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By Monica Berlin, English, and Beth Marzoni, '04

"What to make of this grand experiment over months and miles of river by two poets, not one—Monica Berlin and Beth Marzoni—plus whatever third spirit they've invented together? Like music from the 8th century written by Anonymous, that haunting ubiquitous voice, these poems feel unsettlingly interchangeable, keep coming like the country's longest river dream-documented here in a rich rush, dense with repetition and sorrow by poets who 'think like a glacier or a stone, sand . . . years / like consistent rain.' The Mississippi never had better companions or more devoted ones, save Mark Twain perhaps, or more to the point, his troubled, star-crossed Huck. The sense of human and nonhuman history, even prehistory stuns, keeps bothering this shared-solitary work. 'Wake to any weather & know that / long ago there also was.' I'll take that as rare solace."
          — Marianne Boruch

"No Shape Bends the River So Long is a book of atmospheric turbulence and diminishing water levels, inner weather forecasts, dark and light, friendship, the stillness in waiting rooms, a river's traffic—or what poets Monica Berlin and Beth Marzoni, a So & So in dialogue with us and each other, call 'the rush of alongside & what is.' In the zig-zag process of traveling the Mississippi River Valley, together they navigate with beauty and resonance the 'hours of drought, of waiting, the new low- / watermarks of the lakes,' the trees 'that sound like rain & morning.' This is ecopoetry, it is intimate conversation, it is meditation, the turning inward, the swinging back out from mind to world around the bend. I deeply respect and admire this book for its love of place; its tumbling, digressive progress; its glints of joy and thoughts too deep for tears."
         — Nancy Eimers

 

 

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From the Committee on Faculty Resources:

Supplements to Conference Travel Allocations for 2014-2015 - Apply by March 13

The Committee on Faculty Resources is pleased to announce that it is now accepting requests for funds to supplement annual Conference Travel Allocations (CTAs) for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. These funds are set aside to enable faculty to address special opportunities and unusual or unanticipated conference travel costs that cannot be met easily through the current allocation system. A full description of the new policy is here.

Requests must relate conference travel during the current fiscal year only (July 1, 2014 - June 30, 2015). 

Requests must be completed through the online "Supplements to 2014-2015 CTA Request Form" by Friday, March 13, 2015.

 

Conference Travel Allocations for 2014-2015 - Please apply by March 13

CoFR requests that all regular requests for conference travel during the current fiscal year, through June 30, 2015, also be filed by Friday, March 13, 2015.

Direct link to Online Form for Conference Travel Allocation Requests for 2014-2015

 

Development Funds in Religious Studies - Apply by March 6

Financial support is available for faculty projects in Religious Studies through a fund made possible by a gift from Knox Trustee Mary Kent Knight. Examples of fundable activities include designing or re-designing a course with a substantial religion component, research into topics related to Religious Studies, or other professional development to support religious studies education on campus.

Fall Term deadline for proposals is Friday, March 6.

Details on supported activities and the application process are here.

Symposium on Field Study: Call for Papers on Experiential Learning - Due March 6

Colorado College, with support from the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, has issued a call for proposals for their inaugural 2015 Symposium on Field Study: Establishing Best-Practices at the Intersection of Place, Pedagogy, Innovation and Technology. The symposium will be held at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 8-11, 2015. The aim of this unique symposium is to gather the best practitioners of the college field trip.

Many current Knox experiential learning activities, immersion terms, and short-term off-campus study programs would be particularly relevant to this symposium. Presenters receive a $500 stipend as well as travel expenses.

For the complete Call for Proposals and online submission form, see the symposium website.

Reminder: NEH Summer Institute and Seminars Deadline is March 2

You can access the original announcement in Newsletter #6

And check out Anne-Marie Berk's enormously helpful and comprehensive NEH Guide for all NEH programs here: NEH Funding Guide 2015

Two New Midwest Faculty Seminars Announced:

If you are interested in attending either of these seminars, please contact facultydevelopment@knox.edu no later than Friday, March 6.

What is Human Nature? - April 16-18 2015.

"The question of what makes us human has traditionally belonged fields such as philosophy, theology and anthropology. Increasingly, however, evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology and even economics have begun to explore the question as well. As a result, notions about the underpinnings of being human cherished in the humanities are being challenged by scientific inquiries that promise to fundamentally transform the way we think about the nature of reason, emotion, language, values and the determinants of human behavior. What is human nature? In some respects one of the oldest areas of human inquiry, it is now a question we are learning to ask anew."

The full announcement is here.

"Cultures of Surveillance": Privacy and its Limits in the Digital Age - April 23-25, 2015

"The potentially liberating capacities information technologies have always harbored within them the specter of intensifying forms of surveillance and control. Indeed, almost as soon as the internet came into wide use, corporate interests began tracking user data for advertising purposes, and the police and other government agencies began adapting old surveillance techniques for a brave new internet age. Tensions between privacy and security in cyberspace have only intensified in recent years, as the examples of Wikileaks, Edward Snowden, and current debates over net neutrality suggest. While information technology becomes an ever more important part of social and economic life, its potential for abuse increases as well."

The full announcement is here.

Please contact facultydevelopment@knox.edu no later than Monday, March 2 if you are interested in being nominated for this seminar.

Read about this year's seminars and Knox policies here.

 

Arts Midwest Touring Fund - Applications Due March 25

"Arts Midwest Touring Fund engages people in meaningful experiences with the fine arts of dance, music, theater, and other performing arts forms. Inter-state touring and the engagement of professional artists is central to the work of Arts Midwest.

"The program provides financial support to presenting organizations in the Midwest. Funded engagements feature public performances and community engagement activities by professional touring artists that reach underserved audiences and foster exchanges between artists and Midwest communities. During the 2014-2015 funding cycle, Arts Midwest Touring Fund awarded over $400,000 to more than 165 presenting organizations across the nine-state region."

Guidelines and Application procedures are here.

 

Two Summer Institutes on Japan for non-Specialists: Hiroshima or Honolulu in Summer 2015 - Applications Due March 17 & 18

The Japan Studies Association announces two summer 2015 faculty development opportunities. One is a visit to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which includes visits to museums and historic sites, lectures, and discussions of the atomic bombings and their aftermath. The other is a three-week faculty seminar on the history and culture of Japan held in Honolulu, generously sponsored by the Freeman Foundation.

Information about each opportunity is available at the JSA Website.