_________________________________________________________________________________ THE WINNERS! This was a particularly strong batch of short films, and the judges did not have an easy time of it.  Here are the results: First place: “Memories” ($100) Second place: “After” ($75) Third place: “(Googly) Eye of the Beholder” ($50) Audience Choice: “Stuck at Home” ($50) Cash prizes have been provided by the HC Theatre Department and an anonymous donor. Thanks to everyone who participated! We enjoyed watching and thinking about your work and we hope you’ll participate again next year. Special thanks to Sam Bennett and Josh Hulburt, HC alums and former film fest winners, who contributed “Portraits of a Pan-Demic” even though it wasn’t eligible for a prize. Well done, everyone! _________________________________________________________________________________ Theme: Isolation Prop: Frying Pan Time Limit: 5 Minutes Watch all the films and vote for...

I have recently begun to reread the works of nineteenth-century French novelist Gustave Flaubert, the celebrated author of Madame Bovary , a novel so scandalous that he was tried for “attacks on public morals” when it was first serialized in 1856. The “scandal” is no longer scandalous, of course; our sensibilities are now unfazed by narratives of adultery. And though Madame Bovary is arguably his most famous work, it is his lesser known (at least among wider audiences) unfinished last novel Bouvard and Pécuchet that pushes nineteenth-century novelistic paradigms to – not to say beyond – the limits. The plot follows the copyists Bouvard and Pécuchet, two perfect imbeciles, who move from Paris to the Norman countryside to put knowledge to the test: they go over all the major nineteenth-century scientific disciplines, reading books and then attempting either to put the knowledge they have gained into practice or to identify inconsistencies, controversies, and lack of consensus. ...

This is the first of a two-part series on Teaching in McCormick. Part 1 focuses on the classroom spaces in McCormick Hall. Part 2 focuses on teaching online during the COVID-19 pandemic. McCormick Hall is home to both the Department of Languages and Literatures and the Department of History, Philosophy, and Religion. Most of the courses for these departments are held in the six classrooms of McCormick Hall. This means that most students have a class in McCormick Hall at least once, if not several times, during their time at Hastings College. In 2017 McCormick Hall, the oldest building on campus, was in need of a little love and attention. In November of that year, it was the focus of Hastings College’s #GivingTuesday campaign, and donors gave generously. (Thank you!) As a result of that successful campaign, we were able to redesign all the classrooms in the building. This is a look into that process. Identifying Problems The first step was to identify problems, which were...

From Auntie Anne, aka Anne (Fairbanks) Bohlke: Since I’m suggesting this book club, I’ll go first. I’m doing ok psychologically in the current situation, most of the time; but I’m having trouble concentrating. So I’m savoring less demanding literature that I’ve read before. I’m reading—rereading— John Sanford’s Prey novels , featuring detective Lucas Davenport. I admit it. These are mass-market, only semi-“worthwhile”* novels. But Sanford puts together a good plot (so important, Aristotle tells us), brings memorable characters to life, gives them dialogue that’s fun to read, and constructs a world where good triumphs, sort of, over evil. It’s mainly reading to escape, but putting myself into these characters’ shoes helps me to be empathetic, I think. When I crave more intellectual fare, I grab a Dorothy Sayers mystery. A Lord Peter Wimsey novel .  Strong Poison ,  Clouds of Witness ,  The Nine Tailors . Escape reading again, but this time with genteel British characte...

While a seance with a few beloved authors sounds like a wonderful plan for a department reunion, Davianne will be relieved to know Louisa May Alcott can respond to her concerns through the timeless medium of pen and paper. It turns out that Alcott more than anticipated her readers’ frustrations with Jo’s choice for a husband. As she wrote in a letter to her friend, Elizabeth Powell, in 1869: A sequel will be out early in April, & like all sequels will probably disappoint or disgust most readers, for publishers won't let authors finish up as they like but insist on having people married off in a wholesale manner which much afflicts me. “Jo” should have remained a literary spinster but so many enthusiastic young ladies wrote to me clamorously demanding that she should marry Laurie, or somebody, that I didn't dare refuse & out of perversity went & made a funny match for her. I expect vials of wrath to be poured out upon my head, but rather enjoy the prospect.  P...

When I joined the HC English faculty as an adjunct instructor in 1992, I was thrilled to have made it through the doors! My husband had accepted a post-doc position at MARC (Meat Animal Research Center, USDA) in June, 1990, and I was tired of being a stay-at-home mom who knew almost no one in Hastings. I had a shiny, new PhD, and I wanted to use it! Dwayne Strasheim was then the dean, and I had made an appointment with him to let him know I was interested in teaching. He invited me to campus to meet with the current department chair, Dwight Marsh, and other faculty members in the Gold Room. It was a great meeting. We all talked about what sorts of literature we liked. I was surprised how much the others disliked Willa Cather; I had studied her in my M.A. program and had grown to love her work. (Only later did I realize that all Nebraskans are forced to read My Antonìa in high school. That's way too early!) Two years later, Dr. Strasheim phoned me to ask if I would teach a las...

Let me just preface this by saying I absolutely loved the book. Gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. Would have given it 4.5 if they had half-star ratings on the site. This book is so beautiful, and the reader can definitely feel how much love and care was put into every page. The emphasis on feminine relationships and familial bonds are so authentic and unlike anything I've read in any other novel. Reading about the love and camaraderie the Marches have for each other, the conflicts they share, and the way those conflicts resolve and strengthen their bonds, all remind me how much I love my own sister. I should call her and let her know. And while I love all of these things, the relationships are somewhat disappointing. Does Alcott know this? Did she intend for her characters to be married off to men I personally do not think deserve these girls, and I am willing to march down to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, summon her with a seance, and ask her ghost, "Why?" Okay, so I want to...

Volume 1. Flora & Fauna (2013) With COVID-19 wreaking havoc across the world right now, we got some problems. But we don’t got Lewis-and-Clark-killing-monsters-across-the-North-American-continent problems. That’s the premise of Image Comics’ comic book series Manifest Destiny (2013 – present). Manifest Destiny is smart. It’s gory. It’s funny. I love it. Like Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2009 novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies , Manifest Destiny is a speculative mash-up, combining details from its source material, The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition , with dangerous, mythical monsters. The premise: What if Lewis and Clark’s real mission wasn’t to explore and map west of the Mississippi River, but to clear it of monsters? Lewis and Clark and Monsters. Volume 2. Amphibia & Insecta (2015) The series follows the dates and locations of the actual Lewis and Clark expedition. The first issue begins on 23 May 1804, while the three ships of the Lewis and ...