English and Linguistics Senior Seminar Scheduled for April 26-27

The Department of English and Linguistics will host their senior seminar conference from 9:30 a.m.-4:20 p.m. April 26 and from 8:30 a.m.-3:20 p.m. April 27 in the Student Union Building.

Presentations include explorations of the works of Midwestern writers, 1920s American writers, and Jane Austen, as well as readings of creative writing and a diverse array of topics in linguistics. Philip Schaefer, winner of the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize, will read selections from his book of poetry, “Bad Summon,” at 1:30 p.m. April 26 and present the keynote address, “Truth to Music: We Owe Reality Nothing” at 12:30 p.m. April 27 in the Student Union Building Activities Room.

“Bad Summon,” winner of the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize, was recently released from the University of Utah Press. Schaefer is the author of three chapbooks, two of which were co-written with friend and poet Jeff Whitney. He won the 2016 Meridian Editor’s Prize in poetry and has work out or due out in Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Thrush Poetry Journal, Guernica, The Cincinnati Review, Salt Hill, Bat City Review, The Adroit Journal, Baltimore Review, diode and Passages North. Schaefer received his Master of Fine Arts from University of Montana.

April 26
SUB Conference Room: Creative Writing (9-10:20 a.m.)

“Building Fences”
Johanna Burns

“How Did I Get Here?: A Reading from a Collection of Magical Realism Short Stories”
Ana Chapman

“Ava”
Alayna Mueller

“Guardians of Hope – Screenplay”
Ethan Trower


SUB Activities Room: Linguistics Capstones (9-10:50 a.m.)

“Awareness of Pragmatic Uses of Twitter”
Lewie Dunham

“The Phonotactics of Consonant Clusters in Jiwere”
Kataryna Kraeski

“Vowel Length in Hawaiian Performance Poetry”
Noelle Meningoz

“Derivational Morphology Usage in Young English Speakers”
Mallory Collinge

“Gloss Over It: Translating Between Signed and Written Languages”
Anna Barger


SUB Conference Room: 1920’s America (10:30-11:50 a.m.)

“Playing With Theory and Faulkner’s Use of Nature to Convey Meaning in As I Lay Dying”
Ashleigh Harding

“From the Great Deluge to Consuming Fire: Apocalyptic Environment Within William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying”
Zachary Swope

“Power, Pathology and the Human Condition in William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying”
Joshua Young

“Creation of Identity in 1920s American Literature”
Andres Rodriguez


SUB Activities Room: Midwestern Literature (11-11:50 a.m.)

“An Ecofeminist Reading of Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres”
David Smith

“Butch: Female Masculinity in M.E. Kerr’s Deliver Us From Evie”
Amanda Crisp

“Using Children’s Literature to Inform Midwestern Culture”
Ashlei Lagle


SUB Conference Room: Creative Writing (12-1:20 p.m.)

“If You Give a Straddler a Cohort – the Formation of First-Generation College Student Identity Through Socialization”
Jessie Woolridge

“Ever Blooming: Excerpt from a Young Adult Novel”
Emily Stogsdill

“Thoughts to Help”
Jacob Athanas


SUB Activities Room: Economy of Austen (12-1:20 p.m.)

“Satire in Jane Austen as a Window to the English Leisure Class”
Sarah Holtmeyer

“’Invite him to dinner, but leave him to choose his own wife’: An Examination of Hospitality Politics in Jane Austen”
Abbie Donaldson

“Money, Marriage, and Walking: Women’s Autonomy in Pride and Prejudice”
Denise de la Cruz

“The Role of Motherhood in Pride and Prejudice: A Look at Mrs.Bennet”
Jared Dickerman


SUB Activities Room: Keynote (1:30-2:30 p.m.)
A reading by Philip Schaefer from his collection of poems“Bad Summon,” winner of the 2017
Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry.


SUB Conference Room: Midwestern Literature (3-4:20 p.m.)

“Sherwood Anderson and his Place in the Grand Scheme of Storytelling”
Kathryn (Katy) Cryts

“Main Street, USA: Walt Disney’s Relationship with Marceline, Missouri”
Austin Krueger and Trevor Hamblin


SUB Activities Room: 1920s America (3-4:20 p.m.)

