I spent this morning with Megan Keadle, Hannah Dutko, Craig Meyer, Mary Maupin, Charity Gibson, and Dr. Cadle at the graduate interdisciplinary forum. I checked into the forum around 8 a.m. with Lucas and Ethan (my husband and little baby) after braving a walk in what the weather people like to call a "wintry mix." (read: cold as all frickin get out.) Was it worth it? I would have to say yes. (Ethan and Lucas split after my reading ... I stayed for the duration.) It was interesting to see the variety of presentations (see my title of this post) and read the various abstracts.
I chose to read a short story from my thesis -- I was the only fiction writer to present. I have to be honest and say that I don't think it was necessarily what the "judges" were looking for (yes, there were judges for this, which was a little strange) but I'm glad I did it -- "represent" the fiction crowd, so to speak. Megan presented a piece about her experience with a basic writer, which was amazing. Hannah presented about the advantages/disadvantages of personal writing in composition - fascinating! Craig presented on the effects of text messaging on quality of writing. A student named Landis presented a piece on Hamlet, which was picked as a finalist for the forum. Mary and Charity presented poster presentations from their papers in Dr. Weaver's class last semester. All in all, the English department showed, in my opinion, a nice reflection of those of us that haunt the halls of Pummill.
Craig Meyer and Mary Maupin received awards at the award ceremony -- Craig for Outstanding Graduate Research Assistant and Mary for Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant. Go English peeps! :) I think it's pretty awesome that out of the three awards given to graduate students, the English program received two. (I think that's right, at least -- don't quote me, I have to admit by then I was hungry and the cheese cubes weren't quite cutting it.)
I would recommend this forum to those of you who didn't submit this year -- it was a nice day, and there was a great energy in the PSU, especially in the room full of poster presentations. It just feels good to be around people who care about what they study as much as I do. The best part was listening to what my friends/colleagues had to say. I'm continually inspired and challenged by you amazing people. OK, now I'm off to enjoy my baby! It is Saturday, after all, even for a graduate student.
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2 comments:
Thanks for summarizing our experience for everyone else. And of course, I am so proud of Craig and Mary and Eric, who was also nominated. I definitely would do it again; it was worth getting up earlier.
Also, thanks for letting me take your piece home. I read it that night, drinking my tea. It was really good! I'm sorry I missed you reading it aloud. What a good representation of the fiction-ers in our department.
thanks, hannah! i'm so glad you enjoyed the story. :)
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