April 1, 2025
Fantasy Fight Club: Prof. Belanger vs. Prof. Rysavy
Welcome back to a special edition of Fictional Fight Club! Instead of fictional characters, we are stepping into reality with two English professors duking it out. I have caught wind that Dr. Paul Belanger and Professor Tracy Fernandez Rysavy have been beefing for millions of years, so I’ve decided to put them in the ring to battle it out.
For some introductions, Dr. Paul Belanger teaches a variety of professional writing classes, as well as Intro to Creative Writing. Outside the classroom, he is the faculty advisor for UWGB’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, an international English Honors Society.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ring, we have Professor Tracy Fernandez Rysavy. She teaches multiethnic literature, creative writing, and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. But that’s not all, because she also is the head of the Northern Lights Literary & Arts Journal, as well as the bi-weekly English newsletter The Quill. To top it off, she is the faculty advisor for the up-and-coming K-Pop Club.
Both sides have a lot on the line, but they are ready to fight. They clash in the ring— punches and kicks galore. The students witnessing the fight from the third floor of the library called it a close battle. Some would say it’s a bloodbath. I managed to get to each fighter’s corners during a timeout to ask their honest opinions about each other.
I got to Prof. Rysavy first, and she ripped into Dr. Belanger, saying: “Professor Belanger is a very gifted educator with a huge personality! He’s a delight, and I’m very glad to work with him.”
Oh, my goodness gracious! How does someone say something like that? He has a family, for Pete’s sake. To think that Prof. Rysavy would stoop that low.
I raced to the other side to get Dr. Belanger’s rebuttal, and it did not disappoint. When talking about Prof. Rysavy, he says: “Dr. Rysavy is as genuine as a handwritten letter and as constant as a well-loved book. Though her passion speaks in midnight poetry, her patience has been honed through deep revision — not only of the stories we write, but of the world itself. Writing makes things real, and literature changes us. Rain or shine, Rysavy ensures we get the message.”
I can’t even fathom how he could even say that about her. I get that they don’t like each other, but I wouldn’t even say that to my worst enemy.
Both comments were received, and they continued their fight for many days. In the end, both of them collapsed from sheer exhaustion, so I guess this battle is a tie. Hopefully, they can leave this hatred behind and work together to help liven up the Writing and English Department of UWGB.