Friday, November 30, 2018

Join The Voice

Interested in journalism?  Would you like to take part in a student-run organization?  Want to see your name published?  Consider joining The Voice next semester to put your talent and skills to work!

There are currently openings for assistant editors in most sections of The Voice.  You can join in the spring semester, learn the ropes, and eventually move up to an editor's seat.

If you don't know if you have the full time to be a part of the staff?  You can submit articles as contributing writers as well.  The Voice always needs reporters to cover current events, authors interested in opinion columns, reviewers engaged in the latest games and movies, features writers, sports analysts, and more.

What do you get from being part of the staff?

  • Bylines.  (And perhaps fan mail!)
  • Published clips for your portfolio.  
  • Hands-on experience in publishing.
  • Fun!  Being part of our team and producing something together is a wonderful experience.
How to join:
  • Reach out if you're interested.  Send an email to Josh Lloyd, editor in chief, at voiceeditor@huskies.bloomu.edu or to our advisors, Dr. Noon (mnoon@bloomu.edu) or Prof. Koslosky (jkoslosk@bloomu.edu). 
  • Stop in at our office in Schuylkill (rear, lower level, across from Old Science) any Tuesday or Wednesday evening during production to meet the editors and see what we're about.
Although we are publishing our final issue for this semester, please consider joining us in the spring!

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Internship Opportunity: Oyster River Pages

Now in its second year, the Oyster River Pages (ORP) Internship is designed for individuals wanting to explore independent publishing, and who align themselves with the values and creative expressions that the journal embodies. ORP seeks to promote underrepresented voices in publication, believing that fostering diversity is the key to a more productive and compassionate society. Interested applicants should be well-versed in one of ORP's genres (poetry, creative non-fiction, fiction, visual art) and should be able to devote approximately ten hours per month to ORP work from January–September 2019. In exchange, interns will receive ten hours of editorial guidance and mentoring over the course of those months.

ORP publishes voices that speak to what it means to be alive in this world. We look for language and stories and images that move us out of ourselves and into other spaces. We embrace the reality that the personal has become the political. We seek to publish those who bring balance and diversity to historical institutions of power. We are committed to disseminating the voices of those who need to and must be heard—decentered and marginalized voices—whose words and images transcend ignorance and prejudice to reveal the nuanced, resilient, connective power of humanity.

For more information about ORP or the 2018 interns, or to apply, please visit their website. Applications are due by December 15, 2018.

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Meet Our Professors: Dr. Lawrence

Q: Where are you from?
C: I am from Salt Lake City, Utah.  Yeah - I’m a very western human.

Q: How did you end up in Bloomsburg?
C: So, the way that it works when you’re an English professor: the year that you get of out graduate school, you go to the MLA Conference.  A whole bunch of schools come to the MLA Conference and are looking for professors, and a whole bunch of people just out of graduate school go to that conference.  I had interviews with a lot of schools, but Bloomsburg and another one were the only two that offered me jobs -- and this was a better job.  One of the things I always tell people if they want to be professors [is that] you don’t have a choice of where you want to live in the country.  And that’s something that a lot of people are like, “Oh, you’re a professor, you’re here!” but, you know, there’s not that many jobs for English professors.

Q: Where did you graduate from?
C: [For my] undergrad, I went to Pomona College in Los Angeles, California.  For my Master’s Degree, I did a MFA in fiction from the University of Utah, and then I did my PhD at the University of Houston.

Q: What kinds of publications have you written for?
C: Well, really, my job is as a creative writer, so I don’t publish a lot of scholarly essays, but I do go to a lot of conferences where I talk about pedagogy, which is the study of teaching.  That’s where a lot of my scholarship is -- in terms of how to teach people things.  And then, in terms of publications, I think, like everyone working in creative writing, I have a super eclectic group of publications.  Like, I just got an essay published in an environmental journal out of Oxford University Press, which is kind of interesting.  But then, I also publish little short things online.  I was on this website called Lunchticket for this super short -- was it nonfiction or fiction?  Oh, it was fiction, it was a short story kind of thing.  So, pretty much the range.  I adore writing what is either like a short fiction or nonfiction piece or a prose poem, and the distinctions between the two of them [grow] very difficult.

