The Weekly: Undergraduate News
...Coming to your inbox Mondays
Issue #20 for the week of 1/25/2020
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From the Director of Studies |
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The last week of break, everyone!—in a more peaceful nation, be we present to it actually or virtually. Welcome back, to those who are on campus and in town. And though it will be a quiet few days ahead, there are a couple of events to note. Monday the 25th, at 2 PM, a socially distanced social hour for concentrators and prospective concentrators, just the thing for quarantine. And Wednesday the 27th at 4 PM, the Black Writers Workshop. Details about both are below.
And don’t forget the Writing Room!—open for all writers on Sunday afternoons, 1:30 to 5:30. Speaking of which, this quiet week is also an excellent moment for working on that thesis or JP. You will be brooding about its architecture, its mitred sections and its buttressed chapters, its pageant of evidence and counter-evidence, the dramaturgy of your developing argument. For juniors and seniors alike, it is probably the longest piece of writing you will have ever made. But in the face of that grand prospect, don’t forget the sentence, which is what conducts the electricity, and maybe generates it. With sentences in mind I particularly commend to you this week’s afterword, from Professor Rob Nixon, which is not only an exemplary piece of prose, but comes with some annotations that all of us might take to heart this week as we scribble.
Director of Undergraduate Studies
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Undergraduate Administrator
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ACADEMIC DATES & DEADLINES |
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2021
January 2021
January 25
Socially Distant Social Hour. An Outreach Event
via Zoom 2:00 p.m. EST
January 27
Black Writers Workshop: Welcome & Informational Session 2021
via Zoom 4:00 p.m. EST
February 2021
February 1
Spring 2021 Classes Begin
February 12
Deadline to Add/Drop Classes without fee
February 12
Art to Heart Workshop with Saturnia
via Zoom 5:00 p.m. EST
March 2021
March 3
The Next Chapter: Alumni Panel
via Zoom 4:30 p.m. EST
March 8 - 12
Spring Midterm Period
March 13-16
Spring Recess
March 17
*Classes Resume
*Undergraduate Selection of P/D/F begins
March 18
King Lear. Read. Meet. Discuss. A Common Works Event
via Zoom TBA
March 25
A.B. Concentration Declaration Period Begins
April 2021
April 1
Akira Kurosawa's Ran. View. Meet Discuss. A Common Works Event
via Zoom TBA
April 6
*Deadline to Drop Spring Term Courses
*Deadline to Select P/D/F Option
April 13
*Declaration Day
*Junior Fall Term 2021 Course Selection
*Junior Independent Work Due
*Senior Thesis Due
April 14
Sophomore Fall Term 2021 Course Selection
April 15
First-Year Fall Term 2021 Course Selection
April 27
Spring 2021 Term Courses End
April 28
Reading Period Begins
May 2021
May 5
*Reading Period Ends
*Dean's Date
May 8 - 14
Spring 2021 Final Exams
May 25
Commencement
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Additional Dates for Juniors: |
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Additional Dates for Seniors:
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2021
February 19, 2021
First full JP draft due to advisor
April 13, 2021
Deadline for Submitting Junior Independent Work
Please see the below information regarding O.U.R.'s funding cycles and the Departmental resources for research funding support.
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2021
March 8, 2021
Deadline for submission of non-thesis materials for department prizes
April 13, 2021
Senior Thesis DUE
May 6-7, 2021
Senior Departmental/
Comprehensive Exams
Please see the below information regarding O.U.R.'s funding cycles and the Departmental resources for research funding support.
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LINK TO DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH UG WEBSITE
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Making the Most of Arrival Quarantine |
No matter which phase of Arrival Quarantine you are in, there’s at least one activity on this list to help you make the most of your time until February 1 when all undergraduates have completed Arrival Quarantine.
Attend Wintersession
Upcoming events:
Friday, January 22 at 5:30pm
Saturday, January 23 at 7pm
Wednesday, January 27 at 5pm
Thursday, January 28 at 5pm
Friday, January 29 at 7pm
Saturday, January 30 at 7pm
Campus Art Tour
YouTube Playlist
Here’s a curated YouTube playlist featuring alumni interviews, TED Talks, performances and more to inspire and entertain as you pass the time.
