The Inkwell

This will be the last Chapel for this semester.  Devotional thoughts will be led by Dr. Steven Weathers and the ENGL 499 class.

This Week: Tony Hoagland At McMurry

Award-winning poet and University of Houston prof Tony Hoagland will be on the campus of McMurry U. this Thursday and Friday, March 25-26.

Take our word for it. This guy is good. [See sample poem below]

Hoagland’s books of poetry are consistently personal and satirical, digging deep into the underbelly of the contemporary American dream. Defying expectations of what is “polite” enough to be poetry, Hoagland is to American poetry what a great Indie band is to the cookie cutter streaming of mainstream pop. This is a witty poet with an ironic edge, the sort of man who would entitle his third volume of poems What Narcissism Means to Me and write poems such as “Fred Had Watched a Lot of Kung Fu Episodes,” “Poem in Which I Make the Mistake of Comparing Billie Holiday to a Cosmic Washerwoman,” and “Hate Hotel.”

So what’s not to like? Head over to McMurry for the following free events:

Thurs., March 25 3 p.m. - Discussion on the craft of writing poetry (Garrison Campus Center Chapel)

Thurs., March 25 7:30 p.m. – Poetry Reading (Ryan Recital Hall: back side 2nd floor of Main Chapel)

Friday, March 26 9 a.m. – Lecture: “Clown and Scalpel: The Poem as Social Critique” (Ryan Fine Arts Foyer)

Critics Say…

“It’s hard to imagine any aspect of contemporary American life that couldn’t make its way into the writing of Tony Hoagland or a word in common or formal usage he would shy away from. He is a poet of risk: he risks wild laughter in poems that are totally heartfelt, poems you want to read out loud to anyone who needs to know the score and even more so to those who think they know the score. The framework of his writing is immense, almost as large as the tarnished nation he wandered into under the star of poetry.” —Jackson Prize Citation

Sample Poem

A Color of the Sky

by Tony Hoagland

Tony Hoagland, “A Color of the Sky” from What Narcissism Means to Me. Copyright © 2003 by Tony Hoagland. Reprinted with the permission of Graywolf Press, St. Paul, Minnesota, www.graywolfpress.org.

Born:

Duncan, Oklahoma

Grew Up In: Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming and Alaska

Education: B.A. Economics, Yale University; MFA Creative Writing, U. of Houston

Short Stories: The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Cosmopolitan, and various journals

Books: Home Ground (short story collection), Exotic (novel)

Awards: John Irving First Novel Prize, Rattle Magazine Poetry Prize, James Culp Distinguished Prof. of English 2008-11

Recent Publication: “Take Nothing For the Journey Except a Staff: Teaching Fiction Workshop,” chapter in The Word in the English Classroom, ACU Press 2009.

Spouse: Joyce Haley teaches advertising classes in the JMC Department

Child: Coleman Haley is a middle schooler at Abilene Christian Schools, an omnivorous reader and a fan of multi-syllabic rare words

What Others Have Said About Albert Haley’s Work

HOME GROUND: Stories of Two Families and the Land

“It accumulates through self-contained narratives an ambitious near-novel rich in meaning…”  The New York Times 

“…the best fiction we have about contemporary Alaska.”  Larry McMurtry

“I think Home Ground is terrifc.” Raymond Carver

 EXOTIC

“Exotic takes off like a rocket.” L.A. Times

 “It’s easy to see oneself in this novel…. Exchanges between the newly married pair echoed through my mind like conversations out of my own bedroom, laying bare forgotten pains.”  The Oakland Press

“Read as a fable of two fallible mortals who say no to some things and yes to others, Exotic is as sweet and satisfying as a papaya peeled and presented by the one you love.”  L.A. Herald Examiner

In the Beginning

On the porch of Wm. Faukner's house, Oxford, MS 2006

When Al and  Joyce Haley arrived at ACU in the fall of 1997, William Jefferson Clinton was embarking upon his second term as president. Princess Diana had died after being pursued by papparazi into a fatal Paris tunnel. Consumer Reports again opined that there had never been more reliable cars made than those bearing the Toyota badge.

In the world of American publishing three of the best novels Al has ever read appeared that year: Don DeLillo’s Underworld, American Pastoral by Philip Roth, and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. At the movies the buzz was that director James Cameron had squandered a hundred million dollars on a romantic film that was bound to be a box office bust. Come December, Titanic would prove the cynics wrong.

