Two past UW students published in Young Scholars in Writing, a peer-review journal for undergradate students in the field of rhetoric and composition
The seventh edition of Young Scholars in Writing, a peer-review journal for undergradate students in the field of rhetoric and composition, has just been published.
Two of Professor Rachel Riedner's students from last year, Andy Erickson and Lindsay Gordon, have their final UW20 papers published in the seventh edition. Both Lindsay and Andy presented their papers at the University Writing and Research Symposium held on March 5th.
Young Scholars is a great opportunity for UW20 students who are inspired to take their writing and research beyond the class. The journal's revision process is the same as a professional journal's; it is intensive but also rewarding. If you have students who are doing work that intersects with rhetoric and composition studies and who would embrace the peer review process (by both alumni of the journal and faculty), direct them to Young Scholars.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Two University Writing Students Publish Their Papers
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
UW 20 Student is the Focus of Documentary Mario's Story
Former UW student Marios Rocha is the focus of a documentary, Mario’s Story, screening Wednesday November 11 at the GW Law School. The film chronicles his wrongful conviction on murder charges and his struggle, largely through writing about his situation, to have that conviction overturned
Former UW student , Mario Rocha, is the focus of a
documentary, "Mario's Story". The film will be screened on Wednesday, November 11, in Stuart 101
(Law School) from 6:00-8:30. A Q&A will follow.
Professor Robin Marcus has this to say about her former student: “Mario Rocha was my student Spring semester 2009. On the first day of class - by way of introduction - he told us he had done 11 years of a double life sentence in prison having been falsely accused of murder, and had only been released the year before. Everyone was stunned; Mario is such an affable, easy-going guy that his revelation seemed incongruous and it took a few beats before incredulity ("Did he really say that, did I hear that right?") morphed into disbelief and then into wonder. The documentary, "Mario's Story" chronicles the trial, the conviction and the coalition that mounted an extraordinary effort leading to an appeal and the overturning of his conviction. Mario was only sixteen when he was convicted and spent much of his time in prison writing about not only his own ordeal but other cases of injustice in the American criminal justice system. In spite of his ordeal he is an optimistic young man who has a voracious appetite for learning and for social justice; in a few years he'd like to be in law school. Because the focus of the class was on a related subject i.e. African American speech and the rhetorical themes involved including liberation and rebellion, Mario regularly found openings in class discussion to make observations about his fight to be heard, the research he undertook to publish his story in scholarly and prison publications, and the guidance he received from mentoring academics. He also spoke about the difficulties of incarceration, difficulties made even more tragic by his innocence. As a speaker, he is now in great demand by human rights and social justice organizations.”
And Mario has this to say about his University Writing experience: “My UW course was my favorite class last semester because it. made me think critically about a language that I had only experienced as a young Xicano from Los Angeles and as a California prisoner--never as a student. Watching Spike Lee's Bamboozled at Sankofa in Howard at night is still my fondest memory. I remember walking back to GW with my UW peers, discussing the heavy subject matter--the history of racism towards Blacks in American entertainment--and I remember thinking, ‘I am so glad I took this course.’ The same can be said about my path to GW as a whole.”
Monday, May 11, 2009
UW20 Alum Stefanie Fischer reflects on her UW20 Experience
We have to take University Writing. We do not have a choice. If you give any student a chance, they will not take a four credit course with a lot of work and a small chance of completing the course with an ‘A.’ Most students enter the class thinking that they already know how to write, that they already know how to research, and that University Writing is just one more thing the university does to make our lives difficult.
This article was written by UW20 Alumn, Stefanie Fischer
It's true, the course was a shock at first. It turns out, I quickly learned, students do not really know how to manage their time. Most of us rarely had to exert even the slightest effort in high school and we enter college thinking we can manage it all. Micro-assignments, readings (that originally take us upwards of four hours apiece because we were never really taught how to read anything that does not come easily to us), and three research essays rarely makes for an enthused effort. We stress over completing the assignments in time, and sometimes we don’t. We think about not going to class, and again, sometimes we don’t.
But if you try, just once, just a little bit, you start to realize something: this is interesting, hard and complicated and sometimes above our comprehension, but we want to get it. We want to feel like we can graduate into the real world in three years and publish a book and go to seminars and maybe even be considered a knowledgeable expert. Most of us will not continue into whatever specialized topic our UW20 course focused on, but most of us will find ourselves held to a higher level of academia and knowledge in three years time.
