English News Edu

English Professor Takes Honors Class on the Shawshank Trail

5:32 AM

Dr. Maura Grady with the Honors 390 class at the Ohio State Reformatory

By Erika Gallion, English and Creative Writing major
Props from The Shawshank Redemption


During the first section of Honors 390 this semester, Dr. Maura Grady introduced the class to the study of fan culture. The timing couldn’t have been better for this section: Mansfield and Ashland would soon be teeming with fans because of the Shawshank Trail’s 20th Reunion. The Shawshank Trail is an annual opportunity for fans of the film The Shawshank Redemption to gather in certain filming locations around Mansfield and Ashland. The trail was expected to be extremely busy this year because of its 20-year reunion, therefore inspiring Dr. Grady to conduct research on the basis of The Shawshank Redemption’s fan culture.
Touring the Reformatory

On the first day of the Shawshank Trail, I went with three other classmates to survey fans visiting the Ohio State Reformatory. The survey asked fans questions regarding their interests in visiting filming locations, their topmost desires for visiting Mansfield and/or Ashland, and how important the film was to the fan’s everyday life. During my research, I met a family from Illinois who were die-hard fans, locals who were simply interested in the prison itself, and a man who acted as an extra in the film (he had a folder full of pictures from the set—so cool!). The fans I met did not seem to be like one another; rather, Shawshank fans were widespread and unpredictable. This movie spoke to all kinds of fans, therefore attracting both genders, multiple age groups, and people from any profession.

Through this project, I discovered that fan culture is stereotyped way too often. The word fan has a connotation of being nerdy, introverted, and obsessive, but as I got to know Shawshank fans, I discovered the truth: fans are anyone who have a passion for a specific thing that has impacted their lives. I think it’s a good thing to be a fan- I know I’m a fan for a lot of things, The Shawshank Redemption being one of them!

Alumni Spotlight: Tom Sweo, Tech/Game Writer

5:30 AM

Tom Sweo writes, "Since graduating in May of 2012, I've been working two jobs. The first is a full-time job with the 3E Company in Canton, Ohio, doing technical support and quality assurance. Recently I've been doing technical writing as part of a team overhauling the training manuals that we send out to clients around the world working to standardize Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for their specific needs and country regulations. These sheets cover important safety and environmental information that is often required by national and international government organizations, such as OSHA or the EPA in the United States. My courses in grammar and usage and my work experience in tech support for Ashland University were good preparation for this position.

My second job involves tele-commuting with On the Lamb Games in Palm Coast, Florida. I connected with this game company while on vacation in Orlando last summer and have been writing rules (crunch) and fictional stories (fluff) for their games since September. "Crunch," or the game rules, gives the game substance. "Fluff" is the historical background to the game-- the game universe. On the Lamb's first major release since I joined is coming up in two weeks, when we release a grid-based (like a chess board) tactical game called Endless: Fantasy Tactics. The other release we're working on is a historical parody game called Brushfire, which mimics Earth's history up until the late 19th century but features animals instead of humans (similar to the Redwall series by late author Brian Jacques). The creative writing and literature classes I took at Ashland have helped me work with Matthew Whitehouse, our lead writer, to create short stories in the style of mid-nineteenth century authors. Another part of my job with On the Lamb is traveling to nearby gaming trade shows and teaching people our games; my teaching and presentation experience from my ILA work comes in handy here."

While the language arts skills Tom got from his classes have been important to his success, he notes that his extracurriculars and outside interests at Ashland were helpful too. In addition to his work experience with Ashland's IT support, he learned of the job at 3E through his brothers in the TKE fraternity. His work with On the Lamb allows him to follow his long-held passion for creative writing and gaming.

Alumni Spotlight: Seth Snow

5:29 AM

Seth Snow graduated as an Integrated Language Arts major in 2007. He applied for a job as a seventh-grade teacher and was hired to teach a “great books curriculum.” He proceeded to teach his seventh-graders Ray Bradbury’s story “The Veldt.” Some of the administrators felt this was too difficult for these students, but when one of them, while visiting Seth’s class, asked a student who had been pointed out to Seth as hopeless case gave a very intelligent account of the story, he found that this criticism would not stand up. As the class went forward, a number of parents began reporting to him that they had never seen their children interested in reading, but they were now reading without being made to do so.

