Alumni

Notes



Meet Virginia
Jackson
1

What are they
Doing Now?
4

On Being an
English Major
6

Faculty
News
8
Faculty Book
and Movie
Recommendations
5

IN THIS ISSUE:
Someone is sitting in your chairor in the
chair that used to be yours. As the academic
year gets under way, the classrooms of Eaton
and Braker and Tisch are filled with a new crop
of English majors as eager to
plunge into coursework this
term as you were when you
walked the Hill. Though you
may not have a seat in the
class, you can still be part of
the East Hall community; you
can still have access to the
provocative ideas and the
powerful thinking that keeps
the classes of the English
Department full. Thats why
we r e i ni t i a t i ng t hi s
newsletter: to keep you in
touch with the English
Department and the peoplefaculty, students,
and staffwho make it what it is.
Over the summer more than a
thousand of you received an email message
asking for suggestions about what youd like us
to include in a departmental newsletter like
this. We heard back from a surprisingly large
number of alums (and we still hope to hear
from many more) with a host of wonderful
ideas. Youll find, as a result, a
section devoted to what some of
you have been up to since
graduation and another section
containing short recollections by
alums of their experiences as
English majors at Tufts.
But there are countless
other directions in which this
fledgling enterprise can go.
Possibilities for the future, if
there is interest out there,
include bulletin boards for people
seeking to contact alums or
former teachers; a forum for
alums and faculty to share their thoughts on
books and films; a regular listing of
noteworthy alum achievements (books,
screenplays, films, essays, poetry, promotions,
Lee Edelman,
Chair of the English Department
Notes from the Chair
Alumni
Notes
English Department
210 East Hall
Tufts University
Medford, MA 02155
617-627-3459
ase.tufts.edu/english

[email protected]
News from the English Department of Tufts University
Meet Virginia Jackson, New Associate Professor
This fall, Associate Professor Virginia
Jackson will join the Tufts English
Department. A specialist in nineteenth-
century poetry and in the history and theory
of the lyric, Professor Jackson will also be
teaching early American literature and
culture starting from the first contact of
English settlers in the New World. Arriving
from her most recent position at the New
School University, Professor Jackson has also
taught at NYU, Rutgers, Boston University,
Middlebury College, and Princeton, where she
received her PhD in comparative literature.
Her 2005 book, Dickinsons Misery: A Theory of
Lyric Reading, uses Emily Dickinsons work
and reception as a case study for charting
shifts in the circulation and reading of lyric
poetry. Professor Jackson also serves as the co-
editor of the American Section of The Poetess
Archive, and The Poetess Archive Journal,
online at http://www.orgs.muohio.edu/
womenpoets/poetess/.
Continued on page 3
Continued on page 2
October 2006
O


Though some might expect that eighteenth
and nineteenth century literature would be a hard sell
to students, Professor Jackson maintains that in fact
students find it irresistible and extremely relevant. In
my experience, she says, nineteenth-century
American literature tends to naturally attract
students. Obviously, novels like Moby Dick and The
Scarlet Letter and Uncle Tom's Cabin are favorites often
before students enter the class. But it's not difficult for
students to become engaged with nineteenth-century
American history, and once they do, so much of the
literature seems so relevant to our concerns now:
women's rights, slavery, abolition, racism, Indian
rights, war, pacifism, political dissent, sex. Douglass's
Fourth of July speech or
Emerson's "Experience"
just are absorbingI
don't think that students
can resist texts like that.
Recently, I' ve been
teaching Melville's Civil
War poems, asking
students to think about
the rhetoric of war and
peace.
Current political relevance, however, is not
the only reason for studying the literature Professor
Jackson teaches, some of which requires specific
historical contextualization: I love the sentimental
and political and occasional poetry of the nineteenth
century, she says, and in the classroom, those
context-dependent poems really come alive, because
we can talk about them. We also have a lot of fun
memorizing and reciting (a very nineteenth-century
practice).
In fact, Professor Jackson tries in a number of
different ways to reconstruct some of the reading
practices of the nineteenth century for her students.
After I finished my book on Dickinson, she says, I
found it more difficult to teach Dickinson. Because
part of what I argue in that book is that Dickinson
wrote very different sorts of poems than the poems we
now read, I found it hard to reconstruct a way of
reading poetry that would be appropriate for the
nineteenth century. As I have learned to do that, an
enormous range of historical poetic genres has opened
up. Now, I love teaching those genres. It's like
teaching a foreign language; students really learn
something.
Asked why she has chosen poetry in
particular to focus on in her career, she says, I have
always been fascinated with the intellectual tradition
of thinking about poetry. It's a funny thing to do,
when you think about it. Why have thinkers as
important as Plato, Hegel, or Heidegger or Adorno
thought so much about poetry? What is it about
poetry that seems to produce thought? On a less
highfalutin way, I'm interested in nineteenth-century
American poetry because until recently hardly anyone
else was. Recently, a
few of us have been
going back and reading
and researching a
discussing this material,
and it is thrilling to feel
as if we are 'discovering'
a literature that has
been largely unread for several decades. I also have a
perverse interest in things like meter and rhythm, but I
won't bore you with that
She sees herself as fortunate for having been
able to work in a variety of different types of
institutions and locations, each of which has offered its
own benefits: room to
grow as a teacher,
supportive and inspiring
colleagues, specialized
centers for broadening the
cultural perspective of her
project, and opportunities
to explore how public
forums have shaped
poetry. But Boston still
holds a special fascination
for Professor Jackson. Boston is a great place to [teach
nineteenth-century poetry], since so much nineteenth-
century American poetry was written in or refers to the
city, she says. I'm looking forward to coming back to
Boston, where nineteenth-century American poetry is
in some ways still very much part of the landscape. .

