Scroll, Scribe & Screen
A few words from the Department of English at The Florida State University
Winter/Spring 2011
Written and produced by students in the department
Berger
Graduate
Fellowship
The Melissa and Daniel
Berger Graduate
Fellowship will be awarded
to a graduate student in
the English department
beginning in Fall 2011.
‘I just had a great experience at Florida State and
felt like it was time to give back. When we were
asked about doing an endowment or a fellowship,
it just felt like it was the right thing to do.’
— Melissa Berger
1991 graduate in English
14
6
16
Letter from the chair
T
he world is changing. There are democratic revolts
under way in the Middle East, and the global
economy is veering unpredictably. The speed with
which innovative technologies pass into obsolescence is
dizzying, and the dramatic oscillations of U.S. political
alignments leave even the most seasoned observers baffled.
Our leaders say education is more valuable than ever before,
but pundits speculate that universities cost more than they
are worth.
A common feature of the stories in this issue of Scroll,
Scribe & Screen is surprise at the way things turn out. Again
and again, individuals say they never expected to be where
they are, to have ended up in their present job. Each passed
through FSU’s English department, and many admit they
had no clear career goals. They liked to read and write. Their
professors spoke passionately. It was all somehow exciting.
In a time of rapid change, no one can be sure what people
need to know. Today’s young people will change careers
more frequently than their grandparents changed jobs, and
if any ability is universally prized, it is the ability to adapt,
to learn, to embrace difference. No one would recommend
studying poetry or medieval manuscripts or composition
theory as a fast track to wealth, but the stories in this issue
of Scroll, Scribe & Screen tell of success.
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are the
future, and yet more FSU students major in English today
than in any other department or at any other time. Mastering
digital technology may be key to success in the next decade,
but mastering language is key to success in human life.
The world is changing. English students continue to live
at the center of it.
Table of contents
In
the classroom
Expanding opportunities Winter/Spring 2011
Faces
of the faculty
Engaging educator
A woman of many hats
5
10
Creative writing prof Elizabeth Stuckey-French motivates students
and finds balance with her calling.
By Heather McQueen
Triple threat16
Literature professor Bruce Boehrer is scholarly, philanthropic, and
above all, committed—both to students and the world.
By Laura Bradley
Students
in the spotlight
Class comedian
26
Reading/Writing Center to add a third location.
By Marvin Matthews
Rhet/comp prof Michael Neal is on the cutting edge of
instruction and assessment.
By Christopher Kelley
Beyond
the classroom
True Seminole4
Alumna Melissa Berger and her husband, Daniel Berger, make a
gift to the department.
By Krista Wright and Katie Brown
Southern lit30
In FSU’s English department, this genre is not gone with the wind.
By Cody Carmichael
Department
in action
From Williams to Warehouse 14
Local venue gives grad students a chance to literally step outside
their comfort zone.
By Corie Biandis
Works hard, loves life
18
English department staff member Carolyn Moore approaches her
work in the office with as much enthusiasm as her family life.
By Alexis Kaplan
Writers unite22
24
Find out how Pete Kunze is helping his students learn, while
making them laugh.
By Zachary Johnson
Students in new undergrad organization, Literati, bring inspiration
to the writing process.
By Lindsay Pingel
Blossoming talent
28
Grad student Rose Bunch wins a Fulbright for writing.
By Alexis James and Katie Bridgman
Students at (a) play
32
Students join community theater troupe for Tempest performance.
By Khadif Sanders
Time to shine6
Lit alumna and Miami TV journalist Nicole Maristany pursues her
childhood dream.
By Gina Benitez
Step up to the podium
12
Family and church lead rhet/comp alumna Brittney Boykins to a
career in teaching.
By Krista Newhook
Diamond in the rough
20
Creative writing alumna Katie Dozier plays the hand she’s dealt…
and well!
By Alexa Goodman
Trends
in technology
SMART room10
The Williams Building’s new laptop-ready classroom keeps
students plugged in.
By Onalee Smith
.
22
Scroll, Scribe & Screen mission statement
The purpose of Scroll, Scribe & Screen is to foster a sense of community among alumni, students, faculty, and friends of the Department of English at The Florida State University. Our goal is
to showcase the achievements and events within the department
to connect with our Seminole audience.
2
Winter/Spring 2011
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28
32
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Winter/Spring 2011
3
By Krista Wright
near and dear to my heart. It is just
one of those things that you want
to do something about. We always
chieving a higher education
say at Sanctuary that we want to be
is never easy on the wallet.
out of business, but unfortunately
Thanks to the generosity
that is just not the case.”
of Florida State University alumna
Dan, a graduate of Columbia
Melissa Berger and her husband,
Law School, is a director within
Daniel Berger, graduate education in
Grant and Eisenhofer law firm and
English has just gotten easier.
has more than 30 years of legal
Because of the newly established
experience. He is a member of
Melissa and Daniel Berger Graduate
the Board of Visitors at Columbia
Fellowship, a fortunate graduate
Law School and a regular faculty
student will soon have some relief
member for Practicing Law
from the financial stresses of
Institute programs.
continuing his or her education.
The Bergers are dedicated
Created for English department
philanthropists and have been
graduate students who excel, the
generously giving to Florida State
fellowship will be awarded annually,
for the past few years.
beginning in Fall 2011.
“We felt like Florida State
“Dan and I are very happy to
deserved it,” Melissa Berger says.
be fortunate enough to provide a
“They gave me an education—a
graduate student with the freedom to
great education—and if I’m in the
concentrate more on their work, and
position to give back to them, I am
have to worry less about financing
happy to do it. I just had a great
their education,” says Berger, who
experience at Florida State and felt
graduated from Florida State in
like it was time to give back. When
1991 with a major in English on the
we were asked about doing an
literature track, with an emphasis in
endowment or a fellowship, it just
business.
felt like it was the right thing to do.
Berger, originally from New Jersey,
“If you are going to pick
moved to Florida with her family
Photo courtesy of FSU College of Arts & Sciences
something to support, there are so
when she was 5. After high school
graduation, she and two of her best Daniel and Melissa Berger live in New York City, where many fantastic organizations and
friends enrolled at Florida State. Melissa moved right after graduating from Florida wonderful causes. But if you look
While at FSU, Berger worked at the State. For the past three years, the Bergers have hosted at the school where you had four
or so years of great experiences, it’s
Sweet Shop and enjoyed attending an annual event to benefit FSU.
worth it to give back.”
Seminole football games.
For the past three years, the
Berger chose to major in English
Bergers have hosted an annual
because “I have always liked writing,
event at their apartment in New
but I was always terrible in math,”
York for professors, alumni, and
she says jokingly. “I could always
friends and supporters of FSU. The
write a good paper and I love to
events branched off from “FSU in
read, so I think that’s what led me
NYC,” a program mainly for the
down that path.”
dance and theater schools at FSU.
Of her experiences in the English
Melissa says there are always FSU
department, Berger says, “the classes
and the department were just really top
During her upbringing in Florida, Berger events in the city and after corresponding
notch.” Although she says that she did not often visited her extended family in New with English department faculty, she offered
have one favorite course, “I really liked every Jersey, and she says that she always knew to host a cultivation event for the College of
writing and literature class I took. I found she wanted to live in New York City. After Arts and Sciences since she was an English
them all to be engaging and interesting.”
graduation from Florida State, she made the major.
She says these events have been getting
Berger expressed her appreciation for the move and found a job at a law firm.
variety of classes offered within the literature
Currently, Melissa and Dan Berger live bigger every year, and she has enjoyed
track because she was able to explore genres in New York City, where they are active in hosting them. “It’s been great that I have
that she would not normally have read on charities and fundraisers. Melissa has been actually been able to meld my two worlds by
her own.
on the Board of Directors for Sanctuary for having these events every year.”
Erin Belieu, director of the Creative
“What I remember most about Florida Families, a resource for domestic violence
State is that I really felt like I got to check victims, for six years.
See BERGERS, page 38
out things outside of my comfort zone.”
She describes Sanctuary as “a cause very
A
4
Winter/Spring 2011
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
L
ights on. Projectors and SMART
Boards off. Despite the cutting-edge
instructional technology available
in his “Advanced Writing and Editing”
course, on this particular day, Michael Neal
opts to sit down with groups of students to
discuss their writing portfolios personally.
On other days, however, Neal takes full
advantage of new technology, incorporating
film, advertising culture, and the Internet
into class discussions. In all of his courses,
By Christopher Kelley
Associate Professor Michael
Neal works with student
Aristotle Georgeson.
Photo by Christopher Kelley
professor was recently announced, has been
teaching at Florida State University since
2005 and has overseen workshops; writing
and editing courses; and several graduatelevel classes. Though he thoroughly enjoys
his career, Neal admitted in a recent interview
that “if you’d asked me in high school, I
would’ve said ‘the last thing I want to do is
become a teacher.’”
With both parents involved in the school
system—his mother was a teacher and his
college, obtaining a B.A. in English from
Taylor University, a liberal arts college in
Indiana, in 1993. He then earned a master’s
degree in English with an emphasis on
rhetoric and composition from Ball State
University in 1994 and a Ph.D. in the same
from the University of Louisville in 2001.
Neal and his family then moved to South
Carolina, where he taught at Clemson
University, and five years later they moved to
Tallahassee. He says it was ultimately FSU’s
“I’m a believer that you need to have a level of balance and healthiness toward
different parts of life, all of which are important.”
–Michael Neal
Neal is a major proponent of individualized,
student-focused assessment.
Casual and in-touch with the students and
technology of today, Neal advocates the
use and teaching of new media within the
English department and plays a vital role in
its Rhetoric and Composition Program as
well as its new track in editing, writing, and
media (EWM).
Neal, whose promotion to associate
father had been trained in English—Neal was
quite familiar with the politics of middle and
high school education. While he respected
secondary education, Neal believed his
career lay elsewhere. Despite this, his interest
in teaching was piqued when he worked as
an undergraduate tutor in a writing center.
There, Neal found he enjoyed helping others
with writing on a professional level.
Neal furthered this passion throughout
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
diversity, in courses and student population,
that drew him in. At that time, a new track in
the English major was in the planning stages,
something that also grabbed his attention.
That track developed into the new, popular
EWM concentration, which focuses on the
practices of writing and editing within the
expanding contexts of new media and the
See NEAL, page 34
Winter/Spring 2011
5
FACES OF THE FACULTY
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
Alumna’s generosity
gives grad students
financial assistance
Michael
Neal
Teaching a new generation
Nicole
Maristany:
shining through
Photo courtesy of Nicole Maristany
Nicole Maristany (center) interviews Willie Garcia (left), the director of Florida Baptist Children’s Home, at a backpack drive in Miami. He
is appreciative of the efforts of some young local students who are helping less fortunate children go back to school in style.
By Gina Benitez
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
A
fter graduating from Florida State
University in Spring 2005 with a degree in English literature and communication, Nicole Maristany was hit with
an all too common harsh taste of reality:
now what?
It wasn’t like she didn’t have a plan; she
had three, to be exact. She’d been admitted
to the University of Miami for its master’s
program in communications. She’d also applied to Teach for America and had been
placed at a school in her hometown of Miami. Her third option was probably the most
simple, yet at the exact same time the most
difficult: go out and scour the competitive
market for a job in the one thing she was
most passionate about, news.
Five years later, Maristany can breathe a
little easier. She is a producer and reporter
at WFOR, the CBS affiliate in Miami. Miami
is rated 16 out of 210 news markets, making
it one of the most sought after placements
in the biz.
At just 28 years old, she has managed to
work her way to a position many in her field
6
Winter/Spring 2011
will not attain in a lifetime. However, no one
would ever know. Her genuine smile never
strays, even in the midst of strict deadlines,
papers piled high, and the constant pressure
to perform.
Not only does she give back to the community, but she also gives back right in the
newsroom. On any given day, an intern can
be found aimlessly roaming the station, attempting to be useful. Maristany’s cubicle
is almost perfectly positioned in the center
of the main floor, and she welcomes interns
with open arms. Whether it be putting them
to work writing newscasts or scheduling
them to go out on shoots with her, she never
turns a blind eye. Not long ago, she was in
their shoes.
Yet, despite how far she’s come, she clearly
remembers when the camera lights weren’t
nearly as bright.
“If I had to be honest with myself, I must
say this is not something I fell into. I always
wanted to be in news,” she says.
Maristany’s love of the industry started as a kid while watching The Mary Tyler
Moore Show on Nick at Nite. Mary Richards
(Moore’s character) worked in a newsroom,
and Maristany became fascinated by her. It
came on so late that she would beg her father
to record it on the VCR. She never missed
an episode.
As she grew, she saw the incredible influence the media had on everyday life. The
thought of being able to humanize others
and bring real struggles into the homes of
so many seemed like a gift. A gift she soon
realized she may not have the confidence to
deliver.
When Maristany was admitted to Florida
State, she was thrilled. Since her mother was
an alumna, she saw it as an opportunity to
start a tradition. She glided through her first
three years as a double major without much
thought of the future. Sure, she’d thought
“If I had to be honest with myself, I must say this is not
something I fell into. I always wanted to be in news.”
— Nicole Maristany
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“I think [being a literature major from FSU] did two things for me. I think I did have to work harder but I think
it also freed me from the intense competition that is ingrained in kids that are part of a journalism program.”
— Nicole Maristany
about news, but she was no longer the tiny
tot sitting in front of the TV. There was also
something missing in the adult version of
her young, wide-eyed self.
“You really have to be competitive for
really anything in life but especially in this
business, and I’m not, so I would get really
easily intimidated by other students—even at
Florida State—who were really into news,”
she says.
