An Exit Interview with Bill Gholson

Posted on January 16, 2018 by Ed Battistella
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Bill Gholson is from Hoopeston, Illinois. He graduated from Eureka College and came to Southern Oregon University in 1994, after completing a Master’s and PhD in English at the University of Oregon. A former high school English teacher, he has served as English Department Chair, directed the University Writing Program and the Master’s in Management program and has published on Kurt Vonnegut and on rhetoric. In 2017 he was a winner of the Outstanding Teaching Award at Southern Oregon University and he retired at the end of 2017.

Ed Battistella: How did you make your way to Oregon and to SOU?

Bill Gholson: My wife earned her PhD at the University of Illinois and took a job at the U of O. We moved to Eugene. I continued teaching high school for three more years in Monroe, Oregon and then made the decision to apply to the English PhD program at U of O.

EB: Do you remember what you taught in your first year at SOU?

BG: I had a two course releases for directing the writing program, so I taught one course in Wr. 122.

EB: What else stands out from your first years?

BG: One of the things that most graduate programs in composition and rhetoric will teach you is that you should never direct a writing program before getting tenure. But, Don Reynolds, Chair of the English program called me up and asked if I would direct the writing program right away. Of course I said yes. Taking the job meant that my wife and I would both get to teach in Oregon, although we taught in separate towns for the first seven years I was here.

EB: How has your teaching evolved over the years?

BG: I am not afraid of letting a class go where it goes.

EB: You recently turned to writing poetry? How is that going?

BG: Well, I hope to spend more time on it now that I am retired. I love playing around with the lines and the language.

EB: You are known—renowned actually—for continually developing new courses. Is there anything you still wish you could teach? Or teach again?

BG: I love teaching topics courses for the very reason that I can teach new topics every term. I’d love to teach Moby Dick again.

EB: What were some high points of your time at SOU?

BG: Directing the University Colloquium; working with students; winning Distinguished Teaching Award. Teaching with an amazing group of professionals who are way out of my class. Surviving, barely, my term as chair, and developing rhetoric courses for the creative writing program; along with Tom Nash, designing the Decker Writing Studio; petitioning for and creating the new position of Creative Writing Director; joined WPA; held state-wide composition conference on the SOU campus.

EB: What’s your favorite thing about the academic life? Your least favorite?

BG: I love the freedom of designing courses and of more or less having the freedom of my own classroom. So, freedom is my favorite thing. Second would be having inquisitive students. My least favorite thing is the new mania for measuring and monitoring outcomes. I consider this a low point for education. Students should understand what the expectations for a class are, but the kind of evaluations going on today are more complicated than ever. I think the complicated nature of the outcomes and the forms for outcomes and the forms for the forms for the outcomes becomes the reason for teaching. I really hate that administration has less and less faith in their faculty and more and more faith in the mathematization of the world. Also, I think it is too easy for bullies to cause internal problems in programs without any recourse for the bullied. I speak from experience.

EB: What are your plans, post-SOU?

BG: My plans are nebulous. The decision to retire a little early came so quickly. I have a million books I want to read. I really would like to publish at least one book of poetry and I hope it is my book of morning consolations.

EB: Thanks for talking with me. Don’t be a stranger.

BG: Thanks for talking with me. What was your name again?

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We’re All Victims of This Unavoidable Internet Trap: What You Need to Know…A guest post by Elizabeth Raynal

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Ed Battistella
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Elizabeth Raynal is a senior at Southern Oregon University, studying English and Outdoor Adventure Leadership

As the internet expands into a virtual marketing front, businesses are shifting their outreach tactics subtlety, yet more aggressive and effective. Any social media sight open to advertisers is littered with click bait headlines, and as technology advances, the headlines are getting harder to resist. Linguistically, there are a multitude of click bait approaches, often accompanied by digital attractions intended to maximize reader curiosity. This paper dissects the psychological appeal to click bait, and what journalists are doing to increase reader interest.