...so much of the literature seems so rele-
vant to our concerns now: women's rights,
slavery, abolition, racism, Indian rights,
war, pacifism, political dissent, sex.
Jackson continued from page 1

2006 Writing Prizes


The Morse Hamilton Fiction Prize
1
st
Place: Jyhjong Hwang



The Ginny Brereton prize for First-Year Writing
1
st
Place: Laura Fong



The Academy of American Poets Prize
1
st
Place: Sheena Harris, Lu Xia
Honorable Mention: Christian Eager, Thomas Keidel
O
new jobs, awards) and a series of in-depth articles
profiling individual alums. Would you like to hear more
from or about our faculty (perhaps about their books,
their classes, their current areas of interest)? More about
fellow graduates (perhaps including short essays or
think pieces that alums might care to send in)? Well
certainly have a letters column where people can write in
on anything appropriate. Tell us what youd like this
newsletter to be. And then sit down and contribute
something to make that idea a reality. All you have to do
is email your contribution to [email protected].

The exchanges that go on in the classrooms at Tufts are
challenging, enlivening, transformative. Graduation
doesnt have to mean that youre exiled from those
discussions. With this first edition of Alumni Notes: The
English Department Newsletter we welcome you anew to
the East Hall community and invite you to participate in
a conversation as vital, various, and wide-ranging as
those that fill the departments classes. Take a few
minutes to write us a letter: tell us about what youre
doing now, what youre reading, thinking, concerned
about; or write an article about an important experience
at Tufts or since graduation. Send us suggestions,
feedback, queries. This newsletter, unlike Tinkerbelle,
wont come to life just because you applaud. Give us a
hand in a different sense. Put your hand to the work of
writing, and help us to carry the light from the Hill to
the chair that youre sitting in now. .
Notes from the Chair continued from page 1
After 38 years in the Tufts English Department, Professor
Emeritus Alan Lebowitz announced his official retirement
from teaching this past spring. Professor Lebowitz arrived at
Tufts in 1968 to teach American literature and run the
creative writing program, both of which he continued to do
until the end of the 2005-2006 academic year. Professor
L e b o w i t z t a u g h t
Ad v a n c e d Fi c t i o n
Writing; Poe, Hawthorne,
Melville; Hemingway,
Fitzgerald, Faulkner; and
the Twentieth-Century
Novel, as well as related
courses. He also served as department chair for five years,
from 1982 to 1987. While having officially retired from full
professorship, Professor Lebowitz will not be leaving Tufts
behind completely: he will continue to teach on a part-time
basis, starting with Hemingway and Faulkner this fall.
What I liked most about teaching WAS teaching, the
Professor Alan Lebowitz Retires After 38 Years
action of the classroomthe vital
interaction of me, my students and the
writers I was teaching said Professor
Lebowitz of the favorite moments in
his career. And Ill miss the students,
many of whom Im still in touch with, some going all the way
back to my first years at Tufts. To
celebrate his retirement, Professor
Lebowitzs wife, Nan Levinson
(who also teaches creative writing
at Tufts), surprised him by setting
up a blog in honor of his teaching
career, where colleagues and
former students have written about their memories of him.
You can read their reminiscences or add your own by going to
http://proflebowitz.blogspot.com. Professor Lebowitz also
encourages his former students to drop him a line at
[email protected].