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Calling all English Concentrators: Thesis Writers and Junior Papers
English Writing Room
Sundays Spring 2021
1:30 - 4:30 p.m. EST
via Zoom
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Calling all thesis writers!
And all writers of junior papers! (And that adds up to everybody in the major.)
What are you going to do TODAY? Don't just say "work on my thesis." Make your goals specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.
The department hosts a weekly Writing Room, Sunday afternoons from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. EST.
Our Writing Room is a virtual place to work in the company of your classmates, where you can set achievable goals, cheer each other on, and hold each other accountable.
The structure is simple.
There are two two-hour sessions, from 1:30 to 3:30 and 3:30 to 5:30. Show up at 1:30 to check in with your fellow scribblers, explain what you hope to accomplish, and then get to it; a little before 3:30, check in again and compare notes on progress, struggles, unexpected intellectual events, etc. Over the two writing hours in-between, there will be encouraging short breaks to recover momentum for the next stint. The process repeats at 3:30.
Come for the first session, or the second, or both!
Ace graduate students Jessica Terekhov and Ryan Zaluzec will be on hand to keep the trains running and to offer encouragement and counsel. Writing is a solitary business by nature, but it can make all the difference to know that you are not alone in that solitude—and that your fellow English majors are pulling for you, and you for them. Our hope is that over the semester the Writing Room becomes a place where the Great Work of the thesis (or the JP) becomes a week-by-week, manageable, even companionable task. The zoom address is below.
And from Office of the Dean of the College:
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Do you need help accessing resources from the library? Sign up NOW at this link for a meeting your discipline specialist librarian. Spaces are limited, but you don't need to know anything more than you already do for these supportive meetings.
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Do you need to be held to a commitment to write every day? Sign up at this link by 12pm ET on Sunday 1/24 for Week 2 Senior Thesis Boot Camp, which will be held January 25-29, 1-5pm ET. Bootcamp is a (virtual) space to work alongside your classmates to jumpstart your thesis work. Make headway on that pile of articles, and finish a chapter!
You can do this. One day, one goal, one commitment at a time.
O join us!
Sunday Writing Room Zoom:
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Calling All ENG Current & Prospective Concentrators
Socially Distant Social Hour 2021
Monday, January 25, 2021
2:00 p.m. EST
Zoom
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English Concentrators & prospective concentrators join us for a socially distant social hour!
Test your ENG Jeopardy Knowledge! Princeton Lit & McCosh Trivia!
Socialize with fellow ENG concentrators!
Register Here:
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Black Writers Workshop
Welcome and Information Session 2021
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
4:00 - 6:00 p.m. EST
Zoom
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Join a Community of Black writers as we read and workshop one another's creative writing.
All forms of writing are welcome!
No prior writing experience necessary!
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Wintersession:
Rediscovering Great Poetry by Women I & II
Two Part Session:
Part I: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. EST
Part II: Friday, January 29, 2021 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. EST
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This is a double two-day workshop hosted by the Wintersession program. To register for this double workshop, please register on part 1 of 2 (link below).
In received tradition there are no female authors in English before the very late 17th century, with a very few notable exceptions in the middle ages. This pair of seminars charts the exciting discovery in 1996 of a manuscript collections of poems by a woman called Hester Pulter who lived in the country some thirty miles north of London in the early and mid-17th century. The extraordinary feature of this verse if how distinctive and how good it is, how unusually enjoyable and enlightening it is to read, as we encounter poems that range from recording the harrowing loss of grown-up daughters to smallpox to outstanding and insightful political verse on the plight of King Charles I. We'll follow the detective work that uncovered the poetry, and how the internet (and not yet properly the printing press) has been used to make the verse known. Students will be shown how yo go looking for similar lost treasures in the past.
