Two things always happen at this time of year. First, one week of classes left in the spring semester, I begin thinking about my classes in the fall. Second, it’s at least 90 degrees in my office. So, here I sit…planning my graduate class for the fall and, well, sweating.

This fall I am teaching ENG 502 Introduction to English Studies: Traditions, Boundaries, and Change. This will be the first time the course has been taught. My colleague Jennifer Bottinelli and I designed it to be one of the two required courses for our redesigned MA (the other being literary criticism). I’m very excited about teaching this course and reading/rereading the texts. It’s the kind of class that I’ve always wanted to teach…and the fact that it will be our graduate students’ introduction to the degree puts a big smile on my face.

The official syllabus for the class has an extensive bibliography (way too much to actually read in a semester)…I’m beginning to narrow in on the texts I’ll be using…at least a draft of a required book list. Here’s what I’m thinking:

• Berlin, James. Rhetoric, Poetics, and Cultures: Refiguring College English Studies. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2003.
• Downing, David, Claude Mark Hurlbert, and Paula Mathieu, eds. Beyond English Inc.: Curricular Reform in a Global Economy. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2002.
• Graff, Gerald. Professing Literature: An Institutional History. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1987.
• McComiskey, Bruce, ed. English Studies: An Introduction to the Discipline(s). Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2006.
• Scholes, Robert. The Rise and Fall of English. New Haven, CT: Yale UP, 1998.
• Yagelski, Robert and Scott Leonard, eds. The Relevance of English: Teaching that Matters in Students’ Lives. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2002.

That’s what I am thinking right now at least. I like pairing Graff and Scholes, especially since Scholes begins his text with a reference to the importance of Graff’s book:

The rise of English in American colleges is now a familiar part of the story, thanks especially to such books as Richard Ohmann’s English in America and Gerald Graff’s Professing Literature. My version of this story will be similar to theirs, but with some different emphases that enable me to propose another ending for this tale that is still in progress. (Scholes 2-3)

And I like this pairing because 1) it enacts the kind of “conversation” approach to English Studies that the course is designed to foreground; and, 2) it connects this required course with an established discussion in the field of English Studies. That is, the fact that Scholes is taking the study of the institutional and curricular history of English as a given, helps make a case for why we are requiring our students to take ENG 502.

I am trying to be cautious not to overload the reading list…especially since this course has several goals in addition to looking the construction of “English Studies.” In any event, just (re)reading some of these texts is helping remind me of what drew me to English and my field, rhet/comp to begin with. That’s a good feeling.

For now, I am going to call it a day and head home (and change out of these sweaty clothes…yuk!). Current (outside) temperature, 75. Partly cloudy. Feels like summer.

I don’t know what got me thinking about this…must be that feeling that summer is on it’s way. This one’s for the whole crew back in Syracuse (now spread around the world). Give ‘em the Gas Face!

Here are some photos from the fourth Composition Conference for First-Year Student Writers at Kutztown. This year’s conference was quite a success with 230 students participating. This year we even did a little live blogging from the conference…something we hope to do more of next year. It was a blast!

We just got word yesterday that Democracies to Come is in press! Woo Hoo!! It’s been a long road for sure. Word has it that we will have copies in about a month. Major props go to the production crew at Lexington/Rowman & Littlefield for moving our book to production so quickly once we finished all the final editing.

If you’re interested, here’s a excerpt from the Lexington page for our book:

Democracies to Come: Rhetorical Action, Neoliberalism, and Communities of Resistance draws upon a variety of contemporary sites and moments (e.g. IMF/World Bank protests, writing emerging from social movements in struggle against neoliberalism, classroom praxis, postcolonial literature, student activism) to explore new relationships—pedagogical, emotional, affective, and social—that can be the basis of political and social organizing. Approaching pedagogy as a space of learning, Democracies to Come argues that pedagogy becomes a cultural force for democracy in its own right, a cultural literacy, which intervenes in a multiplicity of systems, institutions, cultural formations, and constituencies.

I’m just so excited. Now I can move on to finishing my paper for RSA next month in Seattle…and I promised Seth to have a book chapter description to him by the end of the weekend. This is just the little push I needed to jump into writing…er, after planting flowers, going to a birthday party for my friend’s kid, and soaking in this wonderful day.

This is what happens to me when I get some down-time from the craziness of the semester. Yes, it’s recess and here I am geeking out on comp/rhet. From my perspective there’s a difference between just immersing oneself in reading, writing, and thinking about building programs and geeking out on the field. The latter includes decidedly non-academic identity building–a “brand experience” to conjure up Naomi Klein and/or Kevin Roberts (depending on your political persuasion).

And, well, there’s swag–ok, well, not exactly swag but it’s such a great word.

