Spring 2014 Literature Roundtable–Save the Date!

Please join the Literature Curriculum Committee

of the Department of English for

The Spring 2014 Literature Roundtable

Featuring

Intimate Apparel

by

Lynn Nottage

 Intimate Apparel

 

Wednesday, April 9, 2014, 11:30 AM

N 119

Free and Open to All

Contact Renata Ferdinand with questions: rferdinand@citytech.cuny.edu

And the headliner is…

Big news came from Prof. Caroline Hellman today: Cornelius Eady will be the speaker at this year’s Literary Arts Festival!

More updates coming soon about where to find his work. In the meantime, think about how you can get involved:

Our college’s 33rd Annual Literary Arts Festival is around the corner,Thursday, April 10, at 5:30pm at 240 Jay Street (Midway Auditorium). The Festival is a long standing tradition that celebrates student writing and features a special guest author, along with student performances. This is an event to see and be seen.

WE NEED YOU for LAF to be a success. We need your unique talent, your school spirit, your energy, and your writing!

How Can You Get Involved?

***To volunteer to be a part of the student team and meet new friends (or bring your friends with you–all are welcome) OR express interest in performing: email Festival Director Prof. Caroline Hellmanchellman@citytech.cuny.edu .

***To enter the writing contest for a chance to win some money, present your work at the Festival, and potentially be published in City Tech Writer,  see the attached flyer . Questions about the writing contest? Email Prof. Rebecca Devers rdevers@citytech.cuny.edu . 

***To keep up with the latest about the event and learn more, join the Festival OpenLab Project, and keep up with festival news via the Festival OpenLab site and by following @CityTechLitFest on Twitter.

The Literary Arts Festival is Coming!

Save the date for this Spring’s Literary Arts Festival at City Tech: April 10th at 5:30 PM, in the Midway Auditorium.

Can’t wait until then? Get involved sooner! Prof. Caroline Hellman, the Festival’s fearless organizer, is looking for your help. She writes: “I’m building a student volunteer team for the Literary Arts Festival (coming your way Thursday, April 10, 5:30pm, Midway Auditorium), and all students are welcome.  Participation is a rather minimal time commitment; it includes helping to publicize the event, choosing the talent for the evening’s festivities, and being on hand for the Festival to help set up, usher, and lend some welcome school spirit.”

Interested? Please contact her at CHellman AT Citytech.cuny.edu

Without making promises on Prof. Hellman’s behalf, I will note that previous teams of volunteers have sported dashing T-shirts with that year’s Festival’s logo. Could a festive Festival T-shirt be in your future, too?

Announcing the Spring 2014 Literature Roundtable!

Prof. Renata Ferdinand, Coordinator of the Literature Roundtable, has just announced the reading for next semester. It’s Intimate Apparel, a play by Brooklyn-based author Lynn Nottage. You can purchase the play, or read it as an ebook from our college library.

Want to know a little about the play before you read it? Prof. Ferdinand shared this information about it:

CRITICAL REACTION:  INTIMATE APPAREL is the winner of the 2004 New York Drama Critics Circle Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play.

“This haunting and hilarious play is the most fulfilling event of the season.” New York Post

“The language of Intimate Apparel is a thing of beauty, at times approaching poetry…The play is a story about citizens grabbing for the same crust of bread, occasionally pulling nourishment from one another’s mouths. It is a parable about sweet dreams and honeyed words that, in an instant, can turn sour.” —Los Angeles Times

 