What I liked most about teaching [was] the
action of the classroomthe vital interaction
of me, my students and the writers I was
teaching.
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NovelistGregory Maguire 90

English teacher at Arlington High
SchoolWilliam McCarthy 02

Director of the Writing Center,
instructor in the first year
composition program, and
Coordinator of the Writing Across
the Curriculum program, Simmons
CollegeDawn Mendoza 00

Managing editor of Roll CallDavid
Meyers 96

Managing Editor, Memphis
magazineFrank Murtaugh 91

Lived in Hong Kong for four years,
visiting New Zealand, Tasmania,
Vietnam, Thailand, China, the
Philipines, and Malaysia. Currently a
stay-at-home mom of two
children.Illysia Neumann-Loreck
(nee Schindler) 90

PublicationsDon Orth 95

Writing fiction and just completed a
doctorate in education at UCLA
Jason Porter 92

Ophthalmologist with Kaiser
PermanenteGregory Gertner 96

Running the national political
organization Blue Tiger and funding
progressive political businesses
Benjamin Geyerhahn 93

Literary Coach in the Rochester City
School District, earning PhD in
Curriculum and Teaching at the
University of RochesterLaura
Rebell Gross 94

English teacher at Waltham High
SchoolJohn Hacker 95

Received a PhD in English from the
University of Maryland, specializing
in Asian American literature
Linnea Hasegawa 93

Producer at Dateline NBCKaren
Epstein Israel 98

PhysicianLaura A. James 90

Program Associate at Boston Plan
for Excellence, a non-profit that
supports Boston Public Schools in
programming, professional
development, and policySarah
Joslyn 05

Editor and critic for a variety of
magazines including Wine News and
South Florida as well as a published
poetJen Karetnick 90

Freeland artist and producer for
Spinshell Records and TV, a record
label, production company, and ad
web channel based in TokyoRah-
nee Elizabeth Kelly 03

Senior Graphic Designer,
Publication Department, Museum of
Fine ArtsFanny Lau 02

Attending PhD Program in the
Department of Communications at
Northwestern University
Elizabeth Lenaghan 02

Clinical Therapist at a residential
treatment facility for adolescent boys
in ColoradoKimberly Mack 00
What Are They Doing Now?
Appellate attorney at Tonkon Torp
law firmRobyn Ridler Aoyagi 95

Editor and Producer in television
Sharmila Ariathurai 93

Writer on national politics for the
New York Times MagazineMatt
Bai 90

Attending Columbia Universitys
program in Nutrition and Applied
PhysicologyMarissa Beck 05

A.P. Language and Composition
teacherStephanie (Bernstein)
Nelson 98

8
th
grade teacher in Arlington Public
schools, MFA in Creative Writing at
EmersonMelissa Brody 00

Received a PhD in English in 2005
from the University of Maryland,
specializing in Asian American
literatureTracy Chung 93

Professor of Sports Administration
and Department Chair at Lynn
UniversityTed Curtis 90

News editor at Publishers Weekly
Rachel Deahl 99

Assistant Professor of English and
Chair of Womens Studies at
Plymouth State UniversityRobin
DeRosa 02

English teacher at Indian Hills High
School in Oakland, New Jersey
Dan Ferat 93

Freelance film/video director and
filmmaking teacherIan Fischer 94
Previously worked in advertising,
taught English, edited a newspaper,
produced and reported cable
television, and even tried to do
some writing when I could.
Currently works in film
production.Brooke Fogel, 90

Took ordination with the Dalai
Lami, learning Tibetan language
Venerable Tenzin Gache (Brian
Roiter 05)
Sowhat do you do with an English major? As you will see from other alums, the answer is just about anything. While many are
involved in writing and teaching, others have found their way into medicine, law, politics, and much more.
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Linda Bamber:
Author:
Javier Marias.
Wonderful
Spanish
novelist sort of
in the style of
W. G. Sebald.
Movies: My
Architect, The Gleaners and I.

