Professors from the English Department to Present Writing Workshops for Brooklyn-Campus Employees

Want to improve your business writing? Interested in grants writing? Fine-tune your poetry or start your memoir?

As part of the Provost's Professional and Personal Development Academy, several professors from the English Department will lead the following workshops, which are open to all Brooklyn-Campus employees.

Professional Writing
Professors Michael Bokor & John Killoran
Part 1

Thursday, December 2
12:30-2 PM
LLC515

Part 2
Thursday, December 9
12:30-2 PM
LLC515




Life Writing
Professor Deborah Mutnick (Director of Writing)

Thursday, February 17, 2011
12:30-2:00 PM
LLC 515

&

Thursday, March 3, 2011
12:30-2:00 PM
LLC 515




Also in Spring 2011, there is the following workshop (which is NOT being led by English faculty, but which we highly recommend):

James Cribbs (LIU Grants Coordinator)
Grant Writing

Thursday, February 3, 2011
11-12:30 PM
LLC515




Light refreshments will be served.

Seating is limited.

Please register by calling 718-488-3406 or by e-mailing pppda@brooklyn.liu.edu.


Holiday Party!

Please join us for this year's holiday party.

December 15, 2010
4:30 PM

Potluck: Please see Karen or Patrina at the front desk to sign up to bring something.

Click image to see larger version of flyer for this event:



Liliana (Lily) Almendarez (MFA alum) Reading at Nuyorican

Applause Theatre & Cinema Books are hosting a celebration of Best American Short Plays 2006-2007 and Best American Short Plays 2008-2009.

When & Where
Monday, November 29, 2010, 7 PM
Nuyorican Poets Café, 236 E. 3rd Street, between Ave B & C in Manhattan.

The following playwrights will present excerpts from their plays:

Zilvinas Jonusas, Amy Fox, Adam Kraar, Jeni Mahoney, Victor Gluck, Mike Pasternack, Jules Tasca, Rick Pulos, Joe Salvatore, Carey Lovelace, Eric Lane, Liliana Almendarez, James Armstrong, and Murray Schisgal.

There will be a $5 cover charge, which may go towards the purchase of an anthology.

Bernard Schweizer Interviewed on Culture Shocks with Barry Lynn

Click here to listen to Barry Lynn's recent interview with Professor Bernard Schweizer (English Department) about his book Hating God.

Culture Shocks is a media production of Americans United, "a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans." Read more.


Sigma Tau Delta Event: Harry Potter

The English Department's Omicron Zeta chapter of Sigma Tau Delta (the internatational English honors society) is hosting a screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Spector Lounge (Fourth Floor, Humanities Building)
Thursday, November 18th at 7 pm


Pizza and beverages will be served!

Click image to see larger version of flyer for this event.




Africa Forum Conference

The English Department is pleased to announce its co-sponsorship (with Sociology/Anthropology) of a conference, Africa Forum, which will take place on Wednesday, November 17.

The topic of the conference is the experience of African immigrants in New York, and the program includes screenings of two interesting films, This America (filmmakers, Bethels Agomouh and Oliver Mbamaraand) and African Youth (filmmaker, Vigil Chime), as well as a reading by Uche Nduka (a student in the English Department's Creative-Writing MFA program) and novelist Teju Cole.

Please join us!

Click the image to see a larger version of the flyer for this event.



The following is the full conference program:

Africa Forum
Conference Program
Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus
November 17, 2010
Library Learning Center (LLC) 122

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8:30-9:00am Arrival of panelists

9.00 – 11.30 Morning session

Introductions: Profs. Yusuf Juwayeyi and Jonathan Haynes
Screening of the film This America followed by discussion with film makers Bethels Agomouh and Oliver Mbamara. Moderator: Prof. Yusuf Juwayeyi

11.30- 12.30 Lunch break

12.30 – 5.00 Afternoon session

12.30 – 2.30 Readings by Uche Nduka and Teju Cole and panel discussion. Panelists:
Bethels Agomuoh Vigil Chime, Teju Cole, Oliver Mbamaram, Uche Nduka

