The Inkwell

This year, Sigma Delta Pi has over 20 members. It’s fantastic to see this great organization growing and doing so well!  Pictured below are current members, though several are missing.

Yesterday, four of our graduating seniors were honored during the University Scholars chapel. Congratulations to James Churchill, Alyssa Johnson, Kirby Lemon, and Lauren Shrader on the recognition of all their hard work over the years! Pictured below are the recipients and their nominating faculty.

From left to right: Kirby Lemon, Paul Roggendorff, Joe Stephenson, Alyssa Johnson, James Churchill, Al Haley, Steve Weathers, and Lauren Shrader

On Thursday, April 7, Sigma Delta Pi had a night of celebration for the presentation of the new volume of Hispaniola and to induct 12 new members. Current senior members were also given their graduation cords and many well-wishes for the future. The speaker for the night was Dr. Doug Foster, and other department directors showed their support for SDP as well, including Dr. Gary Green, Dr. Ron Morgan, and Dr. Pat Hernandez. Pictured below are some of the new SDP members. Felicitaciones! Congratulations to them all on their great achievement.

Current senior members of Sigma Delta Pi with cords for graduation

New inductees into Sigma Delta Pi

Photo by Larry E. Fink

On Thursday, April 14, our department brought poet Jonathan Fink to the elegant setting of the ballroom of The Grace Museum during an ArtWalk evening.

Upwards of 100 people attended, including five entrants in the “Dress as Your Favorite Poet” costume contest. (The winner was “Sylvia Path”.)

Following the seductive acoustic guitar playing of veteran musician Dan Mitchell (ACU Dept. of Music), Jonathan took to the podium and immediately wowed the audience with a reading of his long poem “The Sea of Galilee.”

This poem, which appeared originally in The New England Review, traces the history of the famous painting by Rembrandt from the moment paint is brushed on canvas to centuries later when it is slashed in its frame by thieves, rolled up, and stolen from a Boston Museum (to this day the painting remains unrecovered).

It was a perfect instance of Fink’s method of focusing his poems on less well-known historical events or seeing familiar ones from a new perspective. An example of the latter was his reading of “The Prodigal Son,” a poem which imagines what the story would have been like if it told of the women who surely must have been present at the time in the form of a mother, sisters, and others.

The evening concluded with poems from Fink’s sequence looking at the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City. Those poems were augmented with archival black and white photos projected on a screen.

Following a packed special poetry chapel, a lunch with graduate students, and a class session on revising one’s prose, the evening reading was a perfect capper to this celebration of National Poetry Month spent in the presence of a stellar poet.

The Department of Language and Literature is delighted to announce that the award-winning poet Jonathan Fink will be coming to campus on Thursday, April 14. Fink has authored two poetry collections and received the Bronze Medal in Poetry in the 2015 Florida Book Awards, as well as been named by Poets & Writers magazine as one of America’s 10 best “2015 Debut Poets.”

Fink will be a guest host for a special departmental chapel at 11 a.m. and give a public reading at The Grace Museum ballroom from 7-7:50 p.m. The evening poetry reading will be followed by a book signing of Fink’s new, highly praised collection of poems, The Crossing.

Before his reading at The Grace, Fink will also have the following schedule on Thursday:

• 11 a.m. Talk about poetry and read poems in a special department chapel
• Noon. Discuss writing over lunch with English M.A. students
• 3 p.m. Talk about literary nonfiction techniques to Prof. Haley’s Eng. 320/520 Creative Nonfiction Workshop

The Department of Language and Literature is also hosting a “Dress as Your Favorite Poet” costume contest. Any ACU student can enter, and the winner will receive $50. To enter, just dress up and come to The Grace Museum ballroom on Thursday night, April 14 at 6:45. Participants will be judged before the poetry reading begins at 7 p.m.

Fink has received several other poetry awards and fellowships, including a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His poems and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, New England Review and others. It is an honor to have this Abilenian poet come back to his hometown and share his work, so come out and show your support.

