Report from the CEA Conference
St. Louis, Missouri
March 27-29, 2008

The 39th College English Association held its annual conference in March in St. Louis, where over 500 papers were presented on a wide variety of matters primarily focused on the conference theme, Passages, but including traditional areas of pedagogy, theory, rhetoric, technical writing, creative writing, and literature in the canon. There were other less conventional panels as well:

• Multicultural Literature
• Book History
• Peace
• Food and Literature
• Travel Literature
• Literature and the Healing Arts
• Teacher Education
• Pop Culture

Featured speakers included:

Plenary: Ralph Alan Cohen, American Shakespeare Center
“Misdirection: Teaching English and Curing Shakesfear”

Diversity Luncheon: April Langley, University of Missouri
“‘Specializing in the Wholly Impossible’: The Dilemma of ‘Diversity,’ History, and ‘Where and When We Enter’”

Women’s Connection Reception: Annette Federico, James Madison University
“Gilbert and Gubar’s The Madwoman in the Attic after ‘Almost’ Thirty Years”

All-Conference Luncheon: Logan Ward, author of See You in a Hundred Years
“Blow up Your TV: Ditching the Digital Age for a Year of Dirt Farming”

Next year’s conference will be held in Pittsburgh, PA, March 26-28. The conference theme, Design, encourages a wide variety of applications in all areas of English. The CEA welcomes papers given at the conferences of its regional affiliate organizations, so if members present at Baker College – Auburn Hills in October, they may submit that same proposal by the November 1st deadline for consideration by the CEA. For further information, contact the Program Chair, Miles Kimball, at cea.english@gmail.com  (put “ProgramChair” in the subject line) or see the CEA web site at  http://www2.widener.edu/~cea/index.htm

Ed Demerly
MCEA Liaison and CEA Past President