Month: December 2019

Happy Saturday! Today’s interview is with Professor Rebecca Meacham who has been the face for many new additions to the English Department here at UWGB. From continuing to run the literary journal “Sheepshead Review,” to launching the new BFA degree, she has created many unique opportunities for students at UWGB over her time here.

One of her most recent notable accomplishments is having her nonfiction piece “Feather Rousing” nominated by Gigantic Sequins for a pushcart prize! Check out her interview.

First tell me a bit about yourself and anything you’d love the students here to know. Hobbies, family, where were you before UWGB, etc

I grew up in Toledo, Ohio, which is the hometown of Gloria Steinem, and which was ridiculed in a song by John Denver, breaking my heart, since his was the first concert I attended at age 6. I went to college and two grad programs in Ohio. My whole family originates in Columbus, where my Uncle Don was such a Buckeyes fan that he drove a van custom-painted in scarlet and grey.

Also, I never was an English major until my PhD program, which is a bad time to start. In college, I majored in American Studies, and then I attended an MFA program in Fiction, where I developed an emphasis in Multiethnic Literature. So I’m always kind of catching up on what English majors already know.

If you would have a superpower, what would it be and why?

The ability to create freshwater, to catch amazing seafood, and to channel wi-fi and communicate across the world telepathically.

What is your favorite piece of literature?

Beloved, by Toni Morrison.

What is the coolest thing you’ve ever done?

So I’m old and have had a pretty great life. With friends, I’ve backpacked across Europe, camped in Utah, and sold homemade beads at Grateful Dead shows. My college chorale sang Carmina Buranawith the Cincinnati Ballet and Bernstein’s Masswith the Illinois Philharmonic. I’ve researched archives at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. Thanks to my mom, I’ve seen “Hamilton” with the original cast on Broadway. I know it’s corny, but I gave birth to the funniest, smartest kids in the world who, for now, like hanging out with us. Recently, for the book festival I help organize, I rode on a Green Bay fire truck with writer Susan Orlean, and I shared a crème brule with Margaret Atwood and a puppet. Even more recently, a program I created, the Writing and Applied Arts BFA, made it through approvals at all branches of our campus, all 13 UW colleges, and the UW Board of Regents, and now is the only degree of its kind in the UW-System. And now it has 31 students enrolled— and our first graduate walks December 2019!!

What is your favorite part about UWGB?

The students! UWGB students are the most hardworking, innovative, and good-hearted people I’ve encountered every semester since 2002. My colleagues and the staff are pretty wonderful, too. Also, tunnels.

 If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you have and why?

Well, since my superpower is the ability to create freshwater, fish well, and to connect via telepathy and wi-fi with the whole world. So my three things are a sailboat with a motor, fuel enough to get me to land, and an endless supply of podcasts on an iPhone that never dies.

Who has inspired you in your life?

My parents. My mother started law school at age 38 and became the second woman ever hired by her law firm in the 1980s. She was such a tough negotiator that a nurses’ union once sent her a bag of coal for Christmas. My dad was a controller at a major corporation until he retired at age 55 to a house in the woods on a lake. He’s now 82 and does 10,000 sit ups each year on his birthday. Plus whatever number he’s aged to.

Both my parents grew up dirt poor and became successful people who remain generous and giving. They’re cynical of systems of privilege. They’re also huge readers, lifelong learners, and very darkly funny.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?

Here would be an example of darkly funny: we have two cats. While the girl kitty is sweet and makes Yoda-like noises, our boy kitty is the hunter.  And we live in the country.

And this is how I found myself standing on our upstairs hallway carpet, on Halloween morning, staring down at the face—and only the face—of a mouse.

What did you want to be when you were younger?

As a kid, a “joke-teller” and a carpenter.

Happy last day of classes! Many of us have had the chance to take a course with Professor Emily Ransom, but may not know the amazing things she has done in her life. Professor Ransom specializes in the Renaissance. Her previous research has focused on Renaissance devotional complaint poetry, both English and continental, in addition to Thomas More and Northern Humanism, Reformation theology, Catholic recusant literature, constructions of English nationalism (especially in Spenser and Old English antiquarianism), the history of the emotions, theodicy, genre theory, print culture, and Milton’s biblical poetics. Here’s a sneak peak into her life.