2.30 – 5.00 Screening of the film African Youth followed by discussion with film maker Vigil Chime. Moderator: Prof. Yusuf Juwayeyi

5.00 – 5.30 Informal reception

Note: Students who are taking Africa Forum for one course credit are required (i) to indicate their participation in today’s sessions by signing the attendance sheet at the end of both the morning and afternoon sessions, and (ii) to contact Professor Yusuf Juwayeyi by December 1st, 2010 to collect the course assignment.

Conference Participant Bios


Bethels Agomuoh
Bethels Agomuoh began his career as an actor in Nigeria, appearing in productions at the National Theatre in Lagos before moving to the United States, where he has acted in plays Off and Off off Broadway. As a businessman, he founded AfricaMovies.com, the first internet site selling films from Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry. He is a founder and the president of United African Artists, a not-for-profit organization supporting African performing artists in the Diaspora. He has directed, acted in, and/or worked on the scripts for a number of films, including This America and its recently-released sequel On the Run Again, A Mile to Cannan, In a Stranger’s Arms, Tears of my Joy, Unguarded, and Tobi.

Vigil Chimé
Vigil Chimé is a film producer, writer, editor, director, and novelist. As a child she moved with her family from Nigeria to Houston, Texas. She got a degree in English and technical writing from the University of Houston and then an MFA in film and screenwriting from Columbia. She has lived in New York since 1990. Her career as a filmmaker began in 2002 and includes the documentary TV series African Life and the feature films African Dilemma, parts 1 & 2, African Youth, Manchester Bound, and Honeysuckle. She has recently published a novel, My Songbird Can Dance. See vigilchime.com for more information on her career.

Teju Cole
Teju Cole was raised in Lagos, Nigeria, moving to the US at the age of seventeen. He is the author of Every Day is for the Thief, a novella of Lagos, as well as Open City, a novel of New York City which will be published in February. His writing has appeared or is in press with Transition, Tin House, Chimurenga, and other journals, and he has been featured several times on the BBC World Service. In addition to his fiction writing, Teju is a professional historian of art, with publications on sixteenth-century Flemish visual culture and contemporary African art. He lives in Brooklyn and is currently at work on another book about Lagos. For more information and to view his work as a photographer, go to tejucole.com.

Oliver Mbamara
Oliver Mbamara began multiple careers as a lawyer, theater and film actor, playwright, poet, and director of photography in Nigeria before moving to the United States. He has continued all these activities in this country and has also become the publisher of several on-line magazines. He is currently a New York State Administrative Law Judge. He wrote, co-directed, and starred in the films This America and its sequel On the Run Again. He is also at the center of Slave Warrior and the series of Spade films (Spade: The Last Assignment and The Return of Spade). For more on his many accomplishments, see http://www.olivermbamara.com.

Uche Nduka
Uche Nduka began publishing his poetry in his native Nigeria before moving to Germany, where he lived for many years. He recently relocated to New York and is currently in the LIU Brooklyn MFA in Creative Writing Program. His volumes of poetry include Flower Child, Second Act, The Bremen Poems, Chiaroscuro, If Only the Night, Heart’s Field, and Eel on Reef. He has also published a volume of prose, Belltime Letters. An e-chapbook of poems can be found at http://www.wheelhousemagazine.com/chapbook/nduka.pdf.

Africana Studies Courses Spring 2011

Black Female Creativity
Humanities 181: M/W 3:00-4:15
Prof. Carol Allen (English Department)
3 credits


This course explores black female creativity across disciplines. The aim of the course is to construct potential theories of black female creativity. That is: determine if black women share any common impetuses (historical, biological and/or cultural) that compel them to make artistic products that comprise a tradition of works. We begin by examining theories of black female creativity from several perspectives including that of Alice Walker and Ntozake Shange along with contributions from the likes of Monique Wittig and Robert Farris Thompson. Then we study a variety of primary texts from literature (novel, poem and play); art (photography, textiles, and mixed media pieces); oratory (sermon and speech); and performance (music, fashion, dance, drill teams and jump rope). Required texts include Flash of the Spirit, Beloved, and handouts. Assignments include informal writing, midterm, final exam, and recovery project with presentation.

