English Language and Literature Commons^™

Book Review: The Life And Crimes Of Hoodie Rosen, Megan Colson

The Utah English Journal

Yehuda Rosen, also known as Hoodie, is a practicing Orthodox Jewish boy living in a new town called Tregaron. His father and others are trying to grow the Jewish community to the dismay of the mayor and other locals. Hoodie doesn’t see this as his problem though, especially after meeting and falling for Anna- Maria Diaz O’Leary, the daughter of the mayor who is trying to keep the Jewish community from moving in.

Book Review: Maizy Chen’S Last Chance, Ashley Hauber

The Utah English Journal

In Lisa Yee’s latest novel, Maizy Chen’s Last Chance, eleven year old Maizy joins her mom for a summer helping at her grandparents’ Chinese restaurant in the tiny little town of Last Chance, Minnesota. While Grandma and Mom run the restaurant, Maizy keeps Grandpa company as he tends to his health and regales her with thrilling stories of their ancestors’ journey from China to a new life in America. When a racist note attempts to blackmail the family restaurant, Maizy leans on the strength and resilience she’s learned from her grandpa’s stories to speak up and fight back against the …

A Lens Shift To Encourage Student Voice In Writing, Camille P. Stewart

The Utah English Journal

The sentence starters I worked so hard to spiral into the year’s curriculum became more than a scaffold– they were a permanent fixture. It was March, and my struggling writers were asking, “What sentence starter comes next?” without understanding why the transition worked. Their writing was organized, but lacked voice and intentionality. Students should know they control and choose their writing, so I decided to give students a new way to see their work and adapt the sentence starters they already knew. To do this, I looked for an allegory that students could connect to while planning their writing.

Adding Diversity Into Your Curriculum: A Three-Step Process With Examples, Lisa Jones

The Utah English Journal

Walking around my classroom library, I noticed a recurring theme among the books: White characters and White authors. While this technically reflected the demographic of my predominantly White community, it did not provide enough representation for my BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and other Persons of Color) students. Rudine Sims Bishop (1990) compares literature to windows (where readers see a different life experience than their own) and mirrors (where readers see themselves and their potential); she warns, “When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read… they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of …

Trauma, Recovery, And Adolescent Relationships In Stephen Chbosky’S The Perks Of Being A Wallflower: An In-Depth Analysis, Rachel Rosen

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

The development of adolescent identity after traumatic experiences is a fragile process. In this essay, I use Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999) to explore how adolescent relationships influence the path to recovery after traumatic experiences. After losing both his friend and aunt, Charlie, the novel’s protagonist, begins to write letters, which form the basis of the book. Recounting his journey to recovery, these letters ultimately reveal that Charlie’s aunt molested him when he was a child—a memory that he represses for years. Despite the importance of writing as a way for Charlie to cope with this …

Antisemitism & Vampires: The Surprising Roots Of A Popular Cultural Monster, Hannah Ross

English

This essay was for Justin Shaw’s fall 2023 English major capstone class. The essay examines antisemitism and vampires, specifically Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, John Polidori’s short story The Vampyre; A Tale, and the episode “Monster Movie” from the TV show Supernatural through the lens of antisemitic stereotypes. By looking at the literary history of the vampire one can trace its physical antisemitic stereotypes and the influence of fear of the “other” with reverse-colonization by Jews. Starting with historically classic 19th century texts and ending with a modern day television show, it is evident that the antisemitic physical stereotypes …

Who’S Afraid Of Anne Frank? Or Why White Supremacists Should Fear This Book, Laura S. Brown

Journal of Critical Race and Ethnic Studies

No abstract provided.

Ghostlight, Christopher R. Deacy

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Ghostlight (2024), directed by Kelly O'Sullivan.

