Language and Literature: English: African Culture & Melville's Art, Carribbean Female Bodies & Literature, and a Study on the Perception of Slavery

African Culture and Melville's Art: The Creative Process in Benito Cereno and Moby-Dick (BOOK): by Sterling Stuckey

Although Herman Melville's masterworks Moby-Dick and Benito Cereno have long been the subject of vigorous scholarly examination, the impact of African culture on these works has received surprisingly little critical attention. Presenting a groundbreaking reappraisal of these two powerful pieces of fiction, Sterling Stuckey reveals how African customs and rituals heavily influenced one of America's greatest novelists.

Allegories of Desire: Body, Nation, and Empire in Modern Caribbean Literature by Women (BOOK): by M.M. Adjarian

This book explores the relationship between famous and fictional Caribbean female bodies to literary and historical writing.

Calls and Responses: The American Novel of Slavery Since Gone With the Wind (BOOK): by Tim A. Ryan

In this comprehensive, groundbreaking study, Tim A. Ryan explores how American novelists since World War I have imagined the institution of slavery and the experience of those involved in it. Complicating the common assumption that authentic black-authored fiction about slavery is starkly opposed to the traditional, racist fiction (and history) created by whites, Ryan suggests that discourses about American slavery are--and have always been--defined by connections rather than disjunctions. Ryan contends that African American writers didn't merely reject and move beyond traditional portrayals of the black past but rather actively engaged in a dynamic dialogue with white-authored versions of slavery and existing historiographical debates. The result is an ongoing cultural conversation that transcends both racial and disciplinary boundaries and is akin to the call-and-response style of African American gospel music.

Critical Theory: The Major Documents (BOOK): by Edgar Allen Poe edited with introduction, notes, and textual variants by Stuart Levine and Susan F. Levine

“A solid resource for scholars of Poe. Highly recommended”—Choice

"Poe's quotations and misquotations are assiduously identified and corrected. Obscure references are made clear, and connections among a variety of Poe's writings are drawn. Poe's playfulness, even in criticism, repeatedly comes through, as does his occasional tendency to lapse into unfairness merely to make a point or to put the punch line on a joke. There is still a need, over one hundred years after Poe's death, for traditional scholarship of this kind. . . . This new volume is clearly the most authoritative edition of the works presented, and it is likely to remain so for sometime."—Poe Studies

Films: Oldies like Anchors Away and High Society, Paradise Now a Film about Terrorists, and The Candidate

Anchors Aweigh (DVD): Joe and Clarence are two navy sailors who have a few days leave in Hollywood. All Joe wants to do is to have a good time and meet up with his girl, the unseen Lola. Clarence on the other hand just wants to get a girl. They soon meet a little boy who ran away from home and wants to join the navy. They take him home and soon meet his young beautiful singer-wannabe aunt Susan. Clarence develops a crush on her, so he asks Joe to help him get Susan to like him. Soon Joe gets himself caught in between a promise to Susan to meet a big time music producer, and trying to get Clarence ready for their date. The only problem is, Joe doesn't know the music producer and he's string to fall in love with Susan himself. So what’s a guy to do?

Dog Day Afternoon (DVD): In August, 1972, Sonny Wortzik robbed a bank. 250 cops, the F.B.I., 8 hostages and 2,000 onlookers will never forget what took place.

High Society (DVD): C.K. Dexter-Haven, a successful popular jazz musician, lives in a mansion near his ex-wife's Tracy Lord's family estate. She is on the verge of marrying a man blander and safer than Dex, who tries to win Tracy's heart again. Mike Connor, an undercover tabloid reporter, also falls for Tracy while covering the nuptials for Spy magazine. Tracy must choose between the three men as she discovers that "safe" can mean "deadly dull" when it comes to husbands and life.

Ninotchka (DVD): Only the royal suite at the grandest hotel in Paris has a safe large enough for the jewels of the Grand Duchess Swana. So the three Russians who have come to sell the jewels settle into the suite until a higher ranking official is dispatched to find out what is delaying the sale. She is Ninotchka, a no nonsense woman who fascinates Count Leon who had been the faithful retainer of the Grand Duchess. The Grand Duchess will give up all claim to the jewels if Ninotchka will fly away from the count. But can one count on a count?

Paradise Now (DVD): The story places two close friends, Palestinians Said and Khaled, recruited by an extremist group to perpetrate a terrorist attack in Tel-Aviv, blowing up themselves. However, things go wrong and both friends must separate in the border. One of them, maintaining in his purpose of carry the attack to the end, and the other will have his doubts about it.

Rosewood (DVD): A dramatization of a 1923 horrific racist lynch mob attack on an African American community.

Running in High Heels (DVD): A film about the difference between what women say and do in politics, Running in High Heels follows the campaign of a woman running for State Senate in New York City as women around her from the left and right of the spectrum try to explain how women can be the majority of the population at 52% but run nothing.

The Candidate (DVD): Californian lawyer Bill McKay fights for the little man. His charisma and integrity get him noticed by the Democratic Party machine and he is persuaded to run for the Senate against an apparently unassailable incumbent. It's agreed he can handle it his own way, on his own terms. But once he's in the race and his prospects begin to improve, the deal starts to change.

James E. Brooks - The Library Namesake

James E. Brooks - President, Central Washington University, 1961-1978

After earning his master’s and Ph.D. degrees in geography at the UW, James Brooks taught at Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, and Portland State University—where he was assistant to the president—before becoming president of Central Washington University, where he had earned his B.A. After stepping down as president, he continued on the faculty until 1994, except for two years as interim president at Yakima Valley College. Last year, Central honored Brooks by naming its library—built during his presidency—the James E. Brooks Library.

	James Brooks at the dedication of the university library named in his honor. Photo byGreg Kummer.

What surprised you most during the first year of your presidency?

I knew most of the circumstances at Central. But I was a bit surprised at how much my focus on the academic aspects, such as strengthening the arts and sciences, could be diverted to other pressing issues. An example: our campus consisted of 100 acres in a scattered, disjointed pattern located in a mostly residential area. It took years to consolidate and increase the campus to 350 acres.

What was the most satisfying aspect of your presidency?

I believe the greatest pleasure for any president is having her/his institution accomplish a great deal over time. When you have had continued support of trustees, faculty, students and the general public, and good planning has showed results as excel-lent projects and programs are in place, is there any better satisfaction for a president?

What was the most challenging issue you had to address?

Without a doubt, it was developing an excellent faculty, one that truly cared for students, and improving our academic offerings as we grew rapidly in enrollment.

Did your UW education help prepare you for leadership?

Leadership requires confidence in yourself. The members of the Geography Department helped me develop that. I was given encouragement, guidance, and positive reinforcement on many occasions. Yes, I benefited from taking classes across campus, my professors were good teachers, and I enjoyed my fellow graduate students, but the help I was given personally was very important in my life and career.

Published in Autumn 2004 in the UW A&S, Leaders in Higher Education. Online.

Film: The Magnificent Seven, Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson

DVD: The citizens of a small Mexican farming village hire seven gun fighters to defend them from a ruthless and exploitative group of bandits led by Calvera. As Calvera's next raid approaches, the peasants and the gun fighters work together to prepare to defend the village.