Q: How long have you taught here at Bloomsburg?
C: This is my nineteenth year.  So, forever.  [laughs]  Seriously -- this was my first teaching job.  A lot of people move, but I stayed.  I think I liked a lot about the location, and I really liked our student body.  I felt like if I was teaching at some sort of super fancy private school, I would be teaching people who didn’t need me, you know, who already knew what I had to teach them, basically.  But here, I just feel like Bloomsburg is an absolute game changer for some people, and I love that.  I love being part of that.

Q:  What classes do you usually teach?
C: Well, I teach two sections of Freshmen Writing -- or First-year writing, I suppose, is what we call it now. I teach those, and sometimes I teach Honors and sometimes I don’t.  And then, I teach the range of creative writing classes except for poetry, because I am not a poetry expert.  But I could teach almost everything else.

Q: Are you involved in any organizations?
C: I am the advisor for HOPE, which is Help Our Planet and Earth.  It’s an environmental organization. I think that’s all that am an advisor for right now.  We had, on campus for a long time, a Green Campus Initiative, which I was the chair of, but it does less than it used to.  I’m a big environmentalist, in case you can’t tell.  It’s one of my passions.

Q: What are your favorite books, shows, or genres?
C: Really, what I absolutely adore is a particular genre, which is graphic novels. I am a huge fiend for graphic novels, and I teach a graphic novels class.  I teach a Lit and Society class that is graphic novel [oriented]. A lot of that is because I do visual art as well, and I really love the combination of art and words on the page.  I just -- I am in love with that.  I almost went to school for visual art, and my mom said that it wasn’t practical, which I thought was absolutely hilarious… so I went and got a history degree, and that’s wasn’t practical either!  It has nothing to do with what I’m doing now.  So ha.  [laughs] Take that, mom!

Q: If you could create a new class to teach, what would it be?
C: It’s definitely going to come off like my last question -- well, there’s two things, actually, that I would do.  The first would be a graphic novel class where we actually created a graphic novel, and so I would want to partner with somebody in Art -- like, over in Art, Sue O’Donnell, who does graphic design stuff?  I adore her; if our schedules ever allowed us to team-teach a class, to do something with graphic design or something that was like that, I would live to do that.

But, the other thing that I’m interested in which might be more realistic: I really, really love political fiction, and so I would love to teach a class -- and I don’t mean overt political fiction, but I would love to teach a class with ‘issues,’ you know, where the fiction is talking about issues.  So it could be something like a dystopian world that comments on our world, or it could be something that’s about a refugee experience or something like that.

Q: What is the best advice someone has ever given you about English?
C: I think this is advice that I give you guys [in class] often, especially when you’re all really stressed, but -- so I was really stressed about finishing my dissertation for my PhD, and my dissertation mentor said this thing: “How do you eat an elephant?”  And the answer is: “One bite at a time.” I think that a lot of people get a lot of anxiety when they’re starting a piece and that’s what keeps them from starting. Even for me, sometimes I’ll be like, “Ohmygosh I haven’t published anything in a while! I’m really stressed out; I have to write this!” And then I won’t even get started.  So, you write the first sentence. And then you write the second sentence.

Q: What would be the title of a book about you?
C:  The title of the book about me would be Best Dinner Ever.  The reason for that is that’s what my family says about me all the time, that I’m ridiculously excited by small things.  Like, my husband will make me -- like, he made this really good spicy shrimp thing with cucumbers and miso dressing and avocados, and it was crunchy, and I was sitting on the couch going, “It’s the best dinner ever!!”  And he says, “You say that for every dinner.” [laughs] And I think that’s kind of true of me, you know; I’m someone who’s really super happy with the small stuff, and I would love to somehow write a book about that, to show other people that all the huge political stuff that’s going on or all the stress you have about school or all the things going on with your families -- there’s a way to just be happy with the fact the little pockets of good things.  Like, I really like my blue scarf.  Or, like, this is the ring that I bought myself for being brave for going knocking on doors for the Democrats for the vote.  Just -- tiny little things like that.  I live on those.

