ASAT 2017 Newsletter

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American Studies Association of Texas ASAT News | Issue 2 | Volume 1 | Fall 2017

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“liberal arts education� has become an oxymoron.

"NFSJDBO 4UVEJFT "TTPDJBUJPO PG 5FYBT .FNCFSTIJQ There are four classes of individual membership and for for institutions.

Basic Membership is $25 per year.

Sustaining Membership is $50 per year.

Student and Retired Memberships are $15 per year.

Institutions may join and support ASAT at $50 per year.

Make checks payable to ASAT. Dues can be paid at the annual meeting or by sending a check to . . .

Greg Giddings, Secretary/Treasurer Department of English Midwestern State University Wichita Falls, TX 76308

Greetings, colleagues and scholars: Surely I’m not the only one who has noted a disturbing trend on American college and university campuses of late. Perversion of our basic freedoms–speech and assembly–has seemingly become the “new normal,� and the term

What happened to agreeing to disagree? When did offering an opposing view devolve to being branded a hater? Why are civility and respect for additional perspectives now seen as somehow selling out? How can violent protest be considered the only legitimate response to spirited debate?

As 2017 marks ASAT’s first year of its sixth decade, I thought it appropriate to choose a theme for this year’s conference that recognizes the importance of more than half a century of scholarship devoted to a broader understanding of our culture and history. “’Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?’: Journey, Treks, and Voyages that Shape(d) the Americas� celebrates ASAT’s commitment to providing a forum for research that reminds us we can have no real sense of what future

lies before us if we fail to acknowledge in the present what lessons the past offers. Highlights of this year’s event will be included on www.asatexas.org post– conference and in our next newsletter.

Conversation. Dialogue.

Engagement. These are the foundation of academic inquiry. We must continue to honor and advocate for them; in doing so, we’re rewarded with invaluable insight about our ever-changing identity as a nation.

Thank you for your ongoing support of this organization, its annual conference and the Journal of the American Studies Association of Texas ( ASAT).

Sincerely, Barbara Miles, President/Conference Coordinator, ASAT

It is with great pleasure that we present the 2017 American Studies Association of Texas (ASAT) newsletter. This issue is jam-packed with information of value to ASAT members and friends.

We are pleased to welcome a new editorial assistant to the fold—Magen Davis. Magen is a first-year graduate student in Baylor University’s Department of Journalism, PR & New Media. She is a graphics design specialist for Midway ISD who received her undergraduate degree from Baylor JPRNM department. We are so excited to have her aboard!

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On a sad note, long-time JASAT editor Sharon Gripp, Baylor University senior lecturer, has stepped down from the position after serving for 12 years.

We appreciate all of the hard work Sharon put into colleting articles, laying out and designing the journal over the years. The journal is indexed by EBSCO and is a great resource for scholars. ASAT will have tough shoes to fill.

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In this issue, we are pleased to feature a Q&A with Gene and Marynell Young, 19th-Century American musicians.

Young, of Sam Houston State University, has participated in many aspects of ASAT for more than 15 years, including serving as campus host in 2001 and President in 2002. He and Marynell, who recently retired from a career teaching high school Spanish, have been researching and playing early American fiddle music since the 1980s. This issue’s Q&A features information highlights of their colorful journey.

In a delightful article on Sarah Cortez’s book “Vanishing Points,� (Texas Review Press, Huntsville, 2016) Dr. Cassy Burleson, Baylor University senior lecturer, urges us to read the book. Cortez is an award-winning author who has produced eight anthologies and was a finalist for both Houston’s and the Texas Poet Laureate awards.

This newsletter also spotlights the 2016 ASAT conference, the Francis Neely’s Film Collection, which will be housed at SHSU, the 2017 Baylor Pruit Symposium and SHSU’s National Book Awards Festival. We also highlight faculty research briefs, American Studies meetings, journal calls for submissions and much more!

Thank you all for reading this issue, and we hope you enjoy it.

Sincerely Mia Moody-Ramirez, Ph.D. Editor ASAT Journal

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Barbara Miles, Sam Houston State University, ASAT President Mia Moody-Ramirez, Ph.D., Baylor University, Editor Cassy Burleson, Ph.D., Baylor University, Assistant Editor Magen Davis, Baylor University, Editorial Assistant Sean Ferrier-Watson Collin College, Book Review Editor

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Barbara Miles, Sam Houston State University, ASAT President Doug Ferdon, Ph.D., Editor Emeritus Barbara Miles, S s ASAT President Mia Moody-Ramirez, Ph.D., Baylor University, Co-Acquisitions Editor Cassy Burleson, Ph.D., Baylor University, Co-Acquisitions Sean Ferrier-Watson Collin College, Book Review Editor

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Sam Houston State University’s Department of Mass Communication has received a DVD collection of 776 films and TV shows in support of its Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film and TV Production and Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication Film programs.

