Miscellany

On March 29, a reading honoring December 2005 and May 2006 Creative Writing Graduates was held at the Willis Building at 8 pm.  The writers included: poets Nadi Bishop, Laura Bokus, and Chris Young; fiction writers Ryan Johnson, Ashley Noble, and Erica Plouffe Lazure; and playwright Barry Ward.

The English Graduate Student Organization (EGSO) sponsored "Poetryfest: A Celebration of National Poetry Month," with the ECU Poetry Forum and Sigma Tau Delta on Monday, April 10, at Mudslinger’s Coffee Co. on Evans Street.  Faculty, grad students, undergraduates (even freshman composition students) enjoyed listening to original poetry and the work of favorite poets.  The readers included Erica Plouffe Lazure, Leanne Smith, and Chris Young, among others.  Jim Kirkland read work by Pat Bizzaro, Peter Makuck, and Robert Morgan; Randall Martoccia read an hilarious original tribute to Peter Makuck; and graduate student Beth Corson read a tribute to Gay Wilentz. Claire Pittman (ECU History) and Betsy Lehman read poems they had recently workshopped at the Poetry Forum.  Forum participants included Beth Shupe and Bridget Todd who read several original poems that they had written for poetry classes.  Other readers included Alex Benson, Lauren Collins, and Tilen (who recited his infamous three-liner).  Please see: http://www.ecu.edu/org/egso

Thomas Herron organized two lectures in ECU's Medieval Irish History and Archaeology Lecture Series.  On April 26, at 7pm Kieran O'Conor of the Dept. of Archaeology, National University of Ireland-Galway presented "The Archaeology of Medieval Rural Settlement in Ireland," and at 7:30 pm on April 26, James Lyttleton of University College Cork presented "The Archaeology of Plantation in Ireland, c. 1600:  The Legacy of Sir Walter Raleigh."

Rachel Mills attended the Big Sur Nature Journaling Workshop on May 5, 6 and 7, conducted by Janet Takahashi, a master calligrapher and journal writer.  The workshop was sponsored by the Pelican Network, under the direction of naturalist Jack Ellwanger.  Mills's partcipation was funded in part by The Interdisciplinary Writing Workshop. Please see: http://www.pelicannetwork.net/

Leanne Smith, Beth Corson, Erica Plouffe, and Chris Young assisted Timm Hackett with the second edition of The Oakwood Reader, the literary magazine of the Oakwood School in Greenville. In addition to the editing responsibilities, they led discussions and peer groups throughout the year. This year's edition will be available in May and features the work of the first class from the Upper Division of the Oakwood School.

The EGSO End-of-Semester Cookout Social was hosted by Jim Kirkland at 220 Belvedere Drive, Greenville, at 4 pm on April 24.

Amanda Johnson and Lisa DeVries created a half-hour TV documentary titled "Study Abroad: Beyond the Postcard" for channels 23 and 99 as part of the ECU Film and Literature Group.  Many past partcipants and faculty in the ECU Study Abroad Program were interviewed.  Tom Douglass, producer; Randall Martoccia and Dennis Turner, videographers.

Recent English department graduates Bret Parrish and Erica Plouffe Lazure will join English students Nathan Maxwell and James Tyndall this month to tour India's sacred sites.  They are going as part of a study abroad trip offered through ECU's religious studies program.  Led by religious studies professor Derek Maher, the group will visit Delhi, Agra, Khajuraho, Varanasi and Bodh Gaya. T hey will also spend two weeks in Dharamsala, the Tibetan exile community in northern India.  Dispatches of their adventures will be posted on their blog, http://ecu-in-india.blogspot.com