I U F W The Chair’s Compass · 2013-01-28 · I like to run barefoot. What in your writing/research are you really passionate about? I'm passionate about ways to help my stu-dents

Upcoming Events

Visiting Writer’s Series: Roger Mitchell

Indiana Chitlin Circuit

First Mondays Series: Linguistics lecture

IPFW Faculty/Student Reading Series

IPFW Resume Work-shop

Faculty Spotlight 2

Font Choices 2

Branding Yourself 5

Crossword 6

Student Reading 7

Student Spotlight 7

Inside this issue:

In my Chair’s Compass from early winter 2011, I cited an overlooked poet, James Thomson, whose eighteenth-century cele-bration of the seasons is almost coterminous with Vivaldi’s The Four Sea-sons, each work limning poetically and musically the cyclical process of change and constancy. If my newsletter narratives reflect a patina of sea-sonal observations more fitting an almanac, it is because of the cyclical nature of the newsletter itself. Its appearances in fall and spring correspond with the transitional na-ture of those seasons, bridging the polar blasts of winter and the solar

waves of summer. The newsletter captures in miniature a snapshot of where we are as a de-partment, freezing for the brief span of its pages a department that changes as the seasons change. As we graduate students and matriculate new students, introduce new faculty and celebrate our distinguished veter-ans, the Department of English and Linguistics is always in flux, always changing and yet para-doxically remaining es-sentially the same. That theme is a constant in these introductions I have penned. As alumni of this academic home,

you too are part of that constant, and I hope you share both the changes you encounter and the more perma-nent aspects of your life that adhere. We hope to hear from you as we all celebrate these seasons.

Hardin L. Aasand

The Chair’s Compass

College of Arts and Sciences — Department of English and Linguistics

Editor /Writer/ Photogra-pher: Emily Stroud

Supervisor: Suzanne Rumsey

Volume 4, Issue 1, Fall 2011 INDIANA UNIVERSITY — PURDUE UNIVERSITY FORT WAYNE

RRESUMEESUME WWORKSHOPORKSHOP HHOSTEDOSTED BYBY THETHE IPFW EIPFW ENGLISHNGLISH DDEPARTMENTEPARTMENT

Learn how to make your English degree marketable

Get tips and guidelines from experienced IPFW faculty

Get information from Fort Wayne professionals who use resumes from an employer’s perspective

Find out what skills and courses are important to get an edge on your job hunt

DON’T FORGET:

Check for flyers in Spring 2012 about the Career & Intern Workshop.

TIME: 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

DATE: Thursday, November 17

PLACE: LA 160

one notices the font at all (Times, Arial, Verdana). Headers, quotes, logos, and other stand-out text can be in a different or more attention-grabbing font. This will help your reader quickly locate important text and ideas.

You’ll also need to choose between serif and sans serif fonts, or a com-bination of both. Serif fonts are fonts such as Times that have little ‘feet’, as opposed to sans serif fonts like Arial that are smooth. Serif fonts are a bit easier on the eyes for extended reading periods, while sans serif fonts seem less stuffy and more modern. Generally, you want a serif font for the body of your text, while the headers can be in sans serif. For short bits of text, use your preference.

Think about your audience and purpose when choosing the font for your document. For academic pa-pers, stick with a classy serif font;

While font choices can be over-analyzed, they can slightly help or drastically hurt the perception of your document; a well put-together and attractively format-ted document that is easy to read and glean for information will al-ways be better than the same document that is sloppily made and presented in a horrible type-face. Putting the extra care into your document shows a level of professionalism; you wouldn’t show up to your office job in track suit, so why submit an offi-cial memo in Comic Sans?

It’s easy to want to put all your bells and whistles out there to impress – but this is a trap. The more attention you draw toward your font, the more attention you draw away from the content of your paper or presentation. Ide-ally, you want most of your docu-ment to use invisible fonts – fonts that are so standard that no

spice your paper up without losing credibility by scrapping Times and going with Georgia, Book Antiqua, or Century. For progress reports and presentations, especially in tech-nical or business fields, you want a sleek, modern font choice. Make sure to keep in line with whatever guide-lines your professor or company have set.

