English Majors in Atlanta: The Sigma Tau Delta Conference

By: Isaac Brown

On Mar. 31, three George Fox University (GFU) students―Mckenna Lloyd, Peter Reamy, and Kendall Stuart―flew to Atlanta, Ga., to participate in the Sigma Tau Delta yearly conference, to which Sigma Tau Delta members are invited to present a submitted and approved work.

Sigma Tau Delta is a ninety-nine year old organization which Dr. Gary Tandy, chair of the department of English and theatre, said helps promote English majors and minors (mainly within the US) to study literature, write, and publish. Dr. Tandy has been taking two to ten students to the conference for the last ten years, and said that every year his students win at least two awards from competing among about a thousand students. Dr. Tandy said the conference is an invaluable experience for students, because it is “similar to a professional conference,” which he said has helped many students “decide whether they want to go to graduate school.”

Mckenna Lloyd presented a paper that applies Sartrean existentialism to William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury. She claims that the suicide of Quentin, one of the book’s protagonists, is an “existentially successful act” according to Sartre’s philosophy, because by it, Quentin realized his own will. Lloyd said she finds suicide within literature a topic of particular interest, because, though the subject is highly important, it is hard to approach directly. Literature gives a more manageable mode to approach the topic. Lloyd said that though she was nervous to present her material, she was confident in what she’d written.

Peter Reamy presented a set of four poems that he described as not having an emotional or personal unity, but rather a set of observations regarding objects and places that grabbed his attention, and how they changed through time: river rocks, a gravesite, his grandparents’ cabin that burned down. Reamy said he does not feel like he presented his best work, because when he wrote the poetry, he was studying abroad in Ecuador and only had access to a single anthology of Ted Kooser. Kooser is one of Reamy’s favorites, but he had an overly controlling effect on his style. More recently, Reamy has been drawing on poets like Emily Yoon, Jericho Brown and Robert Bly to diversify his style. Regardless of Reamy’s reticence, his poetry was well received and took third place in the poetry section at the conference.

Kendall Stuart presented a non-fiction piece regarding baldness, reflecting on both her father’s male-pattern baldness and her mother’s hair-loss from chemotherapy while battling cancer. One student present at her reading said that the piece made him consider reasons and perceptions of baldness: whether it comes from age or sickness, baldness is not “shameful,” but simply “part of who you are,” and even can show the “nobility” of persistence into age and against illness. Kendall said she picked the piece because it was one she’d had “peers provide input on,” and that she has “found criticism incredibly helpful in producing works [she is] proud of writing.” She said she enjoyed the experience, noting the opportunities to hear talented work from other schools and support her “fellow George Fox peers.”

Dr. Tandy said that Sigma Tau Delta―in addition to its conference where students have the opportunity to network―offers several opportunities for English majors and minors, including internships, scholarships both for general college and for studying abroad, and leadership opportunities within the organization. As a mentor for students within Sigma Tau Delta, Dr. Tandy said he finds the organization a great resource for anyone studying or interested in writing and literature.