All Undergraduate Studies News

dislocate literary journal, run by Creative Writing Program graduate students at the University of Minnesota, is holding a contest for a graphic design intern. The winner receives $250 and the chance to layout issue 8 of dislocate. Any undergraduate or graduate student attending the U is welcome to apply, as long as s/he is proficient with InDesign software. Interested students should send examples of design work, including links to online portfolios, to dislocate.magazine@gmail.com with the subject line "Graphic Design Internship." Show us what you've got!

"As the holiday season approaches and the Twin Cities strings up its lights," notes Professor and Chair Ellen Messer-Davidow, "English has plenty of dazzle to contribute to the festivities." For news about faculty, student, and alumnae/i accomplishments and awards, check out the winter 2011 alumni magazine, English@Minnesota. Professors Nabil Matar, Maria Damon, and Peter Campion are featured, along with lots more!

The Writer's Block Workshop Series, sponsored by FUSE and Voices Merging, presents Guante, hip hop artist, two-time National Poetry Slam champion, social justice activist and educator. Eat a free dinner and get writing advice and exercises on Tuesday, November 15 from 5:30-7:30 pm in Coffman 324.

As part of its continuing Lunch Conversation Series, FUSE presents a free lunch and discussion with Associate Professor of English Rebecca Krug noon this Friday November 18. This is a great opportunity to meet professors and to ask questions. Lunch provided! Meet in Lind 226.

Registration for Spring 2012 is on its way! Take a break from homework on Wednesday the 2nd of November from 7-9 pm in the Nolte Center Basement. The Fellowship of Undergraduate Students in English will provide food and some discussion of available English classes next spring. Bring a spooky poem or short story to share. And if you missed the opportunity to dress up for Halloween, come in a costume! Hope to see you there!

Tales from the Road is an online journal of undergraduate creative work inspired by experiences abroad. Accepted genres include creative prose, poetry, art, and multimedia. Check it out.

The Fellowship of Undergraduate Students in English (FUSE) invites students, faculty, and staff to an evening of live music, refreshments, and conversation on Wednesday, September 14, from 6-7:30 pm in Lind Hall 207A. FUSE's mission is to enhance the education experience of English Undergraduates through peer mentorship, writing workshops, engagement opportunities, and community-building events. See you there!

English alumnus Nate Olson (BA 2010), who has been teaching English in Japan with the JET program, weathered the March earthquake in Hanamaki in the Iwate prefecture, 50 miles away from some of the worst tsunami damage. "A couple days prior to the quake," he writes us, "there was a magnitude 5 tremor which was the biggest earthquake I'd ever experienced. Everyone else at my school hardly batted an eye. . . . Then the big quake came [a magnitude 9]. The walls and light fixtures shook violently, books toppled off the shelves, and I said ten 'Hail Marys' and five 'Our Fathers' while waiting for the floor to collapse beneath me." The quake lasted six minutes. Olson marveled at the Japanese people's selfless and ordered response, observing that the teachers at his school visited each of their students' homes ("on spring vacation, no less!") to check on their well-being. "As an outsider, I was completely taken aback by the care I received from neighbors, coworkers, and even complete strangers following the quake."

Olson works as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) at two high schools, teaching a class ("Oral Communication") to 10th graders with little to no experience speaking English. At one high school, his students are university-bound with an "encyclopedic" understanding of English grammar; at the other, they know very little about the language. The difference in comprehension can be daunting: "In a given week," he describes, "I am by turns a fully-fledged teacher expected to design lesson plans around the intricacies of native English speech, and a glorified human tape recorder expected to entertain students with my 'foreignness.'" Yet the community spirit he witnessed after the quake and tsunami inspired him, and he plans to continue in the JET program, his teaching augmented with such activities as running an English club and helping a student prepare for a national English speech contest. Meanwhile, the ground shakes: amid the aftershocks was a magnitude 7 that knocked him out of bed. His thoughts are for those who have lost everything and still must stand on unsteady ground "constantly reminded of the cause of their misfortune."

English major and writer Jenna Mackrell is collaborating with the artist Carl Nelson on a new webcomic, exemplars! The site launched with four pages on July 14; Mackrell hopes to add a page a week. The story starts with a motorcycle and car chase through an unknown city . . . .

The Daily is the student-run newspaper of the University of Minnesota. The Daily needs students interested in news, sports, opinion and arts and entertainment writing, photography, video, copy editing, and design. Non-journalism majors are encouraged. Fall positions will be open Aug. 1-15. Apply at mndaily.com/jobs and include any writing samples you may have. Questions? Contact Taryn Wobbema, editor in chief: twobbema@mndaily.com.

BA alumnus Sam Kean's The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the Periodic Table of the Elements, just released in paperback, was publishing's sleeper hit of 2010: a science history that surprised its author as much as anyone by making the New York Times Bestseller List, primarily via word of mouth. But South Dakota native Kean, a 2002 summa cum laude double major in English and Physics, has fashioned a ridiculously readable collection of anecdotes about the elements, from hydrogen to ununbium. "I really think that the human mind works best through stories," notes Kean in an interview. More. . .

Copies of the 2011 Ivory Tower, the University of Minnesota's undergraduate literary arts magazine, flew out the door back in May. However, you can still view the journal, created by students in a year-long English class, online. Thanks to student initiative, the 2011, 2010, and 2009 issues are now also available via a free app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch!

We would like to invite each of you to participate in the Second Annual English Undergraduate Conference, scheduled on April 7-8, 2011, in 150 Lind Hall. This conference was held for the first time last year and was a smashing success - we hope the same will be true again this year.

We are looking for abstract submissions, attendees, and volunteers to make sure things run smoothly! If you would like to attend or submit your work, check out the website at http://english.umn.edu/ugrad/conference.html. Registration and abstract submissions are open now!

If you'd like to volunteer to be involved with the conference, just email ayles001@umn.edu and I'll make sure I keep you in the communication loop.

The deadline for submissions is coming up soon - March 1. Submit your abstract today! We will have an abstract-writing how-to workshop being held later in February, so be sure to watch for that announcement as well.

ArtWords: Writing at the Weisman
Deadline: Thursday, March 10, submissions to Creative Writing Office, 222 Lind

Eligibility: Undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in a creative writing course at the University of Minnesota fall 2010 or spring 2011.

Readers: Local writers, Weisman staff.

Criteria: Visit public artwork on campus and write a one-page prose piece or poem in response to the work. Submit your work with the appropriate cover sheet by the deadline. Names should not appear on the submitted work.

Åpplication: Cover sheet, submission, Coversheets, maps, artwork lists available in the Creative Writing Program Office, 222 Lind Hall. Winners announced in early April. Public reading on April 28, 2011, 7 pm. Three winners in the graduate category; three in the undergraduate category. Winners receive gift certificates to the Weisman Museum Store.

Eligibility: Undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled at the University of Minnesota.

Criterion: Quality of writing

Reader: Garrison Keillor

Application: Cover sheet (name, address, phone, email, title of poems), 2 poems. Names should not appear on poems.