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Dr. Maura Grady with the Honors 390 class at the Ohio State Reformatory By Erika Gallion, English and Creative Writing major Props from  The Shawshank Redemption During the first section of Honors 390 this semester, Dr. Maura Grady introduced the class to the study of fan culture. The timing couldn’t have been better for this section: Mansfield and Ashland would soon be teeming with fans because of the Shawshank Trail’s 20th Reunion. The Shawshank Trail is an annual opportunity for fans of the film  The Shawshank Redemption  to gather in certain filming locations around Mansfield and Ashland. The trail was expected to be extremely busy this year because of its 20-year reunion, therefore inspiring Dr. Grady to conduct research on the basis of  The Shawshank Redemption ’s fan culture. Touring the Reformatory On the first day of the Shawshank Trail, I went with three other classmates to survey fans visiting the Ohio State Reformatory. The survey asked fans questions reg...

Tom Sweo writes, "Since graduating in May of 2012, I've been working two jobs. The first is a full-time job with the  3E Company  in Canton, Ohio, doing technical support and quality assurance. Recently I've been doing technical writing as part of a team overhauling the training manuals that we send out to clients around the world working to standardize Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for their specific needs and country regulations. These sheets cover important safety and environmental information that is often required by national and international government organizations, such as OSHA or the EPA in the United States.  My courses in grammar and usage and my work experience in tech support for Ashland University were good preparation for this position. My second job involves tele-commuting with  On the Lamb Games  in Palm Coast, Florida. I connected with this game company while on vacation in Orlando last summer and have been wr...

Seth Snow graduated as an Integrated Language Arts major in 2007. He applied for a job as a seventh-grade teacher and was hired to teach a “great books curriculum.” He proceeded to teach his seventh-graders Ray Bradbury’s story “The Veldt.” Some of the administrators felt this was too difficult for these students, but when one of them, while visiting Seth’s class, asked a student who had been pointed out to Seth as hopeless case gave a very intelligent account of the story, he found that this criticism would not stand up. As the class went forward, a number of parents began reporting to him that they had never seen their children interested in reading, but they were now reading without being made to do so. In the process of discussing “The Veldt,” Seth had occasion to refer to Shakespeare’s  Julius Caesar  and presented a passage from that play for the class to talk about. They did so and got so excited that they asked for another passage to discuss. Having done this, they ask...

By Erica Brindley, English and Creative Writing major When I went to college at Ashland University, magic happened. I somehow wound up in the English 101 class of Dr. Joe Mackall. His first assignment? A personal narrative about whatever we wanted. So on a hot August night in my dorm room, I sat down and wrote about attending a KISS and Aerosmith concert–about how the grass felt on the lawn that night, cool yet sticky. About how I somehow felt a kinship with people I didn’t know, and people I’d never really know, and how I felt more comfortable in decades prior to my time than in my own time. I wrote about the chains that bounced off my hip as I climbed the hill of Germain Amphitheatre in Columbus, Ohio, and how I held the callused hands of a boy who kept me at skin’s length even though I wanted more than anything to be a part of him. I turned in the paper. The next class, Joe kept me after. The humid air had crept in through the windows and the sweaty plastic of the desk stuck against...

By Naomi Eberly, English major “You’ve never seen  Sweeney Todd ?!” Fellow students almost gasped as soon as they found out I was going into this experience with no previous acquaintance with the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Other than people getting baked into pies and Johnny Depp starring in the movie version with Helena Bonham Carter, I knew nothing. However, in my experience it’s best to go into a stage production with no preexistent knowledge because everything looks fresh and the nagging notions of what could be done in CGI or previous actors’ portrayal choices don’t dim the performance in front of you. At the end of October, a group of Sigma Tau Deltans and English professors went to see a production of  Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street  at Playhouse Square in Cleveland. Some had seen a performance before, others loved the movie, and for some it was a new experience made complete by posh-feeling box seats. For anyone reading who is just as unfamiliar...

Dr. David FitzSimmons, Associate Professor of English, has published a second  Curious Critters children's picture book. Instead of seeking rare animals in exotic locations, FitzSimmons photographs common animals—many found in your own backyard—against plain, white backgrounds, producing detailed close-up images. FitzSimmons’s unconventional approach allows animals’ colors, textures, shapes, and “personalities” to shine through. “Kids focus on the animals. That’s when the learning begins,” FitzSimmons explains. “They focus on and notice clues about animals’ behaviors, diets, life cycles, and habitats.” Curious Critters: Volume Two  is filled with fascinating fauna, including a beautiful butterfly, a Spanish-speaking armadillo, a mathematical moth, a bellowing alligator, a back flipping beetle, and other amazing animals. The second book in the series is not only entertaining but also educational. Before FitzSimmons began composing the short vignettes accompanying each photo, he...