Q: What would you like to see for the English Department?
C: I can’t speak too much to the whole English department, because Creative Writing -- well, we’re definitely a part of it, but we’re a little bit separate.  Like I said before, one of the things I’d really like to see is more collaboration with [the Art Department]. I would love to see us working with art, and we already have Professor Wemple, who does the Living and Learning Community, which is like the ArtSpace one.  I’d like to see that sort of keep carrying on.  For the English Department as a whole… I’d like to see us be able to hire more young people.  I feel like we’re all getting a little long in the tooth, and we could use some news from the outside.  I also would really like to see us be able to teach more diverse literatures, to have specific classes that are in diverse and contemporary literature.  I feel that we do an absolutely fabulous job with what’s been written in the past, but I’d like to see us talk more about what’s contemporary.  I do feel like we’re getting there; in the Short Story class -- well, it’s not all contemporary, but a majority of it is.  And I’m super enjoying that.

Extra: If you're interested in reading the short piece Dr. Lawrence mentioned in the interview above, you can check it out here!

Thanks for the interview, Dr. Lawrence!

Monday, November 26, 2018

Visiting WALES Before Finals

Hello, everyone!  With two more weeks of the semester left, many of you are likely working on multiple large writing projects for the final projects of your classes.  That being said, this is an excellent time to visit our writing center, WALES, and receive feedback and a helpful listening ear for any stage of your writing process!  You can visit WALES for:

  • Citation Styles
  • Grammar and Proofreading
  • Brainstorming
  • Evaluating Sources
  • And anything else you might need to review for a paper!
Additionally, do you have an ePortfolio due for an English class?  Every WALES consultant is versed in creating ePortfolios and can help you at any step of the process.  

We will hold sessions for more than just English papers as well!

Since this is the busy time of the semester, let me take the time to remind you that although we still accept walk-in appointments, due to the high volume of people requesting sessions it may be wise to book a session in advance.  You can do this by visiting our center to request an advance date, emailing us, or calling us.  Check out our website here for our email and hours.  

Good luck, and happy writing!

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Diversity Conference News

Last Wednesday, November 14th, Bloomsburg proudly hosted the 16th Annual High School Diversity Conference under the theme "Empowering Your Voices," aimed at encouraging young students to feel confident in sharing their stories and speaking out.  Over 100 high school students and faculty from several school districts surrounding Bloomsburg showed up for a series of panels on issues on communication and diversity.

Of our English Department, Dr. Christina Francis gave one of the six versions of the final panel, designed to discuss the challenges and ways to navigate speaking out in their schools and communities.  Several of our English majors, including Nancy Zola, Kearstin Calhoun, Sarah M. Goulet, Brittany Stephenson, Jonathan Beaver, Alissa Heatherington, Morgan Mickavicz, Breyana Rolon, and Sherri Boyles, helped facilitate these final panels.  Additionally, another one of our majors, Angela Montaño, participated in the panel "Unity within Diversity."  Wonderful job, everyone!

Even more excitingly, the local news station, WBRE, featured a one-minute clip on the conference. Dr. Francis is a featured voice in this clip.  Please check it out here!


Monday, November 19, 2018

Warren Contests Winners

The winners of the Warren micro-essay and mini-poetry contests have been announced!

The Poetry contest winners are:

1st: Nerves by Hannah Everett

2nd: Rose-Colored Glasses by Geara Catania

3rd: Landmine by Julia Miller

Honorable mention: Sin by Katelyn McGuire



Two Micro-essay winners tied for first place!

Middle of the Night Panic Attacks: Cause Rarely Identifiable by Morgan Mickavicz

and

Hunger by Sarah Goulet


All the winners should be posted on the Warren's website in the next few weeks.  Please check it out, and congratulations to all winners!

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Meet our Students: Zachary Deretz

Q: Where are you from? 
Z: I'm from Baldwinsville, NY.

Q: What is your major? 
Z: I'm majoring in Secondary Education in the English Focus.

Q: What year are you? 
Z: I'm a Junior.

Q: What are some of your literary strengths?
Z: I am obviously a literary genius and perfect in all regards… All jokes aside, I like to consider myself as someone capable of an adequate level of analysis on new subject material relatively quickly; moreover, I am certainly capable of reading quickly and with ease. I would also say that, due to my fairly decent experience with the field, I am capable of writing readily accepted papers based on what is deemed “acceptable professional language” in the field of academia.

