From the Archive: Shakespeare and Fun

Professor Emeritus Don Hedrick shares highlights from his recently released book Shakespeare and Fun: The Birth of Entertainment Value (Bloomsbury, 2025) Since our blog debuted in 2017, we have published 500+ posts.  While some of you may have been with us from the start (thank you, loyal readers!), others may have joined us more recently. … Continue reading From the Archive: Shakespeare and Fun

Found Object: Thanksgiving Break

Location: 2nd Floor, English Counseling Services BuildingObject: Whiteboard (November 2025)Observations: 1) Since 2023, the whiteboard on the 2nd floor of ECS has continued to pose questions, ask for opinions, and prompt stories.  2) For the past two weeks, it has been collecting suggestions for the Thanksgiving Break that can "genuinely restore" us to ourselves. 3) … Continue reading Found Object: Thanksgiving Break

2025 Mock Caldecott

Some of the 2025 picture books under consideration for this year's Mock Caldecott Now in its 18th year, the Mock Caldecott is a joint endeavor between the English Department and the Children's and Adolescent Literature Community (ChALC), one of our department-sponsored student organizations, with support from the Manhattan Public Library (MPL). In the pre-COVID times, … Continue reading 2025 Mock Caldecott

Found Object: SAGE Colloquium 2015

Location: Department digital archivesObject: Flyer (December 2015)Observations: 1) Since well before my arrival to the department in 2000, there has been a SAGE Colloquium.  2) This annual contribution to the department's Fall Colloquia Series is sponsored by SAGE -- the Student Association of Graduates in English -- in concert with the department and our Graduate … Continue reading Found Object: SAGE Colloquium 2015

From the Archive: Undergrad Student Spotlight: Alexander Hurla

Alexander Hurla (BA ’22) Since our blog debuted in 2017, we have published 500+ posts.  While some of you may have been with us from the start (thank you, loyal readers!), others may have joined us more recently. So, we're highlighting periodically some of the posts that have garnered a lot of views or that … Continue reading From the Archive: Undergrad Student Spotlight: Alexander Hurla

October 2025 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Philip Nel's contribution to the OUPblog titled "Turn off AI. Pick up a crayon" (10 Oct 2025).  Each month during the academic year, we assemble a newsletter of the department's recent publications, presentations, announcements, and awards. We're happy to recognize the recent successes in research, scholarship, and creative activity outlined below.  Want to catch up … Continue reading October 2025 Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Poetry and Community

A slip from the Dream Nest submitted by a visitor to the Guggenheim Museum's Dream Walks (2025) This year I have been traveling back and forth between Manhattan, Kansas, where I live, and Manhattan in New York City for my role as the Poet-in-Residence at the Guggenheim Museum. In Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard says … Continue reading Poetry and Community

Serenity of Cinema

George Colburn (BA '26), president of the Wildcat Film Appreciation Society The first semester of my sophomore year, still lost in this new college life, having seen their posters in my dorm, I attended every screening of the foreign film festival of the Wildcat Film Appreciation Society. I remember little apart from the movies themselves, … Continue reading Serenity of Cinema

Spotlight on Faculty, Fall 2025

Anne Longmuir, D. Kimball Smith, and Greg Eiselein at the inaugural "Spotlight on Faculty," with moderator and Director of Undergraduate Studies Tom Sarmiento (23 Oct 2025) On Thursday, October 23, 2025, students and faculty gathered in Hale Library to get a behind-the-scenes look at three English professors’ lives. The inaugural event, “Spotlight on Faculty,” featured … Continue reading Spotlight on Faculty, Fall 2025

Found Object: Best Part of Halloween / Dia de los Muertos

Location: 2nd Floor, English Counseling Services BuildingObject: Whiteboard (October 2025)Observations: 1) Since 2023, the whiteboard on the 2nd floor of ECS has continued to pose questions, ask for opinions, and prompt stories.  2) For the past two weeks, it has been collecting favorite moments to get ready for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. 3) … Continue reading Found Object: Best Part of Halloween / Dia de los Muertos