Stouffer-Mayer Volume 6

February 2015

Meet Our New Faculty Fellow and His Family

The Tribune

onjour à tous! I’m from a little town called Beauport (beautiful port), just outside of Québec City in the Province of Québec, Canada. Where I grew up, people only spoke French—or rather Québécois, which is its own kind of French dialect, one that has retained more ancient words than European French. Québec French also has a distinct sound, one I recognize whenever I happen to hear it—sometimes right here in Philadelphia, unexpectedly, in passing—and one that always puts a smile on my face… as with anything we recognize from home. In my new home here at Penn I regularly teach comics & graphic novels, archival research methods, and contemporary American literature and film. I always try to incorporate film in my teaching since film was one of my first obsessions; in fact, the first Major I declared back when I was an undergraduate was Film Studies. Somewhere along the way, though, I fell in love with literature… and with my wife, Beth. We met as undergraduates and have now, more than 10 years later, welcomed into the world our 9-month old daughter, Aimée Blum Cloutier. Aimée—a French word meaning “beloved,” and pronounced like the short form for Master of Arts, “M.A.”—loves

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liquefied pears, bunny rabbits, and waterba-bies class at Pottruck. Beth actually did her doctoral studies in English literature here at Penn and is now a postdoc with the Penn Hu-manities Forum. Her teaching and research revolve Modernism, contemporary British & Irish literature, and she also writes for public forums like Public Books, Cabinet Magazine, and Oh Comely. Oh yeah, we’ve also brought our geriatric gray cat, Molloy—named after the great novel by Sam Beckett. As those who know me—or look at my bookshelves—quickly find out, I also love comics; been reading ‘em since I was a kid and never stopped... Continued story on pg. 4

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EY EVERYONE!

2015 has begun! Was anyone else super disappointed about Snowmaggedon? For those of you who were here for hurricane Sandy, I guess Penn didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful break. By now, classes are starting to really kick in. I’ve heard a few people talking about midterms already, as I think to myself whether I’m going to add or drop another course. I think it’s sort of crazy how quickly the semester starts moving. I wish everyone the best of the luck throughout the semester. This past winter break, I was able to travel to Hawaii with my mom. Unfortunately, my brother and dad couldn’t make the trip, because it would have been just too expensive. I’m thankful I got to spend time with my extended family who I haven’t seen in almost 8 years. It’s always tough living so far away from my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, so to be able to see them every now and then means the world to me. I thought I’d just share some of the memories I made in Hawaii this past break.

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See You All Around,

Isaiah Harris CAS 2016

Stouffer Communications Managerharrisi@sas.upenn.edu

The New Year

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What is Penn For?

did not get to go to Penn as an undergrad, but I do have an honorary Masters Degree from Penn (I think that they give it to faculty when faculty get tenure so that alumni relations can start sending them mailings), I cry when I sing The Red and the Blue, and I have lived on Penn’s campus longer than I have lived any other place in the world. So I feel pretty attached to Penn. But what is Penn for? I ask that as a real question, not as a rhetorical question to which I think I have an answer. More than a few people going to Penn would suggest that Penn is an instru-ment through which they will get a job, and that that is what a Penn education is for. I am not sure that can be right. Penn gets extraordinary amounts of resources from all sorts of entities outside of Penn. Penn passes on a lot of those resources in the form of heavy subsidies for the cost of a Penn educa-tion (I know it doesn’t feel like it, but it does). I am not sure that all of that giving occurs so that a handful of people can get jobs. Penn has an elaborate selection process for admission. At the undergraduate level, Penn tries to build a student body that

Penn has an elaborate selection process for admission. At the undergraduate level, Penn tries to build a student body that is diverse in myriad ways and from which every student can benefit. To what purpose? Penn also devotes enormous resources to the lives of students inside but especially outside of the classroom. It seems that Penn has been entrusted with a valuable and scarce thing – admission to its programs – and abundant resources. Why would society entrust Penn with such things? To what purpose? I know that jobs are a sensitive issue, especially since so many people here came of age during a horrific recession. But is the purpose of Penn to hand select an incredibly diverse group of people and then condition them to think that there are only a small handful of acceptable jobs? Again, I ask these questions without knowing the answers. My sense is that soci-ety entrusts Penn with the responsibility and resources to help shape people who can make real contributions to society, who can lead or who have vision. My sense is also that thinking about this question is more than just idle speculation; thinking about what Penn is for can help us think about what things like Stouffer are for. I look forward to someone telling me what Penn, and Stouffer, are for. In the meantime, Stouffer will be for you. And for cookies.

IArticle by:

Phil Nichols, Faculty Master

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House Wide GA Office Hours

his semester, one GA per week will open their office hours to all of Stouffer. Come join the GAs for activities like jam sessions, snacking, and watching hit TV shows. Ask us questions like: "What did you do after college?" "How do you pick a graduate school?" and "What do you do for fun?" Our answers are bound to please and amaze. Look out for details each week in the TWIS from the following GA hosts:

See you at Office Hours, The GAs

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Week of: Hosting GA:

1/26-2/1 2/2-2/82/9-2/152/16-2/222/23-3/13/2-3/83/16-3/223/23-3/294/6-4/124/13-4/19

JemiDemetriNaomiVeraJaclynCassieMichaelChikaZoEddie

Continued Story: Meet Our New Faculty FellowAmerican comics actually helped me learn English in my teens--though I’m afraid I tended to speak a little too often like Wolverine—nuff said. As a teenager I used to read X-Men religiously, and today I still follow a few monthly titles like The Walking Dead, Saga, Prophet and, of course, Batman. If pressed, I think I’d have to say that Watchmen is my favorite comic of all time because it’s about second chances, and about the value of all human life. But I also have a soft spot for Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth. I’m really eager to share my love of comics, film, and literature with the Stouffer commu-nity. I also happen to be a major hockey fan and hope to make converts out of every Stoufferite!

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