By the time we leave, at least by the time I left my course, we feel a little bit better about it. We have figured out how to read and analyze at least some parts of essays and papers and publications we do not know. We did not just write a research paper composed of research compiled by other scholars and occasionally the inclusion of a critical review of that research. We conducted our own research, we make our own conclusions, we complicated our own theses, and we left feeling semi-confident that we can be scholars.
A funny thing happens then: you start to care about your work. You find yourself in the library until three in the morning, not because you have a paper due, but because you know it is not perfect and that bothers you. Because you know it can be better, that you can do better, and that someday, your work will mean more than a grade. You find yourself in the library at three in the morning writing a paper that you think could actually mean something to the scholarly world, and you want to make a real contribution. That is what University Writing, or a good University Writing, does for a student. It shows us how to be a scholar, and convinces us that we can be one.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Guest Lecturer Abdur-Rahman Muhammad Teaches UW20 Students the Fact and Fiction Behind the Nation of Islam
Late last month, UW20 Professor Kevin Bryant invited author and lecturer Abdur-Rahman Muhammad to speak in both of his classes, which focus on the life of the legendary Malcolm X.
This article was written by UW20 student, Jared Brenner.
Mr. Muhammad centered his lecture on a topic crucial to any study of Malcolm X: the origins (both factual and mythological) of the Nation of Islam. He described the truths and fallacies behind the organization’s founder, W.D. Fard, and explained how he believed Fard to have manipulated the early 20th century African-American social construct in creating the NOI. His lecture provided a great deal of historical context and insight into an era that Professor Bryant’s students continue to write about frequently as the semester progresses.
Says Professor Bryant: “I continue to invite Abdur-Rahman to participate as a guest lecturer in my Malcolm X course because my students appear to have a profound respect for his vast knowledge not just of Malcolm X in particular, but for his knowledge of African American history, Islam, and other religions. […] Abdur-Rahman is an engaging and eloquent speaker; you can sense [his] enthusiasm [and] he has a way of captivating his audience with fresh interpretations and analyses of the bygone era of Malcolm X.”
Mr. Muhammad describes his interest in the subject as having been primarily drawn from his experiences growing up in the post-Civil Rights Era 1970s, “particularly pertaining to the forced desegregation of public schools.” As a college student, he says he “met students who were part of the NOI, as well as many older Sunni Muslims who were once part of the NOI and educated me on their teachings.” He has been a regular lecturer on college campuses for over 20 years, with the past seven of them spent doing classroom lectures.
In addition to his work as an author (his first book, concerning Black American Islam, will be available this summer) and a blogger (at his website, A Singular Voice), Mr. Muhammad is a participant in an upcoming documentary, entitled Militant Islam and the West. As part of his contribution, the producers of the documentary filmed Mr. Muhammad’s visit to Professor Bryant’s classes.
A producer for the documentary described it in a recent e-mail as “seek[ing] to answer questions about the true nature of political Islam and how it is addressed in American society by Muslim American groups. This piece will particularly focus on the impact that adherents of political Islam and/or members of the Muslim Brotherhood have upon American Muslim organizations and the institutions with whom the groups interact.”
When asked what makes GW students stand out from those to whom he has lectured previously, Mr. Muhammad commented, “What I enjoyed most about lecturing to GW students was their obvious intelligence and genuine interest in the subject. They ask compelling questions which show that they have thought about the material. […] I am motivated by a desire to inspire young people to study the history of our country, and the social movements that contributed to it's greatness. My lectures have always been greatly received by students, for which I am entirely grateful.”
Mr. Muhammad’s website is A Singular Voice. His book, From the Back of the Bus to the Back of the Camel, will be available this summer. For more about the documentary mentioned in this article, please visit http://www.wemakedocs.com/.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Student Lecture Series Event: Change and Motion: Place, Space & Rhetoric in the Urban Space
UW20 Alumns Jennifer Nguyen, Matt Bevilacqua, and Alex Pazuchanics will present a panel entitled "Change and Motion: Place, Space, and Rhetoric in the Urban Space." Elizabeth Chacko, Associate Professor of Geography, will provide a faculty response. Discussion will follow the presentations.
When & Where
Friday, March 27
4:00 - 5:30 PM
Gelman Library 207
Change and Motion: Place, Space, and Rhetoric in the Urban Space
This panel explores the interactions between location and culture. Drawing from examples in New York, Washington, and Pittsburgh, the panel hopes to expose the discourse that develops around the urban experience in America.
Speakers will focus on the way in which their personal experiences and academic research in the metropolis contribute to an understanding of leisure, movement, and hegemonic identity. Pulling from discourses of geography, political theory, critical race theory, and the study of class, the panelists will engage the issues of homelessness, income inequality, and uneven geographic development.
