English Corner Faculty Voices Archives

November 16, 2023 English Corner Faculty Voices

Gayas Eapen: from reporter to critical researcher

The CCU Department of English welcomed Dr. Gayas Eapen as an assistant professor of digital culture and design. Dr. Eapen received his undergraduate degree in English Literature and his master’s degree in media journalism from universities in India, before moving to the United States to pursue a doctorate in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media at North Carolina State University.

Before moving to the states, however, Eapen tried his hand as a crime reporter at Times of India. His path of journalism led him to become a crime reporter for almost two years before moving to begin his doctorate.

When Dr. Eapen relocated to begin his studies, it was the first time he ever came to the United States, and it was during this period he noticed the difference between both cultures in real time. This was also the period when he picked up his passion for teaching. The research that guided Dr. Eapen through his studies continues to be the one that he studies and dissects to fully understand and learn. A part of his dissertation study was on “DJ Trucks,” which are vehicles that come by blaring music. When compiling the research for his study, he found that he used his reporting skills in terms of interviewing and digging deep, and he enjoyed being able to make all these connections as the researcher that the people in the community have already been making or knew about as their way of life. Currently, he teaches a course titled Global Media and Counter Cartography where he teaches students to engage in critical and alternative map-making techniques.

Dr. Eapen is just getting started in his career as a teacher, but in this short amount of time, he has found how much he loves doing it. Dr. Eapen is amazed by CCU students and their dedication. He has stated how impressed he is with the hard work and motivation CCU students possess, and how awesome it is to watch students invested in their future.

Thanks Dr. Eapen!

November 16, 2023 English Corner Faculty Voices

Dr. Erin Slaughter on the Writing Life

Dr. Erin Slaughter always knew writing would play a huge part in her life; however, she never could have imagined the scope of the role it would eventually have. Dr. Slaughter, originally from north Texas, joined CCU this year as Visiting Assistant Professor of Fiction and Creative Writing. She holds an M.F.A. in creative writing from Western Kentucky University and a Ph.D. in creative writing from Florida State, where she was awarded the Edward H. and Marie C. Kingsbury Fellowship, bestowed annually on the graduate student who completes the best original manuscript. She is managing editor of Autofocus and co-founder of The Hunger, both online literary journals.

Creative writing was not Dr. Slaughter’s original plan, however. She first went to school for neuroscience before discovering her passion for writing, which went hand-in-hand with the solace she found in books. Her writing is inspired by gender and feminist ideals, as she finds herself able to relate to these topics and learn how her own experiences are part of a larger story. Dr. Slaughter said, “every good and meaningful thing in my life has come from writing, one way or another.”

Dr. Slaughter has been shaped immensely by the writing community in which she became immersed through her M.F.A., Ph.D., and teaching. All these experiences guide her down an incredibly important path that allows her to share this part of herself with others and guide them as well. In speaking with Michael Wheaton on the podcast “The Lives of Writers” about her journey through writing, Dr. Slaughter explained how she started her career through “trial and error and taking little bits of information and insight along the way.”

When Dr. Slaughter first became a creative writing major, she quickly realized that if she applied the experiences, discoveries, and knowledge that she found along the way of her creative writing journey, she would eventually find something that stuck. This insight has remained with her and her teachings, as she puts an emphasis on just writing on what you think you know or don’t know, and seeing what story comes out of it.

In Dr. Slaughter’s Intro to Creative Writing classes, she also hopes to leave her students with the idea of sharing personal stories and “not being afraid if something is bad or not, and to just be willing to try.”

Dr. Slaughter has released poems that provide incredible insight into her life, The Sorrow Festival being a prominent example, so she has experienced the fulfillment of sharing personal works, and she knows the value of “being vulnerable and open to yourself, spiritually and emotionally and physically.” However, as she grows into her writing, she also wants to treat herself with more dignity and self-love and hopes to emphasize that through her future work.

Dr. Slaughter has used her skills and experiences to publish numerous works, including short story collection A Manual for How to Love Us (2023); poetry collections The Sorrow Festival (2022)and I Will Tell This Story to the Sun Until You Remember That You Are the Sun (2019); and poetry chapbooks GIRLFIRE (2018) and Elegy for the Body (2017). Dr. Slaughter completed a press tour for her short story collection earlier this year and highlights the story “We Were Wolves” as one of her favorites in the book.

Dr. Slaughter is currently working on her first novel and credits the work she does for it as a “humbling experience in a necessary way.” She is extremely excited for the remainder of this semester and semesters to come.