Finally, consider your document’s medium. If it’s printed and handed out, any font you choose is fine. If it’s sent out as a document or pres-entation file, or you’re presenting it from a company or university com-puter, you need to choose a font that comes standard on all operating systems. If not, the font will revert to a default font – which can and probably will look terrible with the formatting you’ve created around your preferred font, especially if there’s a difference in size.

What is your font saying about you?

PAGE 2 VOLUME 4 , ISSUE 1, FALL 2011

Faculty Spotlight: Sarah Sandman Hometown? Fort Wayne Academic History? I started out my academic career at the Univer-sity of Findlay where I was major-ing in Elementary Education and playing basketball for the col-lege. I only stayed there a year, and returned home to IPFW. I had plans to stay only a semester and then to transfer to Bloomington. That didn't happen--and I stayed at IPFW graduating with a degree in English, and then stayed even longer and worked on my Master's Degree. I have most recently been working on my PhD at Ball State where my specialty is Rhetoric and Composition. What brought you to IPFW? I love the atmosphere at IPFW.

Classes taught at IPFW? I've taught W131, 233, and 331. In the spring, I will get to teach my first section of W103. Currently reading/watching? I'm a Food Network junkie when I'm not reading/writing for my dis-sertation. My favorite show is Chopped.

Guilty pleasure read? murder mysteries Favorite food & drink? coffee! Hobby/interest outside of aca-demics? I love to read and write poetry.

What is something interesting that most people at IPFW don't know about you? I like to run barefoot. What in your writing/research are you really passionate about? I'm passionate about ways to help my stu-dents become more present and mind-ful in their own writing. What made you want to teach? When I was a young ten-year-old, I believed that if I became a teacher, I could save the world. While I don't ascribe to that philosophy anymore, I believe that teaching is the "good work" that am supposed to do. Now I teach because I know the power of language, and how important thinking and writing are for humanity.

College of Arts and Sciences - Department of English and Linguistics

Hey, Alumni! We Want to Hear from You!


We’d love to hear from our alumni about where your lives have taken you. You may clip this portion of the newsletter and mail it with your responses, or you may email us at [email protected]. Here are a few things we’d like to know:

Is there something you’d like to see in this newsletter?

What direction did your English degree from IPFW take you?

Have you continued to write professionally or creatively? Would you be interested in having your work in our newsletter?

Are there updates to your career or life you’d like us to know about?

What is your fondest memory of your time in the English Department here at IPFW?

What advice would you give current students?


Linguistics Tidbit by Dr. Chad Thompson

Write: the original meaning im-plied scoring or outlining some-thing. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *writanan 'to tear, to scratch.' If you check the oed online, you will see some exam-ples of the original sense such as Spenser Shepheardes Cal. Dec. 136 "By myne eie the Crow his clawe dooth wright." which means something like 'the crow incises his claw by my eye,' i.e. I have crows feet.

CONFLUENCE

Confluence is a Fort Wayne-based creative literary magazine that accepts photography, poetry, fiction, essay, drama, memoir, creative non-fiction, and artwork. For more information and to submit your work, visit:

ipfw.edu/confluence/submissions.html

Submissions are on a rolling deadline—those that miss the tentative deadline are rolled over to next year’s edition.

Mail your responses back to:

Dr. Suzanne Rumsey English Department Newsletter Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne 2101 E. Coliseum Blvd. Fort Wayne, IN 46805

Clip here and tell us your news!


Nam

e: _

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

____

___

Mai

den

Nam

e (if

app

licab

le):

___

____

____

____

____

____

_

Year

of

Gra

duat

ion:

___

____

____

____

____

____

Res

pons

es t

o qu

estio

ns o

n pr

evio

us p

age:

A Journal of Literature, History, and the Philosophy of History

Clio: A Journal of Literature History, and the Phi-losophy of History, an international triennial jour-nal, publishes scholarly essays on three interre-lated topics: literature as informed by historical understandings, historical writings considered as literature, and philosophy of history, with a special interest in Hegel.

