UD Home | UDaily | UDaily-Alumni | UDaily-Parents


HIGHLIGHTS
UD called 'epicenter' of 2008 presidential race

Refreshed look for 'UDaily'

Fire safety training held for Residence Life staff

New Enrollment Services Building open for business

UD Outdoor Pool encourages kids to do summer reading

UD in the News

UD alumnus Biden selected as vice presidential candidate

Top Obama and McCain strategists are UD alums

Campanella named alumni relations director

Alum trains elephants at Busch Gardens

Police investigate robbery of student

UD delegation promotes basketball in India

Students showcase summer service-learning projects

First UD McNair Ph.D. delivers keynote address

Research symposium spotlights undergraduates

Steiner named associate provost for interdisciplinary research initiatives

More news on UDaily

Subscribe to UDaily's email services


UDaily is produced by the Office of Public Relations
150 South College Ave.
Newark, DE 19716-2701
(302) 831-2791

UD writers to help soldiers record their stories

3:37 p.m., May 11, 2004--Two University of Delaware professors have been selected to participate in a special National Endowment for the Arts project called Operation Homecoming, which will provide troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq assistance in expressing their firsthand impressions of war.

McKay Jenkins, associate professor of English and author of “The Last Ridge” about the exploits of the U.S. Army’s elite 10th Mountain Division during World War II, and Marilyn Nelson, professor of English, are among 16 writers who will visit military posts in June to work with the soldiers.

Operation Homecoming, which is being conducted in cooperation with the Department of Defense, will provide for both oral and written works.

“There is real energy behind this program from the highest levels of government,” Jenkins said, noting that the April 20 launch was attended by Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense.

The idea for Operation Homecoming originated in a conversation between Nelson and Dana Gioia, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, at a conference of state poets laureate in April 2003. The conversation turned to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the very different worlds of literature and military service, and resulted in a project that combines the two.

McKay Jenkins, associate professor of English: “There will be stories of heroism and stories of tragedy.”
Nelson said she hopes the workshops will help soldiers “find their voices and the words to express themselves, whether they want to write about their experiences at war or not.”

The project has special meaning for Jenkins because he has been assigned to work with soldiers at Fort Drum, N.Y., home of the 10th Mountain Division about which he wrote. He also has a leg up on other participants because he has experience speaking with and reading the letters of those who served in combat.

Jenkins said he believes the project will have benefits for both the military personnel and for the writers, who he says can “learn a lot from the men and women who served on the front line, rather than just sitting back and thinking abstractly about war.”

For the soldiers involved, he expects they “might have a less simplistic view of war, having served.”

“It is likely they will have all kinds of impressions of war, some very patriotic, some very cynical,” Jenkins said. “There will be stories of heroism and stories of tragedy.”

Marilyn Nelson, professor of English, helped conceive the idea for Operation Homecoming. Photo by Kathy Atkinson
Jenkins said that by working through memoirs, essays and poetry, the service men and women “may feel freer to express themselves than if they were being interviewed by a reporter.”

“There is a richness to real life experiences, and they will have incredible stories to tell,” Jenkins said. “They may not know techniques to get those experiences down on paper, and that’s where we can lend a hand.”

The fact that the Department of Defense has thrown its weight behind the project is impressive and somewhat surprising, Jenkins said, because once back from the front and “off the leash,” the soldiers can say anything.

Jenkins said it is a great honor to be asked by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Department of Defense to participate in the project. “There have long been strained relations between the military and the arts communities,” he said, adding, “This is a great opportunity in which writers can help soldiers learn to express themselves to people who think differently than they do.”

Article by Neil Thomas

  E-mail this article

To learn how to subscribe to UDaily, click here.