Friday, January 14, 2005
Two winning essayists split award
|
A sophomore and a graduate student at the University of Southern Indiana are co-winners of an essay contest on the topic “Why Americans Don’t Read.” Craig Fehrman, a sophomore English and psychology major from Dillsboro, Indiana, and Brett Sanders, a graduate student from Tell City, Indiana, each will receive a $250 award March 20 at the annual Honors Day presentation for the School of Liberal Arts. Sanders is enrolled in USI’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program. In conjunction with Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honorary society, the contest with a $500 cash prize was sponsored by Louis Schewe, a resident of the Solarbron Pointe Retirement Community near the USI campus. An avid reader, Schewe has given many books from his personal collection to USI students over the past few years. Fehrman said in his essay that a lack of patience is one contributor to the decline in reading among Americans, who are fascinated by the fast-paced action of video games, portable music players, and other gadgetry. “Books, or good books, at least, rarely provide such instant gratification; they simmer rather than flame,” he wrote. Fehrman also noted the greater exposure given to movies and other forms of entertainment over books and the regression in imaginative development. He called on higher education to allow students “to see a professor get excited about a text” by providing faculty with more flexibility in choosing material for introductory English courses. In his winning essay, Sanders focused on the social environment as a crucial element in establishing a love for effective and nourishing recreative leisure. He recalled reading with his grandmother when he was young, reading to his own children, and, as a teacher, sharing his lifelong love of reading with students. While Sanders believes that the “family hearth,” which once promoted the sharing of favorite stories and poems, has been replaced by television and other technology, he said, “The problem is not in the technology itself but in a massive failure of will to see past it, to channel it, to control and limit its impact on us.” Sanders teaches English and Spanish at Perry Central Junior-Senior High School in Perry County, Indiana. This year he has formed a literary club at the school to promote reading and writing. Sanders’ original prose and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in New Works Review, The King’s English, Perihelion, and other journals. Eric vonFuhrmann, associate professor of English, was faculty coordinator for the essay contest, which was judged by Schewe and a USI faculty panel. |
Copyright © 2013 University of Southern Indiana. All rights reserved.