English lecturer Ryan Bloom was recently published on the New Yorker’s “Page-Turner” blog. His post, “Lost in Translation: What the First Line of ‘The Stranger’ Should Be” discusses the first sentence of Albert Camus’s book.

“Within the novel’s first sentence, two subtle and seemingly minor translation decisions have the power to change the way we read everything that follows. What makes these particular choices prickly is that they poke at a long-standing debate among the literary community: whether it is necessary for a translator to have some sort of special affinity with a work’s author in order to produce the best possible text,” he writes, ultimately concluding that he right choice is one that hasn’t been published in a translation yet.

The full post, including Bloom’s suggested translation, can be found here.

Your support helps amazing students succeed at UMBC. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing some of their stories with you. This week, meet Jeremy, a proud member of the Class of 2012.
Name: Jeremy Brickey
Major: English
Hometown: Lanham, Maryland
Plans: Marketing analyst for AKJ Books
Jeremy Brickey will be recognizable to this fall’s incoming freshmen: he was one of the faces of the “UMBC Superheroes” ad campaign. And Jeremy made his time at UMBC “super” by being involved in many facets of campus life. He is a member of the rugby team and on the rugby executive board; he was the president of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and won the UMBC Greek Man of the Year award in 2010. A Linehan scholar, Jeremy was published in Bartleby, UMBC’s literary magazine. In addition to being a “superhero,” Jeremy reached out to prospective students as a student ambassador and worked as a Woolie to help incoming students. As the 2012 Student Alumni Association founder and president, Jeremy will continue to make his mark on UMBC long after he graduates.
In a letter he wrote in the fall, he describes the impact scholarships have had on his life as a student:

“I can’t begin to tell you how thankful I am for what I have been given. Without my scholarships, I would not have fallen in love with the poetry of Marlowe or Donne, or taken acting classes, or had the chance to help launch a student alumni group at UMBC. Without the caring support of donors, I might have missed out on moments that truly shaped me as a thinker.
One of the most beautiful things about a place like UMBC is the way people help each other out, no matter what. You can’t always tell what a student is going through when you look at him or her, but I know many brilliant students who face struggles even greater than mine who are only able to study at UMBC because of the scholarships they receive. Sadly, not every student gets that chance.”

Brickey credits the people of UMBC with helping to open his eyes to many a new idea, and knows UMBC will remain a part of his life for years to come.

“I was a boy when I drove into campus in 2007. UMBC has been the most maturing experience of my life, both intellectually and socially. This campus has fostered a culture of “home” for me and for so many of the students walking the stage this May. There is a rich connection that Retrievers make with their unique campus, and that is something I will always cherish.”

Help support student scholarships and other great projects at UMBC.

Your support helps amazing students succeed at UMBC. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be sharing some of their stories with you. This week, meet Jeremy, a proud member of the Class of 2012.

Name: Jeremy Brickey
Major: English
Hometown: Lanham, Maryland
Plans: Marketing analyst for AKJ Books

Jeremy Brickey will be recognizable to this fall’s incoming freshmen: he was one of the faces of the “UMBC Superheroes” ad campaign. And Jeremy made his time at UMBC “super” by being involved in many facets of campus life. He is a member of the rugby team and on the rugby executive board; he was the president of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and won the UMBC Greek Man of the Year award in 2010. A Linehan scholar, Jeremy was published in Bartleby, UMBC’s literary magazine. In addition to being a “superhero,” Jeremy reached out to prospective students as a student ambassador and worked as a Woolie to help incoming students. As the 2012 Student Alumni Association founder and president, Jeremy will continue to make his mark on UMBC long after he graduates.

In a letter he wrote in the fall, he describes the impact scholarships have had on his life as a student:

“I can’t begin to tell you how thankful I am for what I have been given. Without my scholarships, I would not have fallen in love with the poetry of Marlowe or Donne, or taken acting classes, or had the chance to help launch a student alumni group at UMBC. Without the caring support of donors, I might have missed out on moments that truly shaped me as a thinker.

One of the most beautiful things about a place like UMBC is the way people help each other out, no matter what. You can’t always tell what a student is going through when you look at him or her, but I know many brilliant students who face struggles even greater than mine who are only able to study at UMBC because of the scholarships they receive. Sadly, not every student gets that chance.”

Brickey credits the people of UMBC with helping to open his eyes to many a new idea, and knows UMBC will remain a part of his life for years to come.

“I was a boy when I drove into campus in 2007. UMBC has been the most maturing experience of my life, both intellectually and socially. This campus has fostered a culture of “home” for me and for so many of the students walking the stage this May. There is a rich connection that Retrievers make with their unique campus, and that is something I will always cherish.”