What to expect:
We'll spend the first session learning about how these poems were rediscovered and reading some of them aloud so that we can discuss them together and begin to understand their importance. In the second class we'll explore in more detail the presence of women's writing in the past in non-printed written sources, how to find such works, and how the internet has been used to store them, disseminate them and understand them better. I would like all the students to leave the class feeling empowered to go find lost literature from the past, help preserve it, and therefore help keep a better memory of our civilization for the future.
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RED BULL Theater presents:
RemarkaBULL Podversations
EXPLORING KING LEAR
WITH ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS
LIVESTREAM
Monday, February 1, 2021 | 7:30 PM EST
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Tony Award-winning Actor ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS will join host NATHAN WINKELSTEIN, Red Bull’s Associate Artistic Director, for a conversation focused on the ‘man more sinned against than sinning’, Shakespeare’s titular King Lear. André gave a celebrated performance of the role at Classical Theater of Harlem and then The Folger in 2007. He will read a passage from the play and discuss the challenges and rewards of playing one of Shakespeare’s titans. They will take your questions too!
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J.K. Rowling and the Dangers of TERF Rhetoric
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021
2 PM EST ON ZOOM
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Join the Women*s Center, the LGBT Center, and GSS for our first Feminist Friday. We will be discussing the dangers of TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) rhetoric to the continuing advocacy for womxn's rights, the physical danger to Trans* folks—especially Women of Color, and how we can be better advocates.
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Department of English Outreach presents
Art to Heart Workshop with Saturnia Arts
hosted by Cassy ('23) and Katie James
Friday, February 12, 2021 at 5:00 p.m. EST
Zoom
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Do you want to bring a smile to someone's face this Valentine's Day? Then join us for this group workshop where you will create an original piece of art or writing, then email it to someone in need as a Valentine's Day card.
No experience with art or creative writing necessary.
All you need to participate is a piece of paper, a pen, and an open heart.
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Intersections Working Group: Book Talk
Decolonizing Diasporas:
Radical Mappings of Afro-Atlantic Literature
by Yomaira C. Figueroa-Vásquez
Tuesday, February 16, 2021 12:00 p.m. EST
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The first 20 Princeton affiliates to register for the event below will be reimbursed for a copy of the book (Digital or Paperback) available on Amazon.com or at Northwestern University Press (links at bottom of page)
Book reimbursements can only be provided to University affiliates but the event is open to the public and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.
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SAVE THE DATE:
The Next Chapter: Alumni Panel
Wednesday, March 3, 2021
4:30 - 6:00 p.m. EST
via Zoom
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Keep an eye open for further event details and the list of recent alumni, who are in the fields of law, medicine, publishing, journalism, film, theater administration, and non-profit education, when they return to campus to talk about their professional journeys and how majoring in English is critical to what they do now.
Meet our alumni. Listen to their stories. Hear how English served them.
Can't wait to meet them?
Registration information for The Next Chapter 2021 will follow in the weeks to come.
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King Lear
by William Shakespeare.
Read. Meet. Discuss.
A Common Works Event
Thursday, March 18, 2021 TBD
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Join graduate moderators, Lisa Kraege and Moeko Fujii to discuss this Shakespearean classic and Common Works text.
Open to current university concentrators and prospective concentrators. Class of 2022 concentrators are strongly encouraged to attend as this is connected to the Common Works.
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Intersections Working Group presents
The Smell of Risk:
Environmental Disparities and Olfactory Aesthetics by Hsuan L. Hsu
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. EST
via Zoom
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The first 20 Princeton affiliates to register for the event will be reimbursed for a copy of the book (Digital or Paperback) available on Amazon.com or at NY University Press (links at bottom of page)
Book reimbursements can only be provided to University affiliates but the event is open to the public and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.
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Akira Kurosawa's film,
Ran
View. Meet. Discuss.
A Common Works Event
Thursday, March 18, 2021 TBD
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Join graduate moderators, Lisa Kraege and Moeko Fujii to discuss this Shakespearean classic and Common Works text.
Open to current university concentrators and prospective concentrators. Class of 2022 concentrators are strongly encouraged to attend as this is connected to a Common Work (King Lear) .
