Negotiating Foreign Identity on the Border

Social interaction is not only vital for the betterment of humanity; it is also an integral part of our personal understanding of the self. And, although it is hard enough at times to interact with people whom you trust and with whom you identify, interacting with people in a milieu where a multiplicity of cultures and nationalities attempt to coexist can be still more complex.

Boat Stealing and Ice Skating in the Virtual Wordsworth Archive: The Goslar Letter (1798)

One of the most instructive and exciting activities for children participating in our Wordsworth-in-the-Schools project is working with virtual and facsimile manuscripts from the Wordsworth Trust archive in Grasmere.

Seeing the Pandemic through the Lens of History

(Trigger warning: Some images may be disturbing.)

In the midst of the world and our nation confronting a pandemic that has already infected over a million and killed tens of thousands as of this writing, our old day-to-day lives seem far away. Working at the office, sharing time with colleagues, teaching students, and even walking from the parking lot to the office seem like distant memories to me.

Books, Interviews, and My Happy Place

Before anything else, I think it is worth mentioning that so many of our plans for the rest of the semester changed in a matter of weeks. I found myself consumed by the adjustments needed to be made in such a short amount of time.

Literally Literary Interview: Maurice Carlos Ruffin

The Literally Literary podcast crew of Jorge Gomez and Vanessa Zuñiga interview 2020 PEN/Faulker finalist Maurice Carlos Ruffin about his dystopian novel We Cast a Shadow in which Black Americans are subjugated, and the protagonist tries to save his son by making him undergo a horrific procedure that will replace his Black melanin with white skin.