Once Upon a Time an English Honor Society Held a Highly Successful Convention at the Gateway to the West…

By Allie Reznik, Chatham University, Alpha Delta Lambda Chapter
This year’s Sigma Tau Delta International Convention in St. Louis from March 17-20, 2010, was a thriving academic and networking setting. Going along with the overarching theme, the convention’s focus on “Storytellers” could not have anticipated a better plot. Students and faculty had the opportunity to participate in critical academic and creative writing panels, expanding scholarly vigor beyond the classroom. Other professionalizing experiences included learning about the Sigma Tau Delta infrastructure and discovering how to become more involved with scholarship applications and submitting to the Review and Rectangle, as well as discussing fundraising ideas across a national landscape of university chapters. The regional caucus was highly productive, as Glen Brewster became Regent for the Eastern Region, Sean Cullen (Alvernia University) was elected Student Representative, and Marta Paczkowska (The College of New Jersey) was elected Associate Student Representative.

The roster of featured speakers was an English major’s dream. Li-Young Lee, author of poetry including Book of My Nights, Rose, as well as his latest work, Behind My Eyes, presented a powerful discussion of his craft. The second night included the mellow Chris Abani discussing his works The Virgin of Flames and Becoming Abigail. His award-winning text Song for Night, about a child soldier who lost his voice, indeed reminded all those in attendance that there is political significance in having the right to speak and write--a right not to be taken for granted. Azar Nafisi, author of the national bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, offered an inspirational speech about the ignorance that plagues international politics today. Her presentation became a forum, as she called for spreading the power of empathy that literature has to offer. She was truly an inspiration, calling for the audience to begin effective political action in complement with expanding knowledge. The convention concluded with Judith Ortiz Cofer discussing her works The Line of the Sun and Call Me Maria and how her movement from being born in Puerto Rico to being raised in New Jersey impacted her mode of storytelling.

From dining at the Italian restaurant Calico’s to viewing St. Louis from the top of the Arch, students and faculty created a successful convention…then returning to school, where they lived happily ever after.

An Event of a Lifetime

By Victoria L. Weaver, King’s College Chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Fifty-Six. 56. Fifty-six is my age, yet most of the students are in their 20s. However, though the number 56 seems so ancient, I know and feel I am a part of this group. Why?  It’s the love of English. The desire to be a part of it all. 56. The first time I wrote poems – poems that seemed to come so easy – yet accepted and approved by others with the same desire . . . the love of English. It is 2010, March 17-20, to be exact – St. Louis, Missouri. This is my first Sigma Tau Delta International Convention. Yes, at 56 years of age, I am finally a senior reaching for and close to achieving my B.A. degree!

How will I be accepted? How will my poems go over? I get to the convention and attend opening night ceremonies after a day of discovering the Arch and Tom Sawyer’s Riverboat Cruise. Am I really here? I sit and listen to the featured speakers and am amazed at the large turn out of others that have the love of English. To make my experience more enlightening, I listen to those who read at the Rectangle Forum. My heart went up into my throat as I hear all of their works of art. My poems could not compare. My poems are simple nature poems. I think to myself and say, “Uh oh!  I’m in trouble.  My stuff doesn’t add up to this caliber of writing. I am making a mistake . . . a big mistake!”

I go back to my room and peer out at the Arch overlooking the Mississippi River. I share this scene, the same scene shared by others such as T.S. Eliot, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Tennessee Williams, William Wells Brown, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Vance Randolf, and Margaret Truman. This convention is entitled “Storytellers.” I say to myself, “Hey!  I have a story to tell. It might not be as polished or intense as others, but I have a story to tell – my love for nature. In this day of tweeting, texting, emailing, face book, digital cameras, cell phones - everyone looking through a lens or at a screen – we need to stop and look at what is around us – the beauty of nature.” But will people laugh or not clap as I finish reading my poems? Will they find them old-fashioned and silly? I’m sensing a bit of nervousness or possibly I’m losing my confidence. But I remember my love for nature which is so intense as well as my love of English.

I prepare for my session knowing I own my poems. They are my words, and I owe it to nature to deliver them. It is time – I start to read my poems. Ahhhh!  I’m happy because I recite them the way I want to – with error-free confidence. The audience claps at the finish of my poems. CLAP!  I feel good but still I think, “Are my poems good enough to be part of such high caliber work that surrounds me? Well, maybe – maybe not – but I deliver my inner-most love and expose my soul through the love of English." To my surprise I am approached by several people who loved my work. I’m ecstatic!  It was, and is, totally worth it!

Yet another challenge awaits me on Friday night – Open Microphone Session. I meet lots of wonderful fellow “lovers of English.” We eat, laugh, and get to know each other. And then the evening came. I stand on stage, shaking at the knees without a podium to hide behind, in front of a crowd to tell two more of my poems. This time I am unsure how my poems went over. I start to doubt myself again until at a stoplight the next afternoon, on my way to lunch with my new friend Marcy, a young woman walks up to me and tells me I did a good job and she loves my poems. WOW! That is all I could think. WOW!

Looking back on my whole experience at the convention, I must say the guest speakers were all outstanding and each had lovely messages to bring. What a wonderful experience to be a part of. I’m so thankful for the love of English. My life and soul are joyous for being a part of this event! My work has only started because next year I want King’s College to be represented with at least four students presenting their works of art. I want the whole convention to know that King’s College arrived.

One-Hour Convention Session

by Diane Steinberg, The College of New Jersey

This year’s annual convention in St. Louis, MO, had an innovation in the schedule: some sessions were 55 minutes instead of the more traditional 75-80 minutes. These brief “one-hour” sessions presented three critical essays selected to match together so that their ideas allowed good group discussion after the three essays were read to the room.

This new “one-hour” format was very well received by those who spoke to me about it. Listening to three papers and keeping their ideas in mind before launching into a discussion of those ideas was easier than listening to and formulating questions about the five essays presented in the larger sessions. The larger sessions often had more listeners in the audience because supporters came from all five schools to hear their colleagues read, but the larger group did not necessarily produce a livelier discussion. Even in early morning hour-long sessions presented to a sparse crowd, the discussion was energetic and included all the readers and touched on all the papers presented.

I urge next year’s committee to consider retaining the “one-hour” or three-essay convention session. The audience stays more focused; ideas presented in the first essay have little elapsed time in which to be forgotten, and everyone’s essay is included in the post-reading discussion session. 

A few ideas I gleaned from speaking to students at this year’s convention concerned putting individual sessions together. A few students thought that the papers in their sessions were not as related to one another as they had been at previous conventions. Perhaps students should be more specific in their paper abstracts so that convention organizers can sort accepted papers into the best sessions?  If a submitter’s essay deconstructs one of Satan’s speeches in Book Nine of Paradise Lost, the abstract should not merely say, “This essay looks at Milton’s Paradise Lost.” Perhaps next year’s convention website could include a “How to write a good abstract” link that suggests that the abstract include appropriate details and shows students how to write a good abstract.

Students also told me that 5 minutes between convention sessions was not enough time to get from session to session. One student, instructed to arrive early when she was presenting, accidentally interrupted the session preceding her own. When all participants have 15 minutes between sessions, they have time to purchase coffee or a t-shirt before they go on to the next paper session.