WU English Department

Comics as literature - a continuing debate. Do you think comics are literature? Should they be in the classroom?

https://cccnews.info/2021/11/01/comics-as-literature-rcc-english-profs-take/

Comics as literature: RCC English prof’s colorful take By Darren Johnson Campus News Rockland Community College English professor Shamika Mitchell has become a Comic-Con staple, especially at the prestigious San Diego one, where most recently she was t…

Ah, the origins of the word 'taste' second meaning, sounds like a good topic for History of the English Language.

https://phys.org/news/2021-11-concept-literature-16th-century.html

Researcher traces concept of taste in literature to 16th century Turns out we can thank a guy named Bacon for the concept of "taste," as in properly discerning the relative value of cultural goods.

✨Spotlight Post✨

Who better to shine on than Dr. Jamie Dessart? My question for her was: “You're teaching your first creative writing class this semester. How do you feel it is going? Do you think you'll try to teach more creative writing classes?”

She responded with, “Teaching worldbuilding has been so much fun! While the basics of writing are still the same, I’m really enjoying sharing the conventions of the genres of science fiction/fantasy and getting to read so many amazing concepts and characters. I think my favorite part so far has been the comradery that is developing within the class, the sense of us being writers who are working together, encouraging each other, and sharing our frustrations and successes.

Sci-fi/fantasy is my wheel well; I don’t see myself taking on other CW classes unless they’re special topics in that genre. I’ll leave the rest to our wonderful CW faculty and revamp my Marvel Cinematic Universe 235 instead. J”

Attached is a wonderful picture of the woman herself.

Does Jeff Bezos really need another thing to monopolize?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/01/is-amazon-changing-the-novel-everything-and-less

Is Amazon Changing the Novel? In the new literary landscape, readers are customers, writers are service providers, and books are expected to offer instant gratification.

We are hosting an Open Mic Reading in McCance Auditorium at 4pm on October 21st. You can listen to people read their works and/or come read one of your own!! You don’t need to sign up. You can just show up.

If you have any questions contact Dr. Bob at [email protected].

English Department Spotlight

To kick off our social media spotlight posts, I decided to ask the new head of the department, Jill Sunday, ‘What has changed since becoming the head of the department?’. Below is her response and attached is a wonderfully crafted selfie from the woman herself.

“Becoming chair of the English department means that dreams have come true for the little girl who used to play school and drag bags of library books home. While I loved working intensely to mentor writing tutors and develop the Writing Center, I am now first and foremost a writing teacher who gets to play with words all day long.”

Banned books Week has passed but the Writing Center is still celebrating. They are collecting donations for United Way. Bins are around campus. Find one and drop in any of the materials listed in the flier below!

Waynesburg Writing Center

I heard someone mention Dr. Jamie’s meme door 👀

Student Erin Lang made a video of our very own Dr. Jamie Dessart for a communications project. Please check it out! Erin’s Facebook will be linked in the comments. Waynesburg University Department of Communication

https://youtu.be/4R0xIVfszqA

Dr Dessart Profile Dr Jamie Dessart is an English professor at Waynesburg University. Here's a little bit about her!(this video is made for a school project; audio is property ...

Banned Books Week is upon us. In honor of banned books week, tell us what you think of this school banning these anti-racism books without reading them? https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/09/24/pennsylvania-school-book-ban-diversity/

Pa. school district ends ban on list of books by or about people of color after student backlash The Central York School District in Pennsylvania reversed its “freeze” on a list of anti-racism books and educational resources focused almost entirely on titles related to people of color, including children's books on Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.

Tropes- the wonderful reoccurring storylines and plot pieces we get to choose whether we like them (aka love them so much we’re drowning in stories with them) or not. What are your favorite tropes, and do you know why they’re your favorite?

Literature as punishment…is this a compliment or an insult?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/white-supremacist-sentenced-read-pride-5853738.amp

White supremacist sentenced to read Pride and Prejudice If he doesn't obey the judge he will go to jail

I’m honor of the met gala, here are some met gala-esc costumes from past English Department events (which are much more fun than the met gala)