spring festival-dragon year

Yiwen Chen

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Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) is just around the corner (Jan.23), and it always reminds me of the childhood I spent with my grandparents in Wenzhou, China. I still vividly remember those experiences. Weeks before New Year, Grandma would start cleaning the house. Grandpa would get the red lanterns out from the attic and hang them in front of our house. He would put red paper cuttings of the word 福fu (meaning blessing or good fortune) upside down on our doors, signaling that it will come in our house.  Most importantly, school would be out for over a month (that was the best part!). I remember going to school from 7:45 to 5 or 6

by Jonathon Spalding

LEXINGTON, Ky.— Jacqueline Couti, UK professor of French and Italian Studies/Gender and Women Studies, has organized an event that will include renowned scholars Nick Nesbitt, Valérie Loichot and Myriam Chancy in discussing the current research in the field of French Caribbean Studies. Sponsored by the UK College of Arts & Sciences, this event will take a closer look at the Caribbean beyond its stereotypes. 

“Many people often associate the Caribbean with sun, sea and sex in mind,” said Couti, “simplistic and stereotypical views prevent us from seeing histories of survival, of self-determination and resilience against all odds.” 

The two-day symposium kicks off on Feb. 2rd from 4:45-6:30 p.m. in the Niles Art Gallery and is titled, “Narrating the Caribbean: Food for Thought and Food for Soul”.

Loichot will join Couti in

By Jenny Wells

The University of Kentucky Chellgren Center for Undergraduate Excellence has named three new Chellgren Endowed Professors.

The professors are:

Chellgren Endowed Professors maintain an active research program in their discipline; teach courses

By Whitney Hale

Ainsley Wagoner, a University of Kentucky architecture senior from Lexington, will present the 18th annual Edward T. Breathitt Undergraduate Lectureship in the Humanities at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, in the William T. Young Library Auditorium. Wagoner’s lecture, which focuses on the role memory plays in haptic architecture, is free and open to the public.

 

The Breathitt Lectureship was designed to honor an outstanding UK alumnus with an exceptional interest in higher education and the humanities, Gov. Edward T. Breathitt. The lectureship is awarded to an

By Sarah Geegan

Gerald Janecek, recently retired professor of Russian and Eastern Studies, won the Outstanding Contribution to the Profession Award for 2011 from AATSEEL, the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages.

A member of AATSEEL since 1972, Janecek also received the award for outstanding contribution in 2007. His work reflected the association's goals to advance the study and promote the teaching of Slavic and East European languages.

Janecek served as editor for AATSEEL's quarterly publication, The Slavic and East European Journal since 2001. Under his leadership, the journal persisted as the most highly respected philologically-oriented

By Gail Hairston, Amy Jones, Kody Kiser

Six University of Kentucky professors were honored last night by the UK Alumni Association for the excellence they demonstrate in the classroom.

Click here for a transcription of the video above.

This year’s recipients of the 2012 Great Teacher Awards are:

Cheyenne Hohman sat down with Lina Crocker to find out more about The Center for English as a Second Language. Professor Crocker is the senior lecturer at the Center and describes what the Center does, who it's for, and describes the variety of students it instructs.

Steven Yates is an Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor who works in the departments of both Chemistry and Physics and Astronomy.

In this interview, Yates discusses his recent collaboration with the iThemba Laboratory, a nuclear particle accelerator facility in Cape Town, South Africa.

This podcast was produced by Stephen Gordinier.

https://www.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/Steven%20Yates%20-%20Final.m…

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Affrilachian Poets Ricardo Nazario y Colón, Bianca Spriggs and Keith Wilson pause after spending time with Macon State students. Photo by Glen Stone.

Frank X Walker, noted author, poet, and Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky, shares the history of the term "Affrilachia," his thoughts on identity and place, and ways in which Affrilachian poetry continues to reach individuals all over the region.

This podcast was produced by Cheyenne Hohman.

https://www.as.uky.edu/sites/default/files/Exploring%20Affrilachia_%20F…

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By Sarah Geegan

In the second semester of his senior year, University of Kentucky undergraduate Jeremy Puckett is attempting an accomplishment normally undertaken by professors — publishing a book.

Though his book is fiction, Puckett said it reveals a real perspective on the experience of growing up in rural Kentucky. He describes his novel, "Black Bottom Hollow," a horror story set in the Kentucky backwoods, as a way to portray southerners as heroic. 

"There are a lot of stories where Appalachians are the villains," Puckett said. "But I don’t think I’ve ever seen a novel in the horror or fantasy genres that treated them as heroes."

The novel depicts an 8-year-old boy brought back to life by his family after dying in car accident. With black magic,

On Sunday, December 4, English professor and Director of the African American and Africana Studies Program Frank X Walker spoke with hosts Lezell Lowe, Andrea James, and Dr. Sonja Fiest-Price of Groovin 1580AM Lexington. Professor Walker spoke about the Lyric Theater series, "S.T. Roach Community Conversations: Rebuilding the Block". The series is committed to celebrating black male leadership and excellence. Listen to the full interview below.

Date: Saturday, January 14 at 11:00am

Location: The Lyric Theater

By Colleen Glenn

A new year is just starting, but an important community series at the Lyric is already underway. “Rebuilding the Block,” the S.T. Roach Community Conversations, kicked off in December and will continue through the spring. 