November 16, 2023 English Corner Faculty Voices

Dr. Jess Hylton’s creative work-in-progress

Digital Writing and English Lecturer Dr. Jess Hylton, who joined CCU last year as writer-in-residence in 2022-23, is currently using her impressive skills to work on a very exciting project. Hylton studied professional writing and literature before graduating at 19. She earned her master’s degree from Radford University and her Ph.D. in poetry from University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She wrote her thesis in fiction, and her new project seems to be taking a windy path among different creative writing genres.

Dr. Hylton is using her PhD to create a collection of poetry that is centered around punctuation marks, all while following a romance that eventually dies, titled A Love Story – Punctuated. The uniqueness of this story mixed with Hylton’s creativity and talent make for an exciting proposition of the story to come.

Hylton is currently a Lecturer here at CCU who teaches Composition and Critical Reading and Film, New Media, and Culture, is teaching her students to follow their passion in life, and to not let anyone force them to deny it. Hylton is doing just that with her work-in-progress, and we all look forward to its release.

Congratulations Dr. Hylton!

need title still [JM1]

January 23, 2023 English Corner Faculty Voices

Dr. Ellen Arnold on Banned Book Club: “The best thing we can do is keep reading the books.”

Coastal Carolina University’s Banned Book Club will hold its first meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 4 pm in the Bryan Information Commons atrium. Copies of the book, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, will be available, and refreshments will be provided. The event will feature a panel of speakers: Anna Mukamal, CCU assistant professor of digital culture and design; Meredith Ritchie, Horry County Schools librarian; and Loren Mixon, CCU Outreach Librarian. Sponsored by English and DCD programs within the Department of English, the event is funded through CCU’s Quality Enhancement Plan.

Ellen Arnold, senior lecturer in Coastal Carolina University’s English department, said the idea for a banned book club began as a conversation among a few English and Digital Culture and Design faculty members.

“It was a small idea,” said Arnold. “We wanted to do something together–an activity, a meeting–and at the same time, the numbers of bans on books were increasing, so we thought of a banned book club. It’s a place to just sit down and talk about books.”

At its very root, banning books is undemocratic because it silences a voice.
Dr. Ellen Arnold

After arranging a banned books read-out during the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week in September 2022, Arnold realized how pertinent the freedom to read is to faculty, staff, and students across campus. “Over 70 people attended and over 20 volunteered to read,” said Arnold. “I was blown away by the number of people who wanted to get involved.”

Attendees of this event were invited to vote for the reading group’s first book, selecting the graphic novel Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe. “I was delighted that they chose [Gender Queer] because it was the most banned book in 2021,” said Arnold. “When we talk about banning books and silencing voices, it’s more likely those are going to be certain kinds of voices – the ones that are already less likely to be heard in books.”

Arnold notes the importance of diversity in literature, especially books for children and young adults. “It’s important for underrepresented voices to have mirrors; for everyone to see themselves in what they read,” said Arnold, “but it’s just as crucial for [readers] to see windows into the experiences of other people who aren’t like them. It can change people fundamentally by developing that sense of empathy that’s so important, the very thing that makes us human.”

“At its very root, banning books is undemocratic because it silences a voice,” said Arnold. “It’s important to learn what books are being banned and why, to share ideas about how we can make those books available, and to explore how we can speak out against their restriction. The best thing we can do is just keep reading the books.”

See more CCU creative and scholarly responses to contemporary trends in book banning:

Sarah Laiola: “A Rapid-Fire Overview of Data and Trends as Reported by Pen America”

Anna Mukamal: “Visualizing Book Banning Trends 2021-22”

DCD student interns: “DCD Visualizes Book Banning in the USA”

October 10, 2022 English Corner Faculty Voices

Alan Reid on philosophy, technology, and guns

Alan Reid, associate professor of English, is knowledgeable about technology and has a concern about guns and gun culture in the United States. These blended impulses led to the creation of his latest scholarly work, A Philosophy of Gun Violence.

In many ways a follow-up to his 2018 book The Smartphone Paradox: Our Ruinous Dependence in the Device Age, Reid applies the same philosophy of technology to guns.

“Our technological artifacts, like smart phones or guns, are non-neutral,” said Reid. “They are positively charged for a deliberate, specific use. Smart phones are intended for you to pick it up and scroll, and they are designed to hold your attention in those ways. Similarly, guns are designed for you to pick it up, hold it, and pull the trigger.”

In addition to his research background in the philosophy of technology, Reid’s interest in this topic generated from his concern as a citizen and a parent about increasing desensitization of gun violence, including nationwide increases in gun sales as a solution to that violence.

“It hit me after Sandy Hook in 2012 that we’ve really crossed a line in terms of normalization,” said Reid. “That, and the call for more firearms — more access to guns. It led me on a path of thinking, ‘This is not the approach we should take, and here’s why.’”

