THE NEWSLETTER OF NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY’SCENTER … · Steven Nelson, From Cameroon to Paris: Mousgoum Architecture In and Out of Africa (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F N O R T H W E S T E R N U N I V E R S I T Y ’ S C E N T E R F O R T H E W R I T I N G A R T S

W R I T I N G M AT T E R SVOL. 10 NO. 3 Spring 2010

www.northwestern.edu/writing-arts/

Inside:

Page 1 Feature on ATRIUM, The report by the Northwestern Bioethics & Humanities Program

Pages 4 WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Pages 6 WRITING AROUND CAMPUS

Page 7 RECAP of Graphic Novel Event

ATRIUM: The Report of the Northwestern Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program

As editor of an academic publi-cation, I am secretly delightedwhen people refer to ATRIUMas a magazine.

ATRIUM is written primarilyby and for academics in medi-cine, bioethics, and the medicalhumanities, so it’s not really amagazine. It’s also not a journalbecause it’s not peer-reviewed;

formally speaking, it’s a “report.”But I like it when people call it a“magazine” because that word sug-gests something you want to read,versus something you should read,like the unread journals that lingeron our desks like a pile of turnips—we know they’re good for us, butthey’re always the last thing on theplate.

ATRIUM was launched in 2005 withthe simple goal of creating some-thing intellectually enriching thatpeople like me and myNorthwestern MH&B collaboratorswould be excited to consume—arti-cles you email to colleagues; art thatpropels you out of your office toshow it to someone down the hall.So I intentionally embraced maga-zine conventions like shorter articles(400-4,000 words) and a short overallpage count (rarely over 30 pages). Isolicit and edit toward a writingstyle you might find in magazineslike The New Yorker to keep it invit-ing, and I ban non-essential academ-ic jargon to keep it accessible. And

because layout is a visual invitation,collaborating with an outstandinggraphic designer who could supportour content is indispensible, and I’mvery lucky to work with KathleenEvans of Anonymous Designs.

ATRIUM was also a response to anintellectual opening in our field.Most medical humanities publica-tions are primarily literary journalspublishing fiction, memoir andpoems, and a few medical humani-ties publications publish traditionalacademic pieces. There are also sev-eral bioethics journals, which focuson either clinical dilemmas or acade-mic analysis of larger issues. But it’suncommon to combine bioethicsand the medical humanities contentand approaches and we didn’t feelany one publication reflected theunusual way we think and teach inthe Northwestern MedicalHumanities & Bioethics Program.

A few weeks ago I was wearilyschlepping through the grocerystore when a woman from another

Katie Watson JD, AssistantProfessor of Medical Humanities& Bioethics, Feinberg School ofMedicine, NorthwesternUniversity

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NU CENTER FOR THEWRITING ARTS ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

2009/2010

T H E N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E C E N T E R F O R T H E W R I T I N G A R T S

WRITING MATTERSSpring 2010 Vol. 10 No.3Editor: STACY L. OLIVERNewsletter of the Northwestern University Center for the Writing Arts.Published three times during the school year at NorthwesternUniversity, 1860 Campus Drive, Crowe Hall 5-155,Evanston, IL 60208.For permission to quote in any publication outside NorthwesternUniversity, please contact the Editor.

PLANNING WRITING EVENTS THIS QUARTER? LET US KNOW!

Just a reminder that the Center’s biweekly e-mail announce-ment, NU Writing Event Digest, highlights NU writing eventsand reaches students, faculty, and staff via the Center’s growing email list. If you know of an upcoming event relatedto writing, whether it be an author’s visit, departmental program, or even an off-campus event involving NU studentsor faculty, please let us know! We will do our best to publicizeall writing-related programming. If you would like to receivethe electronic NU Writing Events Digest, please send an emailto: [email protected] or call us at 847-467-4099.

The Center for the Writing Arts presents a variety of distinguished writersfrom both on and off campus. For future events and an archival listing

visit: www.northwestern.edu/writing-arts/

Reginald GibbonsDirector of the Center for the Writing Arts Professor of English, Classics, and Spanish and PortugueseCo-Director of the MA/MFA in Creative Writing (SCS)

Ken Alder WCAS, HistoryLeigh Bienen School of LawSteven Fischer Kellogg School of ManagementDoug Foster Medill SchoolRobert Gundlach WCAS, Linguistics, The

Writing ProgramGeorge Harmon Medill SchoolCarol Henes Kellogg School of ManagementJohn Keene WCAS, EnglishMary Kinzie WCAS, EnglishDan Lewis School of Education &

Social PolicySarah Maza WCAS, HistoryDan McAdams School of Education &

Social PolicyKathryn Montgomery Feinberg School of MedicineJames R. O’Laughlin WCAS, Writing ProgramFrances Paden WCAS, Writing Program,