As for Abilene there was no Cinemark movie multiplex or Old Navy. On the ACU campus plays were performed in the dark, grim echo chamber of Sewell Theater and, if students wanted to jog around campus, they took their chances navigating bumpy grass and dodging gopher holes; the Lumsford Trail wasn’t even yet a rumor. As for technology, student cell phones were as rare as West Texas rain. In the English Department computer writing labs Al noted instructions at each station telling students how to use the mouse.

Flash ahead a decade and a bit more and we’re well into the 21^st Century. Much has changed at ACU and all of it is for the better as Al states in the brief interview that appears below.

Q & A With Al Haley

What the best thing that’s happened for you in your time at ACU?  That’s easy. It’s been having the opportunity to help build undergrad creative writing to the level where we now have three different genre workshops each year (poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction) and that the students coming out of the workshops regularly see their work recognized in national and regional contests. Just since 2002 our students have won 9 firsts and 13 seconds. Nothing gets me more excited than having students produce excellent writing and seeing others validate it for them.

 As the Culp Professor what are you currently working on?  I’m revising a novel with the working title of Evangel. It’s about four couples living in the suburbs who get together every Sunday night to share what’s happening in their lives and pray. The drama is that miraculous things seem to be happening to each of them when no one else is around. “Evangel,” by the way is the old way of referring to the four gospels collectively.

 Do you have anything else you plan to write in the short term?  Yes. I’ve written a few poems about extra-biblical moments in the life of Jesus. I’d like to write enough of these poems to have a whole book. My intention is to focus on the humanity of Christ which I think is often overlooked. At times he must have been dusty and had blisters on his feet. We read about his baptism by John in the river Jordan, but what was it like when Jesus had to take an ordinary bath?

How do you go about writing something?  It begins at 5:30 a.m. with a cup of coffee while everyone else in the house is asleep. I almost always write about something I’ve already been going over in my mind. I may have a few notes at hand, too. I write pretty quickly on my trusty Dell laptop. A thousand words an hour? I’m not very conscious of what the exact words are that I’m writing. It’s only when I’m revising that I see some things and I’m surprised and think, hey, that’s pretty good, did I write that? More often I’m horrified—Oh no, how could I have gone off on such a self-indulgent, cliché tangent? Thank heavens for the delete key.

What are some inspirations for your work?  For me it starts with Ernest Hemingway, all of whose books I’ve read and continue to read. Hemingway shows me how to activate the reader’s senses to make him or her feel like they are walking around in the story. That’s the effect I strive for, a sort of virtual reality in prose. I also love how the Russians (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy) wrestle explicitly with what the world means. My other inspiration comes from music. I love the grand passions of classical music. I’ve also absorbed the rhythms and the impolite attitude of rock ‘n’ roll. I like for my fiction and poetry style to be energetic and urgent as if I’ve got the reader by the lapels and I’m saying, hey, you’ve got to hear these words.

Tell us about the most recent book you read.  I have to single out And Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris because it just really wowed me. This 2008 novel is narrated by an anonymous “we” who tells the stories of various white collar workers at a Chicago advertising agency as layoffs are starting to affect everyone. It’s a bit like The Office, including some of the crazy things people do at work, but it has a hundred times more pathos. You realize how wounded all these people are and that the folks at work function as family. It’s just a masterful first novel. I’m happy to say it was recommended to me by one of my former students.

What are you really like? Honestly, I”m an extremely shy person. That’s why for the first four decades of my life I never imagined myself standing in front of 15-20 people, opening my mouth and telling everyone what to do. Because of my introversion I long ago fled to writing. I think of a Hemingway quote: “The writer must write what he has to say, not speak it.” When I wrote, I was free to be anyone I wanted; I could communicate in the boldest fashion possible. Obviously, I had to change my ways once I decided to become a professor. Without the help of God I don’t think I could even have done it. These days I still enjoy my time alone, but I now know what I was missing when I sequestered myself all those years and tried to avoid having much contact with people. And I have to say I really enjoy being around students–because of their energy and special perspective and because they don’t have their minds made up about everything.

What do you think is the most important thing in the Bible?  For me it has to be love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself, but…  Lately, I’ve become enamored of Jesus’ final words at the end of the Gospel of Matthew. Not the “go ye into all the world,” but the absolutely final statement: I am with you until the end of the world. This is what I’ve seized upon, the idea that Jesus in the form of the Holy Spirit is actually with me. Invisible but present. Whatever I’m going through, I can’t claim to be abandoned because he’s so close I can reach out and touch him.