In the process of discussing “The Veldt,” Seth had occasion to refer to Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and presented a passage from that play for the class to talk about. They did so and got so excited that they asked for another passage to discuss. Having done this, they asked whether they could read the whole play. Seth said that that probably would not be possible during class time. Then they asked whether they could meet after school to talk about it. Seth said that would depend on the interest. He passed around a sheet, and seventy-five students signed up to meet after school to talk about Shakespeare. However, his career there was cut short when he was let go.

In 2008, Seth was hired by Danville High School in Danville, OH, a small town of about 1,000 people. He brought the same commitment to teaching at a high level that he had shown in his previous job, but here this approach met with more favor. He has regularly taught texts like The Odyssey, Crime and Punishment, Julius Caesar, Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, andAntigone along with poems of Keats, Frost, Dickinson, and Tennyson. He teaches all of these texts at a high level, taking, for example, three months to do The Odyssey. This approach has paid off for him as witnessed by the fact that, when I visited him once for a discussion of The Odyssey, I found that his students knew this text far better than mine did.

Seth has sent students to Brigham Young University, Dennison University, and Kenyon College. The BYU student was returned a paper in her freshman English class with this comment on it. “Wow. In 30 minutes, you put together a well-written and insightful analysis paper. No sweat. You got this. Major in English. It’s a good idea.”

He has also sent a student to Kenyon College where he is now a senior majoring in philosophy. This student wrote the following to Seth during his freshman year: "The critical examination skills that I learned in your class are invaluable. I know now not only how to look at a problem but how to look around and through it. This is all while taking into account the bits of information that I know and realizing that there is some guesswork involved. Using that process while implementing basic logic for the guesswork, I have been able to grasp different subjects and topics quickly, followed by developing my understanding of them even faster if I have basic instruction."

These comments show why Seth is so highly regarded by both students and parents. One parent, for example, asked whether he would still be there in five years to teach her younger daughter. If not, she was thinking she might have to make other arrangements for her education.

All these things show the incredible impact one of Ashland University’s graduates has had on the school and on the community where he is working.

Alumni Spotlight: Erica Brindley

5:28 AM

By Erica Brindley, English and Creative Writing major

When I went to college at Ashland University, magic happened. I somehow wound up in the English 101 class of Dr. Joe Mackall. His first assignment? A personal narrative about whatever we wanted. So on a hot August night in my dorm room, I sat down and wrote about attending a KISS and Aerosmith concert–about how the grass felt on the lawn that night, cool yet sticky. About how I somehow felt a kinship with people I didn’t know, and people I’d never really know, and how I felt more comfortable in decades prior to my time than in my own time. I wrote about the chains that bounced off my hip as I climbed the hill of Germain Amphitheatre in Columbus, Ohio, and how I held the callused hands of a boy who kept me at skin’s length even though I wanted more than anything to be a part of him.

I turned in the paper. The next class, Joe kept me after. The humid air had crept in through the windows and the sweaty plastic of the desk stuck against my forearms. I felt like I was suffocating. “What’s your major?” he asked.

“Undecided…but leaning toward education?” I half-asked. Was there a right answer?

“No. Creative writing. You have something here,” Joe said. Apparently there was. When I left Miller Hall that day, two weeks into my college career, I felt like I had direction for the first time. The flowers were brighter and the sky was bluer, and I felt like Joe had uncovered a part of me that I didn’t even know existed, like he had peeled back my own calluses and exposed a raw, undeveloped part of me.

As with any “new skin,” this part of me was sensitive. I babied it, wouldn’t fully walk on it right away. It was an odd sensation, having someone believe that what I had to say was worth something, that my insights meant something. That my story was one that people might want to hear.

I spent many nights at the computer, my chair tilted back on two legs, trying to find my reality. Reality. It felt so foreign then. It felt like a thing of value.

All through college, I pecked away at my keyboard. When I couldn’t write, I turned on Metallica, turned off the lights, and hung upside down on my futon. I tried.

Four quick years later, I was getting ready to graduate when Joe asked me, “What do you think about grad school?”

I shrugged. After a barrage of questions from my mother about what the hell I was going to do with a Creative Writing degree, I decided that grad school would only be a waste of money.

“University of North Carolina at Wilmington. You should apply. A friend of mine, Philip Gerard, is down there. You’ll learn a lot from him,” Joe said.