The collection was donated by Francis Neely, founding chair of the Houston Cinema Arts Society.

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Barbara Miles, ASAT President John Schulze, Midwestern State University Doug Ferdon, Baylor University Emeritus Elisabeth-Christine Muelsch, Angelo State University Richard Tuerk, Texas A&M University–Commerce Larry J. Reynolds, Texas A&M University David Sonenschein, Independent Scholar, San Antonio Todd Giles, Midwestern State University

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The DVD collection includes films from across all genres and decades such as All About Eve, Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Goodfellas, The Lion King, Pulp Fiction and Little Miss Sunshine.

Neely contacted Marian Luntz, film and video curator at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and said she wanted to seek an appropriate beneficiary for the collection.

Luntz thought of SHSU’s Dr. Grant Wiedenfeld, who was appreciative of Neely’s generous donation, calling the collection a significant educational resource. “Film is a part of the Mass Communication department that’s growing.�

Neely hopes the films will be shown to students on the big screen, the way they were designed to be seen.

“I hope they’re used to contrast different filmmakers’ styles and the evolution of film over the years,� Neely said. “There really are endless possibilities. Grant will undoubtedly think of numerous ways to use these DVDs for the good of the student body, faculty and community of Sam Houston State.�

Wiedenfeld said the films will be used by the faculty for teaching and students who want to study them. “As our program expands, we want to get our students involved in different aspects of the Houston film scene,� Wiedenfeld said. “The Houston Cinema Arts Society is both an important film festival and one of the points of communication of different film events and people. This donation is the beginning of the relationship with them, and, more broadly, it reflects our film program’s growth and involvment with the Houston film culture.�

Wiedenfeld has been on SHSU faculty and a member of ASAT since fall 2015.

(The full article, which was written by Lane Fortenberry, is available at: http://www.shsu.edu/today@sam/T@S/article/2017/dvd -collection-donation.

(Photo credit Brian Blalock)

American Studies Association of Texas | Fall 2017

American Studies Association of Texas | Fall 2017

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Gene Young, Sam Houston State University, has participated in many aspects of ASAT for more than 15 years, including serving as campus host (2001) and President (2002).

In addition, he and Marynell, who recently retired from a career teaching high school Spanish, performed fiddle and banjo tunes at the 2014-2016 annual meetings.

They have been researching and playing early American fiddle music since the 1980s. This Q&A features information on their journey.

Mountain Boys. I started playing Marynell: We have learned from guitar soon after, but I didn’t take up reading and research, as well as fiddle until our time in Tennessee. from many musician friends who are dedicated experts on the history ASAT: Did you play alone or with of fiddling and fiddlers. others?

Gene: Marynell is responsible for Marynell: We have always been in one of the best known and most string bands from the first to now. important collections of early fiddle We also have played regularly with tunes—the “Vintage Fiddlers of a re-enactment group, The Tanner Eastern Kentucky.� She recorded Family Medicine Show. and videotaped some of the most treasured old fiddlers in ASAT: So was the medicine show Appalachian eastern Kentucky, re-enactment your connection to most of whom were in their 80’s ASAT: When did you first become 19th-Century music? and 90’s at the time of the recording interested in traditional music? in the late 1980s.

Marynell: Yes. We had first come Marynell: My daddy was an to know those wild and wooly folks ASAT: What are some of the Oklahoma fiddler (born in Indian when we were playing at the Texas pre-Civil War fiddle tunes you play?

Territory), and both my grandfathers Folklife Festival in San Antonio. played the fiddle, but I didn’t Marynell: “Soldier’s Joy� may be become interested in playing Gene: Since then we’ve performed the best known, but some of the old-time fiddle until the day Gene the medicine show at events such other titles that might be familiar are and I went out to Cade’s Cove in as the Texas Folklife Festival, the “The Eighth of January,� “The the Smoky Mountains and heard Texas Independence Day Downfall of Paris� (better known as these old guys playing their ancient Celebration at the Washington on “Mississippi Sawyer�), “The Fisher’s tunes. I was dumbstruck and knew the Brazos State Park, the General Hornpipe� and “Leather Britches,� then that I had to learn to play.

