English Facult Reading: Fostering a Sense of Family

The last Wednesday in January marked this year’s English faculty reading at Kalamazoo College. The ceremony was sited by Gail Griffin, who opened the reading, as being an event that aimed to “generate a little light” during this long, gloomy Michigan winter. She then introduced two visiting members of the English faculty, welcoming them to their first faculty reading at K. This immediately worked to establish a sense of family within the department. A jam-packed family it was indeed as the Olmstead Room of Mandelle Hall was filled with students and friends of the faculty– there was only standing room available for the last few arrivals of the nearly 100 audience members. Dr. Griffin then passed off the microphone to the department’s “fearless leader,” Andy Mozina.
Dr. Mozina started off the night with a calm and collective account of his “Non-sexual affair,” an excerpt from one of his short stories. His coherent and honest tone highlighted similar aspects of his teaching style known well by his students. He spoke with great dignity of the most mundane and even goofy details of a heated, yet platonic ice-cream date. A strong decision as an opener for this event, Dr. Mozina’s reading set the stage for what would prove to be a most enjoyable evening.
Similarly, Bruce Mills signified a strong choice as an ending point to the event with his reading from his upcoming book An Archaeology of Yearning, an exploration of autism and his interactions with his son who is affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD.) He and Dr. Mozina shared a sense of dignity and honesty during their readings. The fact that Dr. Mills spoke from experience, sharing intimate details of his life with the audience, made this a very powerful reading.
In between these two readings came a plethora of different texts from the other eight members of the English department at K. These ranged from excerpts from dense, theory-based papers, to moving personal accounts, to vibrant creative responses. Di Seuss showed why her creative writing classes are often difficult to get into. She read with inspired gusto in her response to a poem entitled “I Dreamed I Knew William Burroughs.” She painted a picture of a powerful woman who slang hash as well as words. Seuss was the only presenter who read from more than one text that she is working on or has published. This gave her reading more depth. An engaging reader Seuss, writer in residence in Kalamazoo College’s English Department, captivated the audience.
The event as a whole certainly had its high points and its low points, and the value of each are debatable. The debate, though, is the true value of Wednesday’s reading. Forming a sense of community between students, and specifically English majors, is a worthy goal; and a goal achieved by this year’s faculty reading. Conversation continues to roam halls and classrooms of the school about the event. The English department invited one and all into their visibly tight-knit family and as students exited Mandelle Hall into the frigid night of January 27th they carried a little bit of light with them into the rest of the week.