2010 Convention Reflections and Convention Awards, St. Louis
Solo in St. Louis
by Raina L. Shults, Union University
When Professor Stanley told me that I would be the only member of Sigma Tau Delta from the Union University chapter attending the annual convention, my heart sank to the pit of my stomach. The excitement that I had felt upon the acceptance of both of my submissions began to dissipate into dread of lonesomeness. All of the other attendees would be arriving with their chapters to enjoy the convention and downtown St. Louis. Sure, I was excited to present my papers, but I was dreading the prospect of spending four days locked away in a hotel room in the Gateway City.
When I settled in at my gate at the airport, I noticed a group of college aged people across from me that spoke like English majors—I do not know how, but I just knew that they were. As the various zones were being called to board the plane, I heard one of the girls say something about presenting a paper. I then recognized a Sigma Tau Delta pin on another girl’s coat. My suspicions were confirmed after I briefly engaged them in a conversation, and I discovered that they were the Sigma Tau Delta chapter from Auburn University Montgomery. It turns out that I not only shared a flight with the Auburn crew, but I also shared a shuttle bus with them to the hotel.
I ended up spending a lot of my free time exploring the city with several of the girls from the Auburn chapter. We explored the Arch, meandered around the heart of downtown, shopped to our hearts content, ate mouthwatering gyros at a small convenient store down the street from our hotel, and sampled a delectable palate of tapas at a restaurant called Mosaic. In fact, most of my meals were spent in downtown St. Louis with the members of various school chapters that I met at the convention.
I met most of my new acquaintances through the sessions that I attended. Because I was the only member of my chapter to present, I was free to attend sessions that interested me most. I chose to attend mostly creative writing sessions so that I could hear the various writing styles, and I can still remember vivid imagery from several student short stories. Additionally, hearing great writers like Li-Young Lee and Chris Abani was one of the greatest highlights of the trip. The passion and creativity of these writers along with the student writers that I listened to are proving to be a great influence in my own writing this semester. The convention closed with the Red and Black Gala, where students were encouraged to wear the Sigma Tau Delta colors and honor chords. Because I usually despise going to large, dressy events with strangers in a strange place, I thought I was going to hate it. However, the Gala turned out being a great venue for me to reunite with the students I had met at the convention one last time before we all went home. Plus, I had the opportunity to wear the red dress that I had bought at the Macy’s in downtown St. Louis the day before.
I never would have met such fascinating people if I had been in my own group. I would have had fun, sure, but I would never have dared to leave my own group to meet the students from the other schools. And, while I am still going to razz my fellow Union Sigma Tau Delta friends about not submitting to the convention, I am glad that I was able to meet so many of the fascinating students that make up this English honor society.
2010 Convention Awards
Isabel Sparks President’s Awards
Given for the best presentations by active student members at the Sigma Tau Delta International Convention, these awards were established in 1991 by Isabel Sparks, the fifth President of Sigma Tau Delta.
Convention Awards for Works Best Representing the Convention Theme of Storytellers
Megan Smith ($150)
Pikeville College (KY)
If The String Swings
Nicole Bartley ($150)
Slippery Rock University (PA)
Doorways
Convention Awards for Poetry
1st Place
Brittney Reed ($500)
University of Tennessee - Martin (TN)
Investigating Art through Verse: A Study of Ekphrastic Poetry
2nd Place
Joshua Clark ($250)
University of Alabama (AL)
Harbor Lights: A Garland
3rd Place
Jessica Marshall ($150)
Indiana University (IN)
A Story of Woman
Convention Awards for Critical Theory, World Literature, and British Literature
1st Place
Amanda Utzman ($500)
Southern Utah University (UT)
True as Jade
2nd Place
Rachel Dunnahoe ($250)
Ouachita Baptist University
Hey, Fyodor, Leave Them Jews Alone: Dostoevsky's Anti-Semitism
3rd Place
Lacey Young ($150)
Auburn University, Montgomery (AL)
Is it, or isn't it?
Convention Awards for American Literature and Film Studies
1st Place
Gretchen Panzer ($500)
St. Norbert College (WI)
A Lost Voice: Sexism in The Great Gatsby
2nd Place
Allison Wachtel ($250)
California Lutheran University (CA)
Size and Simulacra: Understanding Flesh and Agency in Don DeLillo’s White Noise
3rd Place
Jillian Janflone ($150)
Saint Vincent College (PA)
“I should change the light”: Projection and Person in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
Convention Awards for Creative Nonfiction
1st Place
Anna Smith ($500)
North Central University (MN)
The Baby Named Morgue
2nd Place
Laura Citino ($250)
Western Michigan University (MI)
Souvenirs
3rd Place
Kaitlyn Dunnevant ($150)
Cedarville University (OH)
On Harmony
Convention Awards for Original Fiction
1st Place
Meredith Harper ($500)
University of Alabama (AL)
Variations on a Large Hadron Collider
2nd Place
Jennifer Kiefer ($250)
Western Kentucky University (KY)
Shallow Roots
3rd Place
Alex Carpenter ($150)
Chapman University (CA)
A Puta e O Diabo
Convention Awards for Common Reader
1st Place
Asherita Oana ($500)
Cedarville University (OH)
A Lacanian Reading of Song for Night, Or Why Boy Soldiers Cannot Become Men
2nd Place
Lauren Brandeberry ($250)
University of Central Oklahoma (OK)
“Dreaming is Hands Held in Prayer over the Nose”: A Freudian dream analysis of Chris Abani’s Song for Night
3rd Place
Stephanie Schiefelbein ($150)
University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire (WI)
Crossing the Cross River: Contradictory Waters in My Luck’s Journey to the Afterlife in Song for Night by Chris Abani
