Capstone Day, Spring 2021

The English Department’s Capstone Day event will be held on Thursday, April 29, 2021, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. This will be the order of activities:

  • 9:10 am - 9:30 am - Welcome session. Chair's general remarks, and reminder of instructions

  • 9:30 am - 9:40 am - Break 1

  • 9:40 am - 10:35 am - Stream A. Five panels will run simultaneously. Each panel will reserve 10-15 minutes for the Q&A.

  • 10:35 am - 10:50 am - Break 2

  • 10:50 am - 11: 45 am - Stream B. Five panels will run simultaneously. Each panel will reserve 10-15 minutes for the Q&A.

  • 11:45 am - 12:00 pm - Break 3

  • 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm - Keynote Presentation - Judith Madera, "Why Place Stories Matter: Worldmaking and Home"

9:40 am - 10:35 am Panels:

Panel A1: Self and Selves (Creative Writing 1)

Moderator: Zack Vernon

  • Gillian Quigley, Writing Portfolio

  • Hannah Aldridge, “Converted”

  • Addi Butler, “Building to More”

  • Stacy DiCampli, “The Things I Think of When I’m Alone”


Panel A2: The World Within and Without (Creative Writing 2)

Moderator: Leon Lewis

  • Shanelle Meyer, “Realism and Other Themes in the Horror Genre”

  • Levi Davis, “What Queer is”

  • Riley Bennett, “The Hush in the High Country”


Panel A3: Horror and Violence on the Screen (Film Studies 1)

Moderator: Craig Fischer

  • Aanayah McCreary, “The Horror Genre’s Latest Savior”

  • Dylan Cox, “Revenge Refined: The Violence and Volition of I Saw the Devil

  • Joseph Wheeler, “Fritz Land and Pain”

  • Olivia Reich, “‘A rose by any other name…’ Exploring the Post-Horror Genre Cycle”


Panel A4: Feminisms (Literary Studies 1)

Moderator: Başak Çandar

  • KC Baine, “Female Role in Politics and Society in Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”

  • Eris Lowdermilk, “Inescapable Effects of Womanism in The Color Purple”

  • Rebecca Parker, “Themes of feminism, identity, and social justice  in S.K. Ali's Love from A to Z”

  • Elizabeth Page, “Folklore and Literature”


Panel A5: Literary Miscellanea (Literary Studies 2)

Moderator: Susan Staub

  • Hannah Chaney, “Constructions of Blood in Webster's The Duchess of Malfi”

  • George Malahias, “Lunch Poems”

  • Makenna Fain, “The Evolution of Fairy Tales”

  • Noah Williams, “Books without Borders: Examining the Margins of Fantasy Cartography”



10:50 am - 11: 45 am - Panel B

Panel B1: Auteur, Alienation, Deception (Film Studies 2)

Moderator: Kyle Stevens

  • Denver Moyers, “Taika Waititi is an Auteur”

  • Lucas Dosher, “The Push/Pull of Auteurism and Adaptation through the lens of Barry Lyndon”

  • Morgan Knight, “Exploring Femininity and Escapism: Del Toro’s Pan's Labyrinth and Burton’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland”


Panel B2: The Articulation of Affect (Creative Writing 3)

Moderator: Chris Meade

  • Rebekah Larsen, “Internal”

  • Tim Reis, “Smelling Like Roses: A Poetic Memoir”

  • Jason Xiong, “The Way of Life”


Panel B3: 19th-century US American Queer Literature (Literary Studies 3)

Moderator: William Atkinson

  • Blaikley A. Mitchell, “Rejecting Gender Through Male Symbolism: Analyzing Dickinson and Plath's Relationship with Nonconformity”

  • Ella M. Townsend, “Sex, Gender, and Poetry in the Works of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson”

  • Rachel Eakes, “Chopin-to-table: Food & Gender in Kate Chopin’s short fiction”


Panel B4: Indigenous Peoples and Violence (Literary Studies 4)

Moderator: Anna Muenchrath

  • Teresa Krowiak, “Violence Against Indigenous Women in Louise Erdrich's The Round House”

  • Makenna Pearn, “Language and Identity seen in Native American Literature”

  • Steven Economos, “Representations of Australian Colonialism”


Panel B5: Portfolios and Samples (Professional Writing 1)

Moderator: Suzanne Samples

  • Aidan Pounder, “A Junior's Guide to Road Bicycle Sizing/Fit”

  • Brendan Doering, “There's Way More Visual Design in Professional Writing Than I Thought There Would Be”

  • Rachel Kelley, Professional Writing Website Portfolio

  • Stephanie Deily, “Marketing and English: The Best of Both Worlds”



12:00 pm - 1:00 pm - Keynote Presentation - Judith Madera, "Why Place Stories Matter: Worldmaking and Home"

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Dr. Judith Madera (Wake Forest University)

This presentation will look at how an arc of early activist literature illuminated environment. It will speak to the relationship between place-based narratives and worldmaking. Worldmaking is about rearranging the known world through interpretation. It also means imagining new ways of being in the world. Students will be encouraged to explore ways they can write their own world-ecologies of home.

Written By: Daniel Wartham

Photo Credits: Dr. Judith Madera

Published: Apr 26, 2021 2:08pm

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