We’re All Victims of This Unavoidable Internet Trap: What You…

This statement is just an example of what many psychologists and linguistics have studied in order to understand why certain online headlines and posts become so dire to read (or watch) by online users. The internet has become a leader in communication and is constantly advancing to share more information to more people. And through the invention of social media, an immeasurable number of businesses and media networks have developed a new way to increase consumers and revenue—Clickbait. According to the Journal of Social, Technological, and Environmental Science, “Click Baiting is one of the many strategies used by online news journalists with the intent of making their headlines more attractive and, therefore, obtaining more clicks” (Alves 197). This new phenomenon shows little academic research or well-developed data; however, scholars have concluded that the formula behind clickbait includes forward-reference strategies and relatable terminology which urge readers to satisfy their curiosity and succumb to headline links.

While we scroll through various forms of information-based social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter, there is one factor that predicts our next click: Curiosity. According to the Educational Psychology Review: “More than half of definitions [on curiosity] included the need for knowledge or information as a defining feature of curiosity. This suggests that thinking and reasoning about the knowledge one has and the knowledge one desires may be required at either a conscious or automatic level in order for curiosity to arise” (Grossnickle 52). One must measure the information they know in accordance with what they want to know, then the level of curiosity will be determined. This is where journalists publish articles that appear like never before seen information to intrigue readers. For example, W Magazine posted an article titled: “The 25 Most Daring Dresses of All Time” (Petrarca 2017) in reference to celebrity award shows. The awards had already been aired, but the article was posted just after the season was wrapping up in January, so it was still a relevant topic. Readers may have seen an award show and wanted to relate to what they had seen, or were curious about what they may have missed. An article as menial as this, in relation to hard news, still catches the attention of readers. This is a concept psychologist George Loewenstein explores: “The key to understanding curiosity seeking lies in recognizing that the process of satisfying curiosity is itself pleasurable” (Loewenstein 90). This means that by coming to a resolution, one experiences relief and gratification. W Magazine readers likely have shown interest in similar media genres, and journalists used linguistic tactics to heighten their curiosity and lure them into reading such articles.

The most common form of click bait occurs in what linguists refer to as forward-reference. Jonas Blom and Kenneth Hansen explain that, “forward-referring headlines are considered phoric because the reader needs to locate the entities that are being referred to later in the full text or discourse, i.e. ‘needs to look elsewhere’ in order for the headline to make sense” (Blom & Hansen 92). Most headlines point readers in a specific direction, but intentionally omit the main point of the article. This arises curiosity and urges people to read further. The art of forward-referencing is separated into two factors: Deixis and cataphora. Both are similar tactics pointing to a discourse, only in different ways. Deixis is when, “the pronoun can be regarded as a sort of teaser, an information gap (88). For instance, This is How to Save Money While Traveling, engages readers on wanting to know what this is; how to save money. Cataphora, though also employs the use of pronouns, points readers to a single conclusion: ‘The greater ‘the distance’, so to speak, between 3PP [third person pronoun] and NP [nominal phrase], the greater an effect of suspense and anticipation (88). If an article were to say, He Traveled Around the World for Three Years, and Never Spend more than…,” he is the cataphora. Readers firstly want to know who he is, then how he did it. As a bonus, ellipses act as a form of deixis; a sort of cliff-hanger to increase suspense. The more ambiguous the relationship between the prnoun and the event is, the greater the information gap and the more change of readers submitting to click bait.

In addition to forward-reference, journalists use trendy language to connect with their readers. Slang words, although too unreliable to deem academic, make up the dialect in groups of a particular environment. According to Connie Eble in her book, Slang and Sociability, “slang is within the ordinary competence of a language user. Second, the social potential inherent in language is actuated and intensified in the use of slang” (Eble 2). Essentially, slang words are expected to be understood by the speaker and receiver due to common group association, and, slang elevates the semantics of a word. In social media, where posts are generally informal, journalists use slang as a tactic to relate to their readers. In Refinery29 Magazine, one headline reads: “83 Dope Things Coming to Netflix in December” (Farley 2017). In this statement, Dope, Things, and, Netflix could all be considered current slang words as of 2017. Readers of Refinery29 are generally young adults who qualify to fit in to the group associated with these terms. Therefore, young readers could find this article relatable enough to click on. If readers find it beneficial to their life, they will consider reading it.

