The OWU English Department Blog
As a lover of sunshine, I’m not particularly fond of the winter months, but even I can’t deny that it’s the perfect season for reading. There’s something so comforting about curling up with a good book when the days turn shorter. Snowfall, a warm crackling fire, a soft blanket, and a fresh hot drink–I’m partial to hot chocolate–are ideal, but winter doesn’t always look like that.…
I have a fascination with pirates that I blame primarily on Pirates of the Caribbean. Chances are, if I see a book about pirates, I’m going to pick it up. Obviously, I know on a logical level that the pirate books I’ve read (like Fable by Adrienne Young or Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller) aren’t exactly accurate portrayals of piracy, but since these–and many other pirate books I love and am valiantly resisting the urge to list–are young adult fantasy books, I was content not to think too hard about why.…
For the final part of this series on Bronze Age comics (1970-1985), I wanted to discuss the beauty of art from this time period. I am not a professional in the study of art, nor am I an art critic, and I do not intend to pretend that I am. Nevertheless, I wanted to take some time to appreciate the vintage comic book art aesthetic, particularly of the 1970s and 1980s.…
In part three of this four-part series on some great things that I love about Bronze Age comics, we will focus on the philosophical and mythological influences that helped give birth to many of the beloved comic book superheroes we still love today. There are so many fictional characters, especially comic book superheroes, that have their origins in philosophy and mythology.…
In part two of our exploration of the Bronze Age of comics (1970-1985) we will be focusing on how some comics were promoted as a mechanism to speak to kids and young adults about the dangers of smoking, and to comment on poverty and inequities in America. During this era, the Comic Code Authority (CCA) was becoming more relaxed on many of its restrictions and censorship that stemmed from the Silver Age.…
I have been collecting and reading comics for over five years now. This hobby was something that I would not usually tell people because of the negative perception I assumed would come from being a “comic book nerd.” I enjoy many vintage things such as books, music, and movies. I have, like many other people still today, a sort of nostalgia for a time that I have never experienced.…
Recommended by Serena Sweeney
East of Eden follows the histories of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, from the mid-1800s until the early 1900s, and explores how their lives intertwine and influence each other. Adam Trask and his sons Aron and Cal live on a farm in California’s Salinas Valley.…
This past May, I went on a TPG trip to various Scandinavian cities, including Copenhagen, Denmark. The trip was entitled “Wellness in Scandinavia,” and was part of my work with wellness promotion and harm reduction on campus with The Bishop Way. The Scandinavian region was selected because of their consistently high ratings on the World Happiness Report, the two nations we visited–Sweden and Denmark–ranking fourth and second, respectively (for reference, the U.S.…
I have a habit of needing to know everything there is to know about the media that I consume–books, movies, songs–that’s given me a lot of random and mostly useless knowledge. I read the Acknowledgements section in books, Wikipedia asks me for money a lot because I’m always looking up actors and singers, and I frequently say the phrase “I need to know the lore.”…
On Tuesday, October 14, the English department was delighted to host Clint Smith as our speaker for the Carpenter Lecture this year. Smith is a nonfiction writer, poet and journalist. Smith discussed his travelogue How the Word is Passed that was published in 2021. He also read a couple of poems from his most recent poetry collection titled Above Ground which was published in 2023.…
