SewaneeLetters.com

Photo/University of the South

This article on Sam Pickering’s return to Sewanee appeared today in the Chattanooga Times Free Press and features a priceless quote from Jason Kelley and a photo of the back of my head. Both represent the program well, I think!

We’ve lined up a lecture by Philip Weinstein from Swarthmore, a brilliant critic of modern fiction, for a talk about Faulkner. Weinstein is the author of two books on Faulkner, most recently Becoming Faulkner.

Later we’ll be hearing from David Hudgins, the screenwriter behind the (very well-written) television show Friday Night Lights, among others. David will be offering what he characterizes as a craft lecture.

Attention curious students: All courses and faculty for summer 2010 are now listed online. Time to start daydreaming about next summer on the Mountain.

And now back to your hectic holiday schedule…

Another tidbit from John Grammer:

I just got materials about Salem College’s “International Literary Awards,” a contest for unpublished manuscripts of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.  The competition is “open to both women and men who write in English,” which would seem to include almost all of us, and offers pretty good prizes ($1,200 for first place, along with glory).

Here’s a few ideas for our 2009 t-shirt. Many of you made some great suggestions, but I only had time to mock up these 4. You’ll see Donna’s Boot Camp theme, Everett’s Sewanee Review ripoff, plus my attempt to illustrate Pete’s school of fish idea. Please let me know your favorite by 4pm today (Monday 7/13) so I can submit art to the printer. You can vote in the coments or send me an email. Thanks!

Here’s a mockup of last year’s t-shirt. This is just the front. I felt like the 2-sided design was kinda overkill. I’m thinking with a softer shirt, simpler design, and colors that are slightly easier on the eye, I might actually WEAR this one…

Here’s a quick sketch of the updated design. It’s single sided, which saves us money, so we can get a higher quality tee. Eggplant ink on Heather Gray? Or we could do Navy ink?

Since the teepee is gone, there’s no need to reference summer camp. Any suggestions for a new tagline? Memorable quotes from our summer session? C’mon writers, add your suggestions in the comments.

The Times Free Press reported today that undergraduates entering Sewanee will no longer be required to take the ACT/SAT, and can choose instead to have the university review a previous academic piece, as well as complete an entrance interview. As the article points out, standardized aptitude testing has never been the best indicator of future academic achievement.

Last year Sewanee got 2400 applications for 400 slots - it’s unclear how many of those next year might take this new option.

As you all know, there’s no standardized test for entering the School of Letters, but an arguably more relevant collection of writing samples and letters of recommendation - perhaps it’s a move in the right direction to apply a similar principle to entering undergrads.

Pete Trenchi submitted this clip from the Winchester Herald-Chronicle. Tina’s making history…

(photo by SWC alum Will Coley)

Another reason to dream about July… You can download a preliminary version of the Sewanee Writers’ Conference schedule here. The Conference (July 14-26) overlaps with our final week of classes, so we will have to finish up final papers in order to mingle with Richard Wilbur.

Meg just sent over the full list of course descriptions, including new offerings for our 2009 session. The list is lengthy, so I posted it in all its glory here. (There’s also a new tab at the top of our site for quick reference.) I was excited to see some new faculty in addition to our current dream team. What are your thoughts on this summer’s lineup?