Thursday, February 16, 2017

More horn tootage: Rebel Girl's book makes a kinda big splash

Orange County in a box. 
Rebel Girl thinks she has been having a better week than the new President.  Check it out.

First, in the wake of  publication of her sabbatical project, now a handsome trade paperback co-edited with her husband, titled Orange County: A Literary Field Guide, book events have been SRO and sales have been strong.

Second, UCI News profiled Rebel and Red, with a photo shoot and an interview and everything. Check it out here.

Toot
Then, the OC Weekly published a version of Gustavo Arellano's terrific foreword with the modest title, "Why Orange County: A Literary Field Guide Is the Greatest Collection About Our Wacky OC."

Then today Rebel Girl and Red started hearing from folks about how the UCI Chancellor bragged about them in his Monthly Message from Chancellor Howard Gillman, delivered to faculty, staff, students, parents of students, alumni, etc.  It's nice to finally make one's alma mater proud. Here's what Gillman has to say:
Influential alumni
A big selling point for UCI, aside from outstanding academics and an adorably quirky mascot, is our proximity to pristine beaches, rolling foothills and stunning canyons. Taking in the region’s beautiful landscape is sure to inspire creative minds. This month, two inspired alumni of UCI’s renowned M.F.A. Programs in Writing, Lisa Alvarez ’92 and Andrew Tonkovich ’93, published an anthology that offers a literary tour of Orange County from past to present. Orange County: A Literary Field Guide showcases the works of 21 UCI alumni, faculty and former faculty, including award-winning writers Michael Chabon and Yusef Komunyakaa. Andrew Tonkovich, who also is an English lecturer at UCI, said he hopes the tome will help build a sense of solidarity and appreciation for the region.
Classy.

Rebel Girl is teaching from the text in her WR 1 classes and today a student told her what she had been hoping to hear: "It's neat to read about where we live."

Yes. A good week!

Plus there are fields of California poppies on the hills in canyons.  Take a look at Modjeska Canyon in its glory.


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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

NO trolls better reply to this or we'll put the bees on them.

Way to go you two.

Bob

Anonymous said...

At least 10 people in the book taught in and/or were students IVC and the SOCCCD - and one of them went on to win a Pulitzer Prize. Someone should tell the Accreditation team.

Anonymous said...

Look! Your book gets noticed from Chapman University:

https://blogs.chapman.edu/happenings/2017/02/17/chapman-writers-discuss-work-literary-festivals/

"In addition, Tom Zoellner, associate professor of English and a noted nonfiction author, will be one of the moderators of a panel titled “OC: A Literary Field Guide” at the Santa Ana festival....At Literary Orange the following month in Newport Beach, Zoellner will moderate the panel “Behind the Orange Curtain,” featuring Chapman alumnus Gustavo Arellano ’01, editor of OC Weekly and author of Orange County: A Personal History and the syndicated column “¡Ask a Mexican!”

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...