After Long Absence. . . .

Betsy's little blurb below has finally galvanized me out of a funk to start to contribute once more. After all, a new semester, a new year, a new administration--what more can we ask for? I know, I know, a little relief in the financial arena so's we can have students, both new and continuing. And, as Betsy and I just talked about, why not throw this blog open for Clark observations, reminiscences, predictions stemming from Tuesday's Inauguration. I know Meredith, who was on the Mall, has told me she's going to post some of her "I was there" observations. Use the comment thread to ruminate!

Also, I need to post the announcement for the Conference at the end of next month in honor of Winston Napier; that needs as much circulation as possible.

Here's Fern Johnson and Steve Levin's description:

Dear Faculty Colleagues,
As many of you know, plans are underway for a conference on February 27-28 to honor the intellectual vibrancy of Professor Winston Napier (1953-2008). Attached is a printable poster for the conference and the registration form.
Winston, who held the E. Franklin Frazier Professorship and was a faculty member in the English Department, not only built an exciting and rigorous curriculum in African American literature and theory but also founded the African American Intellectual Culture Series. Since its beginning in the mid 1990s, the Series brought many leading scholars in a range of fields to our campus. A number of these scholars will be speaking at the conference.
Evolutionary Momentum in African American Studies begins on Friday afternoon, February 27, and runs through the day on Saturday, February 28. The Keynote Speaker is Dr. Karla FC Holloway, James B. Duke Professor of English and Professor of Law at Duke University. Conference presenters include: E. Victoria Arana (Howard University), Crystal Anderson (Elon University), Bert Ashe (University of Richmond), Carol Bailey (Amherst College), Allison Blakely (Boston University), Jarrett Brown (Bowdoin College), Barry Gaspar (Duke University), Ayesha Hardison (Ohio University), Mark Anthony Neal (Duke University), Ousmane Power-Greene (Clark University), Daniel Scott III (Rhode Island College), Amritjit Singh (Ohio University), James Smethurst (UMass-Amherst), and Kate Capshaw Smith (University of Connecticut). There will also be a panel of Winston’s former students.
We hope to see many of you at the conference. Conference registration forms should be returned to Shirley Riopel-Nelson in the English department (Anderson House). Please forward this e-mail to others who may be interested in attending.
Best Regards,
Fern Johnson and Steve Levin, English Department

And here's the details from the flyer:

EVOLUTIONARY MOMENTUM IN
AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES:
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
FEBRUARY 27 -28, 2009
Dana Commons, Clark University
legacy and future direction
A CONFERENCE IN HONOR OF WINSTON NAPIER
This Spring we pay tribute to Professor Winston Napier
(1953-2008) with a conference honoring his commitment
to the study of African American intellectual culture,
its influence on America at large, and its contribution
to social and political action.
Dr. Karla FC Holloway (James B. Duke Professor
of English and Professor of Law at Duke University)
will present the keynote address: ‘Home Invasions:
A Narrative Ethic of Race and Privacy.’
The Higgins School of Humanities at Clark University, the Office of the President,
the Office of the Provost, and the Department of English present:
winston napier
PLEASE REGISTER BY FEBRUARY 18: conference fee $25 ($5 for students). To register,
and for the full conference schedule, please visit our website or contact Shirley Riopel Nelson at
508.793.7142, or napierconference@clarku.edu
karla fc holloway
www.clark.edu/higgins
Conference opens February 27 at 4:30 and resumes on
Saturday, February 28 from 9:30-6:00; includes reception
on Friday and luncheon on Saturday.

I hope to see a lot of you there!

--Jay

Is the Summer Over?

Yes, indeedy, here it is August 12th, and I seem to have let the blog go on vacation--it's been wandering about the Cape trying to find shelter from the myriad thunderstorms that have plagued New England this July and August. But it's back, and if not tanned, at least relaxed.

The first order of business is to announce Clark's Memorial Service for Winston, which will be Wednesday, September 10, at 4:00 pm in Tilton Hall at the Student Activities Center. Ginger reports that Debbie Napier will be sending up more photos soon, and we will have a jazz combo to precede and follow the service, as well as provide, perhaps, some musical interlude. The department will be gathering on August 22nd to plan what we'd like to do for the service. Any suggestions would be welcome!