Sam Houston Folk Festival, The which came from an 18th-Century Independence Day Celebration at Scottish tune, and “Lord Gene: Well, nobody in my family the Alamo, and the Goliad MacDonald’s Reel.� played music. What made me want Re-enactment. to play music to begin with was Gene: Some of them are kind of hearing The Kingston Trio in ASAT: How have you learned about surprising. One of the more concert and, later, Lester Flatt and those authentic early tunes? interesting scenes in the 2004 Earl Scruggs and the Foggy version of “The Alamo� is Davy American Studies Association of Texas | Fall 2017

Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) playing “Listen to the Mockingbird.� It sounds for all the world like a modern tune, but it turns out to be authentic to the period.

ASAT: You are both teachers. Have you been able to share your knowledge with your students?

Marynell: Well, I retired last year after a career as a Spanish teacher. It was a joy to share the music of northern Mexico and south Texas with my students.

Gene: I have regularly taught a folklore course, as well as a course I designed called “Texas Crossroads.� In the “Crossroads� course, I do focus fairly heavily on Texas music, from the Texas Revolution songs through contemporary Texas Roots. I cover traditional fiddle music in the folklore class.

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ASAT: What do your students or the people in your audiences ask about this music?

Marynell: The thing they ask most is whether the fiddle is the same as the violin. We usually tell them there isn’t really a difference but that we can tell them the difference between a fiddle and a violinist—the violinist still has all her teeth.

Gene: They also ask whether we read music. We enjoy telling them what the old fiddler said to that question: “Well, I read music a little bit. But not enough to hurt my playing.� If you want to get run out of an old-time music jam, just take out your music stand and put a sheet of music on it.

ASAT: How much of the music you have studied and that you play can be said to be Texas in origin?

Marynell: Actually, the pre-Civil War fiddle tunes mostly came from the same places the settlers did—Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi. Before that, they had come mostly from Scotland and Ireland, and Africa, which was an important source of string band music in the pre-Civil War South. Texas is known for a couple of distinctive fiddle styles—the Texas Swing associated with names like “Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys� contest-style playing. But the old music, back into the frontier days and back to Texas Independence and before was probably very much like what the old fiddlers in Appalachia played.

Gene: Yes. Marynell has done some important research

on fiddlers such as Peter Tumlinson Bell, who was descended from Texas Rangers. His fiddling was collected in the 1940s by the great Texas folklorist William Owens. Marynell tried to locate the original aluminum discs at the Cushing Library Archives at Texas A&M, but they have been lost.

Marynell: Bob Wills was the primary influence in the modernization of that original Texas fiddle music. Bob Wills came from an amazing family of musicians. Besides his father, both grandfathers played the fiddle, as well as nine uncles and five aunts. In the old days, lots more men than women played music, especially the fiddle, but there were plenty of women playing as well.

Gene: Wills is the best-known Texas fiddler, but there were lots of other forces. Not the least is Eck Robertson, who made a stunning collection of recordings in the early 1920s (and who is buried in my hometown of Borger, up in the Panhandle of Texas).

Marynell: Another important early influence on the modernization of Texas fiddling was the great “East Texas Serenaders,� from the Mineola area of east Texas. They recorded in the late 1920s. During that time, there was a tremendous profusion of string bands. Gene located a 1939 article in the Corsicana newspaper describing a fiddle band contest held at Athens, Texas, in which more than 100 bands competed.

ASAT: So are you the only people in Texas playing the old, original 19th-Century tunes?

Marynell: Not by a long shot. Well, the world of old-time fiddling isn’t huge, but there are people from coast to coast dedicated to playing and preserving the old tunes.

Lots of those preservationists are here in Texas.

Gene: We have a rich community of Texans devoted to preserving and playing the old tunes. Probably the main old-time music festival in Texas is the Austin String Band Festival, which takes place in late October each year.

We’re there every year, along with our daughters, who still play, and our granddaughters, who are learning.

ASAT: So this is about passing the music on to younger generations?

Marynell: That’s what it is ALL about. Modern technology has changed how this music is learned and transmitted, but the best way to teach, learn, and preserve the music is, as we say in the old-time community, “knee-to-knee.�

And the best part of that is a grandma (or even grandpa) sitting knee-to-knee with a grandchild, teaching those old tunes that come to us from before the first Anglo settlers set foot in what was to become Texas.

American Studies Association of Texas | Fall 2017

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much day burned.� He uses imagery and consonance and assonance to weave the simple with the complex into precisely crafted scenes.

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By Cassy Burleson, Baylor University There’s nothing that can be said about this work of art that beats experiencing it yourself.

Sarah Cortez’s mesmerizing book (Texas Review Press, Huntsville, 2016) celebrates the contemplative shrines that dot Texas roadsides.