The second annual series is a collaborative project created by UK’s African American and Africana Studies Program in partnership with the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center. Faculty members from across the University of Kentucky are involved in the project.

“The idea is to broaden access to university professors beyond the campus,” says Frank X Walker, Professor of African American and Africana Studies and Creative Writing

New EES faculty member’s research group works to understand how Deepwater Horizon oil has impacted critters living on and in sediments of the sea floor and coastal marshes.

We have all seen the headlines, heard the sound bites and seen the images. A spill lasting for months, oil burning at sea, the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, oiled marsh grasses, birds, fish and marine mammals.  

But what impact does 4.9 million gallons of oil have on life that is not so easily seen, like the benthic animals living on and in sediments of the sea floor or in coastal marshes? For new Earth and Environmental Sciences faculty member Dr. Kevin M. Yeager and his research group and collaborators, this

When my students ask me why I became a Latin teacher, I often tell them it was fate. This, obviously, is the short answer I give during class time when they have asked an off-topic question to avoid conjugating deponent verbs or learning about gerunds and gerundives. The truth of the matter is that I have grown to love the Latin language and couldn’t imagine my life without it. I was introduced to the wide world of Latin in college, continued my education until I was satisfied with my level of learning, and then  entered into the teaching profession at a college preparatory school.

The long and the short of it:

My first day on Western Washington’s campus for freshman orientation was bright and sunny. Naturally, I accessorized with short, hot-pink hair and old army fatigues I had found at the Army Navy supply for cheap. I walked over to my assigned classroom and sat

By Kathy Johnson

Nikky Finney, University of Kentucky English professor and winner of the National Book Award for poetry, was the guest on yesterday's "UK at the Half," which aired during the UK vs. Loyola game that was broadcast on radio.

"UK at the Half" airs during halftime of each UK football and basketball game broadcast on radio and is hosted by Carl Nathe of UK Public Relations and Marketing.

To hear the "UK at the Half" interview, click here. To view a transcript of the "UK at the Half" interview, click

By Whitney Hale

The LGBT community is quite diverse in Lexington. In hopes of representing and celebrating the population's various differences, University of Kentucky Gaines Fellow and knitter Catherine Brereton has launched the Diversity Project, which seeks to create a visual representation of the community through a large piece of yarn-art. One stitch at a time, Brereton hopes the Diversity Project will create unity.

To finish the final product, a blanket made of 144 squares, Brereton is asking the public to take part in the initiative. There are various ways to participate in the project including a knitting event this weekend beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 20, at Great Bagel, located at 396 Woodland Avenue in Lexington. For more information on this event, visit Facebook at 

Rebekah Tilley

Many of us have had to endure the constant barking of a neighbor’s dog for days or weeks on end. We know there is a clearly outlined noise violation law on the books for just this situation, yet we’re unwilling to take action against our neighbor despite our great annoyance.

Why is this?

“Often concepts of good neighborliness in the United States involve not suing over little things,” explained Dr. Srimati Basu, Associate Professor in the UK Department of Gender and Women's Studies. “Not because you are afraid of the law, but because you want to be seen as a certain sort of person.”

Basu takes a unique approach to feminist jurisprudence by examining the ways law exists in the real world rather than merely

By Colleen Glenn

After graduating from UK in the spring of 2011, James Chapman wasted no time in getting started on his career path. A dual Political Science and International Studies major at UK, Chapman continued doubling up on his studies in graduate school: he is now pursuing a joint law degree and Middle East policy master's degree at George Washington University.

“I would like to be involved with both law and policy in some manner, perhaps for the United Nations or the U.S. Department of State,” said Chapman. “I could also see myself working for a private law firm with an office in the region or a group that works in issues concerning the Middle East.”

Chapman got hands-on experience in learning about Middle East policy when he studied abroad in

RJ “Publius” Parsons came to the University of Kentucky after several years in which he taught high-school music and Latin in Miami, Florida, and Glendale, California. He has done extensive research into impressionistic music theory, medieval polyphony, and renaissance counterpoint most recently creating a musical score of sacred motets written by the sixteenth-century Flemish composer Noe Faignant. Throughout his musical tuition RJ has enjoyed employing texts that were written entirely in Latin, as for centuries it was the language of scholarship in all disciplines and especially music. He took so much pleasure in using the Latin skills he had obtained in school that he decided to teach it!

At the American Classical League convention’s spoken Latin seminar held at Loyola Marymount University, RJ first met Drs. Milena Minkova and Terence Tunberg and although he

Jonathan Meyer studied classics and religion at Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI) and Yale Divinity School before coming to the University of Kentucky. He has also participated in the summer Latin program directed by Reginald Foster (OCD). He has taught students in Latin and Greek at the high school and college levels and has assisted in graduate courses dealing with biblical studies, religious history, and ancient Greek history. At the University of Kentucky, he has taught courses in beginning and intermediate Latin and Greek. In 2011 he received a Distinguished Teaching Award from the College of Arts and Sciences.

His research interests include the epic tradition, ancient religion, and neo-Latin literature; his translations of selections from Homer’s Odyssey and the Legenda Aurea have been published and will appear in the forthcoming The Gospel of Judas