Another emerging online marketing tactic is the use of emojis. Anyone with access to a smartphone knows the digital symbols indicating a smiley face, a cup of coffee, or a thumbs up. Media sites engage in small phrase communication and emojis help readers understand the tone and emotion behind a writer’s intentions. Additionally, “For all their creative potential, emoji were intended to normalize and then capitalize on the collective strength of affect in human social relations online. (Crawford & Stark 4). By including digital representations of emotions and actions, readers can more directly understand and engage with other writers. Journalists know this and have started to capitalize on its effectiveness. Businesses implement tracking emoji trends on social media users to direct them towards buying into certain products. Researchers have discovered that, “sentiment-analysis firms like Lexalytics are also working to incorporate emoji into their business models, providing data profiles grounded in emotion and mood to their customers” in order to “better monitoring and modulating the flow of consumer desire” (Crawford & Stark 8). Similar to using slang, emojis are both trendy and hyperbolic, which can strongly engage certain audiences. The likelihood of online browsers clicking a link with a picture or comment using an emoji is greater now with the advancements of technology.

On the current news side of things, two name-brand news broadcasters report on the same incident; however, their click bait tactics vary. BBC news writes: “North Korea Say Missle Can Hit entire US,” (BBC 2017) while CNN states: “North Korea Missile Launch: The Most Important Things to Know” (CNN 2017). BBC shoots for a more direct approach, informing readers what North Korea, the subject, is doing. The curiosity lies within the audience affected by this statement—evidently, the entire US. Likely, readers will want to click the link to find out more about what North Korea said, and what can be done. However, there is no guarantee their questions will be answered. CNN upped the ante by implementing deixis in their headline. Things, is the information gap from the headline to the article, and the readers alerted by the missile launch will want to find out what they “need” to know—need also used as a hyperbolic tactic to rise emotion.

Click bait is a fairly new concept that online journalists and marketers have already mastered. From a psychological perspective, curiosity is a key component that moves readers to click on a headline, but it’s not without complex linguistic strategy that the headline becomes interesting. Forward-reference in the form of deixis—pronouns with an information gap, and catophora—pronouns alluding to a direct answer, most effectively lures readers to succumb to the click. Other strategies include linguistic relatability such as slang words and emojis. These tactics intended for capitalizing on consumers, may be the difference between someone reading an article or not, and it’s up to the reader to decide if what they read will truly benefit them, or if they are just another victim of click bait.

Works Cited

Alves, Liliana, et al. “Click Bait: You Won’t Believe What Happens Next.” Fronteiras: Journal of Social, vol. 5, no. 2, 2016, pp. 196–213.

Blom, and Kenneth Hansen. “Click Bait: Forward-Reference as Lure in Online News Headlines.” Journal of Pragmatics, 2015, pp. 87-100

Crawford, and Like Star. “The Conservatism of Emoji: Work, Affect, and Communication.” Social Media and Society. 2015, pp. 1-11

Farley, Rebecca. “83 Dope Things Coming to Netflix in December.” Refinery29 Magazine. 20 Nov. 2017.

Griffiths, James. “North Korea Missile Launch: The Most Important Things to Know.” CNN. 29 Nov. 2017.

Loewenstein, George. “The Psychology of Curiosity: A Review and Reinterpretation.” Psychological Bulletin. July 1994, pp. 75-98.

“North Korea Says New Missile Can Hit entire US.” BBC News. 29 Nov. 2017.

Petracarca, Emilia. “Oscar Red Carpet: The 25 Most Daring Dresses of All Time.” W Magazine. 25 Jan. 2017.

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An Interview with Harley Patrick of Hellgate Press

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Ed Battistella
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Ed Battistella: How did Hellgate Press come about?