Myth and Black Masculinity
Humanities 197: Independent Study, TBA
Prof. Orlando Warren (English Department)
3 credits


This course examines the myths concerning men of African descent in the Americas during slavery and freedom.

Colorism in Black Female Cinema
Humanities 197: Independent Study, TBA
Prof. Orlando Warren (English Department)
3 credits


We will explore “Colorism” in Black Cinema, a concept in which discrimination is based on skin tone as well as color.

African Civilizations
Anthropology 173: M 6:00-8:30
Prof. Yusuf Juwayeyi (Anthropology Department)
3 credits


The History of African American Women in the United States
History 502: M 6:00-8:00
Prof. Kimberly Jones (History Department)
3 credits


Click the image to see a larger version of the general-purpose flyer describing the Africana Studies Program.


Contact Professor Allen at Carol.Allen@liu.edu or 718 488-1053 for more information about the Africana-Studies Program and the above courses.

Deborah Mutnick Co-presents on Building Rubrics for Outcomes Assessment

Introduction of the LIU Brooklyn Campus Rubric Toolbox

The Brooklyn Campus Outcomes Assessment Committee has developed an LIU-Brooklyn Rubric Toolbox for those interested in guidance about developing rubrics. The Toolbox, which will be available for distribution soon, contains general information about rubrics, as well as sample rubrics from across the Brooklyn Campus. Please join us as Professors Deborah Mutnick (English), Sara Haden (Psychology), and Timothy Leslie (Biology) present on the development and implementation of rubrics used to assess their students.


When & Where
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
2:00 – 4:00pm
Main Building, Jonas Board Room

For further information, please contact William Burgos (718-488-1094) or Gladys Schrynemakers (718-780-3405).

Leah Dilworth Will Moderate Film Screening at NYMSA Conference

Leah Dilworth (Professor & Co-Chair, English) will moderate a screening of the film "Never Enough" (a documentary about hoarding), directed by Kelly Anderson, at the New York Metro Studies Association's annual conference. The theme of this year's conference is "Dirt."


Dirt is among the most material but also the most metaphorical and expressive of substances. This conference will explore how people imagine, define, and employ the various concepts and realities of dirt. What does it mean to call something dirty? How do we understand dirt and its supposed opposite, cleanliness? How do we explain the points at which we draw the line between clean and dirty, what we embrace and what we refuse to touch? Drawing on multiple disciplines we will uncover and foreground the (often unconscious) centrality of the metaphors and actualities of dirt to U.S. cultures, values, and lived experiences.

Conference When & Where
8:30am-6pm
December 4th, 2010
St. John's University in Lower Manhattan
41 Murray Street

Registration forms can be found at www.nymasa.org. Registration is $20 ($10 for students/unwaged).

For more information about the conference, contact nymasadirt@gmail.com.


Two Upcoming Events Featuring Stephanie Gray (MFA alum)

EVENT #1

MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Fest

The Festival runs from November 9-14. As part of a session entitled "Not Found on eHarmony," Stephanie will screen her 7-minute Super-8 film "Never Heard the Word Impossible" which takes its title from 70s sitcom Laverne & Shirley. About the film, Stephanie says,
"[It's] kinda about that "L" word (and "L" shirt of you know who) in that show, those two "roommates. huh. it was handprocessed & the sound is reworked/distorted solely from a few lines in the theme song. i will be showing the real super 8 film on film, not video and we'll play the sound from a cd."
When & Where
Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 8:30 PM
Theater for the New City in the East Village
1st Ave. between 9th/10th Streets

For more information: http://mixnyc.org/23/eharmony.php



EVENT #2

TENDENCIES: Poetics & Practice, curated by Tim Peterson (Trace), is a series of talks by and about contemporary poets, titled in honor of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. The series explores the relationship between queer theory, poetic practice, manifesto, and pedagogy. All events are co-sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, CLAGS (the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies), The Graduate Center PhD Program in English, and the Graduate Center Poetics Group.

