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

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.