Category: News


Laura Ezell’s A Record of Our Debts

When Laura Ezell received a call from Michael Czyzniejewski, the editor of Moon City Review, that her collection of short stories and poems, A Record of Our Debts, had won the Short Fiction Award, she was “over the moon.” The prize included publication and $1000. Ezell will perform a reading of her work at Missouri State University, home of MCP. A Record of Our Debts focuses on a few relatively isolated and fatalistic characters. The book began as her master’s […]

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Interview with Professor David Deutsch

Professor David Deutsch is an associate professor in the Department of English at The University of Alabama. Dr. Deutsch spent his undergraduate years at the University of Georgia. He received a Ph.D. at Ohio State University and is now the Director of the UA in Oxford study abroad program. Dr. Deutsch teaches American and British drama, poetry, and prose to undergraduate students. He has also recently published a book called British Literature and Classical Music: Cultural Contexts. When did you first become […]

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What We’re Reading

Paige McCormick It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a helicopter mom not in possession of her emotions must be in want of a good book.  So a couple of weeks ago as I visited my freshman daughter at Ole Miss, I stopped in at the storied establishment in downtown Oxford called Square Books, where I found a remedy for my forlorn heart: Professor Borges: A Course on English Literature. This book is a compilation of lectures that Borges gave […]

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Melissa Vaughan: Front Office Coordinator

It is always inspiring to meet someone like Melissa Vaughan who is down to earth, honest, and positive about her endeavors and experiences. I was fortunate to interview the Department of English’s Front Office Coordinator, Melissa Vaughan, who has been working for The University of Alabama for a year.  In this interview, Ms. Vaughan discusses her experiences as a college student, her position as Front Office Coordinator, and her thoughts on the importance of studying Humanities. What would you like […]

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Bethany Williams: Experiences of a Brit in ’Bama

For the vast majority of students, the opportunity to study at an enormous, diverse, and prestigious university like The University of Alabama tends to generate feelings of both unparalleled excitement and understandable anxieties. Accordingly, one might imagine that the experience of being over 4,000 miles from home, and at a college almost twice the size of one’s home institution, might heighten these feelings of apprehension. But for Bethany Williams, a confident, diligent, and sociable exchange student from Birmingham, England, her […]

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If Walls Could Talk

Since 1862, the statuesque Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion has occupied a prominent position at 1305 Greensboro Avenue in Tuscaloosa. When I first visited the mansion, I was a bit disconcerted. Despite its obvious beauty and history, the mansion’s exterior has seen better days and suggests a backdrop for an episode of Ghost Hunters, a television show that investigates paranormal activity in old buildings. At odds with the exterior is the eternally cheerful Ian Crawford, director of the Jemison-Van de Graaff […]

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Emma Pitts: Master’s Student

Emma Pitts is currently a Master’s student at The University of Alabama studying English literature. After graduating, Pitts hopes to find a career in publishing and work directly with authors in fiction literature. Where are you from originally? Originally, I am from Davis, California, but just before high school, my family moved to Birmingham, Alabama. My parents are originally from Alabama, so when they got the opportunity to move back, they took it. Are you involved in any extracurricular work […]

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Interview with Jamie Bowman, Editor of Dewpoint

Jamie Bowman came to The University of Alabama on a Presidential Scholarship and Regions Scholarship. During her sophomore year, her essay, “Confronting Ghosts: Seeing the Past in the Present,” won third place in its division at the Undergraduate Research Conference. That same year, Bowman was awarded one of the Returning Scholar Awards from the Department of English, and in her junior year, she was awarded the Buford Boone Memorial Scholarship from the English department.  In spring 2015, she was honored […]

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John Wingard: From Student, to Teacher, to Assistant Director

As I step into John Wingard’s office, he immediately starts to interview me about my life after every question I ask. With his outgoing personality, it’s easy for anyone to see how he became Assistant Director of Student Services. Wingard started teaching in the Department of English and then advising English majors, which gave him experience working with students outside the classroom. Now that he works for Student Services, his primary focus is recruiting incoming students. However, he also works […]

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An Evening with the Editor: Zachary Doss and the Black Warrior Review

Zachary Doss is an MFA candidate in the Department of English at The University of Alabama and the editor for Black Warrior Review, a literary journal run by the graduate students of the MFA program. The magazine accepts work from emerging writers outside the University. In this interview, Doss reveals his challenges as an editor, a behind the scenes peek at Black Warrior Review, and insights to his own writing. I see that Black Warrior Review was established in 1974 […]

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