By Anna Harrington As an English major and Applied Writing minor, I worked in the AU Writing Center from 1989 until 1993 as the intern Assistant to the Director, when I left Ashland to study in London and then earn my M.A. in English from Michigan State University. After MSU, I took a job in Chicago as an advertising executive, where I worked for 8 years while also teaching as an adjunct at local community colleges, before taking a full-time teaching position at Jackson State Community College, where I was promoted to Associate Professor and served as the Writing Programs Coordinator, then as a Professor at Edison State College in Fort Myers, FL for one year, before being asked to take a newly created position at Chattanooga State Community College as the Assistant Department Head for Humanities/Learning Support Reading and Writing, tasked with redesigning the existing Developmental Reading and Writing programs into individualized, modularized course delivery.  I earned my Ph.D. in...

By Sarah (Ross) Weber, Class of 2007, English and Creative Writing major My current job is with a software company, where I am a Technical Writer. I test software and create training PowerPoint presentations to help our support staff answer clients’ questions and help them become familiar with our software and the correct ways to do things like invoicing, payroll, and inventory management. . . . I feel like I have found something very, very close to ‘the’ job. People who work in tech are my kind of people—they are generally laid-back, hard-working, analytical, highly logical, and enjoy critical discussions on making things more efficient or have greater impact. Ashland's English and Creative Writing program taught me all of those things. . . In my current capacity, I am not only a Technical Writer, but the only English major in the company. Anything written that leaves the company’s hands to be viewed by anyone else generally goes through me. I edit and proof; I help create and mak...

Dr. Russell Weaver Professor Russell Weaver's book  The Moral World of Billy Budd  has been published by Peter Lang. Read an interview with him about it below. He will give a presentation on the book on Tuesday, February 25, at 3:00 in Schar 138. HD:  Could you give me an abstract of the book's argument in about 100 words? RW :  The Moral World of  Billy Budd sees the novel not as inviting us to choose between two views of the main character, Captain Vere, but rather to challenge us to experience the difficulty of making decisions in the world. I show how the text almost programmatically complicates each judgment of the characters. The dichotomies that present Vere’s character I argue are used not to invite our choosing between their poles but to invite reflection on the nature of moral judgment itself. However, the text also assumes that the reader must decide between the alternatives even though any decision will be shadowed by the larger dilemma of operating ...

A major in English or Creative Writing is excellent preparation for a prospective law student or lawyer because language is the chief tool of the lawyer. A lawyer must have a masterful vocabulary, appropriate diction, and impeccable command of English grammar and usage and must be articulate and persuasive in all the forms of discourse: description, narration, exposition, and argumentation. A lawyer must be imaginative and understand stories because litigation between a plaintiff and a defendant is a conflict between two different stories. Lawyers and judges must interpret the language of statutes, constitutions, contracts, agreements, and case law decisions, sometimes deciding or arguing a case based on the interpretation of a single word. Lawyers must be able to translate English into legal language when addressing judges and other attorneys and to translate legal language back into standard English when addressing juries and clients. The grounding that an English major provides in l...

Rachel Titko, Integrated Language Arts Major When Rachel Titko was in high school, she decided to become a teacher. “My junior English teacher inspired me.” Upon entering AU in 2007, she declared her major in the English Department’s Integrated Language Arts program. Four year later, after being on the Dean’s list every semester, she graduated. Immediately, she found a job doing what she loves best: teaching English. Rachel is now a twelfth grade English and speech teacher at Clear Fork High School (Bellville, Ohio). Teaching British literature is one of Rachel’s favorite parts of her job, especially introducing students to Geoffrey Chaucer’s  Canterbury Tales ; reading these spirited tales, however, is only the beginning of her Chaucer studies. Students then write and then perform their own tales. Each student dresses up in costume—one recent student was a fully-regaled pirate, complete with eye-patch—and performs the character. Students watch the performances and choose winners. ...

By Deborah Fleming Kathy Fagan is the author of four collections of poems, most recently Lip (2009).  Work from her new manuscript, Sycamore, appears in publications such as FIELD, Poetry, Ninth Letter, and The Awl, among others.  She is the recipient of grants from the NEA, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council.  Fagan teaches in the MFA program at Ohio State University where she also serves as series editor of the OSU press/The Journal Wheeler Poetry Prize.  Find her on the web at  http://www.kathyfagan.net .

ENG 203A: American Literature Dr. Linda Joyce Brown MWF 12:00-12:50 Core Humanities Banned Books Read the books you aren’t supposed to read!  In this course, we will focus on American novels that have been banned or challenged by parents, school districts, libraries, or government agencies. We will likely read 4-5 novels, some of which may be chosen from the following: Mark Twain.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn;  Kate Chopin,  The Awakening;  Theodore Dreiser,  Sister Carrie ; Sylvia Plath,  The Bell Jar;  Toni Morrison,  The Bluest Eye  or  Beloved ; Alice Walker,  The Color Purple ; Dorothy Allison.  Bastard Out of Carolina;  Rudolfo Anaya,  Bless Me Última ; Sherman Alexie,  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. English 301: Writers' Workshop Dr. Deborah Fleming T Th 1:40-2:55 Requirement for Creative Writing major The major work of this course is discussing and critiquing studen...