Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007 - (Page 11)

ARTS & CULTURE ZIAD MUNSON: BECOMING AN ACTIVIST bookshelf PHOTO BY DOUGLAS BENEDICT SCI-FI FAN TAKES ODYSSEY TO AUTHORSHIP A fanatic passion for science ﬁction spawned doctoral candidate Heather Urbanski’s ﬁrst book, Plagues, Apocalypses and Bug-Eyed Monsters. Now, the former accountant uses her trek to authorship to improve her students’ writing. Although Heather Urbanski’s zeal for science ﬁction and fantasy always ran deep —as a toddler she sat through a theater showing of Stars Wars: A New Hope—Urbanski had never attended a sci-fi convention until the 2001 World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia. At the convention, Urbanski saw panel discussions, readings, an art show, and a masquerade, but she most vividly remembers Greg Bear’s guest-of-honor lecture. Bear, author of more than 30 science ﬁction and fantasy novels, described science ﬁction novels as warnings. “We are not prophets, but we allow you to dream your dreams and let you know what your nightmares are in advance so you can prevent them,” he said. When Urbanski returned to Rowan University, she ruminated on Bear’s words. Her meditations inspired a class paper, which became her master’s thesis and ﬁnally a book published by McFarland and Company Inc. in 2007. In her book, she writes that speculative fiction, both science ﬁction and fantasy, “reﬂects real human nightmares, sounding warnings regarding the consequences of our actions in the hopes those consequences never become a reality.” These warnings can be heard just as clearly in 19th-century novels, like Frankenstein, as in today’s Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Unlike some scholars, Heather openly admits she is passionate about the genre she PHOTO BY THEO ANDERSON studies. “Who I am as a fan drives my scholarship,” she says. “I can’t separate myself from my fandom, and I don’t feel like I should.” Urbanski marvels at her path to authorship. As an accountant, her ﬁrst out-of-college piece was a promotion application. Although denied promotion, her supervisor reviewed the application with Urbanski, and she adapted her writing. Later, she was promoted to technical writing. Soon, words flowed from Urbanski’s keyboard. Eager to write more, she studied writing, ﬁrst at Rowan and now at Lehigh. Although Urbanski enjoys writing, many potentially articulate people struggle to write. In her first-year English classes, the teaching assistant trains struggling writers to be eloquent on paper, and her doctoral thesis will explore students’ writing processes. “I want to take my experience as a writer and help my students write,” says Urbanski. Her thesis adviser, Barry Kroll, professor of English, admires Urbanski’s desire to help struggling writers, “who are a little bit overlooked,” he says. “She is curious and eager to understand how teachers can intervene and make them better writers.” After completing her Ph.D., Urbanski plans to teach at a university and pursue her three favorite activities: “I will be paid to teach, research, and write —where’s the downside?” she says.—Becky Straw Ziad Munson, the Frank Hook Assistant Professor of sociology, began tracing the roots of the pro-life movement with a general sense that its followers were attracted by deep-seated, strongly principled beliefs, and supported by a strong foundation built by the Catholic and evangelical Protestant churches. What he found surprised him, and led him to conclude that his findings hold strong significance for the ongoing war between pro-life and pro-choice factions. “The churches actually play a small role,” says Munson, whose research will be compiled in his forthcoming book, “Becoming an Activist.” “On the whole, churches have shown a great deal of reticence to support the pro-life movement directly.” Further, after years of conducting life-history interviews and ethnographic studies, Munson is prepared to challenge the conventional wisdom that involvement in a social movement requires a commitment to that cause. “The movement is more a crucible for the creation of pro-life sentiment than it is simply a reﬂection of sentiment that might already exist in society,” he says. “People are drawn into the movement and then develop pro-life beliefs, not the reverse.” Not to be overlooked is the extraordinary expansion of the pro-life movement during the 1960s and 1970s, and its tremendous impact on the growth of conservatism in American politics. “The movement was effective at leadership training and development in ways that have repercussions today. They had the ability to bring in people with differing views and make them pro-life. It’s not a clear case of political interests all the time.” Munson said he was drawn to an analysis of the pro-life movement to “focus on a mainstream conservative movement that has had a large impact on society.”—Linda Harbrecht fall 2007 11

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Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007

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