Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Book Review: Goodbye Days, Courtney Jones

The Utah English Journal

Carver Briggs is an aspiring writer attending a prestigious school of the arts for the young and gifted in Jeff Zentner’s Goodbye Days. Carver pours hours into his work and future career, but never imagines that just two sentences could change his life forever: “Where are you guys? Text me back.” These become the most influential words he ever writes, because they result in the deaths of his three best friends.

Interlude Ii: Imitation Poetry To Write Narratives, Gaylynn Parker

The Utah English Journal

Although I focus on poetry during National Poetry Month in April, I like to intersperse poetry throughout the year. Most of my students think they hate poetry until they have a positive experience writing poetry. Imitation poetry is easy, and with the right prompt, students can write beautiful poetry and feel successful.

The Fox And The Goose: The Pamphlet Wars And Volpone's Animal Metaphors, Julie Anne Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Ben Jonson wrote Volpone when England's pamphlet wars and the rule of Queen Elizabeth I contributed to an environment in which the "woman question" was forefront in many minds. These social concerns echo in Volpone, resulting in a play that not only deals with vices and greed, but that also, to a limited degree, contributes to the querelle de femmes. The play's numerous animal metaphors create distinctions between characters; among other things, animalistic surnames represent the vices and complexities of humanity, and, more specifically, reverberate with judgments that seem to underscore the injustices of misogynistic pamphleteers. Moreover, Jonson's …

The Fox And The Goose: The Pamphlet Wars And Volpone's Animal Metaphors, Julie Anne Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Ben Jonson wrote Volpone when England's pamphlet wars and the rule of Queen Elizabeth I contributed to an environment in which the woman question was forefront in many minds. These social concerns echo in Volpone, resulting in a play that not only deals with vices and greed, but that also, to a limited degree, contributes to the querelle de femmes. The play's numerous animal metaphors create distinctions between characters; among other things, animalistic surnames represent the vices and complexities of humanity, and, more specifically, reverberate with judgments that seem to underscore the injustices of misogynistic pamphleteers. Moreover, Jonson's characters Bonario …

A Swiss Artist, An Iconic American General And An Ambitious Federal Councilor, David Vogelsanger

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Lexington, October 22, 1869. A man boards a canal boat returning from the small Virginia town to a known world , Washington D.C., New York and eventually home to Switzerland . In his luggage he carries a large oil portrait sti ll smelling of fresh paint. Frank Buchser has just finished one of his best paintings, lived some of the most remarkable four weeks of his adventurous live and experienced a kind of political conversion .

Book Review: Clive Church, Political Change In Switzerland: From Stability To Uncertainty, Kevin Cronin

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Swiss American Historical Society Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Disruptive Thinking: Why How We Read Matters, Elise Orgille

The Utah English Journal

The ability to read is one of the most valuable skills students gain throughout the course of their education. Teachers work hard to help their students decode words and comprehend meaning, but what is the purpose of comprehension if students do not value what they read? In their book Disruptive Thinking: Why How We Read Matters, Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst bring reading to the next level, reminding teachers and students that reading is a gift.

“Why Does Someone Have To Die At The End Of The Play?": How The Texts We Teach Shape Students’ Perceptions, Amy Piotrowski

The Utah English Journal

A few years ago, a group of students in my 11th grade English class came to some interesting conclusions about American literature. We were finishing the school year by reading A Raisin in the Sun, and the students were enjoying reading the play even though the countdown to summer vacation was well underway. This class was a group of reluctant readers, not interested in doing much reading, especially now that we had completed the state standardized test. One afternoon, when we were halfway through the play, I came into the classroom to start the day’s discussion. Several students were huddled …

To Read Or Not To Read The “Classics”: Teaching Hamlet, Tara Pearce

The Utah English Journal

If you happened to walk by my classroom the day I told my students we were going to be reading a Shakespeare play, you would have witnessed a revolt. Perhaps the word “revolt” seems strong, but their reactions were also unexpectedly strong— swearing, storming out of class, slamming the door, a chair or two being knocked over in the process. They were furious, and frightened, about the prospect of reading Shakespeare. “We can’t understand Shakespeare,” “I don’t even read,” “Miss, Shakespeare is boring,” “This has nothing to do with us!” I heard phrases like these, peppered with profanity of course, …

Speak The Speech, Ditch The Desk: Teaching Shakespeare As Dramatic Text, Shawnda Moss

The Utah English Journal

Shakespeare is a staple in any English Language Arts classroom, but the value of the Shakespeare experience in your classroom has a lot to do with how you go about teaching the material. You have the power to make Shakespeare’s plays a strictly academic literature study or make them come alive as students actively explore and play with his themes, storylines, and characters. Shakespeare’s plays are dramatic works, so it is key to present them to your students as living, breathing, evolving texts. Studying his plays with a dramatic context allows students to relate physically, vocally, and emotionally with the …

