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 […]
Tag: Fall 2015 Newsletter
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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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Paper, Press, and Pirkle: One Teacher Does it All
Amy Pirkle is a book artist and letterpress printer who runs her own small press, Perkolator Press. Her works can be found across the nation, with pieces in permanent collections at over 50 universities (Yale, Carnegie Mellon, and Duke, just to name a few). Despite Pirkle’s busy printing schedule, she still finds time to teach five classes at her alma mater, The University of Alabama. She teaches foundations art classes and book arts classes, and advises the New College Review, […]
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An Interview with Jason McCall
Jason McCall, English Instructor and poet, is the author of several books including Silver (Main Street Rag), I Can Explain (Finishing Line Press), and Dear Hero, (Winner of the 2012 Marsh Hawk Press Poetry prize). He received his Bachelors at The University of Alabama and holds an MFA from the University of Miami. With a background in classics and an interest in comics, hip-hop, and fantasy, McCall thinks of poetry as story telling. He uses candid language and mythology to […]