Author: vermontnews

Pulitzer Prizes, MacArthurs, Guggenheims, American Book Awards and numerous New York Times Best Sellers are just a sampling of the achievements collectively stacked up by the trio of artists/authors — Art Spiegelman, Joe Sacco and Alison Bechdel — who shared keynote honors at last week’s Pulp Culture Comic Arts Festival & Symposium. And, as if we need further confirmation of their cultural currency and cartoon cred, consider that Spiegelman and Bechdel have both appeared on “The Simpsons.”

Hosted by UVM, which co-organized the festival with the Vermont Folklife Center, the three-day event drew hundreds of comic artists and fans of the medium. There are many portals into the work of the three celebrated artists and, more broadly, contemporary comic arts. Literature, visual arts, history, sociology, political science, anthropology, journalism and social activism to name a few. Evidence of that was found in the students and faculty from across a broad array of disciplines filling the Music Building’s Recital Hall for Spiegelman’s appearance on the festival’s opening night event, sponsored by UVM’s Carolyn and Leonard Miller Center for Holocaust Studies.

Early birds were fortunate to get a seat. Those who shaved it close to 7 p.m. perched on the stairs or stood in back when Spiegelman, blue glow of an e-cigarette in hand, and moderator Dan Fogel, chair of the English Department, walked onto the stage and settled into a pair of arm chairs for a two-hour discussion of the author’s diverse career and the evolution of comic arts.

Fogel, who currently teaches a course on graphic novels, shepherded the talk with the help of his laptop and a projector queued up with images encompassing the scope of Spiegelman’s work. The arc of that career spanned from the childhood inspiration of “Mad Magazine” to his years of work for Topps bubble gum/baseball cards (“my Medicis,” Spiegelman quipped), from his covers for “The New Yorker” to his exploration of the Holocaust in the landmark “Maus,” which redefined the medium and received a Pulitzer Prize in 1992.

The next day, Spiegelman went from star on the stage to fan in the audience for fellow cartoonist Joe Sacco’s talk. Credited in his own-right as a pioneer of graphic journalism and war reportage, Sacco’s books, such as “Palestine” and “Footnotes in Gaza,” have further pushed the boundaries of cartooning.

Beyond the talks, comic arts took the spotlight many places on campus. A display in the Bailey/Howe Library showcased the work of the keynote speakers and also comic artists from Vermont and Quebec. On Friday evening, students in a service-learning-based Spanish course taught by Rachael Montesano delivered dramatic readings from “El Viaje Mas Caro,” cartooning stories created, through an initiative of the Vermont Folklife Center, by migrant dairy farm laborers.

Discussion panels throughout the day on Saturday led up to the closing keynote by local hero Alison Bechdel. Celebrated for her long-running strip “Dykes to Watch Out For” and her graphic memoir turned Broadway musical, “Fun Home,” Bechdel has been a UVM Marsh Professor-at-Large for the past several years. Professor Jackie Weinstock, an associate professor in Human Development & Family Studies who includes LGBTQ relationships and communities among her scholarly interests, moderated the discussion.

Bechdel was informal and insightful, funny and frank. Reflecting on the unlikely success of “Fun Home,” she said, “At age 40, it saved my ass. I got to keep being a cartoonist.” She traced a line back to Spiegelman. “The publication of ‘Maus’ turned everything upside down. You could tell painful, complex, adult stories and people would read them.”

For the event’s masterminds — Jonah Steinberg, associate professor of anthropology, and Andy Kolovos, director of archives and research at the Vermont Folklife Center — the event was the culmination of years of work that began with a “hey, what if?” moment between friends. On the Monday after, Steinberg enthused about the ways the event crossed disciplines in terms of support and participation. Particularly gratifying, seeing Spiegelman, Sacco and Bechdel connect, attending one another’s talks and having dinner together each evening. “Here were the three greatest cartoonists of our time talking. There was collaboration and intersection that was incredible and unexpected — tremendous synergy,” Steinberg said.   

