Posts Tagged ‘Toni Magyar’
Recently read: Critical Practice by Catherine Belsey.
I have to thank Dr. Bluemel for recommending this book (well, to Toni, but I was standing next to them!). It proved to very helpful in further tempering my understanding of intertextuality, Barthes, and the “decentering” of authors. It is a brief but extremely useful text for any number of scholarly fields.
Recently read: So What Are You Going to Do with That?: Finding Careers Outside Academia by Susan Basalla and Maggie Debelius
With my recent decision to look outside of academia for a career, I have been seeking advice on how to move forward. The only thing I have wanted to do since I was a very young child has been to teach. Toni recommended this book to me as a helpful guide to the basics of the job search outside of our field. I did find the practical advice helpful and extremely reassuring. Tips about cover letters (something I cannot seem to get the hang of doing) and creating a CV/resume have assisted me in putting together what I am submitting to jobs at the moment.
However, as Toni noted when she recommended the book to me, the stories of overachievers and almost too good to be true success stories are not helpful. At all. Inspirational stories are fine, but the stories in this book about taking years off to travel or teach in a foreign country or career changes that lead to whimsical greatness are not realistic, especially given the current economy and world climate. I still think this book can be used positively to assist in creating your resume or CV and for relief from the general anxiety that comes with a change of plans.
I have put together Toni & I’s notes from our collaborative presentation entitled into a single PDF for viewing. I am very proud of our work during the spring semester. We worked together and pooled our interests, both unique and similiar, to examine the political history of how “texts” are defined.
All of this will be going back into my MA thesis, which due to some financial constraints, has not seen much new research but a few new branches in my thinking have developed. More on that soon. I can happily announce as well that I started the first version of a rough draft a few days ago. Once I have something remotely resembling a semi-completed draft I will leave a continually updated link on the sidebar for those who would like to follow along.
One of the great highlights of this spring’s symposium at Monmouth was Kristin Bluemel’s keynote address. Toni and I, along with our adviser [Nothing to link to. Ahem. (Hey, it worked with Toni! Heh.)], decided to pick Dr. Bluemel for a number of reasons. I can safely say that one of the major highlights of my graduate school career has been the classes I have had with Dr. Bluemel. She has been a valued friend, mentor, and teacher. Her course on Intermodernism was easily my favorite course at Monmouth.
That said, here are my bullet pointed notes for her keynote address Inventing Intermodernism. I know Toni also took notes, and a few others, so hopefully they will upload their own notes soon.
I have created an annotated version of my presentation at Hypothesis?, the first ever Monmouth University English program symposium (which I organized with Toni Magyar). My presentation was titled Remixing The Canon: Electronic Literature & Distributed Narratives. After defining and offering examples of various forms of New Media and electronic literature I discussed the most recent evolutions in Barthes’ writerly text, including what Jill Walker-Rettberg has termed distributed narratives. I call for a look at “remixing” the canon to be more inclusive of electronic literature due to their often literary tone. The primaries examples I use comes from authors like Caitlin Fisher, Scott Rettberg, Nick Montfort, and Shelley Jackson. ()
Like my pal Sean, I have been spending a lot more time on Twitter lately than on this blog. Twitter has become a great place to “link dump” the usual assortment of sites, articles, and essays I would have posted in “Weekend Reading” and other places. I should probably place a Twitter widget in my sidebar.
I would like this blog to focus more on my own work. It is fun to blog about a variety of things, but it becomes rather tiresome due to the lack of interaction here. I do not get a lot of comments in general and the thought of just talking to myself is pretty boring. But this is not a whiny plea for more people to interact on this blog, it is just a honest assessment of the situation.
(Things could be worse: Feministing had to shut their comments down this past weekend due to some pretty sick misogynistic trolling on their posts recently)
I understand why I do not get a lot of comments: there are plenty of other blogs who cover my interests, whether they be literature, theory, women’s rights, new media, or whatever else. Being the fortieth blogger to comment on the latest article about Borges, or whoever, probably puts me pretty low in the commenting queue for most people I am pretty certain.
I have been looking at other blogs a lot lately for inspiration. I like what good friends like Toni and Scott have been doing. Their blogs are only updated when there is actually something important to blog about (although ironically I was the unnamed student who “chastised” Scott about his lack of blogging a few years ago. I was gentle, I swear! Heh.).
So I think the best thing for me to do is keep my blog focused on my own work. Whether it is discussion of recent books I have read (which I am about ten books behind, and counting, on right now!) or my graduate school work or anything else. I will leave the link dumping to my Twitter account.
Despite some last minute scheduling issues due to a late cancellation, the symposium Toni and I put together for our program, The Annex Interjects, was held last Friday. I am so proud of our colleagues in the MA English program, who put on some pretty spectacular presentations. The undergraduate presentations prove that the MA program, if they choose to join it, has a very bright future.
I am not sure if I will be involved with the planning for the fall symposium, but I am looking forward to it. Tentatively, it is going to be called Literature Matters!.
I need to especially thank Toni for collaborating in the planning of both symposiums this academic year. Without her help, guidance, and passion for literature these events would never have happened. A big thanks also goes out to the students in our program, both those who attended and presented. Their appreciation and desire for these kind of events is what made us want to create them in the first place.
I will have the notes from Toni & I’s presentation, What Is A Text? A Political History Of Texts From Gutenberg To Electronic Literature & Beyond, online in a few days. I am hoping to incorporate some of our collaborative work into my MA thesis. My own notes from other’s presentations will also be uploaded as well.
Zotero Library