The next event features talks by Stephanie Gray, Dawn Lundy Martin, and Nathaniel Siegel, followed by a discussion/Q&A session.

For additional information, visit the TENDENCIES website.

Thursday, November 11 at 7 PM
CUNY Graduate Center
Skylight Room, 9100
365 Fifth Avenue, NYC


FREE

Filmmaker and writer Stephanie Gray's first collection of poetry, Heart Stoner Bingo was published by Straw Gate Books in 2007. Publications include EOAGH, 2ndAvenuePoetry, The Recluse, and Press 1. Readings include the PRJCTNS, Segue, Zinc, and Poetry Project Friday series. Her short experimental super 8 films, often city portraits or mini-symphonies have screened internationally, including at the Ann Arbor, Oberhausen, and Viennale fests. Her queer-themed films are often about pop cultural figures such as dyke heroine Joan of Arc in Dear Joan and the perceived dyke heroine Kristy McNichol in Kristy, both of which have screened at gay & lesbian film fests such as Frameline (San Francisco), Outfest (Los Angeles), and Mix NYC. Her analog video from the early 00s, close your hearing for the cap(shuns) is probably the only art work out there to mash up "Our Lips Our Sealed" on slo-mo with Schoolhouse Rock's "Conjunction Junction" and Charlie Brown's indecipherable adults to explore themes of language, hearing loss and our construction of meaning. If you know of others let her know.

Upcoming Readings by Barbara Henning

Barbara Henning (Professor Emerita, English Department) is giving several readings over the next few months, as follows.

November 17, 2010. 7 pm.
Xavier University. Cincinnati (with Dan Bogan)

December 12, 2010. 3 pm.
DC Arts Center. Washington D.C. (with Rachel Levitsky)

January 22-March 5.
Flash Fiction Workshop. Poetry Center at U of Arizona, Tucson.

February 24, 2011. 3:30 pm.
San Francisco State University Poetry Center.

February 24, 2011. 7:30 pm.
Poetry Flash at Moe's in Berkeley, California.

March 12-13.
Poetry Workshop at the Book Festival, Poetry Center in Tucson.

March 24, 2011.
Seattle, Washington.

March 26, 2011. 7:30 pm.
Diva Center. Eugene, Oregon.

March 27, 2011.
Spare Room Series. Portland, Oregon.


See You on LIU Day!

Representatives from the English Department will be on hand at the LIU Day Open House for Prospective Students. Please come by and introduce yourself!

When & Where

Sunday, November 14, 2010
10 AM - 2 PM

Undergraduate: Find me (Wayne Berninger) at the English-Department table in the Paramount Gym. I can answer all your questions about majoring in English at LIU.

Graduate: Find Marilyn Boutwell at the English-Department table in the Humanities Building Lobby. Marilyn can answer all your questions about the Department's graduate programs.

Click here for further information.

Click here to RSVP.

Click this image to see larger version of flyer about LIU-Day events (undergraduate):













Click this image to see larger version of flyer about LIU-Day events (graduate):




Launch Party for SHAMBOREE #5

Congratulations to Eric Alter (graduate student, English Department Creative-Writing MFA program) on the publication of Issue #5 of Shamboree , the literary/art magazine of Alter's creative organization, Staten Island Creative Hub.

You are invited to attend a launch party/reading for the issue.

When & Where

Saturday, November 6 • 8:00pm - 10:00pm

Everthing Goes Cafe
208 Bay Street
Staten Island, NY


All who attend get a free zine!