So I applied. I got accepted. I didn’t respond until they started calling me and asking me what I was going to do. I decided I wouldn’t take it without a teaching assistantship, and the next day, I got the assistantship. So in August of 2007, I moved to North Carolina with a fire in my hands to write. I had managed to keep the skin that Joe revealed open–vulnerable, yet livable–everything that a writer should be. Because if a writer is not vulnerable, are they really a writer?

The truth was that Philip Gerard was wonderful. I felt comfortable with him much like I felt comfortable with Joe. I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in 2010 with an MFA.

That same year, I was hired at Foundation Software (a company out of Cleveland that writes/supports construction accounting software) to do all their writing and to act as a creative source for marketing campaigns, headlines, etc. September 2013 will mark my third anniversary with the company.

Sigma Tau Delta Theater Trip: Sweeney Todd

5:27 AM

By Naomi Eberly, English major

“You’ve never seen Sweeney Todd?!” Fellow students almost gasped as soon as they found out I was going into this experience with no previous acquaintance with the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Other than people getting baked into pies and Johnny Depp starring in the movie version with Helena Bonham Carter, I knew nothing. However, in my experience it’s best to go into a stage production with no preexistent knowledge because everything looks fresh and the nagging notions of what could be done in CGI or previous actors’ portrayal choices don’t dim the performance in front of you.

At the end of October, a group of Sigma Tau Deltans and English professors went to see a production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at Playhouse Square in Cleveland. Some had seen a performance before, others loved the movie, and for some it was a new experience made complete by posh-feeling box seats. For anyone reading who is just as unfamiliar as I was before this trip, here’s a quick plot synopsis: Sweeney Todd is a wrongly deported barber who returns to London seeking revenge on the judge who exiled him to Australia, raped (and possibly murdered) his wife, and now has custody of his daughter. After some unsuccessful attempts, he decides everyone deserves to die and starts enacting this vindictive justice on his customers. He joins forces with a baker who conveniently uses the fresh meat in her pies. I wish I could say a happy ending is had by all, but what do you expect from a play where your antihero is slitting people’s throats then selling their meat in tasty treats to unsuspecting Victorians?

With such a macabre storyline, the songs were quite catchy and the actors were equally warped and compelling. I don’t think I exaggerate when I say a good time was had by the viewers who afterwards went to an Irish pub because the GPS couldn’t direct them to the restaurant where “Emerson Shelley” had reserved a table.

Alumni Spotlight: Sarah (Ross) Weber, Technical Writer

5:18 AM

By Sarah (Ross) Weber, Class of 2007, English and Creative Writing major

My current job is with a software company, where I am a Technical Writer. I test software and create training PowerPoint presentations to help our support staff answer clients’ questions and help them become familiar with our software and the correct ways to do things like invoicing, payroll, and inventory management. . . . I feel like I have found something very, very close to ‘the’ job. People who work in tech are my kind of people—they are generally laid-back, hard-working, analytical, highly logical, and enjoy critical discussions on making things more efficient or have greater impact. Ashland's English and Creative Writing program taught me all of those things. . .

In my current capacity, I am not only a Technical Writer, but the only English major in the company. Anything written that leaves the company’s hands to be viewed by anyone else generally goes through me. I edit and proof; I help create and make things better. I may not be changing the world, but I have impact where I am with what I do. That’s a very powerful thing for a 26-year old woman to feel in her workplace. I am seen as an expert, and because of my foundation of skills, I am an expert.

In a recent discussion, Amy [Lesniak Herzel] and I explored the three main paths that English majors generally take: teaching; journalism; the other. I have chosen the other path. The other path is terrifying—students who study education or journalism come out of college with not only a degree, but a job title. They can say, "I am a teacher." They know exactly what jobs or graduate schools to apply for, where to find those job postings, and what to expect in interviews and their first classrooms. They have a large part of their identity (as it relates to their profession and projected societal image) already figured out. Finding one’s way on the other path, in contrast, entails trolling Craigslist, publishing websites, Monster.com, searching for a job, any job that has the word "writing" in its description. The other can do almost anything, which is fun to think about when you're a college student [but] extremely overwhelming when you're actually engaged in that job search. The other sits in front of the computer screen, baffled. "I just want to write. I’ll write anything, really. Why aren't companies looking for writers and editors?" Because most companies aren’t looking for writers and editors. They are looking for people with a specific set of skills that includes writing and editing. Those skills are a plus. A bonus.