But where the self-confidence lacked, the
hard work certainly didn’t. She excelled in
her studies, and tackled a double major in
four years. In her last semester at FSU, she
stumbled upon a class called TV Interviewing and Hosting.
The class taught her the basics of news
writing, how to deliver on camera, and what
is expected of someone in a newsroom. Not
only did it re-hatch an old love, but it also
gave her a light shove in the right direction.
Upon graduating, she set out to find a job in
the Miami news market. Her first job was at
WSVN7 in Miami as a writer, making $7.00
an hour, part-time, with no benefits. Yet,
within six months, she became the producer
for their morning show.
“There were dark, dark lonely days where
I was working overnight and on weekends,
and I never thought I could do something
where I’d feel so good about it,” she says.
After three years, that job opened the door
to CBS4.
Maristany realized that working in a news-
room wasn’t something she could grasp by
reading a textbook. No amount of schooling
prepared her for this environment. Surprisingly though, one of her majors had a greater
impact than she could’ve imagined. Of being
a literature major, Maristany says, “I think it
did two things for me. I think I did have to
work harder, but I think it also freed me from
the intense competition that is ingrained in
kids that are part of a journalism program.”
She doesn’t completely shut out the idea of a
program like that but simply appreciates the
benefits of the road she chose.
Nearly a decade after she began her college
career, her former professors speak about
her like she was sitting in their classroom just
last week. “What I remember about Nicole is
her enthusiasm for the Irish material,” Professor Stanley Gontarski says. “She was one
of those students who read beyond the requirements of the class and was always eager
to talk about what she read.”
“Nicole was in my LIT 2020 (The
Short
Story) class in the summer of 2004 and
got one of just three A’s in a class of 41 students,” says Assistant Professor Ned StuckeyFrench. “She was always there, always prepared, always engaged.
She aced her exams,
wrote an excellent paper, and had the highest
score in the class on her reading responses. It
does not surprise me that she has gone on to
a successful career in broadcasting.”
As a producer/reporter, Maristany is expected to pitch stories, generate them, and
Photo courtesy of Nicole Maristany
Nicole Maristany (next to the garnet guy) with friends at an FSU football game.
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
put entire news packages together on a
weekly basis. These stories, however, are
somewhat atypical. They focus on issues in
the local community pairing those in need
with those who can help. Called Neighbors
4 Neighbors, this segment originally began
as a non-profit created by CBS4 after the
infamously destructive Hurricane Andrew
tore through South Florida and devastated
nearly everything in its path. The organization helped people who had lost everything
get back on their feet.
Initially, Neighbors 4 Neighbors existed
solely as a non-profit. Then, it blossomed
into a news segment over time. As a producer of the segment, Maristany pitched ideas
to her news director. The stories are personal
tales about real people needing help, overcoming obstacles, or helping others.
Trying to get these stories on air would be a
long shot, so she proposed they be posted on
the web. From there, the response was huge.
Maristany was asked to profile these people
and add an on-air component that would air
on the station. Suddenly, all seemed right.
Maristany was not only living out a dream,
but she was giving back. The tear-streaked
cheeks of those whose powerful stories were
being told gave a fresh face to predominantly
hard television news.
Not many people can wake up each morning and truthfully say they are doing what
they love. Nicole Maristany not only has that
luxury but she is able to take a step back and
appreciate every inch of her journey, especially the struggles.
“What you learn from being an English lit
major are the skills of analyzing and creating connections,” she says. “You really can’t
put a value on it.” She encourages English
majors who have a desire to get into the business to “supplement their education with
solid internship experience.” The English
department will provide students with the
critical thinking, analytical, and writing skills,
but hands-on experience goes far beyond
any classroom.
“Your professional life is such a journey—
it’s not just a destination,” Maristany says.
“I’m coming up on my 10-year reunion for
high school and I was like, ‘Oh gosh.’
“I was worried I wouldn’t have anything to
say,” she says with a laugh.
Winter/Spring 2011
7
Hooked
on fiction
Creative writing Associate Professor Elizabeth Stuckey French
finds her niche through teaching and telling stories
FACES OF THE FACULTY
By Heather McQueen
8
Winter /Spring 2011
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Elizabeth Stuckey-French never thought she
would be a teacher. She never dreamed she would
be a writer, for that matter—at least not a professional one. But after working as a social worker,
waiting tables, and dabbling in public relations,
everything seemed to pull the now notable FSU
creative writing associate professor and author in
that very direction.
In retrospect, the career path she chose does
not come as such a surprise: Stuckey-French
wrote stories as a child, and with support from
her parents, both English and writing professors,
the foundation was present from the start. “But
once I took a fiction writing class and started revising, I got totally hooked,” Stuckey-French says.
Though she initially graduated from Purdue
University with a sociology degree, StuckeyFrench began to rediscover both her inner writer
and creative mind following a series of career
changes, progression of time, and experiences
with life in general.
After working for seven years as a social worker
in Virginia, and a few “bumps along life’s highway,” she moved back to Indiana to look for another means of work. Soon after returning, she
had two jobs: waiting tables and writing public relations copy for Purdue University. That is
when Stuckey-French realized she may have had
a deeper desire to write than she had previously
imagined.
She discovered that she did not particularly enjoy the fact-based foundation of journalism and
public relations—she says the non-fiction style
limited and stifled her creativity—so she decided
to pursue something that would allow that creativity to flourish.
But in the middle of all of this transitioning,
another major life event occurred for StuckeyFrench. While attending a party in Indiana, she
met Ned French, discovering that they were both
back in their hometowns and following similar
paths. Just like that, the spark ignited: Ned is now
her husband and a fellow professor in the English
department. Elizabeth went on to attend graduate school and she earned her master’s degree
in English from Purdue. The Stuckey-Frenches
completed graduate school at the University of
Iowa, where she earned her M.F.A. from the Writers’ Workshop.
Since graduating, in addition to starting a family and teaching, Stuckey-French has flourished in
her chosen field. In 2002, she authored her first
novel, Mermaids on the Moon, which followed a collection of short stories that appeared in 2000, The
First Paper Girl in Red Oak, Iowa. She co-authored
with Janet Burroway Writing Fiction: A Guide to the
Narrative Craft, a technique textbook used widely
among campuses nationwide. Her short stories
Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Stuckey-French
(Left) Stuckey-French on vacation with her two daughters, Flannery and Phoebe; (center) Stuckey-French holding copies
of her latest novel, The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady; (right) Stuckey-French on vacation with her husband, Ned, and
two daughters.
have appeared in Narrative Magazine, The
Normal School, The Atlantic Monthly, Gettysburg
Review, Southern Review, Five Points, and The
O’Henry Prize Stories 2005. She was awarded
a James Michener Fellowship and has won
grants from the Howard Foundation, the Indiana Arts Foundation, and the Florida Arts
Foundation.
Her latest novel, The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady, is what she calls a “domestic thriller.” Within the complex plot, which revolves
around a family, the effects of dementia and
Asperger’s syndrome, and a murderous old
woman, Stuckey-French incorporates her
own fascination with Elvis Presley (as evidenced by the Elvis tattoo on her back) by
creating a character whom she describes as
an “Elvis-nut.” Stuckey-French is currently
in the process of writing a young adult mystery series and has a short story being published in The Normal School magazine.
Having classroom access to such an accomplished author is certainly one aspect
that students who work with Stuckey-French
in the English department appreciate, but
her enthusiasm for the writing process really
has an impact on them.
Wil Oakes, a third-year M.F.A. fiction student, describes Stuckey-French’s personality
as being very laid back, but with a sense of
energy at the same time. “I feel rejuvenated
in my writing after talking to her, partly because of the great advice she gives, but also
because her demeanor is quietly tough—she
makes me feel determined to keep working
without making me lose my calm,” he says.
“At the end of our conversations, I usually
feel like I want to run right to my computer
and start working, and that’s exactly the kind
of reaction a great writing teacher should
have on her students.”
The eccentric, insightful, and Elvis-tattooed Stuckey-French brings her experience
as a professor, passionate writer, and avid
reader to the FSU English department. And
she is a dedicated wife and mother to her
husband, Ned, and two daughters, Phoebe
and Flannery. She is essentially a woman
of many hats—and maintains this balance
through her love of experience, learning, and
creating.
“I think a lot of writers start out because
they love to read and want to emulate their
favorite authors, and then they just write
what they’d love to read themselves,” Stuckey-French says. “I think that’s basically what
I did.”
Upon simply meeting Stuckey-French, it is
clear that she is the type of passionate, ideafilled, and encouraging writer who inspires
you to pick up a pen and create – even if
you are a non-writer. She reveals her drive
and imagination through normal conversation, unknowingly demonstrating her love of
writing and reading in her speech and use of
metaphorical language.
“Elizabeth is the kind of professor everyone hopes to work with but assumes they’ll
never find,” Oakes further explains. “Put
simply, she is a bad-ass, and I love working
with her.”
But Stuckey-French also relates to her students, especially the more reserved ones, because she’s been in their shoes.
“Teaching is the last thing I ever thought
I would do,” she says. “I was one of those
people who never said anything in class. I was
very self-conscious and let other people talk
and I didn’t like getting in front of people.”
See STUCKEY-FRENCH, page 36
“I feel rejuvenated in my writing after talking to
her, partly because of the great advice she gives,
but also because her demeanor is quietly tough
– she makes me feel determined to keep working
without making me lose my calm.”
— graduate student Wil Oakes
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Winter/Spring 2011
9
Michael
Neal edits a
Microsoft Word
document with
his Advanced
Writing and
Editing class.
Photo by Onalee Smith
Flexible instruction in new
laptop-ready classroom
TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY
By Onalee Smith
“Write your notes on the board and for
God’s sake don’t use real markers,” Matt
Davis says to his 9 a.m. Writing and Editing
in Print and Online class. The class has
divided into two teams for a debate, with
each team defending one of the readings.
A student picks up one of the digital
markers and begins to write her first point
on the SMART Board. “Whoa!” she says,
stepping back from the board. “I wasn’t
University campus.
“The classroom is like going into the
command space on Star Trek,” one student
says. “It is just so modern,”
The 44-feet of wall space now has two
data projector screens, two SMART Board
interactive whiteboards, and 20 outletequipped tables following a renovation
during Summer 2010. The tables are situated
in 10 pods with four seats each, allowing
for increased interaction
amongst students. The
“The classroom is like going into the
windows also have blackout
command space on Star Trek.”
shades that can be pulled
expecting that!” Without any ink, she has down to prevent glare.
written on the board.
Kristie Fleckenstein, a professor of
The newly renovated classroom in the rhetoric and composition who focuses her
Williams Building, Room 317, has been research in materiality and visual literacy,
equipped with some of the most advanced is excited to see how teaching styles will
technology available on the Florida State adapt to the new opportunities offered by
10 Winter/Spring 2011
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
the technology. “When you think back to
classical Greece, much of the instruction
took place outside because we had an open
space where pedagogy evolved. Then you
think about 19th-century large lecture
classrooms and you have lecturing because
it fit the space. And now that we have all
this new technology, teaching practices will
change because we can do things we couldn’t
do in the traditional classroom.”
The project began during the Fall 2009
semester after the fast-growing popularity
of the editing, writing and media track. The
English department needed technologyenhanced classrooms to accommodate
the more than 500 students who need to
take classes with an intensive multimedia
approach.
Because the English Department did not
have funds for another desktop classroom,
Fleckenstein came up with the idea to build a laptop-ready classroom.
After submitting a grant proposal to the College of Arts and Sciences
and then to the Provost, the English department learned in late
October 2009 that they would receive a grant of $64,500 for the
project.
Before the renovation, Room 317 served as a traditional classroom
until the end of the Spring 2010 semester, but plans for the
reconstruction began almost immediately.
“Biff Quarrels, the project manager, got us all together to talk
about what we wanted in terms of design, technology, and budget,”
Fleckenstein says. “As a result, we have one of the most cutting-edge
technology classrooms on the campus—in the English department,
of all places.”
The actual construction began in May 2010 after a design and bid
process. The room was only completed the day before Fall 2010 classes
started. What this meant, though, was that instructors had almost no
time to train in it before classes began. As a result, instructors have
been learning right alongside their students.
“The particular set up of the room is designed to lend itself to
movement – movement of people, objects, and information,” Davis
says. “Any information that is on any computer in the room can ideally
be shared with any other person in the room.”
Various classes are taught in the space: Advanced Writing and
Editing, Media Studies, Fiction Technique, and American MultiEthnic Literature, to name a few.
“Those of us who teach in [Room 317] are spoiled,” says Rory Lee,
who also directs the Digital Studio. “A major benefit of having two
SMART Boards is the ability to oscillate between the two; that is, I can
pull up two separate items such as documents and webpages and position
them side-by-side. For some, this might seem like an information
overload, but really, in having access to both simultaneously, you can
See ROOM 317, page 35
Photo by Onalee Smith
A student writes her group’s notes on the SMART Board
during a class debate.
How does it work?
SMART Boards are a combination of the traditional
whiteboard and a touch-screen computer. Students and
instructors can write directly onto projections with digital ink,
similar to providing a digital signature at the checkout counter.
This highly interactive, visual method of learning enables
students to make notes on papers and assignments in front of
the class and save documents with a touch of the finger.
When students bring their laptops to class, the Faronics
software, which students can download for free from the
provided URL, allows students to wirelessly project the contents
of their computer onto the screen. As opposed to having only
one permanent classroom computer connected to the projector,
the software saves precious time in class by eliminating the need
for students to pull up information on the stationary desktop.
Running out of battery power is not a problem either. The
tables feature outlets for every student to plug in and charge their
laptops.
