Year-at-a-Glance Department Calendar University Calendar Graduate School Calendar

2003 Benson Lecture Tomorrow!
W. T. "Rip" Lhamon, the George M. Harper Professor of English at Florida State University, will deliver the 2003 Benson Lecture as part of the English department’s annual undergraduate awards ceremony. Professor Lhamon’s topic will be "Blackface Performance: You Can’t Tell Where You’re Going Until You Know Where You’ve Been."

The 2003 Benson Lecture is scheduled for Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 3:15 pm in 3195 Haley Center. The lecture will be free and open to the public. A reception for Professor Lhamon will follow his presentation.

In his lecture, Professor Lhamon will explore views of early race relations in the new Republic as evidenced through the minstrel show, an exploration that will show how the original performances relate to current American culture. His argument demonstrates how American culture is missing important evidence about white/black relations because it has repressed or forgotten the early enthusiastic attraction whites felt toward black culture before the minstrel show. 

Professor Lhamon’s scholarship includes the books Jump Jim Crow: Plays, Lyrics, and Street Prose of the First Atlantic Popular Culture (Forthcoming 2003), Raising Cain: Blackface Performance from Jim Crow to Hip Hop (1998), and Deliberate Speed: The Origins of A Cultural Style in the American Fifties (1990). 

Prior to the lecture, the film Ethnic Notions will be shown from 1:00 – 3:00 pm in 3309 Haley Center with discussion following. The film traces the evolution of Black American caricatures in cartoons, songs, and films, and the prejudice they fostered.

4th Annual English Department Dead Day Golf Tourney
It's time once again for our annual golf outing, which will be held at Indian Pines Golf Course on the morning of May 1. If a few hours of fun and frustration, collegial bonding, and end-of-term recreation are not enticing enough, remember that the sartorial splendor that is the Tweed Blazer awaits the winning team. Sign up by contacting Jon Bolton.

Graduate Student Reception
The department of English will host the annual reception honoring graduate students at Pebble Hill on Thursday, May 1, from 4:30-7:00 p.m.  Spouses of faculty, staff, and graduate students are warmly invited.  Drink and light buffet fare will be provided.  Staff members, graduate students, and their spouses will be the department's guests.  New EGO officers will be announced and department awards will be distributed.  Come to celebrate the ending of another successful semester! 

Each professorial faculty member who plans to attend is encouraged to contribute $15, or $20 if your spouse is attending.  Checks should be made payable to Jeremy Downes. Let Jeremy Downes know by Wednesday, April 23 if you (and your guests) will be attending.  

Civil Rights Talk
Please come to an informal talk by Sena Jeter Naslund on Monday, April 28, at 10:00 a.m. in our Commons Lounge (HC 8009). Naslund is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Ahab's Wife and winner of the Harper Lee Award for Alabama's Distinguished Writer 2001. She will be reading from and discussing her work in progress, a novel based on her experience as a young woman growing up in Birmingham during the Civil Rights era. Contact Bert Hitchcock for more information.

Softball Schedule
Two softball games left for the season! Both games start at 5:00 p.m. on Fridays; arrive by 4:45 if you want to play or 5:00 if you want to cheer on the team.  Anyone who shows up and wants to play will play.  Come out and have some fun on the field or on the sidelines!

Great Flicks for Fall 2003
Click here to view the complete list of movies the Great Flicks series will be screening during the Fall semester. The order is fixed; exact dates to be assigned shortly.  

EGO Voting
EGO voting ends today.  Submit your ballots to Nate Meier. 

EGO Prom
Prom will be May 3 at 9:00 p.m. at Nate Meier's apartment.  Check your email for details and directions.  Contact Nate Meier if you would like to bring snacks.

Graduate Student Reception
The department of English will host the annual reception honoring graduate students at Pebble Hill on Thursday, May 1, from 4:30-7:00 p.m.  Spouses of faculty, staff, and graduate students are warmly invited.  Drink and light buffet fare will be provided.  Staff members, graduate students, and their spouses will be the department's guests.  New EGO officers will be announced and department awards will be distributed.  Come to celebrate the ending of another successful semester!  Let Jeremy Downes know by Wednesday, April 23 if you (and your guests) will be attending.  

Sigma Tau Delta Online Sign-up Form
New inductees should click here to access the online sign-up form for Sigma Tau Delta.  This form should greatly ease the burden of retyping the handwritten forms for the national headquarters.

English Department Announces Achievement Awards
The English Department is pleased to announce the following winners of its annual Undergraduate Achievement Awards. The students were selected on the basis of nominations received from the faculty and the students' academic records. Winners will be recognized at the Department's annual Benson Lecture on Thursday, April 24, at 3:00 in HC 3195.

Tim Dykstal wishes to thank Dennis Rygiel and Marc Silverstein, this year's ad-hoc selection committee, for selecting the winners.

English Department Announces Writing Awards
The English Department is pleased to announce the following winners of its annual Undergraduate Writing Awards. Winners will be recognized at the Department's annual Benson Lecture on Thursday, April 24, at 3:00 in HC 3195.

We wish to thank all the students who entered this year's competition. There were many entries in each of the three categories, and many competitive entries that could not be recognized. All entries were evaluated blindly, with the names removed.

Tim Dykstal wishes to thank this year's screeners and judges of the writing awards: Craig Bertolet, Diana Curtis, James Elston, Chris Keirstead, Margaret Kouidis, and Joe Walker.

Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum Association Fifteenth Annual Literary Contest
The Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum Association announces its 15th annual literary context. 1st and 2nd place winners will receive plaques and monetary rewards of the following amounts: College First Place Winners: $150 each; College Second Place Winners: $75 each.

Essays should be on any personal or literary topic. Subject matter for the short story category is completely open. Students may submit more than one entry. Mail your entry to: Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum Assn., Inc., Literary Contest, PO Box 64, Montgomery, AL 36101-0064.  Deadline for entries is May 15, 2003.

If you would like to include an item in the "Professional Notes" section of The English Channel, please submit your note to Betsy Smith or Alise Chabaud.

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Please submit items and direct all questions or comments about The English Channel to Betsy Smith or Alise Chabaud.

To include an item in The English Channel, submit text items by Tuesday at 11:40 a.m. for publication Wednesday.  Submit items by email or by putting a note or disk in Alise Chabaud's mailbox (disks will be returned). If you submit an image on disk, please make sure that it can be edited to fit and be read clearly on the page. Items over fifty words in length should be submitted on disk or sent by email. Please check your submission for accuracy and completion--all calendar items and meeting announcements must include the date, time, and location of the event. Please omit all unusual formatting.