“Jazz and Art of the 1920s Represented Today”
Brooke Johnson

“On Mind Reading and Modernism: A Cognitive Approach to 1920s American Literature”
Ian Madden

“Comparing Cather and Fitzgerald: A New Historical Approach to Understanding Consumerism in the 1920s”
Allison Barr

“Connecting the Classics and the Contemporary: How Recently Written Young Adult Novels Set in the 1920s Follow in the Footsteps of Fitzgerald and Larsen”
Katie Holtmeyer


April 27
SUB Conference Room: 1920s America (8:30-9:20 a.m.)

“Nella Larsen’s Passing and Shannon Gibney’s See No Color: A Journey for Identity in 1920s vs Current America”
Brock Akins

“Unraveling Identity: A Deconstructionist Look at Nella Larsen’s Passing”
Lynne Halladay

“Lives Behind Authors of the Lost Generation and the Effects on their Characters”
Madison Viola


SUB Activities Room: Midwestern Literature (8:30-9:20 a.m.)

“The Poetry of Plants in Spoon River Anthology”
Abigail Marler

“Spoon River: A Midwestern Ancient Greece”
April Kannady

“The Cemetery in Spoon River Anthology”
Taylor N. Libbert


SUB Conference Room: Midwestern Literature (9:30-10:20 a.m.)

“Ed Gein: The Midwest’s Most Depicted Serial Killer”
Autumn Lavezzi and Rowan Pugh

“The Cross and the Veil: Writing a Fantasy Novel in the Midwest”
Caitlin Magness


SUB Activities room: 1920s America (9:30-10:20 a.m.)

“The New Woman of the 20s: A Look at the Portrayals of Women in Cane”
Kimberly O’Loughlin

“Fitzgerald Versus Hemingway: Defining the New Woman of the 1920s”
Makenzie Berhorst

“New Wealth, New Women: Female Characters in post-WWI America”
Rachel Hanna


SUB Conference Room: Creative Writing (10:30-11:20 a.m.)

“Souls Collide – A Dystopic Romance”
Anna Morgan

“The Lies That Bind: A Young Adult Fiction Piece”
Dora Brewington

“Femmelot: An Audio Drama Podcast”
Melissa Albers


SUB Conference Room: Economy of Austen (11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.)

“Getting to the Point: Distance and Travel in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice”
Melissa Slemp

“The Company You Keep: The Effects of Relationships in Pride and Prejudice”
Montana Carlson

“Emma: Abuse of Social Power”
Tessa Oliver


SUB Activities Room: Midwestern Literature (11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.)

“Realism vs. Romanticism in the Midwest: A Closer Look at Hamlin Garland’s “Up the Coolly” and “Quincy, IL: The Gem City”
Madeline Eaton

“Hamlin Garland and Thomas Hart Benton: American Midwestern Regionalism and Realism”
Abbey Gerveler

“Bodies in Turmoil: The Creative Blends and Conceptual Metaphors Building Bodies in Craig Thompson’s Blankets”
Kelly Mahaffy


SUB Activities Room: Keynote (12:30 p.m.)
A Professional Talk by Philip Schaefer, “Truth to Music:  We Owe Reality Nothing.”


SUB Conference Room: Economy of Austen (1:30-2:20pm)

“Sisterhood in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility”
Claire Wandrey

“Darcy, Wickham, Bingley, Collins, Oh My!: Examining Males as Satirical Devices in Pride and Prejudice”
Grace Fodor

“Emma: A Parent-Produced Prodigy”
Keith Kerkemeyer


SUB Activities Room: Creative Writing (1:30-2:20 p.m.)

“So, the World Has Ended… Now What?: Stories from an Absurdist Dystopia”
Morgan LeBaige

“Allegation Crocodile”
Dave Smithson

“Outer Demons: A YA Graphic Novel Script with Artwork”
Shaenna McCumber


SUB Conference Room: Economy of Austen (2:30-3:20 p.m.)

“The Significance of Letter in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice”
Rebecca Canino

“Mansfield Park and the Subtle Condemnation of Slavery”
Sam Andrzejewski

“Rereading Jane Austen: A Feminist Approach to Emma”
Marissa Albracht


SUB Activities Room: Creative Writing (2:30-3:20 p.m.)

“White Girl”
Emily Stobbe

“Summer of 2009: A Coming of Age and Coming Out Novel”
Amy Jereb