Virginia Jackson:
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass: I
think that everyone should take
Whitman literally and read Leaves of
Grass every day, if possible while
sitting in the sun. The problem is to
decide what edition; I'd recommend the
1860.
Elizabeth Kolverts Field Notes
from a Catastrophe and Michael
Pollans The Omnivores Dilemma:
Everyone should read both books
right away.
Anne Carson's Decreation:
Gorgeous
Faculty Book and Movie Recommendations
Jonathan Safran Foers Extremely Loud
and Incredibly Close: This last one
surprised me, because I didn't think that I
would like such a trendy writer, and
because I have a very hard time reading
anything about 9-11 (partially because I
was a mile away
that day;
partially because
of the appalling
consequences of
that day in this
country and
around the
world). I found
it very moving.

Lee Edelman:
Almodvars Bad Education is one of
the best films of the past quarter century,
but youre all familiar with his films
already. So I direct your attention to
Michael Haneke. You may know him as
the director of Cach, but he has an
astonishing body of work beyond that. The
Piano Teacher, starring the brilliant
Isabelle Huppert, is deservedly famous. For
those of you with a strong constitution, I
also recommend three of his earlier works.
But be warned: they brutally rub our faces
in the sadism inherent in cinema. If thats
something you can handle, have a look at
71 Fragments of a Chronology of
Chance, Bennys Video, and, most
disturbing of all, Funny Games.


Alumni Websites to Check Out:
www.bluetigerdems.com
website of Benjamin Geyerhahns
national political organization

http://www.criticsforum.org
Hovig Tchalian publishes bi-weekly
articles on art and culture in the
Armenian diaspora here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Gb9pSYs27wA
examples of Rah-nee Elizabeth Kellys
work

www.nowtastethis.com
Jen Karetnick (J90) created this poet-chef
pairing event that benefits literary
organizations


Interested in Social
Groups with Alums?
Melissa Brody (00) would like help
starting an alumni book club.
If youre interested in joining or
organizing a book club,
send an email to
[email protected].
Lawyer clerking for a federal judge
in D.C.; will join Office of the Legal
Advisor in the State Department in
January.Sabeena Rajpal, 00

Reporter covering state politics on-
air for NY1Josh Robin 98

Technical writerBen Ross 00

8
th
grade Humanities at East Side
Middle School, doctoral student at
CUNY Graduate Center in Urban
EducationRebecca Rufo 96

Publishing for Penguin Group and
freelance writing for
clubplanet.comLauren Saft, 05

Attending University of Miami
School of LawTammy Savin 06
Student at Atlantic Veterinary
College in Prince Edward Island
Ahne Simonsen 97

AttorneyChristina Sloan 00

EditorJacqueline Smith 00

Teaching high school in NYC,
earning MA in English and
Adolescent EducationArielle
Sprotzer 01

Business Analyst in Information
Technology with Keane, Inc., a
software and business consulting
firmShawn Stevens 95

Editor for a Washington, D.C.
thinktankSarah Swain 02

Working at The Monitor Group, a
management consulting firm
Hovig Tchalian 93

Screenplay writer and writer/
producer for reality and talk
showsArrisen Towner 95

Film writerMichael Weiss 90

Associate in the Corporate
Department of Edwards Angell
Palmer and DodgeLindsay
Weissberg 99

Language lecturer at New York
University, lyricist for musical
theatreAmanda Yesnowitz 94

O
Hollywood, The Black Comedy, Advertising/Media, and Henry
James & Gore Vidal. I always looked forward to class, just to hear
what witty comment he would make next, either about the state of
pop culture or the mindset of college students. As someone who
loves classic movies and absorbs behind-the-scenes details like a
sponge, I loved it when Professor Litvak would drop a little known
tidbit about a star or author into the discussion.
Most importantly, he made it possible for me to see connections
across difference mediums like books, movies, and advertising. In
the Writers in Hollywood course, I remember reading or watching
a wide variety of books or films that I never would have linked in
terms of themes, messages, or characters. The discussions about
HUAC, as well as the Jewish role in the rise of Hollywood, were
particularly fascinating because I, at least, had previously thought
of the film industry as operating in a vacuum and not connected to
the rest of the country. Sarah
Swain 02