First tell me a bit about yourself and anything you’d love the students here to know. Hobbies, family, where were you before UWGB, etc

While many people have “travel lust,” I grew up jealous of people who are “from” somewhere. In college I hated being asked where I was from, and started to answer “the Chicago-Atlanta-Raleigh-Paris-area, thereabouts”—by now I’d have to add Notre Dame and Green Bay to places I’ve lived, and I had shorter opportunities to study in Ireland, England, and Rome, and have family connections in China and India. Despite that, I maintain a (delusional?) image of myself as a country girl from a small town in North Carolina, where I lived in high school and college and where the liminal members of my family always return to the family farm.

I’m an all-around dabbler in the arts. I love watercolor, pen-and-ink, hammered dulcimer, photography, ukulele, singing, cooking, crochet, embroidery, and acting when I can, and I’m often told my handwriting looks like Elvish.

If you would have a superpower, what would it be and why?

Like many of us, I always wanted the powers that were the inverse of what I really have. I wanted invincibility (I’m such a softy!), but instead I have the power of walking through walls (empathy, diplomacy).

What is your favorite piece of literature?

Hmm…I’ll answer that when you tell me who is your favorite child.  Seriously, favorite for what?

What is the coolest thing you’ve ever done?

I’m not gonna lie—I’ve lived a pretty cool life.  I’ll list a few: witnessed the birth of my nephew on Christmas Day, debated capital punishment in Latin in the Roman Coliseum, traipsed alone through the Irish and Welsh countryside sleeping under the stars, jumped out of a plane, lain of the floor of the Sistine Chapel to look at the ceiling with only four other people in the room, jumped in the Seine downriver from Paris with my little brother, heard Bob Dylan, B. B. King, and Doc Watson in concert, and researched things that have me handling medieval manuscripts and ancient human body parts.

But anything involving being an aunt is really the coolest.

What is your favorite part about UWGB?

The students—never have I been so humbled as I am teaching people who have gone so far under so many pressures and maintain their eagerness for more.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you have and why?

Notebook and pen (is that already two?), and The Lord of the Rings—I could never get tired of reading it.

Who has inspired you in your life?

People who serve and people who forgive. I used to be attracted to the movers and shakers of history, but the older I get, the more gentleness brings me to tears.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?

Anything involving my sister’s German shepherd puppy.  Something about puppies make any action comical.

What did you want to be when you were younger?

An explorer. I vividly remember the day when I had the crushing realization (like the scene from The Truman Show) that everywhere had already been discovered. For that reason I went through a brief astronaut stage after that, but it turns out literature is a kind of exploration of its own.

What is your favorite book to movie adaption?

Cry the Beloved Country, with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris—the music and visuals manage to translate the beauty of Paton’s prose across media.

Only one day left of classes! Interested in taking a course with Professor Jennie Young this coming spring? Get to know yet another faculty member better with this interview. Professor Young directs the Composition program at UWGB and teaches Professional wWriting and Women in Literature.

First tell me a bit about yourself and anything you’d love the students here to know. Hobbies, family, where were you before UWGB, etc

I grew up in Ohio and initially majored in interior design; the first decade of my career was spent designing things like mobile homes in Indiana, mountain homes in Colorado, and public libraries in Ohio. I had always dreamed of being an English teacher, and I finally went back to school (twice! — once for my master’s and once for my doctorate) when I was in my thirties and forties. Remember that you don’t have to have everything figured out right now! I moved to Wisconsin for my job here at UWGB, and I am extremely happy here. The people are friendly, there are cheese curds, and I love living right downtown on the Fox River.

If you would have a superpower, what would it be and why?

Definitely flight. If I could fly I would never be afraid of falling.

What is your favorite piece of literature?

I’m not sure I can pick a favorite, so I’ll pick my favorite title from my favorite genre, which is creative nonfiction memoir: Edges of the Earth, by Richard Leo.

What is the coolest thing you’ve ever done?

I’m currently working on a book project that chronicles my quest to overcome arachnophobia by exposing myself to spiders. It’s terrifying, but it’s cool.

What is your favorite part about UWGB?

My students and my colleagues! The students and faculty here are the nicest group of people I’ve ever worked with anywhere, hands down.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you have and why?

My Kindle, provided I could get WiFi

My golden retriever, Willow.

A net, to keep spiders off me.

Who has inspired you in your life?

Too many people in too many different ways to list, but probably my parents most of all.

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?

I was given a dead tarantula by Professor Mike Draney to carry around as part of my exposure therapy, and I used it to freak out my professional writing students. I’m not sure they thought it was funny, but I thought it was hilarious.

What did you want to be when you were younger?

A veterinarian.

What is your favorite book to movie adaption?

