The Italian Experience By Mathew Underwood

Monmouth College offers a variety of study abroad locations around the globe where students can go and study. I took advantage of this opportunity this past fall semester to take a trip to Florence, Italy to study Italian and art history.

As both a classics and English major, there were a couple of locations that I found interesting, such as London and Greece. However, I decided to do as many other eighteenth and nineteenth century British and American authors did and go to Italy for some culture. I saw most of the clichéd tourists spots in Florence, minus gli Uffizi, and I also visited some of the more out-of-the way locations of Florence, such as Casa Guidi, where the Brownings wrote their poetry and entertained their strictly British, high society guests. I went to Venice where I visited the house on the Venetian Canal where Lord Byron lived, stopped by Rome and saw Nathaniel Hawethorne’s Marble Faun in the Cappeline museum as well as the Coliseum, (pictured above); and romped around the famed Tuscan countryside eating Pecorino cheese and drinking vintage Chianti; (yet not once did the Corn Laws trouble my mind).

The academic coursework in all the classes combined was equal to about two 350 level courses here at Monmouth. I took courses on Architecture, Italian, Literature, and drawing the human form. However, the faculty realized that the time we spent in Florence was short and that the program should be flexible in allowing students freedom to experience the culture of the country. And so I did.

The experience of staying with an Italian family and living day to day in an Italian city was tremendous. To be completely absorbed into the language and culture was terrifically edifying and I have consequently a great deal of confidence in myself. It has made me more sensitive to both other cultures and my own while forcing me to be more critical about my lifestyle and more generally the American lifestyle. I don’t wish to align myself too closely with Miss Honeychurch, but admittedly some of the difficulties Forster creates for her in A Room With a View parallel closely with some of my own.

Overall, the trip was an invaluable experience. I would go so far as to say that to not go abroad is like being deficient of a sense. I would recommend the program to everyone whatever their major. In fact, if I were in charge, everyone at Monmouth would be taking Greek, Latin, and studying abroad.

The End of Plagiarism As We Know It?  by Jessica Heinen

The Internet website Turnitin.com, created in 1998, is a resource for schools and teachers to combat plagiarism which, according to a study by the Center for Academic Integrity, seems to be quite prevalent with 80 percent of college students admitting to cheating at least once.

One of the goals cited by Turnitin.com is to "promote academic integrity and the development of good research and writing skills through quality online education." Though the website claims to be the "world’s most widely recognized and trusted resource for preventing Internet plagiarism," not all students and professors approve of using it.

"I feel a little uncomfortable about it," said Emily Mitsdarffer, a sophomore. "Not for fear of getting caught but for fear of being punished for something I did not do in the case of my paper bringing back information that I might have plagiarized when I did not intend to."

The website, originally known as plagiarism.org, was founded by John Barrie, a former biophysicist. Despite a positive reputation in news stories from The Economist and The New York Times, some professors have been reluctant to use it.  Within the English Department, opinions on the site conflict.  According to Professor Mark Willhardt, "Turnitin has real use for departments of theater arts in the case of speeches that may be similar from campus to campus, but I feel it is less useful for English."

He states a few reasons why he does not like to use the webpage, including the 24-48 hour delay to receive a response on the status of the paper submitted, and he is "not convinced it will always catch everything."

Professor Cynthia Coe, Department Chair of Philosophy and Religious Studies, states that, "I feel like there is a lot of plagiarism out there and students should not get credit for something they did not do." She feels it is "almost over dependable" and can largely be used for a "preventative effect" in deterring academic dishonesty.

Other deterrents that Professor Willhardt feels are useful include teaching students what plagiarism is and reiterating the consequences of it by building it into the syllabus. Whether the use of the webpage or simple, constant reminders for students to be honest is the best way to prevent plagiarism is, in many ways, still to be seen. Barrie however is very confident in his Internet invention, saying, "If you applied our technology at Harvard it would be like a nuclear bomb going off."

In Honor of Valentine's Day, Here Are A Few Poems From Some Anonymous Aspiring Shakespeares

I am getting pretty hungry

Pacing the kitchen floor

I’m still waiting, waiting, waiting

As I check the refrigerator door

I don’t know where your earrings are

Why would I even know

I don’t care what you look like

Let’s just freaking’ go!

The ink from this pen

Is the blood that I shall not spill

From a lacerated heart that bleeds

Affected by your malicious uttering

The poison in my veins is but anger and hurt

Not the strychnine and cyanide that I crave

After you dealt such a lonely cold prophesy

You asked me to express to thee

The complexity that’s perplexing you

Into thinking that I’m some type of fool

Who you can toss away like a rag doll

Tattered and torn

By the hate you take form

Epitomizing

The leeches disguising their feces

As bonds that can’t be broken

By contractual obligations

And the texture of your heart

That you discarded like lumpy milk

That gets stuck in my throat

I saw what you were doing

From in between the blinds

But I turned away

Continued dusting

Wanting to please you

Wanting to keep you

I wanted to keep things

Easy, familiar, painless

But I saw what you were doing

Through the window yesterday

When you were near,

Your presence was bliss.

And your lips,

With their soft subtle kiss.

Your touch was so tender,

It made me go numb.

But what do I care.

You’re ugly and dumb.

Passing Thoughts

Dearest you,

Who left me with squat.

I thought you loved me,

Apparently not.

In your quick passing,

You made me your mat,

And that new dress you bought,

Yes you looked fat

• Professor Stanley Lombardo, professor for the Department of Classics at the University of Kansas will be at Monmouth College on Sunday, March 2, 2003 to give a presentation on readings from Homer. Professor Lombardo will read passages from his translation of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. The presentation will be at 4p.m. in the Highlander room in Stockdale Center. The reading from Iliad 22 and 24 will deal with the death of Hector and the ransom of his body.

• Professor Lombardo will give a second and different presentation regarding the readings from Homer on Sunday, March 2, 2003 at Knox College. The reading from Odyssey 23 will deal with the reunion of Odysseus and Penelope. This presentation will take place at 8p.m. in the Common Room of Old Main at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois.

• Dr. Robert Hale and Dr. Mark Willhardt will be at the University of Chicago from February 27 to March 1 to participate in a Midwest Faculty Seminar entitled “Modernism and the Cultures of Modernity.”  Since Dr. Willhardt's dissertation topic is modernist, and Dr. Hale teaches the 19th and 20th century survey courses, this seminar will be particularly helpful in refining their knowledge by fruitful discussion with other mid-western scholars.

• On Wednesday, March 19 in the MLC great room Sigma Tau Delta will host a presentation for English majors who will not be going on to teach.  The presentations will address career opportunities in public relations, advertising, library science, and various other options.