THE STORY: The time is 1905, the place New York City, where Esther, a black seamstress, lives in a boarding house for women and sews intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. Her skills and discretion are much in demand, and she has managed to stuff a goodly sum of money into her quilt over the years. One by one, the other denizens of the boarding house marry and move away, but Esther remains, lonely and longing for a husband and a future. Her plan is to find the right man and use the money she’s saved to open a beauty parlor where black women will be treated as royally as the white women she sews for. By way of a mutual acquaintance, she begins to receive beautiful letters from a lonesome Caribbean man named George who is working on the Panama Canal. Being illiterate, Esther has one of her patrons respond to the letters, and over time the correspondence becomes increasingly intimate until George persuades her that they should marry, sight unseen. Meanwhile, Esther’s heart seems to lie with the Hasidic shopkeeper from whom she buys cloth, and his heart with her, but the impossibility of the match is obvious to them both, and Esther consents to marry George. When George arrives in New York, however, he turns out not to be the man his letters painted him to be, and he absconds with Esther’s savings, frittering it away on whores and liquor. Deeply wounded by the betrayal, but somehow unbroken, Esther returns to the boarding house determined to use her gifted hands and her sewing machine to refashion her dreams and make them anew from the whole cloth of her life’s experiences.

*     *     *

The date for the roundtable hasn’t been announced yet, but Prof. Ferdinand is planning to have the event coincide with Women’s History Month, so expect it to be in March.

Happy reading!

Planning to attend the Literature Roundtable?

Planning to attend? Why not grab lunch and support City Tech students on your way?! Please read this message from Louisa Garcia, Vice President of the Art Directors Club:

ADC Patisserie Nov 14a2

Hello everyone,

The Art Directors Club will need your help this Thursday, November 14 from 12:45pm – 2:15pm. As most of you know, we are a design club at City Tech that releases the magazine publication, Command + J, as well as host the Meet the PROS speaker series, which features professionals from the design, advertising and illustration field. We have been fundraising diligently for a trip to Paris next April for one week during our spring break.

The Student Government Association has decided to host a fundraising competition and the club that raises the most money between 12:45pm – 2:15pm will win a cash prize of $500. We could really use that money towards our trip because bake selling twice weekly amounts to only about half that cash prize.Here’s how you can help:
We ask that you purchase your lunch with us that day on the Ground Floor of the Atrium Building. If you cannot come to us, we can come to you, just email us at: adcdesignclub@gmail.com, give us your order and we will deliver it to your office.
We even accept credit cards!
Le Menu
~Sandwiches~
Turkey & Cheese (with lettuce & tomato) on a mini-baguette $5
Ham & Cheese (with lettuce & tomato) on a mini-baguette $5
Mozzarella (with basil & tomato) on a mini-baguette $5
All sandwiches can be served either hot or cold
~Sweets~
Cupcakes $1
Brownies $1
Cookies $1
~Drinks~
Bottle of Water $1
Can of Coca Cola $1
Can of Sprite $1
Can of Diet Coca Cola $1
Can of Ginger-ale $1
If you have a special request for a sandwich, let us know the day before and we will prepare it specially for you.
Thank you all so very much.
Best,
Louisa
Louisa Garcia
Vice President

 

Announcing the 2013 LAF special guest speaker!

Prof. Caroline Hellman, the fearless leader of the Literary Arts Festival, recently announced the special guest speaker for this year’s Literary Arts Festival: Katie Dellamaggiore , the Director of the documentary film Brooklyn Castle. The film has garnered extensive accolades, and will facilitate discussions with students regarding storytelling in film, public education funding, activism & the arts.

Also joining Katie Dellamaggiore will be Pobo Efekoro, one of the student chess stars in the film. Yes, that’s right: two special guests instead of one!

Stay tuned for news of a screening of Brooklyn Castle on campus prior to the Festival and further information. In the meantime, watch the Brooklyn Castle trailer  or read press coverage about the film.

Remember to mark your calendars for Thursday, April 18th, 5pm, Midway Community Room for the festival!

Attention Students: Volunteers Needed!

Interested in getting involved with the Literary Arts Festival? This is a great opportunity to collaborate with fellow students as well as faculty and staff to help organize and produce the Literary Arts Festival. It’s always a fun group, and rumor has it that Literary Arts Festival T-shirts are involved. Bring your talents to this team! Contact Prof. Caroline Hellman at chellman AT citytech DOT cuny DOT edu.