{"id":40802270016,"date":"2022-12-01T09:18:01","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T14:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/?p=40802270016"},"modified":"2022-12-08T09:20:39","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T14:20:39","slug":"senior-anna-huber-presents-at-mapaca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/senior-anna-huber-presents-at-mapaca\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Anna Huber Presents at MAPACA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Senior English major Anna Huber is completing her undergraduate departmental honors thesis on Bobbie Ann Mason\u2019s short story \u201cShiloh,\u201d and presented different parts of her thesis at two conferences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first conference was the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in April 2021, and the second, the Mid-Atlantic American and Popular Culture Association (MAPACA) in November 2022. In between, she also presented her research in poster form at last spring\u2019s student Scholarship Week at Monmouth University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her MAPACA conference presentation was titled, \u201c’It Don\u2019t Leave You\u2019: Norma Jean Moffit and the Trauma of SIDS in Bobbie Anne Mason\u2019s \u2018Shiloh.\u2019\u201d It was accepted to be presented on a panel on \u201cSeveral Aspects of Death in American Culture,\u201d along with papers by two professors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPresenting at a conference is always daunting, especially one of MAPACA\u2019s magnitude,\u201d Huber said, \u201cI must have assembled and re-worked my presentation about six times until I came to something I was satisfied with.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Huber’s abstract posted online, her presentation \u201cproposes a literary trauma theory approach\u201d to a character in the story, Norma Jean. Norma Jean marries Leroy, the father of her child Randy, who dies of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. \u201cShe suffers in silence as many parents of SIDS victims do,\u201d the abstract says, and \u201cher husband Leroy reminds her of her deceased son.\u201d At first Norma Jean can cope because Leroy\u2019s work takes him far from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Leroy is injured and must remain at home, Huber’s abstract says, Norma tries to cope \u201cby partaking in activities outside the home,\u201d which is \u201cunsuccessful because eventually she must return home, and to him.\u201d Norma\u2019s mother Mabel makes circumstances worse. The abstract concludes, \u201cWhile visiting the Civil War battlefield and cemetery in Shiloh, Tennessee, Norma tells Leroy she wants a divorce\u2026.Divorce works for Norma because it frees her from her husband who reminds her of her lost son. Norma leaves him [Leroy] because of her own trauma, not as a feminist rebellion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel attendees were professors from universities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. Huber said, \u201cMy preparation was well worth it. The experience [helped me grow] as a student and presenter. The professors with whom I shared my research were very kind and supportive. Their questions validated my work and encouraged me to pursue my studies and theories with enthusiasm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the attendees was her academic advisor and thesis director, Stanley Blair, Ph.D., associate professor of English, and former MAPACA president. \u201cAnna\u2019s presentation was focused, professional, and engaging,\u201d Blair said, \u201cI was especially impressed by how she delved into the significance of specific passages like \u2018trucking calves to slaughter\u2019 and the passage about a child mauled to death by a dog, which in her explanation of the story act as PTSD triggers for Norma\u2019s SIDS-related trauma.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her presentation was well-received. \u201cTwo professors said they were familiar with the story and were persuaded by Anna\u2019s trauma-theory approach to it,\u201d Blair said, \u201cand the chair invited her to propose and present again at next year\u2019s conference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When not presenting at conferences and writing papers for classes, Huber applies her writing skills by tutoring her fellow students as a peer writing assistant in Writing Services. Her supervisor, Writing Services Director Frank Fury, Ph.D., said, \u201cAnna is one of Writing Services\u2019 most reliable and most effective peer writing assistants. She brings great enthusiasm to her job, and she is always eager to work with students to help them improve their writing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though Huber’s conference experience was challenging, she was grateful for it. \u201cI am grateful to the MAPACA professors who made the experience possible and allowed me to present, even as an undergraduate. Of course, I offer most of my thanks to Dr. Stanley Blair without whom none of this would even be possible. I look forward to future possibilities or platforms for presenting my research and thesis.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senior English major Anna Huber is completing her undergraduate departmental honors thesis on Bobbie Ann Mason\u2019s short story \u201cShiloh,\u201d and presented different parts of her thesis at two conferences. The first conference was the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in April 2021, and the second, the Mid-Atlantic American and Popular Culture Association (MAPACA) in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282,"featured_media":40802270017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,414,423],"tags":[],"person":[2946,2947,861],"audience":[],"school":[110,26],"program":[],"class_list":["post-40802270016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-excellence","category-campus-life","category-faculty-perspectives","person-anna-huber","person-frank-fury","person-sblair","school-english","school-school-of-humanities-and-social-sciences"],"squareimage":{"id":40802270017,"rendered":"\"Senior","original":{"url":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2022\/11\/Anna-Huber-Portrait_20220412_AD_26-e1669153246879.jpg","width":5779,"height":3909}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802270016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40802270016"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802270016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40802281081,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802270016\/revisions\/40802281081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40802270017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40802270016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40802270016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40802270016"},{"taxonomy":"person","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person?post=40802270016"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=40802270016"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=40802270016"},{"taxonomy":"program","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program?post=40802270016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}