In 20th-Century Lit, all of my
loneliness and bravado dissolved
under the influence of Professor Edelmans curious energy and
open perspective. No one was ever wrong in their interpretation
of a poem. Everything was open for discussion. He made Yeats
leap right off the page and into the room with us. We, the blas,
over-privileged, narcissistic English majors in his classroom, were
collectively humbled and inspired.
The Hitchcock course offered my senior year was superb. I
work in film production in Hollywood now, and still I cannot enter
a discussion about Alfred E. without reference to Professor
Edelmans eating and secreting lecture and Hitchcocks obsession
with lavatory sanitation.
In the late 80s, English was considered a lazy major at Tufts.
Serious upperclassmen talked about Masters Degrees and Law
School. What they didnt get was the subtext, the code an English
major learns to decipher, and that scope of information and
perspective we gain from literature is vast. Ours is a very liberal
art indeed! This sort of open territory can be frightening, but it
can also afford adventurous English majors like myself the
flexibility and range to live life all over the map. Brooke Fogel
90

When I first started working in residential treatment (while still a
senior at Tufts) people asked me all the time what an English
major was doing in social work. I still get funny looks and raised
I send fond regards to the English Department faculty with whom I
worka list that includes, but isnt limited to, Lee Edelman, Joe
Litvak, Sheila Emerson, and Judith Haber. In so many ways my
motivation for continuing with my graduate work is a reflection of the
passion and dedication that each of these scholars demonstrated for
their craft. Both my work and my life were enriched for having
studied with them, and I look forward to potentially cultivating
similar relationships with students in the future. Elizabeth
Lenaghan 02

How did my majoring in English effect my life? Where do I start?
Having taken Professor Edelmans Hitchcock class (as well as
other film related classes and working for TUTV) I became
interested in the film industry and worked as an independent
location sound mixer in New York
for nearly eight years from 1994-
2001. When I decided to leave film
for a steadier life, what did I go
back to? My love of writing and
literature, getting my Masters
degree from Teachers College in
the Teaching of English. Now I am in my third year as an English
teacher at Indian Hills High School in Oakland, New Jersey and
loving it. I use my English major nearly every day! Dan Ferat
93

I majored in English not planning to actually pursue a career in the
field, rather I thought it served as an appropriate complement to my
Theatre studies. Little did I know that I would end up teaching
English at NYU. Amanda Yesnowitz 94

I am now a physician, but find that I use my English skills every
day. Laura A. James 90

Most people roll their eyes when they speak of majoring in
literature or creative writing, but I think it was a great choice for
me, practical or not. I look back on my time at Tufts as some of
the richest intellectually and I owe a lot of that to my English
courses. Jason Porter 92

My favorite professor at Tufts was Joseph Litvak, and I ended up
taking six or seven courses with him, which included Writers in
On Being an English Major at Tufts
Students reminisce about majoring in English, how theyve used what theyve learned, and the lasting impact of their professors.
I am now a physician, but find that I
use my English skills every day.
Laura A. James 90
O
eyebrows when I proclaim that I majored in English. The truth is
that majoring in English has helped me in every facet of work, and
it made furthering my education a lot easier as well. Not only do I
have a fantastic lending library running out of my office for
residents, but I am able to suggest literature that might appeal to a
particular individuals interests and emotional needs. Additionally,
my writing skills are put to use in a multitude of ways on a daily
basis. For me, an English degree turned out to be a fantastic
precursor to my chosen profession! Kimberly Mack 00

I graduated from Tufts as an
English major in 1998, and I
d e f i n i t e l y t o o k ma n y
unforgettable classes there,
including Twentieth-Century
American Fiction and Creative
Writing with Jonathan Wilson.
These experiences have served me well in my career choice as a
high school English teacher. This is my seventh year teaching,
and I have taught 9th through 12th grade. I am now in my third
year of teaching AP Language and Composition and while I love
every single aspect of my job (maybe not the paper grading so
much), one of the things that most impresses my students is that I
have a B.A. in English from Tufts. [They especially come to talk
to me when theyre applying to college and want a letter of
recommendation. Not only do they seem to want my connection
to the university, but I am also known as someone who puts a
(sometimes insane) amount of effort into writing for them.] Those
who have seen some of my writing also seem to think that Tufts
can teach them a lot too. One thing is for sure, all of my students
say my writing and analytical skills make my career choice an
incredibly obvious one. Stephanie (Bernstein) Nelson 98

