by Morgan Mann
With no classes before 4pm this Founders’ Day, it may be tempting to stay home and finally start all those essays (or maybe just watch Netflix). Here’s a better idea: stop by the Founders’ Day presentations! Join the English community and see what your peers have been working on. Founders’ Day celebrates the academic achievements of graduating seniors: a great group of students that represent the unique perspectives and hard work of the English department. Show your support by attending the sessions, or checking out all the posters throughout the day.
Here’s a play-by-play of this year’s Founders’ Day English presentations, with a little hint of what you can expect from the contributors themselves. Which one are you most looking forward to?
11:15-12:05 @ Franz 026
“Queer Ecology in Whitman’s ‘Calamus’ and Blanco’s ‘One Day’” | Griffin Hay
“Delivering Voltage to Tempered Voices: An Exploration of Feminist and Linguistic Challenges in Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill’s ‘Fuadach’” | Lucy Kelly
“I’ll be discussing a contemporary Irish poet named Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill who engages fairy abduction tales to discuss issues pertaining to gender and, more importantly, the resurgence of the Gaelic language (or “Irish” as those in Ireland call it) in her poem “Fuadach.” My presentation will provide listeners with context on the poet herself, Ireland’s political, mythical, and linguistic histories, and my argument about the function of the poem itself. You’ll even learn a little Irish including how to say Naula’s last name :)”
“Art, Trash, and Collecting: The Treatment of Objects in Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘Never Let Me Go’” | Danielle Childs
“My presentation is on the treatment of objects in Never Let Me Go, a novel that has been classified as speculative fiction though it is, at heart, about the all too familiar problem of how societies tend to cannibalize out-groups. I consider the book to have an intense preoccupation with things and my presentation explores how critical lenses might be employed to interpret their significance in the novel.”
Danielle Childs
2:15-3:05 @ Franz 006
“Its Melancholy, Long, Withdrawing Roar: A Traveler’s Journey to the Heart of England’s Small Island” | Leah Walters
“A self-proclaimed Anglophile travels to England for the first time and along the way she follows in the footsteps of her favorite travel novelist Bill Bryson in his novel ‘Notes From a Small Island’ in a 10 day solo journey from England’s Southern banks to her Northern border. In her own notes from her travels she discovers, after so many years loving all things British, what it truly means to be from and to love that small Island.”
“On Gratitude: Extolling and Problematizing One of the Most Touted Virtues of our Generation” | Erika Murphy
“I’ll be speaking on gratitude, with the hope that people come away with a more genuine, and thus problematized, experience of gratitude.”
“’Promise that you will sing about me’: Narration in Kendrick Lamar’s Music” | Ana Fonseca
Ana Fonseca
3:15-4:05 @ Franz 034
“Why Read?” | Brett Adams Tayler Bradley, Thomas Curran, Sasha Lower, Mayetta Martel, and Erin Stuart
This presentation looks at the necessity of reading and studying English in today’s world of technology. Six ENG112 students of different majors answer the question “Why read?” and invite discussion.
Also, an unofficial part of the Founders’ Day experience:
6:30-8:00 @ UP Bookstore
Writers Magazine launch party
Come pick up this year’s edition of Writers, see our contributors present their wonderful creative work, and enjoy complimentary refreshments with good company.