GC English professor wins prestigious award

Paige Blakemore Staff Writer

Laura Newbern has been an associate professor of English and creative writing at GC since 2005. She graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina. She now teaches a variety of classes, including intermediate poetry writing, poetry workshop and creative writing senior seminar.

Recently, Newbern won the 2023 Changes Book Prize in poetry. Established in 2022, the Changes Book Prize awards $10,000 and publication to the author of a first or second collection of poetry. The winner receives a generous publishing contract, national distribution and a book launch event in New York City.

Newbern’s second collection of poems, “A Night In The Country,” was chosen as one of the prize winners by the 2020 Nobel Laureate in Literature, or the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, poet Lousie Glück. The collection is expected to be published in the spring of 2024.

In 2010, Newbern’s previous poetry collection, “Love and the Eye,” was selected by American poet Claudine Rankine for the Kore Press First Book Award.

When talking to Newbern’s students and colleagues about her career and her poetry, not one hesitated to sing her praises.

“She just has the style of writing where you can tell she was born to be a poet,” said junior English major Kate Goud. “The way she writes is just so magical. I love it.”

Goud described Newbern’s poetry as a mix of Romanticism and modern poetry.

“It’s so interesting how her brain works,” Goud said. “It’s the kind of poetry that you just want to pick apart and figure out why she said this in this way.”

“Laura is extremely committed to her stu- dents’ development as writers and thinkers in her classes,” said Dr. Kerry Neville, an associate English professor at GC and coordinator of GC’s graduate and undergraduate creative writing programs. “She is one of the most conscientious teachers that I know.”

Neville had plenty of praise for Newbern.

“Newbern’s work is complex and rigorous,” Neville said. “She has a shining intellect. I’m always surprised by her poetry. They always teach me something about, not only how she sees the world, but something about myself as a human being in existence beside her in this world.”

Dr. Kerry James Evans, an assistant English professor at GC, shared a personal anecdote of how Newbern tapes wrapping paper on her desk to quickly jot down notes, poem ideas and doodles as needed. After commenting on how much he liked the quirk, Newbern wrapped Evans’ following birthday present in the one-ofa-kind wrapping paper.

Evans compared Newbern’s work to poet Elizabeth Bishop’s.

“That is about the highest praise I can give any poet,” Evans said.

“Newbern completely transformed how I write and how I view myself as a writer,” said senior English major Kayla Goode.

Goode claims she gained much confidence in her writing through Newbern’s intermediate poetry class and her mentored capstone project with the professor. She also point-

-Kate Goud

ed out how well-written “Country Night” was written, which was published in 2021.

“Every one of her poems really speaks to me in some way,” Goode said. “Her way with words is immaculate.”

All concurred on Newbern’s modesty when it comes to her vast accolades. Neville and Evans both agreed that she does not seek the limelight. Instead, the limelight has found her.

GC and the creative writing program offer tremendous congratulations to Newbern on her astounding career and accomplishments.

Grace Robertson

Staff Writer

Vermont Law and Graduate School is under pressure to address murals around campus that depict the brutality of enslavement.

The paintings have raised concerns in the past few years with students and administration, who argue that the paintings are offensive.

Sam Kerson, the white artist who created the murals, is fighting to keep them up.

In 1993, Kerson was commissioned by VLGS to spend three months painting the two 8-footby-24-foot murals.

The works of art, titled “Slavery” and “Liberation,” illustrate slavery and important civil rights leaders, like Harriet Tubman.

After the state court allowed the law school to cover up the mural in 2021, Kerson appealed the action, arguing that it goes against the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.

The law, also known as VARA, works to defend the rights of the author of a work of visual art, including the right to prevent any destruction, distortion, mutilation or other modification of that work which would harm his or her reputation or honor.

The school, with the backing of the American Civil Liberties Union, suggests they have the right to remove art on campus when history has passed it by.

Since then, VLGS has placed a series of white panels directly in front of the murals, which would block view of the mural without directly violating VARA and led Kerson to file the initial lawsuit.

Mark Huddle, a GC degree — with Sam Kirson, the artist,” Huddle said. “Certainly, his intent when he created the work of art was not to necessarily offend,” Huddle said. “He believes that this is a difficult history, and if it makes people uncomfortable, then that’s a good thing.” just at least in the eyes and minds of the sun.”

Community members felt uncomfortable with the brutal images in the art, which depicted people in Africa, the slave market, slave labor and insurrections.

Michelle Garris, a freshman nursing major, gave her thoughts on the situation.

Jefferson altered her opinion and began supporting the student’s disapproval after the re- fought for the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials. actions to the murder of George Floyd in 2020. history professor and expert on African-American history and popular culture, spoke about the situation.

Debates have arisen to discuss whether these decisions are erasing history or represent disrespect, similar to the arguments toward the murals.

“I sympathize — to a

“We want to remember the past,” Huddle said. “We want to be honest about the past, and we want to acknowledge the ugly truths of the Black experience in America, so we are going to depict the institution of slavery in a very kind-of-brutal way —

“It can be very controversial but also brings awareness to what used to happen,” Garris said.

Kerson has received criticism for depicting the issues of slavery as a white artist.

“As a white person, it’s not a person’s history to tell, so he doesn’t have any kind of proprietary and control over the African-American past,” Huddle said.

Shirley Jefferson, vice president of community engagement and government relations and associate professor of law at VLGS, initially showed no interest in objections to the mural.

“We are in the era of George Floyd, and it is a particularly fraught period to engage American race relations, and you have to recognize that and accept it,” Huddle said.

“Times have changed.”

An anonymous GC student explained their thoughts on the reactions to the campus murals.

“I’m one of those people that’s a firm believer that everybody’s perspective and views are valid because everyone is their own person,” the student said.

Since the 2015 Charleston church shooting, protesters across the country have

“The intent of the Confederate monuments was to intimidate — not to commemorate, but to intimidate — the Black community,” Huddle said. “I think the intent of the painting was very different, but that doesn’t change the fact that, in both cases, times have changed.”

With the discussion surrounding race relations in the country becoming more and more prominent, many situations similar to the events in Vermont are garnering controversy.

“This is a phenomenon that we’re going to, as a society, have to confront at some point because there is a heightened awareness and sensitivity to these kinds of issues,” Huddle said. “As times have changed, those consequences have changed.”