A few months ago I was messing around with cafepress.com to do some mock-ups of some APSCUF-KU designs I was working on. We were considering printing t-shirts and bumper stickers for PR and fundraising. I wanted to show people more than the designs…I wanted people to see what the actual item would look like. Cafepress.com is perfect for this kind of task. Anyway, while I was doing that I came up with a couple of designs for the comp/rhet geek in me. One design stated: “i’ll take my gorgias over your socrates anyday.” Another one said: “rhetorical question: you talkin’ to me?” You get the picture.

Ever since then I’ve been playing around with different ideas. Today I geeked out and (re)built my cafepress store: Comp/Rhet Spot. And, yes, you can actually buy the items in the shop. And, for the record, I will not get rich on this project. All proceeds from Comp/Rhet Spot will go to help fund student scholarships through our faculty union APSCUF-KU. I don’t expect Comp/Rhet Spot will generate huge contributions to the scholarship fund, but it was the only way I could justify actually selling this stuff (if comrade Stu is out there, I am sure his anti-capitalist meter is red-lining) :-).

So, I think I’ll add a page to Cooking with Dionysus as well…so you can always find your favorite site for comp/rhet swag.

Tomorrow begins our “spring recess.” I guess it’s a way to relive our elementary school afternoons–just condensed into two days. Frankly, I think we should still have recess…we should all have to take a break in the early afternoon to go outside, run around, play with giant balls, maybe even a round of dodge ball. The weather’s actually perfect for it today…sunny, beautiful sky, and about 63 degrees. Nice.

I think running around would actually help me get out of this “pooped” feeling. Yeah, I know, I don’t sleep enough and all that, but I am tired and am having fantasies of replanting my sedum plants, cleaning up the vines on the trellises in my backyard, and getting my patio ready for some nice barbecues!

I guess it’s just been an intense year…from contract negotiations to a vote of no confidence to some stuff going on that I don’t even want to get into here…no worries, really. I’m just dandy…but damn. I’m just looking for that light at the end of the tunnel, aka, the last day of the semester. I’m looking forward to recuperating from this past year + over the summer. Can’t wait.

Anyway, I’m just killing the last 15 minutes of my office hours before I head outside to play kick ball, or hop scotch, or some random recess game. Happy recess!

Yup. Tomorrow is the launch of the fourth Composition Conference for First-Year Student Writers. I talked to Keith in between my classes this afternoon to touch base on last minute details…Now I just have to put the finishing touches on the conference program and get it to the printer. Amy’s doing a bang-up job on coordinating the details, putting out info, and making sure things are running smoothly. Very cool. Amy had the idea to open up the conference next year to include all composition courses–not just the first-year course. I think that’s going to be a great move and will put even more of a spotlight on our little comp program.Let me put in one more plug for our Keynote tomorrow night:

Keith Gilyard, “Tragicomic Hope, African American Music, and Rhetorical Education.” Wednesday, April 9 (that’s right TOMORROW) at 7pm in Boehm Auditorium (the science building). Reception to follow…and, yes, we will have a book table where you can snap upKeith’s books!

And now….the full program: 2008 Composition Conference Program

Now, this is enough to start the week off right. If you didn’t click “this,” then you should definitely click here to check out the “pre-pub discount” for Democracies to Come!!!! It’s been a long road, but Rachel and I are finally hitting the bookstores.

This is the week for our fourth Composition Conference for First-Year Student Writers.  As of last night, there were almost 50 students participating in the conference.  Kudos go out to Amy for doing a great job pulling everything together.  We’re VERY psyched to have Keith Gilyard as our Keynote speaker this year…I’m looking forward to catching up with him and welcoming him to our campus.  Keith was on my Masters committee back at Syracuse…yes, way back then…and it feels cool to be able to welcome him to KU now.

As it turns out, this is actually a pretty good week for the conference and all things comp/rhet.  Last week was CCCCs in New Orleans and at least three of our faculty were there and will no doubt bring the energy of the conference back with them (I was supposed to present a paper as well, but lack of institutional funding…well, you know, I’ve gone down that road already).  It’s kind of like Comp/Rhet week.  I like that as a designation–the week after CCCCs shall be Comp/Rhet week at Kutztown.  I seem to have gotten swept up in the spirit of it all as well…after finishing the conference program last night, I added new Comp/Rhet swag to K-Spot.  That’s always fun.

And Comp/Rhet week has got me thinking about long term, programmatic work I want to do here.  I’m standing at the edge of that cliff and am slowly getting ready to take the plunge.  Hesitant?  Yes…I mean, the bureaucracy can be thick around here and KU has a tendency to support ideas with little more than words.  But…I am beginning to see signs that this is all changing.  A window is opening.  Could that be a glimmer of hope peeking through those gray clouds?  Perhaps.

Anyway…just a little note to start the week.  If I’m lucky, I’ll have some time to get over to InkWork later on.  Keep your fingers crossed…I know you can’t wait.