Say Yes: Reading Infographics In The English Classroom, Samantha Andrus-Henry

The Utah English Journal

A summer or two ago, I was reading Shonda Rhimes’ (2015) book Year of Yes, while sitting in a waiting room where three teenage girls were discussing a beauty infographic in a popular glamour magazine. The infographic was beautifully composed and engaging at a glance, but as I looked a bit longer, I noticed a few flaws, and wondered what the informal literature circle I saw unfolding beside me thought. So I tuned in more closely to their conversation, and was startled at the deductions and reasoning I heard happening as the girls interpreted the infographic and applied it to …

Professional Development That Honors Teacher Agency, Jon Ostensen

The Utah English Journal

As a new teacher, I remember judging those teachers who came to professional development (PD) meetings with a bad attitude, who often spent the meeting grading papers or immersed in their lesson plan books. Perhaps I was used to sitting in a class and being lectured at (the style of many of the PD seminars I attended in the 1990s), or maybe I was just too inexperienced to question the standard procedure. As time passed and I spent more time in these settings, I started to understand the reactions of those veteran teachers, and my own frustration and resentment grew …

Designing Curriculum The Fair Way, Lorraine Wallace

The Utah English Journal

It was my second year as a teacher, my first year in a new school. In early August, I went to the building and introduced myself to the secretary. She was very pleasant as she escorted me to my new classroom. She opened the door, handed me the key, pointed to the cupboards where books were stored, and told me to let her know if I needed anything. Expecting some type of curriculum guide, I naively asked, “What am I supposed to teach?” “English, of course,” she answered with a laugh that continued as she went down the hall, back …

“Subvertising” As A Means Of Illustrating Transcendentalist Ideals, William Wright

The Utah English Journal

In this article, I discuss the inspiration, rationale, methodology, and subsequent observations of an activity I designed for my secondary American Literature course that asks students to critically juxtapose modern advertisements through the lens of eighteenth-century Transcendental thinkers Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Framed as a culminating activity at the end of our study of Transcendentalism, the activity’s intentions are twofold: to lead to a creative critique of the two-faced nature of advertising, and to serve as a bridge between what often seems, to students, like the outmoded writings of eighteenth-century philosophers and our modern cultural context.

Can An Eighth Grader Make An Impact?, Denée Tyler

The Utah English Journal

I see my students constantly composing: texts, notes to each other in class, silly sentences for grammar practice, lists of all varieties. I overhear the amusing and detailed things they tell each other, and I’m excited by their proficiency with words. But when they are asked to write for school, the work they turn in is generally less than stellar. The illusive quality of voice is often missing from their writing, and I often see weak sentence variety, poor or nonexistent paragraphing, and little attention given to reader courtesies such as grammar or spelling. There is a marked difference between …

Interlude I: Poetry In The Middle School Classroom, Gaylynn Parker

The Utah English Journal

It is the end of week two, and I am watching my 7th grade students, new to junior high, struggling to navigate the halls, work their lockers, and organize papers as they go from class to class, teacher to teacher. Overwhelming. I know they will get the hang of it soon, but right now, their burdens hang heavily from their faces.

Interlude Iv: Imitation Poetry As A Celebration!, Gaylynn Parker

The Utah English Journal

It’s the end of the year—we’ve made it through and it’s time to celebrate! Gary Soto’s “Ode to Photographs” is light and silly and fun. To finish off fourth term, our imitation poem celebrates successful completion of 7th grade. I ask students to choose something small that gave them great pleasure and a cause to celebrate.

Interlude Iii: Imitation Poetry To Write Argument, Gaylynn Parker

The Utah English Journal

During third term, we focus on writing argument, so at the end of the term, I have students write what I call an “argument poem.” We imitate Eve Merriam’s “Willow and Ginkgo” poem.

Book Review: Invisible Emmie, Kara Trammell

The Utah English Journal

Awkward, shy, thirteen year-old Emmie wishes nothing more than to be as confident and cool as her alter ego, Katie. As much fun as it would be to have Katie around in real life, Emmie has drawn her out of her own imagination. That is Emmie’s real passion—drawing. Unfortunately for Emmie, she realizes that being a good artist will not help her win friends or fall in with the “cool crowd” at school, and it especially will not catch the attention of the boy she has a crush on, either.