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Intersections Working Group presents:
The Cry of the Senses and The Fact of Resonance
by Ren Ellis Neyra by Julie Beth Napolin
Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. EST
Registration is Required
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The first 20 Princeton affiliates to register for the event below will be reimbursed for copies of the books (Digital or Paperback) available on Amazon.com or at NY University Press (links at bottom of page)
Book reimbursements can only be provided to University affiliates, but the event is open to the public and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Links to Purchase the books:
THE CRY OF THE SENSES
Amazon:
Duke University Press:
THE FACT OF RESONANCE
Amazon:
Fordham University Press:
Register for the Event Here:
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Here and There:
Issue 4:
Gratitude & Family
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RESEARCH FUNDING INFORMATION |
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The Maren Grant for Senior Thesis Research
The Maren Grant for Senior Thesis Research supports work toward the thesis for seniors in the English Department. Students should apply through SAFE, and choose the Maren Grant among their funding sources.
Please apply to all funding sources for which you are eligible.
Applications to the Maren Grant for Senior Thesis Research may be made in any of the three OUR funding cycles:
- for thesis research in the summer before senior year;
- in the fall of senior year;
- or in the winter before the thesis is due.
Awards are typically between $200 and $1200.
Deadlines are early: be sure you consult OUR and plan ahead.
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The Maren-Annan Grant for Departmental Research
The Maren-Annan Grant for Departmental Research supports student research for the Junior Paper and, under special circumstances, for other work for juniors or seniors within the context of a course in the English Department (excluding the senior thesis).
Applications should be made through SAFE, by choosing “Undergraduate Independent Projects” under “ACTIVITY.”
Please apply to all funds for which you are eligible along with the Maren Grant.
Allowable expenses correspond to those listed for senior thesis research on the OUR website.
Applications may be made at any time, but we recommend submission at least four weeks before any planned travel.
Awards are typically between $200 and $1200.
Consultation with your JP advisor or the instructor for your class is essential.
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Summer O.U.R. Funding Cycle:
O.U.R.'s Application Opens: Friday, February 19, 2021
O.U.R.'s Application Closes: Sunday, March 21, 2021
O.U.R.'s Award posted: Friday, April 16, 2021
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Your application for all funding must be made through S.A.F.E.
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Students applying to the OUR senior thesis research funding program are required to apply for all departmental and programmatic funds for which they are eligible in one single application.
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You will be able to save your application in SAFE and go back to it, but you must complete and submit the application by the earliest deadline of all the funding sources to which you are applying; no changes will be accepted once applications are submitted and locked, except for the selection of additional funding opportunities when eligible.
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Student Activity Funding Engine (S.A.F.E.)
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Wintersession 2021 will be a fully virtual experience and will run from January 18–31, 2021.
Undergraduate students, graduate students, staff and faculty can participate as teachers, learners or both.
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Summer 2021:
Princeton's Department of Classics
Intensive: Ancient African Language of Gəˁəz (classical Ethiopic)
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This summer, Princeton’s Department of Classics will be offering an intensive class for Princeton undergraduates and graduate students in the ancient African language of Gəˁəz (classical Ethiopic). It will be taught by Prof. Hamza Zafer, who has taught this course to great acclaim at the University of Washington.
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University Center for Human Values offers events of interest: |
To access the events that the University Center of Human Values presents please use this:
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Ever wanted to know what your professors have been working on when they're not teaching your classes?
Visit the Humanities Council's Faculty Bookshelf! Browse by author or discipline to explore the University's cutting-edge humanities scholarship. (Check out our Department's Faculty Author Q&A: Claudia Johnson on "30 Great Myths about Jane Austen" here!)
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80-minute, Discipline-Specific Appointments: From formulating a plan for semester- and year-long projects to conducting research and drafting and revising, our trained Graduate Fellows are available as students tackle the challenges of independent work! Make an appointment now: https://writingcenter.princeton.edu/s/80MIN
The Virtual Writing Lab (Sunday-Thursday 8 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET): Having a hard time getting motivated working on your JP or Thesis? Looking for a sense of community? Don’t go it alone! Join our Zoom-based virtual lab to write with peers, consult Fellows as needed, and tackle your short and long-term writing goals! Join here any time we’re open.