Clio seeks essays that are interdisciplinary in their arguments. We publish researched essays at the intersections of our three disciplines of emphasis. Our focus is historiography, in reference to any time period and literatures, especially those that reflect contemporary theoretical approaches to our traditional focus.

Email: [email protected] Website: http://new.ipfw.edu/clio/


Some people write for the sake of writing. Some write only as a job. A third group does both – they write what they love, but they also do work-writing on the side to pay the bills, so that they can keep writing what they love. You don’t need to ‘sell out’ to get your writ-ing purchased, but having your name recognized as a reputable writer will help bring in the cash to fund your pet projects.

To be successful at selling your writing long-term, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, freelance articles or contract writing, poetry or how-to guides, you have to sell yourself. With most nonfiction, you need to prove that you have legiti-mate knowledge about the area in which you’re writing. With most fiction, you need not only a pitch, but a business plan to ensure that your work (and you) are worth the publisher’s time and upfront costs.

1. Continuity. Choose the name you want to go by and stick with it, at least for now. If you use a middle initial in your bylines, don’t spell out your middle name some-where else. If the name is differ-ent, people may assume it’s a dif-ferent person. Don’t make it any harder for people to connect to, find, and recognize you.

2. Grab your name. Once you’ve picked a name, grab it. Scoop up your domain name, and private email or a Gmail account with your chosen name. If you can’t afford a

web-hosting package, grab a free blog with your name, or purchase the domain name and re-direct your free blog there (many free bloggers, like Wordpress, can help you with this). Sync the social me-dia you want linked to your profes-sional life (a matching Twitter han-dle, Facebook display name and URL, etc.); you want your audience to be able to find you and find you quickly, lest they give up.

3. Get your name out there. Participate in readings, and check out local library and university events – some libraries may let you host an event. Jump into the blo-gosphere- blog, and make legiti-mate, insightful comments on the blogs or websites of others with the URL of your website or social media profile linked. Put your URL and penname as your email and forum signatures, and stick it on your business card. Guest blog for friends or contacts, submit a few non-paid articles to a website or small publication, beef up your portfolio by helping out a nonprofit organization… anything that will get you out there.

4. Network with other writers. People don’t want one book, article, or poem – they want lots. If you group up with similar writers, you

Branding Yourself: how to sell yourself so your work will sell



can often help each other out with sales and reputation simply because people would love to find two new awesome things instead of just one. Even writers who aren’t in the same genre or area can help each other out by sending people who aren’t interested in their writing to yours. Other writers can also have connections to publishers, agents, or other resources that they’ll share with you, and may be able to offer advice. Attend local writers’ work-shops, library events, author readings and book signings, and consider joining a writ-ers’ association for your genre or area of interest.

5. Be legit. If you spam blogs, forums, or other websites with your ad copy and noth-ing else, you’ll quickly lose not only posting privileges but also any shred of reputation you had. The same goes if you crash other writer’s book signings, or prattle on about your nonfic work-in-progress at a poetry slam. Be honest, helpful, and generally not a jerk, and you’ll make contacts that can help you along your way.

6. Keep at it. In the Blockbuster world of today, you can’t just get name recognition and quit. You have to keep networking, keep putting out new content, and keep grabbing readers. Even large businesses struggle with this – everybody knows about milk, cheese, and beef, and yet they still have to advertise.


Across

2. Game phrase originat-ing from the Persian for "the king is dead"

5. "Call me _________"