Harley Patrick: In the late 1990s, Emmett Ramey, the owner of PSI Research, Inc., a Grants Pass-based publishing company specializing in business-related titles under the imprint Oasis Press, wanted to establish a second imprint that would focus on military history and veteran memoirs. Emmett was a Navy veteran, and was personally interested in both military and historical topics. So he founded Hellgate Press, named after the Rogue River’s Hellgate Canyon.

EB: What does Hellgate specialize in today?

HP: While veteran memoirs and military history are still Hellgate’s main topics of interest, over the years we’ve expanded our catalogue to include adventure travel titles as well as historical fiction.

EB: Tell us a little about some of the books you’ve published.

HP: We currently have almost 100 titles in print, the majority of which are veteran memoirs and biographies. Most of those are Vietnam War related, with WWI, WWII and Iraq also well represented. A few of our titles deal with lesser known conflicts as well.

EB: What do you look for in an author and in a book?

HP: When it comes to our military-related titles, our mission is to help veterans—or the family of veterans—tell their stories. We don’t need an author to be previously published or to be the next David McCullough or Ernest Hemingway. We look for interesting stories well told, and if they’re a little rough to begin with, we’ll help polish them into shape for publishing. For our fiction titles, it’s about the same—an interesting plot, with well defined characters and a topic appropriately related to our genre.

EB: How has Hellgate Press evolved over the years?

HP: When I first joined the company in 2000, Hellgate Press was only a couple of years old with roughly 15-20 titles. I worked for the company until 2007, when I purchased it from Emmett and his wife Ardella. Over the last decade, it’s grown to be one of the best recognized military history publishers in the country, with almost 100 titles and a slew of award-winning authors.

EB: Who are some of the local authors you’ve published?

HP: Hellgate currently has 5 local authors:

–T.B. Smith has penned two police procedural novels for us: The Sticking Place and A Fellow of Infinite Jest. Both center around a San Diego police rookie named Luke Jones, who has a reputation for quoting Shakespeare at appropriate, and occasionally inappropriate, moments. T.B. Smith is a retired SD policeman living in Ashland.

–Paul Fattig is a well-known journalist/columnist for the Mail Tribune, among many other news outlets. His first Hellgate title, Up Sterling Creek Without a Paddle, tells the story of his wife and his often humorous adventures buying and remodeling a 100-year-old homestead just outside of Jacksonville. It was released in 2017. His second book, Madstone, which will appear in March of 2018, is about his two uncles, Alfred and Charlie Fattig, who were WWI draft dodgers that hid out in the area now known as the Kalmiopsis wilderness. His third book, scheduled for a 2019 release, will tell the story of the smokejumpers based in Selma, Oregon, and their adventures fighting fires in Oregon and elsewhere.

–Dennis Powers’ book, Where Past Meets Present, contains 140 stories and photographs that tell the fascinating and occasionally odd history of the Rogue Valley. It was our bestselling book of 2017.

–Richard Seidman has written a delightful YA (Young Adult) book titled The Secret of Ebbets Field (Paloma Books). Set in New York in 1958, it tells the story of a young boy, Eli, a devoted fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who hunts for a treasure buried beneath the Dodgers’ stadium, Ebbets Field, and along the way encounters bad guys, a mysterious homeless man, and baseball great Jackie Robinson.

–Dr. Sylvia Chatroux. Her children’s book, Zucchini the Dog (Paloma Books), follows the adorable adventures of Zucchini as told to the author.

EB: What does the future hold for book arts? It seems to me that people are increasingly interested in the aesthetics of print and books.

HP: I feel we’re in a “golden age” of publishing in that there are so many opportunities today for an author to get his/her book published. From self-publishing to print-on-demand to traditional publishing arrangements, if someone has written a book, they can get it published and out into the marketplace. As far as the future goes, I see augmented ebooks—ones with embedded videos and various interactive apps, as a growing industry. And although we sell many more ebook versions of our titles than print, I don’t believe that print is dead, as some have suggested. I think you’re right in thinking that aesthetics will play an ever increasing role in the types of books we’ll be seeing on the shelves in years to come.

