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A Bestiary of Sonoma State University

Presenter: Lakin Khan

Presenter Status: Faculty

Department: English

Funding Source/Sponsor: RSCAP

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1_E-2hs6kPDwjCYPvTLzq30ShQ7WGQTPd

Abstract:
While working at Sonoma State University, I wrote a column for Newsbytes, the campus newsletter, about discovering the animals and the rich natural world present on campus during my daily walks. In the process of earning a Masters Degree in English at SSU in 2017, I collected fourteen of them into a manuscript that I felt resembled the bestiaries of yore.  The manuscript explores what animals can teach us  about sharing the planet, about respecting the environment. I'm thrilled to have drawings by Shane Weare, Emeritus Faculty from the Art Department, as illustrations are so essential to the genre of bestiary.  I was honored to receive a Summer Fellowship in 2019 through RSCAP to prepare the manuscript for publication and create curricula around noticing and writing about nature on campus for  First Year English courses.