Reid incorporates concepts from a wide range of contemporary tech philosophers in presenting his case, including Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory (ANT) and the work of Peter-Paul Verbeek and Langdon Winner.

“Our technological artifacts, like smart phones or guns, are non-neutral. They are positively charged for a deliberate, specific use.”
Alan Reid

“The basic concept is that technologies invoke actions,” said Reid. “I’m not saying that guns make people kill people. But, they can change your perception of reality; they can distort your views of things. Especially when one is carrying a gun, open or concealed, it changes circumstances, and I think that’s really dangerous. I reference Latour, who said, ‘You are different with a gun in your hand, and the gun is different with you holding it.’”

Reid also offers a background on technology and how he defines it, incorporating concepts from the field of semiotics that categorize items as a thing, an object, and an artifact. A “thing” is an item with no prescribed meaning or definitive use. An “object” takes on meaning for the user because it has an identified particular use or purpose. An item becomes an “artifact” when individuals in society generally agree upon a single purpose for that item.

“What makes a gun an artifact is that we all collectively understand that it’s meant to be aimed and fired…. I’m interested in it as an artifact in that it drives you toward its use. It does have an agenda. It wants to be used, and it wants to be used in a specific way; that way is to fire a projectile. It does want you to use it in that way and in no other way.”

Reid consulted with numerous gun manufacturers and high-profile gun rights advocates in researching his book to learn their perspective and offer his philosophy.

“I wanted to understand their view and encourage them to understand mine, that a gun changes one’s perception when it’s in their hand,” said Reid.

In the end, a gun works as a technology just as a cell phone does, said Reid, and that technology has an effect on its user.

“People might say, ‘Oh, it’s just a smart phone; it’s an instrument.’ But so much research shows it’s not just an instrument. It persuades you to do things you might not otherwise have done. The difference is that using a gun is quite a bit more lethal than checking your smart phone.”

September 20, 2022 English Corner Faculty Voices

Looking Beyond Ourselves: For Dan Albergotti, poetry is a gateway to navigating the wonder and chaos of our world

To Dan Albergotti, professor of poetry in Coastal Carolina University’s Department of English, poetry is a way to see our world through a different lens, to make connections from the past to the present, and to understand the capacities and limitations of human life.

“I remember reading poems when I was a teenager for English classes and feeling like I was discovering something there,” said Albergotti. “It didn’t feel like I was studying something ancient. I felt like I was getting insight through the poem into the life of a human being that happened a long time before I was alive, and yet I recognized it.” Like time capsules, poetry can capture a snapshot of history on a page, transcending the limits of verbal communication over time.

In his most recent chapbook, Circa MMXX , Albergotti considers the year of chaos, panic, and political violence that was 2020. He puts into verse his thoughts concerning the world and humanity during that year and how it connects across our cosmic past.

“It’s got stuff about the pandemic in it. It’s got stuff about the very violent ideological politics of the time—the destruction of a lot of democratic norms over four years from 2016 to 2020,” said Albergotti. “So the poems are very topical and informed by a moment, but I’m always trying to find a way in them to see beyond that, to see a larger relevance, to connect it to something beyond the moment.”

Drawing inspiration from various poets, Albergotti shows within Circa MMXX how the past tends to reinvent and reconnect itself to our present lives through poetry. For example, Philip Larkin’s “MCMXIV” [1914] inspired the last poem of Albergotti’s chapbook, “MMXX.”

Albergotti notes that in remembering the thousands of lives lost during World War I, “Larkin’s poem ends, ‘Never such innocence again.’ And the idea behind it is that after such a cataclysmic event, no one could be innocent to the world again,” said Albergotti. In “MMXX,” Albergotti makes a similar connection, using two men fishing as a metaphor. “The last two lines are, ‘The fish drifts back toward the hook, no longer afraid, such innocence, ever again,’” said Albergotti. “The idea of going back towards the hook and not heeding your fear, or not really understanding the danger you’re putting yourself in, is that other kind of innocence which is ignorance. It’s like saying, ‘What have we learned? Here we are100 years since the flu epidemic that killed a whole lot of Americans and people worldwide, and here we are again100 years later.’ We just forget. We let it seep out of our consciousness, and we don’t prepare.”

In writing about timely topics within this collection, Albergotti hopes to challenge his readers to view the events of 2020 differently and to view poetry as a way to take control over the chaos of life.

“There’s this one thing that Robert Frost said about poetry that stuck with me,” said Albergotti. “He said, ‘It’s a way of taking life by the throat and not letting life get away with skirting around you. You take it by the throat and say, “This is real. This is it.”’”

