Recently in English Category

S&T's prohibition era expert Kate Drowne is quoted in today's Newsday:

Even though flapper dresses were knee-length, it was still enough to raise eyebrows, said Kathleen Drowne, an associate English professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology who has written on the time period.

"This is still coming off a generation previously where if a woman showed her ankle in public, that was something to look at twice," Drowne said.

Read the full story here. 

Imagine you are a man living in the Ozarks. (This might not be hard for a lot of you.) Now imagine that you are in the TV room/garage/smoking parlor during Thankgiving, watching football with the guys, probably drinking beer, telling crude jokes. And so on. This would be pretty typical, right? Inevitably the subject of politics is going to come up, right after a few stories about fishing and/or golf, which is where this thing might possibly get a little weird. Do you really tell your uncles and cousins where you stand on the key issues? Or do you think better of it and just sandbag? The safest course of action, you quickly realize, is to steer the conversation back to football, tools, or killing things. Just to be safe. Don't be fancy. You certainly don't want to engage them in a conversation about the merits of Jim Harrison's new novel. You definitely don't want to admit that the economy might cause you to switch from oils to watercolors...

So how bad are those Chiefs? Does Alabama really have enough offense to stick with Florida this year?

Anyway, Trent Watts, an American studies professor in S&T's English department, has published a new book of essays called White Masculinity in the Recent South. The book contains essays about everything from southern Protestant churches to the music of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Stereotypes explored include the good old boy, the redneck and the southern gentleman. Basically, the book tries to address questions like: What is it like to be a white man in the New South? What does this mean? What are the expectations? And so on.

Anyway. We know that the Ozarks isn't technically a part of the South, but whatever. We just really like books and interesting ideas.

So how bad are those Rams? Will Mizzou ever beat Oklahoma again?

It's pretty obvious that Gene Doty, chair of our department of English and technical communication, has a deep interest in poetry. He is, in fact, a poet himself. He specializes in the writing of ghazals (such as For Rose, a 30th Valentine, which is especially nice), and he publishes the works of other ghazal poets and writers on his website, The Ghazal Page. (Ghazal is pronounced guzzle.) But Doty is also interested in science, and he's written some reflections about a couple of books on science and poetry on his blog.

Doty's latest post discusses some of his recent reading in the area -- namely, Mary Midgley's Science and Poetry -- and contrasts it to Richard Dawkins' Unweaving the Rainbow. (Dawkins has been in the news more recently for his book The God Delusion.) Doty refers to Midgley's book, published in 2000, as "a rejoinder of sorts" to Dawkins' earlier work.

I say "of sorts" because it isn't clear to me that Midgley has read Dawkins carefully or really understood what he says. There's very little discussion of poetry or quotations of poetry in her book, where Dawkins discusses poetry and quotes a lot. (He's especially fond of Keats.)

There's more good stuff -- about science, poetry and mainly ghazals -- on Doty's blog (which he writes under the "nom d'web" of Gino Perigrino). It's worth a read. He's no science expert, but "has always been fascinated by science and read nontechnical books about physics and evolution especially, as well as technical books on linguistics, information theory, and semiology," so he brings a well-informed lay perspective to the subject. If you're interested in more discussion about science and poetry, Doty promises to blog about Aldous Huxley's Literature and Science, "which," he says, "looks promising."

Tara Gosnell, an English and technical communication major, ends her series of blog posts from San Salvador Island in the Bahamas with a note about "the final countdown."


21 May

Today was more or less a "choose your own adventure" day, as the geology group went off on some field trip and biology went to the high school for an assembly. A couple English students went with the biology group, who presented a digital projector they bought for the school through fundraising. We stood outside, and I could only hear part of what was being said. I heard a prayer, they recited the Lord's Prayer, they sang the national anthem of the Bahamas, recited the pledge to the Bahamas, there was a reading from Genesis, a song called' What a Mighty God We Serve,' another prayer, and then a short speech from the principal. Sparrow, one of the biology students, said a few words to the students, and then we presented the projector and left. The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes. The students sang really well.

Amanda Conigliaro, a geology and geophysics student, ends her series of blog posts from San Salvador Island in the Bahamas with a note about car repair and the continental shelf.