Photo by Katie Brown
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
The classroom
features two data
projection screens
and two SMART
Boards.
Winter/Spring 2011 11
Boykins says her family has had the greatest influence on her life choices. Her grandmother is an English teacher, and Boykins
now knows that her interest in rhetoric and
composition really started when she was
a little girl, sitting in church, watching her
mother give those sermons.
Brittney Boykins
FSU Ph.D. student
John Wang and his
decade-long journey
through the world of
independent publishing
From pew to podium
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
B
rittney Boykins recalls sitting in a
pew as a young girl at Tallahassee’s New Mount Zion African
Methodist Episcopal Church. She
is listening to her mother sermonize at the
podium.
At this age, Boykins’s dream is to be a
cardiologist. She never could have expected
how much her career path would change
years later when she stepped on the campus
of Florida State University, where she eventually received her master’s degree in rhetoric
and composition.
In fact, the many times she sat in that
church pew influenced her decision to focus
on orality and African American lLiteracies,
and her decision later to become an English
teacher. At FSU, Boykins received her M.A.
in English with a minor in English education.
Her thesis is titled “Orality in the Composition Classroom,” a subject that fascinates
Boykins.
When she was younger her eyes might
have been a little heavier as she listened to
the sermons that ministers delivered, but as
Boykins grew up she paid more attention
to the words and environment around her.
12 Winter/Spring 2011
By Krista Newhook
“I had read a lot of his work but had never seen a picture
of him. It was a great confidence boost to have [writing
theorist] Peter Elbow ask me a question.”
— alumna Brittney Boykins
Boykins became very interested in the interaction her mother, once a minister, had with
the other church members: the “call and response” tradition, a loud and lively dialogue
between the pastor and the congregation.
Boykins says that this interaction is a form
of rhetoric that intrigues her: When the audience gives its feedback to the pastor, the
service becomes a community text.
Years after listening to her mother deliver
the sermons at her church, during her time
as a graduate student, Boykins had the opportunity to deliver her own messages to a
group of interested listeners while attending
a conference devoted to her field of study.
She was giving a presentation at the
2009 Conference on College Composition
and Communication in San Francisco, and
Boykins was unaware that one of the scholSCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
ars who influenced her viewpoints was in the
audience.
As she explains the scenario, Boykins was
in a question and answer session when Peter
Elbow—a professor and author well known
for his work in writing theory, practice, and
pedagogy—proceeded to direct a question
at her. After the session, one of Boykins’s
colleagues told her that Elbow was the man
who just asked the question.
“I was completely shocked,” Boykins says.
“I had read a lot of his work but had never
seen a picture of him,” she adds. “It was a
great confidence boost to have Peter Elbow
ask me a question.”
While Elbow and other scholars have influenced her academics and current career
path—she is now an assistant professor at
Tallahassee Community College (TCC)—
little difficult for me. Usually it is the other
way around for people.”
When asked how rhetoric and composition applies to an individual’s everyday life,
Boykins says, “Communication is all around
us. For example, there is different dialect
in different communities. How you communicate represents who you are, and you
dress up your language or the way you communicate depending on the audience you’re
speaking with.”
Kathleen Yancey, the director of the graduate program in rhetoric and composition,
is another person who greatly influenced
Boykins, especially when Boykins was writing her thesis. Yancey was Boykins’s major
Elbow] and it was for Brittney!” Yancey says.
“She was excited for weeks after that; it was
fun to see.”
What is she doing now?
W
ith the guiding influences
of scholars, professors, and
her family, Boykins is now
The path to rhetoric and
known as Assistant Profescomposition
sor Boykins. She currently teaches five classoykins was born in Texas but has
es at TCC, including freshman composition
lived in Tallahassee for most of
classes such as ENC 1101 and ENC 1102.
her life. She attended Florida A
This is her fourth year of teaching; her
& M Developmental Research
first two were as a teaching assistant while
School from kindergarten through high
at FSU, teaching similar composition classes
school. During her
and teaching classes
senior year of high
for the Center for
school, she was dual
Academic Retention
enrolled at TCC, taking
and
Enhancement
college courses.
(CARE)
program.
Boykins had that
CARE is designed
determination to be a
for students who are
cardiologist when she
the first in their famwas in second grade.
ily to attend college
After working at odd
or those who might
jobs in high school,
have difficulty learnone of her first jobs
ing due to cultural and
while in college was
educational reasons,
watching the EKG
or perhaps financial
monitors at Tallahaslimitations.
see Memorial Hospital
While teaching at
in the cardiac unit as a
FSU, most of her stunurse’s aide, a position
dents were 18-year-old
she held during her
freshmen, but Boykins
undergraduate years at
points out that the dyFSU when her major
namic of her classes at
was English, though
TCC is different. The
she still planned to go
ages of her students
to medical school after.
there range from 16 to
She was an Eng60, which she admits
lish major before she
is a challenge, but one
entered the Rhetoric
she enjoys because
Photo courtesy of Brittney Boykins
and Composition Pro- Brittney Boykins (left) with the two women who she says influenced her she learns something
gram. She entered the the most, her grandmother (center), an English teacher, and her mother, new from her classes
program in 2007 and a pastor.
every day.
received her degree in
Although she has
2009. Another way that
accomplished much
being involved with her church helped lead professor and committee chair.
at such a young age, Boykins says she is deher to study rhetoric and composition was
“She’s a very good example of a student termined to do more.
entering oral competitions.
with clear goals, the discipline to achieve
She is currently involved in the Zeta Phi
She would travel and compete against them, and a bit of wisdom acquired in the Beta sorority graduate chapter where she
other students in poetry readings, debates, bargain!” Yancey says.
says she has met many other young profesand other oral presentations.
Yancey also recalls the exchange between sionals, and she is also involved in the Order
“I am much better at speaking and pre- Boykins and Elbow at the CCCC Conven- of the Eastern Star, a religious/community
senting,” she says. “It is easy for me to speak tion, saying it is a fond memory that she has organization.
in front of people, but when it comes to of her student.
As for her future education plans, Boykins
transforming that into writing, it becomes a
“One of the questions was asked by [Peter plans to pursue her Ph.D. in the near future.
B
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Winter/Spring 2011 13
Embracing
oral tradition
Grad students share writing off campus
Article and photos by Corie Biandis
Graduate student
poets Michael
Barach and Brandi
George mingle at
the Warehouse in
anticipation of the
night’s reading.
THE DEPARTMENT IN ACTION
E
ach Tuesday night, in
the large back room of a
renovated warehouse on
Gaines Street, the English
department offers a reading
series that presents the work of a diverse
array of writers, many of whom are graduate
students in FSU’s highly ranked Creative
Writing Program.
“It’s kind of like a rite of passage in the
program,” says Michael Barach, a creative
writing student who entertained his audience
with a hilarious poem about his experiences
in teaching. “No one makes you read but
everyone wants to, at least once. If you want
an audience for what you write there aren’t
a whole lot of opportunities; this is a really
good opportunity.”
On one particular night in October 2010,
the series featured poets and creative writing
graduate students Barach and Brandi George.
14 Winter/Spring 2011
After the room was called to attention and a
brief introduction given, George, who was
reading for her first time at the series, took
the stage in the back room of the renovated
warehouse-turned-bar, fittingly named The
Warehouse.
After regaling the audience with poems
from her life, including memories from
Michigan, George was praised with applause
and playful catcalls from her fellow graduate
students in the back of the room.
“I was really, really nervous before the
reading,” George says. “But once you get
up there, something takes over. [After
the reading, it was] a big relief—a high—
because of the fact that other people listen
to you and compliment you. It makes you
feel really good, and that what you’re doing
is worthwhile.”
The Warehouse reading series is unlike any
other in the FSU English Department. Not
only does it offer readings from seasoned
writers and professors, but it also provides an
opportunity for graduate students to present
their work and to share it with professors
and fellow students in the program.
“One of the ways we learn most about
our craft is hearing other people read and
talk about writing,” says Associate Professor
Erin Belieu, head of the Creative Writing
Program. “It’s an opportunity to talk
and create great friendships that are very
important in their writing lives.”
For Olivia Johnson, a poet and former
graduate student host at the Warehouse
readings, the reading series is a very
influential part of being an FSU creative
writing student.
“It’s an opportunity to talk and create great friendships
that are very important in their writing lives.”
— Erin Belieu, director of the Creative Writing Program
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
“As writers we are so much in our heads
all the time that getting up on a stage and
reading provides with an opportunity to
sort of get out,” says Johnson. “We’re not
programmed to read aloud and we don’t have
to be able to read well. It gives us a chance to
sort of put it out there on the table and get
great feedback too.”
The reading series provides an opportunity
for creative writing graduate students outside
the normal curriculum. It gives students a
new experience for their careers in writing.
“The series allows grad students exposure
to the great emerging and established writers
who are working today,” says Vincent
Guerra, a creative writing graduate student
who read at the Warehouse in the spring of
2010. “It also provides them with a venue to
present their own work to a wider audience
than the creative writing workshop and to
begin to think about their work in a wider
social context.”
The reading series has become an inside
look at the atmosphere and people in FSU’s
English department. However, the reading
series is unique, as far as most English
department functions go, in that it doesn’t
take place in the Williams Building or even on
the FSU campus. The Warehouse provides
an opportunity for graduate students to
literally step outside their comfort zones.
“It’s very easy to convince yourself to
stay in and write more, read more, do all the
little things that you convince yourself are
more important,” says Johnson. “If it had
been held at the Williams Building, that’s our
world, that’s the only building I practically
know on campus. With the Warehouse, it’s
just a great location, I think, because it’s an
odd, kind of sketchy bar. I couldn’t imagine
the reading series without the Warehouse.”
For FSU’s English graduate students,
the reading series is not only a great place
to gain experience in their writing but also
a relaxing environment to share their love
of writing with others. The reading series
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
has presented work of many distinguished
authors, including Robert Pinsky, Mary
Childers, Mark Bowden, Jeff Vandermeer,
Cate Marvin, Andrei Codrescu, and many
others.
The general public is welcome to attend
the Warehouse reading series, held on various
Tuesdays during the regular school year at 8
p.m. at 706 W. Gaines St.
“I love the Warehouse venue because it is
so laid back,” says Rosalyn Cowart, a creative
writing graduate student. “I could enjoy a
glass of wine to relax before the reading, and
it comforted me knowing that the audience
wasn’t stuck in a stuffy auditorium or cold
classroom waiting to listen to my poetry.”
Winter/Spring 2011 15
Bruce Boehrer:
Boehrer plays
with an Asiatic
black bear in
a Cambodian
sanctuary.
A lesson in versatility
Photo By Linda Hall
By Laura Bradley
entertainment: These and related practices
have grown markedly—some would say
alarmingly—over the past five hundred
years.”
Animal Characters examines the
construction of the human character in
relation to the way animals are portrayed in
literature. The creation of genres such as the
novel brought on the end of genres such
as the beast-epic, Boehrer says, marking a
change in the way human beings saw their
identities, especially in relation to animals.
In addition to his writing, another treasure
Boehrer brings to the table is his dedication
to students. This devotion does not go
unappreciated. William Silverman, a student
whose dissertation Boehrer is directing,
explained, “I think my favorite aspect about
Dr. Boehrer’s classes is Dr. Boehrer. He
possesses a wealth of knowledge about the
time periods in which I study, and he shares
it very enthusiastically. It has motivated me
to always look for ways to expand my own
knowledge. “
Boehrer has taught a variety of literary
genres, including undergraduate and
graduate classes about Shakespeare,
Renaissance drama exclusive of Shakespeare,
and Renaissance poetry and prose, as well as
other classes.
His specialty, humility aside, appears to be
Shakespeare, which he has taught from top
to bottom, making sure that his students get
an accurate and panoramic view of the world
that brought on the writing they study. In his
“The breadth and depth of Bruce’s knowledge was
astonishing, from the beginning and even still.”
— Molly Hand
Advanced Shakespeare class, for example,
roughly six class meetings are dedicated to
introducing students to various aspects of
Shakespeare’s world, including the theater
and publishing techniques of the period.
Boehrer’s primary goal in doing this is to
prepare students for the task of delving into
Shakespeare’s work.
Molly Hand, a former student whose
dissertation he directed, describes Boehrer’s
knowledge with true admiration, saying, “The
breadth and depth of Bruce’s knowledge
was astonishing, from the beginning and
even still. He is brilliant, formidably so. He
can recite passages from Milton, Jonson,
Shakespeare—and not just a couple of
lines, but scores upon scores of lines—like
FACES OF THE FACULTY
Professor Bruce Boehrer in his Williams Building
office with his spillover book collection.
I
f you look at Bruce Boehrer’s
publications, especially his most recent
works, it is apparent that he devotes
much energy to animals. This energy,
however, is not just concentrated between
the book covers.
Boehrer’s most recent book, Animal
Characters: Nonhuman Beings in Early Modern
Literature 2009), follows Parrot Culture: Our
2500-Year-Long Fascination with the World’s Most
Talkative Bird (2004) and Shakespeare Among
the Animals: Nature and Society in the Drama of
16 Winter /Spring 2011
Photo By Katie Brown
Early Modern England (2002). These works
explore the relationship between humans
and animals and discuss how this relationship
manifests itself in literature.
But his interest in animals extends outside
the academy as well. In the summer of
2009, he and his wife, Linda Hall – a wellknown Tallahassee artist whose work also
centers on the connection between humans
and animals – began a philanthropic
journey by volunteering at a bear rescue
center Cambodia. The center is run by the
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Australian non-profit, Free the Bears Fund
Inc., which cares for victims of various
forms of animal cruelty.
