Keri Cronin

Monthly Archives: September 2008


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Greenscapes 2009 — Call for Papers


Greenscapes ~ Sense and Meaning:
Fields of Dreams (Landscapes of Myth and Imagination)
October 1-3, 2009, Brock University

Our landscapes have long been the unconscious repository of cultural hopes, fears and desires. From the Garden of Eden to Aboriginal Dreamtime, societies have perceived their surrounding natural environment to express cultural values reflected in their myths, legends, sacred texts and belief systems. The occupation, transition, or representation of landscape constitutes an imaginative exercise for both subject and object. Yet imagination is not a consciously controllable process, and dreams can be unsettling portents as well as expressions of wish-fulfillment. We welcome papers that explore landscapes of myth and imagination in real and virtual sites, literary texts, images, and installations and invite proposals on the following topics:

• Landscapes of allusion (texts, myths, folktales, legends)
• Sacred and Secular Utopias
• Profane imagination: ruin, decay and social transgression
• Gardens of the ‘first time’: origin myths and social legends
• Dream landscapes: fear, desire, and exploring the unconscious

Please send abstracts (up to 250 words) and a brief biography to greenscapes@brocku.ca by January 5, 2009.

The conference will take place at Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario. Giles Blunt, author of Forty Words for Sorrow, The Delicate Storm, and Black Fly Season, will deliver the opening keynote on the subject of landscape and fiction.

Conference organizers: Keri Cronin (Visual Arts, Brock University), David Galbraith (Royal Botanical Gardens), Sharilyn J. Ingram (School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University), Leah Knight (English Language and Literature, Brock University), Katharine T. von Stackelberg (Classics, Brock University).

We acknowledge with gratitude the support of the Humanities Research Institute at Brock University.

For more information, please visit www.brocku.ca/greenscapes


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The Case of the Missing Font?

I’m working on some long-overdue editing tasks today. I have been picking away at these files all week, but really want to get them wrapped up today or tomorrow. I finished one section, saved it and took a break. When I came back to work on the next section, Word was no longer allowing me to use the font I have been using for this project. It simply is not listed, and when I tried to copy and paste an already formatted section into the new section I got a message informing me that Helvetica was not installed on my computer. Somehow while I was downstairs making a sandwich this font got uninstalled from my laptop? How do things like this happen?

Perhaps this is a message from the universe that I should just shut my computer and go outside and play today.


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The Power of Art and, well, The Power of Art

I’ve recently been watching Simon Schama’s series, “The Power of Art.” Wow. Even though I am a huge fan of Schama’s work (Landscape and Memory remains one of my favourite books of all time), I have to admit that I was a little reluctant to give “The Power of Art” a chance. I knew Schama would do a good job of presenting the artists and artworks selected for the series, but I guess I felt a little uncomfortable with the selection of artists. They are all “dead white guys,” the canon revisited. “Haven’t these guys been given enough press?” was my initial response. Upon reflection I can see that was precisely the point — Schama is asking us to consider just why it is that these artists (Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, Picasso and Rothko) have fascinated so many. Schama’s characteristic style coupled with some amazing cinematography (I can only imagine the size of the budget for these), makes for some pretty interesting viewing.

On a related note, Damien Hirst has had a good week. Hirst gets a lot of criticism for what he does, and may argue that what he does is not “art.” On a conceptual level I get his work, and I think his work brings a lot to debates regarding the meaning and function of art in contemporary society. However, what I simply can not accept is his continued exploitation of animal bodies. I guess if people are willing to pay millions of dollars for these pieces he has little incentive to stop.


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A breakthrough — and not a minute too soon!

I’ve been struggling with a piece I’ve been writing for months — months!! I had all the basic facts and information down, but was missing the thread to pull it all together. This piece is supposed to soon be appearing as a journal article and I promised the editor I’d send him my revised manuscript this week (not my first extension on this piece, I’m ashamed to admit), but I’ve been sitting here at my desk all week trying to bring this thing together and have just been struggling. I’ve added, deleted, reorganized, rewritten and nothing seemed to work.

At 4pm today, while chatting with a friend on Google Talk, I hit on an idea. We talked it through on IM and, low and behold, it is the elusive thread I’ve been looking for all these months. I’ve spent the past couple of hours reworking the piece so this thread is now woven through the piece and it seems to be working. I should be able to package it out and send it off by tomorrow at the latest. Thank freaking goodness for that! I think if I was another day late with this piece the journal editor would drive to my house and bop me on the head with a nerf bat.

I have written enough to know that this seems to be part of the process, so now when I feel like my head will explode from frustration I know the solution is nearby. However, this knowledge does not minimize the sheer aggravation that necessarily accompanies the “just before breakthrough” period. It is absolute hell. If anyone knows how to bypass this, please drop me a line.


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Happy New Year!

I rarely make New Year’s resolutions in January, but at the start of Sept. I find myself making lists, getting organized and promising to do (or not do) things I didn’t do last year. The fall brings that feeling of a “new beginning” — a chance to start fresh. Sure, I didn’t get as much as I’d hoped done in the summer, but there’s no point in dwelling on that, right? Time to look forward and to make plans for the coming weeks.

There is a buzz in the air, campuses are starting to get busy once again. It is an exciting time of year and I’m trying to feed off that energy. I’ve made some changes to my courses this year, changes that I hope will improve the courses while at the same time allow me to use my time more efficiently. I’ve got a good teaching schedule this term and will try my best to keep those “research days” free for doing research. I always have the best of intentions, but I have been guilty of letting meetings, errands and other activities encroach on those days in the past. This year I need to make sure I protect those days and use them wisely.

To everyone starting a fresh academic year — Happy New Year! Here’s hoping the 2008/09 academic year will be a happy and productive one.

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