February 14, 2022 English Corner Faculty Voices

Walking the Edge: Jason Ockert brings light to the page and to the classroom

The art of fiction rests in the writer’s ability to create real from the imagined. For Jason Ockert, professor of creative writing in CCU’s Department of English, the blank page was an open invitation for such exploration.

“When I was a kid and I first started writing, I discovered that I could create anything that I wanted,” said Ockert. “I had all of the control and authority. That helped me counterbalance the lack of control I had over the adult-centered ‘real’ world. I still find solace in the autonomy that’s afforded me in fiction. It helps beat back the chaos.” At times, fiction can lead us to the greatest truths, not only about ourselves, but those that rest in the world around us as well.

Ockert scrapes the surface of those truths in his latest work. Ockert will hold a reading and discussion of his newest collection, Shadowselves, on March 3 as part of the Words to Say It series, sponsored by the Department of English.

“I still find solace in the autonomy that’s afforded me in fiction. It helps beat back the chaos.”
Jason Ockert

Shadowselves is Ockert’s third collection of short fiction stories. Mostly comprised of previously published work between 2017 and 2020, Shadowselves roots its characters in places where Ockert has lived: the Midwest, the Northeast, the South, and the Twilight Zone.

“The stories are inhabited by characters who are stepping dangerously close to an edge they cannot see,” said Ockert. “Although the stories are dark, they are not jaded. The characters are wounded, but they’re not broken. I make room for hope in these stories.”

Ockert notes the relationship in his stories between the threat of darkness and the desire for something greater. “The thing about a shadow is that it’s born from light,” said Ockert. “I think it’s important to figure out where that light is coming from in our lives. What gives our days purpose? Who brightens our mornings? How are we treating our better selves? I want my readers to engage with these questions as they move through the book.”

While writing had played a large role in Ockert’s entire life, it wasn’t until his MFA program at Syracuse that he found a passion for teaching. “Although it was very intimidating at first,” he said, “I soon found that I loved talking with students about writing. It was then, as it is now, a privilege to witness young writers discover a passion for stories.”

Ockert continues to teach fiction at the undergraduate and graduate levels, finding fulfillment and engagement in both. “I treat all of my students—from intro classes through master’s classes—as individuals,” he says. “Every writer approaches narrative uniquely, and it’s my job to identify strengths and weaknesses and to push the student to discover new ways to improve their writing. ‘Talent’ is not taught, but exposing students to a range of styles and craft techniques can help them refine their own literary aesthetics. I find that I learn a tremendous amount about writing from my students. I am very grateful to be around so many creative and inspired writers.”

Be sure to attend the reading on March 3 to hear Ockert read the first story in his collection, “Golden Vulture.”

September 10, 2021 English Corner Faculty Voices, Faculty Voices

Speaking of place: Joshua Cross on perspective and the short story

Joshua Cross, lecturer in Coastal Carolina University’s Department of English, held a reading and discussion of his newest work, Black Bear Creek, for the Words to Say it Visiting Writers Series in September 2021. We had a moment to talk to Cross about his background, his process and how he applies his expertise in the classroom.

Black Bear Creek is a collection of short stories connected by a fictional town in the Coal River Valley of West Virginia. Cross grew up in Beckley, W.V., and says elements of the stories are loosely inspired by the communities that surrounded him. He also finds influence in other authors of the region including Ann Pancake, Breece Pancake, Pinckney Benedict, and Jayne Anne Phillips. “There’s a lot of Southern writers, such as William Faulkner or contemporaries like Randall Kenan, who focus on fictional towns in a way that I admire,” said Cross.

Black Bear Creek began out of Cross’ work on his doctoral dissertation at Oklahoma State University. His primary focus in writing was poetry, until he found great influence in a writing workshop with Dr. Aaron Gwyn, professor at UNC Charlotte. “That class was sort of what changed things for me. It really got me started with writing fiction,” said Cross. “I never found that I could write about southern West Virginia until I moved to Oklahoma.” After finishing his Ph.D. and accepting a position at CCU, he continued revising and adding stories to the collection. “There was something about getting so far away from [my hometown] that allowed me the space to write about it.”

I never found that I could write about southern West Virginia until I moved to Oklahoma.
Joshua Cross

Cross notes the distinction between the short story and novel genres. “I think a really good short story does a lot of what a novel accomplishes,” said Cross. “The condensed form adds difficulty to the writing experience, since you don’t have as much time and space to invest your reader in characters and setting, but I think it also makes for a more appealing read.”

Cross finds his work in the CCU classroom rewarding. “I like to teach and talk to students about things that interest them,” he says. “In my creative writing classes, I like when students connect their own experience to what they’re reading; in composition, students can write about their identity and the communities that they come from.”