“Our treatment of nonhuman beings
has grown into one of the more worrisome
aspects of modern social practice, posing
problems on the economic, ecological,
dietary, and ethical levels,” Boehrer explains
in an interview with Rorotoko.com in which
he discusses his latest book. “Destruction of
habitat, species persecution, factory farming,
zoo-keeping, animal experimentation, animal
others of us might say our numbers or our
alphabets.”
Boehrer is equally committed to sharing
that expertise with FSU students in its original
setting. He has taught in the International
Studies Program in London four times in the
Bruce Boehrer with students in London, visiting the British Museum.
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
past five years, and is scheduled to return in
May 2011. According to Boehrer, very little
time is spent sitting in a London classroom.
More is spent out in the street, learning
about the context for the material first-hand
in the place it was born.
Much like the Shakespearean and
Renaissance works he primarily teaches,
Boehrer’s love for literature was born a long
time ago. As a child, he was an avid reader,
and at age 12 he fell in love with Romanticism
and the writing of John Keats. He attributes
this affinity for literature to his older brother,
who majored in literature himself and had
many literary friends, all of whom welcomed
Boehrer into their conversations. This
friendly inclusion, Boehrer acknowledges
appreciatively with a smile, is usually
a rare occurrence for younger
siblings.
This early interest in literature
became a professional one due
to Boehrer’s admiration for
his professors. After attending
undergraduate school in Texas and
graduate school in Philadelphia,
Boehrer went on to teach at a small
college outside of Philadelphia
and then at the University of
Alabama. He spent some of his
time in Philadelphia working at an
advertising agency that, he recently
discovered, now has offices on
both coasts as well as international
offices. When asked if he would
hypothetically take that job instead
of teaching, he simply gave a small
laugh and replied, “Well I didn’t, did
I?”
Boehrer arrived at FSU in
1987, and since then has become
increasingly distinguished as a
Photo by Linda Hall
See BOEHRER, page 37
Winter/Spring 2011 17
THE DEPARTMENT IN ACTION
W
hen Carolyn Moore comes to
work each day, she is never sure
what will be waiting for her,
what problems she might have
to solve, or what issues she may need to address.
“I don’t really think about it, but any odd
thing that comes to the department I take care
of,” says Moore, who has been the office administrator for the Department of English since
September 2009. “It’s something different every
day—I never know what I’m going to be faced
with when I come in, and I like that.”
While office administrator may be her
designated position, her contributions to
the department far exceed her occupational title; each morning brings about
new and interesting challenges. Her
responsibilities include managing
the payroll for the entire department, supervising most
of the department’s
staff
members;
and acting as representative
for
the department in
College of Arts
and Sciences business.
Ralph
Berry,
chair of the English department, says, “It takes
an unusual person to balance the legal, financial,
professional, managerial demands of a job like
Carolyn’s, but she does it superbly.”
Moore has dedicated a lot of her time to Florida State University. Before teaming up with the
English department, she spent 15 years as the
office administrator for FSU’s Institute of Molecular Biophysics, a combined research institute
that brings together professors from chemistry,
biology, physics, and computer sciences.
Moore admits that it was scary coming from
a unit of about 50 people to the English department, which is nearly four times larger. However,
Moore says she immediately felt comfortable after the interview for her new position and after meeting the previous office manager, Debra
18 Winter/Spring 2011
Carolyn
By Alexis Kaplan
Go ask
Photo courtesty of the English department
Brock, and others, including Carolyn Hall and
professors Nancy Warren and Kathleen Yancey.
“It is a great pleasure,” Moore says.”Dr. Berry
and everyone else are wonderful, and it was a
great move.”
Spend 20 minutes with Moore and it is obvious that she is very humble and modest about
her work ethic, but there is no doubt that her
contributions to the department are invaluable.
From the moment Moore walks through the office doors on Williams’s fourth floor, she seems
to light up the room by greeting others with her
genuine, charismatic smile.
“As chair, I’m the person in charge, but Carolyn runs the English department.” Berry says.
“She knows how to be a boss and a team member at the same time. She’s genial, organized, and
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
“Whenever anybody
needs to know
anything that
nobody seems to
know, everybody
will ask Carolyn.”
— Ralph Berry,
department chair
convivial, but she runs a tight ship and seems
to be the backbone of the English Department, supporting in every way possible.”
Her positive outlook on life inside and outside the office is evident when she shares her
advice for new staff members of the English
Department. “I’m the type of person who
likes teamwork—I like working with people,”
Moore says. “I’m not the type of person that
is going to say ‘This is my job, and this is what
I’m going to do.’ If something needs to be
done, we find a way to do it.”
And working with faculty and staff can be
unpredictable. “Some of it is stressful—some
of it is funny,” adds Moore. “But I would just
have an open mind and be flexible.”
Jamekia Anderson is the department’s administrative support assistant, and she has
benefited from Moore’s willingness to be
open and her readiness to learn about the
staff ’s different roles. Moore helped AnderPhoto courtesy of English department
son transition from an Other Personal Ser- Carolyn Moore (right) works with Jamekia Anderson at Anderson’s desk in the
vices (OPS) position to becoming a full-time front office of the English department.
employee in the front office. Anderson says
she especially appreciates the guidance that see me for a little over a week and she’ll say, aside time for family gatherings and a family
Moore offered to Anderson when other po- ‘What happened to you, Carolyn?’”
trip together every other year.
sitions in the office were vacant, and AnderThe death of Moore’s father in 2006 had
Moore also sets aside time for football.
son was asked to help out.
a big impact on the entire family. “We vowed After a busy work week, Moore spends her
“Carolyn was always available to walk me that we are going to continue to get togeth- Saturdays propping her feet up on a cozy
through a process be it via email or in per- er and not let anything stop what he really footrest alongside her husband, cheering on
son,” Anderson says. “I have to thank her for believed in.” As a result, the family still sets college football teams. Sounds of Florida
those learning opportunities that she has
State’s chant and yelling fans pour from
passed down on me.”
Moore’s living room during games, and
When Moore steps away from her ofpermeate her hallways like sounds of
fice, she usually is spending time with her
Christmas morning.
family in Lamont, a small town about 35
Moore says she is an enthusiastic and
miles outside Tallahassee, also where she
dedicated football fan, “That’s somewas born and raised. She balances her
thing I love: I love college football. Peoresponsibilities at work with a rich fample ask me, ‘You watch football?’ Yes,
ily life.
don’t mess with me on Saturdays during
“Outside the office, I’m totally refootball season!”
laxed; I just play everything by ear,” she
Moore also spends a big part of her
says. “All my kids are grown now, so it’s
life dedicating time to leading the youth
just me and my husband,” Moore says.
group at her church. “I like working with
Moore and her husband have been
young people,” she says. “I think they
married for 32 years—very happily, she
keep me young.”
says—and she has three children, one
As Moore eases back in her black
daughter-in-law, and one grandchild
leather chair in her Williams Building
whom she visits every chance she gets.
office, she takes a look around her of“I’m very family-oriented,” says Moore,
fice and sees in photos those same faces
having grown up with nine siblings. “My
that give character to her home life. With
brothers and sisters and I are very close
excitement in her voice she talks of her
and my family means everything to me.”
plans when she retires: to travel and selfShe visits with her mother, who lives
lessly give her time to helping others
only a few miles from her in Lamont, for
through missionary work.
about an hour and half every Monday.
Wherever Moore is or wherever she
“If I don’t stop by, she will call and talk Carolyn Moore and her husband, Joshua,
goes, she approaches life with a smile
to all my other siblings . . . She won’t have been married for 32 years.
and open arms.
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Winter/Spring 2011 19
“I’m not surprised to learn that Katie has embarked upon such an exciting and unusual
career. At FSU, she was a wonderful student. She combines intellectual curiosity and
creativity with a great sense of humor.”
— Leigh Edwards
Katie Dozier
The ‘girly grinder’
By Alexa Goodman
BEYOND THE CLASSROOM
K
atie Dozier woke up on a recent
Wednesday morning and got
together with 40,000 people to
do something that she never
thought she would be doing. Imagine almost
the entire student population of Florida
State University sitting at their computers at
the same time to do the same thing: succeed
in online poker.
Dozier, a graduate of the Creative Writing
Program at FSU, usually plays 20 tables at a
time on two computer screens set up right
next to each other on her desk, totaling 48
inches of screen.
As one of the few successful professional
female poker players, Dozier is a rare breed.
Playing regularly out of Washington, D.C.,
Dozier has what some might consider the
dream-job: She gets up at noon, stays up all
night, and can work from anywhere she has
an Internet connection. Dressed in her polka
dot pajamas, Dozier walks 15 feet from her
bedroom to her “office” and begins playing.
“It’s a pretty enviable commute,” says
Dozier, who also writes an online column
about poker. She was nominated for
“Favorite Blogger Poker Author,” also called
the Maven Award, by Women Poker Player
magazine.
With her pink TI-84 calculator, her iTunes
playlist going strong, and a Coke Zero by her
side, she can be an unstoppable force at
a poker table. Once very regimented in
her playing – what poker players refer to
as “grinding” – Dozier now determines
when to play based on the quality of the
players online with her.
“What I’ve found,” Dozier says, “is that
it’s actually good to be flexible because you
want to play the games that have the worst
20 Winter/Spring 2011
people in them.”
Dozier
uses
“HotJenny314”
as her online
poker
persona
– she jokes that
HotJenny314
is her but just
as a superhero.
Photo courtesy of Katie Dozier
She created the
“To play poker well . . . you have to have a real
name as an ironic
statement on the confidence in yourself and in your ability.”
fact that men play
— Katie Dozier
differently against
women, and she wanted to take advantage tournaments, you have to have a real
of the stereotype. “I’m still me,” Dozier says. confidence in yourself and in your ability,”
Dozier says that some men will even she says.
play online under women’s names to
As a freshman in the Creative Writing
receive the same treatment. “But to Program at Florida State, Dozier says she
play poker well, especially
absolutely adored writing.
“I liked writing more than I liked doing
anything else,” Dozier says. “I picked
FSU because of all the good creative
departments.”
She began writing poetry when she was
little, and she followed in her mother and
older sister’s footsteps by attending FSU.
“I was destined to go to FSU!” Dozier says,
remembering the Seminole jumper she wore
as a baby.
When recalling her time at FSU, Dozier
says she began playing poker in people’s
homes. The game was once considered
a smoke-filled, backroom activity, played
by men with names such as Doyle “Texas
Dolly” Brunson, Amarillo Slim, and Ken
“What a Player” Smith.
But in 2003, Chris Moneymaker –
his real name, in fact – contributed to
poker’s explosion in popularity when he
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became the first amateur player to win
the World Series of Poker (WSoP). In
November 2010, former FSU student John
Dolan finished sixth in the WSoP, claiming
a $1.77 million prize, while the tournament
winner took home nearly $9 million.
Leigh Edwards, whom Dozier remembers
as one of her favorite professors at FSU,
says, “I’m not surprised to learn that Katie
has embarked upon such an exciting and
unusual career. At FSU, she was a wonderful
student. She combines intellectual curiosity
and creativity with a great sense of humor.”
From Tallahassee, Dozier moved to
Washington, D.C. with the intention of
becoming a restaurant critic, writing reviews
for publications. Dozier says that writing
full-time “seemed kind of overwhelming,”
so she chose a career that allowed her to
combine her creative writing background
with her enjoyment of poker. For almost a
year, Dozier has been writing a column for
PokerPro Magazine titled “The Girly Grinder.”
Even though she has writing deadlines,
she continues to play and she even coaches
others how to be successful at poker. As a
poker coach, Dozier does the majority of
her instructing without ever meeting her
students face to face.
Jonathan Little, owner of FloatTheTurn.
com, for which Dozier makes instructional
poker videos, says, “Katie does very well
in poker. Even though poker is a maledominated sport, being a woman doesn’t
mean you have a disadvantage. If anything,
females have a huge advantage because some
men play incorrectly against them.
“If you are smart and have an analytical
mind, you can be good at poker.”
There is no denying that Dozier is
successful in her field, but she recognizes the
male-female dynamics that are present in the
game, aspects that can generate controversy
among professional players.
Annette Obrestad, the youngest person
to win a World Series of Poker Europe
bracelet, recently commented, “girls suck
at poker.” Dozier’s reaction to Obrestad’s
comment was bemusement that someone
would resort to such a broad stereotype. On
her HotJenny314 blog, Dozier turned her
powerful words on Obrestad.
“There’s nothing that can be gained from
judgmental stereotypes, especially when
you include yourself in the judgmental
stereotype!” Dozier says. “And it points out
to me that women are so underestimated in
poker that even some women underestimate
women, so it’s a very interesting mentality.”
Dozier adds that good players understand
good play whether the player is male or
female. The difference between poker players
is that some play to have a good time and
others take it seriously. Dozier is obviously
the latter, and with women such as Annie
Duke, Jennifer Harman, and Kathy Liebert
consistently playing and doing well in some
of poker’s biggest tournaments and money
games, her point is well supported.
Dozier says she plays about 20 online
tournaments at a time, which is unusual and
impressive for any online player. Dozier has
developed the ability to make snap, critical
decisions at a moment’s notice. With only
a five-minute break for every hour that
she plays, Dozier has learned how to think
quickly on her feet.
When she first started playing poker,
making a living at it was a radical idea for
Dozier. She had a lifelong love of writing,
and playing poker seemed to be at odds
with what she had earned her degree in at
FSU. But as she became more familiar with
the game, she began to see the similarities
between the two.
