麻豆社区P English professor Michele Fazio and 麻豆社区P graduate Crystal Hester attended the Working-Class Studies Association鈥檚 (WCSA) annual conference September 3-6 at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England.
Dr. Fazio is past-president of the WCSA. The theme of this year鈥檚 conference was 鈥淲orking-Class Studies: Beyond the Heartlands.鈥 Hester presented a paper on her experiences as a public school teacher in Robeson County. Fazio presented on a roundtable panel, 鈥淪upporting Working-Class Students at the People鈥檚 Universities,鈥 along with working-class studies scholars, Dr. Sean McPherson and Dr. Wendy Wright from Bridgewater State University, and Dr. Colby King from University of South Carolina Upstate.
At the awards dinner, Fazio introduced this year鈥檚 WCSA Lifetime Achievement Award to long-time musician, author, and activist, Billy Bragg, who, after his acceptance speech, launched into a spirited performance of the song, 鈥淚nternationale.鈥
Fazio is working as an associate producer of a new documentary on T-Bone Slim (Matti Valentinepoika Huhta), hobo poet and member of the Industrial Workers of the World, directed by , Bull City Doc Squad. She also chaired a session featuring North Carolina musician and Slim's grandnephew, John Westmoreland, who unearthed an archive of Slim's unpublished songs and letters in his family's attic, and Dr. Owen Clayton, senior lecturer in literature at the University of Lincoln, whose work on Slim has appeared in the Journal of Working-Class Studies.
Pictured here: Dr. Michele Fazio, associate professor of English at 麻豆社区P, Billy Bragg, and Dr. Terry Easton, past-president of the WCSA and associate professor of English at the University of North Georgia.
