<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Dear Colleagues,<div><br></div><div>Please see the Call for Proposals for a Symposium on <i>The Homosexual Imagination: A Fifty-Year Retrospective</i>, available at <a href="https://ncte.org/resources/journals/college-english/cecalls/" style="color: purple;">https://ncte.org/resources/journals/college-english/cecalls/</a> and below.</div><div><br></div><div>Thank you,</div><div><br></div><div>Michael J. Faris & T J Geiger II</div><div><h2 style="margin: 0.25in 0in 6pt; line-height: 24.533335px; break-after: avoid; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Symposium: The Homosexual Imagination: A Fifty-Year Retrospective</h2><h2 style="margin: 0.25in 0in 6pt; line-height: 24.533335px; break-after: avoid; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN"></span></h2><h2 style="margin: 0.25in 0in 6pt; line-height: 24.533335px; break-after: avoid; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">Guest editors: Michael Faris and TJ Geiger</h2><h2 style="margin: 0.25in 0in 6pt; line-height: 24.533335px; break-after: avoid; font-size: 16pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">Call for Proposals<o:p></o:p></span></h2><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN">In 1974, Louie Crew and Rictor Norton published a special issue of <i>College English</i> on <i>The Homosexual Imagination</i>(issue 36.3). This issue opens with their editorial, “The Homophobic Imagination,” which outlines how homophobia has shaped the literature that is written and read, the scholarship and criticism that is published, and the practices of English teachers. They call for “gay criticism,” which challenges normative literary judgment and aesthetics and affirms “the essential ambiguity of all human experience” (286), and for an activist and inclusive English studies. As they conclude their editorial, “The appearance of a gay space in this issue of <i>College English</i> is more than a refreshingly novel turn of the tables: it is a step towards human liberation.” The rest of the special issue includes artwork, interviews, essays on gay literature and pedagogy, poetry, an interview with Allen Ginsberg (reprinted from the newsletter <i>Gay Sunshine</i>), and a checklist of resources. This issue was, according to then-editor Richard Ohmann, “the first issue of a scholarly or professional journal ever on that subject [of homosexuality]” (quoted in Williams 60). Not surprisingly, the special issue led to much backlash, including multiple letters to the journal (printed in subsequent issues) and objections from the College Section Committee of NCTE, who were “deeply upset … that the homosexuals were now in <i>College English</i>,” according to Ohmann (quoted in Williams 60). The issue also earned praise at the time (e.g., Ken Macrorie wrote the journal in support), but over the last 50 years, memory of this special issue, its radicalness (both for its time and even for now), and its importance has waned. We hope to remember the issue’s significance as an achievement in the history of English studies and recognize its importance as a site of possibility in the present moment.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN">We are proposing a symposium that commemorates and reflects on <i>The Homosexual Imagination</i> and its 50th anniversary, and we invite proposals that commemorate, respond to, reflect on, and extend the contributions of <i>The Homosexual Imagination</i>. We are particularly interested in proposals that respond to the following questions:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">How might we place the special issue in historical/activist context? (It is no accident that both Crew and Norton also wrote for gay activist newsletters and that the special issue was published 5 years after Stonewall and the subsequent founding of the Gay Liberation Front.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">How might we situate the special issue in conversation with other historical aspects of the field? For example, a contributor might address “Students’ Right to Their Own Language,” which was published in the same year (1974) in <i>CCC</i> (and the following year in <i>College English</i>). (Indeed, a 1975 letter to the editor decried NCTE for passing SRTOL, passing a resolution against textbook censorship, and publishing the special issue on <i>The Homosexual Imagination</i>; Pixton.) <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">How might we extend the discussion of “the homophobic imagination” to today, placing current homophobic, queerphobic, transphobic, racist, and ableist discourses in conversation with Crew and Norton’s discussion?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">How might we explore intersections between gay liberation in the 1970s and other issues of difference related to the profession?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">Given the multimodal nature of the issue (including essays, artwork, and poetry), how might scholars respond to the original issue using a variety of modes and genres (e.g., comics, stencil art, collage, open letters)?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">How might we identify models of intersectional activism in the history of the profession? (The same year the special issue was published, Crew also founded Integrity, the gay and lesbian inclusion ministry within the Episcopal Church, and he and Ernest Clay entered into an interracial marriage.)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">How might this 1974 special issue help us reimagine possibilities for meaningful writing and action within English studies today?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN">Please send proposals of roughly 400-500 words to Michael J. Faris (<a href="mailto:michaeljfaris@gmail.com" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">michaeljfaris@gmail.com</span></a>) and T J Geiger II (<a href="mailto:tj.geiger@ttu.edu" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">tj.geiger@ttu.edu</span></a>) as a .docx file by <b>Friday, October 6</b>. <i>College English</i> has asked that the entire symposium be 8,500–11,000 words long, so we’re looking for final contributions that are the equivalent of roughly 1,500–2,500 words.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN">Commitment to Anti-Racist Scholarly Practices</span></b><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN">Both symposium editors have read and committed to following </span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://tinyurl.com/reviewheuristic" style="color: purple;"><i>Anti-Racist Scholarly Reviewing Practices: A Heuristic for Editors, Reviewers, and Authors</i></a>. We ask that potential contributors read this document and commit to following these practices as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN">Timeline</span></b><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN">We’re looking at the following timeline for publication of this symposium:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">Friday, October 6: Proposals due<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">Friday, October 13: Proposals accepted/rejected<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">Sunday, December 31: First drafts due<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">Monday, January 15: Symposium editors’ feedback and instructions to authors<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">Monday, March 11: Revisions due back to symposium editors for approval<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">Monday, April 8: Additional revisions due if necessary<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">Wednesday, May 1: Full symposium with abstract, bios, permissions, editors’ intro, and completed citation checks due to <i>College English</i> editorial team<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN">Some Useful Resources for Potential Contributors</span></b><span lang="EN"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">We’ve compiled the entries of the 1974 special issue in <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UPEAE5Z81mInil4agylmW9UCtOD1XxXp?usp=sharing" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">this Google Drive folder</span></a>. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span lang="EN">●<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-kerning: auto; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-feature-settings: normal; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-variation-settings: normal;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">We’ve compiled letters to the editor published in College English in <a href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1AOa5huZmVlLBhnh92hcbLSwQaabAqNye?usp=sharing" style="color: purple;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 85, 204);">this Google Drive folder</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; line-height: 16.866667px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><div><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div>Dr. Michael J. Faris<br>Associate Chair, Department of English<br>Incoming Chair, Department of English<br>Associate Professor, Technical Communication and Rhetoric<br>Texas Tech University<br>Editor, Kairos, http://kairos.technorhetoric.net/</div></div></div></div></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></body></html>