Anamesa Perception Issue Now Available Online

Anamesa, the interdisciplinary journal edited and published by graduate students in Draper and CLACS, has released their fall 2008 "Perception" issue. The issue can be read online and will be available in hardcopy in September. Please see below for more information.

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Anamesa Perception Issue!

The long-awaited Perception issue is now online. Visit www.anamesajournal.org to peruse the journal and to view the open call for submissions for the upcoming Intersections issue. For more information on available 2009 staff positions, or other feedback and inquiries, contact us at anamesa.journal@gmail.com.

Hardcopies of the Perception issue will be available in the Draper and CLACS offices at the beginning of September.

Draper Student News, 08 - 09

Both current Draper students and alumni had a great deal of exciting news during the 2008 - 2009 academic year. Here are the accomplishments, scholarships, and acceptances that students shared with us this year:

Andrei Boutyline was accepted to Berkeley's doctoral program in Sociology. His initial goal is to pursue a computational/mathematical study of culture.

Katherine Carlson (Alumna, 2008) was accepted to NYU's MFA Program in Creative Writing. Katherine will start the program in fall 2009 and will be studying fiction.

Myong Yee Chin, a dual degree student at Draper and the Palmer School of Library and Information Science, was awarded the LCU Foundation Scholarship for women in Palmer's Rare Books and Special Collections concentration. Myong was awarded $8000 award for the 2008 - 2009 academic year.

Russell MacKenzie Fehr (Alumnus 2009) was accepted to doctoral programs in History at the University of California, Riverside, the CUNY Graduate Center, and SUNY Binghamton, with fellowship offers from Riverside and CUNY. Russell is currently interning at the Sacramento City Clerk's office and will be starting at UC Riverside in fall 2009.

Shayne Figueroa (Alumna, 2009) presented her paper, "Selling the Casual Dining Franchise to Housewives in Postwar America," at the 2009 Association for the Study of Food & Society conference in May 2009. Her paper was presented as part of the panel "Marjorie DeVault's Feeding the Family -- 20 years of Research on Gender and Domestic Food Labor."

Jennifer Kelly (Alumna, 2008) has been accepted to the University of Texas, Austin's doctoral program in American Studies, where she will be funded through Teaching Assistant and Assistant Instructor positions in both American Studies and the Department of Rhetoric. She will start her coursework and Assistant Instructor position in the Department of Rhetoric in the fall of 2009.

Elena Landriscina (Alumna, 2009) has been accepted into the Juris Doctorate programs at American University, Northeastern University, and George Washington University.

Pei Palmgren (Alumnus, 2008) has moved to Bangkok, Thailand and is working as the International Development Officer for the People's Empowerment Foundation. This independent Thai NGO works to strengthen civil society networks throughout the country and Southeast Asia.

Susan Rosenfeld is giving a lecture entitled "A Culture of Letters: David F. Dorr's and Frederick Douglass' Travel Narratives as Early Pan-African Texts," this summer in Ghana for the Association of the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) conference.

Kate Simpkins (Alumna 2008) was accepted to the English doctoral program at Northeastern University, where she will begin in fall 2009.

Alana Smith presented her paper, "Citizen/Terrorist: Security Problems of the Biopolitical State" at NYU's Poetics and Theory Conference "On Security" on March 7, 2009.

Claire Sommers (Alumna, 2009) was accepted to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst's doctoral program in Comparative Literature.

Draper Student Forums

During the 2008 - 2009 academic year, Draper student Myong Yee Chin initiated the Draper Forums--small, informal discussion groups for Draper students seeking discussion opportunities outside of classes. Myong describes the Forums below:

Draper Forums are small, informal discussion groups for Draper students to ask questions and exchange ideas. We began meeting in January 2009, once or twice a week, for about 45 minutes in the evening after class. Membership is open: any Draper student can join in at any time. So far, topics discussed have included interdisciplinarity, mapping, translation, and literature and science, as well as practical concerns for master’s students, such as how to present at an academic conference.

I started the Forums to address a lack of opportunities for Draper students to come together for serious, but unguarded, discussion. The Forums are also meant to create a greater sense of community for students within Draper. The meetings are low-obligation and do not require advance preparation. With very simple topic prompts, we aim for a free flow of conversation that does not find an outlet in courses or other formal academic venues.

The Forums will continue in the fall semester, possibly with adjustments or expansions to the format. We may create separate groups with thematic or formal definitions, such as a thesis writing support group. The development of the Forums largely depends on the people involved, so please feel free to give your input! We have opened a blog where you can find contact information, a meeting schedule, and recaps of previous meetings: dsoforum.wordpress.com.

Myong Yee Chin is a first semester Draper student who is also in the dual degree program at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science. Interested in researching the history of the book and book arts, Myong is a graduate assistant at Fales Library and is pursuing a concentration in Rare Books and Special Collections at Palmer. She will be taking over as the Draper Student Organization president for the upcoming 2009 – 2010 academic year.