Patricia Highsmith Film Screening and Panel

The students of Dr. Howe’s Major Writers: Patricia Highsmith class would like to extend an invitation to our upcoming Patricia Highsmith Film Fest. The film fest will include a short documentary about Highsmith, a presentation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, a five person panel discussion including adaptation with Dr. Rippy, genre focus with Dr. Hoare, and related Highsmith themes interpreted by three students. In addition, we will be showing film clips connecting adaptation and genre. Finally, we will conclude with a Q&A session.

The film will be screened in the Library Auditorium (Reinsch Building) on December 10, 2011 from 1:00-4:00pm conveniently right after Composition I final exams conclude. Also, movie treats will be provided.

Dr. Leigh Johnson Presents…

Please join the English department next Wednesday, December 7, in the Barry Art Gallery from 3:30-5:00 pm to hear Dr. Leigh Johnson present on her Work in Progress–“Exiles from the ‘Familiar Country’: Maria Cristina Mena, Katherine Anne Porter, and the White Savior Myth.”

When Katherine Anne Porter arrived in Mexico in 1920, it didn’t take long for her to declare it her “familiar country.” Her writings about Mexico appeared in American magazines shortly after Mexican exile Maria Cristina Mena’s stories stopped appearing. Strikingly, both women’s stories contain ambivalent commentary about white women’s presence in Mexican Revolutionary politics. Dr. Johnson will discuss this gendered hemispheric violence in Mena’s “The Gold Vanity Set” and “The Education of Popo” and Porter’s “Flowering Judas.”

Food and lively discussion will follow Dr. Johnson’s presentation!

Headline: Student’s Decision to Submit Non-Fiction Writing to MAGNIFICAT Results in Great Fame and Fortune

Well, maybe not great fame and fortune, but being able to list a “published essay” on your résumé and having a crisp, clean benjamin in your wallet sure couldn’t hurt.

So as you complete your essays, research papers, non-fiction stories, and other eligible writing assignments this semester, why not send your best work to MAGNIFICAT, Marymount’s undergraduate journal of non-fiction, at the same time? Your work will be considered for publication and for one of the $100 or $50 prizes.

 Email your entry as a MS Word attachment to magnificat@marymount.edu.

 All submissions must be received by December 31, 2011. One entry per student, please.

Humanities Colloquium Event: “Dutch Paintings at the National Gallery of Art: The Dramatic Untold Stories of Collecting for the Nation.”

Marymount’s Humanities Graduate Program is kicking off it’s annual colloquium! Our Fall Semester speaker is Dr. Arthur Wheelock from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, who will speak at 6:30 pm on Friday, 11/18, in Reinsch Auditorium.  Dr. Wheelock will be speaking on “Dutch Paintings at the National Gallery of Art: The Dramatic Untold Stories of Collecting for the Nation.”

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. is curator of northern baroque painting at the National Gallery of Art and professor of art history at the University of Maryland. He came to the National Gallery of Art in 1973 as the David E. Finley Fellow, after which he was named Research Curator. Dr. Wheelock has lectured widely on Dutch and Flemish art, written a number of books and articles on the subject, and received a number of honors throughout his career; most recently, the University of Maryland created a doctoral fellowship in his name: The Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. Fellowship in Northern Baroque Painting.

The HUM Grad Program will also host a small reception for Dr. Wheelock prior to the talk, beginning at 6:00 in the foyer of the auditorium; all are invited.

Dr. Scott-Douglass to be the guest scholar at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s “Windows on Much Ado about Nothing”

Professor Amy Scott-Douglass will be the guest scholar at the “Windows on Much Ado about Nothing” discussion at Shakespeare Theatre Company on Sunday, November 27th at 5 p.m. in the Forum of Sidney Harman Hall. STC’s Literary Associate, Mr. Drew Lichtenberg, will lead a conversation about the play with the director of the production, Mr. Ethan McSweeny, and Dr. Scott-Douglass. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served. Reserve your spot online!

The Awe of Research

Yesterday, students of Dr. Peebles’s EN 501: Building Textual Interpretation class traveled to the Library of Congress. Having the world’s largest library in Marymount’s backyard is certainly advantageous, considering that Dr. Peebles’s students have an upcoming research database project and research essay to complete based on a selected topic of their choice from their reading of Elizabeth Gaskill’s North and South. Students met with a librarian of the Humanities and Social Sciences division, Abby Yochelson, in the Jefferson Building and learned how to access and maneuver the Library of Congress’ library catalog and digital catalog to find relevant primary and secondary sources. The students were also given a tour of the Library of Congress’ Reader Room and card catalog storage room, which definitely emphasized the advances and continual advances that research and technology are experiences. At the end of the visit, students felt more assured that they would find more than enough resources to complete their research.

Sigma Tau Delta Food Drive

Join Sigma Tau Delta in collecting any canned and/or non-perishable items this holiday season! Beginning today, the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society is asking for all Marymount students, faculty and staff to please give what you can to a great cause. The collection box is held in the Arts and Sciences conference room, Gailhac 2010A, and will remain there until the end of the semester. All donations will go to the Arlington Food Assistance Center and provide meals to those who are suffering during these hard economic times. For more information, contact Dr. Peebles at kpeebles@marymount.edu.

Sigma Tau Delta Event

Join us in celebrating the new members of the Sigma Tau Delta International English honor society on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 3:30-5:30 pm, in the Barry Art Gallery! Everyone is welcome. The program will include a talk about the history of women writers’ rhetorical theory by Dr. Jane Donawerth (a specialist in women’s writing and science fiction from the University of Maryland), the induction ceremony, and a reception & book-signing. For more information, contact Dr. Peebles.

Faculty-Student Day Trip to the Blackfriars Playhouse

On Saturday, Dr. Howe arranged a day-trip for Marymount graduate students in the Humanities and Literature & Language programs, faculty, and one enterprising undergraduate to the Blackfriars theater in Staunton, VA. The theater is the world’s only historical recreation of the Blackfriars playhouse, where Jacobean-era plays were performed for “private” audiences. Blackfriars was a performance venue in the heart of London’s wealthier district, catering to a more elite –though not necessarily a more well-behaved–audience. The American Shakespeare Center produces historically-informed stagings using minimal props and mimicking for a contemporary audience the dynamics of late 16th and early 17th century British theater, and after our tour of the playhouse, we enjoyed a performance of Hamlet, followed by a brief Q&A with staff. Thanks to all who attended!

Come back to MU, alumni!

Come back home, MU graduates! Marymount Homecoming is October 14-16th.  Here’s the schedule for the weekend, if you haven’t seen it yet.  The English Department will host an open house (FREE! No registration needed!) in the Gailhac 2010 conference room for alumni on Saturday morning, October 15th. We will have donuts, bagels and coffee available from 10:30-12:00, so come drop in. Our events are always family-friendly, and we’d love to see how you and your family are doing. If you get a chance, RSVP to Dr. Rippy.