Other Publications

Few of my publications dating from the years before I joined St. Norbert College can be found on the web, but here’s a small selection of pieces from my portfolio that relate, one way or another, to my current work in the field of educational publishing.

Shelagh Delaney
Dictionary of Literary Biography (Gale)

A commission from the Dictionary of Literary Biography for the entry on the dramatist Shelagh Delaney (“Taste of Honey”) was my first scholarly work, and it also earned me my British Library card back when that meant working in the storied Reading Room at the British Library. I was employed as a newspaper journalist at the time and working on the Delaney piece felt a lot like reporting: There was no comprehensive profile of Delaney and her work until my, albeit brief, effort so I was working almost exclusively with original sources. The British Library card continued to come in handy even after I completed this piece: My husband was finishing his Ph.D. dissertation in the British Library, and my card gave me ready access to the Reading Room whenever I wanted to fish him out for a lunch date.

Let’s Visit Jordan (Macmillan)

This commission from a small educational publisher remains my only full-length hard-cover publication. It came my way through my work at the British Council while we were living in Amman, Jordan. In between acceptance and publication, the publisher (whose name I have long forgotten) was taken over by Macmillan, so I have been able to enjoy saying, “My publishers, Macmillan,” ever since. This was an interesting exercise and satisfying to complete, but overall I found it a pretty dull experience. This volume was one of the extensive “Let’s Visit” series, covering most countries in the world, and it was expected to conform to the overall format. No problem there, by and large. But the publisher also required authors to avoid specific details that might date the work, so right there went most of the fun.

When Making Up is Not Such a Good Idea
Times Education Supplement

I started my career working for Thomson Newspapers when The Times was their flagship publication, but it was not until we were living in America that I saw ink in one of The Times family. I’ve always shied away from first-person pieces but, reading this one again, I wish I had tried more of them during my freelance career. (The Times Education Supplement is the national journal for the profession and sister to The Times Higher Education Supplement, which is the equivalent of The Chronicle of Higher Education In the United States. At St. Norbert College we got a pleasant surprise when one of our guest lecturers published “Conversation Across Boundaries” in its pages, following his visit to campus.)

Experiencing Commencement Weekend with the Class of 2007
Lawrence Today

It’s always a good thing for editors to write for publications other than their own on occasion. During my time at St. Norbert College I had the opportunity to help out our neighbors down the road at Lawrence University, when they found themselves shorthanded at graduation time.

From Lawrence Today, Fall 2007

I’ll never forget Professor William Chaney’s mortarboard. An institution at Lawrence, Chaney was then in his 80s and the photographer and I were captivated by his venerable cap, to his embarrassment. He was too shy to let us photograph it, but I did slip in this description on page 31: “The Sunday morning weather couldn’t be better. Members of the faculty are beginning to assemble under the eye of Marshal David Cook. Professor William Chaney, who served as marshal himself for 30 years, is flustered that we have noticed the condition of his mortarboard. It is, in its way, as venerable and sacred an object as Cook’s ceremonial mace. Its silk now fraying and secured to its backing with small, careful strips of Scotch tape, it testifies to its honorable 54 years of Commencement service.”

 

St. Norbert  Abbey of the
Canons Regular of Premontre

This piece published to mark the 50th anniversary of the “new” abbey building in De Pere, Wis., was my first book-editing project and a different kind of collaboration for me and art director Drew Van Fossen. (We are more typically found working together on St. Norbert College Magazine.) It was Abbot Bernard Pennings, O.Praem., who established the Norbertine order in the United States. In 1893, he and two comnpanions left Berne Abbey in Holland for the United States, as founding-superior to the American mission. On Sept. 28, 1898, he established the first Norbertine foundation in the United States at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in DePere.  On Oct. 10 of that year, he began teaching local boys Latin in the kitchen of the priory, and so began St. Norbert College.

Faith of Followers: Reflections
on the Collects and Prefaces of the Book of Common Prayer

This little project was a particular stretch for me. (I came late to the “Collect Project,” and I have a hunch I got the collects others had already found it too hard to write about.) I felt pretty insecure about the whole thing, actually – hope that is enough to excuse the cramped and rather pompous style – and this is one of the few pieces I’ve ever written that I felt I needed to share with a few others before I was ready to submit. All the same, it was a marvelous experience to engage more closely with Thomas Cranmer’s magnificent prose.

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