Q: Favorite books or shows?
Z: Almost any question that asks me what my favorite rendition or selection of subjects, objects, discussions, etc. are met with fierce difficulty. I believe myself to be someone that I identify as indecisive for many situations, unless I am in a situation that requires me to be decisive with consequences at hand (such as a work environment). With this in mind, there is no way I would be capable of choosing a single book that I find the most enjoyable. That is a feat that is simply impossible; however, how about as far as favorite shows are concerned? I might argue that some “older” shows such as Fringe, Chuck, or The Office might be my favorite television shows, and my favorite movie would have to be V for Vendetta.

Q: Why did you become an English Major?
Z: I was one of those people who never knew what they wanted to do with their lives until my senior year of high school, and even then it was relatively “wishy-washy.” During that time, I encountered my AP English teacher for the first time in a classroom setting. Simple as that. I say what he did and felt that it was something I could enjoy and really learn to love; moreover, I have always had a deep love for Literature since I was young, so I never saw any issues with that backing up my newly acquired goal.

Q: What is your favorite class you have ever taken? 
Z: I would definitely have to say that my favorite class that I have taken up to this point in time would be my Shakespeare class of my sophomore year attending Bloomsburg University. It was an extremely detailed class that truly made me feel as though I could delve into the knowledge and experiences of the past. The professor did a wonderful job and truly had a profound knowledge on all of the subject material.

But, a close second would also be my freshman year’s Dinosaur class. Admittedly, I’m a child at heart and love dinosaurs. And to be honest, I expected it to be easy, but it ended up being refreshingly difficult with an immense amount of diverse and intricate knowledge that gave me a newfound respect for paleontologists and those studying ancient history.

Q: What organizations are you part of?
Z: I am a part of a couple organizations, I suppose? I guess the most relevant to this interview would have to be the fact that I work at the Writing and Literacy Engagement Studio (WALES), formerly known as the writing center. It’s a great experience and has helped me in my field by leaps and bounds, so I definitely recommend people check it out. I also attend the Student Poetry Association (SPA) located on campus as a member; although, due to my schedule this semester I’m having difficulty making it to many of the meetings. Technically, there are a couple of other groups here and there, but I am more of an honorary member until my schedule eases up on me, so I won’t go into detail for those.

Q: What subjects do you like to write about, formally and informally?
Z: Sado-masochism. Now, I say that half jokingly, but I actually had a great formal writing experience in my aforementioned Renaissance class by debating the rhetorical connection between sado-masochistic theories and some others that I won’t go into detail due to time restraints. It really depends on the subject, timing, even how I feel that day, to be honest. I like to write about interesting and highly debatable topics that I have had time to truly think about and consider, especially when I get to combine theories and hypotheses.

As far as informal writing goes… I don’t tend to have to much time for that these days. But I guess my poetry tends to focus on loss and/or love? I tend to write Sonnets, so it tends to make more sense. Oh, I also like to write about nature, as I am a huge fan of the world’s natural beauty.

Oh… and let’s say potatoes too. I won’t explain any more than that. I think it’s more fun that way.

Q: Quick, create a title of a book you’d like to write!
Z: Rise of the Potato Cult: A True Story by myself, obviously. I jest, I jest… I would actually like to publish a collection of some of my poetry some day. Or not? Regardless, I’d probably title it something along the lines of My Not-So Final Verse.

Q: Now create the title of a book about you?
Z: Oh dear... I guess I’d title it something like… When is the Night I Slept Last: A Life With Minimal Sleep.

Q: Dream job: go!
Z: I would love to be a stay-at-home husband for a really wealthy woman… I say, again, half jokingly. I mean, there is a reason that I want to become and English teacher. I genuinely love to see people that come to me for help grow on their own and feel proud of themselves when they improve on the subject I helped out with.

Q: Any advice for incoming freshmen or students who are thinking about taking more English classes?
Z: I’d have to warn freshmen not to get discouraged. Often times, your high school teacher taught you something wrong when it comes to “correct” grammar and you’ve also almost never been taught how to think critically at the collegiate level, so don’t hesitate to ask questions, even if you think they might sound stupid.

Monday, November 12, 2018

Intern Position: The English Blog

The position to moderate this blog for the Spring 2019 semester is now accepting applications!

The English Department is seeking applications for a 3-credit internship for Spring 2019. The intern will create bi-weekly English Department blog posts, update the website, post about the department to social media, keep an internship journal, create an ePortfolio of your work, write a reflection essay about the experience, and perform other duties to promote the department as needed, including possibly critiquing the department’s existing promotional efforts. The intern will report to the English Department chair (Dr. Decker will be chair Spring 2019 while Dr. Entzminger serves as interim APSCUF president).