To learn more about Fink and his work, visit his website: http://jonathanfink.com/

Adam Nettina has signed a contract to publish a multi-discipline feature entitled “Steinbeck’s Blueprint For Resistance” (tentative) with World War II magazine, a national publication that prints six times each year and is sold on major bookstore newsstands across the country. Nettina, a first-year graduate student focusing on creative writing, will detail the origins of Steinbeck’s 1942 novella, The Moon Is Down, in the 3,000 word feature, which will draw attention to the author’s connections with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and other World War II propaganda organizations. Taking a critical look at the events that inspired the novel’s genesis, as well as its effect on the people under Nazi occupation in Europe, Nettina’s story will detail the vividly explore the backstory of a timeless work of American literature.

Nettina is no stranger to military history, having published a feature article in World War II magazine’s sister publication, Military History, last November. He has another feature debuting in August’s Military History, and wrote a 3,500 word article on the Spanish civil war in the January 2016 of Naval History magazine. His upcoming feature in World War II, however, will be the first time he has transitioned his coursework at ACU into a feature publication.

The paper is the product of close work with Professor Al Haley, ACU’s Writer-in-Residence, who encouraged Adam to submit a proposal to the magazine when brainstorming topics for the final paper in one of Dr. Haley’s graduate classes. The class, called “Books We Read Too Young,” examines canonical works of literature that students would like to reexamine after  an extended absence. Aside from reading and discussing The Moon Is Down, students have also examined To Kill a Mockingbird, The Golden Compass, Slaughterhouse Five, and other novels.

More information on the magazine, World War II can be found  HERE.

Communications Intern for the Anglican Church in North America

Type: Full time

Deadline: Mar. 1, 2016

Duration: Mid-May through June

Where: Near Atlanta, GA

Perks:

• projects that matter
• opportunities to grow
• mentorship
• church family
• housing
• stipend

What they are looking for:

• creativity
• motivation
• hard work
• personal transportation
• laptop
• “can do” attitude
• technical skills in Adobe products (e.g. InDesign and Photoshop)

Application process: submit the following information

• name
• educational institution
• resume
• portfolio

Submit to: Rev. Cn. Andrew Gross – andrew.gross@anglicanchurch.net, Director of Communications and Media Relations

Description: It provides opportunity to contribute to communications efforts of four different levels of an international church: the congregations, the diocese, the province, and a parachurch organization. It is a unique chance to experience the distinct priorities of each entity and the interrelationship between them.

Example Projects:

• Congregation – writing stories to highlight members and ministry of Holy Cross; develop video series explaining Anglicanism
• Diocese – develop network of “citizen journalists” across diocese
• Province – develop flyers and booklets for the Council; setup interviews with key leaders of the Council
• Parachurch – produce video of Archbishop Beach to publish on the web

Are you unsure about whether or not to apply for an internship? Are you unsure as to what type of internship to look for? A recent graduate from the Language and Literature program has given some advice when it comes to picking an internship and planning for post-graduation work.

“Because my greatest passions are writing and helping others, I decided to pursue internships that would allow me to develop my skills in these areas while padding out my experience at the same time. Moving from arts reporting with ACU’s student newspaper, I found success writing album reviews and feature articles for The Appetizer Radio Show, a venture started by an Abilene graduate. At the same time, I spent a portion of my summer providing administrative assistance for the International Rescue Committee, which works to resettle refugees and asylees from around the world.

These two internships pushed me to strengthen my abilities and remember to keep other people’s interests above my own. While it’s important to bolster your résumé proactively to stand out from other applicants when the time comes, internships that reflect your deepest interests are also an excellent way to reflect a rounded personality on paper; after my time with The Appetizer and IRC, my prospective employer was impressed that I had something to show for my talents and passions beyond academia!” – Richard Lyne, 2015

If you are looking for an internship opportunity where you can get paid for your writing, apply today!