Death, Dreaming, And Diaspora: Achieving Orientation Through Afro-Spirituality, Liz Johnston, Jaime Elizabeth Johnston

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Enslavement, colonization, and the systems that uphold racial injustice were and still are a series of new, unfathomable, and challenging experiences that prompt individuals within the diaspora to seek orientation. How does a human cope with centuries of attempts at the systematic destruction of their humanity, culture, and identity? How can they reclaim that identity, especially when so much of it seems lost? I address these questions by utilizing texts from the expansive body of work regarding ethnographic-historical-religious studies on Afro-spiritual practices to better analyze instances in literature in the ongoing practice of diasporic orientation. In this project, I argue …

Catastrophe Of War, Sujit Kumar Singh, Ayushi Jaiswal

Critical Humanities

The paper selects the novel Palpasa Café (2005) by Nepali author Narayan Wagle to highlight the factors that contributed to the Maoist insurgency and counter-insurgency that punctured the Nepali consciousness. It will also critique Eurocentric trauma theory for diminishing the South Asian perspectives of trauma (incidents) from the main discourse of trauma theory. In addition, the paper will explore the detrimental impacts of war and conflict as experienced by Nepalese cops and civilians together, and its long-lasting imprint on their psyche as manifested in different forms of trauma in the text. The dissemination of the 'inarticulable trauma' concept into something …

“This Wonderful Machine”: How Should We Teach Humanities Texts Like Gulliver’S Travels In The Time Of Chatgpt?, Richard J. Haslam

Critical Humanities

The quoted phrase in the essay title comes from a passage in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver’s Travels in which a Grand Academy of Lagado professor demonstrates a “wonderful Machine” that can generate scores of books “without the least Assistance from Genius or Study.” The essay explore the challenge for teaching classic humanities texts like Gulliver that the (perhaps not so) “wonderful Machine” called ChatGPT poses. Student Owen Terry’s Chronicle essay (May 12, 2023) identifies two crucial aspects of that challenge: “We don’t fully lean into AI and teach how to best use it, and we don’t fully prohibit it to keep …

Full Issue, Keb Editorial Board

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Vol. 60 No. 3 - Whole No. 406, Megan Abrahamson

Mythprint

Mythprint is the quarterly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local discussion groups.

Pedro Mexía And The Politics Of Translation In The Early Modern World, Erin Fairweather, Robert Fritz

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Spanish humanist Pedro Mexía (1497-1551) wrote two highly influential texts in the sixteenth century, the Silva de varia lección (1540) and the Historia imperial y cesárea (1545), which were, notably, written in Spanish, a vernacular language, as opposed to Latin, the academic language of the age. As these books presented previously inaccessible scientific and historical knowledge to the common person, they were soon translated into several languages, achieving widespread fame and influence. However, the texts have been mostly forgotten and have seen little study in recent times. Nevertheless, the Silva and the Historia can help us better understand the politics …

Vol. 60 No. 4 - Whole No. 407, Megan Abrahamson

Mythprint

Mythprint is the quarterly bulletin of the Mythopoeic Society, a nonprofit educational organization devoted to the study, discussion, and enjoyment of myth and fantasy literature, especially the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. To promote these interests, the Society publishes three magazines, maintains a World Wide Web site, and sponsors the annual Mythopoeic Conference and awards for fiction and scholarship, as well as local discussion groups.

Face Of War: A Collective Narrative Podcast -Season 2 Episode 2: From The Woman Veteran's Point Of View, Part 2, Barbara K. Robins, Jessie Stewart

English Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

This podcast series reflects how war impacts all of us by listening to the different perspectives of those that have lived it, understanding how the media shapes our views of war, understanding our own feelings, and learning life skills for managing stress, fear, and anxiety. Our goal is to educate, remind you that you aren’t alone, and give you tools to navigate living and watching war.

Part Two – Being female and navigating the perceptions of others while in the military during deployment and the return home.

The Face of War is a podcast series including interviews and discussions with …

Face Of War: A Collective Narrative Podcast -Season 2 Episode 1: From The Woman Veteran's Point Of View, Part 1, Barbara K. Robins, Jessie Stewart

English Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

This podcast series reflects how war impacts all of us by listening to the different perspectives of those that have lived it, understanding how the media shapes our views of war, understanding our own feelings, and learning life skills for managing stress, fear, and anxiety. Our goal is to educate, remind you that you aren’t alone, and give you tools to navigate living and watching war.