Amanda Musick is looking to hire 2 Project Coordinators.

If you are interested, email Amanda Musick at amusick@akorbi.com

The job is in North Dallas (in the Farmers Branch area)

Here is the job description:

Akorbi Language Consulting, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is a rapidly growing trusted provider of foreign language translation, interpretation, language and cultural training, localization, and technology solutions.

Akorbi is certified as ISO 9001:2000 for quality assurance and also certified as a woman-owned business (WBE and 8a). Akorbi also operates from additional locations including Bangalore, Buenos Aires, Houston, Hyderabad and Medellin to cater to global customers. Akorbi serves a variety of Fortune 1000 companies, high profile non-profit organizations and the public sector.

Akorbi Language Consulting is the recipient of many business awards and recognitions, some of them include Woman-Owned Business Enterprise of the year by the NCTRCA. Mayor’s Entrepreneur Award at the Fort Worth Entrepreneur Expo and the Microentrepreneur of the Year by Wachovia and ACCION Texas.

We are looking for a production coordinator with the following:

Skills

• Highly effective communication skills both written and verbal
• Proven ability to manage multiple tasks and juggle priorities
• Intermediate computer skills: Microsoft Office Suite, Outlook, Adobe, QuickBooks Organization skills
• Ability to handle a high volume of emails and organize by tasks/projects
• Time management
• Ability to manage long term and short term priorities
• Ability to understand and work with margins, estimates and invoices

Requirements

• Experience with project or production coordination
• 4 year degree in a related field (for ex: business management, advertising, translations)
• Experience in translation industry preferred
• Bilingual Preferred (Preferred language: Spanish, Chinese, German, Hindi, Urdu or Korean language skills)
• Proven performance in a fast pace environment
• Ability to perform in a high stress position

Daily Responsibilities

• Creating estimates and entering invoices
• Matching skilled contractors with job requirements in the language and translation field
• Recruiting and hiring of contract language professionals (mainly via email and phone screens)
• Coordinating in-house teams for projects
• Coordinating activities between corporate offices in Texas and the offshore staff
• Managing relationships with vendors
• Clarify project expectations with clients
• Answering emails related to projects: ability to handle a high volume of emails in the inbox and organize them by task/project
• On-time delivery of final projects

This position is a high volume, deadline driven, multi-tasking position that interfaces with external vendors and language professionals and the internal departments within the company. It requires attention to detail, superior organizational skills and the ability to communicate effectively with all stakeholders. Stress levels can be high during peak periods. This is a perfect position for someone looking to use their organizational and communication skills to have a positive impact on the operation.

Culture: high energy, team oriented, multi-tasking, positive, “get it done” attitude

Dress code: Business Casuals

Pay Range: $30,000 – $36,000 base

Hiring Organization: www.akorbi.com

Amanda Musick

Akorbi Language Consulting

An ISO-9001 certified company

4100 Spring Valley Rd, Suite 203, Dallas, TX 75244
(w) 214-736-8358 | (f) 214-594-5908 | (c) 214-938-5810
(e) amusick@akorbi.com| www.akorbi.com

Services: Translations | Interpretation | Localization | Staffing | Technology Solutions
Locations: Dallas | Houston | Buenos Aires | | Medellin | Bangalore | Hyderabad

Have questions?
Check out our blog at http://www.akorbi.com/blog

INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO PRINT A DEGREE EVALUATION

1. Log on to MyACU.
2. Click on the Banner tab at the top left corner of the screen.
3. Select the Student & Financial Aid option.
4. Click on Student Records.
5. Click on Degree Evaluation.
6. At the very bottom, center of the screen, there should be four different options. Select the Generate New Evaluation option.
7. Select your major, and Spring 2010 as the Term, in the drop down box.
8. Click on Generate Request. (Don’t be concerned if it takes a while to load)
9. On the next screen select Detailed Requirements and then click Submit.
10. Print

George Wilmeth Ewing, 87, of Abilene, passed away Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at Hendrick Medical Center. His service will be held at 10:00 am, Monday February 15th, 2010 at University Church of Christ, 733 E.N. 10th, under the direction of Piersall-Benton funeral directors. A visitation will be from 2:00-4:30 on Sunday at the fellowship hall of the church.