EB: Tell us a little about your background? How did you get interested in publishing?

HP: I left a 25-year career in marketing and public relations, all of it spent in Southern Cal, to move to Eugene, OR and pursue a master’s at the UofO in Literary Nonfiction in 1998. After graduating in 2000, I came to Ashland where I answered a small ad in the Mail Tribune for someone with editing and marketing experience to join a local publishing company. And, no pun intended, the rest is history.

EB: Hellgate also has imprint for Grid Press and Paloma Books. Can you tell us a little about those?

HP: Often we get manuscript submissions that don’t quite fit the usual Hellgate genres, but that we feel warrant publication. So, we created Grid Press to fill that niche. Primarily those have been politically-oriented and/or self-help titles. Paloma Books is a new children’s book imprint that we started about three years ago. It currently offers 19 titles that can be found at www.palomabooks.com.


EB: Thanks for talking with us.

HP: My pleasure, Ed. Thanks for asking.

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Grad School: An Interview with Brenda Nicole Shelton

Posted on December 18, 2017 by Ed Battistella
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A 2015 graduate of Southern Oregon University, Brenda Nicole Shelton completed a Masters of Library and Information Science University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017. She works at the Beaverton City Library.

Ed Battistella: What did your graduate studies involve?

Brenda Nicole Shelton: My program was focused on preparing students for their careers as “innovative information professionals.” I don’t think a lot of people realize librarians are information professionals and not just book jockeys. My program also served other information professions such as archivists and IT. There was a basic core curriculum that focused on digital trends, collection development, HTML coding, metadata, and database organization and operation, to name a few. I learned how libraries are organized and operated, as well as the preservation and cultural skills that archivists need. We also learning HTML coding and metadata markup, which are so vital in any information profession, whether you go on to work in coding or museum work. You could navigate through the program with no chosen focus, or you could choose a path, such as Archives, Public Libraries, Academic Libraries, etc. Since I knew I wanted to work in public libraries with youth, my studies also involved learning about early literacy and teaching skills. Another key facet of study, particularly for library science, is intellectual freedom and equitable access, so we also studied some identity politics and about social inequities, as well as barriers to information and materials access that make libraries so necessary and vital.

EB: What sorts of things were you reading?

BNS: I read such a wide variety of things that it’s hard to recall it all. My core classes involved a lot of reading of standards and coding rules. Some dry procedural stuff. We read about linguistics and the different methods of organization. We read a lot about the history of libraries, as well as current professional pieces about trends in libraries and best practices. Every so often, we would read things about social movements and how they affected libraries in multiple ways. In my Youth Services classes, I would read a lot of Young Adult fiction and picture books coupled with book reviews in order to learn not only how to assess materials to collect, but also how to booktalk and prepare for storytimes and reference. With my concentration I also read a lot of materials about children’s brain development, as well as teaching and learning methods.

EB: How has your education so far shaped your career goals? You minored in Gender Studies and I see that you also worked with the Guerrilla Feminism organization in Madison and served as the gender studies librarian at Wisconsin.

BNS: My activism is really what made me want to become a librarian. While I think all librarians love books, and reading is a core part of their identities, I believe public libraries at their core are champions for equity and access. At least, they should be. In library school you talk a lot about intellectual freedom, which is what libraries champion, not only by offering free materials, but in fighting against censorship and the social and economic barriers that bar individuals for accessing information for educational gain or pure entertainment. When I was in college, I worked at a Women’s Resource Center where I connected individuals with resources that either helped then grow socially and shape their identities, or that helped them navigate out of abuse or trauma. When I worked with GF, it was all about digital connection between people and information, and I did a lot of that work at the gender and women’s studies library as well. In that position, I helped compile and update an online database of free academic resources for individuals who didn’t have access to the resources higher education allows. I also did a lot of work on the library’s published annual journals that connect scholars to new publications in the field. My work in public libraries is also about connecting people to information for free. I had a passion to fight for people’s access to information and materials before I began my professional studies, and I think that interest and my experiences only amplified that desire. Information access is key not only in how we navigate the world, but also how navigate our own emotions and build our identities. Those core values describe both social work and informational institutions, so I’m glad I get to meld those two in my work.