Writing Partnerships: Pair up with an experienced Graduate Fellow for a standing weekly appointment to structure the JP or thesis writing process and avoid a pile-up of writing at the end of the semester. If you’re interested in setting up a partnership, write to Dr. Creedon (greedon@princeton.edu).
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While our physical office may be closed, the Center for Career Development is still here to support you.
Wherever you're studying, you can access virtual advising, programs, resources, recruiting and more. The Center for Career Development serves Princeton undergraduate and graduate students of all years and interests.
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HEY, CLASS OF 2021:
CLASS DAY IS 119 DAYS AWAY!
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"Hey, Did you hear? It's time to dig through the baby pics: CLASS DAY 2021 is May 24, 2021 !"
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Class Day 2021 is just around the corner! (May 24, 2021 at 1:30 p.m.)
We in the Department of English Undergraduate are already working to put together a wonderful experience to celebrate your graduation.
Please send us a copy of your favorite baby/ young person picture (cuteness, creative you, our little reader, one you like the most!) to share with your family, friends, and classmates on Class Day (May 24, 2021).
We are collecting pictures of you as a little one (baby, toddler, child- up to you!) and a picture of you now/ recently.
We are also gathering current photos that we can share. Please think of ones that "express you" or a photo of you that you love (and your family might too.)
Gather these together with a favorite poem or passage that resonates with you, one which knocks you over, makes your heart sing, your brain buzz!
Keep an eye out in the coming weeks for the link to upload your images and words!
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This week's contribution is graciously provided by
Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts,1844.
Karl Marx (trans. Martin Milligan)
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“The less you eat, drink, buy books; the less you go to the theatre, the dance hall, the public house; the less you think, love, theorize, sing, paint, fence, etc.; the more you save—the greater becomes your treasure which neither moths nor dust will devour—your capital. The less you are, the more you have; the less you express your own life, the greater is your alienated life—the greater is the store of your estranged being.”
Professor Nixon writes: These two sentences illustrate a couple of points that I try to impress on my students, be they freshmen or PhD dissertators. First, when you put on your thinking cap, when you shift into a theoretical mode of writing, it’s easy to lapse into relentless Latinate abstractions and inert syntax. The result: too few active verbs, too many abstract nouns, too many prepositions, too many “ands.” The sentences start to look like pileups on Route 1 in February, as vehicles hit black ice and skid off in random directions.
Generally, it’s a mistake to assume that difficult ideas will automatically require—or at least legitimate—congested prose. For that assumption marks a kind of defeat, narrowing a writer’s audience in advance. What I like about this passage from Marx is the way he makes his ideas vivid by drawing on the textures of the sensory world. Yes, he is offering us a theory of alienation under capitalism. But his theory does not exist apart from everyday life. As he lays out his vision of estranged being he is careful to remind us of the physical pleasures at stake. We feel the alienation more acutely—and gain easier access to his thought—because he dunks us in the daily delights of dancing, singing, drinking, painting, fencing. This is high theory with pubs (but also moths and dust) in it.
My second observation is this. Between them, Marx and his English translator, Martin Milligan, create sentences that move. Every writer and critic should aspire to bring certain cadences to their thinking. Indeed, over time we learn to experiment with a range of rhythms that we adapt to the needs of a specific subject, a specific occasion, a specific audience, a specific mood. Rhythm brings energy to the dance floor that is writing. If you can get your prose to move—in both senses of that word—you’re way more likely to do justice to your ideas.
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Photo Credit: "Beauty in Simplicity" by Stanley Zimny (Thank You for 51 Million views) is licensed with CC BY-NC 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
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Suggestions, events, additions, or questions: contact The Department of English's Undergraduate Administrator, Kelly Lake kalake@princeton.edu
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Department of English
22 McCosh Hall
Princeton, NJ 08544
(609) 258-4061
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