Ice Cream and Officers

First, the ice cream! Since there weren't that many people that were
able to attend the last meeting, we decided that we should push the
call hall ice cream back to dead week. We discussed doing this
Thursday, May 4th, at 5:30, and meeting in front of ECS before going to
get it (paid for by Metaforum!) If you could email me (anna28@ksu.edu)
and let me know if you can come, so we have some idea of a head count.
Also, if this day/time doesn't work for you, let me know. If there are
lots of conflicts, we could move it!

Secondly:

Congratulations to the Metaforum Officers for the 2006-2007 school year!

President: Carla Schuster, schuster@ksu.edu
Vice President: Christina Forsberg, forsberg@ksu.edu
Treasurer: Kelsey Bates, bates@ksu.edu
Newsletter Editor: Anna Jurey, anna28@ksu.edu
Assistant Editor: Micah Janzen, theelf@ksu.edu

Carla has lots of fantastic ideas for next year, posted below, so check it out, and if
you have comments/ideas, please feel free to share as comments to this
post!

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Hello! In case you don’t know me, I’m Carla Schuster, an English major (double-majoring in French) at good-old KSU. 2006-7 will be my last year at this lovely institution of higher education (sad…) and my last to be with the Metaforum gang (double-sad!)

I would dearly love to be there to tell you about what I want to do for the upcoming year in Metaforum, but I’m in France with my education being held hostage by a bunch of French radicals (more info on the Metaforum blog site), so you’ll have to settle for this hand-out that only displays a small part of my sparkling personality. But all that aside, I’m EXTREMELY excited for this upcoming year, and I hope you are too! (or will be, after you hear what I would plan to do!)

First of all, what I think this club needs is some more departmental involvement. I’ll explain: I’ve been in the English department for nearly four years, and I know about a forth of the English staff, most of the undergrad students only by sight, and nearly none of the grad students! And I don’t think I’m the only one. (Which is why I included my picture—perhaps you’ve seen my smiling face in class? –or unsmiling, if it was before, say, noon.) So, what I would propose is that we have an introductory get-to-know-everybody Departmental Picnic at the park at the beginning of the year in August. Whether someone is new to the club and/or the department, are like me and still know nobody, or have just wandered over from the Engineering department to seek some literary enlightenment, this would offer a great no-stress opportunity to get together and meet. (It would probably be pot-luck, unless the club wants to spring for a caterer.)

Next, I think we need to make our presence known on campus (most people don’t even know what Metaforum is!) with Metaforum T-shirts, featuring, perhaps, reasons why it’s great to be an English major or Shakespearean insults, or something else creative and literary.

Also, throughout the year, I think it would be cool to have a Library Display of banned books, literature from a specific period, or other literary topics of interest, to get more people interested in literature and Metaforum. (Depending on permission and space from the library.)

Hopefully, sometime during the year, we would also plan a group trip, either to Hamlet or Madama Butterfly, at the Lyric Opera in Kansas City, to the Renaissance Festival, or to the Sigma Tau Delta national conference in Pittsburg or regional conference, depending on if we get enough demands for and monetary means to go.

Lit Wit Jeopardy in September. Put your favorite professor on the spot, with students asking literary trivia questions, and professors answering to compete for who wins the grand prize (to be decided). It will either be free or admission charged, with the profits going to a scholarship or Varney’s gift certificate for school books for an English major (probably, but not necessarily also a Metaforum member). Possibly concessions served, depending on what room we get for it.

Literary Pumpkin Carving Contests in October, with members/staff/whoever vying for a prize by carving their favorite literary authors, characters, or related pictures out of pumpkins. For all. If you think your artistic skills are lacking, cut-outs will be provided, and you can opt to not compete for the prize!

Around the World in 4 Hours in November, with displays, literature, and food from all parts of the world, Anglophone and other types of literature (perhaps coordinated with the Spanish, German, and French clubs, since it’s a rather large project). This would be a large event, with the whole campus invited, that would take a bit of planning, but I think it would be worth it!

A themed literary movie night, like Science Fiction, French, Walt Disney, Bollywood, or Jane Austen, (or all at the same time, such as pairing “Bride and Prejudice” with an adaptation of the Austen original), complete with discussions on how the books were made into movies, or, if original movies, how they act as pieces of literature or products of a particular culture, (not at all as serious as it sounds!), possibly in December. Probably at a member or sponsor’s house, since the chairs are incredibly uncomfortable at the rooms we usually use in the Union! If it’s a success, we can plan one in the spring, with a different topic.

Valentine’s Day Message in a Bottle in February. Seriously, why even have Shakespearean poetry if it’s not going to be shared with all? And what better day than the traditional day for lovers? This would involve putting little “kits” of a love poem (Shakespearean sonnets, among other things), along with candy inside a plastic heart of bottle, (and perhaps a flower) and then sell them to make profits for Metaforum, with the added benefit of sharing literature and love!

Scrabble-a-Thon in March. Why read extensively and have an inordinately huge vocabulary if you’re not going to show it off every once in a while? Contestants would register and compete for a prize, glory, and the honor of being “The King (or Queen) Scrabbler.” Choose to either play for fun, or compete in the competition. For the entire department, including staff.

High Tea, Alice-in-Wonderland Style in April or May. Well, this is, after all, an English club! And although the name refers to the literature, and not the country, I still think we should honor it by having proper British tea, crumpets, cucumber sandwiches, and real china on the lawn of a member’s or sponsor’s house. Also, we would have readings from British classics such as Alice in Wonderland, other English works praising tea, as well as original works, read by faculty and students. Also, if in May, this would also be a chance to say goodbye to the graduating seniors and give out the gift-certificates and/or Metaforum scholarships, if we raise enough money to do so.

Perhaps some of these events are a bit ambitious, and if the club or the department doesn’t some things are a good idea, we’ll have to think about not doing some of them… Also don’t take the schedule as gospel-truth, since, odds are, the dates and times of each will have to be changed! Along with a couple of literary movies some months and perhaps some more faculty readings (at least one per semester), I think that would be enough for any over-ambitious English club to take on!

Hopefully you all would be just as excited about upcoming year of Metaforum as I am!