Of course, I like to read — I'm an English major — but it might surprise you that many of my favorite books have been banned, challenged in libraries, and even made recurring appearances on the American Library Association’s yearly lists of the 10 most banned or challenged books. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird … Continue reading Banned Books Week
Over the summer I went to the Equator where the sun rises straight up and twelve hours later it sets straight down, like it really means it. Always. I went to the ancient city of Quito, high in the Andes, where a Franciscan church from the brutal Spanish colonial period lies above an Incan temple … Continue reading Summer Study in Ecuador
Editors' note: We asked some English Department faculty members to share one, or some, of their summer adventures — academic or otherwise. Here's Part 2 (of 2), answering the age-old essay prompt: "How did you spend your summer vacation?" At the end of June, a record number of K-State English faculty, current graduate students, and … Continue reading How I Spent My Summer: Part 2
Editors' note: We asked some English Department faculty members to share one, or some, of their summer adventures — academic or otherwise. Here's Part 1 (of 2), answering the age-old essay prompt: "How did you spend your summer vacation?" There are two things my 4-year-old miniature Schnauzer Dates does well. One is barking at … Continue reading How I Spent My Summer: Part 1
There’s a popular British TV quiz show called Pointless. Contestants win by coming up with answers to general knowledge questions that no one else thought of (or at least not the hundred random people interviewed by BBC television researchers). If asked to name a nineteenth-century woman writer, I’m pretty sure I could win a … Continue reading Digital Mitford: The Mary Russell Mitford Archive
The relocation of Counseling Services to Sunset Avenue not only prompted discoveries in offices long-occupied by English Department faculty in Eisenhower Hall and Leasure Hall, as documented in last week's post. The move also made visible original features of the building known first as the Student Health Center and then as Lafene until, in 2004, … Continue reading Summer Relocations II
For many of us, it's a strange situation: The new semester has begun, but Hale Library, which suffered catastrophic fire-related damage this summer, is closed. There's no studying in the Great Room, no access to most of the collections, not even a single Einstein's bagel in sight. It's sad and even disorienting. The library is … Continue reading Three Areas for Quiet Study
The summer of 2018 brought an event that some faculty in English had thought might never happen: the opportunity to relocate into one building. Since the demolition of Denison Hall in 2005 and our removal to the first and basement floors of a partially-renovated Lafene the previous year, the English Department has remained stretched between … Continue reading Summer Relocations I
They've made it (almost) though their first week of grad school at Kansas State, so please meet and welcome and maybe even buy a drink for our new group of English graduate students -- Name: Katie Cline Hometown: Jacksonville, Alabama Alma mater: Jacksonville State University Area of study: Children’s Literature Please tell us something … Continue reading Meet the New Grad Students
The roads are a bit harder to navigate, the lines at the grocery store are a bit longer, and the campus sidewalks bustle with activity -- it's the start of the fall semester at Kansas State University, and we're looking forward to a number of great events in the weeks ahead. Here are a few … Continue reading Fall Preview
