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March 8: Athlete protests not new, says speaker

Thabiti Lewis
Lewis

Activism by contemporary athletes and its effects on the public will be discussed by Thabiti Lewis, associate professor of English at Washington State University Vancouver, at 4-5 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, in Cleveland Hall 255 at WSU Pullman.

Lewis will argue that contemporary athlete protests – such as the NFL’s Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem to protest mistreatment of African Americans – are not new. Rather, earlier examples have shown that sports can raise spirits and consciousness around issues of human rights and inequity.

The presentation is part of a new series of monthly Sport Management Research Meetings in the College of Education. They feature faculty and student presentations of ongoing and completed research.

WSU News

Vancouver graduate earns Fulbright teaching scholarship

Washington State University Vancouver graduate Gregory K. Walker has received from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program an English teaching assistant (ETA) award to teach in Spain.

Walker, who graduated in May with a bachelor of arts degree in English, planned to travel to Spain early in 2017. He will be placed in a classroom to assist a local teacher.

As a Fulbright ETA, his charge will be to improve foreign students’ English language abilities and knowledge of the United States while also increasing his own language skills and knowledge of the host country.

Language and art
In his application to Fulbright, Walker described his plan to “explore the intersection between language and art” and involve his students in Spain in a club focused on discussions about art, artists and popular culture media such as comics and graphic novels.

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WSU News

The Changing English Major

Amid enrollment declines, speakers at Modern Language Association discuss shifts in the major, such as a de-emphasis of traditional survey and the addition of more writing-related courses.

Leeann Hunter
Hunter

In a panel on writing within the English major at the MLA convention on Saturday, Leeann Hunter, a clinical assistant professor and assistant director of undergraduate studies in the English department at WSU, presented on the Passport Program, a new set of related courses she developed to get students to think beyond the classroom and university. She began her presentation by observing that “one of the greatest barriers to recruiting for the English major has been the perceived lack of professional opportunities.”

The one-credit, pass-fail seminar designed by Hunter — of which there are a couple iterations — is structured as a series of workshops. One key assignment is a “finding your why” activity in which students identify six “foundational memories,” choose three to use (to) develop into pieces of creative writing and, with the help of a partner and Hunter, the professor, identify patterns, such as common beliefs or values, across the various pieces. A version of the course tailored for seniors focuses on things like résumés, cover letters, social media profiles and digital portfolios, and includes performance-art activities aimed at helping students develop confidence and presence. Hunter brings other faculty from the English department to help with various class sessions. She said 20 faculty members participated in the course last fall. » More …

Ask Dr. Universe: Why do we find some things scary?

While our fears might be different, we all get scared sometimes. Perhaps for you it’s spiders, the dark, or the thought of monsters under your bed.

Michael Delahoyde
Delahoyde

My friend Michael Delahoyde is really curious about what freaks us out. As an English professor at Washington State University, he’s even taught a course about monsters.

Delahoyde explained that our brains like to categorize information to help us make sense of our world. But monsters sort of live between different categories.

“We are comfortable with animals. We are comfortable with humans. We’ve got the distinctions down,” Delahoyde said. “But when you have a monster, like a werewolf who is somewhere in the middle, then it freaks us out.”

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Dr. Universe

Kiggins presents radio-drama production of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’

If the spectacle of a rich and famous man repeatedly forcing himself upon innocent women freaks you out, stay away from the Kiggins Theatre on Thursday night. Portland radio dramatist Sam Mowry and his Willamette Radio Workshop have unleashed Martian invaders at the Kiggins during several recent Halloween seasons. But this year they’ll bring the vampire back to life instead. Or, that is, back to un-death.

“Dracula” is so effective because it invokes a sly and seductive menace that absorbs and transforms what it touches, according to John Barber, who teaches in Washington State University Vancouver’s Creative Media and Digital Culture program, and who first facilitated bringing Mowry and crew to the Kiggins years ago as part of a project called “Reimagined Radio.”

“The novel examines society’s fears of the unnatural during late 19th- and 20th-century Victorian society,” he said. “The focus of its many interpretations has come to be how abnormality can evolve from one source and infect the surrounding society with discord, misfortunes and evil. Dracula, the vampire, infects others with his evil.”

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The Columbian