The Tufts English course that most affected my everyday life was
my Hitchcock class. I was definitely more of a literature person
rather than a film person, but took this course thinking it would be
a fun change. Well not only was it a fun change, but it completely
changed my way of thinking in looking at film. I find myself
thinking about something I learned in that class at least once a
week, and I don't think I watch movies in the same way. It was a
challenging course to take as a freshman but it confirmed my
interest in majoring in English! Sabeena Rajpal, 00

Ive been teaching since September of 2000 and could not imagine
doing anything more fun. I am also finishing my MFA degree in
Creative Writing at Emerson, where I have taken classes with Joe
Hurka. We often talk about how much we love Tufts and tell
stories about our favorite people. In fact, I am fairly certain that it
was Jonathan Wilsons recommendation was what got me into my
graduate program, and have never forgotten his willingness to
help me out after Id been out of touch for almost five years.
Melissa Brody 00

Currently, Im working in the publicity department at Penguin
Group (USA) in New York, specifically under SVP Marilyn
Ducksworth, who happens to be a Tufts Alum! I also cant fail to
mention that this job was actually referred to me by Melissa
Broder (01), who happens to be yet another product of the Tufts
English department.I guess we take care of our own!
All in all, the English department at Tufts and my experience
there seems to have shaped and put me on the path to what is
slowly becoming my adult life. I love being a part of a literary
community, and feel at home and comfortable among the fellow
English majors of the world, whom I now call my co-workers!
Lauren Saft 05

I am proud of my degree
in English, and I still
remain involved in
literary interests by
taking part in reading
groups and planning trips to see Shakespeare performances in the
Berkshires. And maybe one day Ill find the courage to write that
great American novel. Shawn Stevens 95
Classmate Linnea Hasegawa (93) and I both earned PhDs in
English at the University of Maryland. We both specialized in
Asian American literature.
Many years ago (2001?), we attended an Association for Asian
American Studies conference in Phoenix, Arizona. There we ran
into Ms. Linell Yugawa (Director of the Asian American Center at
Tufts), Dr. Ruth Hsaio (retired lecturer of English at Tufts), and
now Dr. Yoonmee Change J92 (then PhD student at UPenn). We
had all taken Ruths seminar in Asian American lit. at some point,
and she was very proud to see that we had gone on to graduate
study in English. I can speak for Linnea and me in saying that
doctoral study in English was a very difficult path and often not
enjoyable. But we do not have regrets and will always love
literature! Tracy Chung 93

I credit and thank Lee Edelman for setting me on my career
path.Back in the early nineties, I was a student lost. Passionless,
with no direction. I had just come to grips with the fact that I
wouldnt make it as a Pre-med student and felt that uncomfortable
disconnect when a perfectly envisioned future goes up in flames. I
changed my major to English, took Lees film class on Alfred
Hitchcock, and was hooked. He showed me another way to view
movies and his critical analysis opened up a new world for me.
Movies could be more than simplistic entertainment. They
could be road maps into a directors inner neurosis. Wow! His
class was a life raft back to some kind of future goal. To this day, I
cant watch an Alfred Hitchcock movie without remembering Lees
intelligent and insightful words.
I eventually made my way to Columbia Universitys Film
Program. Now I freelance in New York as a film/video director
and teach (what else?) filmmaking. As a teacher, I try to inspire
my students the way Lee inspired me.With passion. Thanks
Lee! Ian Fischer 94
Majoring in English has helped me in every
facet of work, and it made furthering my educa-
tion a lot easier as well.
Kimberly Mack 00
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and Design, the Christina Institute for
Womens Studies, and the Helsinki
Collegium for Advanced Studies. .

Judith Haber, Associate Professor of
English, delivered a paper entitled Old
Mens Tales: Legacies of the Father in
Tis Pity Shes a Whore at the annual
meeting of the Renaissance Society of
America in San Francisco. She
participated in a seminar entitled Tis
Pity Its Not Shakespeare: Rethinking
John Ford at the annual meeting of the
Shakespeare Association of America in
Philadelphia. She was an invited
participant in the fourth annual meeting
of the Northeast Seminar in Early
Modern Studies at Dartmouth College.
.