Yes, it’s a book about the perils of living. It’s dedicated by Cortez to â€œâ€Ś those who have come before ‌ And yes, it memorializes the salt in the tears from those left behind.

But this isn’t just a book about death, especially after you’ve had a while to think about it. It’s a book about LIFE and LIVING MORE CAREFULLY. It’s a reminder TO BE GRATEFUL FOR EACH BREATH, both our own and the breath on our necks of those we love.

The six artists whose work appears in the book – a graphic designer, one photographer and four poets -approach the subject from different perspectives.

Serving as the work’s nexus is the book’s design by Nancy J. Parsons, who has a long list of awards for all types of artistic and creative materials, as well as oil painting.

Photographer Dan Streck was a health care manager and a motorsports photographer and is now an African wildlife photographer who publishes in Af ica Geog aphic.

Streck started photographing roadside memorials in 2005 – more than 10 years ago. Streck “captures what’s visually presentâ€? ‌ and ‌ “gives glimpses into the final moments of the people who have been loved and lostâ€? in black and white.

B the a , this book screams for a black and white tableau hich validates the medium’s luminescence.

Contributors include poet/creative writing teacher Jack Bedell of Southeastern Louisiana. He has five collections (also published by the Texas Review Press) and is currently Louisiana Poet Laureate.

Contributor Loueva Smith’s 2015 Conse uences of a Moonless ight won a Chapbook from Texas Review Press. She’s also included in the editor’s most recent book, Goodb e Me ico. Smith is a convergent artist, with three staged plays and a 2013 poetry dance performance American Studies Association of Texas | Fall 2017

4BSBI $PS5F[ at Rice University. Her poetry also was the narration for Sha ed, a dance film, and her poetry has been painted into nude watercolors for an art show at a well-known Houston gallery.

Sarah Cortez, editor and a contributing poet in “Vanishing Points,� is a councilor for the Texas Institute of Letters and has won awards for poetry and adult and children’s literature. Her first book, “How to Undress a Cop� won the PEN Texas Award, and her second book of poetry, “Cold Blue Steel,� placed as a finalist in the Writers League of Texas and in the Southwest Book Awards. She’s produced eight anthologies and was a finalist for both Houston’s and the Texas Poet Laureate awards. As a Vice president of the Press Women of Texas and a police officer, Cortez sa s the occupations require “an overlap of many of the same skills--careful observations of details, an intuitive understanding of human behavior and motivations, and a sense of humor.�

Larry D. Thomas, also in the Texas Institute of Letters, was 2008 Texas Poet Laureate and has published 29 collections of poetry. He’s garnered two Texas Review Poetry Prizes, two Western Heritage Awards, a Writer’s League of Texas award – and eight Pushcart Prize nominations.

Each of the four poets in “Vanishing Point� has his or her own voice – and a distinctly different approach to the challenge of expressing the photographer’s work in words.

Jack Bedell of Louisiana juxtaposes children and child-like images against death’s backdrop, and centers his work on order and the absence of order. One thinks of the devastation of recent hurricanes as his poems’ core value. For example, Bedell writes about a deteriorating child’s bear in “Consubstantial,� “as cloth and stitches go to ground,� and “the quilted sleep of late night with too

Loueva Smith’s poems transition from one another in a continuous 360-degree story arc brought together by tears and breath and references to the five senses. She uses the stance of the photographer on the ground as a thread in her section’s tapestry. In “Wooden Wings,� Smith writes, “The photographer leans in close with his lens/and takes a picture of a whisper.� In “the Road to Nowhere,� she writes, “Lisa is a heat shimmer.�

In “Sit with Us,â€? Smith writes, “The photographer lies down/in the shadow of a utility pole‌.â€? [while] ‌ the seasick pavement slides,/glaring into his camera.â€? Her images are stellar and succinct snapshots. For example, in “Sit with Us,â€? “Lisa is a heat shimmer,â€? and “Mother has gone./Silverfish swim in her coffee cup.â€? She describes the people she imagines in the lives of those departed, such as, “Let her sentimental sons trip home drunk/with a hole in the stink of their breath, and speak of her as if she listens to every word ‌.â€? She becomes a philosopher in “A True Typography,â€? with “What is beautiful leaves its weight in your arms.â€?

Cortez crafts persona poems behind the memorials and stresses the disassociation of the soul from death to a life ever-lasting – both figuratively and literally. Her descriptions and images frequently made me utter “Wow!�

Aloud, in a quite library.

