Issue: March/April 2007
Cosmo Colonel: When a Picture is the Text
Ninety percent of life is perception. Two people can look at the exact same picture in the same light, under the same circumstances, and see something completely different—perhaps explaining the cliché “pictures speak a thousand words.” For a magazine whose subject matter is largely sex, the pictures are usually especially provocative. Unparalleled beauties with undeniable attractiveness and “Crest” smiles enable a reader to skim the printed words and, instead, read the pictures. Read more »
Tower Nineteen
Sergeant Gamble felt a threatening presence bristle the hair on his back. He pivoted sharply on the heel of his boot and pointed the flashlight on the end of his assault rifle towards the dark green porta-john a few paces away. He heard sand and gravel rustle behind it. The night air was warm and still and laden with the heavy taste of benzene from the refinery ten kilometers away. He took some cautious steps forward until he stood next to the porta-john and smelled the pungent brew of chemical neutralizer and feces. He peered behind the toilet. The dilapidated three-story Iraqi Republican Guard barracks stood a stone’s throw away. He heard something moving and shined his flashlight towards the courtyard between the buildings. In the dim beam from his flashlight he caught a dark shape move through the shadows. Read more »
Tower Nineteen's Van Horn on War and Writing »
The Teaching Chronicles
Screaming students standing on desks, paper airplanes flying around the room, and the substitute teacher pulling his or her hair out: comics, television, and Hollywood have all helped create the stereotype of what a classroom looks like without the permanent teacher. Read more »
What Do English Majors Do?
During my junior year at Norwich a young editor at Outdoor Life magazine gave me some advice that focused the course of my life. “So you want to be an editor, huh! Well, breaking in isn’t easy,” he lobbed in an honest, informal way, “you have to define yourself as the best candidate. You have to be the personification of what a particular publication wants. And you can’t fake it either ... at least for long.” He didn’t say any more, but just let that comment drop. Read more »
Making the Case: Bob Dylan, Singer, Songwriter, and Poet
Bob Dylan is one of the world’s most highly-regarded living songwriters and for good reason. His esteem, in part, can be attributed to the fact that the body of work he has written is often regarded as poetry and that Dylan, himself, is thought of as a poet. Even the Academy of American Poets, a prestigious organization, over seventy years old that is devoted to supporting American poets and fostering an appreciation of contemporary poetry, publishes an entry on their website explaining Dylan’s poetic rank. The entry refers to compelling evidence from numerous literary critics as well as internet sources and popular opinion to make its case. Read more »
American Plays on the Irish Stage
Being an English major/minor in a different country, even when English is the dominant language, is an experiment whereby the student tries to understand a different culture’s literature, film, and dramatic performance. While studying in Ireland, I am taking courses that focus specifically on Irish drama, Irish performance, and European cinema. All three classes provide challenges and rewards in respect to how each professor adds to the experience of learning. Read more »
Norwich’s Immigration Nation Learns the Language Without Legislation
Debates in the United States regarding the country’s immigration policies are often accompanied by legislation that seeks to mandate English as the national language. English, however, has not always enjoyed such favor among the American populace. Although President John Adams believed the country should adopt a common language and that it should be English, he was up against a great deal of resistance by those who felt the nation’s independence from England also warranted abandoning the English language. Read more »
Studying Definite Articles Over the Pleasures of Maple Syrup
It is difficult for me to believe that almost ten years have passed since I came to Norwich to take the position as the ESL or English as a Second Language Specialist at the Learning Support Center. I began my work with Norwich’s international students in September of 1997 when twenty-two Indonesian students arrived on campus. I remember clearly meeting with my first student, Risa Setyawan, a bewildered freshman. We had hardly introduced ourselves to each other when he blurted out, “Mat, what is the passive voice?” I replied, “You were smoked badly by your cadre!” We were off to a good start. Read more »
Linguistic Society of America Promotes Multiple Languages Instead of Only English
Congress occasionally debates adopting English as the official language of the United States, spurred on by the “English-only” movement which seeks to attach an “official language amendment to the United States Constitution.” In the face of such action, the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) approved a resolution ten years ago which opposed “English-only measures.” Read more »
English Via St. Lucia, Nigeria, New Jersey and Norwich
Studying English is fulfilling and gratifying. It has made me a better reader and writer. In my experience, however, English has hardly been a language confined to regulations found in an EN101 handbook or the pronunciations clarified in Webster’s New World Dictionary. As an English major, I certainly work to engage the standards of the language. Yet the Caribbean Island of St. Lucia, the African nation of Nigeria, and the state of New Jersey have all been absorbed into the English that rolls off my tongue. Read more »
Coming to America
When I got off the airplane, I saw many people completely different from the people I was used to in my country, Taiwan. Some had very white skin, and they were called white people. Some had pure dark skin, and were called black people or African-Americans. Scared or excited, I was not sure. This world was entirely strange to me. Soon, hunger attacked me, and then the smell of food came afterwards; therefore, I started looking for food stores. But how come there was not even one store I knew? Actually, I had seen McDonalds and KFC’s in Taiwan. However, here in America, most of the stores I saw were unfamiliar. I picked one quickly. Read more »
Could You Pass the Citizenship Test?
In order to become a United States citizen, all immigrants must take an oral examination delivered by a Citizenship and Immigration Services officer. While preparing for the exam, newcomers often simultaneously are learning English. Out of one hundred questions, the officer chooses ten. Usually, the test taker must get at least eight correct. Recently the citizenship test was revised. Below are questions from the revised test chosen by Work Sighted. Read more »
Sword Fighting and Magic Tricks Become Crucial “Real World” Skills Learned While Producing “Twelfth Night”
Terza Guarda left foot forward, my partner and I just out of range of our rapiers. Cut to four, pass forward; cut to five, pass forward. My partner passes back, parry four; pass back parry five. "I'll have an ounce or two of your blood," Toby threatens, as he pushes my blade away, the steel singing. We circle. Read more »