Sonia Hofkosh recently led a seminar on
her work at the annual conference of the
North American Society for the Study of
Romanticism at Purdue University. Her
paper "What Does a Fetish Want?" is
part of her book-in-progress on the
function of objects in conceptions of
personhood in late Eighteenth- and early
Nineteenth-Century British literary and
visual culture. She is also writing an
essay on Jane Austen and ventriloquism.
.

Michael Ullman is working on The
Vintage Guide to Jazz, which is meant to
be an accessible jazz history and listening
guide published by Vintage Press. He
also writes the bi-monthly Jazz Column
for Fanfare magazine. That and walking
my dog, he says, has been taking up
most of my time..

Jonathan Wilson just finished a
biography of Chagall which will be
published in March 2007 by Schocken/
Nextbook..
Elizabeth Ammons,
Harriet H. Fay Professor
of Literature in the
English Department,
gave an invited lecture
on Harriet Beecher
Stowe and Activism at
the inauguration of the
Wilberforce Institute for
the Study of Slavery and Emancipation,
WISE, at the University of Hull in
England in July. She also delivered a
paper at the American Literature
Conference in San Francisco in May on
American Literature and Social
Activism. She recently edited the new
Penguin paperback edition of Edith
Whartons Ethan Frome..

Linda Bamber is writing her fourth and
final story based on one or more
Shakespeare plays. This one is an
adaptation of three of the history plays,
Richard II, I Henry IV and II Henry
IV. Of the others, one each was based
on The Tempest (Michigan Quarterly
Review), As You Like It (The Kenyon
Review) and Othello (Southwest
Review). (In the Othello story
Desdemona is the Chair of an English
Department engaged in an affirmative
action search, Othello being the only
member of the Department who brings
some diversity to it.) When finished,
this group of stories will include one
from each genre Shakespeare worked
in: comedy, tragedy, history and
romance..

Jay Cantor, Professor of English, has
just signed a contract to have The Death
of Che Guevara published in Chinese by
Shangai Sanhui Culture and Press,
LTD. It will appear in two Chinese
editions, one in simplified characters
and one (from Taiwan) in complex
characters. The book has also appeared
in Portuguese and Spanish, and is
available in English from Vintage.
Professor Cantor is currently enjoying
his work on a graphic novel about
Guantanamo for Vertigo Comics. .

Deborah Digges has a new book of
poems called The Dance of the Seven Veils
forthcoming from Knopf next spring or
fall. Her poem "Dancing With Emerson"
recently appeared in the New Yorker, and
another called "The Birthing will appear
soon. Four new poems are forthcoming
in Kenyon Review. She is also writing a
historical novel on the life of Sarah
Winchester. This past year (year off)
she spent three months in Africa
working at the Tumaini orphanage at
the foot of Mount Kenya in Nyrie. .

Kevin Dunn has just returned from a
four-and-a-half year tour of duty
serving as Dean of Academic Affairs for
Arts and Sciences, a position in which
he worked mostly on issues that affected
faculty. He reports being extremely
happy to be back in East Hall, and
enjoying [his] students. He is working
with a junior faculty member in Political
Science, Yannis Evregenis, on a
collaborative piece of scholarship that
deals with the poet and politician Fulke
Greville. He is also working on a new
book, Figures of Speech: Dramatic
Representations of Counsel in Shakespeare
and his Contemporaries, which he hopes
to finish on his sabbatical in the spring.
.
John Fyler was onsite director for the
Bread Loaf School of English at Lincoln
College, Oxford, this past summer. He
is a trustee of the New Chaucer Society,
and attended its congress in New York,
where he chaired a session on fabliaux.
.

Lee Edelman, Fletcher Professor of
English Literature and Chair of the
English Department, was jointly
sponsored by the Research Cluster on
Psychoanalysis and the Research
Cluster on Queer Theory in March
when he presented a public lecture and
held a seminar at the University of
California at
Santa Cruz. His
lecture, titled
Bad Education:
Learning
Nothing from
Queers,
presented
material from his
latest book in progress, while the
seminar focused on the political
ramifications of his recent book, No
Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive.
He was invited to deliver two more
lectures on these materials in Helsinki,
Finland where he was sponsored by the
University of Helsinki, the School of Art
Faculty Publications and News
Special thanks go to doctoral candidates Kristina
Aikens and Abby Manzella for compiling, design-
ing, and writing much of the material for the first
edition of Alumni Notes.
The Department of English
is pleased to announce that
Christina Sharpe
has been promoted to
Associate Professor with tenure.