CFP Annual Mtg of MI Linguistics Society

39th Annual Meeting of the Michigan Linguistics Society, Saturday, October 31, 2009, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Keynote Speaker: Juan Uriagereka, University of Maryland

We invite presentations of original research for general sessions in any area of linguistics. Presentations will also be considered for a special session on "Biolinguistics and Generative Grammar." Presentations will be 20 minutes in length plus 10 minutes for questions/discussion. Deadline for abstract submission: Saturday, September 12, 2009. Submit abstracts online at: http://ling.lsa.umich.edu/mls2009

When submitting abstracts, remember that:
-Abstracts are limited to 500 words (including title and examples but excluding references); indicate word count at the bottom of the abstract.
- Abstracts can be submitted as pdf, doc, or txt files.
- Include a title in your abstract file.
-Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously; remove any author information from the abstract file.
- Author(s)' name(s), affiliation(s), and email address are required on the submission website.
- Author can submit two abstracts, in which case at least one abstract must be a joint abstract.
- For joint abstracts the first author will be the contact person.
Acceptance notification will be by September 25, 2009. The final program will be announced on October 2, 2009. For additional information visit the conference website: http://ling.lsa.umich.edu/mls2009

CFP: Poetry from/about Chicagoland

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Nirala Publications (New Delhi/Kathmandu) has announced the forthcoming publication of Chicagoland Poets, the latest poetry anthology in a distinguished series that includes the poets of London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. The 350-page anthology (including black/white and color images) will be edited by Illinois poets Robin Metz and Nina Corwin, and launched in Chicago, New York, Montréal, London, New Delhi, and Kathmandu for worldwide distribution. The series editor is Yuyutsu R.D. Sharma. Nirala Publications is a prominent South Asian publishing house featuring established and emerging authors from India, Nepal, Europe, United Kingdom, North America, and an expanding range of international writers and artists. Nirala also collaborates with several foreign publishers and institutes and publishes Pratik: A Magazine of Contemporary Writing.

Poets born or currently living in Chicago (or environs) may submit up to five poems of any length on any subject (including, especially, poems about Chicago and environs, or southeast Asia). Poets not born or currently living in Chicago may also submit up to five poems on any subject related to Chicago (or environs). While unpublished poems are preferred, previously published poems are welcomed. A statement indicating that the poet retains reprint rights should accompany each submission of previously published poems. A brief biographical statement of 100 words (indicating the poet’s ties to Chicago, if applicable) should accompany the submission.

Deadline for submissions is August 31, 2009 and should be emailed to: treehouse523@sbcglobal.net in a single .doc or .rtf file with Chicagoland Poetry in the subject line OR addressed to: Chicagoland Poetry c/o Nina Corwin 523 S Plymouth Ct, Chicago, IL 60605. Please include SASE for reply only. MSS will not be returned. Poets included in the anthology will receive a complimentary copy.

New Issues Poet Bradley Paul Wins AWP's Donald Hall Prize in Poetry

Congratulations to Bradley Paul, author of The Obvious (New Issues, 2004), on winning AWP's Donald Hall Prize in Poetry. Jean Valentine selected Paul's manuscript The Animals All Are Gathering for the award. It will be published by Pittsburgh University Press. Valentine praised the book saying, "In this original and wonderfully energetic book, Bradley Paul moves from humor to mockery to play to anger to grief, and sometimes all at once. This poetry shifts, it slams, it hammers, it thinks; it corrodes our sorrow and foolishness; it captures our national haplessness, sad and firing and still."

Former English Faculty, Ken Macrorie, Dies

From Las Cruces Sun-News "Ken Macrorie was born in the Mississippi River town of Moline, Ill., in 1918. He graduated from Oberl[l]in College in Ohio and served in the Army during WWII. He then earned a master's degree in English at the University of North Carolina where he became a civil rights activist and began his lifelong dedication to breaking down racial bigotry and bars to equality wherever he was. He taught at Michigan State University and was active in forming the teachers union. When he began work on his doctorate at Columbia University, he studied perception, concentrating on how it affected journalists and accompanying New York Times reporters on assignments. He wrote his doctoral thesis on objectivity/subjectivity in reporting. After receiving his degree, he returned to Michigan State, eventually moving to San Francisco State and then to Western Michigan University where he made the breakthroughs that led to his national leadership role in re-educating teachers trapped in unproductive teaching methods to learn how to express themselves in print and pass that knowledge on to their students." For the full obituary, visit the Las Cruces Sun News.

Johnston's Poem Wins Phi Kappa Phi Forum Competition

The invitation for poems on American pride resulted in, approximately enough, a diverse set of compositions, ranging from the fixed forms of sonnets and villanelles to expansive, neo-Whitmanic free verse to concrete poems, one even shaped as the USA.

Subjects included, among many others, immigration, Pearl Harbor, the space shuttle, and the concept of E Pluribus Unum, the Latin Motto ("out of many, one") on U.S. currency. Nearly three times as many poets entered this contest than for our inaugural spring 2009 competition on theme of origins.
The winning poem, a formal work in rhymed, iambic pentameter quatrains, "What's Underneath," by Arnold Johnston, is a powerfully subtle and evocative response to this call of American pride.
Avoiding the too-easy twin poles of jingoism and vitriol, the poet captures our collective failings as well as our shared strengths - as Americans and as human beings. Our love of country as home begins but does not end in geographic space, this "earthen bed, the pillow made of stone," the poet notes; yet we "never tire/ of raising cages, walls."
Johnston warns us against believeing in our own happy-ever-after "diversions," whether contemporary or classic. The Emerald City is not our final destination. We can't always keep the wolf at bay, and Johnston urges us to be at least vigilant of the one in ourselves as we are of the one at the door.
Ultimately, "What's Underneath" is a sober and clear-eyed engagement of the American Dream, not the dismissal of it; Johnston reminds us that our freedom is "the power of choice," and that great privilege demands great responsibility, with no consideration given to borders or walls.

Written by: Sandra Meek, poetry editor of Poetic Pause from the Phi Kappa Phi Forum