"Beggars Can't Be Choosers: The Discursive Creation of Habituated Homelessness in Washington D.C."
Jennifer Nguyen examines the phenomenon of habituated homelessness in Washington D.C and argues that this apathetic behavior towards the homeless is deeply rooted to both cultural and class struggle. She argues that this generally dismissive view of homelessness is critically linked to our view of national identity and the moral statutes that accompany such a national identity. To assume any definition of "American morality" as it is often used in political discourse, as well as everyday rhetoric, is to assume both cultural homogeneity and hegemony.
Ms Nguyen critically examines the disparity between the stereotypical heroic image of the "American Moral Duty" and the behavior towards homelessness in our nation's capital. Moreover, the speaker posits that homelessness is an issue that is often ignored or left unaccounted for because the stigmatized associations of homelessness do not fit into the generally accepted homogenized view of the American dream. The homeless are essentially ex iled from this idealized imagery and thus are not included cultural identity. In the same way that America exercises political hegemony towards other regimes it feels are inferior, the homeless suffer a cultural hegemony that perpetuates their struggle to find themselves at home in their own country
"Omnibus No More: Deconstructing the Culture of Mass Transit"
Alex Pazuchanics analyzes the major trends that affect urban mass transportation systems, with a particular focus on transit systems in Washington DC and Pittsburgh. Using the works of several cultural theorists and radical geographers, he makes connections between who people are, where they live, and how they move. The paper examines structural and socioeconomic issues that face American transit systems. It details and critiques the two-tiered system that develops between buses and light rail. It details the institutional and social factors that contribute to the culture of automobility. The presentation closes with making the case for transportation studies as an interdisciplinary study of American culture. This work draws from discourses of race, poverty, class, and location to paint a picture of the way that transit systems work, and are perceived by both their riders and their non-riders.
"Renewal in Coney Island: What it Means for a Class of People Often Forgotten"
As of last month, Astroland, one of the two popular theme parks that compromise the commercial amusement portion of Coney Island, permanently shut its doors after more than forty-five years of operation. Its closing marks the latest development in a campaign to renew the area, undertaken by a powerful real estate development company with considerable support from the local city government. Matt Bevilacqua examines the history of Coney Island with regards to its cultural image as a social space of leisure reserved for the working class, and how the existence and availability of such an "urban populist" entertainment space can provide identity for a people often forsaken in a city's development plans. The paper also analyzes the history of gentrification as it occurred in Times Square and Las Vegas , the former of which held a similar image of working class identity prior to its renewal, and the latter or which has been invoked by the company in question as influence in its plans for the future of Coney Island. Examining the gentrification of these two neighborhoods exposes what is in store for Coney Island should it undergo renewal. It is ultimately concluded that, if the current plans for Coney's renewal come to fruition, then the neighborhood will lose its longstanding image as a space for the working class, and will instead adopt one of a luxury resort for members of the upper classes. This will generate more profits for the company and city hall, but leaves legions of blue collar New Yorkers at a loss, for without a substantial social space of entertainment, there is no space in which to find an adequate identity.
The Student Lecture Series is an ongoing public event sponsored by the Student Lecture Series Editorial Collective and the Capstone Committee of the University Writing Program. The Student Lecture Series features the research-based writing of UW20 students. The series features students who are identified by their professors as doing original, compelling writing and research. For current UWP students and the GW community, the lecture series is an opportunity to experience writing as a public event and writers as public intellectuals. Each student lecture includes a faculty respondent who has expertise or interest in the fields that the paper addresses who provides a 10 minute response that highlights the contributions of the paper. Conversation with the audience follows the presentation.
The Student Lecture Series is open to all members of the UW20 community and beyond, especially current faculty, students, and librarians. A special thanks to Cathy Eisenhower and Dolsy Smith for securing a room in the library for this presentation. And, a special thanks to the members of the Editorial Collective of the SLS for providing review and feedback for all paper submissions.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
UW20 Alumn Jesse Regis wins Eckles Prize
First-year research featured in Columbian College of Arts and Sciences newsletter.
"For Jesse Regis, freshman year was spent seriously researching a topic about which he was passionate. What started out as a class assignment for University Writing (UW20) became a “sort of rite of passage” and a personal quest to uncover The George Washington University’s role in protesting and ending the Vietnam War. For his in-depth research using the University Archives, among other sources, Regis was the first-place winner of this year’s Eckles Prize." From Sophomore Researches GW's Role in Vietnam (CCAS Newsletter--By Corissa Rodgers). He is shown with finalists and fellow UW20 alumns Nancy Barry and Hilary Swaim
Read Jesse Regis' paper.
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