Gender StudiesJohn Rudnicki McCormick School of

EngineeringBarbara Shwom WCAS, Writing ProgramCarol Simpson Stern School of Communication,

Performance StudiesCharles Whitaker Medill SchoolPatti Wolter Medill School

The purpose of all CWA activities is to create, support and further undergraduate and graduate opportunities for the studyof writing at Northwestern, both within CWA itself and acrossthe university; to facilitate a continuing discussion in the university community about how best to foster and situate writing as a crucial part of a university education; to help coordinate the university's multifarious courses and programs inwriting across departments, programs and schools; and also towelcome audiences from the metropolitan area to the rich arrayof public events on campus that are focused on writing.

Center for the Writing Arts Mission Statement:

Find out about our events on FACEBOOK.

Read our latest BLOG entries: Writing,Reading, Learning and Teaching

http://writing-arts-blog.northwestern.edu/

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WRITING MATTERS/SPRING 2010 PAGE 3

medical school stopped me. Sherecognized me from a talk I gavethere a few years ago, and wantedto tell me she’d read every articlein every issue of ATRIUM, shehad them out on her coffee tableat home because they were sobeautiful, and she was in awe of“the way you all think aboutthings at Northwestern.”Suddenly I was thrilled to be inthe grocery store! It was the nicestfrozen-foods moment I’ve everhad, but it’s not the first time astranger has stopped me to chat—I’ve stopped counting the numberof times someone has recognizedmy name on a conference badgein the elevator and said somethinglike, “ATRIUM! I actually readthat thing cover-to-cover!”Comments like that make methink this approach is working.

Each issue begins with a theme,which can make the sum largerthan the parts (a good thing for ashort publication) and create afeeling that authors are engagedin something of a shared conver-sation. Themes are intended to bespecific enough to inspire, broadenough to interpret—such as“Haunting,” “Liminal States,”“Unmentionables,” or “Heroes &Villains.” When ATRIUMannounces each issue’s theme itsolicits proposals, not full-lengthpieces. I then select a range of pro-posals that apply the theme acrossmultiple contexts and disciplinaryperspectives using differentlengths and styles. Inviting pro-posals rather than pieces allowsme to steer promising writersaway from accidental overlap, andessentially “assign” pieces. Then I

will solicit the occasional piece tofill in gaps. Assembling eachissue’s puzzle is both a challengeand a joy—one of my favoritethings about editing is howauthors constantly surprise me intheir interpretation of a theme orthe content they bring to it.

Art is part of the discourse inATRIUM. I’m interested in art asargument, art as text, not win-dow-dressing. The only negativefeedback I’ve ever gotten wasfrom a few people who foundcover art disturbing. I haven’t setout to use confrontational images,but I’m not opposed to themeither. The common portrayal ofthe medical humanities as senti-mental and comforting is incom-plete; as a whole, our field is at itsmost vital when it’s challenging,insightful, and revelatory.“Aesthetic” doesn’t mean beauti-ful, it’s just the opposite of “anes-thetic”; and “hotel art” (pleasantwatercolors that don’t make mefeel anything) and the graphicdesign equivalent of bad PowerPoint (“The article is about dialy-sis, and this is a picture of a kid-ney!”) are anesthetics.

Our desire for ATRIUM to be readacross disciplines is driven by itsfirm grounding in a particular dis-ciplinary home: medical humani-ties and bioethics. Ours is a multi-disciplinary endeavor thatincludes fields like philosophy,history, law, narrative and litera-ture, religious studies, culturalstudies, performance studies,anthropology, sociology, and med-ical practioners like physicians,nurses, and social workers. Such a

field requires sophisticated yet com-prehensible conversation across dis-ciplines before people can collabo-rate and create a truly interdiscipli-nary product. As a lawyer on the fac-ulty of a medical school, my profes-sional goal is translation -- not“dumbing down” the law, but mak-ing it accessible to thoughtful profes-sionals outside my field. So the kindof curating and editing that ATRIUMrequires comes naturally to me. Iunderstand first-hand how makingevery article accessible to readersacross disciplines maximizes itspotential for interdisciplinaryimpact. This approach also makesATRIUM accessible to educated lay-people, a good thing in a field thatengages with topics of public con-cern.

ATRIUM is currently a free publica-tion that’s sent to approximately3,000 people. It goes out to anyonewho signs up for our mailing list, tofaculty and physicians at Feinbergand NMH, and to members of theAmerican Society for Bioethics andHumanities, a multi-disciplinarygroup of practitioners and academicsin fields like medicine, philosophy,law, literature, anthropology, sociolo-gy, religion, cultural studies, perfor-mance studies and history.