“I think good writing is about basically
using logic to figure out what is actually
necessary to say to get your point across
most effectively, like using images,” Dozier
says. “And poker, on a different level, uses
logic, but in a way so that you’re using it to
play against other people, and to make them
think what you want them to think.”
HotJenny314 has accomplished that with
her success at the poker table.
For more information on Dozier, visit
www.KatieDozier.com.
Grinding -verb:
A synonym for playing poker;
implies that you’re working
very hard. “But it does make
for some confusing moments,
like when I put on my Facebook that I was really happy to
be grinding in my new chair.
People really interpreted it the
wrong way!” Dozier says.
Photo courtesy of Katie Dozier
Katie Dozier will play on anywhere from 12 to 20 online poker tables at a time at
her computer station.
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Winter/Spring 2011 21
The next
generation
of writers
Members of Literati at
the group’s first reading
at The Warehouse.
Matt Medoni, right.
Caitlyn Pezza, below
left, and Barrett White,
below right, give readings at Literati’s Warehouse event.
Article and photos by Lindsay M. Pingel
“Hey! Save that for after the show,” he
says, causing the crowd to laugh. He looks
out into the audience, excited that there is
not a single empty seat. “This is very cool.
Very cool, and very scary. With Literati, we
aim to make a writing community. Thanks
for coming out tonight and helping us build
this community.”
In the fall of 2009, Genesta Charles was
searching for a creative writing outlet outside
of the classroom. Charles, a sophomore
at the time, sent out an email to her fellow
English classmates expressing her desire
to form an undergraduate creative writing
organization and asked if anyone would be
willing to help her develop it.
“FSU has such a great Creative Writing
Program, so I figured they’d have a creative
writing club,” she says. “When I realized
there wasn’t one, I thought, ‘Hey, let’s just
see who’s interested.’”
Maria Torres, Kat Duffy, and Janelle
Matthews-Allison responded to her email,
and together they founded Literati. The
group recruited Brandy Haddock, an
English department advisor, to serve as the
organization’s advisor, and one year later,
more than 100 students have joined, each
with a passion for language.
By 7 on Wednesday evenings, when the
group meets, the Williams Building is nearly
“You want them to be
feeling good. Having your
work put out there for
everyone is kind of like
putting your heart and soul
on the table, and people
are critiquing it, and it’s a
very scary experience.”
Genesta Charles
Literati president
deserted. The darkness outside is visible
through the windows at the top of the
stairwell that leads down to the ground floor.
The silence of the building is daunting until
you are about halfway down the steps, when
the rumble of voices can be heard through
the wall. Around the corner, the lights are on
in a single classroom, Room 013, filled with
students:
“I thought your second sentence was
hilarious!”
“I really like the pace of the story.”
“Show, don’t tell.”
“Pure silver is used to kill werewolves—“
“—I thought it was iron that worked.”
While most students are home lazing
Candlelight flickers onto
about, waiting for “Modern Family” to come
on TV, the members of Literati remain on
campus, analyzing the latest work written
by one of their peers. The organization has
formed a creative writing haven. Charles,
now the group’s president, begins each
meeting by asking the students whose pieces
are being workshopped that night to stand
up, as the rest of the members give them a
round of applause.
“You want them to be feeling good,”
Charles says. “Having your work put out
there for everyone is kind of like putting your
heart and soul on the table, and people are
critiquing it, and it’s a very scary experience.
You want them to feel as comfortable as
possible so they don’t walk away feeling like,
‘Oh my gosh! That was terrible.’ You want
them to say, ‘It was scary, but I feel like it
really helped me in the end.’”
The members divide into two groups,
fiction and poetry, forming circles with
their chairs. The language they speak is
one familiar to all students of the English
department—the language of literature.
Creative writing elements such as tension
building, tone, foreshadowing, exposition,
rhythm, symbolism, and irony are discussed,
argued, and bounced around the circle, as
See LITERATI, page 35
Literati members
Aditya Perumal and
Pat Vincent (left), and
Andy Francis
(below) participate
in a workshop.
the faces of the audience
members. Beyond the votives
resting on the tables, the room is
almost completely dark, except
THE DEPARTMENT IN ACTION
for a string of white Christmas lights nailed
to the wall above the black stage. The faint
smell of beer and cigarette smoke hangs in
the air—the result of countless patrons the
room has endured.
The venue is packed; latecomers are
forced to stand. The hum of anticipation
reverberates from the wooden floor boards
up into the high-beamed ceiling, like the
buzz of cicadas echoing in the summer heat.
Literati, an undergraduate creative writing
organization, is about to host its first reading
at the Warehouse.
Silence falls over the audience as Chad
Green makes his way onto the stage and grips
the microphone. A few students whistle and
make catcalls at Green, a media productions
and creative writing major.
22 Winter/Spring 2011
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Winter/Spring 2011 23
Laughing & learning
Pete Kunze: graduate student, funny-man, instructor, and a force to be reckoned with
F
Article and photos
by Zachary Johnson
STUDENTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
or many students at Florida State,
literature doctoral candidate Pete
Kunze has left more than just a passing
impression. He’s made them laugh, he’s
challenged their preconceptions about literature,
he’s taught them how to become better critical
thinkers—and he’s often found them coming back
semester after semester, wanting more.
While growing up in New Jersey, Kunze learned
at a young age that he loved education. “I realized
quite early that I was good at school and that I enjoyed
it. I found my validation there, mostly because I didn’t find
it anywhere else,” he jokes. “I was a horrible baseball player and a
really crappy Boy Scout.”
However, Kunze hadn’t always planned on pursuing a degree
in English. His original plan was to become a high school history
teacher, but then he came to realize that history and English are
similar disciplines, so he opted to pursue the latter instead. When
Kunze graduated from Rowan University in New Jersey in 2006 with
English and film degrees, he was “qualified to do nothing more than
go to graduate school.” So, to graduate school he went.
When he first came to FSU in Fall 2006 to pursue a master’s
degree, Kunze made good impressions right away. Deborah CoxwellTeague, who directs the First-Year Composition Program in the
Department of English and who also trains all graduate teaching
assistants, remembers Kunze’s enthusiasm from day one. “From the
beginning he was very excited about teaching, very enthusiastic,” she
says. “What stands out most about Pete is his desire to help others—
other students and other teachers.” Coxwell-Teague goes on to say,
“He’s the type of wonderful teacher who doesn’t mind being the
center of the class’s attention, but he doesn’t focus on just lecturing
and just trying to impart knowledge to others.”
Kunze chose Florida State because he would have the opportunity
to teach. “It’s my favorite part of graduate school,” he says, “and
by far the most rewarding. Basically, I just keep chasing whatever
validates me, and teaching is very validating.”
Kunze has been the instructor for some of the standard freshman
English courses—ENC1101 and ENC1102—but has also
created his own special interest courses such as Writing
About American Comedy and Men Behaving Badly,
Kunze, who refused to take a
serious photo, is seen eyeing
the camera with an upsidedown book.
24 Winter/Spring 2011
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Pete Kunze
discusses
masculinity
among other
themes in his
From Fiction
to Film class.
the second one a course on masculinity attention.”
Perhaps it’s Kunze’s teaching style that
studies. In addition to being creative, Kunze
is popular, evident by the students who keep draws such a following. Instead of the usual
returning to take his classes, some having lecture, Kunze tries to inspire discussion
Kunze as an instructor for three or four among his students. “It’s fun to have that
courses.
intellectual stimulation that comes from taking
Benay Stein, who has taken two courses a book into a classroom and asking students
from Kunze, says, “I took those classes to basically pull it apart,” he says, “and then
because of Pete. It didn’t
matter
what
he
was
“Pete is goofy and eccentric but he is not
teaching—I was taking it.
He’s an amazing instructor. afraid to be himself all day, every day and for
He really cares about his that, I think he is more than an instructor—
students and what he teaches. he is a role model.”
— Laura Berke
I intend to take his class again next semester.”
Lindsay Pingel, who took
her first Kunze class in Spring 2010, says, figure out how it works and the ways in which
“Pete is a great teacher because he’s actually we can analyze it.” Kunze also strives to bring
someone you want to listen to. He doesn’t fresh texts to the table, especially when it
just stand in front of us and lecture. He comes to writers who aren’t usually highly
makes a lot of jokes and snide comments regarded by scholars or to writers whom
that make his class entertaining—but more Kunze felt were underappreciated.
importantly, they make me want to pay
“When I was working on my master’s,
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I was very interested in humor and
Catholicism,” says Kunze, a self-described
“cultural Catholic,” who is on track to earn
his Ph.D. in 2012. “I designed [a class] called
Writing About American Comedy that tried
to encourage students to approach sitcoms,
films, and literary texts as narratives that
were all worthy of our attention. That’s kind
of been my mission since: to teach classes
where you have Literature with a capital ‘L’
taught against lower-case literature, or in
many cases, pop culture, and then talk about
the conversations that go on in both.”
Witnessing one of Kunze’s classes is
more like watching a book club made up
of old friends having a discussion. Kunze
brings himself down to his students’ level;
he animatedly walks up and down the aisles
provoking intellectual arguments with his
students, he sits on their desks, and he draws
them in with his humor. He constantly
subverts his authority as the leader of
See KUNZE, page 37
Winter/Spring 2011 25
Photo courtesy of David Theyer
The William B. Johnston Building gets a facelift in order to accommodate the Reading/Writing Center expansion.
Reading/ Writing Center to add another location
Johnston Building site
set to open in Fall 2011
IN THE CLASSROOM
By Marvin Matthews
Business is booming at the Reading/Writing
Center (RWC), and the center will expand to
a third site in Fall 2011.
“We had more than 1,100 sessions logged
at the RWC in the Fall 2010 semester, and
over 350 at the RWC satellite in Strozier
Library,” says Liane Robertson, graduate
director of the RWC. “We’ve been trending
upward the last few semesters at both sites.”
A session consists of one-on-one tutoring
that generally lasts for at least 30 minutes,
and students are allowed to schedule several
sessions per semester if they wish.
The new RWC outpost will be housed in
26 Winter/Spring 2011
the renovated William B. Johnston Building,
which will also house several other tutoring
and advising services. Not far from Landis
Green, the Johnston Building is close to
several residence halls, making it easily
accessible to students. Meanwhile, the
RWC’s multimedia counterpart, the Digital
Studio—which saw an 84 percent increase in
use from Spring 2010 to Fall 2010—will also
expand to the Johnston Building.
Currently, the RWC and the Digital Studio,
which are run by the Department of English,
are headquartered on the second floor of the
Williams Building.
“The RWC serves students from all
disciplines at FSU,” says Robertson. “And
many of those students would not come
to the Williams Building otherwise. In the
Johnston center, students will be able to
access a wide range of services, and it means
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
the RWC and Digital Studio can situate tutors
in yet another location where students will
congregate most often. Just as our Strozier
tutoring location is very popular because it’s
convenient for students who are also using
the library, the Johnston center will locate
our services ideally for students.”
In addition to offering new outposts for
the RWC and the Digital Studio, the ground
floor of the Johnston center (which has yet to
be officially named) will house the Academic
Center for Excellence (ACE) and some parts
of Advising First. ACE complements the
RWC and Digital Studio by offering tutoring
for math, science, and business classes, says
Peter Hanowell, director of tutoring services
for ACE.
RWC tutoring is not only for those
enrolled in first-year composition. Students
come from all levels and all majors, including
many from business, the social sciences, and
the humanities. There are also a few science
majors, as well as students who want help
with their application essays for graduate
school or medical school. In addition, the
RWC tutors many international students.
One of the biggest misconceptions about
the RWC is that it is an editing service.
This is far from the truth. Tutors at the
RWC offer students one-on-one help with
brainstorming, organizing, citing sources,
improving clarity, as well as reading and
research skills.
“When I tutor students, my goal is to help
them think for themselves instead of me
thinking for them,” says Anne Barngrover, a
first-year tutor in the RWC and a third-year
graduate student in creative writing. “This
way, they are becoming better writers for
the future, and not just writing one good
paper,” adds Barngrover, who has a unique
experience because she has also tutored FSU
athletes as part of the Athletic Tutoring
Services program, which is not part of the
RWC.
Students visiting the RWC should be
comforted to know that the tutors they see
are experienced and trained. All graduatestudent tutors are English majors—whether
concentrating in rhetoric and composition,
creative writing, or literature—and all teach
courses in the department. All undergraduate
tutors have taken ENG 3931, a three-credit
peer tutoring course that examines issues
surrounding peer tutoring and provides
training in group and individual techniques.
Students also explore contemporary tutoring
theories. Potential undergraduate tutors must have even more options for getting help.
fill out an application and have successfully
Professor Kathleen Yancey, who directs
completed ENG 3931 before working as the Rhetoric and Composition Program and
RWC tutors.
who has been working with planners on the
The RWC is not only beneficial to the Johnston renovations, is looking forward to
students who seek assistance, but it also the new facilities and what they will offer
gives the tutors a different perspective than students. Not only will there be ample room
traditional classroom instruction does, which for tutoring, but there will be computer
is helpful because some of the tutors aspire facilities, laptops for checkout, and rooms
to be English professors. One example is designed for group work.
Natalie Perfetti, a second-year graduate
“Thirty years ago, the provost’s main
student who is in her second semester of concern was getting students into college,”
tutoring at the RWC.
she says. “But we have come such a long way,
“I enjoy tutoring because there is more of that the focus is now on graduating students.”
a personal interaction in oneon-one tutoring as opposed to
teaching a classroom full of
students,” Perfetti says.
