Come and Howl Along--Open Mic Reading

This year's first "New Lit Out Loud" open-mic reading of original poetry and prose will be Wednesday, March 7, from 6 -9 at Whiskey Mansion B & B, 1723 Francis Street, St. Joseph. Area writers and MWSU alumni are invited to join current students in sharing new works.

The event will be hosted by the student staffs of The Mochila Review and Canvas, MWSU's national and student literary magazines, respectively. Food and beverages will be available. For directions or more information phone Whiskey Mansion

(816) 676-1529 or Assistant Professor of English Bill Church (816) 271-5966.

EFLJ Celebrates Chinese Festival

Our Fulbright Scholar, Tiantian, reports on the Chinese New Year celebration with her students:

On February 6, students from CHI 100 and 101 learned to make 饺子(jiǎo zi), dumplings in Vaselakos Basement. 饺子(jiǎo zi) is the most important traditional Chinese food. With the help of Mrs Katchen and Tiantian, students learned the whole process from making fillings, dumpling skin to boiling. Like the stew in the US, every family has their different way of making it. The most classical filling is pork with cabbage（猪肉白菜）. Beef with celery （牛肉芹菜）, lamb with carrot （羊肉胡萝卜）are also popular. For vegetarians, eggs and chives （韭菜鸡蛋）are recommended.

On February 8, in Blum 218-219, students from CHI 100 and 101 celebrated Chinese Spring Festival by giving presentation about traditions, customs, legends and ways to celebrate Chinese New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and Lantern Festival. Students did research and presented on topics like Chinese Zodiac, the year of Dragon, preparation for the new year, decorations, family gathering, Spring Festival Gala, fireworks, red envelopes, dragon dance, lanterns, riddles and traditional food for this big celebration. In the end, Fred Weems sang a Chinese song 康定情歌 in Chinese with his guitar. Tea and candies were served. Around 70 students were there listening to the presentations.

Thanks, Tiantian!

Chinese Spring Festival Event

Celebration of the Chinese Spring Festival!
3:30 pm, February 8, 2012
Hoff 218-219 (Blum)

This most important celebration in China begins on Chinese New Yes Eve and ends with the Lantern Festival.
Join us to find out more about it!

Foreign Film Series Schedule

Monday, January 30, Tambien la lluvia / Even the Rain (In Spanish with English subtitles) presented by Cathy Pankievicz

Wednesday, February 15, Crazy Stone, Chinese Film with English subtitles (TBA) presented by Tiantian Zou

Thursday, February 23, Cherry Blossoms (In German with English subtitles)

Friday, March 2, Le Herisson / The Hedgehog (French Film with English subtitles) presented by Claudine Evans

Tuesday, March 27, Biutiful“(In Spanish with English subtitles) presented by Eduardo Castilla Ortiz

Wednesday, April 4, In the Mood for Love, Chinese Film with English subtitles (TBA) presented by Tiantian Zou

Thursday, April 12t, Voces Inocentes / Innocent voices (In Spanish with English subtitles) presented by Ana Bausset

Thursday, April 19, Camille Claudel (In French with English subtitles) presented by Susie Hennessy, sponsored by French Alliance 6:00 pm.

All films are scheduled to show at 6:30 pm in Hearnes Hall 102 (Little Theater in the lower floor of our MWSU Library)

All are Welcome (even gum-chewers and ne'er-do-wells!)

Free Admission (though you are welcome to tell your date that you paid)

Chinese Spring Festival Approaches

In honor of our Fulbright scholar, Tiantian, we share some news and information about the coming Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year.

The celebration begins January 22 (Chinese New Year's Eve) and runs through the Lantern Festival on February 6.

This will be the year of the dragon. It is well known that people born in the year of the dragon are wise, attractive, drawn toward service (such as posting blog entries), and exceed in humility.

The site linked below will, unlike some blogs, provide accurate information about the festival and the year of the dragon:

http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/festivals/spring-festival/

gōngxǐ fācái!

Jason Youngkeit has article accepted

Congratulations to Dr. Jason Youngkeit, whose article “Malinche de Laura Esquivel: una lucida reevaluación discursiva de lo histórico” will appear in Confluencia 28.1, which is the fall 2012 issue.

website: http://www.unco.edu/hss/confluencia/

English Instructor and Student Featured in The Bedford Researcher

ENG 108 student Nicholas Brothers and ENG 108 instructor and Director of Developmental Writing Dawn Terrick are featured in the fourth edition of Mike Palmquist’s The Bedford Researcher.

The textbook is designed to “help students to understand research writing both conceptually and practically, combining a rhetorical framework with the accessible guidance students need to help them navigate the world of academic research writing.” In order to do this, the textbook features the process and work of real student writers.

In this most recent edition, you can follow Western’s own Nicholas Brothers as he writes and presents a research project for his ENG 108 class on private military corporations in the U.S. using both published, scholarly sources and interviews. Check out the website to see what one of our students is writing about.

Congratulations, Dawn and Nicholas!