The Western Concept

Dickinson State University will be hosting this year’s Upper Midwest Honors Conference.  The conference will take place this weekend.  Registration took place on Thursday April 19^th, at 3:00 pm and a Welcome banquet followed at 5:30 pm.  The evening continued with a presentation by Clay Jenkinson, one of the keynote speakers at 7:00 pm.  Thursday evening concluded with a reception for students at the Student Center Ballroom and a faculty reception at the Hartfiel Inn.           

Friday is the big day and it will be filled with many events, beginning with a Continental Breakfast, State Caucases, student conducted panels and entertainment.  A full schedule can be viewed at  http://www.dickinsonstate.com/UMHC.asp.           

The theme of this conference is Peoples of the Prairie, which, according to Dr. James Tallmon, will showcase the uniqueness of Southwestern North Dakota, including music, dancing and a special appearance by Tweed Roosevelt.  He hopes to create “a once in a lifetime experience for people coming here that will make them remember us and come back.”  After a day of student led panels and presentations by J. Nathan Mathias, Clay Jenkinsin and Monte Yellow Bird, the evening will conclude with a fine arts performance at Stickney Auditorium and a Western themed dance for DSU students.           

Most of the events during the event are open to the public and Theodore Roosevelt Scholars are highly involved in the planning and execution of this event.  The Theodore Roosevelt Honors Program belongs to the National Collegiate Honors Council.  Theodore Roosevelt Scholars attend national meetings held in different states throughout the country every year.  The National Collegiate Honors Council is broken up into regions and DSU belongs to the Upper Midwest Region and has the honor of hosting the conference this year.  About forty schools belong to the upper Midwest Region.           

Dr. Tallmon expects about 100 guests and about 200 people total to attend the weekend’s events.  The Upper Midwest Honors Conference highlights all that makes Southwestern North Dakota Unique.  Events will get underway at 8:00 am on Friday and continue through the first part of Saturday.      

by Jessina Aluise Author Kathleen Norris visited Dickinson State University on March 5^th and 6^th.  She made a special stop at Dr. Solheim’s Advanced Creative Writing class and the students were able to participate in an open discussion with her.             

Kathleen Norris grew up in a military family and lived in various places across the globe.  As an adult, she found a home on her grandparents’ farm in South Dakota.  Norris made an interesting comment regarding her career as a writer in South Dakota.  In the upper Midwest, especially here in the Dakotas, so much emphasis is placed on practical careers such as nursing, teaching, and farming.  Norris was always taken by surprise when people referred to her writing career as “just a hobby.”  Norris had lived in New York before she came to South Dakota and writing was considered to be as much of a career as any of the “traditional” careers.  Norris has proved that one can make a career out of writing and be successful.

Norris has written a variety of genres, including fiction and poetry, but her main focus has been non-fiction.  Her latest work Dakota: A Spiritual Geography is a non-fiction work focusing on her time spent in the upper Midwest. 

Norris was asked about the touchy situation of using real-life characters without offending them.  She recommended either changing the names or combining a number of people to create one composite character in the story.

It was great to receive candid advice from an experienced author.  Her advice was simple and straightforward.  She encourages people to write about what they know.  She believes a story can come out of everyday experiences.  Her advice was something that any aspiring writer will keep in mind when embarking on his or her own writing career.       

by Les Hancock

Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society, held its annual conference in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, in the downtown Hilton, from March 28 through March 31 2007.

Events and presentations began daily at 8:00 A.M. and continued throughout the day, breaking for an hour and a half at noon for lunch: Events and presentations resumed at 1:30 P.M. and continued until 9:30 P.M., though the major presentations ended at 4:15 P.M.  Among the daily presentations were readings in a variety of topics ranging from Short Fiction, Creative Non-Fiction, British Literature, Poetry, World Literature, Critical Theory, film and American Literature to various Workshops and guest speakers.

David Rakoff, Canadian born immigrant to the United States, was the first guest speaker. Rakoff read selections from his book entitled Don’t Get Too Comfortable. During and after the readings, Rakoff engaged the audience in brief discussions and entertained with whimsical stories of his upbringing. Rakoff had two books available for purchase for the small price of $10.00 each.

The next speaker was Sharon Olds. She read selections of other authors as well as her own. Olds also had book of her works for sale with a book signing which followed.

The last speaker was Jim Daniels. Daniels also read a selection of authors as well as his personal works. Once again there were books for sale with a book signing after.

Workshops were presented on topics from careers in publishing to the nuts and bolts of a successful chapter. Accompanying these workshops was a great variety of panel discussions. These discussions ranged from such topics as Merging Cultures in Magical and Medieval Britain to Bringing Your Chapter Together Through Unique Activities, to Teaching Early Feminism, Wollstonecraft, and Nineteenth Century Women’s Literature, to Is Harry Potter Suitable For Children.

A dry t-shirt competition was held; it was to show how several Chapters designed their own t-shirts for their Sigma Tau chapters. One such shirt had the Sigma Tau Delta on the front with Bad Grammar Makes Me [SIC] on the back.

Following the Dry t-shirt competition was Bad Poetry night. Several of the poems presented were actually written very well while others should have been run through a shredder then burned, which was the entire point of BAD POETRY.

Saturday night, March 31, a social gathering with a cash bar was held in a beautiful room called King’s Garden, before the Awards Banquet. The ballroom was nicely decorated with white tablecloths covering each table. The meal consisted of salad, lasagna, dinner rolls and chocolate moose for desert.

After dinner was finished the awards were presented, old leaders stepped down or retired while the next generation proudly stepped up to accept the responsibilities into which they were elected. Speeches were delivered, along with the awards and the change of elected officials and the most anticipated moment of the evening, the announcement of the site of the 2008 conference. Next year the Sigma Tau Delta Conference will be held during the first week in March in
Louisville Kentucky.

New friends were made by all, new places visited and new foods eaten. This was a grand experience which should be encountered by all English, Writing, and Communications majors.

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The attached is a book review written by Hal Haynes Jr. on the book Student Success In College: Creating Conditions That Matter  which was authored by George D. Kuh, Jillian Kinzie, John H. Schuh, Elizabeth J. Whitt and Associates.  Click the below link to access the PDF.

Student Success In College: Creating Conditions That Matter