Upon his birth in 1923, to Pat and Genie Ewing in Robstown, he became a 5th generation Texan. He spent his youth in various communities of the lower Rio Grande Valley, eventually graduating from Corpus Christi High School.

With the advent of World War II he found himself in the U.S. Army Air Force teaching advanced electronic/radar courses in Boca Raton, FL. In nearby Ft. Lauderdale he met Mellisse Ann Miller, the love of his life and married, March 1, 1946.

Later that year they returned to Texas, where he completed his BA in Bible and Greek, Magna Cum Laude, at Abilene Christian University in 1948. Through the years with the support of his “Lissie” and family he earned MA and PhD degrees with English major and Greek minor at The University of Texas. He spent 37 years teaching English, including chairing the Department of English with ACU.

Daddy learned to work with his father and family early in his life in order to survive the Great Depression. His love of work continued throughout his life. He advocated that “there is honor in all work, that after all we are laboring for our Master, and Saviour, Jesus Christ.” He was a good carpenter, constructing his and Lissie’s home in Abilene. Additionally he loved to preach the Gospel and did so to more than 180 groups/congregations. Most recently here at the Coronado Nursing Home.

He was a member of numerous organizations including his beloved Texas Folklore Society since 1974 where he was President (1995-96) and member of the board. He published numerous folklore articles, as well as the book, The Well-Tempered Lyre: Songs and Poems of the temperance Movement, SMU press and edited and indexed John Locke’s The Reasonableness of Christianity 1965 and still in print with the 1998 edition. In addition he wrote numerous poems, articles for Christian publications and several hymns including “Sin Sorrow of Six Thousand Years.” Great Songs of the Church ACU Press 1986. He read his last professional paper in 2005 at the Texas Folk Lore Society meeting in El Paso, “Folksy, But Devout, Bookkeeping.”

He was an eclectic man of great curiosity, whose activities included carving of wood especially custom walking sticks of all sorts, abstract paintings, rock and wood sculptures, ink and pencil drawings including his locally famous “doodles.”

George loved music of all kinds but especially vocal acappella music. He was a member of the A Club at ACU as an undergraduate, as well as a member of the A Cappella Quartet. He continued his interest in music throughout his life teaching singing schools, leading singing, and providing music for marriages and funerals.

He attributed his remarkable health (only one-half day of work lost to sickness, 1944-1992) to his varied diet and his dedication to exercise. He treasured his gymnastic performance with Ben Zickefoose. He quietly gloried in his weight lifting contest successes in 1950 (UT). His personal records at age 41 include 450 lb. squat, 525 lb. deadlift as well as a lock-out squat of 946 lbs. while he was a graduate student at UT. At age 73 he hiked 26 miles in one day!

He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters and a brother. He is survived by his wife Mellisse Ann Ewing of Abilene, a son Tom Wallace Ewing (Julie) of Norman, OK, four daughters: Kathryn Ray Campbell (James) of San Antonio, Virginia Ann Whitmire (Mark) of Richmond, VA, Patricia Leigh Ewing Graves (Tim) of Austin and Stephanie Hope Ewing of Norman, OK and a grandson he raised as a son, Jason Tobias Ewing of Houston, TX. In addition he is survived by a sister Nina Sawey of Victoria, TX, sister-in-law Beth Ewing of Tupelo, MS and a brother-in-law Andrew Samo of Corpus Christi, TX, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Additionally, grandchildren April (Donnie McBride), Darcey (Clay Segers), Jonathan (Leslie Ewing), and Kevin Ewing (Tom’s children),

Sunshine (Shawn Stanek) and Brooke (Page Cole) (Kathy’s daughters), Brie and Elizabeth Whitmire (Virginia’s daughters), Courtney and Erin Graves (Patricia’s daughters), Jason and Chris Ewing (Stephanie’s sons).

Great grandchildren include Christy, William, and Joshua McBride (April’s children), Mycah Segers (Darcey’s daughter), Luke, Graham, and Blair Ewing (Jonathan’s children), Kirby and Campbell Stanek (Sunshine’s children), Bo and Jet Cole (Brooke’s sons).

Donations may be made in honor of Dr. Ewing to the Mellisse and George Ewing Vocal Scholarship Fund, Department of Music, Box 28274, Abilene, TX 79699 or to a charity of your choice. Condolences can be offered to the family online at www.pbfuneraldirectors.com.

This obituary appeared in the Abilene Reporter News on February 12, 2010.