Student Spotlight
Emily Posson, Senior Undergraduate Student
Major: English field studies
Minors: French and linguistics
Research Interests: The expression of color terms in Korea, indefinites and specificity in formal and informal Sinhala.
Upcoming/Current projects or publications: My senior thesis is on the expression of Korean Color Terms and looks at the usage of Korean native roots of color and borrowed Chinese roots for color expressions. My hypothesis states that borrowed Chinese color terms are undergoing replacement by English color terms, and there will be a confirmation of the “gru” phenomenon. I am testing this using a Qualtrics survey which includes an acceptability rating study.
I will be presenting parts of this research, co-authored with my faculty adviser Dr. Mythili Menon, as a poster presentation at the 42nd Penn Linguistics Conference.
Apart from this, I am also working on theoretical aspects of Sinhala syntax and pragmatics. I will be presenting this research as a poster, co-authored with Henry Postoak, in the FASAL 8 linguistics conference to be held on WSU campus in March 2018.
Favorite class at WSU: Intro to English Linguistics
Things you have been inspired by recently: The Korean writing system, Hangul, because it is being used to create writing systems for endangered languages like Cia-Cia/Butonese. Hangul has such an interesting history and I’ve been inspired to think of some future research projects that concern it.
Recommendations for a good read: There are too many good books and at the risk of being labeled a huge nerd (as if the multiple projects weren’t enough), I love epics. So I love Beowulf, the Iliad, and I’m really enjoying the Poetic Edda right now. I find them pretty exciting, but I do enjoy more modern stuff too. Anything by Sarah J. Maas is amazing.
What are you doing on your average Saturday afternoon?: On Saturday, I teach Learn-to-Skate at the Wichita Ice Center from the morning to the afternoon. After that, I normally go home and curl up with a good book and a cup of tea or find some ind of craft to do. (This past weekend was candle-making.) Saturday afternoon is pretty much all of my free time for the week so I cherish it.
Thank you to Emily for being our first Spotlight of the semester! Each week, the blog hopes to spotlight another student, staff, or faculty member of the English department. If you have any people you think would be great to hear from, send us a recommendation at wichitaenglish@gmail. com and we’ll reach out!
Haiknews
I woke up freezing,
Covered in an iced blanket
Why now, Wichita?
Publication News
Wichita State’s creative writing program is teaming up with the university’s theater students to create a podcast project of original fiction. The first podcast is complete, and it features a story by Michael Cole, MFA candidate in fiction.
Michael wrote “Lover’s Lane” this spring in English 801 Graduate Fiction Workshop in response to an assignment to write a story about events which take place during a small unit of time. He managed to ingeniously get around that constraint. The story is read by Christian James, a theater student.
The title of the podcast is In Cahoots, and a link to it can be found here. Check it out, and congratulations to Michael!
In addition, Zach Parker’s creative essay, “This is Not a Story” will be published in this year’s edition of Chadron State’s 10th Street Miscellany.
Byrne nominated for Pushcart Prize
Last semester, Nicole Byrne, MFA candidate in poetry, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Bright Sleep Magazine for her poem “Sestina for Leaving Costa Rica.” The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best poetry, short fiction, essays, or literary whatnot published in small presses over the previous year. Congratulations, Nicole!
Check out this book trailer from our own Becca Yenser
Becca Yenser, MFA candidate in fiction, created a book trailer for her upcoming book of poetry being published by Dancing Girl Press. Check out the teaser here. And watch out for the published product soon!
Southwest American Popular/Culture Association Conference Recap
Victoria Hendricks, second-year MA student, was among the Wichita State students who presented at the 2018 SWPACA and reports:
MA student Jesse Allen, MA student Lillian Dickerson, and MA student Victoria Hendricks all presented at Albuquerque, New Mexico’s 2018 Southwest American Popular American Culture Association with their papers entitled “Seeing Flesh and Bones: Exploring the Entirety of the Gaze in Julie Ducournau’s “Raw”, “Disability’s Black Mark and a Search for Companionship Through Murder, Reverie, or Otherwise: Devil Bug’s Journey through the Quaker City”, and “Is There a Heaven for the Black?”: The Functionality of Whitewashing Christianity in Harriet E. Wilson’s Our Nig; or, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black”, respectively. All were met with praise.Lillian Dickerson was also awarded the “Identities and Cultures” Graduate Student Award for her presentation on “Disabilities’ Black Mark and a Search for Companionship Through Murder, Reverie, or Otherwise: Devil Bug’s Journey through the Quaker City” at said conference.
Halloween ComicFest call for presentations
The University Libraries will be hosting Halloween ComicFest again this year, and they’re looking for people to present during break-out sessions of 20-30 minutes each. Topics may include comics, graphic novels, cosplay, or really any popular culture or “geeky” themes. Last year’s talks ranged from the influence of Japanese monster movies on American cinema to transhumanism in modern media to the history of comics in Latin America.
If you are interested in presenting, please complete this short form. Topics don’t necessarily need to be set in stone yet, it’s mostly to confirm interest and availability and to give the planning committee an idea of our presenters’ areas of interest. Of course, if you are interested in presenting yourself you’re welcome to submit a proposal as well.
Responses from interested presenters are due by March 9th, and the schedule will be finalized around early April.
Meme contest still open
We all love memes, right? Well, we particularly love English-inspired memes. And so we are hosting an English Meme Contest! Send us your wittiest, cleverest, meme-iest memes! Memes will be featured on the Weekly Digest postings, and the winning memes will be compiled in a “Best Of” blog post at the end of the year. Entering is simple. Just email us your meme at wichitaenglish@gmail.com.
And if memes aren’t your thing, no worries. In the coming weeks, you’ll have the chance to send in fun poetry and flash fiction to us too! All of these contests will result in the compilation of Wichita’s best use of words (and images) in a final “Best Of” blog post at the end of April. So start making those memes, or sharpening your pencils to send us some fun poetry or flash fiction. We’re looking forward to what you all come up with!
Upcoming Events
- Mikrokosmos will be meeting on Friday, February 23, at 12 PM in Lindquist 500.
- The English Speaker Series is hosting an informational session and workshop on
Career Options for the English Student” on Friday, February 23, at 3 PM in Lindquist 111. Check out the flier below for more information.
- Mikrokosmos will be hosting Mikrobrews at the Donut Whole on Thursday, March 1, from 7-9 PM. There’s an open mic competition, and prizes involved! Help Mikrokosmos raise money for their release party! Check out the flier below for some more information.
- The next Linguistics Club meeting will be Friday, March 2 from 12-1 PM.
- The next Sigma Tau Delta meeting will be Friday, March 2 from 1-2 PM.
- The next English Graduate Student Association meeting will be Friday, March 2 from 2-3 PM.
- The English Department will host an informational session titled, “Applying to Graduate School” on Friday, March 9 at 3 PM. Both graduate and undergraduate students are encouraged to join.
- The English Speaker Series will continue on Friday, April 6 at 3 PM with Laura Mielke, who will be presenting on her recent project, Provocative Eloquence: Theatre and the Limits of Anti-Slavery Oratory in the Antebellum U.S..
The weekly digest is published online on the blog every Wednesday. We’d love to hear from you! If you have any news at all to share, please send it to wichitaenglish@gmail.com or use the “Submit Blog News” form located on the rightmost corner on the blog.
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