EB: What did you enjoy most about your graduate work?

BNS: My graduate program was dedicated to us spending half our time in class and half of our time in the field. The jobs and volunteer work I did while I was in school were the best teaching experience I could ever have. You can read for years about how libraries run, best practices, and theory, but nothing beats actually being in a library and interacting with patrons. I ran a Minecraft club for kids at the Central Library in Madison for a few years, and it was the best experience I’ve had in my recent professional and academic life. I not only met a great librarian who taught me so much, but I spent my time every week learning from kids. I think those kids taught me more than anything else in my graduate work. Not just about Minecraft and how to play it, but about what kind of listener and professional I want to be.

EB: How do you like the library field so far? What does your work entail?

BNS: I’m really enjoying my work. The majority of my work involves being at the desk helping find books and materials for youth, and also often for adults. When I’m on desk I help keep the area clean, and I also create rotating displays to help showcase our materials, as well as posters that promote my programs. A big part of my work is in-house promotion and programming. I develop and lead weekly programs for young teens. My young teens really enjoy DIY crafts that help them be creative, and they also really like anything rooted in pop culture. I think a lot of people don’t realize that libraries offer free programs for all ages every day of the week, from storytimes, to free computer classes and author visits. Most people I talk to just think I sit around reading all day, and I think people still have a really outdated view of libraries. It’s not a quiet space where I sit shushing people all day. Libraries are actually a great place for kids to play and people to connect. My position also involves updating booklists, school outreach, and I’m about to begin a project to help implement more programming and inclusion for patrons with disabilities or special needs at my library. I don’t have time to sit and read a book all day. There are too many things to do and people to help!

EB: Where do you see librarianship heading in the future??

BNS: While libraries have fought against claims they are “unneeded” or “outdated” in the face of the Internet and Amazon, I think you’ll see even more emphasis on libraries in the future. In the face of “fake news” and moves to defund libraries, archives, and museums even further, libraries have become a key topic of conversation in the national spotlight. Libraries have begun to fight for information access and intellectual freedom even harder in the last year, and I think that will only increase. Issues like preserving net neutrality and fighting against censorship and the spread of false information are key core values outlined by the American Library Association. When they spoke out publicly against executive orders this year they created quite a buzz. I think you’ll continue to see libraries working locally and nationally to speak up about injustice and fight for intellectual freedom, access, and the dismantling of oppressive systems.

EB: Any advice for students considering going on for more school?

BNS: It will be hard. I’ve never been someone who struggled in school, but grad school was the hardest school experience I’ve ever had. It was a busy, challenging, and often lonely time for me, but it helped me get to where I am today. I don’t think I’ve talked to a single person who didn’t struggle at some point in grad school. Yet, I met people who inspired me and became my mentors, and I wouldn’t be who I am today, and having the enriching experiences I do everyday at work, if it wasn’t for that. I think grad school can be very competitive, and you can feel like you are not doing enough or succeeding as well as your peers. My best advice is not to compare yourself to others and to really stick with, and stand up for, your ideas. Also, I’ll always remember this answer that a grad student from another program gave at my orientation: “You don’t have to read the whole 50-page article, just read the abstract and the conclusion and you’ll survive.” Probably not what a professor would ever want to know about, but I think there’s an important truth tied to that about cutting yourself some slack while in a challenging program.

EB: What are you reading currently?

BNS: A librarian who used to talk to us about audiobooks always told us her kids would ask her if she read a book “with her eyes or her ears?” I’m reading The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez with my eyes, and Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner with my ears.

EB: Thanks for talking with us.

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