Help support student scholarships and other great projects at UMBC.

On Monday, May 21, Kimberly Moffitt, assistant professor of American Studies, was a guest on the Marc Steiner show to respond to comments by Maryland State Delegate Pat McDonough on “mobs of roving black youth” in downtown Baltimore.  McDonough was also a guest on the show.

“My attitude is that either Baltimore is going to overcome crime, or crime is going to overcome Baltimore,” said McDonough, arguing that his use of “black” in the context was referring to the specific individuals engaged in the crime and not Baltimore’s African American population as a whole.

“We could have easily said there’s concern about youth mobs, or concerns about young people in the Inner Harbor, but that’s not what we heard.  What we heard is a very specific group of people, and by doing that we target that group of people to suggest that they are the only problem,” Moffitt responded.

“When we characterize black youth mobs, the reality is that it ends up not indicting not particular individuals but indicting an entire race of people,” she said. “There’s a goal that we all have to want to reduce crime… but what I hear when I hear some of the solutions [suggested by McDonough] is more about surveillance of black bodies and controlling them and containing them because they are seen in our society as villains, as criminals… I don’t hear that these are young people who might be misguided and need some other outlets.”

The full segment can be heard here.

We’re excited to welcome you all to the UMBC Alumni Association! Read more about the perks of being an alum at our New Grads Page!

Read stories about the Class of 2012 here.

UMBC senior tennis standout Joe Adewumi has been named to the Capital One Academic All-District men’s at-large team by the College Sports Information Director of America.

Adewumi was one of 15 honorees from District 2 of the NCAA Division I level. He will now be considered for Academic All-America honors, along with those recipients from the other seven districts.

The highly-decorated Adewumi was recently selected to the America East Tennis All-Academic squad, earning the honor in each of his three years of eligibility. He is the first UMBC male athlete to earn the distinction of capturing the maximum number of America East academic honors.

Why don’t private-sector inefficiencies, which drive up costs, drive us crazy the way public-sector waste does? asks Tom Schaller, professor of political science, in his latest column for the Baltimore Sun.

“Hidden costs, inefficiencies, paperwork hurdles, scams and other frustrations are common to everyday business transactions. And these are just the minor irritants. Beyond that are the retail costs — for everything from tuition and clothing to cable and cellphones — that seem to be rising faster than wages,” he writes. “But I get the distinct sense that Americans are too quick to glorify markets and vilify governments… We just tend not to think about the lazy, overpaid person who knocks off early to play golf in the private sector as raising the costs we pay for things.”

The full column, “Government is flawed, but markets are too,” appeared in the Sun on May 15.

“The political dynamics for winning a second presidential term often differ markedly from winning the first. So don’t be surprised by many eerie parallels between Obama’s 2012 reelection bid and Bush’s 2004 campaign,” writes Tom Schaller, professor of political science, in his latest commentary for Salon.

Shaller argues that many of the strategies Obama will need to use to win the election – including emphasizing things that could have gone wrong, but didn’t and portraying his opponent as an out-of-touch elitist – are the ones that George W. Bush used against John Kerry in 2004.

“The president may be asking Americans to look ‘forward’ in 2012, but the best preview of his reelection campaign can be found by looking backward eight years,” he concludes.

The full piece, “Using Bush’s playbook,” appeared on the Salon website on Friday, May 11.

Christopher Corbett, professor of the practice of English, reflected on his local farmer’s market in his latest essay for Style magazine.

“Rain or shine, every Saturday morning, if I am in Baltimore, I swing by the 32nd Street Farmers Market, a habit of city life for me since I moved to Baltimore 32 years ago… I like ritual. And I love the farmers market,” he writes.

He says that one of his favorite things about the market is the variety in both people and what you can find there.

“People talk a good line about diversity hereabouts. But you rarely see a scene as eclectic as the farmers market in Waverly (or its Sunday cousin downtown under the JFX…But the farmers market even accommodates my eccentricities.”

The essay, “To Market,” was published in the May 2012 issue of the magazine.

On Tuesday, May 15, Kimberly Moffitt, assistant professor of American studies, appeared on Midday with Dan Rodricks to discuss President Obama’s recently-announced support of same sex marriage.

“It strengthens our nation in many ways, because now we have a clear sense of basic human rights across the board for everyone,” she said.

Rodricks pointed out that many people believe that Obama’s announcement was a calculated political move rather than a reflection of his true beliefs.  Moffitt said that she isn’t sure. “I think this might lure some of these swing voters,” she said. “But I also have some concerns that this might prevent some folks from coming out and supporting him.”

Moffitt is the co-editor of The Obama Effect. The full segment can be heard here.