Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature: Local Angle

The Northwest Undergraduate Conference on Literature (NUCL) will take place on Saturday, March 20, 2010, at the University of Portland. The keynote address will be given by Professor Ben Saunders, U of Oregon, and Puget Sound will be well represented by our stellar students and alums. Maggie Faber (’11) will deliver her paper, “Portrait of a Lady and the Transformative Power of Novels,” and Megan Fries (’12) will present her essay, “Ghosts and Handkerchiefs: Relics of Sexual Encounters in ‘The Turn of the Screw’ and Othello.” Alum Danni Simon (’09) will also be speaking on “Two Turns of the Screw: The Transformation of Henry James’s ‘The Turn of the Screw’ into the Opera by Benjamin Britten.” And Alison Lever (’12) will be reading her original poetry, “Untitled Collection.”

Congratulations to our outstanding students, and to their faculty mentor, Professor Joshi.
The full conference website and schedule can be found here.

Upcoming events

Professor Geoff Proehl, Theater, forwards the following information on three upcoming events of great interest to the campus community, especially as we approach Black History Mont:

1. A Dialogue about August Wilson’s Plays Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and The Piano Lesson

Exploring History, Culture, Politics and Race: The 1920’s and 1930’s Through the Eyes of August Wilson

Rehearsal Hall

Sunday, January 24, 2010 from 2pm to 4pm

Tickets: FREE Community Event

This dialogue will be facilitated by Dr. Dexter Gordon, Professor of African American Studies at the University of Puget Sound and C. Rosalind Bell, Playwright and Director of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle IV: The Piano Lesson and other plays in the August Wilson Series. Both presenters are also co-founders of Tacoma’s The Conversation, an ongoing dialogue and race and social justice group. Complimentary snacks and beverages will be provided for dialogue participants.

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2. August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle IV: The Piano Lesson
Saturday, February 6, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
Washington State History Museum
Tickets: $14

August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning fourth installment, The Piano Lesson is an appropriate reminder of the importance of heritage during Black History Month. Set in the 1930s Great Depression, the story follows a family divided by the fate of their heirloom piano. Boy Willie, a sharecropper from the South, wants to sell the piano so he can purchase more land. His sister, Bernice, insists on keeping it as their great-grandfather carved onto it the faces of his wife and son-who were sold into slavery in exchange for the piano.

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3. from Hans Ostrom: “A Musical Evening With Langston Hughes,” featuring soloist Awilda Verdejo, who will be accompanied by a pianist and cellist—Feb. 19, 7:30, in Schneebeck. It is part of the Jacobsen Series but is also in honor of Black History Month.

The Adelphians will also perform, and Rosalind Bell and I will read a few of Hughes’s poems. All the compositions are based on his poetry or were co-written by him. Sponsors are Af. Am. Studies, School of Music, the BSU, Race and Pedagogy, Chief Diversity Officer, and the Dolliver Professorship.

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