Carla's Fabulous French Foray, 1.1

After much hinting, wheedling, begging, blackmailing, bribing, and
demanding, I have decided to cave in to the wisdom of the other
officers and give a small report of my studies so far in France. Since
this is English Club, I thought it would be suitably improper to speak
about the French, arch- and ancient enemies of the English. So, here
it goes. (p.s. I might write a column for the Collegian in the Fall
or Spring, so don’t be surprised if you see some of this stuff again…
as long as it’s my name in the byline!)

From what I’ve discovered so far, the French are…
1. MUCH more politically active: the students blockaded all of the
other students, teachers, and personnel out of the university buildings
for a week and a half (and still counting), and I don’t think it was
because they didn’t want to go to school any more. (more later, if any
one’s interested…)
2. not aliens. The (one) truly Irish pub here is still packed to the
gills and the crowd spilling onto the street on St. Paddy’s Day.
Although getting drunk until one is sick isn’t considered cool here as
it apparently is in the US, people still like to enjoy themselves with
alcohol.
3. not the antichrist. Churches are still crowded on Sunday mornings,
and they keep the Sabbath better than we do in the States (try buying
anything other than bread on Sunday, I dare ya!). Even if the official
statistic is 10 % of the population as practicing Christians, you
couldn’t prove it by me.
4. VERY concerned with their children and family life. Most French
students go home nearly every weekend to be with their family. And if
they’re not in church Sunday morning, odds are that most people with
kids are in the park with them, or taking a Sunday stroll through
centre-ville, again, children in tow.
5. REALLY good at making bread and pastries. I’m going to be 20 pounds
heavier when I get back to the States, so I hope you all still
recognize me!
6. ... and, finally, (to make this somewhat literary) REALLY rather
fond of Diderot (an eighteenth century French philosopher and writer)
and Freud. I'm studying not one, but two books by Diderot, and the
English girls next door spend nearly all their time in psychology
talking about Freud. I don’t know if they read these people for fun,
but I’d say, almost…

until next time… as long as I don’t get done-in by the angry mobs here!
jk. mostly.
Carla Schuster

Essay Brochures

Brochures for The Department of English Annual Student Awards, Scholarships, and Fellowships 2005-2006 are available from the main English office in 108 ECS or from the bulletin board right next to my office in 108D ECS. The brochure will tell you how to submit an essay--and the two contests you would probably be interested in are the Clark M. Brink Memorial Essay Awards Contest and The Cultural Studies Essay Award. Most of the other awards are ones that students don't have to apply for themselves to be considered. But do submit an essay to the Brink and/or Cultural Studies contests!

best wishes,
Carol F.

The Clark M. Brink Memorial Essay Awards

Dear English Majors, English Minors, and other students at ksu reading this,

Get money and fame for your thoughtful, well written essay!
The Clark M. Brink Memorial Essay Awards
are two awards given for student essays exhibiting "the highest degree of originality of composition and excellence in handling a topic treating or exemplifying the values of humanistic studies." The essay should follow the requirements of either the MLA Handbook or the style manual appropriate to the student's disciplines, and should be no more than 5000 words. 10-20 pages is a reasonable length.

Competition for the awards is open to all undergraduate students at KSU. The amount of the prize varies from year to year.

Deadline for submissions: Friday, March 17, 2006 by 5 pm. in the Main English Office, ECS 108 (opposite the drinking fountain.)

Please put your essay in a large envelope.
The following information goes on it AND ON THE first page of your
entry:

1) The Clark M. Brink Essay contest
2) Carol Franko, chair
3) Your name
4) Your social security number and local address and e-mail and phone.
INCLUDE #4 ONLY on the first page of your essay, not on the envelope.