Think of all the choices you make between your handshake with a new peer and your first glance at his/her work. First of all, do you shake hands at all? Then, do you grab a cup of coffee to maintain your focus, or do you restrain yourself to avoid Starbucksbreath and/or an awkward trip to the bathroom? Do you sit next to, or across from your peer? Once you have sat down, do you fold your hands in your lap, rest them on the table, or cross your arms in disdain? (more…)
Chicago Humanities Festival Gearing Up October 21, 2011
The Chicago Humanities Festival, a nonprofit group that promotes the humanities as an essential part of our everyday lives, has already begun. This year’s theme, Tech+Knowledge, explores how “the human experience is inextricably linked to technology.” This Sunday, Oct. 23, a series of events is occurring at the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park. You can learn about the makings of Pirate Radio in Britain during the 1960s; the efficiency of mass transit in the world’s largest city, Tokyo; and the Bengali writer Amitav Ghosh, whose new historical novel River of Smoke explores the history of the opium trade (plus much more). A majority of these events are free for students and teachers, so there’s no excuse if you don’t get your geek on this Sunday!
What do you do when the conversation partner gets too personal? October 20, 2011
OK, I’m not talking about a conversation partner asking for a date, or your phone number, or do you sleep in the nude, or anything like that. I mean, what do you do when your conversation partner comes in all misty eyed, like the tears are about to fall any second, and she starts telling you that she knows her boyfriend is cheating on her, and her friends tell her she should break up with him, but she really loves him, and what should she do?
Friday Forums in the Loop October 19, 2011
On Sept. 30, the Collaborative for Multilingual Writing and Research (CMWR) held its first Friday Forum of the Fall. As a new CMWR member, I was eager to partake in the meeting. One of the purposes of Friday Forums is for multilingual writers to meet with one another and discuss articles pertaining to language, writing and culture. In the past, these meetings have covered a wide array of topics ranging from people’s perspectives on politically correct language to immigrants’ struggles on the borderlands to addressing whether men or women tend to dominate conversations. (more…)
Income is as Income Does?
Last week I was at the Lincoln Park Campus in McGaw Hall, my favorite building for intellectual stimulation. Home of the English Department, the Department of Modern Languages, and let’s not forget the UCWbL, McGaw has always struck me as a place for open (more…)
25,000+ Stories
As the largest Catholic University in the nation, DePaul is home to roughly 25,000 students. That is, 25,000 students with 25,000 unique personalities, 25,000 unique voices, and 25,000 unique stories to tell. Currently, as we are in the midst of the midterm through finals craziness that is the DePaul quarter system, it is easy to get caught up in those to-do lists that are piling high with chapters upon chapters to read and essays upon essays to write (more…)
Expressing Yourself in Political Writing October 18, 2011
To some extent, getting people riled up is the goal of political writing. Opinions and discussions should be exciting, forceful, and most of all, persuasive. You want to motivate like-minded individuals to support whatever cause you’re writing about and draw readers into the drama of the struggle. Additionally, you want to make your opponents reconsider their own viewpoints or, at the very least, start a discussion with you. But how do you write politically without coming off as, for lack of a better word, a jerk? (more…)
Why Can’t Shakespeare Go to Jail?: Thoughts on Literature Banned from American Prisons October 17, 2011
Banned Books Week is an annual time to recognize and contemplate the “objectionable” literature in America: texts that sects of society have deemed morally, religiously, sexually, racially, whatever-it-may-be-ly reprehensible.
Research Team to Present at MWCA Conference This Week October 16, 2011
Exciting things are happening for the Research Team, not the least of which is our upcoming presentation at this year’s Midwest Writing Centers Association conference. This year the conference is being held in Madison, Wisconsin, and later this week members of the research team will be traveling to the dairy state to present findings from our ongoing research project, PWTARP. (more…)
‘Good English’ : Why Must It Be So Gray?
I led my first official handful of face-to-face appointments this past week and was surprised at how many of my peers were concerned with grammar usage in their writing. (more…)
UCWbLing 