7. Greek word meaning 'nowhere'; book by Sir Thomas More

10. Hemingway title from Ecclesiastes (4 Words)

13. The "Noblest Roman"

14. Central emblem of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

15. Canterbury Tales was written ___ English

16. Word history

17. New IPFW Eng faculty member; DC comic hero; popular Gaiman antihero

19. Samuel Clemens was born in this town.

21. Character who con-trasts the protagonist

23. Former Indiana Poet Laureate from Kendallville

24. Steinbeck, Thompson, Vonnegut, Frost and Twain have all been pub-lished in this long-time magazine

26. Something that is pro-hibited or avoided; word origi-nated in New Zealand

28. Word from the French "cloth of the king"

29. Wrote detective stories (before Doyle)

Down

1. -ing word

3. Contains the line "Four legs good, two legs bad?" (2 Words)

4. Sometimes warlike Roman god-dess of wisdom, crafts, and magic; Harry's professor

6. Confluence is a merging of two or more of these

8. Started the first lending library (2 Words)

9. American poet known for his unique use of capitalization

11. One's unique diction, style, and tone when writing

12. Penny dreadful vampire who predated Dracula and Carmilla

17. Dorothy's famous red slippers were originally this color in Baum's books

18. Originated the phrase "Do not count your chickens before they are hatched"

20. Symbolic narrative

22. Voltaire, Swift, Orwell, and Bradbury all wrote this

25. Half man, half goat mythical crea-ture

27. Poetry form with a song lyric re-frain


Crossword: English & Linguistics Grab Bag


IPFW Student Reading

A student reading will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 1:15 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30 in the Walb Student Union, room G21-G21A, as part of the IPFW Faculty/Student Reading Series.

Students are encouraged to read what they’re working on in or outside of class in approxi-mate five minute time slots. The event is held later in the semes-ter so that students will have had time to revise and edit their work. The student reading pro-vides an audience reaction to

students’ work that can help iron out any kinks, or just let them show off what they’ve been work-ing on all semester.


All IPFW students are welcome, but need to reserve a time slot by contacting Professor Curtis Crisler at [email protected] or 481-6769.

“For many, it is the first time they will read their work to an audience. They have to get past not representing the words they want to put on the page,” Crisler said.

It’s also a great time to meet other student writers, relax, and hear some of the works being written on campus—and feel out your competition for getting in Confluence!

First Autumn Ghazal by Michael Brennan-Perez Crossing the crest of pine-stubbled hills, sun touches lower to fall. Dog pull, leash bites my hand: darkness is falling in fall.

Choke cherry tree’s now dropping his leaves, dried branches crack as they fall.

Browned sugar pears nest to curled yellow leaves: the stillness commences to fall.

Cold’s touch is folding on fingertip’s skin: walking faster now into fall.

Red into amber, morning sky’s light, creeps onto the wall at the fall.

The empty space on that side of the bed, a lover’s warm scent in the fall.

Michael has been a student at IPFW on and off for several years, and is currently finish-ing up his degree in English. A factory worker for 28 years, he decided to pursue technical writing as a new way to earn a living. He started poetry as a fun way to exercise the other half of his brain, and just so happened to have a natural knack for word sounds. His favorite class so far has been Literary Criticism, and when he’s not at IPFW he enjoys growing vegetables and spending time with his family.

Student Spotlight: Michael Brennan-Perez

IPFW First Mondays Series: "What is Linguistics and Why Should Anyone Care?" by Shan-non Bischoff

Time TBA Monday, November 7 Science Building, 186

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IPFW Faculty/Student Reading Series: Sarah Sandman, Michael Slagle, and Nicholas Young 12:00p .m.— 1:15 p.m. Monday, November 14 Walb Student Union, G21-G21A

IPFW Visiting Writers Series: Roger Mitchell

Roger Mitchell, author of eleven books of poetry, formerly directed the creative writing program at IU.

12:00 p.m. Thursday, October 13 Walb Student Union, G21-G21A

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Indiana Chitlin Circuit

Ross Gay, Mitchell Douglas, and Cur-tis L. Crisler soulfully connect IU, IUPUI, & IPFW in a premier per-formance.

7:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m. Thursday October 20 Walb Student Union, 222-224

IPFW Resume Workshop

5:00 p.m.—7:00 p.m. Thursday, November 17 LA 160

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

IPFW Faculty/Student Reading Series: Student Reading 12:00 p.m.— 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, November 30 Walb Student Union G21-G21A

Open to all IPFW students. Sign-up by emailing Prof. Crisler at [email protected], or by calling him at 481-6769 to confirm your slot.

English and Linguistics Events for Fall 2011

Department of English and Linguistics College of Arts and Science Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne 2101 E. Coliseum Blvd. Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499

Documents

I U F W The Chair’s Compass · 2013-01-28 · I like to run barefoot. What in your writing/research are you really passionate about? I'm passionate about ways to help my stu-dents