Just to make it clear to all those who may have been confused by the tragic circumstances last May, the department didn't know until just before Graduation that Winston had taken his own life. Some of you may have wondered why we didn't bring that up right away; the answer is that we didn't know until later--until just about the time that the Worcester Telegram & Gazette was preparing to reveal it. We weren't keeping anything from any of you; we simply didn't know ourselves and were as confused for a time as anyone else. If there were any hard feelings on the part of any of our students--both majors and non-majors who have taken Winston's classes--we apologize.

In any case, if you have any remembrances or comments you'd like to make for the memorial issue of the English Times now in preparation, send it to the department.

By the way, Fern points out that there is a nice comment by Winston's Worcester neighbor T. Sutton Jr. posted on Eric Gordy's blog (some of you may remember Eric from last year here at Clark).



More later on the service--and more on the end of the year festivities as we approach a new semester.



--Jay

More Winston Pics

Jane Androwski sent over these pics from the March 29, 2007 Difficult Dialogues panel discussion on the film What Makes Me White by Aimee Sands. Here's Winston:

And here's Winston and Betsy:

It's been gratifying to read all the remembrances present and past students--both undergraduate and graduate--have been sending in to the department. In the meantime, we adjust and continue, though with flashes of "deep funks," as Meredith says.

I hope all of you are enjoying your summer--as unpredictable as the weather has been.

--Jay

More About Winston

Just this morning, Winston's younger sister, Debbie, sent these photos to Ginger. I presume they are his family; she didn't send any identifications.



And these are an even younger Winston, when his family called him "Tony":







We all still mourn his passing, but we've been collecting and talking about our reminiscences of his too-short time here at Clark.

Consider this an open thread:

--Jay

Winston Napier: In Memoriam

Normally, a post at this time of year would have lots of photos of our graduating seniors at Spring Fling and Graduation, but I have to postpone sharing that joy in order to perform a more solemn task: to celebrate Winston's life at Clark. As most of you know, he passed on Sunday morning, May 18th, just hours before Graduation. Here's Ginger's letter to all present English majors and alums:

May 19, 2008

Dear Clark English majors and graduate students,

On behalf of the department’s faculty and staff, I’m writing you with the sad and shocking news that Professor Winston Napier passed away yesterday morning. Sometime in the past few weeks, he had suffered a head trauma which led to bleeding in the brain. He was taken to the hospital and operated on, but the doctors were not able to save him. We all mourn his passing and cherish the legacy of rigorous intellectual inquiry and good humor that he left us.

I visited Winston at the hospital on Friday, and he said two things that I’d like to share with you. He was concerned about the library books in his apartment. He wanted to be sure those books were returned to Goddard Library to the students could have access to them. He also reflected on his years at Clark and commented, “What a lot of fun it was, what fun.” If he had an impact on your life, you also enlivened him in the classroom and the hallways of Anderson House, affording him tremendous pleasure with your insights and ideas.

Because we have not yet been able to locate any relatives and the Clark community is dispersed for the summer, we are postponing a memorial event until the fall semester. In the meantime, we encourage you to write about your memories of Winston – a teaching moment, a humorous conversation, an insight, what you feel – in an e-mail and send it to Jennifer Plante (jplante@clarku.edu) and Betsy Huang (bhuang@clarku.edu). They will collect your reminiscences, and in a “virtual” memorial service, we will gather them in a special edition of The English Times.

We realize this news may be difficult to process. The Dean of Students, Denise Darrigrand, has offered the services of her office if any of you feel you’d like to talk through your feelings (ddarrigrand@clarku.edu). She will make grief counseling available to any of you who feel you need some help with this. If you’d simply like to talk with a member of the English department, feel free to contact your adviser or a faculty member of your choice. Those of you who are enrolled in a spring course from Professor Napier will be receiving a separate e-mail from Dean Wright or myself with instructions as to how we will handle your grades.

In the meantime, let us hold Winston in our hearts and be grateful for the time we had with him.

Sincerely,

Virginia Vaughan, Chair

We have been receiving tributes from various people, and the Department is going farther than what Ginger suggests above to compile a memorial book containing statements, photos and the like. If you would like to submit a reminiscence, use the links above.

David Pugh (07) has a tribute and comment thread in his blog, Pataphysical Collage, which posts a great photo of Winston.

Thanks for Steve DiRado of Clark's V&PA for the magnificent image of Winston.



--Jay