ATRIUM doesn’t have a “staff,” ithas an editor who is a faculty mem-ber with plenty of other responsibili-ties. Final decisions are mine, butthey almost always begin by brain-storming with my MH&B col-leagues, who give me tremendousguidance and support. For us thisapproach captures the best of the col-laborative environment that fosters

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WRITING MATTERS/SPRING 2010 PAGE 4


WHAT ARE YOU READING?We asked these questions: 1) What scholarly/professional book or article are you currently reading? 2) What book areyou reading at the moment largely for pleasure? 3) What is the next book you hope to read (for work or pleasure)? 4)What do you wish all your students would read? 5) Has any book you’ve recently read changed your thinking aboutyour own work? How?

Huey Gene Copeland IIAssistant Professor of Art History

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1. Steven Nelson, From Cameroon to Paris: Mousgoum Architecture In and Out of Africa(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007).

In this fascinating book, Nelson provides a sophisticated yet accessible account ofhow the teleuk--the dome-shaped earthen domicile developed by the Mousgoum peoplesof present-day Cameroon--became a charged symbol of both African and Europeannotions of gender, progress, and colonial exchange in the modern world.

2. Clarice Lispector, The Passion According to G.H., trans. Ronald W. Sousa(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988 [1964]).

This text offers little in the way of plot--simply put, a woman enters a recently vacated room of her house--yet Lispectormore than makes up for this slightness of incident by allowing her narrator to give voice to existential questions ofembodiment, space, desire, and the nature of the human that are as urgent as they are challenging.

creativity, and the leadershipthat gets things done. ATRIUMcomes from joy in intellectualengagement. We created itbecause we thought the wholeproject would be fun. “Fun” isan under-appreciated criterionfor academic pursuits, but itdrives some of our best work.And it also could be a goodATRIUM theme someday.The theme of the Summer 2010issue of ATRIUM is “Happy.”Article proposals for futurethemes are invited fromexperts in any field. Seehttp://bioethics.northwest-ern.edu/atrium

for submission guidelines,announcements of future themes,deadlines, and calls for proposals.PDFs of back issues are availableon this site too.

For a free subscription to ATRI-UM, register athttp://bioethics.northwestern.edu/atrium/mailing.

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Isaac M. DanielWalter P. Murphy Professor of Civil and Mechanical EngineeringDirector, Center for Intelligent Processing of Composites

David E. VanZandtDean, Northwestern University School of Law

3. George S. Schuyler, Black Empire (Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1991).

Although I have long been familiar with Schuyler's work as a journalist and social critic, I only recently read his BlackNo More of 1931, a hilarious satire of American race relations that has whetted my appetite for his Black Empire, whichwas originally published in serial form in the Pittsburgh Courier between 1936 and 1938.

4. William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th Edition (NeedhamHeights: Alvin and Bacon, 1979).

Great writing is difficult to come by and even harder to produce. Strunk and White's little book, which fits easily intoa back pocket, is a both a fine read and an invaluable primer addressing the basics of grammar, syntax, and composi-tion. Every writer ought to own and frequently consult The Elements of Style, if not just carry it around with her!

1. The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist's Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of theBiblical Stories by Colin Humphreys.

2. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

3. The Last Ember by Daniel Levin.

4. My textbook on Composites or anything else.

1. Many articles on legal education.

2. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

3. Too Big to Fall by Andrew Sorkin.



WRITING NEWS FROM AROUND CAMPUS

CLASSICIZING CHICAGO

The Classicizing Chicago project,directed by the ClassicsDepartment and the ClassicalTraditions Initiative atNorthwestern, will document andinterpret the city’s history ofengagements with Greek andRoman antiquity across a variety ofspheres. These include literature,theatre history, current theatricalactivity, art history, architecture andpublic spaces, politics and politi-cians, and the history of education.The rationale behind the project isthat studying one metropolitanarea’s engagements with literaryand material artefacts from, andideas about, Greek and Romanantiquity provides a valuable case-study within Classical Reception

Studies, and also a rich focal pointfor other (e.g. cultural historical)studies. The project does not pro-mote any particular viewpoint onthe interpretation of these modernengagements with antiquity; rather,it hopes to encourage not only inter-disciplinary perspectives but also arich diversity of opinion on thistopic.

This project was developed togetherwith the two-year Mellon-Sawyerseminar series on the theme of“Theatre after Athens: Reception andRevision of Ancient Greek Drama”,2008-2010. The first year’s seminarseries focused on Greek drama in itsancient contexts, especially beyondAthens. The current year’s seriesexamined the histories of Greekdrama in America. The final event inthe series took Classicizing Chicagoas its theme. It was be held at theJohn Evans Alumni Center on 21-22May 2010 and the program includedtalks on architecture, urban plan-ning, classical, politics, art, opera,drama, and poetry and is accessibleat www.sawyerseminar.northwest-ern.edu.

