ARTICLE: Unwanted is a Book You Want on Your Bookshelf.

Friends and Family support Matthew Muns, a junior at Oakland University, by attending his official book release and signing on Sunday, Dec. 20.

On Sunday, Dec. 20, I had the honor and pleasure to attend a book signing and celebration of an Oakland University student’s new self-published book. That student is Matthew Muns, and he is not only a fellow Golden Grizzly, but an old friend of mine from high school.

I’ve known Muns for many years. We’ve taken several photography courses together, and when I heard that he had written and published the first book of a trilogy I was both a little jealous and extremely thrilled! Of course I was going to attend his big debut event and write up an article for him. My review of his novel will be at the end of this article.

The Golden Celebration, as it was called, was held at Suzette’s Master of Dance studio in Shelby Township. At least fifty people arrived to support Muns with his new book. Appetizers and drinks were available for guests, as well as a photo booth which was popular with the kids. Family, friends, and some of Muns’ dance students came to shower him with praise. When I saw Muns, he gave me a big hug and was practically shaking from excitement. After all, he was accomplishing one of his dreams at only twenty years old.

The event kicked off with a book reading, where Muns read a passage of his book from the first chapter, then moved onto testimonials, a Q/A session, and finally a speech from the author.

After all the speeches were complete, Muns spent an hour signing books and taking photos with his friends, family, and new fans. Once he was done, I had time to talk to him one on one about his life experiences.

ARTICLE: Dark Room Sees Bright Future

Professor David Lambert help his students with their cyanotype prints in the redesigned dark room on Nov. 11.

Located in the basement of Wilson Hall is a special room where students spend several hours working with chemicals under red safety lights to produce prints of their film photography.

On Oct. 22, the Art and Art History Department revealed the new dark room renovations.

“They’re not so much newer capabilities, but more functional,” Lecturer in Art and Photo/Media Lab Manager David Lambert explained. “The dark room is now split into two. One side is film only and one side is print only.”

The rooms are connected by a single black revolving door. In addition to the divided workspace, all of the rusted stainless steel sinks were replaced.

Kailey Johnson, a senior studying photography and cinema studies, has worked in the dark room both before and after renovations. She believes that the dark room has improved tremendously, especially the workflow.

“Previously people would have to maneuver their way around others, creating some dilemmas,” she explained.

However, with the digital age rushing forward at full speed, what is the importance of having traditional printing processes? Why continue to teach students how to work with film in a dark room?

According to Lambert, the advances in technology have sparked a rebirth of older processes.

“The digital age has made what we’re doing today relevant,” Lambert said. “The dark room lays a foundation for digital media. Basic photography principles such as depth of field, levels, and contrast are laid out in the dark room and we can see how that is reiterated in Photoshop. Photoshop played off of original dark room knowledge when developing its functions and features.”

“I own only film cameras,” Johnson said. “I prefer using film photography because digital can’t compete to the truest form of colors or blacks & whites.”

When asked what she thinks the importance of film photography is, Johnson believes that film is the root of photography.

“If Oakland didn’t have a dark room, or didn’t teach film photography, we wouldn’t be able to consider ourselves photographers,” she said. “You have to know the history and experience developing your own artwork before stepping into the digital age.”

In addition to learning the basics, students can utilize the new dark room in addition to digital processes for more advanced photography techniques.

“Now with alternative processes, we can work on the computer and we can print out a negative. In Photoshop students can manipulate a negative and print it out. It’s more accessible because they can jump into more advanced techniques,” Lambert explained.

He firmly believes that working in the dark room is essential for those who are interested in learning photography. It lays a foundation of how to properly work a camera by forcing students to slow down and focus. With film, students are limited to 24 or 36 frames per roll. There is “no luxury of messing up” like there is with digital.

“Patience is something that you learn throughout this process, but once you see the final results you feel so proud of yourself that you created this work of art,” Johnson added.

