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SDSU Lit Film and Cultural Studies Lecturer Neil Kendricks on Comic-Con

Here are the actual pieces mentioned in this blog previously scanned for your delight--just hit the little images to have them blow up to reading size!





WAN

Two More Sketches for New Logos/Campaigns

Neil Kendricks! Literature.sdsu.edu Popular Prof AND Go-to Guy for Comic-Con

When The San Diego Union-Tribune needs an expert to guide SoCal fans and freaks to the joys of Comic-Con presently roiling our sometimes sleepy seaside town, who do they turn to? None other than Neil Kendricks, MCASD film curator and cultural studies lecturer for the Department of English and Comparative Literature at SDSU. Read his piece on graphic narrative and Comic-Con here and find more of his dispatches here and at KPBS Comic-Con Central! Congrats Neil!

W.A.N.

Toying With a New Logo for literature.sdsu.edu

We've been toying with our logos and markings--part of an overall effort to publicize the rising status of our department here on the West Coast and beyond; if you like this new one, leave us a comment!

¡Saludos!

Guillermo Nericcio García
webmaster, literature.sdsu.edu








update: a second potential logo...

Children's Lit MA Students Broaden Their Literary Horizons

Children's Lit. MA students, Emily Thomas and Vanessa Chalmers recently visited the book fair in Madrid, Spain to browse Children's Literature section. The intrepid travelers wrote "We're both, representing our trade half way around the world!"

Also photographed is their favorite book, The Little Prince, translated into Hebrew as well as many other major languages.

How To Join The Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra

                                         photo by chris woo
Professor B. Miller and his singing robot are taking over the San Diego music scene. But don't let the lab-coat and safety goggles fool you. The human half of the experimental music duo known as Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra is none other than SDSU English Department alumni Michael Buchmiller.

Buchmiller's behind-the-scenes artistic achievements before graduating with a BA in 2003 are blogworthy alone, but with the recent release of his debut 4 CD box set and a handful of live shows since last December accumulating what amounts to a cult-like following and earning him a full-page article in this week's San Diego CityBeat, the man (and his robot) are now in the spotlight.

During those years at SDSU, Buchmiller ran a music magazine called Hand Carved, starting as a writer, and over time, a graphic designer. The success of his show posters, print ads, and t-shirts led him to start his own graphic design company, Hand Carved Graphics.

Buchmiller's love of music also landed him a weekly radio show at SDSU's college radio station, KCR. Aptly named Hand Carved Radio, the show featured live performances and on-air interviews with bands such as Rocket From the Crypt,Denali, The Lawrence Arms, and Pretty Girls Make Graves. Promoted to Music Director of the station where he was responsible for weeding through the 200 plus albums sent in each week, Buckmiller's tastes began to broaden.

"After listening to hours and hours of bands that all sounded similar, I found myself being drawn to the more unusual music out there," he recalls. "That probably explains a bit about why the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra sounds the way it does."

But how does any of this explain his reasoning for pursuing and obtaining an English degree?

Like most students entering a college English program, Buchmiller was considering the writer/teacher route, perhaps eventually incorporating his love of art and music. But, as he admits, "I guess at the heart of all of these different mediums, what I really loved was storytelling."

Buchmiller claims many of the influences of his current storytelling projects came from English classes.  Speaking of one current Department Chairman in particular, Buchmiller says, "up until that point, I had always thought of literature, paintings, motion pictures, and music as separate mediums. But in his classes, he showed me that there doesn't have to be a division between them. He'd go back and forth between the different formats and treat them all the same way. I think that's when I realized that the Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra could be one work of fiction that spans all of those categories. "

Among his other faculty influences from his time at SDSU, Buchmiller credits his interest in science fiction to Larry McCaffrey, his inspiration for creating his own postmodern fiction to guest lecturer and author Raymond Federman, and the encouragement and insight to experiment across different mediums to creative writing instructor Lidia Yuknavitch.

"At first it might not seem like an English degree would have any kind of direct correlation to how I make my living these days," Buchmiller adds, "but that's not really true. Every time I design something, I'm telling a story. Instead of words, I'm using photos, drawings, and colors. Then when I turn it in to the client, I don't just show it to them. I explain what it is and why I did it... why it's compelling, what things symbolize, and that sort of thing. It's really no different than when we'd read a book and come in to class and talk about what the author was doing. At the end of the day, it's all communication, and I think having a background in literature definitely gives me an advantage in the visual arts."

The Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra is proof that his time studying literature has not gone to waste. Combining music, art, and writing into one project, Buchmiller likes to think of it as one ongoing work of fiction loaded with layers of stories between the characters and songs. For example, the box set includes enhanced CDs with corresponding audio tracks that explain the origins of each song.

"As the band has started to perform live, I've taken on the role of the Professor and the lines between fact and fiction continue to blur."

But don't take our word for it.  Go check it out for yourself.  

The next Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra performance takes place July 30th at The Casbah.

Sample Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra:
Stole Your Daddy's Time Machine
Haunted Rental Car
Ornithophobia

We Have Updated the SDSU Lit Mothership--Hit the Image and Fly On In!

MFA Professor Marilyn Chin Finalist in California Poet Laureate Selection

Professor Marilyn Chin may soon be adding yet another prestigious award to her well established collection (from the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard, the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others). Chin has been nominated along with three other finalists to represent California as the state's Poet Laureate. Next in the rigorous selection of Poet Laureate, Governor Schwarzenegger will choose one of the four finalists to ultimately represent the state. Then the state senate will need to approve his decision. SHE, or he will maintain the position for two years. The mission of the Poet Laureate is "to spread the art of poetry from classrooms to boardrooms across the state, to inspire an emerging generation of literary artists and to educate all Californians about the many poets and authors who have influenced our great state through creative literary expression."

Professor Chin has taught creative writing at SDSU since 1989. Throughout her time here she has shared her recognition and artistic connections to the great benefit of the MFA program and SDSU as a whole. Her nomination reminds us of the caliber of the institution we belong to and the amazing professors we are fortunate to learn from.