At this seminar, the pilot of theClassicizing Chicago website waslaunched. This website will eventu-ally hold substantial datasets of

information on, for example, Greekdrama in the Chicago area, plusinterpretative essays, encyclopaedicarticles, images, podcasts and more.Collection of content, which hasbeen ongoing for several years, is setto continue.

We would welcome hearing fromanyone willing to contribute data onChicago’s engagements with antiq-uity (including photographs,archival material, or references). Wewould also welcome hearing frompeople interested in writing shortessays for the site--whether a 1,500-word interpretative essay, or a briefencyclopaedic entry. If you wouldlike to be part of this project, or havecolleagues in academia or other pro-fessional spheres (archivists, archi-tects, etc) or graduate students whomay be interested in the opportunityof contributing to this resource, thecontact email for project staff is [email protected] website is being developed andwill be hosted by Digital Collectionsat Northwestern’s Library, and so itslongevity as a site of scholarship isguaranteed.

The directors of the project areKathryn Bosher, Assistant Professorof Classics, Sara Monoson, Associate

by Dr Amanda Wrigley, Mellon-Sawyer Postdoctoral

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WRITING MATTERS /SPRING 2010 PAGE 7


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Professor of Political Science andClassics at Northwestern, and DaleWinling, Assistant Professor ofHistory at Temple University. Theproject has benefited from the advi-sory support of Professor DanGarrison of the Department ofClassics. Amanda Wrigley, Mellon-Sawyer Postdoctoral Fellow inClassics, has been working with theLibrary to develop the website anddatabase. Graduate students whohave worked on the project in vari-

ous capacities include LaDonnaForsgren (IPTD), Louise Edwards(IPTD), Dawn Tracey (IPTD),Justine McConnell (RoyalHolloway, London), and DanielTovar (Philosophy). Currently,Jesse Njus (IPTD) and JordanaCox (IPTD) are conductingresearch.

GRAPHIC NOVEL EVENT MAY 5, 2010

Four graphic novelists -- all of whom call Chicago home -- recently spoke about the place of the graphic novel in litera-ture and, more specifically, about their own craft. Titled “Partnership of the Picture and Word” and sponsored byNorthwestern’s Center for the Writing Arts and the Block Museum of Art, the event featured these artist/writers:

Jeffrey Brown, perhaps best known for his bittersweet autobiographical graphic novels. The author of “Bighead,”“Clumsy,” and “Every Girl is the End of the World for Me,” Brown received an Ignatz Award in 2003, and, in 2006, cre-ated a short animated music video for the band Death Cab for Cutie. His work has been published in McSweeney’s andin Drawn & Quarterly Showcase. He has been a guest on public radio’s “This American Life” program with Ira Glass.

A short video of the event can be seen on our website under the AUDIO/VIDEO section!

www.northwestern.edu/writing-arts/

Sitting from left to right: Anders Nilsen, Jeffrey Brown, Ivan Brunetti, and Chris Ware. Photo credit: David Henry


WRITING MATTERSNEWSLETTER OF THE CENTER FOR THEWRITING ARTSStacy L. Oliver, EditorNorthwestern University1860 Campus Drive, Crowe Hall 5-155Evanston, IL 60208

PAGE 8 WRITING MATTERS /SPRING 2010


Ivan Brunetti, editor of An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories and a second volume of thesame name, both published by Yale University Press. The graphic novelist is author of Misery Loves Comedy,Haw and Ho! The Morally Questionable Cartoons of Ivan Brunetti. Perhaps best known for his largely autobio-graphical series Schizo, Brunetti has illustrated magazine covers of The New Yorker and an album cover forAmerican stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt.

Anders Nilsen, author and artist of Big Questions, Dogs and Water and Monologues for the Coming Plague.Nilsen's work has been translated into numerous languages and featured in Interview, The Chicago Reader,Mome, Utne Reader and other publications. A Los Angeles Times reviewer called Don't Go Where I Can't Follow,his graphic memoir, “a tribute by a good artist to the life and death of a woman he loved and to the redemp-tive power of art.” Nilsen has won two Ignatz Awards for his work in the graphic novel genre.

Chris Ware, author of Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, arguably the biggest graphic novel successsince Art Spiegelman's Maus. Ware’s works -- which explore themes of social isolation, emotional torment anddepression -- have been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, nest and other publications.He is the winner of numerous awards, including the 2000 Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Album. Heearned the 2001 Guardian First Book Award for Jimmy Corrigan, which marked the first time a graphic novelwon a major British book prize.


Documents

THE NEWSLETTER OF NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY’SCENTER … · Steven Nelson, From Cameroon to Paris: Mousgoum Architecture In and Out of Africa (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,