Requirements:
• Minimum 60 credits and 3.0 GPA by end of spring 2018
• English Major in Literature, Creative Writing, or Professional Writing and Digital Rhetoric Track
 • Strong writing skills
• Experience creating blog posts and editing web pages
• No previous internship credits
• Good work ethic and initiative

To apply, send a cover letter and resume explaining why you are interested in the position and detailing your qualifications by December 2, 2018 to Dr. Decker at mdecker@bloomu.edu. In addition, ask one BU professor to email a letter of recommendation on your behalf to Dr. Decker.

We anticipate offering the internship again for a different student in Fall 2019.

The student will work 8-10 hours per week throughout the semester and earn 3 internship credits. The student will be supervised by the English Department Chairperson.

Have any questions about the position?  Please email Dr. Decker (mdecker@bloomu.edu) to inquire further.  

Thursday, November 8, 2018

NCTE Annoucements

To all NCTE members and interested students:

The third meeting of the semester will be held on Tuesday, November 13 at 7:00-8:00 P.M. in Bakeless 104. At this meeting, they will discuss:

  • Milton Book Drive
  • Diversity Conference 
  • Restaurant Night Fundraiser
  • Hot Topic: Incorporating Technology

Also, there is still time to participate in the Milton Book Drive! Milton School District is in need of new books for 3rd-5th grade students. If you are unsure about what books to donate, consult the Amazon wishlist: http://a.co/6teLil0.

The book drive ends November 19th. Book donors will receive 1 community service hour for every 3 books donated. Please bring all donations to the CLE Office (Ground Floor, Northumberland Hall).When bringing books to the CLE, you must make sure to fill out the clipboard with your information (name, BU ID#, email) to get credit for your donations.

You may also make monetary donations to Milton Area School District. Checks can be made payable to Milton Area School District with "Book Drive" written in the memo. Check donations can be given to Nancy Rothermel in the English Department.

Be sure to spread the word in your classes about the meeting!

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Meet our Students: Addy Sacouto

Q: Where are you from?
A: I'm from Philadelphia, PA.

Q: What is your major?
A: I'm dual-majoring in Creative Writing and Russian.

Q: Do you have a minor?
A: I'm minoring in linguistics.

Q: What year are you?
A: I'm a junior!

Q: What are some of your literary strengths?
A: I have a pretty good memory, and that helps a lot when writing papers and studying for tests.

Q: Favorite books or shows?
A: I love Jodi Picoult’s books, but Harry Potter will always have a special place in my heart.

Q: Why did you become an English Major?
A: I’ve been writing since I was eight and didn’t know what else to do, honestly.

Q: What is your favorite class you have ever taken, at Bloomsburg, or otherwise?
A: Dr. Stuart’s Intro to Creative Writing is the reason I’m an English major. She taught me that it’s okay to be creative, and she never discouraged anyone, and I just had a positive experience the entire time. I became more open to the major then and eventually declared it.

Q: What organizations are you part of?
A: I’m in Honors and BOG, so I don’t have time for fun clubs.  I am also a consultant at WALES.

Q: What subjects do you like to write about, formally and informally?
A: Mental illness is probably all I write about, though I’ll throw in the occasional romance story or poem for fun.

Q: Quick, create a title of a book you’d like to write.
A: I am the absolute worst at titles and most of my pieces don’t even have them, so... I don’t know.  How about Hidden in Plain Sight or some other cliché?

Q: Now create the title of a book about you.
A: “Look at This Gay Nerd” or more formally “From the Ashes.”

Q: What is your dream job?
A: I love proofreading and translating and I want to work on a video game localization team.

Q: Have any advice for incoming freshmen or students who are thinking about taking more English classes?
A: Don’t let people guilt you for being an English major! I know I got a lot of negative feedback from family and even friends about declaring a pointless major, but English majors can make better arguments and write better papers than most, and that’s a very valuable skill. Also embrace the creativity because that’s literally the point, and if you’re not writing for you it’s better to not write at all.

Congratulations Are In Order: Student Writing Contest

We are excited to share a snapshot of the judge's comments from this year's Student Writing Contest. The English Department is treme...