Book Review: The Lady Of The Lakes, Shannon Taylor

The Utah English Journal

Falling in love can be a tumultuous experience, what with utter elation in one moment and crushing insecurity in the next. In Josi Kilpack’s novel The Lady of the Lakes, the young Sir Walter Scott experiences this tumult of falling in love not once but twice, discovering that finding true love does not always happen as one would hope or expect. When Walter first sees Mina Stuart, a young heiress, he is immediately enthralled and devotes his heart to her entirely, writing to her for years and preparing for the day when he can ask for her hand in …

Book Review: The Inexplicable Logic Of My Life, Maddison Driggs

The Utah English Journal

For Sal, the protagonist of Benjamin Saenz’s novel, The Inexplicable Logic of My Life, nothing has ever been simple. Raised by his gay adoptive father, with the support of extended family and friends, the beginning of his senior year proves to be unusually challenging for Sal. A generally calm and collected boy, Sal finds that violent tendencies have begun arising in his life. Punch after punch, these violent encounters lead Sal to question who his biological father was — and more importantly, who he is himself.

Book Review: Under Locker And Key, Ethan Dunn

The Utah English Journal

Does the end justify the means? Is breaking the rules acceptable if it means helping those who cannot defend themselves? These moral questions appear more commonly in adult literature. However, Allison K. Hymas addresses these issues, along with many others, in her debut novel for young adults, Under Locker and Key.

Changes In The Timber Industry As A Catalyst For Linguistic Change, Joseph A. Stanley

Faculty Publications

Catastrophic Change

• “Catastrophic events have played a major role in the history of all languages, primarily in the form of population dislocations… [They] are more common than previously believed.”
• The rise of island tourism in Ocracoke in 1960s.
• Daily boat from Smith Island to mainland in 1974

Traditional features typically lost; innovative features expand.

• Texas and Oklahoma after WWII
• Influx of immigrants in Eastern Pennsylvania.
• Migration across dialect boundary in New England.

The Status Is Not Quo: Unraveling Music Videos, Gary T. Hanby

Theses and Dissertations

The Utah State Standards for media arts are general and therefore give teachers a great deal of freedom in how they present the content for media arts courses. How the teacher engages students and project assignments are left to the teacher as they walk the students through the process of making films. This thesis explores how an art teacher might use music videos to teach filmmaking techniques and engage students in the process of meaning making. My research hypothesis is that, by educating students to understand and interpret the messages they consume through media, I can help them recognize the …

The Digital Archive Of John Wompas, Jenny Hale Pulsipher

ScholarsArchive Data

Data Description: The Digital Archive of John Wompas, by Jenny Hale Pulsipher

In the course of writing my book on John Wompas, Swindler Sachem: The American Indian Who Sold His Birthright, Dropped out of Harvard, and Conned the King of England (Yale University Press, 2018), I gathered a great deal of information on such subjects as Indian slavery, Native land sales, the Atlantic maritime trade, and Native education in Massachusetts. This information contributed to the book by providing historical context for Wompas’s life, but most nitty-gritty details were tangential to the book’s purpose so do not appear in it. Because …

Nicole Ludwig, Tsos, Nicole Ludwig

TSOS Interview Gallery

In September 2016, Nicole Ludwig led a group of her neighbors in Germany to assist newly-arrived Syrian and Afghani refugees. The volunteers collected clothing and toys, organized activities and field trips for the refugee children, and taught them German. Later, the volunteers offered homework support and led library reading groups. For the adult refugees, the volunteers provided cultural assimilation instruction and cooking classes. While there were occasional challenges to working together, the volunteers and refugees fostered a collaborative system and even hosted a Christmas party, during which one elderly Syrian man said, “This is one of the best memories I …

Layla, Layla, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Layla left Ethiopia 10 years ago to look for work opportunities. She left behind a father and three brothers. She went to Syria on a three-year work contract. She worked in a house and learned Arabic. She then went to Turkey by boat and then went on to Greece for 5 years. She worked and learned the Greek language. When she became pregnant she had to stop working. She travelled to Serbia to Macedonia to Austria all on foot. Then the Red Cross moved Layla and her daughter to Giessen, Germany where a roommate periodically beat her baby. Seeking safety …

The Linguistic Effects Of A Changing Timber Industry: Language Change In Cowlitz County, Wa, Joseph A. Stanley

Faculty Publications

Linguistic changes happened because of the changing timber industry.

Fadel, Tsos, Fadel

TSOS Interview Gallery

Fadel's family was originally from Palestine. However, for reasons he couldn’t recall, they moved to Libya, where Fadel was born, and he grew up there. He recalled that life inLibya used to be good, but that it became dangerous. Fadel came to Italy alone. His parents died and left him nothing seven years ago. His siblings died as well. He came to Italy 6 months ago seeking asylum by way of Tripoli to Sabratha, and then to Sardinia and Calabria. He has been living on the streets, and because he couldn’t provide an address, he was denied asylum