The Reading/Writing Center (RWC) in Room 222C
Her ultimate career goal
of the Williams Building is open Monday through
is to become a literature
Thursday from 10 a.m.–6 p.m., and on Friday from
professor at a small college,
10 a.m.–2 p.m, although hours can vary slightly by
and she believes tutoring
semester.
helps her achieve that goal
Meanwhile, the new tutoring area in the Johnston
by making her more wellBuilding, which is expected to be ready in time for the
rounded. “It gives me a
start of Fall 2011 classes, is slated to offer tutoring
different perspective than
during daytime and evening hours Monday through
classroom teaching does,” she
Thursday, with daytime hours on Friday and evening
says.
hours on Sunday.
Thanks to conscientious
Currently, tutors from the RWC also offer tutoring,
tutors such as Perfetti and
including some evening sessions, in Strozier Library
Barngrover, FSU students
in a peer tutoring section designated for reading and
who want to improve their
writing. Students can make an appointment for a
writing skills are in good
30-minute session with a tutor at either the Williams or
hands. And with the opening
Strozier location by calling the RWC at 850-644-6495.
of the renovated Johnston
At both sites, students can also stop in and work—
center in time for the Fall
on a first-come, first-served basis—with any tutor
2011 semester, students will
who is available. Tutors are mostly graduate students,
Contacting the RWC
but there are a few undergraduates as well. For more
information, go to http://wr.english.fsu.edu/ReadingWriting-Center
Students are welcome to visit the Reading and Writing Center anytime during normal hours of operation. There is usually at least one tutor available
to assist students.
RWC tutor Natalie Perfetti assists Jasmine Williams with a
writing assignment. Williams is a Family and Child Sciences
major, and she visits the Reading and Writing Center often.
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Winter/Spring 2011 27
10
Interesting blurbs about Rose Bunch*
Compiled by Alexis James and Katie Bridgman
Photos courtesy of Rose Bunch
Current residence
Vitae line
Current project
Umbud, Indonesia.
“Northwest Arkansas, where I grew up, is home
base for three major multinational companies:
Tyson Foods, J.B. Hunt Transport, and Wal-Mart.
… My idea is to look at how U.S. companies
impact life in a developing country like Indonesia.
I’ll work on that and finishing Sustainability, the
novel that is my dissertation project.”
“Bring extensive
range of experiences
outside of the
classroom and
academia to any
project”
Rose Bunch
Doctoral candidate in creative writing
fiction and non-fiction
Hometown: Fayetteville, Arkansas
The work of a writer
“To metabolize experience and turn it into a work of art.”
Most recent
birthday cake
Yes. That is squid.
Applying for Fulbright
STUDENTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
“I was told by the scholarship
committee that they’ve never received a
creative Fulbright for writers . . . you’re
proposing something that doesn’t exist.
So you say, I’m going to create a novel
or a book of fiction. It is going to come
entirely from you.”
Fulbright notification
“I got it in the mail . . . the approval. I hadn’t heard from them . . . I
hadn’t heard from the . . . and then I received this thing in the mail. I
was standing in my front yard opening my mail. I thought: Oh, here’s
my ‘Thanks for trying. Good luck next time’ kind of announcement.
And they actually sent me a letter telling me I’d gotten it.”
Recent awards
Fulbright Fellowship, 2010;
Skidmore Writers Institute
Scholarship Recipient, 2010;
Tennessee Williams Scholar,
Sewanee Writer’s Conference.
University of the South, July
2009; George M. Harper
Award, Florida State University,
May 2009; Creative Writing
Award in Nonfiction, University
of Missouri, May 2007; The
Seattle Review. National Fiction
Contest, January 2006. Finalist
in national competition; Fiction
Fellowship. University of
Montana, January 2006.
A word from Rose’s mentor, Julianna Baggott
“(She) writes about the South — not the literary version of her forebears, not
a patronizing version offered to us by
contemporary Americana. She writes
— in stunning stories and riveting
essays — a wholly contemporary
version with its issues of decay and
collapse as well as gentrification, its
complex relationship to the world
through Wal-Mart and the chicken
industry, as well as investigating the
things that cross all borders — love,
loss, betrayal, violence. Her awardwinning essays and stories are told with unflinching honesty, and the results
are remarkable and unmistakably her own.”
*For more on Rose, go to www.fsu.edu/profiles/campus/bunch/
28 Winter/Spring 2011
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Winter/Spring 2011 29
Facing
South
teacher, it’s like ‘Who do I include in my
syllabus?’ You don’t want to give this like
‘white plantation’ version of the south.”
But why not? Certainly it wouldn’t be all
that inaccurate to say that the South had a
lot to do with white people and plantations.
Maybe ‘inaccurate’ isn’t the right word.
Instead, some would say it’s a little ‘unfair.’
Something to consider is that ‘Southern’
does not refer to just one group of people,
one period of time, or even one region. If
students are going to learn about ‘Southern’
Literature, they would be justified in
wondering exactly what they’re going to be
learning about.
Florida State University students who are
interested in getting more than just a canned
presentation of Southern Literature are in
an excellent position to do so. In addition to
IN THE CLASSROOM
I
magine that you’ve been assigned the task of
compiling a reading list for a Southern Literature
class. That should be pretty easy, right? Just
throw in Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The
Color Purple by Alice Walker, and a few works by
William Faulkner. Sprinkle the whole thing with short
stories by Flannery O’Connor and let marinate for one
semester. Yields one class in Southern Literature.
That’s a joke, naturally. However, the sarcasm
isn’t there to imply that those books have no
place in a Southern Literature class. In fact, all of
the aforementioned authors and their works are
considered in a way to be quintessentially Southern,
which is part of the reason why a reading list consisting
of nothing but their works runs the risk of presenting
a pigeonholed idea of an entire history and culture.
Yes, Southern Literature does include images of dead
mules and Southern belles and boys smoking corn
cob pipes, but these days the genre also stretches far
beyond them.
“Questions of canon formation are big in Southern
Literature,” says second-year Ph.D. student Fiona
McWilliams who teaches literature. “For me as a
30 Winter/Spring 2011
The case for moss
A writer doesn’t have to have been born and
raised in the South to be a Southern writer, as
is evident with Toni Morrison and Edward P.
Jones. Morrison, who won the Pulitzer Prize
for Beloved, is from Ohio. Jones, who won
the Pulitzer Prize for The Known World, was
raised in Washington DC.
Likewise, a student does not have to be
in the Southern United States in order to
study Southern Literature. However, Diane
Roberts points out that it certainly helps.
“You can see evidence of how strong
a regional identity can be if you’re in the
culture,” she says.
Fiona McWilliams also concedes that it is
nice to study a topic in an area to which it is
relevant.
“When teaching [Southern Literature],
it’s nice to look out the window and be able to
give parallels of things like Spanish moss,”
she says. “The history is here as opposed to
someplace like New York City.”
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Another professor in the English
department, David Ikard, has taught
Southern Literature at the University
of Tennessee. When teaching Southern
literature, Ikard doesn’t just teach the genre
for the sake of teaching the genre. These
days at FSU he also uses particular works
of Southern fiction as tools for teaching
his students about race and gender as
cultural constructions, and the way in which
See SOUTHERN LIT, page 36
“It’s shorthand to see the South as very
black and white and Evangelical Christian
Protestant when there are so many complications to that. [The South] has always been
a mix of people. Always a mix of religions, a
mix of languages, a mix of backgrounds.”
— Diane Roberts
By Cody Carmichael
Southern Literature professors take
modern approach to ‘complex’ genre
in her Southern Literature class and her
attempt to present the genre in a way that
reflects historical and contemporary reality.
“It’s shorthand to see the South as very
black and white and Evangelical Christian
Protestant when there are so many
complications to that,” she says. “It has
always been a mix of people―always a mix
of religions, a mix of languages, a mix of
backgrounds.”
To reflect this idea, in addition to the
more standard works of Southern fiction
by writers like Faulkner, in the past Roberts
has included in her reading lists works like
Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia.
“I like to talk about how Cuban Americans
in South Florida are extremely Southern,”
says Roberts. “I’d call them some of the
most Southern people on Earth because they
offering an entire course focusing specifically
on Southern Literature, the FSU English
department is home to at least one professor
who is a big name in Southern studies.
Professor Diane Roberts is an awardwinning author and journalist who has
written three books on Southern culture
and literature. She is an FSU alumna, having
earned a B.A. and M.A. in writing at FSU
before going on to Oxford University in
England where she received a B.A. Honors in
English and a Ph.D. in American Literature.
Ask a student about the advantages of
learning Southern Literature at FSU and her
name is likely to come up.
“She’s a big name and a really great
resource to have here,” McWilliams says.
“She’s one of the names that you see when
you’re applying to schools and you go
‘alright.’”
Roberts talks about the approach she takes
have a huge sense of historical grievance, as
‘Southern’ people supposedly have.”
Of course there is no way to accurately
represent in a one-semester class the many
complex layers of a thing like Southern
Literature. It’s also true that the whole of
Southern culture cannot be represented only
through its literature. Fortunately, for those
students who do have an interest in Southern
Literature, Roberts calls attention to one of
the reasons why she thinks FSU is a good
place to study it.
“There are a lot of cross-discipline
possibilities,” she says. “In history or Florida
studies or American studies or religion, or all
kinds of areas where you can go learn about
Southern history and read Southern novels.”
Still, the big hanging question has yet to be
answered: What is ‘Southern’ literature, really?
Some might say Southern literature is about
slavery. Others might say it’s about divisions
in social classes. Still others might sum up
Southern literature as asserting the right to
remain glorious in almost any situation.
By this point it’s a given that ‘Southern’
is a complex concept. It should also be
understood that there is more to be gained
from reading Southern Literature than just
fulfilling credit requirements.
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Photo by Cody Carmichael
Tallahassee rich
in history
Nestled modestly at the base of the
Bible Belt, the City of Tallahassee
with its white pillars, magnolia
trees, and sprawling countryside
played a large role in the shaping
Northern Florida. The city began
its life as a halfway point between
Pensacola and St. Augustine and
became the Capitol in 1824. During
(or technically after) the Civil War,
the city was the target of a failed
siege, otherwise called The Battle
of Natural Bridge in which young
boys from the Florida Military and
Collegiate Institute (later known as
Florida State University) picked up
weapons to defend their city against
the highly ambitious General John
Newton. Reenactments of the
skirmish are performed every year
during the first weekend in March
at the site of the battle in Woodville.
Winter/Spring 2011 31
From page
to stage
Article and photos
by Khadif Sanders
THE DEPARTMENT IN ACTION
W
hen registering for an intro to
Shakespeare class, students might
assume that they will be reading
a play or two and then writing a long—and
more than likely boring—paper. This is the
way that most students experience Shakespeare for the first time.
However this was not the case in graduate student Brent Griffin’s Fall 2010 Intro
to Shakespeare class, in which students had
the opportunity to interact with the text in
ways that most of them had never foreseen.
In particular, they had the chance to get involved with Capital City Shakespeare (CCS),
a community theater group headed by Shakespeare enthusiast Steve Adams.
During the Fall 2010 semester, CCS was
mounting a production of The Tempest, one
of Shakespeare’s final plays. The Tempest follows the tale of several travelers who have
been shipwrecked on an island by a sorcerer
named Prospero. The play ran for two weekends in November, one in Monticello at the
Monticello Opera House and the other at
the Conradi Studio Theatre in the Williams
Building.
Griffin offered his students a unique way
to fulfill the class requirement. The students
were required to either participate in the
show—some auditioned for roles in the play
while others worked as crew members—or
they could attend at least two rehearsals. All
of them were required to see the show at
least once. After the production, students
had to draft a critical essay comparing their
experiences to their initial interpretation of
the text.
“It’s essential to get a grasp of what makes
this thing work, what makes Shakespeare
tick,” Griffin told his students. “You’ve got
to get a hands-on approach to play production in order to properly appreciate it.”
Griffin himself played the lead role of
Prospero. Ariel, another major role, was
played by fellow graduate student Kate
Lechler. Lechler also brought in three addi32 Winter/Spring 2011
other graduate students working in fields including creative writing and literature.
Griffin and Lechler’s collaboration with
CCS started in Spring 2010 when Griffin introduced Lechler to CCS director Adams. At
the time, Lechler, a Ph.D. literature student
focusing on early modern drama, became involved with CCS in a small production of
Romeo & Juliet. After that production, they
decided to collaborate further in fall, and
thus The Tempest was chosen as CCS’s next
play, with Adams slated to direct. Rehearsals
began in September.
Griffin’s students attended rehearsals at
the Williams Building as well as a rented
space at the Tallahassee Mall. Some nights
the students sat on the walls and wooden
benches under the dim, starlit evenings in the
Williams courtyard discussing Shakespeare’s
writing. Other nights, they sat on the comfy
and carpeted floor of the former Fencing
Academy. They watched with pens in hand
and notepads in their laps as the text they
had been studying took on three dimensions
right before their eyes.
Undergraduates participated not only by
observing. Some, such as senior creative
writing major Amanda Parks, took on active
roles in the play. Parks gave such a power-
Brent Griffin (above, left) and one of
his students, Sam Shroder, rehearse for
The Tempest.
Creative writing student
Amanda Parks (right) played
the role of Antonia.
tional graduate students: Wil Oakes, who
played Trinculo; Dario Sulzman, who
played Stefano; and Kevin Carr, who
played King Alonso. Their involvement
gave Griffin’s students a chance to work
not only with their own instructor but with
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Brent Griffin as Prospero
ful performance at auditions that the
hearsal and performance. The casting of
traditionally male role of Antonio was
a female as Antonio (hence Antonia), the
changed to Antonia. Parks has perinclusion of an African-American actor
formed in a couple of other Shakein the role of Prince Adrian, and a nonspeare plays and was passionate about
traditional depiction of the character
the subject.
