All St. Charles Students

Annie Dillard Award
The Annie Dillard Writing Prize, named after the American Pulitzer Prize winning essayist and novelist, is an annual writing award contest sponsored by the SCC English Department. Read some of her writing here.

All students enrolled in English Composition 101 and 102 courses and Literature courses are eligible to submit 1,000-1,500 word expository papers based on course assignments.

Essays are judged by full-time English Department faculty.The author of the winning paper receives:

• an invitation to the Student Award Banquet where the winner will be awarded a personal plaque and a $100 cash prize.
• the winner’s name inscribed on the permanent plaque displayed in the English Department offices.
• publication of the winning paper in The Mid Rivers Review, the SCC literary magazine.
• official announcement in the CHAZ, a bi-monthly publication of the Marketing & Communications Department at SCC for students, employees, and friends

Paper should be submitted to me so I can forward them to the contest. The deadline is March 23, 2009.

To Submit:
Print a clean, double-spaced copy of the essay - no grading marks. Your full name shouldn't be in the text anywhere or at the top. Create a cover sheet with the following info printed on it:
Annie Dillard Award Submission
Essay title
Your name
Your address
Your phone number
Your email address
Name of the instructor and class the paper was created for

I will award 10 extra credit point for essays revised according to my comments and submitted to the contest. Let me know if you have questions.

All Students: This American Life - Great Storytelling

If you want to study the art of great storytelling, check out the radio show This American Life. You can subscribe for free on iTunes. Or you can download podcasts for free up to one week after a show airs. It's seriously addictive.

And here is some dead-on advice from host Ira Glass on building stories.

St. Charles English 101 Students - Paper Due

Reminder: Your narration paper is due tomorrow. Put it in a two-pocket folder with all drafts and other work on the paper. Use Times New Roman, 12 pt font and follow guidelines of the example MLA paper in The Brief Thomson Book.

All Students- SCC Coffeehouse Open-Mic Night Thursday/Colloquia Opportunity

The SCC Coffeehouse, an Open-Mic night for poets, prose writers, song writers, and creative non-fiction writers to share their creativity, will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, in the auditorium of the Daniel J. Conoyer Social Sciences Building at St. Charles Community College.

Organizers of The Coffeehouse open-mic night invite SCC students, faculty, staff, and the public to share their original selections, or to come to listen and enjoy the entertainment. Creative selections should be 5-7 minutes long. Complimentary coffee and cookies will be served.

"'The Coffeehouse is an open-mic opportunity for creative people to share what they’ve written – poetry, short fiction, essays, skits, song, and more,' Teddy Norris, event organizer and professor of English, said. 'The Coffeehouse brings them all under one roof and into the perfect setting to share their best work with others.'"

The SCC campus is located at 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive in Cottleville. The open-mic night is free and open to the public.

For more information about The SCC Coffeehouse, call Norris at 636-922-8407 or visit the Coffeehouse Web site.

This is a great colloquia opportunity for Lindenwood Students.

Off Topic - Buying a Car Cheaper

Some of the students in my night class were commenting on what a pain it is to buy a car and try to get the best deal. I saw CarBargains.com in the news recently, so I told them I'd share the link. I assure you they aren't paying me, but I'm thinking about using them when it's time to buy my next car. The press reviews of them are pretty impressive.

You do have to pay about $200 bucks to join, but most of the reviews say you get it back plus some. Even if you just break even, you don't have to face the sales pressure and still get a good price.