Posts

English Professor Takes Honors Class on the Shawshank Trail

By -
Image
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 regarding their intere
Post a Comment
Read more

Alumni Spotlight: Tom Sweo, Tech/Game Writer

By -
Image
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 writing rules
Post a Comment
Read more

Alumni Spotlight: Seth Snow

By -
Image
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 asked whethe
Post a Comment
Read more

Alumni Spotlight: Erica Brindley

By -
Image
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
Post a Comment
Read more

Sigma Tau Delta Theater Trip: Sweeney Todd

By -
Image
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 as I was befo
Post a Comment
Read more

FitzSimmons Launches New Book

By -
Image
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 revi
Post a Comment
Read more

Alumni Spotlight: Anna Harrington

By -
Image
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 Com
Post a Comment
Read more