Welcome from Amy D. Unsworth

Language, Literature, Learning & Life.




Sneeze, Sniffle, & More Conference Notes

This semester is topping my all time record for time spent "under the weather" and the weather here has actually been rather nice lately. Oh Bother. (As Pooh would say.)

Here at KSU, we held our annual Cultural Studies Conference which focused on "Image, Icon, and Ideology" this year.

  • I did my bit by working to make and hand out the nametags. This meant that I actually had a good reason to chat with the attendees when I ran across them later during the panels and mixers.
  • Attendees came from all over the States, India, Italy, and Canada, too. There may have been even more countries of origin, but I don't have my program with me tonight.
  • oh my. Went to see Tom Huck. He's a woodcut artist and he'll break every single expectation you might have about the genre & what a "woodcut artist" might be or do. For example, his presentation included work that portrayed a bed of bones, Monster trucks, a greased pig contest, and much much more. His personal statement sounds so nice. ARTIST STATEMENT: My work deals with personal observations about the experiences of living in a small town in southeast Missouri. The often Strange and Humorous occurrences, places, and people in these towns offer a never-ending source of inspiration for my prints. I call this work "rural satire". My work has been influenced by an array of artists, among then the woodcuts of Albrecht Durer, the etchings of Warrington Colescott, nearly all of the German Expressionists, and the late great Frank Zappa. But go visit his website. And the stories that go along with these, well, he probably could hold his own on SNL.
  • Who knew that the "swoosh" logo was making its way into the local culture of South America? or Romania? And that it's been incorporated in many odd ways such as on gravemarkers. What does this mean? Will Anthropologists years from now think we worshipped a god named Nike? But wait, wasn't Nike really a godess?
  • What was particularly interesting was the range of people from many different types of departments: Philosophy, Art , Graphic Art, and of course, your good old English & Cultural Studies Departments.
  • Next Year's Call for Papers: Privacy. And one of the Keynote speakers is a poet. This makes me happy. Yes, I'll be at the registration desk next year too, if all goes as planned. Stop by and see me.

2 comments:

SquirrleyMojo said...

yeah, the "swoosh" has become (again?) some global symbol of power (economic?); i think it's important to keep in mind that so one culture, in this case, Nike, can maintain ownership or claims of authenticity at any given point besides the moment and place of introduction . . . not that you suggested such--sorry, bit sundazed & consistantly lazy on the blog.

btw--perhaps profs are right and blogging is a horrid hobby that will only lead to a vile end . . .

b/c we never complete thoughts and are not held accountable, I mean.

Is there a Beth in your dept at
K(entucky ?) U who studies theory?? um?

Amy D. Unsworth said...

Hello Mojo,

The paper & presentation showed the swoosh in all types of locales that one wouldn't expect it, and it was doing all sorts of things besides selling shoes. (Decorations for taxi-like vehicles, decorating tombs, and as your every day painted on the wall grafitti in places like Romania.)

I don't believe that blogs are a horrid hobby myself. They do give me a place to muse aloud on issues about poetry etc and capture ideas that might have been lost otherwise. And (every great once in a while) someone will actually be interested in discussing one of the concepts that I happen to be interested in. That's a plus, in my book.

And I'm at Kansas State, not U of K, though both do claim wildcats, just of a different color.
Here they're purple.