Students have the chance to experience the new darkroom. Black and white film photography courses are available for both majors and non-majors.

Written by Dani Cojocari. Originally published in The Oakland Post on November 16, 2015

ARTICLE: The Visions of Oakland University’s Director of Creative Writing

The time has come. I am officially a graduate of Oakland University. This final article as Photo Editor (and occasional reporter and blogger) for the Oakland Post marks the end of an era of learning my passion in life: creative writing. I have met many people on my journey to getting my bachelors, but one person who has helped me the most is the one and only Annie Gilson.

I had Gilson as a professor for my Advanced Creative Writing course about a year and a half ago. My good friend and fellow author Adrian Schirr was joining me, and I felt prepared to take the class by storm. However, I was not at all prepared for the intensity that is professor Gilson and her teaching.

To put it simply, she is a powerhouse of creative writing. Her energy was never less than 150%, and her passion for writing was even higher. She didn’t hold back with her critiques, and I admit that I left class with tears in my eyes after having some of my work ripped apart. However, it was the critiques I needed to hear, not the critiques I necessarily wanted to hear. That was one of the most important values I learned after taking Gilson’s course. I needed to develop a thick skin when it comes to revising and critiques. My writing isn’t perfect, and I need to know and not let my feelings get hurt when someone says “this makes no sense!”

The best part is that Gilson applies everything she teaches to her students to her own writing, which I learned when I interviewed her about her novel New Light, which was first published in 2006, and reprinted in 2010.

ARTICLE: Beloved English Professor Retires After 27 Years of Teaching

Professor Edward Haworth Hoeppner reads poetry from his collection “Ancestral Radio” during his farewell reading on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

After nearly three decades of working at Oakland University, English Professor Edward Haworth Hoeppner is retiring. On Tuesday, Nov. 10, he had a farewell reading in Dodge Hall, where nearly 100 students and faculty — both past and present — came to listen to his poetry and to bid him farewell.

Hoeppner’s Early Life

At 64 years old, Hoeppner has done a lot in his life. He grew up in Winona, Minnesota on the Mississippi River and studied for a year to become a priest at St. Mary’s University. When he decided that wasn’t the right path for him, he started to focus on English and Creative Writing.

“My high school English teacher first got me really interested in writing. It was illegal. We used to go to his house and drink beer and talk literature and that continued through college,” Hoeppner said with a laugh.

ARTICLE: The Dead Don’t Care, but Thomas Lynch Does.

Thomas Lynch visited, read his poetry and segments of his memoir to students in the Oakland Center on Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Part of the requirements to get a degree in Creative Writing is to take a specific track, whether it’s fiction, poetry, or screen writing. Although I chose to take Fiction, I was also required to try other genres. I gave both poetry and screen writing a shot, and I can say definitively that each style of writing requires a different set of skills and a different mindset to write effectively. It’s difficult to switch between the two.

Which is why Thomas Lynch is master of writing. Although he started off as a poet, he has expanded his skills to write fiction, memoirs, a book of essays, and even a play. As Brian Connery, an English professor at Oakland University said in his opening statements during Lynch’s reading, “he turned to prose with a poet’s precision.”

However, what makes Lynch unique is not his astounding ability to write in any form he wishes. It is his unique job as an undertaker that gives his poetry and fiction a new life of its own.

Lynch graced Oakland University with his presence October 26-27, giving discussions to the medical school, a craft talk on writing, and ending with an hour long reading of poetry and excerpts from his memoir The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade. Needless to say, he was very generous with his time, and everyone who attended his events were very thankful.

ARTICLE: Under the Golden Sail

When Adrian Schirr isn’t working on her own books, she is a writing consultant in the Writing Center at Oakland University.

I’ve met a lot of writers over the years. Most of them I met through creative writing workshops. I had the pleasure of meeting Adrian Schirr in my first creative writing workshop at Oakland University. We were in Professor Dawn Newton’s class. My first impressions of Adrian were that she was very friendly and knew a lot about writing and editing. We instantly became good friends through that class, and then later took our advanced creative writing course with Professor Annie Gilson.