Hasn’t happened yet; the book is ALWAYS way better.

As finals loom closer, breaks are needed from the hours of studying and stressing about deadlines. Here is another fun interview with Professor Rebecca Nesvet as a distraction! Professor Nesvet teaches 19th British literature, modern world drama, and digital humanities. Her research concerns Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and (more recently) “Sweeney Todd” creator James Malcolm Rymer and his radical and Romantic contexts.

First tell me a bit about yourself and anything you’d love the students here to know. Hobbies, family, where were you before UWGB, etc

Before UWGB I was a PhD student at UNC-Chapel Hill. I have a cat named after a woman who wrote science fiction / space fantasy over a century before Mary Shelley and a rooster named Dorian Gray Rooster.

If you would have a superpower, what would it be and why?

The ability to appear not-a-woman to those people who make trouble for women because we’re women.

What is your favorite piece of literature?

Frankenstein.

What is the coolest thing you’ve ever done?

Got to teach at UWGB

What is your favorite part about UWGB?

The students. You want to be here. You take charge of your education and lives. For the most part, you are eager to make your education improve the lives of people other than yourselves.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you have and why?

Water
Internet connection and a communication device
Paul Brantlinger’s book Crusoe’s Footsteps, in part to remind me what my purpose was before being cut off from society, and part to remind me why we have this cultural preoccupation with the desert island self-reliance fantasy.

Who has inspired you in your life?

High school drama teacher.
The Chartists.

What did you want to be when you were younger?

An oceanographer. That didn’t work out.

What is your favorite book to movie adaption?

Right now, Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights (2012).

Along with a new face on the English faculty team there is a brand new course being offered this coming spring! Meet Professor Julialicia Case.

ENG 436 Sci-Fi Giants (Tuesdays 6-9 p.m.) will examine a variety of science fiction novels, short stories, films, TV programs, and digital games to explore topics such as alien encounters, technology, space travel, dystopian worlds, and more. We’ll even do some creative worldbuilding so students can design their own imagined futures. Authors include: Isaac Asimov, Margaret Atwood, Octavia Butler, Samuel Delany, William Gibson, N.K. Jemisin, Ursula Le Guin, and others.

 

First tell me a bit about yourself and anything you’d love the students here to know. Hobbies, family, where were you before UWGB, etc

I just moved to Green Bay from Cincinnati, where I was in the graduate program at University of Cincinnati. I think Wisconsin makes the eighth state I’ve lived in. My mother was a librarian with the army, and I spent most of my childhood in West Germany. As a kid, I looked to books as a way of trying to understand my American cultural identity, but I was always frustrated that the experiences of the characters in books were nothing like my own. I think this what drove me to become a writer, and I’ve been writing fiction and creative nonfiction for as long as I can remember.

My connection to games came out of living in Germany, too. When my dad brought home an Atari, I was immediately hooked, and I also spent a lot of time playing games on our Apple IIGS. I was really drawn to the storytelling elements in digital games like King’s Questand The Bard’s Tale, and I loved interactive narrative wherever I could find it—Encyclopedia Brown, Choose-Your-Own-Adventure, the Infocom interactive fictions, etc. I have some funny memories of sitting in the library playing D&D by myself, just rolling dice alone while I waited for my mom to get done with work. When we moved back to the States, I got my first Nintendo, and I think because my parents wanted me to fit in with my new American peers, I somehow escaped the technological regulations that they later imposed on my younger siblings (haha). Games and books have been my favorite things for a long time, and I’m not sure I would have survived my childhood without them.

Nowadays, in addition to games that tell stories in interesting ways like Life is Strange, and What Remains of Edith Finch, I also like social games like Hearthstoneand World of Warcraftthat allow me to keep in touch with friends and family who are far away. My husband lives and teaches in Illinois, so gaming is an easy way for us to spend time together. I also spend a lot of time running on the treadmill while watching Netflix, and I love music, particularly indie bands and singer/songwriters like Bon Iver, Phoebe Bridgers, Metric, and Of Monsters and Men. I’m always looking for recommendations for great new bands, excellent books, and games with strong stories!

 

If you would have a superpower, what would it be and why?

I’m torn between two superpowers. Often, I find myself wishing I had Hermione’s time-turner from the Harry Potter books. It would be great to have extra hours in the day to read, explore, learn new skills, listen to music, spend with friends, etc. I would also love to be able to instantly transport myself from one place to another. I spend a lot of time thinking about technologies like self-driving cars, high-speed trains, and other transportation approaches that might address both of these issues simultaneously.