Caliban—all of these choices influ“Shakespeare is meant to be perenced the look, tone, and
formed,” Parks says. “It’s so much
feel of the performance.
more than words on a page. Shake“How you perceive
speare doesn’t tell you in the script
it when you read it,
that a character is angry—when
and how it looks when
you see the production it makes a
someone performs it
lot more sense.”
can change how you
As the performance grew nearunderstand the play
er, another dynamic became apand its meaning” says
parent. What had started off as
Ryan Siskar, a student
a mere assignment had evolved
from Griffin’s class.
into a much more enriching exIn the beginning,
perience. After several rehearsals, the lines between students
and instructors, as well as
grads and undergrads, became much more difficult to
see. Not only did the play give
the students an opportunity to work
with their instructors outside of the
classroom, but the students also
had the opportunity to work with
members of the Tallahassee community. That engagement exposed
students to a variety of talent and
skill, such as the acting of 17-yearold Victoria Henley and the makeup
work of veteran special-effects artist
Joe Fisher.
Students also got to see how the
script is only one of many ingredients involved in bringing a play to
the stage. At every turn, decisions—
costuming, makeup, lighting, sound,
interpretations of character—made
an impact on the final product. While
this is true of any production, students without previous theater experience might not have realized it until
they saw it firsthand.
“A play as it exists on the page Kate Lechler (above), who portrayed
is more or less a fixed thing,” says Ariel, receives last-minute adjustments to
Oakes. “What you realize as you go her costume.
about actually putting on the play
is that the same play can be presented any even the most confident students were unnumber of different ways depending on the certain what effect (if any) the performance
artistic choices you make. It’s actually a very might have on their understanding of the
malleable thing.”
written work. By the end of the last show,
The biggest choices are made by the show’s however, those same students understood
director, and students got to see the impact that, after seeing a play brought to life, they
of Adams’s choices as they played out in re- would never look at it the same way again.
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
Winter/Spring 2011 33
Neal from page 4
Internet. Early on, Neal undertook a vested
interest in the concentration, submitting
potential syllabi and assisting in the
development of its curriculum. However,
his most influential role within the major has
been as an instructor.
Deborah Coxwell-Teague, director of
FSU’s First-Year Composition Program, has
known Neal for six years and is familiar with
his teaching style. “He has past experience in
doing what I do now … and I frequently ask
for his wonderful, helpful advice,” she
says. “[Neal] is a smart, kind man who
is truly engaged with helping students
grow as writers and thinkers.”
Though all of his classes revolve
around writing and editing, it is
through his “Visual Rhetoric” course
that Neal focuses on the media aspect
of the EWM concentration. “I have
a particular interest in new media
literacies and how technologies are
shaping and changing the ways we
understand writing for individuals
and on a larger scale,” says Neal, who
welcomes the increasing prevalence
of technology in the classroom.
“[Technology and its accompanying
visual elements are] one more avenue
for persuasion and communication, so
I think it’s vital for students to think
critically about [those] texts, much in
the same ways they’ve been learning to
interact with print texts.”
At 40, Neal is one of the younger
members of the faculty and is familiar
with many of the television shows and
other media that students use; he even
plays Facebook chess. It is through these
familiarities with his students that Neal
structures aspects of his courses: In his
popular “Visual Rhetoric” class, for instance,
he uses many popular culture and advertising
references, as well as bits of film to spark
interest and further discussion.
“I want students to be critical instead of
passive consumers of cultural texts, and
I want that to translate into rhetorically
thoughtful production of texts as well,”
Neal says. “I think there’s no reason why we
shouldn’t include visual and multimodal texts
among others that we study and compose.”
Neal’s ability to connect with students
stems from his own family life, and he jokes
that he is “kind of a boring family guy.” With
two 10-year-olds and a 6-year-old waiting for
34 Winter/Spring 2011
him at home, Neal tries to devote as much
attention to his private life as possible. “I’m
a believer that you need to have a level of
balance and healthiness toward different
parts of life, all of which are important,”
Neal says.
He and his wife, Christy, love spending
time with their children and often take
them to local parks and the coast. They read
together as a family every night and like to
play games—one of their favorites is Apples
to Apples—before the kids go to bed. Neal
tries to balance traditional texts like Little
Top: Neal with his wife, Christy, and their
children Isaac, Hallie, and Alexander.
House on the Prairie with more contemporary
titles, such as the Harry Potter series. Neal
himself admits to being a huge C.S. Lewis
and J.R.R. Tolkien fan, reading as much of
their work as he can get his hands on.
Writing and media aside, Neal is also
a major proponent of individualized
assessment in the classroom. As he discusses
in his recent book, Writing Assessment and
the Revolution in Digital Texts and Technologies,
Neal believes that much of the visible
work of assessment technology to assist
in scholastic evaluation is headed in the
wrong
direction.
Technology-assisted
assessment, like that used in the Florida
Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT),
is currently focused on standardization and
mechanization, which emphasizes ranking
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
students and which “dehumanizes evaluation
and dominates teachers by taking away
professionalism.”
Contrary to the trend, Neal insists that
assessments should be beneficial, targeted
toward students’ individual needs instead
of treating them en masse, and should be
just as much about response as evaluation.
“When you get an assessment back, it should
provide teachers and students with valuable
information to assist teaching and learning,”
Neal says. “It should be one of the best
forms of feedback students receive, not one
of the worst.”
Neal applies this approach in
his courses, emphasizing studentindividualized
instruction
where
applicable. He believes that the purpose
of many of the English courses he has
been involved with is to have students
explore their own goals, such as in
his “Advanced Writing and Editing”
course in which undergraduates
choose their topics of study. In this, he
simultaneously applies his knowledge
of technology and his passion for
helping others.
“Dr. Neal is very clear in how he
communicates ideas on to students,”
says Milly Hardin, a senior taking her
second course with him. “He is great
at helping students think outside the
classroom, about how we can apply
the tools we learn in his class to our
professional goals.”
Fellow returning student Melanie
Day agrees. “Dr. Neal is passionate
about the subjects he teaches, possesses
a genuine love and interest for his students,
and is an asset to the community of Florida
State University,” she says.
Loved by his students and playing a large
role in the EWM concentration, Neal is
only getting started. Harkening back to his
days as a student, he remembers how he
never had to consider a project’s medium or
genre—he simply word processed a paper
in the standard format. Fascinated with
the potential shifts in writers’ rhetorical
situations due to technology, his next goal
is to examine how they are contending with
new media and its influences.
“There’s not a technology out there that’s
perfect,” Neal says. “I want to see how
writers negotiate these new technologies
and, more importantly, why they’re doing it
and what kinds of new rhetorical decisions
they’ll have to make.”
Literati from page 23
the students pull the workshopped piece in
different directions until the end product is a
vast improvement from the original.
Pat Vincent, a new Literati member,
thinks the workshops held during meetings
are, “much more comprehensive and more
serious” than those in his technique classes.
“The critiques are better, and the writers
are better. Most of these people here, they’ve
been writing for pleasure, and they’re doing
it for a club,” he says. “There’s a lot more
initiative, and because of that there’s a lot
more value in the different pieces. There’s a
lot more to learn here.”
Aditya Perumal echoes Vincent’s
statements about the benefits of being in
Literati. As one of the original members,
Perumal, a biology major, remembers being
in a rut with his writing, saying he had
writer’s block.
“Literati really helped me out. I got my
passion to write again.”
Literati allows its members to do more
than just workshop stories, screenplays, and
poems. During the semester they hold social
events: “Come Break (Panera) Bread with
Us,” “Game Night at All Saints,” and “A
Pumpkin Carving Extravaganza” are ways
for the members to get to know each other
better in an informal setting.
The club hopes not only to integrate into
the English department and campus, but also
into the Tallahassee literary community as
well. Readings at the Warehouse have become
a tradition for graduate students every
Tuesday night, but not many undergraduate
students have the opportunity to share their
work. For the executive board, knowing the
English department decided to set the date
for a Literati reading meant it was finally
starting to take the club seriously.
“The Warehouse is a well-respected openmic [venue], and the fact that we can say,
from now on, that we’ve performed there
is just going to make us more legitimate,”
says Green, who handles public relations for
Literati. “It’s almost an honor because when
you go on Tuesday nights, and you see the
grad students read, you kind of wish you
were up there and now we totally are. Our
fifteen minutes of fame.”
If Kristoffer Motil’s experience is an
indication, Literati has the potential to foster
the next generation of creative writers at
Florida State. Before making his decision
on which school to attend, Motil browsed
through different English department
websites to find out what types of programs
were available for undergrads.
“Then I found Literati on the FSU
webpage,” says Motil, a freshman creative
writing major. “FSU had the only creative
writing club for undergrad students out of all
the other schools I was applying to. Literati is
pretty much why I came here.”
When Charles hears of Motil’s declaration,
she is overcome with emotion and remains
silent for a moment.
Literati members sometimes gather in
the courtyard of the Williams Building,
where they recently had a bit of fun
with one of the statues.
“It kind of makes me feel like with
Literati we’re doing what we’re supposed to
be doing,” she says. “We want to create that
community, and he was probably looking for
a writing community.
“I guess not a lot of schools have that,
and the fact that he felt like he could come
to FSU, makes me feel like we’re really
accomplishing what we set out to do.”
“We have one of the most cutting edge technology
classrooms on the campus—in the English
department, of all places.”
— Kristie Fleckenstein
Room 317 from page 11
Photo by Katie Brown
Jacqueline Cassanove edits a Word document on
the SMART Board.
see and read across them in ways you
couldn’t previously.”
Another student, Alexis James,
has been equally impressed with the
opportunities provided by the new
technology. “The SMART Boards
are wonderfully positioned so that
all students can easily take part in
lecture. Each of the screens can be
programmed to show the same thing
or different media. The front half of
the class can modify a project while
the back half of the class can prepare
a website review; diverse material can
be more easily discussed during class
time.”
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
With the new technology in the
classroom, teaching practices will
evolve into a new medium. Matt
Davis believes that the true challenge
ahead is getting teachers to practice
new methods of instructions and
for students to break out of their
traditionally passive roles and
participate in this new, multimedia
method of education.
Fleckenstein says, “Biff Quarles, the
project manager, got us all together to
talk about what we wanted in terms of
design, technology and budget. As a
result, we have one of the most cutting
edge technology classrooms on the
campus – in the English department,
of all places.”
Winter/Spring 2011 35
Southern Lit from page x
authors of classic Southern literature coped
with the social dynamics of their time.
“There are not a lot of things that
[Faulkner and Twain] would refute about the
Old South in terms of romanticized themes,
and yet their works absolutely interrogate
those ideas,” says Ikard, who specializes in
20th-century and African-American literature.
As an example, Ikard speaks of Mark
Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson, a story about
a Caucasian-looking slave named Roxy
who switches her baby with the baby of
her master. What Ikard finds fascinating
about the story is the way in which Twain
confronts the problems of trying to sustain
social boundaries that have been based
on race. Roxy in Twain’s story is only onesixteenth black, yet she is still a slave. Ikard
describes such racial boundaries as artificial
constructions that inevitably fall apart, as
seen by Roxy’s slave-born son growing
up spoiled and unaware that he is onethirtysecond black.
“The literature that resonates most is the
literature that recognizes its own limitations,”
he says, referring to this way in which
Southern authors like Twain criticized the
very culture of which they were so proud.
Ikard also uses works of Southern literature
to expand on social issues like slavery. He
emphasizes the importance of teaching
multiple perspectives. For an upcoming
graduate course he plans to have his students
read Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!, Toni
Morrison’s Beloved, and Edward P. Jones’s The
Known World simultaneously.
“You have a white male, a black woman,
and a black man, all Southern-identified and
trying give their accounts of the experience
of slavery,” he says. “Putting [these stories]
in juxtaposition ultimately allows you to see
the various ways in which the anxiety of
policing social boundaries plays itself out.”
Anxiety is right. More can be gleaned
from Southern literature than just the old
lessons about the horrors of slavery and
war. The professors in the FSU English
department who teach the genre do so
with the understanding that Southern isn’t
just black versus white, poor versus rich, or
North versus South. There is no one single
definition for what makes a piece of literature
Southern, and there is no one golden reading
list that would give a fully realistic image of
the South. The genre continues to expand as
contemporary authors add their works to the
mix, and professors are left to decide how
they’re going to define Southern literature to
their students.
To be fair, entire books have been devoted
to the question of Southern, and the answer
is far more complicated than anything that
can be covered in one article. However,
Anne Rowe, dean of the faculties at FSU
and an English professor who specializes in
Southern literature, offers a nice summary:
“I think it’s hard to define [Southern]
as a specifically narrow thing . . . . It’s
kind of like you know it when you see it.”
Boehrer from page 17
“There are not a lot of
things that [Faulkner and
Twain] would refute about
the Old South in terms of
romanticized themes, and
yet their works absolutely
interrogate those ideas.”
— David Ikard
professor (albeit one that does not
typically enjoy promoting himself as
a scholar). He has taught countless
literature classes, in addition to more
classes in fields as varied as animal
studies, food studies, and human
sexuality. He also holds two named
professorships: the Bertram H.
Davis Professorship and the Frances
Cushing
Ervin
Professorship
funded by Dean Anne Rowe’s
family. Boehrer’s love for his work
is clear: “I enjoy the teaching. I like
my students and I have fun in the
classroom.”
