Let’s Communicate                                    Fall 2008 – Spring 2009

Bob Moore (Red Hawk) had 4 poems published in issue #18 of Works & Conversations “Body & Spirit”: “How Easy It Is To Forget God”; “The Development of Attention”; “The Good Farmer” and “How Rare to Find Honor Among Artists.” 


Tom Richard’s exhibitions held during fall 2008:

Solo
    Blue Moon Art Gallery, Hot Springs, AR  “Its Complicated” (Part I)
    Blue Moon Art Gallery, Hot Springs, AR  “Its Complicated” (Part II)
Group
    Bradbury Gallery, ASU, Jonesboro, AR, “Artists at Play: the Art of the Toy”
    Baton Rouge Gallery and Center for Contemporary Art, “Group Exhibition”

Exhibitions held during spring 2009:

Solo
    Baton Rouge Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA, “Lines and Dolls”
Group
     APW Gallery, Long Island City, NY “World of Imagination, Volume 2”
    Art House Gallery - Atlanta, GA “Sketchbook Project”
    Museum of Contemporary Art DC ˆ Washington, DC “Sketchbook Project”
    Laconia Gallery - Boston, MA “Sketchbook Project”
    Antena Gallery - Chicago, IL “Sketchbook Project”
    Soulard Art Market - St. Louis, MO “Sketchbook Project”
    3rd Ward - Brooklyn, NY “Sketchbook Project”
    BECA gallery - Bridge for Emerging Contemporary Art – New Orleans, LA “12x12x122” 
Tom participated in Marais Press at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette, a weeklong printmaking session with 4 other artists from the U.S. and Canada. The piece made will be in an exhibition this summer at the Hilliard University Art Museum. 

Mark Spencer has new short stories in Clapboard House and Ramble Underground.  His new collection of short stories was a finalist for the 2008 G.S. Sharat Chandra Prize (BkMk Press) and a finalist for the Serena McDonald Kennedy Award (Snake Nation Press).  His novella Trespasser was a finalist for the 2008 A.E. Coppard Long Fiction Prize.

Diane Payne’s latest creative nonfiction and essay publications include: “Twisted, Noisy Path” in My First Year In The Classroom, “The Power of the Leaf” in The Ultimate Teacher, “The Funeral” in Ken*Again and “Anything But This” in Word Catalyst.  Her latest fiction works include: “The Jury” in Broken Plate, “Old Couches and Flea Collars” in Pittsburg Flash Fiction Gazette, “Yard Sales” in Slow Trains Literary Journal and “Weather” in Arkham Tales.  Diane‘s poem “Excuse Number Thirty-Nine” was published in Battered Suitcase.  Her paper titled "Family Scrapbook” was accepted for presentation at the ARM/Mamapalooza conference in New York City.Diane served as a judge for the “Poetry Outloud” competition that was held at Drew Central Schools. 

Kate Stewart wrote and received two grants on behalf of Alpha Chi:  $250 from Alpha Chi Nationals; the local chapter sponsored a Centennial Essay contest with these funds and $500 from the American Association of College Honor Societies; the local chapter provided funds for Phi Alpha Theta, history honor society for two projects:  a painting project at the Drew County Historical Museum and the honorarium for the keynote speaker at the history society’s regional meeting.  In October 2008, Kate attended the Arkansas Philological Association meeting in Fort Smith where she assumed the duties of Treasurer of APA.  She also attended the meeting of the Erskine College and Seminary Board of Trustees.In November Kate gave two lectures at the Ripley, MS Faulkner Festival—one on “Faulkner and Film”, the other on “Faulkner and Tippah County.”During February 2009 Kate attended the meeting of the Erskine College and Seminary Board of Trustees; presided at the Academic Committee and gave a report to the full board.In April Kate attended the national convention of Alpha Chi in Indianapolis where served as a judge for Region II scholarships and judged the creative writing presentations.  She also took part in the inauguration of the chapter and the induction of charter members of the Alpha Chi chapter at Erskine College.Kate has written the Preface for a reprint of a history of the Ebenezer Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, originally published in 1916; the Foreword for Alice’s Album [tentative title], a “coffee-table” book of photographs from the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman and she has began  a research project on Nathaniel Hawthorne with Robert Speth, Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Mississippi.Kate provided the after dinner talk/entertainment “. . .But They Look So Good on Paper,” at the Who’s Who Banquet in May.  She has delivered versions of this talk at the Who’s Who banquet for the last three or so years. 

During fall 2008, Ron Sitton was named to the Arkansas Press Association's Education committee. In August, he wrote an article for the Arkansas Free Press entitled "Tell Me, Who Are You? Tracking the Unidentified Dead http://home.comcast.net/%7Esitron45/pf/uib.html."  Sitton took students to Kansas City, Mo., for the annual Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Advisers fall convention. While there, he also took a few students to Springfield, Mo., to cover Barack Obama's campaign stop less than a week before the election. In spring 2009, Sitton took students to the Mid-America Press Institute/Associated Press Managing Editors' News Train in St. Louis, Mo. Recently, Sitton helped host the Arkansas College Media Association's annual conference and awards banquet with considerable support from Diane Payne, UAM students and the departments of Speech and Information Technology. Currently, he's working on a survey of state educators and media professionals for the Arkansas Press Association to determine attitudes and expectations towards journalism graduates entering the workforce. He expects to present the findings of the survey with John Cary of Southern Arkansas University at the APA's convention in July. 

Sandra Watson read a short story at the 39^th Annual Popular Culture Association/American Culture Associate in New Orleans on April 8.  

Gregory Borse had a presentation accepted by the Association of Core Texts and Courses on “Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ and the Rise of the New Orality (Teaching in the Age of the Internet) and has served this year as a reader for Philological Review.