Writing and reading from:

Nichole LeFebvre
Thomas Fucaloro
Jamey Jones
Thomas Henry
William Teague

Open Mic after feature readers!

Zine art by Mike Gerlich

Malinowitz to Co-Host Webinar

Professor Harriet Malinowitz (English Department) and Thomas Price (Scholarship Assistance Program) will co-host a webinar entitled "Creating an LGBTQA Student-Friendly Environment."

Date: Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Time: 3:00-4:30 PM
Room: Humanities Building, Room 315

Webinar Description: It’s important that advising and other student affairs offices create a welcoming and inclusive environment for their Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Allied student populations. This webinar will outline the important steps offices can take to serve LGBTQA students effectively in their day-to-day practice. Key terms, definitions and concepts will be presented. Participants will discuss the critical issues facing LGBTQA special populations such as low-income students, under-represented students, student-veterans, student-parents, and student-athletes. Participants will also learn about important regional and national resources including Safe Zone/Safe Space programs. Finally, the importance of understanding unique career advising issues that relate to LGBTQA students will be discussed.

Refreshments will be served!

Please R.S.V.P for this event by phone at 718-488-3405 or by e-mail to meseret.tzehaie@liu.edu.


Bernice Braid Honored


The English Department is happy to congratulate Bernice Braid (Professor Emerita in the English Department) on her being selected as a National Collegiate Honors Council Fellow. Formerly Dean of Academic and Instructional Resources, in which capacity she directed the Honors Program and the Freshman Orientation Program, among other things, Bernice is now the Director of the Core Seminar Program at the the Brooklyn Campus.


Click here to learn more about the National Collegiate Honors Council Fellows.

The following block quote is from the Brooklyn-Campus announcement:
We are proud to announce that one of our own, Professor Bernice Braid, has been selected as a member of the inaugural class of National Collegiate Honors Council Fellows. The NCHC is one of the nation¹s premier higher educational professional organizations, dedicated to honors teaching, learning, scholarship and leadership.

The NCHC named Professor Braid after a rigorous process of nominations and careful consideration of her significant contributions to honors education at regional and national levels.

Ms. Braid [sic] is adviser to the Provost and professor emerita of English. Her specialties include cross-disciplinary learning, curriculum design, experiential learning and honors education. She has written and presented widely on "place as text," and she was the founder of Honors Semesters, Faculty Institutes and City as Text©.
Congratulations, Bernice!

Two Students from Our Creative-Writing MFA Program Presenting at Conference

Yolaine M. St. Fort (Creative-Writing MA alum) and Willie Perdomo (current MFA student) will be presenting at Turning Tides: A Symposium on Diasporic Literatures, a conference to be held at Fordham University on November 6, 2010.

Yolaine will be on a panel entitled Haiti: After the Earthquake, from 1:15-2:15, and Willie will participate in a panel called Puerto Rico: Creative Disobedience in New Nuyorican Writing from 2:15-3:15.

Fordham University, Lincoln Center
McNally Auditorium
140 W. 62nd Street, Law School Entrance (Between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues)

Free and open to the public.

Go here for more information about the Turning Tides conference.


Writing Program Reading/Writing/Research Conversation

Please join us for the first of a series of Conversations (formerly known as the Brown Bag Lunch Series) on Reading, Writing, and Research.

Vocabulary Acquisition:
How I Teach My Students the Meanings of New Words

Professor Sharman Yoffie, LIU Writing Program ESL Coordinator

Thursday, November 4, 2010
1:30 -2:30 p.m.
Spector Lounge
Humanities Building, 4th Floor

"What does __________ mean?"
"Well, that depends."
"On what?"

Why does new vocabulary matter so much when college students read challenging texts? Can we assume that our students know what certain words mean, words that seem obvious to us as instructors? How can we find out if students comprehend words or not? What should our approach be when they don’t know or misinterpret the meaning of a word?

Kindly RSVP to Deborah Mutnick at deborah.mutnick@liu.edu.