Today was our last full day on the island, but unfortunately, it did not go completely as planned. The geology group split from the other groups today, and began the morning heading to Fernandez Bay to snorkel over Telephone Pole Reef. Not only did we see some amazing creatures, but we also got to swim to the continental shelf where the ocean floor dropped from beneath us and we stared down into the vast depths of the blue sea.

You've read about her experiences with hiking, snorkeling and riding in the truck in the rain. Read more from Tara:

20 May

I slept until 9:30 today. Since today was our free morning, I intended on hiking to see the sunrise at a little after 6:00, eating breakfast, and then going to church to see a little culture. However, that didn't happen.

I had opened the door and was walking into the bathroom when I heard this ticking sound and a somewhat large crab scuttled in front of me. I yelped, and then realized it wasn't a huge spider and was, therefore, cool, and called for Mike to get his camera. It ran into the corner near a large hole, so I backed out and stood with my back against the wall, lest it see me.

Tara Gosnell, one of three student-bloggers reporting from the Bahamian island of San Salvador, shares her latest experience, complete with pictures from Saturday, May 19.

Mike and I had just sat down with our chow this morning when Dr. Swenson came over to tell us to be prepared for anything but hard hiking today. The plan was to go snorkel in French Bay, float Pigeon Creek, and see Watling Castle. Oh, and we were to be at the trucks in 15 minutes.

Biological sciences student Scott Perdue is one of three student-bloggers reporting from the Bahamian island of San Salvador. Here's his latest dispatch, from a Friday (May 18) snorkeling excursion.

There’s a whole new world under the sea. Of the nearly 20 biology students who went on the trip, every single one was certified back in the States and dove here in San Salvador. The SCUBA portion of the trip has come to a close, and what a rough ride it has been.

Most of use divers were recently trained, by our beloved Scuba Bob, in the UMR pool and Quail Run Divers’ Quarry in Rolla. We soon found that our training in Rolla had prepared us for everything but rough seas.

Prior to the trip, we made reservations for half the group to dive on Wednesday and half on Thursday. When we woke up Wednesday morning to a rainy day, we expected to drive up and be rescheduled. To our surprise, we went out amidst the pouring rain. Bad idea.

Our series of blog posts from San Salvador Island in the Bahamas continues with a note from Amanda Conigliaro, a geology and geophysics student, who writes about "the perfect Bahamian day" of Friday, May 18.

Today couldn’t have been a more perfect day. We woke to the warm shining sun in a cloudless sky. We began the day with visits to the inland lakes, We visited Storr’s Lake, first, where we got to see mangroves and stromatolites. We also visited Pigeon Creek, Big Salt Pond and Little Salt Pond.

The afternoon was the highlight of the day. We took a boat ride out to Bird Island, Iguana Island, and snorkeled in Gaulin’s reef. Not only was the scenery breathtaking, but the reef dive was spectacular. On the reef we saw parrotfish, barracuda, triggerfish, sea fans, sea anemones, and tons of coral. The water was crystal clear and calm allowing all the life on the reef to easily be seen.

We ended the day with a visit to the local bar to relax and tell stories about all the splendor that we’ve seen. The day ended with fun and laughter. A perfect end to the perfect Bahamian day.

Visions staffers may get weekends off, but our intrepid bloggers on the Bahamian island of San Salvador -- Amanda Conigliaro, Tara Gosnell and Scott Perdue -- all stayed busy over the weekend writing about their latest academic adventures on that island. First up is Gosnell, an English and technical communication major who, along with her fellow English students, spent time on Friday teaching similes and metaphors to some local schoolchildren.

May 18, 2007: Lost on a One-Road Island

Today was the English trip to the elementary school. It was also the first completely sunny day we've had. We rode out in a full-size van with a door that threatened to open while driving and windows that had to be propped open by hand. We dropped off one of the biology girls at the medical clinic along the way, but we passed by it so we had to turn around.

The school consisted of several trailers with grade levels posted on the doors. We split into two groups; one for 3rd grade and one for 6th grade. All the younger students were happy to see us, and the grades that we didn't visit were disappointed we didn't stop by.