Lion in Winter

When Luanne came home and told me about the curious thing that she had heard on the radio, I listened with only half my available attention. But when I heard the words, Lion in Winter, I perked right up. We bought the video years ago -- both fans of Katherine Hepburn. Well, the news Luanne brought home was this: some guy called the station to get in on the "name your favorite Christmas movie" and said his fav was Lion in Winter.

"I never thought of it as a Christmas film," she said. "Then I remembered that King Henry let Eleanor out for Christmas." Yes, and they had a tree, and gifts, and Henry asked if they should hang the holly or themselves!

This is the ultimate stressful family get-together. I highly recommend it as an addition to holiday viewing.

Illinois Philological Association

An opportunity not to miss (I'm a member!):
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS and MEMBERS

The ILLINOIS PHILOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION was founded in 1996 by representatives from several Illinois colleges and universities. Its purpose is to promote fellowship and intellectual exchange among faculty and student members of departments of English, Linguistics, Communication, and Foreign Languages, as well as independent scholars and writers throughout Illinois.

Eleventh Annual Conference
of the
Illinois Philological Association
April 13-14, 2007
University of Illinois at Springfield
Springfield, IL

Come and share your work with interested colleagues and delight in the
quality and diversity of Illinois scholars and writers!

The Association invites submissions in four categories:

1. From faculty members, independent scholars, and graduate students -- abstracts or proposals (300 words) for papers on any aspect of literature, literary criticism, linguistics, and composition theory or literary theory.


2. 
   From creative writers -- original works of fiction, poetry, drama, or performance art. Dramatic works and performance pieces that can be staged within the timeframe of a session (90 minutes) are also solicited. Please submit manuscript for consideration.
   


3. From undergraduate students -- creative writing or scholarly papers. You must submit the entire text of your reading or paper, accompanied by a supporting letter from a faculty member.


4. From any category of participant -- session or panel proposals. Panels that deal with practical concerns of specific disciplines, including those relating to pedagogical issues, as well as panels on literary topics, are encouraged. You must submit a panel description/abstract and abstracts of all papers to be included in the panel or session.

Each submission must also include a proposal summary of no more than 50 words.

The maximum reading time for either creative writing selections or scholarly papers is 25 minutes. Sessions, panels, dramatic works, and performance pieces should be no longer than 90 minutes, including time for questions and discussion where appropriate. All presenters must register for the conference and be IPA members.

Please forward your proposal by email as an attached file in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect format to bcass1@uis.edu. Or send 2 copies of your submission by surface mail to Barbara Cass; University of Illinois at Springfield; MSUHB 4093; One University Plaza, Springfield, IL 62703-5407. Please include Name, Preferred Address, Phone Number, Email Address, Status, and Institutional Affiliation. EMAIL SUBMISSIONS PREFERRED.

IPA again is awarding grants to cover the cost of registration to student presenters. If you are a student and would like to be considered for a grant, please send a letter along with your submission requesting the grant and indicating why being a part of the IPA 2006 Conference is important to you. Please Note: Students who receive this grant will be expected to fully participate in the Conference.

Visit the IPA website at www.illinoisphilological.org Questions? Contact Barbara Cass at bcass1@uis.edu

Submission Deadline: January 30th, 2007

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Illinois Philological Association

Dues Notice/Membership Application Form

To become a member of IPA: Fill out form, below, and make check or money order payable to "Illinois Philological Association"

Please circle appropriate dues category:

Students -- $5

Adjunct faculty/Retired/Emeritus/Individual scholars -- $10

Full-time faculty -- $15

Name ___________

Institution

Department

Preferred Mailing Address

City___________ State_________ Zip__________

Phone

Email

Please send this form to:

Kris Muschal, Treasurer; Illinois Philological Association

c/o English Department

Richland Community College

One College Park

Decatur, IL 62521

Suddenly

I was amazed when I opened my email this morning. A note from a friend mentioned that she had been introduced to a couple Sunday morning. On learning a little bit about them, she realized that I probably knew them. She was right. Think about this -- I haven't seen these people since 1980 -- a lifetime ago.

In itself it's probably not that amazing, but couple it with the fact that in the last two weeks or so, I've discovered high school classmates living only blocks away from me. I haven't found out if they ever moved away, but I sure did. Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa, then finally back to Illinois and my hometown. Haven't seen them since 1965 -- is that two lifetimes ago?

Donna titled one her posts "Expect the Unexpected." It helps if you have a hint as to what might be coming your way. In this case I guess I'm expecting to hear more voices from the past.

Snow script

I've seen many javascript attempts to create snow falling on a page. Some of them are less than remarkable. I've just put up my annual snow page which uses the one I like best.





The innards of the script list CREDITS: Snowmaker Copyright (c) 2003 Peter Gehrig. All rights reserved. But the very next line reads: Distributed by http://www.hypergurl.com -- Permission given to use the script on webpages provided that this notice remains as is. It's still available if you would like to pick it up.

Also, there is a post at DynamicDrive that answers the question on how to confine the snow if you don't want your whole page filled with flakes!

I wanted to add a word about the Emily Dickinson letter to her friends the Hollands. You can find the text of the entire letter here. If you follow the link, you'll notice that the letter is tentatively date (3? November 1855), while I date it to (November) 1854. In this instance I have followed the lead of the Holland's granddaughter, Theodora Van Wagenen Ward. Someday in the near future, I hope to complete my biography of Mrs. Ward.

Shoeless in Des Plaines

Late yesterday afternoon when the last bit of light was quickly fading, I heard a rapping at my door. I opened it to a scrawny young man who wanted to know if he could use my phone. Against my better judgment I let him in. I went out to the kitchen where the phone was located, expecting him to follow me. When he didn't, I said, "You'll have to come in here to use it." He mumbled something and came out to the kitchen. I hovered, shamelessly listening in. According to what he told the person on the other end, the car he was driving had blown a cam. Could his listener come and get him? Or find someone to come and get him? "Yeah, you know, down where the street curves around, you know, the way we go to school."

It wasn't until he had thanked me and made his way back to the front door to leave that I realized why he hadn't immediately followed me to the kitchen. He had removed his shoes! This from a kid with his jeans hanging past his butt, showing off at least six inches of his plaid boxers.

I've been trying to decide if I was the only one on the block who was home -- the car was at the other end of the street -- or the only one who was willing to let him in.

Grammar Matters

I think the title of this post demonstrates what I'm thinking about. The word matters could be a verb or a noun in this context. In fact, both apply. I was looking yesterday for info on ambiguous antecedents and stumbled onto the IBM site. It had information for techies writing to an international audience. One of the guidelines was "do not omit articles or prepositions from sentences." As a former techie, I have to agree. There's nothing worse or more useless than ambiguous documentation. IBM gives the following example:

"What does the message Print control file list mean?

"Print all the files that contain controls.
A list of files that contain print controls.
Print a list of control files.
Print the controls and file the list.
Control the print and list the files.
Print and control a list of files."

Lyre, Lyre

Okay, I confess. I'm a XENA: Warrior Princess fan. Still. Take a trip down memory lane by going to http://www.lucylawless.info/flawlessdiva/tvappearances/xena/lyre-lyre/sistersaredoingit.wmv and hear "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves."

Catalogues

The seed companies have begun their annual assault. We have a foot of snow on the ground and they've got the cure. Dreams, that's what they're selling. All those glossy photographs of flowers and vegetables make any gardener itch to be shoveling and planting. But all we can do is sit and dream. They've got it right, you know. We'll be cooped up all winter with nothing to do but wish and plan, look at the catalog again, wish and plan some more.