In spite of his countless academic
contributions and devotion to his
students, Boehrer still believes
that he has work to do outside the
classroom. He yearns to make an
Photo by Linda Hall
even bigger contribution to society, Bruce Boehrer with students outside the British Museum.
to the world, and it is this constant
motivation to better himself and his mistreatment, as he does when working with to an insider as it sounds to an outsider. But
surroundings that drives Boehrer to carry Free the Bears Fund Inc. Even in his own to Boehrer it is an endeavor that is worth his
out all of his endeavors, both inside and backyard, he has found ways to protect the while. When asked what motivated him to
environment.
work with bees, he simply smiles and shrugs,
outside the classroom.
Recently, he and his wife started “Oh, I like animals, I like honey, bees are in
With that in mind, Boehrer has taken
steps to help animals endangered by human beekeeping, a task that has proven as difficult trouble… Thought we might help.”
Kunze from page 25
Stuckey-French from page x
Because of the anxiety she experienced,
Stuckey-French understands the hesitancy
some students may have, and offers encouragement and motivation in response.
“It’s her patience and insight that makes
her so valuable,” says Allen Keller, a graduate student in the English department. “I am
very grateful for both, as she has helped me
more with my fiction than any other teacher.”
Her encouragement and advice for students is to compose as a result of the compelling nature of inspiration.
“If you feel like you shouldn’t be writing
about it, then you should,” she says. “And you
have to have a lot of patience – unfortunately
you can’t sit down and force anything.
36 Winter/Spring 2011
“I just feel like you don’t have to say anything profound. Take some notes, write a
scene. Do something. You don’t have to sit
down and begin typing some great tome.”
One of her favorite quotes summarizes
how she feels about the process: “When you
have writer’s block, you need to lower your
expectations.”
Aside from her deep connection to writing and composition, she also maintains a
lighthearted demeanor, and in turn exhibits
a sense of humor that almost sneaks up on
you.
“Basically, all adults are just pretending to
be adults. You finally learn that when you’re
about 30. You never really feel like one,”
Stuckey-French says, with a laugh.
She teaches advanced fiction technique
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
classes and graduate level writing courses,
where students experience firsthand the different approaches and elements that she has
developed over the years. She has very clear
advice to her students and prospective writers about facing the publishing world.
“It sounds corny, but you have to be addicted to the whole process of writing,”
Stuckey-French says. “That’s really the most
satisfying part.
“So much goes into it – the big pay off
that society expects you to get is often so
fleeting that you have to withstand a lot
of frustration, disappointments, ups and
downs. In order to do that, you really just
have to love doing writing. Not that it’s easy.
But I always come back to it, because that’s
how I make sense of things.”
the class and never misses a chance for
humorous self-deprecation.
Laura Berke, who is in Kunze’s The Book
Was Better: From Fiction to Film class,
says, “When you’re in Pete’s class, you don’t
even realize how much information you are
absorbing and how many new ideas and
concepts you are learning because you’re
having such a good time.”
Pingel recalls one class in which Kunze
led the discussion of the classic children’s
book, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, using a puppet.
“Pete decided to bring in a beaver puppet
to facilitate our discussion,” she says. “I
probably haven’t seen a puppet in one of
my classes since elementary school, but it
got people talking. Pete does a good job of
making his students feel comfortable enough
to join a discussion. There’s no fear of saying
something dumb or embarrassing yourself
when your teacher is standing in front of
the classroom with his hand up a stuffed
animal’s rear.”
Kunze finds that using humor is good way
of engaging students and subject matter. “I
leave my authority in this odd limbo,” Kunze
says, “between the talking head and the
person who stands at a place where they’re
willing to negotiate their space—I’m willing
to change my opinion; nothing is ever firm in
my understanding of a text, and I think that
can be very frustrating for students, when
they go into a class and the teacher knows
what they think and is basically trying to lead
them into that path.”
It is clear that Kunze’s mission is not to
teach students what to think, but to give
them the tools to create their own ideas and
conceptions about literature. During this
interview, as Kunze began getting more and
more in depth about teaching, he paused
for a moment. “I’m being very serious right
now,” he says, “which is weird because in
the classroom, I constantly undermine my
SCROLL, SCRIBE & SCREEN
own authority as a way of encouraging [my
students] to talk and think critically.”
Aside from teaching his normal classes,
Kunze has been tutoring athletes from
Academic Athletic Support for almost three
of the four years he’s been at FSU. He is
also involved with the Advisory Council
of English Students (ACES), a council of
graduate students who help other graduate
students professionalize, and with the
budding campus group Men Advocating
Responsible Conduct (MARC). When he
isn’t preparing lesson plans or tutoring,
Kunze likes to kayak, swim, and travel.
You get a sense that Kunze understands his
students and interacts with them on a level
that is rare in both terms of its friendliness
and effectiveness. “Your college years are a
time to figure out who you are and what you
want to become,” says Berke, “which can be
a pretty difficult process. Pete is goofy and
eccentric but he is not afraid to be himself all
day, every day and for that, I think he is more
than an instructor—he is a role model.”
Winter/Spring 2011 37
NRC ranks FSU among nation’s top English departments
education in Florida proved disadvantageous.
On September 28, 2010, the National teria chosen by departments in that field.
FSU’s English Department was particu“Already my colleagues and I are receiving
Research Council (NRC) released its new
rankings of doctoral programs, placing FSU larly distinguished in the area of Research cheers from our professional peers around
among the country’s strongest English De- Activity, where it ranked between 4th and the country,” Berry says. “Everyone is hap18th of the 119 departments under consid- py that a dedicated and talented faculty at a
partments.
The NRC is a division of the National eration, placing it among such programs as modestly-funded state university like FSU
Academies, a federally chartered, private Johns Hopkins University, University of Il- can compete with programs at the wealthiest
non-profit institution, and its rankings in- linois-Chicago, and University of Michigan. elite institutions in the country.”
The NRC rankings are among the most
clude 5,000 doctoral programs in 62 different In the overall ranking based on all-inclusive
criteria, FSU was ranked between 15th and trusted indicators of academic standing,
fields at more than 200 universities.
“What these NRC rankings show is simply 44th, placing it close to programs at Emory both for prospective students and for prowhat our students and faculty have known University and Rutgers. Its reputational rank- fessionals in higher education. These rankfor years: that FSU’s English Department is ing was 26th to 69th, and its Diversity rank- ings, which update and replace the last NRC
rankings that were published in 1995, includa remarkable place,” department chair Ralph ing was 22nd to 67th.
The only ranking in which FSU was not se- ed 119 English doctoral programs and were
Berry says.
The NRC generated several sets of rank- curely in the top half of English departments based on data collected during the 2006ings for each field, some based on narrow cri- was Student Outcomes, where the compara- 2007 academic year.
“There’s nothing unusual about these
teria such as Research Activity, Student Out- tively low level of state funding for higher
rankings,” Berry says. “We
comes, or Diversity, and others that were overall rankings, The NRC rankings can be found at, http://www.nap.edu/rdp/, or can simply have some of the most
based either on reputation or be accessed through the Chronicle of Higher Education’s website, http:// talented faculty and students
in the country.”
on an all-inclusive set of cri- chronicle.com/page/NRC-Rankings/321/.
Bergers from page 4
Writing Program, recently attended one of
the events at the Berger residence.
“Dan and Melissa are two of the nicest,
most generous people you’d ever want to
meet,” Belieu says. “When we were in their
beautiful, art-filled apartment in Chelsea,
they made all of us so welcome, and their
sense of enthusiasm for literature and
literacy scholarship is palpable and inspiring.
It was a wonderful evening for which we
were all grateful.”
Everyone who has met the Bergers has
described them with enthusiasm.
“It was such a pleasure to meet Melissa and
Dan, who are not only generous benefactors
to our department, and thoughtful, smart
people, but who are genuinely fun to be
around,” says Anne Coldiron, a literature
professor. “They are great conversationalists
on a huge range of topics—history, the
arts, parenting, science, politics, literature—
perhaps especially literature.”
Even though Melissa loves New York City,
she has enjoyed introducing her immediate
family to Tallahassee when they return for
visits, but she says they do not get to Florida
as much as they would like. FSU football
games bring the Bergers to Tallahassee more
than anything else, but Melissa adds there is
38 Winter/Spring 2011
always one other thing they have to do when
in town: “I have to go to Publix! We don’t
have Publix up north so we always take a stop
at Publix at some point,” she says, laughing.
Ralph Berry, chair of the English
department, says that the Bergers are playing
a crucial role in the graduate program’s future.
“Melissa and Dan are the sort of forwardthinking individuals on whose support
talented students everywhere depend. They
recognize the importance of the humanities
for an educated and responsible citizenry, and
they know that without material resources,
humanistic education can’t survive. It would
be difficult to overstate what their loyalty has
meant for the department. They’re just great
people.”
The Melissa and Daniel Berger Fellowship
gives one graduate student per year relief
from the financial burden of pursuing an
advanced degree, and the gift will allow the
recipient to teach fewer classes. When the
amount of study time lost to grading papers,
student conferences, and class preparation
is considered, teaching fewer classes means
more time for studying, which results in
earlier graduation, enhanced opportunities,
and less debt.
The fellowship will be awarded annually
to a new or advanced graduate student who
excels in the English department’s creative
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writing, rhetoric and composition, or
literature concentrations. The faculty of the
specific program will determine recipients
of the award based on the student’s GRE
scores, a writing sample, and grade point
average. The fellowship will be awarded for
the first time in Fall 2011 to a student in the
creative writing track.
“This new fellowship is extraordinarily
generous—and gracious,” says Kathleen
Yancey, who directs the Rhetoric and
Composition Program and has spent time
with the Bergers. “To our graduate students,
it will mean the chance to focus on their
research and writing; and to FSU’s English
department, it will mean that we have a living
connection between our past students and
our current ones. It’s a living legacy in every
sense of the word ‘living.’”
Melissa and Daniel Berger are giving a ray
of hope to graduate students whose future is
clouded by debt.
“It has been very rewarding to me to feel
like I have come full circle in my life to be able
to be a part of what is going on at Florida
State again after 20-something years,” Berger
says. “I enjoy it and I hope that other people
will be inspired by somebody or something
in their life to do the same thing and give
back, and that’s what it’s really all about.”
Katie Brown contributed to this article.
About the
contributors
Gina Benitez
Aiming to become broadcast journalist, Benitez is an editing, writing,
and media major (EWM) who plans
to graduate in Spring 2011. In her
free time, Benitez enjoys pageantry,
dance, and visiting the beach.
Corie Biandis
Aspiring fortune cookie writer, Biandis is an EWM major who plans
to graduate in Spring 2012.
Laura Bradley
A native of Gainesville Fla., Bradley
plans to graduate in 2013 with a degree in EWM. In her free time she
enjoys videos games and socializing.
Katie Brown
A connoisseur of tilt-shift photography and over-priced coffee,
Brown is a senior pursuing degrees
in both EWM and humanities. She
plans to graduate in 2011.
Cody Carmichael
Hailing from Gainesville, Fla., Carmichael hopes to one day work for a
travel magazine. Outside her studies,
Carmichael enjoys rock climbing,
design, and research.
Alexa Goodman
Goodman is an aspiring editor for
Harper’s Bazaar and plans to graduate in Spring 2012. A Miami native,
Goodman enjoys editing, design,
and playing harp.
Alexis James
Hailing from Ocala Fla., James is
seeking degrees in EWM as well as
biology. She hopes to one day become a scientific research publisher
or physician.
Zachary Johnson
After earning his degree in EWM,
Johnson hopes to become an editor
or publisher. Originally from Tampa
Fla., Johnson enjoys spicy foods,
photography, and cats.
Alexis Kaplan
An EWM major planning to graduate in 2012, Kaplan would love to
work as a photojournalist for National Geographic, traveling the world.
Chris Kelley
Hailing from Jacksonville Fla., Kelley is a senior in the EWM major,
aiming to become an editor. In his
free time he enjoys good company
and having a drink with friends.
Marvin Matthews
Officiator for Leon County high
school basketball games, Matthews
is currently an EWM major. He
plans to graduate in Fall 2011.
Heather McQueen
Originally from Pensacola, Fla., McQueen is an EWM major who enjoys traveling, music, and being a DJ.
Her ideal job would be as a writer
for The New York Times or as a food
and traveler critic.
Krista Newhook
Seeking a degree in advertising with
a minor in English, Newhook hopes
to one day create the best advertisement ever made. Outside the classroom, Newhook enjoys painting,
running, and is currently the president of Gamma Phi Beta sorority.
Lindsey Pingel
Cupcake baker and social justice advocate, Pingel aspires to be a human
rights lawyer. Currently, she is pursuing degrees in exercise science as
well as creative writing and plans to
graduate in Summer 2011.
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Khadif Sanders
Avid break-dancer and comic book
reader, Sanders dreams of becoming
a Hollywood filmmaker. Sanders is
seeking a degree in EWM and plans
to graduate in Summer 2011.
Onalee Smith
With a dual major in EWM as well
as international affairs, Smith hopes
to pursue a career as an acquisitions
editor for children’s books. Smith
is originally from Valrico, Fla., and
plans to graduate in Spring 2011.
Dustin Tackett
After graduating in Summer 2011
with a degree in EWM, Tackett
hopes to one day become a contributor for ESPN. In his free time,
Tackett enjoys music and sports.
Krista Wright
Wright, seeking degrees in both
EWM as well as mass media studies,
enjoys karaoke and classic American
muscle cars. She hopes to become a
broadcast journalist or a published
author.
Advisors: Susan Hellstrom and Jack Clifford
Co-editors: Sarah Cleeland and Alexandra Delgado
Winter/Spring 2011 39
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The Florida State University
College of Arts & Sciences
Department of English
405 Williams Building
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1580
Visit the English department online
and stay up to date with our news.
english.fsu.edu

40 Winter/Spring 2011
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