 

What is your favorite piece of literature?

This is such a hard question! I really love Marilynne Robinson’s novel Housekeeping. I don’t often re-read books if I’m not teaching them, but this is one I’m always happy to re-visit. My favorite thing about that novel is its voice and rhythm; some of Robinson’s lines feel like lyrics in a song. Another book I really like is Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, which is interesting in the way it moves through time, starting with historic realism and moving seamlessly into the speculative at the end. I know I’m seriously pushing the constraints of this question, but I’d also like to mention the digital game Firewatchby Campo Santo, which is a fabulous and beautiful game about empathy and the wilderness, and is one of my favorites.

 

What is the coolest thing you’ve ever done?

I guess the term “cool” is up for debate, but some of my favorite memories have to do with traveling. In particular, one of my life/travel philosophies to is try to push myself to do things that are slightly intimidating. I think I learn the best, am the most present in the moment, and feel the most excited about life when I am outside my comfort zone. In my early twenties I was inspired by writers like William Least Heat Moon and Jack Kerouac to spend a lot of time driving around America by myself, just camping and talking to people. As a young woman, traveling alone felt dangerous and scary, but I wanted to become a person who felt comfortable pushing the boundaries of my own sense of security. I didn’t want to be hemmed in by social ideas of safety, which seemed particularly confining for women.

One of my most vivid memories from that time was at Yellowstone, which is still one of my favorite places in the world to visit. In the campground where I was staying, there were many signs explaining how bears and mountain lions had recently been spotted in the area, warning everyone to watch their children and store their food carefully. I had just bought a new knife, and while I was making dinner, I cut my hand (stupidly) and badly. I didn’t have first aid materials, and I struggled to stop the bleeding. I remember lying in my tent that night, my hand wrapped in a towel, imagining that every sound outside was a hungry creature drawn by the scent of my blood. As I was lying there afraid, wolves began to howl in the distance. I’d never heard wolves in the wild before, and it was terrifying, but also so beautiful. It was the first time I became really aware of my small, vulnerable place in a greater ecology, which was a useful revelation, and something I still think about often. In general, I’ve grown and learned so much from traveling, and I try to visit new places as often as I can.

 

What is your favorite part about UWGB?

I’m so amazed by the faculty here and all of the interesting projects they are working on. It’s rare, I think, to have the freedom to teach as many different kinds of classes as people do at UWGB, and to have so many opportunities to team-teach and to develop new interdisciplinary programs. I’ve only been here a few months, but I already feel very supported in my projects and interests, and I’m excited about working with so many dedicated and talented faculty and students.

 

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you have and why?

Ideally, I’d like to bring my two giant cats, Charlie and Wendell, and my tiny dog Ari. The cats, in particular, would be very grumpy about being relocated to an island, but I think we could make it work. If pets are not an appropriate answer to this imagined scenario, I would bring a massive stack of paper, a bunch of my favorite Japanese pens, and the board game Gloomhaven, which reportedly takes 1000+ hours to play all the way through, and I will otherwise probably never finish.

 

Who has inspired you in your life?

There are a lot of professional writers, game designers, musicians, and artists, who have taught me useful and important lessons, but I think I’m most inspired by the people I know closely—teachers, colleagues, friends, and family who are willing to be open about the difficulties they’ve faced and how they’ve worked to deal with them. My mother was told she shouldn’t go to college, but she put herself through school, and just retired as the director of a college library a few years ago. She taught me to work hard and to never give up. My father is an amazing musician and guitar player. He taught me so much about making art, practicing regularly, and using art as a way to connect to others.

 

What is the funniest thing that has happened to you recently?

I adopted my dog a few months ago, and he’s only just started to become comfortable around the cats. They’ve recently started to play together, which is really funny to watch because they have such different ideas of what play is. The dog doesn’t understand why the cat likes to hide under the table and pounce on him, and the cat is completely baffled that the dog wants to be chased. They make me laugh just about every day.

 

What did you want to be when you were younger?

When I was a kid, I used to think I would become a lighthouse keeper and live in a lighthouse with walls that were completely lined with books. There’s still a part of me that hopes that maybe this will still happen.

 

What is your favorite book to movie adaption?

It’s rare for the movie version to be stronger than the book, but I think the film version of Annihilationby Jeff VanderMeer takes an amazing book and makes it even better. I also like the Hunger Gamesfilms for the same reason. (And because Jennifer Lawrence is awesome!)