Part One – Michelle, Flower and Jessie describe their decision to enlist, the support of family, bootcamp, and how the events of 9/11 shaped their careers.

The Face of War is a podcast series …

Face Of War: A Collective Narrative Podcast: Introduction To Season Two, Barbara K. Robins, Jessie Stewart

English Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

This podcast series reflects how war impacts all of us by listening to the different perspectives of those that have lived it, understanding how the media shapes our views of war, understanding our own feelings, and learning life skills for managing stress, fear, and anxiety. Our goal is to educate, remind you that you aren’t alone, and give you tools to navigate living and watching war.

Barbara and Jessie reflect on the lessons learned in Season One including the many reasons why we need to tell our own and hear each other’s stories.

The Face of War is a podcast …

The Ring Cycle: Journeying Through The Language Of Tolkien’S Third Age With Corpus Linguistics, Michael Livesey

Journal of Tolkien Research

This article explores the journey taken by the One Ring across J.R.R. Tolkien’s Third Age writings. It employs a digital humanities approach to analyse linguistic patterns in Tolkien’s use of the word ring, across The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Specifically, the article employs corpus linguistic methods to track shifts in the quantities and qualities of the Ring’s appearance across these texts. It uses techniques of keyness and collocation analysis to trace transformations in these quantities/qualities, including: a) the Ring’s transition from a central to a peripheral place in the Third Age’s narrative arc; and b) …

English Language Challenges Faced By Licensed Guide Interpreters In Japan, Naoko Tanaka

International Journal of Tour Guiding and Visitor Attraction Research

This study investigates the challenges licensed guide interpreters in Japan encounter related to using the English language by examining foreign language tour guides’ use of English through interviews and surveys. The findings reveal that guides prioritise effectively conveying information and cautionary points to guests. They adjust their speaking speed, pronunciation, volume, vocabulary, and sentence structures to ensure easy understanding. Approximately 80% of the vocabulary used is at or below B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), indicating the issues which non-native speakings guides face. Moreover, they use various methods to confirm understanding, such as repeating …

Gen Z And Millennials Have An Unlikely Love Affair With Their Local Libraries, Kathi Inman Berens, Rachel Noorda

English Faculty Publications and Presentations

A phone fixation may seem at odds with an attraction to books. But the latter may offer a much-needed reprieve from the former. In our recent study of American Gen Z and millennials, we discovered that 92% of them check social media daily; 25% of them check multiple times per hour. Yet in that same nationally representative study, we also found that Gen Z and millennials are still visiting libraries at a healthy clip, with 54% of Gen Zers and millennials trekking to their local library in 2022. Our findings reinforce 2017 data from the Pew Research Center, which showed …

Front Matter

The Writing Center Journal

Front matter and editors' introduction to The Writing Center Journal 41:3 (2023).

How Genre-Trained Tutors Affect Student Writing And Perceptions Of The Writing Center, Lucy Bryan Malenke, Laura K. Miller, Paul E. Mabrey Iii, Jared Featherstone

The Writing Center Journal

Writing center scholars have long debated whether writers are best served by “generalist” tutors trained in writing center pedagogy or “specialist” tutors with insider knowledge about a course’s content or discipline-specific discourse conventions. A potential compromise that has emerged is training tutors in the purposes and features of specific genres. The writing center literature showcases many different approaches to genre training. However, little empirical research, if any, has explored how tutors’ genre knowledge affects session outcomes. The present study used a mixed-methods approach to compare session outcomes for students who worked with generalist and genre-trained tutors. We analyzed pre-consultation and …

The Idea Of A Writing Center In Brazil: A Different Beat, Ron Martinez

The Writing Center Journal

This article explores the emergence and development of writing centers in Brazil, using the author’s experience founding the Centro de Assessoria de Publicação Acadêmica (CAPA) at the Universidade Federal do Paraná as a case study. The author provides some historical context about Brazilian education and its traditional “banking model” of education (Paulo Freire) that did not value individual expression—including through writing. This model persisted even as composition studies evolved elsewhere. Academic literacy development in Brazil is thus a relatively recent phenomenon, and the effects of that paucity are felt among scholars in higher education settings. This motivated the author’s research …

