The English Majors’ Weblog
Always connect.

Dear All…
Faculty Advisor David LeNoir and his student editors (Lacey Blankenship, Ben Brooks,
Andrew Burchett, Joanna Busse, Brandon Colvin, Lesley Doyle, Morgan Eklund, Heather Funk,
Ryan Hunton, Jennifer Kiefer, Jessie Magee, Abigale Piper, Eileen Ryan) wish to announce
that your 2009 ZEPHYRUS is here! To the English Office post haste for ye free copy.

And the Zephyrus award winners this year:

JIM WAYNE MILLER POETRY AWARD: Brent Fisk for “Blue Smoke”

BROWNING LITERARY CLUB POETRY AWARD: Brittany Szabo for “This is not an apology”

LADIES LITERARY CLUB FICTION AWARD: Chad Emerson for “My Doppelganger”

WANDA GATLIN ESSAY AWARD: Kimberly Reynolds for “Medical Record”

ZEPHYRUS ART AWARD: Shelly Bender for “Dandelions”

How do you teach Web 2.0? With elit, of course. This post offers an elit work for each tool.A number of my colleagues (myself included) attempt to teach courses around Web 2.0 technologies. The idea is that if you can just get students to blog, bookmark, twitter, annotate, wiki, wink, and aggregate, they’ll be ready for the bold new world of networked software applications– building on their existing propensity for social networking, facebooking, IMing….What these skill and tool-based courses miss is an opportunity to enrich this education with some electronic literature.

Elit 2.0 (a guide to literary works on social software) at WRT: Writer Response Theory

And here are are a few more suggestions from the comments section at Mark Marino’s Writer Response Theory:

Twitter:

1. s[p]erver[se]_: 404 poetry_ [2007]
[also in: http://www.youownmenow.net/exhibition.php]

2. [started today] New Media Scotland’s new Twitterist-in-residence [2008]
http://twitter.com/mediascot

3. _Poetic Game Interventions [V.1]_ entitled _Twittermixed Litterature [2007]
http://www.well.com/user/jmalloy/elit/elit_software.html#mez
http://groups.google.com/group/leanmp/browse_thread/thread/a0fd5a15177c964d

Blogging:

1. cross.ova.ing ][4rm.blog.2.log][
http://netwurker.livejournal.com/ [since 2003]

2. ______dis[ap]posable_
http://disapposable.blogspot.com/ [2007]

Facebook:

1. _Tag Platform Poetry_ [2007]
[A Poetic/Social Network/ MMO/Visual Mashup where character screenshots of
of World of Warcraft Characters are imported into the Facebook. The photos in the respective albums are then tagged with poetic descriptions in the areas normally reserved for traditional photo labelling. These description lines are then aggregated at the bottom of each album to create a type of cross-plaform tagged poetry.]

Logos:

Antisocial Notworking: http://project.arnolfini.org.uk/projects/2008/antisocial/index.php

Dear Harried Ones… In a wonderful bit of synchronicity, Mike Sobiech is defending his graduate thesis (this Saturday!) on the use of satire in the composition classroom the very same week that a group of his industriously impish students created a mock-wikipedia site about their beloved teacher. See the link below. May we always remember how fun teaching can be!

Dale,

Oh my word, I just got done with my first class. Today is the day they’re presenting their group parodies of academic writing. So, more than once I’ve hectored that they shouldn’t use wikipedia for academic sources–of course, I love W, use it, and even hypocritically send them links. Anyways, one group parodied the anti-wikipediacity by doing a wikipedia page for our class, in particular their teacher.Here’s a link. You’re supposed to hit on the links to get some more jokes. Pretty stinking clever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MikeOnWiki/Sandbox

Power Moby-Dick, the Online Annotation — Chapter 1

Moby Dick annotated in a very accessible way.  Incredibly useful full-text search, extra resources for students, wallpaper, and lots of extras. 

Dear All:
I know, I know, I haven’t a clue what “Besondere Traume” means,
but I do know that it is the title of a poem by our own intrepid world
traveler, Brooke Shafar, just accepted for publication in The Rectangle,
the literary journal of Sigma Tau Delta.
What a wonderful send-off to our recent graduate, who leaves this
Friday for a Fulbright year in Germany, after which she’ll return to
St. Louis to begin her doctoral studies at Washington University.
kudos and great good luck, Brooke!

P.S. My guess is that “Besondere Traume” is part of the local argot of
Brooke’s hometown of Taylorsville, Kentucky. But that’s only a guess.
Anybody more in the know than me?

Hey Y’all.

First, the bad news: Summer is almost over.
Second, the good news? ROR has got some cool new stuff for you to check out!
We have made a REAL Survival Guide for the incoming freshman including everything from Party Etiquette to a Guide to Getting Off to Going Green as a Greenie. Check it out and all you upperclassmen, feel free to add your own helpful, hopeful or hateful comments to articles!

Go there now,
Rise Over Run

Enjoy the first day of classes and be looking out for our first full issue, Breaking and Entering, in September.

Thanks and Love,
ROR

Dear All…

Jeff Fearnside has accepted a position to teach at Prescott College (in Prescott, Arizona), where he will also become the managing editor of their really fine literary journal Alligator Juniper (winner of the 2000 and 2003 AWP Prize for undergraduate literary magazines). Way to go, Jeff!

P.S. WKU writers will, well, be sending a piece or two the way of Alligator Juniper!

From Dale,

Dear All…please mark your calendars for 7 pm on May 1 for the
FANTASTIC gala to be held in support of Rise Over Run–check out the attached news
release to see what I mean!

Good Afternoon Creativewriting-list!

My name is Monique Gooch and I am Rise Over Run’s PR Coordinator. We have scheduled an event for May 1st and would like for everyone to be
in attendance! I am attaching a press release with this e-mail.
Thank you so much for your support of ROR! Have a great day!

~Monique Gooch~
VP of Membership Services

Web Sites Let Bibliophiles Share Books Virtually : NPR
Bookish people may not be known for their social skills, but a crop of social-networking Web sites aimed at bibliophiles are allowing readers to connect with the page — and with each other — in a brand new “virtual” environment.

WKU Libraries will host an African-American Read-in from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 4 at Java City in Helm Library.

The Read-in is part of Black History Month activities at Western Kentucky University as well as a nationwide celebration of African-American literary works.

“The read-in is an opportunity for students, faculty and staff to come together and celebrate the works of African-American writers,” said Cindy Troutman, Marketing Coordinator with WKU Libraries.

Students, faculty, staff and community members are invited to read three-minute excerpts from their favorite work by an African-American writer. Works can include music, poetry, adult literature or children’s books.

Participants are encouraged to sign up by Monday, Jan. 31, to have their names listed in the program. To register, contact Cindy Troutman at (270) 745-4502 or by email at cindy.troutman@wku.edu.