We’ve learned a lot together over the last couple of semesters. She even helped me out with my own manuscript outside of class, when I would visit her in the writing center located in Kresge Library. Every week, we would read aloud a chapter or two and she would point out the flaws and make suggestions on how to improve. Honestly, the only time I ever went to the writing center was to see Adrian.

It was no different when I met with her to talk about her own book series. We met on Wednesday, August 26^th outside of the writing center. We caught up after not seeing each other for several months. She told me about her boys, and I told her about my own progress with my novel – and that I planned on coming back to the writing center to have her read over the sequel. It was a laid back and quiet atmosphere to have our interview. Unlike the other interviews I’ve done with OU authors, there was no book reading for me to go to. It was just me and Adrian, and the two books sitting between us on the table.

ARTICLE: Students entrusted with $2 million investment fund

One of the new features of the data analysis lab are ten dual screen Bloomberg Terminals, which will allow students to monitor and analyze market data in real-time.

Oakland University put $2 million into the hands of its finest: the students.

On Wednesday, Sept. 30, the Kresge Foundation and Oakland University announced a new student-managed investment fund that will provide students with a real-world experience of managing stocks.

“This investment will open the doors to great possibilities for our students and faculty,” President George Hynd said as he began the announcement ceremony held in Elliott Hall’s data analysis lab.

Undergraduate students who take the 400-level business course, Managing Investment Funds, will learn the essentials of portfolio management, stock selection and portfolio evaluation while managing the investment provided by the Kresge Foundation.

ARTICLE: Vacation Hot Spots within Michigan’s Borders

The Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes line the coast of Lake Michigan. Tourists come from all over to climb them.

Summer is finally here and vacations are in full swing. Most people travel far away from home to find relaxation. Florida tends to be a popular choice for those who want to really escape the land of lakes and potholes.

It might seem strange, but Michigan is actually a beautiful place to explore! It just takes a bit of researching and planning to find the special spots the “mitten state” has for a vacation hot spot. I’m going to make it easier on you and tell you some of the places I’ve been to on vacation and why you should visit them too!

ARTICLE: All it takes is one word

Friends, family, and past students came to support Plantus’ new book. Even her priest came to congratulate her.

As one can expect from a senior who is on the verge of graduating with her B.A. in Creative Writing, I have taken many English classes over the years. My most recent was Bible as Literature with Professor Doris Plantus. When I first took her class, it was to fulfill three reasons: to get the credits I needed to graduate, to learn more about my own religion, and to get more material for my own creative writing.

Plantus is a fabulous teacher who did an amazing job at keeping her own beliefs out of the classroom to teach students – all of whom had a wide variety of beliefs – the importance of the Bible as a work of literary fiction, as well as the importance of translation and language.

She just recently published her first novella, entitled “Sihastrul,” which translates to “The Hermit.” It was originally written in Romanian and is now translated into English. When I learned that she was holding a book reading and signing I thought it’d be a great opportunity to interview her about her book.

ARTICLE: Art exhibition showcases work of graduating seniors

Using archival digital prints, Heather Champion created stationary that are “visual statements that help to capture all of life’s moments.”

After spending an entire semester on creating their projects, studio art and graphic design, seniors had their thesis work installed in the Oakland University Art Gallery.

The MMXV Senior Thesis Exhibition held its opening reception on Friday, April 17. The showcase features artwork created with a variety of mediums, including painting, drawing, mixed media and photography.

Katie Cagle, photography major, was one of the students with her work on display. Her set of six still life photographs was titled “Compartments That We Keep.”

As part of her project, Cagle reached out to find people who would be willing to talk to her about topics they keep hidden.  She then used everyday objects to create compositions that represented the topics in those conversations.

“This body of work is my visual interpretation of their stories,” Cagle said. “I was really concentrating on clean shots for minimal editing.”