I smell something in Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings. Do you know what it is? It’s fear. Kavanaugh, Trump, McConnell, Graham, Grassley: they reek of fear. They’re scared shitless because the structure of white male domination is crumbling before their very eyes, on their watch. That’s right, we are witnessing the death throes of the white male power structure. This bunch of he-man woman haters knows that even if Kavanaugh gets confirmed to the Supreme […]
One of my favorite pedagogical tools is what I call one minute feedbacks. I shamelessly stole this tool from Lieutenant Colonel John Church, whose pedagogy I deeply admire. Through our Writing Center, I taught grammar/formatting lessons for his honors composition class as a junior and senior in college. He printed them on yellow paper (known as “yellow canaries”) and told his students to “make ‘em sing!”
Tell us about yourself! Well, I majored in English and Spanish and minored in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Dayton. I am originally from Memphis, TN (which means I’m likely severely underprepared for the winter). My academic interests include medieval and 18th century literature, feminist and queer theory, women writers, and feminist post-Franco Spanish literature. Looking forward, I’m interested in learning more about postcolonial studies, Early Modern literature, and writing pedagogy. Some […]
Tell us about yourself! My name is Ashlee Simon. I was born and raised in Southern California and received my bachelor’s degree in June 2017 from the University of California, Riverside. My parents live on a farm in Norco, Horsetown U.S.A. where my mom owns and shows myotonic (fainting) goats. She’s currently working on setting up a “goat yoga” business. Stay tuned for updates on that one… Why did you choose Lehigh? As an undergraduate, […]
This past August, I had the pleasure of leading nine incoming first-year students and three undergraduate student leaders through the alLUsions program. alLUsions began six years ago when two former graduate students in the department wanted to find intentional ways to build bridges with undergraduate students. The idea was simple: invite incoming students to move in early and use writing as a tool to build community and unleash creativity before they began their college careers. By writing […]
Tell us about yourself! I’m a non-traditional student with a background in web-development and journalism. I enjoy cooking and video games, but not cooking video games. There is a rumor that I watch anime. I will not confirm this. I have seen Anthrax and Billy Ray Cyrus in concert, though not on the same night. I once strung a car engine to the overhanging branch of a maple tree. Why did you choose Lehigh? Nearly […]
The smell of the classroom, the reading assignments, hands cramping after writing too much in margins, and the down-and-out copy machine…. Ah, the telltale signs that another semester has started in the English department. On behalf of Drown Unbound, I would like to welcome our new members and our returning veterans. It is shaping up to be an amazing semester with exciting classes, an intriguing new teaching cohort, and many unknown surprises along the way. […]
Welcome to the fall 2018 semester–and a new series that we are debuting for Drown Unbound. Every two weeks or so, I (Sarah HB) will be inviting graduate students and professors to share their favorite pedagogical approaches and teaching techniques for folks to try out in your English 1 classrooms and beyond. Please think of these posts as part of the ongoing conversation regarding teaching in our department. The goal of these posts is to […]
I am two seminar papers and one e-portfolio away from finishing my first year of graduate school, and that seems significant. But while reflecting on all the fulfilling, thrilling, liberating, and life-altering stuff I’ve learned this year, I can’t help but think about all the stuff I still don’t know. In fact, I’m beginning to think that the point of education is to teach you things you didn’t know that you didn’t know. I never […]
Sometimes I wonder if there are any spaces conducive to positive friendships between women. I will not presume to speak for all women, but I have always recognized that genuine friendships between us can be tough to navigate. We are socialized to see each other as competition—for the man, the clothes, the jobs. And the media loves to portray female friendships as catty, competitive, and dramatic. I learned this at a young age; I watched […]