For example, in “Sweep,� she writes, “The road’s currency is speed/and control its illusion.� In the last two lines of “Tree Speaks to Beloved,� she writes, [you] “offered yourself/a warm, pliant doll, onto my stiff wooden/body, moistening me with your red dew.� She uses prayer as a muse because her poems frequently affirm “Faith,� as in, “There’s bound to be/something/worth living for.� Her poems make you apply her stories to your own life, sometimes for a long time afterward, as she did with “Bro.�

It’s about picking the day to have back with someone you love who has died. She also tackles the tougher and more diverse subjects, such as in “Unsevered,� which portrays a lesbian daughter who was killed with her parents who “never wanted to take her with them,� but “It wasn’t up to us.� In “Without Me,� she lets readers in to yet another imaginary voice. This time it’s a male narrator writing to his unfaithful partner who left abruptly for heaven. He pictures her cavorting with young angels and “getting them all shit-faced/on blue Jello shots.� The Cortez poems also frequently have O. Henry endings and resonate with the adept use of repetition. Her work makes readers remember they are reading about just one of her many selves, but still finding “that steel cold place inside.�

Still, her voice remains authentic: “only me, only one, only mine.�

Larry D. Thomas’ poems are from the most distant perspective but made me look and re-look at the photographs. In “The Whitening,� he reminds readers that white is the absence of color – the absence of life – unlike black, which is the confluence of all colors. He leaves readers reeling as they read “white light stark/as the grief of the bereaved,/white as the clouds above,/streaking, disintegrating.� His sadness is restrained. Contemplative.

And deeper than Blue Hole in Austin.

For example, in “Reaching for Heaven,� Thomas s speaks of trying to “thwart the silent screaming of heaven� and the “Stygian dark� in the poem titled, “Glitter.� In “Oscar,� he takes the dark side, blaming the dead man (i.e., how did Thomas also discern the cross wasn’t for someone killed by a drunk driver?). Thomas takes the dissonant view. In “As If,� he writes, a “vehicle races down the highway blurry as the life of Lisa Wedgeworth.�

Yep. It’s that same Lisa Wedgeworth that Loueva Smith brings to life as a “heat shimmer.� “Vanishing Points� is, in short, a tribute to the deaths and lives behind these memorials, mostly set around Austin and the Hill Country– and in short it’s a heat shimmer of a book.

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0/ 7"/*4)*/( 10*/54 From veteran newsman Rick BradďŹ eld: “These memorials have always fascinated me. We’ve tried to ďŹ nd out who erected them and for whom ‌ Made for some interesting news stories. Not all of them have names, often appearing in random locations. But those people got up one morning just like the rest of us and didn’t get home that night. “More often than not, they’re a mystery you pass by on the highway or a city street. But some of them are in the loneliest imaginable locations. And the saddest are for young people – set up to remember those who never had a chance to BE memorable. “Each of these memorials represents “midnight notiďŹ cations and/or horriďŹ ed realizations‌." “For example, on South Valley Mills before Franklin in Waco, four Mart teenagers and three other kids from somewhere jumped the median and left seven families bereft. And several thousand people drive by there – every single day – and have no idea what happened. “And seven families were left bereft ‌ I don’t know that these memorials have their origins in any faith. But what if that were YOUR family? Somehow, these memorials validate lives ‌ somehow. “And maybe we need more permanent memorials like these for those we love.â€?

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Faculty Research Briefs David Blanke (History-Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi); one of several scholar enthusiasts featured in the History Channel documentary, 7KH &DUV 7KDW 0DGH $PHULFD, which aired August 13-15.

April Shemak (English-Sam Houston State University); authored a chapter titled "Interdict: Scenes of Military Maritime Encounter in the Caribbean included in &DULEEHDQ 0LOLWDU\ (QFRXQWHUV by Shalini Puri and Laura Putnam published by Palgrave McMillan as part of the New Caribbean Studies series (May 2017).

Mia Moody-Ramirez, Ph.D.,(American Studies and Journalism, PR, and new Media-Baylor); VLJQHG book contracts for two books: )URP *ULRWV WR 7ZLWWHU 5HIOHFWLRQV RQ %ODFN +XPRU 5DFH 3ROLWLFV DQG *HQGHU, co-authored with Jannette Dates, Ph.D. (Peter Lang); and 5DFH *HQGHU ,PDJH 5HSDLU &DVH 6WXGLHV LQ WKH (DUO\ VW &HQWXU\ co-authored with Hazel Cole (Lexington Press). Both books are slated to come out in 2018.