The other has to straighten her shoulders and charm in job interviews and really, really emphasize that she never wants to stop learning . . . and mean it. Then she has to prove herself super capable and efficient and able to keep track of every detail at once. The other has to watch Youtube videos to learn new skills like Photoshop. She has to Google-search every problem she comes to encounter with the new software she’s using, to figure out the pitfalls and novice mistakes she’s made so she doesn’t need to ask for help. The other becomes self-sufficient because she never wants to be seen again as "young" or "inexperienced." The other has to fight for experience in a myriad of fields to back up that "always learning" statement. The funny thing is that the other grows to really enjoy this. The hustle, the unknown. The yawning hole of opportunities right in front of her that just requires a rope and a spelunker’s headlamp to start exploring. One hand on the rope, one hand stretched out before her in the darkness, ready for whatever she encounters.

I got into the tech industry and technical writing, I recently realized, because I like instructions. I like having clear directions in front of me when I am doing something new. Now I get to create those instructions and make sure they are simple, clear, and concise. It’s like having an entire bar and soft drinks menu in front of you, and choosing a tall, cool glass of water because it is refreshing and feels clean, and is exactly what your body wanted, even in its simplicity.

I suppose my point is that while an English/Creative Writing degree can be very specific or staggeringly open-ended . . . having that degree means that whatever you choose to do, you will do it better. Perhaps only a tiny bit better. But those skills we unconsciously learn while tearing apart Shakespeare and Faulkner and Milton and cummings for the fun of it? They matter. We can read between the lines and use context, making us better communicators. Our vocabularies are large, making us precise and confident speakers. We read quickly and closely; we know how to find the important information in large blocks of text. We are creative thinkers from writing fiction and constructing arguments—find a problem we can't solve or untangle. We know how to mimic. We know how to learn and never want to stop learning, and mean it.

Alumni Spotlight: Anna Harrington

5:18 AM

By Anna Harrington

As an English major and Applied Writing minor, I worked in the AU Writing Center from 1989 until 1993 as the intern Assistant to the Director, when I left Ashland to study in London and then earn my M.A. in English from Michigan State University. After MSU, I took a job in Chicago as an advertising executive, where I worked for 8 years while also teaching as an adjunct at local community colleges, before taking a full-time teaching position at Jackson State Community College, where I was promoted to Associate Professor and served as the Writing Programs Coordinator, then as a Professor at Edison State College in Fort Myers, FL for one year, before being asked to take a newly created position at Chattanooga State Community College as the Assistant Department Head for Humanities/Learning Support Reading and Writing, tasked with redesigning the existing Developmental Reading and Writing programs into individualized, modularized course delivery.

I earned my Ph.D. in Composition & TESOL from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, writing my disseration about the increased marginalization resulting from Computer-Assisted Personalized System of Instruction course delivery for developmental writing courses; my writing received the Thomas Farrell Language Teacher Award in 2009, and in 2012, my dissertation earned the award for Promising Future Research in Composition. This past year, I received the state award for Outstanding Service to Students in Learning Support Programs for Tennessee for 2013 and was nominated for the Gladys Shaw National Award for Outstanding Service to Developmental Students, to be awarded in 2014.

My academic publications include a chapter in Computer-Mediated Communication Across Cultures: International Interactions in Online Environments (IGI Global Publishers), and peer-reviewed journal articles in TESL-EJ, The DKG Bulletin, Working Papers in Composition & TESOL, and the Tennessee English Journal; fiction publications include short stories in The GW(George Washington) Review, the Red Cedar Review, Yemassee, Re:AL, and Fugue, and my novel, The Freaks, was published in 2012. I am currently teaching writing in Tennessee and have been selected to teach British Literature to 1789 in London next summer.

English News Edu

English Professor Takes Honors Class on the Shawshank Trail

Alumni Spotlight: Tom Sweo, Tech/Game Writer

Alumni Spotlight: Seth Snow

Alumni Spotlight: Erica Brindley

Sigma Tau Delta Theater Trip: Sweeney Todd

Alumni Spotlight: Sarah (Ross) Weber, Technical Writer

Alumni Spotlight: Anna Harrington

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