The Rhetoric of Punctuation and EGADS! Business Meeting Oct. 7

Another month is nearly over and it’s time for another fabulous EGADS! event. Next week Jenny Ashley will present “The Rhetoric of Punctuation.” You never knew punctuation could be so much fun! Several of us saw an earlier version of Jenny’s presentation last year, and we were in stitches the whole time.

Before “The Rhetoric of Punctuation” we’ll have the monthly EGADS! business meeting in the same room.

Wednesday, Oct. 7
5:30-6:15 p.m., Business meeting
6:15-7:30 p.m., “The Rhetoric of Punctuation”
Mary Rose Cardenas Hall South, room 117

Come for one or come for both. I hope to see you all there!

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EGADS! Business Meeting Agenda, Oct. 7, 2009

Introductions

Approve minutes

Announcements and Reports

• The Journal for South Texas English Studies
• 2010 Spring Conference
• Spring 2009 scholarship applications request
• Report on National Punctuation day sale, success!
• Risk Management training

Items for Discussion

• Halloween reading... have it or not?
• November salon (Dorothy, Dr. Dominguez)
• Getting word out about events: Sting radio, UTB/TSC News & Information, Collegian, FaceBook, etc.
• New associate members, and getting to events.
• Donating leftover sodas for Graduate Welcome event
• Next months presenter

New Business

Next Meeting November 4, 2009

A New-sounding Word is Really Old!

Doing a little editing today and I looked up "brand-new" to verify its spelling in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Turns out that word is dated to 1570! To me it sounds like 20th century "marketese." Who knew? (Besides the dictionary contributors, that is) I love etymology!

Main Entry: brand–new
Pronunciation: \-ˈnü, -ˈnyü\
Function: adjective
Etymology: 1brand
Date: circa 1570
: conspicuously new and unused; also : recently introduced

CFP for National Conference in San Antonio

The College English Association is having its national conference in San Antonio in March. Submit abstracts by Nov. 1: http://www2.widener.edu/~cea/conference2010.htm.

Talk Like a Pirate Day, Sept. 19

Tomorrow, September 19, is "Talk Like a Pirate Day." Ahoy, me hearties!

Annoying (and Fascinating) Word Choices

From an exam at Newsroom101.com... identify the correct word:

After running the corporate (gantlet, gauntlet), he settled down on a worm ranch
in Hohmeister Acres.

The correct answer is "gantlet."

The dictionary and the AP Stylebook both mention "run the gantlet." It
comes from the quaint custom of inviting an offender to run between lines of
club-wielding citizens so they might beat him into better behavior. AP
distinguishes gantlet from gamut (a range, particularly of notes) and
gauntlet (a glove thrown down in a challenge).

Poem: "Particle Physics"

Great sonnet, "Particle Physics," by Julie Kane posted at Poetry Daily.

Library Reversal (Sort of)

You still cannot look at the book stacks in Oliveira, but check out this announcement from the library:

New Circulation Desk to Open at Arnulfo L. Oliveira Memorial Library
Wednesday 09 September 2009
Effective immediately, students, faculty and staff will be able to check out and return books at the Arnulfo L. Oliveira Memorial Library. The new Circulation Desk will be located on the first floor at the adjacent to the Periodicals Department. Students will also be able to pay off any fines that they incur from overdue books and clear library blocks. UTB ID Cards and Course Reserve Material services will continue to be housed exclusively at the University Boulevard Library.

The hours of operations for the Circulation Desk located at Oliveira Library will be:
Monday – Thursday 8:30am – 5:30pm
Friday 8:30am – 5:00pm
Saturday CLOSED
Sunday CLOSED

Please note that while the Circulation Desk at the Oliveira Library will be closed, the University Boulevard Library will be open. For that reason, there will be no after hours drop box at the Oliveira Library where students can turn in books. Any student wishing to turn in books during the weekend must visit the University Boulevard Library located next to the Education and Business Complex. Additionally, because both libraries will host a Circulation Department, the online book request form will be removed from the library online catalog until further notice.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Circulation Department at (956) 882-8221.

Questions About Old Library

I know I've beaten this library thing to death, but there are still some questions that have not been answered. Will the bound periodicals, which are currently blocked by yellow tape in the old Oliveira Library, be eventually accessible to students? You know, not everything is viewable on the library's Internet databases. Also, will students be able to at least look at the books in the general collection at Oliveira Library, even if they are not allowed to check them out? Will there be quiet study space available to students in Oliveira Library? Maybe this whole library debacle will resolve itself, but the university's administration has not done a good job communicating how everything will work. Everything has been a surprise thus far. Only when the new University Boulevard Library opened did we find out that it would only have one-third of the books as Oliveira. What surprises are still in store for us when Oliveria Library is renovated?

CFP for American Studies Association of Texas Conference

The Beat Goes On: The Music of American Literature, History, and Culture

Deadline Sept. 20

We are looking for scholarly essays, nonfiction, essays, or creative works that explore the rhythm and beat of literature, history, and culture. What is the influence of rock and roll on literary production? How does culture come alive through music? How do we teach a generation used to picking and choosing music for an IPod?

While the conference theme is noted above, we will consider all topics related to American Studies.

The conference will be held in San Angelo, TX Nov. 12-14. For more information, contact John Wegner (john.wegner@angelo.edu) or Terry Dalrymple (terry.dalrymple@angelo.edu).

Herald Exposes Problems With New Library

For those who didn't see the article, "New UTB-TSC library short on space," in The Brownsville Herald on Saturday, it is worth checking out. The reporter, Laura Tillman, does a good job explaining the issue. Even so, I would have liked to have seen more about the oddity of splitting up sections in a library's collection. I have a feeling what we are doing at our libraries is unusual in library circles. The new library was clearly poorly planned. If you only have a small amount of room for books, then keep the general stacks together in Oliveira; move other library functions, such as computer labs, to the University Boulevard Library to give those departments the space they need. Anyway, here is the start of Laura's story:

When UTB-TSC students were welcomed into their attractive new library last week, they may have been surprised: Two-thirds of the books were missing.

The new building, one of several projects paid for by a $68 million taxpayer bond issue, is able to house 100,000 of the university’s total collection of 300,000 books, administrators said. The new $12.5 million library is about half the size of the old Oliveira Library.

Students learned on Monday that they are not able to directly search the shelves of the library’s remaining collection. Instead, they must fill out an order form and wait until the following day to access books from the school’s Arnulfo L. Oliveira Memorial Library.

"We don’t have the staff to run two libraries," said Douglas M. Ferrier, dean of instructional support for the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.

To read more, click here.