Review: Unwell Writing Centers: Searching For Wellness In Neoliberal Educational Institutions And Beyond, Aurora Matzke

The Writing Center Journal

“Unwell Writing Centers: Searching for Wellness in Neoliberal Educational Institutions and Beyond” blends narrative, mixed methods research, and rhetorical analysis to make a case for the possibilities inherent in homegrown wellness practices that are “communal, political, and rooted in defiance of white supremacy.”

An Exploratory Study Of Mindsets, Sense Of Belonging, And Help-Seeking In The Writing Center, Traci Freeman, Steve Getty

The Writing Center Journal

In this exploratory study, we took as our point of departure Lori Salem’s (2016) call to investigate the factors that affect students’ decisions to visit the writing center. Rather than exploring student decision-making through a sociological lens, as Salem does, we drew on insights from social psychology to understand students’ motivations. We explored two self-theories drawn from social psychology that are associated with students’ academic achievement and with students’ help-seeking: (1) implicit beliefs about intelligence or “mindsets”; and (2) sense of belonging. Using questions from previously validated scales, we measured first-year students’ mindsets and sense of belonging and tested the …

Timely, Relevant, Practical: A Study Of Writing Center Summer Institute Alumni Perceptions Of Value And Benefits, Julia Bleakney, Mark Hall, Kelsey Hixson-Bowles, Sohui Lee, Nathalie Singh-Corcoran

The Writing Center Journal

Since its inception in 2003, the IWCA Summer Institute (SI) has been understood within the writing center field to be an important professional development opportunity for new and experienced writing center professionals (WCPs). Publications on the SI to date have focused on anecdotal perceptions of the benefits to leaders and participants or on a single outcome, such as research output. Thus, the writing center field knows little about how and in what ways participants perceive the SI’s benefits across cohorts and across a variety of professional areas. By gathering quantitative and qualitative data from every SI cohort from 2003 to …

Writing Centers And Neocolonialism: How Writing Centers Are Being Commodified And Exported As U.S. Neocolonial Tools, Brian Hotson, Stevie Bell

The Writing Center Journal

In this paper, we explore the complicity of writing centers in the Global North in global neocolonialism despite its resounding rejection within Western writing center scholarship, in which Romeo García contends that writing tutors can be “decolonial agents.” We show that higher education is used by governments in the Global North as a neocolonial tool and situate international U.S. writing center initiatives within this context. Writing centers have remained complicit in global neocolonialism involving the commodification and exportation of American English as well as Western-style institutions, curricula, and pedagogies. This is most explicit in recent writing center initiatives undertaken by …

Effectively Affective: Examining The Ethos Of One Hbcu Writing Center, Karen Keaton Jackson, Amara Hand

The Writing Center Journal

Over the past several decades, writing center scholarship has evolved to include multiple theories and pedagogies that led to widely used best practices. As is the case in many disciplines, often writing centers at large, research PWIs are most often cited and highlighted within the scholarship. While many of those readings do offer helpful strategies for working with students at all levels, often they do not account for the unique contexts and diverse student populations that make up many HBCUs. As a result, more research from a variety of writing centers is needed so practitioners see there are multiple ways …

Accidental Outreach And Happenstance Staffing: A Cross-Institutional Study Of Writing Center Support Of First-Generation College Students, Beth A. Towle

The Writing Center Journal

First-generation students (FGS) make up a significant percentage of college populations. However, they experience hardships that are less common for their continuing-generation peers. They struggle to understand the “rules” of college and lack the cultural capital that can help students succeed through generations of knowledge about how to navigate college. Writing centers attempt to lessen these burdens by providing outreach to marginalized student populations, including FGS. However, there has been a lack of cross-institutional research that examines exactly how writing centers support FGS. This article presents a mixed-methods study that begins to close that knowledge gap and demonstrate common patterns …