Todd Giles (English-Midwestern State University); authored “Symphonic Sounds on the South Plains: A History of the Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestraâ€? for the WFSO website (December 2016) Upcoming and recently released American Studies titles: ¡ &XUUHQWV LQ 7UDQVDWODQWLF +LVWRU\ (QFRXQWHUV &RPPRGLWLHV ,GHQWLWLHV ed. by Steven G. Reinhardt (University of Texas@ Arlington History department) published by Texas A&M University Press for University of Texas at Arlington’s Walter Prescott Webb Memorial Lectures #49 (June 2017) ¡ ([LOHG 7KH /DVW 'D\V RI 6DP +RXVWRQ by Ron Rozelle published by Texas A&M University Press (November 2017) ¡ *RGGHVV RI $QDUFK\ 7KH /LIH DQG 7LPHV RI /XF\ 3DUVRQV $PHULFDQ 5DGLFDO by Jacqueline Jones (University of Texas History department) published by Basic Books (December 2017)

Spotlight on ASAT Vice-President John Schulze, Midwestern State University Dr. John Schulze has been on faculty at MWSU and a member of ASAT since 2015.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of New Orleans (2002), was awarded an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Memphis (2007), and completed his PhD in English at the Dr. John Schulze, ASAT Vice President University of Nebraska-Lincoln (2012). Publishing as Penn Stewart, he is the author of Fertile Ground, a novel that addresses the internment of German-American citizens by the United States government during the first months of WW II—a result of Executive order 9066, the same order that resulted in the internment of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans on the west coast.

American Studies Association of Texas | Fall 2017

Most recently, his fiction chapbook The Weight on my Back and Other Stories was named as a finalist in the Iron Horse Literary Review’s 2017 Chapbook Contest, and he had a piece short-listed for Sequestrum’s Editor's Reprint Award.

Schulze has presented numerous academic papers, many dealing with American Studies topics and has read his creative work in eleven states. His short stories, poetry, book reviews, interviews, photographs, and personal essays have appeared or are forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, University Press of Mississippi’s Conversations with Series, Ginosko Literary Journal, Pacifica Literary Review, Word Riot, Night Train, Conclave: A Journal of Character, Rolling Thunder Press, Front Porch Review, Dogzplot, 4'33" (UK), Hippocampus Magazine, Fresh Yarn, The Meadowland Review, and elsewhere. In January of 2018 Schulze will begin a fellowship at the Artsmith Artists Residency, where he hopes to complete his second novel.

He and his family live in Wichita Falls.

8 (Photo credit http://www.shsu.edu/academics/english/creative-writing/ national-book-awards/) The Sam Houston State University National Book Awards Festival was held April 24 at the Lowman Student Center Ballroom.

The event featured Rep. John Lewis, writer Andrew Aydin DQG illustrator Nate Powell, who were collaborators on the graphic novel trilogy, “March,� winner of the National Book Award for young people’s literature Lewis is Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District Representative and an American icon in the Civil Rights Movement. He is the author of Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement, published in 1999, which won numerous awards and Across That Bridge: Life Lessons and a Vision for Change, published in 2012.

Andrew Aydin, an Atlanta native, grew up reading and collecting comic books.

After college, upon taking a job with Congressman Lewis, Aydin learned that the civil rights legend had been inspired as a young man by a classic 1950s comic book, 0DUWLQ /XWKHU .LQJ 7KH 0RQWJRPHU\ 6WRU\.

They discussed the impact that comic books can have on young readers and decided to write a graphic novel together about the civil rights era. A few years later, the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Marchâ&#x20AC;? series was born. Today, Aydin serves as Digital Director & Policy Adviser to Congressman Lewis in Washington, D.C. Powell, called by Booklist magazine â&#x20AC;&#x153;the most prodigiously talented graphic novelist of his generation,â&#x20AC;? was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. In addition to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Marchâ&#x20AC;? series, his work includes Rick Riordanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 7KH /RVW +HUR <RX 'RQÂśW 6D\ $Q\ (PSLUH 6ZDOORZ 0H

Whole, The Silence of Our Friends, and The Year of the Beasts. Powellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work has received copious honors, including the Eisner Award for Best Graphic Novel, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize nomination, and four â&#x20AC;&#x153;Great Graphic Novels for Teensâ&#x20AC;? from the American Library Association.

His animated illustrations in Southern Poverty Law Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s documentary â&#x20AC;&#x153;Selma: The Bridge to the Ballotâ&#x20AC;? have reached one million students in more than 50,000 schools across the nation. Powell is currently preparing a new graphic novel, Cover.

The mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of great writing in America.

The National Book Awards are among the most prestigious annual literary awards in our nation.