Missed the festival? Don’t despair, there’s another chance to get an up-close look at cartooning’s cutting-edge next semester when the Fleming Museum presents “Self-Confessed! The Inappropriately Intimate Comics of Alison Bechdel.” 

Source: UVM News

Saving Our Waters, a three-part documentary on the health and resiliency of the Lake Champlain basin featuring interviews with many Vermont EPSCoR experts, including faculty, graduate students, post-doctoral associates and technicians from UVM, premiered online and on Vermont PBS Thursday, October 19 at 8 p.m.

View the first episode of Saving Our Waters now. Two more episodes will air October 26 and November 2.

The series, which also includes interviews with other scientists, community members, policy makers, farmers, business owners and stakeholders, creates a comprehensive look at the Lake Champlain watershed, which covers approximately 40% of Vermont. The results are three thought-provoking short documentaries designed to help tell the interesting story of how we have tried to keep our waterways clean; the impacts of human activity on the waterways especially relative to phosphorus and other contaminants; and efforts underway towards a more resilient future using a coupled human and natural systems approach.

Saving Our Waters aims to examine the state of the Lake Champlain Basin today in an age of extreme weather events and the importance of resiliency and what that means to community members and decision makers.

“Let’s solve blue green algae! Public media has a vital role to play in helping our community recover the rich natural resource, economic vitality and recreational lifestyle that is tied to the quality of Vermont water, especially in Lake Champlain,” said Holly Groschner, President and CEO of Vermont PBS. “Saving Our Waters brings Vermonters the science behind our water pollution issues and supports conversation around ways we can all help achieve cleaner waterways.”

“We in Vermont EPSCoR are focused on understanding the basin’s watershed and what makes some parts rebound from extreme events while others do not. This resiliency is critical to foster throughout the basin in order to safeguard the Lake. We are delighted to partner with Vermont PBS in this effort to highlight the Lake and watershed, and our goal is to engage citizens and other stakeholders in helping us to model and predict the effects on the lake of extreme events into the distant future,” said Judith Van Houten, Ph.D., Vermont State EPSCoR director and University of Vermont distinguished professor of biology.

With these goals in mind, the series is complemented by multiple town hall meetings in some of the communities most affected by watershed issues. Vermont PBS will also air a panel discussion on the Lake Champlain basin that was pre-recorded in Montreal, one of many sources of water flowing into Lake Champlain and the pollutants associated with it.

In addition, anyone who wishes to add their voice to the conversation may do so by visiting Resilient Waters, a website specifically designed by social science researchers Asim Zia, Ph.D. and Christopher Koliba, Ph.D., professors in the Community Development & Applied Economics Department of UVM, and science leaders for VT EPSCoR, for this important topic.

Koliba explained that, “As the series will underscore, we all have a shared stake in ensuring that our lakes and streams are resilient to the changes we can expect from changing weather patterns and land uses. To this end, we have designed a website for the public to participate in the ‘crowd sourcing’ of solutions to the challenges we face in the coming years and decades. The site also has links to the papers, videos and talks VT EPSCoR researchers are making as the research progresses.”

Episodes and broadcast time are:

• Where Do We Stand? – aired October 19
• Lake Champlain: A Jewel in Trouble – Thursday, October 26, 8 p.m.
• Our Actions Matter – Thursday, November 2, 8 p.m.

All three episodes will be available online concurrent with their air dates. 

Vermont PBS will also convene town hall style conversations around Saving Our Waters. The public is welcome to register to attend these free events. 

• Wednesday, November 1, 6:30 pm; ECHO, Burlington, VT
• Wednesday, November 8, 6:30 pm; Paramount Theater, Rutland, VT
• Wednesday, November 15, 6:30 pm; 14th Star Brewery, St. Albans, VT

Vermont EPSCoR, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for its $20M Research Infrastructure Improvement Award (RII) Track-1 Award, Lake Champlain Basin Resilience to Extreme Events.

Source: UVM News