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

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

Betsy's Thirty Seconds of Fame

Has is been a month since the last entry? Whew! I guess it has. Spring break is now a distant memory; Honors students are busily finishing up their theses before the early April deadline; a new supply of odious viral thingees has been transported from myriad homes back to the confines of our campus to wreak their havoc; and many students are trying to devote more time to their studies to push up those mid-term marks. We're past the back stretch, and the finish seems to be only on the horizon--but it will be here more quickly than we realize.

The occasion for this post is, in a sense, political. Many of you are aware of--and perhaps heard--Barack Obama's speech on race at Philadelphia yesterday morning, a speech that has garnered some pretty fantastic reviews across the country. Here's a sampling from Dailykos. But Channel 4 (WBZ) from Boston trumps the editorials with a quick commentary from the English Department's Betsy Huang in their feature "Religious Leaders Respond" during the 6:00 news hour on the 18th. Here's the linky. You have to search for "Barack Obama Speech" and click on the video link above "Religious Leaders Respond." She said that the crew must have chatted with her for half and hour in her office in order to get this tidbit. It's amazing how much is discarded to catch just the perfect interview line! (I know, from the few times I've mumbled through video for Clark, that it's strange to see how little makes it into the final cut.)

On another front, I talked with Claudia, and I realized that to publish her poem "Jakarta" could likely violate the copyright of the journal, so I haven't included it yet. Soon: after it's published; then we can take a look at it with the proper citation to the journal.

Finally, congratulations to all the English Writing Contest Winners! Here they are:


Announcing the Winners of the
2008 English DepartmentWriting Contests


Prentiss Cheney Hoyt Poetry Contest
First Place: Mary (Rosie) O’Sullivan
Second Place: Charity Forrester
Third Place: Robin Barron


Betty ‘79 and Stanley Sultan Short Story Contest
First Place: Tali Sachs
Second Place: Charity Forrester
Third Place: Danielle Coles

The English Department would like to thank everyone who submitted an entry. We appreciate your interest in creative writing and your willingness to share your work with us. We also would like you to know that we had a large pool of many fine entries to consider.
--Jay