The awards were established in 1950, and the first winners included Nelson Algren in fiction and William Carlos Williams in poetry. In brief, nearly every major American writer of the past 60 years has been honored by the National Book Awards, if not as a winner, then as a finalist.

Since 1996 independent panels of five writers have chosen the National Book Award Winners in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Literature.

For more information, visit this link: http://www.shsu.edu/academics/english/creative-writing/ national-book-awards/.

A detail from the cover of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Marchâ&#x20AC;?

by Nate Powell and Andrew Aydin American Studies Association of Texas | Fall 2017

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5FYBT BOE "NFSJDBO 4UVEJFT .FFUJOHT Feb 7-10, 2018 - Southwest Popular and American Culture Associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Annual Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico Feb 12-17, 2018 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; National Association of African American Studies & Affiliates Joint National Conference in Dallas, Texas Feb 18, 2018 - Annual spring meeting of the East Texas Historical Association in Marshall, Texas March 2-3, 2018 - Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Alpine, Texas

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March 14-18, 2018- National Council for Black Studies in Atlanta, Georgia April 6-7, 2018 -Annual meeting of the West Texas Historical Association in San Angelo, Texas April 6-7, 2018 - Texas Institute of Letters annual award ceremony and banquet in San Antonio, Texas 1BSUJDJQBOUT BOE BUUFOEFFT PG UIF 1SVJU 4ZNQPTJVN 0DU

The 2017 Pruit Memorial Symposium at Baylor University returned to the theme of black gospel music with "Singing the Sermon: When the Message and Music Matter.â&#x20AC;? The event featured two keynote presentations: â&#x20AC;&#x153;From Spirituals to Blood Songs: Remembering Tradition and Deliverance through Gospel Performance" by Melvin Butler, associate professor of Musicology at University of Miami, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Theology of African American Sacred Song and Liberation" by Stephen Newby, associate professor of Music at Seattle Pacific University.

The annual event brings the perspectives of the Christian intellectual tradition to contemporary issues of common concern. Through the articulation of differing views within the realm of Christian understanding, Baylor aspires to be a locus for a distinctly Protestant and Christian world view thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s true to the best thoughts in the Baptist tradition.

Other conference presenters were Deborah Smith Pollard, Terri Brinegar, Coretta Pittman, Jerry Zolten, and Laura Nash with Andrew Virdin Baylorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s American Studies Program was among the 2017 Pruit Symposium sponsors.

Other sponsors included Armstrong Browning Library; Truett Theological Seminary; Baylor University Libraries; Baylor School of Music; the Department of Journalism, Public Relations & New Media; the Department of History; the Department of English; the Department of Religion; the Kyle Lake Center for Effective Preaching; the Center for Christian Music Studies; and the Baylor University Diversity Enhancement Grant.

April 6-8, 2018 - Annual meeting of the Texas Folklore Society in Lubbock, Texas May 23-26, 2018 - Annual meeting of the Society of Southwest Archivists in San Antonio, Texas June 8-10, 2018 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Annual Conference on the American Revolution at Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland

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The purpose is to acquaint students with the intellectual and cultural development of the nation, to prepare them for responsible citizenship, and to show the continuity of past, present and future in acceptable cultural and historical terms. The basic program consists of courses in a variety of areas of study, which students may combine according to their cultural and professional objectives.

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The graduate program in American Studies is an interdisciplinary program offering comprehensive study in American institutions and culture.

Program prerequisites include twenty-one semester hours in any one or in any combination of areas such as journalism, history, philosophy, and literature. Master of Arts degree work consists of thirty semester hours, at least fifteen being 5000 level or above.

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American Studies Association of Texas | Fall 2017

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Southwest Council of Latin American Studies The SCOLAS Journal invites submission of original, unpublished articles on Latin American Studies from all relevant fields, including but not limited to: History, Political Science, Literature, Linguistics, Anthropology, Art, Sociology, Music, Geography, and Pedagogy; as well as creative works, such as short fiction or poetry. Go to http://www.modlang.txstate.edu/scolas/The-SCOLAS-Journal/Call-forArticles.html to learn more.

American Studies/American Studies International American Studies encourages interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary scholarship in U.S. cultures and histories, broadly defined. We welcome frameworks of comparative, international and/or transnational perspectives. Go to https://journals.ku.edu/index.php/amerstud/about/submissions to learn more.

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Journal of American Studies

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Journal of American Studies publishes works by scholars from all over the world on American literatures, history, politics, foreign relations, philosophy, art history, visual culture, economics, film, popular culture, geography, material culture and related subjects. Go to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jamstuds to learn more.

