculty at Austin Peay State University (and I’ll bet you know where it is!) this fall as an Assistant Professor in the Languages and Literature department.

In any event, I ,obviously, don’t expect all of the above information to be included on the Alumni page, but I wanted to let someone know that we will be back in the area. We very much enjoyed our time in Bowling Green, and we are looking forward to living in the area again!

I am proud to have received my MA from WKU!

Take care!

Sincerely,

Ken Cervelli

From an email from The Nation:

We’re pleased to announce the second annual Nation Student Writing Contest and hope you can help us spread the word. Sponsored by the BIL Charitable Trust to recognize and reward the best in student writing and thinking, the contest’s deadline is May 31, 2007.

We’re looking for original, thoughtful, provocative student voices to tell us what is the most important issue for young people in the 2008 presidential campaign. Essays should not exceed 800 words and should be original, unpublished work that demonstrates clear thinking and superior quality of expression and craftsmanship.

We’ll select five finalists (including at least one high-schooler) and one winner, who will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize and a Nation subscription. The winning essay will be published in the magazine and featured on our website. The five finalists will be awarded $200 each and Nation subscriptions, and their entries will be published at TheNation.com. The contest is open to students at US high schools and to undergraduates at US colleges and universities. Entries (only one per student) will be accepted through May 31. A winner will be announced by September 4. Please send entries to studentprize@thenation.com.

For more information about the contest, click here.