Work Sighted is a monthly newsletter published by the Humanities divison that fosters and supports the literary culture at and around Norwich University.
Issue: January/February 2007
Professor Christopher Morris Awarded Fulbright Distinction
Christopher Morris, professor of English, has been named a Fulbright Distinguished Chair by the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars. During spring 2008, at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, Morris will teach a variety of graduate-level courses that engage his long-established record of research, publication, and teaching while a member of the Norwich English faculty. Read more »
Explosions Teach “Life Lessons” Serving in Iraq
It was freezing when we reached Fort Drum, New York, an active United States army base where my unit—the 283rd Transportation Company—was to mobilize to Iraq. The 283rd had four platoons with a total of about a hundred soldiers. I knew only one person because the unit had been crossed leveled, meaning it was comprised of people from all over the country. Given that I am from Hawaii, when I compared where others were from—New York, Wisconsin, Kentucky, even Puerto Rico—I realized that I came from a greater distance than most. Despite the fact that I had never met many, I, like the others, had been training and preparing for a month, so when we all arrived in Fort Drum, we quickly became a family. Read more »
Seminar to Give Pegasus Shakespeare a Mad Max Edge
A Shakespeare course always provokes certain expectations and prejudices. Amanda Sugai, a junior majoring in communications, thought “Shakespeare for the Stage (EN406B),” would entail simply “reading the plays” and not actually performing them. Read more »
Prof. Jeanne Beckwith Wins New England Playwright Award
Members of the Portland [Maine] Stage Company select one play from each New England state as a winner of its annual competition among the region’s playwrights. Read more »
Jonathan Pride Becomes Work Sighted Editor
Political science major and English minor Jonathan Pride has assumed the role of an editor of Work Sighted, the English department’s news monthly. Read more »
The Teaching Chronicles
Once I finished student teaching, I thought it would be easy to find a job. Although I eventually want my own classroom, after Thanksgiving I began work as a substitute para-educator, working one-on-one with a student with special needs. I thought the position would be a great “resumé builder” and hoped that it would eventually lead to full-time para-educator work, however, it never developed into anything more that a substitute job. Read more »
What Do English Majors Do?
My twenty years of law enforcement was exciting, dangerous, and daring, but I became busted-up enough to want to change my profession. Yeah me! With vocational rehabilitation support, I came to Norwich to begin a new life and I chose to major in English. As a shift commander, undercover drug officer, state investigator and private gum-shoe, I knew an amazing number of great professionals. Despite their crime-buster prowess, however, they just could not write grammatically correct, half-coherent sentences. These skills can’t be taught effectively in the workplace even though reading comprehension and writing abilities are what employers really need. Also and most importantly, English as a major gives a variety of employment options, ranging from occupations in government, education, business, publishing, research as well as the cultural, entertainment, and communications industries. Read more »
The Fix Wasn’t In: Jonathan Pride Spots the Professor
As Jonathan Pride, a political science major and English minor, was assuming his duties as an editor for Work Sighted (see story on page sixteen), he glanced at the last page of the November/December issue, pointed to the “Spot the Professor photo, and correctly identified Linda Karch as the girl who stood in the back row, second from the right. Karch, professor of English, congratulates Pride for providing the right answer. As a result, he won a $20 gift certificate to Bear Pond Books in Montpelier. Read more »
Applying a Major in English to Service in the Military
When a curious uncle finds that his nephew majors in civil engineering, he may say, "We need good men like you to build our bridges." In my experience, however, when I explain I am an English major, the uncle believes the only suitable career path is teaching. In contrast, I am planning a career with the Navy despite those who do not understand how majoring in English correlates to a career in the military. Read more »
Learning English from the Irish
Last Spring I toyed with studying abroad. Even though I major in criminal justice, I enjoy literature and minor in English. As a result, I wanted to travel to a country with a rich literary history in English. My American heritage is a mix of Irish, German, Italian, and Hungarian, and such factors influenced which countries I considered. I came upon Ireland and, with the likes of W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, and Bram Stroker, was almost shocked to learn of the number of notable writers that have emerged from the “Island of a Thousand Welcomes.” Given my literary interests and my family’s ancestry, I decided to spend this spring in Ireland, attending Dublin Business School’s Study Abroad Program. I was ready to immerse myself in Irish culture and literature and enjoy the experiences that would arise from living in a different country. Read more »
Reading the Greatest Books Ever Written
In 101 Things to Do Before You Die, Richard Horne writes that you can, “Catch a Fish with your bare hands:(#4),” “Visit every country (#36),” “See an erupting volcano (# 27),” “Read the greatest books ever written (# 52).” For those of us who could be lost by all of life’s possibilities, Horne’s book offers a cure. He gives the average “Joe” a map to an extraordinary life full of action, romance, and suspenseful movie highlights.Read more »
Un-Required Reading
Literacy is defined by the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) as the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one’s goals, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential. The ability to read as well as understand what’s written is a crucial ingredient to any nation’s survival. Read more »
P.S. Editions Allow Books to Continue Beyond the End
Perusing the local used bookstore one afternoon, Zorro, by Isabel Allende, caught my attention with its glossy emerald green cover. Being a fencer myself, I took the novel home with images of a masked hero sword-fighting evil-doers to win the passionate love of a woman. The plot was not exactly as I’d envisioned. Action-packed scenes of steel clashing against steel in a battle of wits were few and far between and my dashing hero was clumsy in his attempts to win the fair maiden’s heart. Instead, a narrator with personal connections to the hero, explains how the persona of Zorro was created and developed. Read more »
NU Students Who Are Parents Instill Reading’s Pleasures in Their Children
A 2006 study conducted by children’s publisher Scholastic Books found that the children of parents who are “high-frequency readers,” defined as those who “read for fun everyday,” are much more likely to “love reading.”
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Not All Altruistic: Reading Prowess Results in Long Term School Success
“L O O K!, Look, mom!!!” my daughter’s enthusiasm at recognizing a word she knows among many words she does not is contagious. “Yes, honey. That says “look”!” Her realization that she could pick out words she knew occurred nearly six months ago and now just shy of five years she continues to identify more words she knows in various passages from Charlotte’s Web, Milly Molly Mandy or Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne (not Disney). “LOOK. SEE. RUN. DOG” and occasionally she makes literary leaps that astound me – “You know, if you take the “p” and change it to a “t” it spells “cat.” Read more »
Stomping Our Feet Like Monkeys & Rapping Dr. Suess
I started reading to my daughter, Madelyn, when she was just under a year old. Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown and Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkinaas were gifts from my mother and father. Madelyn favored these two books and by the age of two and a half she had both memorized. When reading Caps For Sale we would yell together “Give me back my caps!!” and stomp our feet like the monkeys did when they mimicked the peddler as he is trying to get his caps back. Acting out the story really kept it fun for us both. Now, at age seven, when I read Madelyn a story, I use crazy accents for each character and sometimes rap to Dr. Suess. Read more »
