I realized a few days ago that I never posted a link to this. Here is my paper from Monmouth’s graduate program symposium in the fall of 2008. I presented on a panel, annoyingly called “What Is Literature?,” alongside Sara Van Ness, who presented some work from her upcoming book on Watchmen.

My paper was a rough draft of what would eventually become my article on N. Katherine Hayles in the spring 2009 issue of The Quarterly Conversation. I thought it went well and both Sara and I got some excellent questions and comments from the audience.

This was also the first Monmouth English symposium done after I stopped coordinating them and it was a great afternoon with some fantastic panels. Sara and I would be on a panel together again in the spring of 2009, which was one of my last acts as a student at Monmouth.

New Horizons For The Literary: N. Katherine Hayles’ Vision For The Future Of Literature

I am happy to announce my participation in this semester’s graduate symposium for our English program at Monmouth. This semester I will be taking part in a round table discussion about academic writing and publishing. It is a great privilege that Dr. Kristin Bluemel will be moderating and my thesis adviser, Dr. David Tietge (no link: ahem), will also be participating.

I will be sure to arrive early to check out Meghan Kutz’s presentation on orientalism in British travel writing. I have had the pleasure of speaking to her about her research and it is quite impressive.

Here is the complete schedule:

LITERATURE MATTERS

Graduate Student Symposium

Monmouth University Department of English

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Wilson Hall, Room 106

PROGRAM

10:00 to 11:30 Session 1: Colonial and Post-Colonial Readings

Moderator: Dr. Sejal Sutaria

Veronica Guevara “Cultural Conflict–or Synthesis? Revised Double Consciousness, Engaged Resistance, and Man’s Relationship with Nature, Time, and Humanity in Vahni Capildeo’s ‘No Traveller Returns’”

Meghan Kutz, “Orientalism in 1930s British Travel Writing on China”

Shanna Williams, “Feminism in Indian Literature”

11:30 to 12:30 Roundtable: Writing and Publishing

Moderator: Dr. Kristin Bluemel

Participants: Dr. Sue Starke, Dr. David Tietge, Sara Van Ness, William P. Wend, Kim Rogers

12:30 to 1:30 Lunch

1:30 to 3:00 Session 2: Literature and Composition Today

Moderator: Dr. Elizabeth Gilmartin

Lisa Pikaard, “Moral Ambiguity in a World in Turmoil: Harry Potter’s Global Implications”

Jenn Ernst, “The Hunter and the Hunted: Drug Use/Abuse and the Failings of the 60s in H. S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”

Jana Phelps, “Amending Writing Composition Instruction to Fulfill the Needs of the Contemporary Student”