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The 2016 American Studies Association of Texas (ASAT) annual meeting was held Nov. 10-12 at Sam Houston State University.

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ASAT Conference Keynote speaker Dr. Carmen Tafolla, 2015 Texas Poet Laureate, shared the various voices of people sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s encountered throughout her life.

Tafolla is a writer, performance artist, motivational speaker and university professor who was chosen as San Antonioâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Poet Laureate in 2012 and as Poet Laureate of Texas in 2015.

.PGGFUU -JCSBSZ IPTUFE B USBWFMJOH FYIJCJUJPO GPS B TJY XFFL MPBO EVSJOH JUT UPVS PG UIF 6 4 GSPN "QSJM UP +VOF Moffett Library at Midwestern State University was the selected site in a competitive grant application process against more than 100 other recipients to host Native Voices: Native Peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Concepts of Health and Illness, a traveling exhibition to U.S. libraries.

A program promoting the six-week exhibit was held June 4 in the Leisure Reading Area of Moffett Library, with opening remarks by MSUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Provost Dr. James Johnston.

American Studies Association of Texas | Fall 2017

Gary Tahmahkera, associate pastor, Floral Heights Methodist Church, provided an opening prayer. Jim Moore from the Red River Intertribal Club led drum songs, along with an ensemble of dancers and singers.

Moore also offered remarks on Native American health issues and coping strategies.

Native Voices explores the interconnectedness of wellness, illness, and cultural life for Native Americans, Alaska Natives, and

Native Hawaiians. Stories drawn from both the past and present examine how health for Native People is tied to community, the land, and spirit. Through interviews, Native People describes the impact of epidemics, federal legislation, the loss of land, and the inhibition of culture on the health of Native individuals and communities today.

To learn more and view content from the exhibition, visit http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices.

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Find JASAT on EBSCO Host!

Her work appears internationally in textbooks, newspapers, journals and magazines. She is the recipient of the prestigious Americas Award (2010), five International Latino Book Awards, two Tomas Rivera Book Awards and a Charlotte Zolotow Award for her childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s literature, and the Art of Peace Award, sponsored by St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University, for writing that promotes peace, justice and human understanding. The National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies recognizes her work as â&#x20AC;&#x153;giv[ing] voice to the peoples and cultures of this land.â&#x20AC;?

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PearceMuseum.com

"NFSJDBO )JTUPSZ &YIJCJUT Pearce Museum, Navarro College, Corsicana, Texas Civil War and Western American Art The Pearce Museum at Navarro College includes two collections that focus on documents, artifacts, and photographs related directly to the American Civil War and works of art depicting the historic and modern American West. The Civil War collection has more than 15,000 documents, as well as a number of photographs and three-dimensional artifacts that directly relate to the period 1861â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1865 and are original to that time period, or were written or made within the life of a participant in the American Civil War.

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The 2017 American Studies Association of Texas Conference will be held Nov. 9-11, 2017, in Huntsville, Texas. "4"5 $POGFSFODF )JHIMJHIUT XJMM CF JODMVEFE JO UIF OFYU JTTVF "4"5 .FNCFSTIJQ

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The Western Art collection has 250 works of art in a realistic style that directly relate to the historic and modern American West. The collection is both two-and three-dimensional and includes media such as oil, acrylic, watercolor, egg tempera, and guache, as well as bronze and alabaster sculpture.

Bullock Museum, Austin, Texas, Sept. 2, 2017-Jan. 7, 2018 American Spirits: The Rise of Prohibition More than 100 rare, period artifacts and multi-media presentations on the history of the era, and a re-created speakeasy where visitors can explore the fashion, music, and culture of the Roaring â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;20s.

Bush Presidential Library, College Station, Texas March 6, 2017-Jan. 7, 2018 The Legacy of Ranching: Preserving the Past, Embracing the Future This exhibit highlights strong legacies and examines how livestock industries helped shape the state, from early Spanish Land grants to the present day descendants. Recordings of oral histories, an original video narrative, hands-on educational activities, 250 artifacts and a historic chuck wagon centerpiece are included in this display.

Museum of the American GI, College Station, Texas April 2017-Jan. 2019 Over There: America in WWI In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the event, The Museum of the American G.I. presents a centennial commemoration of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s role in the Great War. Join us as we explore American life before the war, its build-up as the U.S. recruited and equipped its soldiers, the efforts to fund the war effort through bonds, frugality on the home front, and life for the men and women who served â&#x20AC;&#x153;over there.â&#x20AC;? The exhibit features more than 40 original posters, uniforms, restored trucks and the only operational FT-17 Renault tank in North America.