When Gilah Yelin Hirsch first read her mother's 70 diaries and discovered the extent of the physical and psychological abuse she had endured from infancy to the age of 16, rather than loathing her, she felt “love, empathy and compassion for her mother,” the celebrated Canadian author Shulamis Yelin. “I grew to admire her for all that she had accomplished despite the extremes of her mental illness and her very difficult life,” said Hirsch, professor of art at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). “The greatest difficulty in reading the diaries was seeing the severity and depth of her suffering, and reading how although on a certain level I and others who were close to her ... Read More
College of Arts and Humanities
National Poetry Month: 3 CSUDH poets share insights, teaching and their writing
There is a reason the departure from the conventional rules of writing and speaking is often referred to as poetic license. As poets try to tell narrative or more personal stories based on the world around them through their prose, rules on writing could hinder their ability to creatively dissect observations, draw from cherished memories, or tap strong emotions attached to painful life experiences. To celebrate poets and their renegade spirit, the Academy of American Poets inaugurated the month of April as National Poetry Month in 1996. Today it is the largest literary celebration in the world. At California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), poetry has a subtle voice, but it ... Read More
Political Science Department Hosts Panel Discussion on Human Trafficking
There is a big open secret here on this campus and throughout the cities beyond. Something that impacts all of us. You might see glimpses of this crime in the neighborhood or in the local grocery store. They look like ordinary people; actual chains do not bind them, but they are nevertheless enslaved. Human trafficking, in its many forms and variants, is alive and thriving throughout every community in Southern California, and the world at large. Indeed there are more people alive and enslaved today than ever in this planet's history On Tuesday, April 14, from 2:30 to 4 p.m., the Department of Political Science at California State University, Dominguez Hills will present an open forum ... Read More
Author Sarah Shun-lien Bynum gives 2015 Patricia Eliet Memorial Lecture
The California State University, Dominguez Hills Department of English welcomes novelist Sarah Shun-lien Bynum as the featured speaker for its 2015 Patricia Eliet Memorial Lecture from 7 to 9 p.m., Monday, April 27, in the Loker Student Union Ballroom. The lecture is free and open to the public. Bynum is the author of two novels, "Ms. Hempel Chronicles," a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award, and "Madeleine Is Sleeping," winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize and a finalist for the 2004 National Book Award. Her fiction has appeared in many magazines and anthologies, including the New Yorker, Ploughshares, Tin House, the Georgia Review, and the Best American Short Stories 2004 and ... Read More
Graphic arts student Adrian Gonzalez featured in Communications Arts magazine
Art and design student Adrian Gonzalez scours a thrift store before finding what he is looking for–an old vintage chair. When he gets home, he places it on the floor, cleans it up and takes a seat to try it out. He then stands, grabs an aluminum baseball bat and begins breaking the chair to bits. Gonzalez arranges the pieces on a canvas placed flat on the floor, adds blue and green shades of paint and dribbles water all over to create an “ocean feel.” He grabs his camera and begins taking pictures, rearranges the splintered wood, then takes more shots. He does this several times. Now back at his computer, he adds graphic elements and a title, “The Chairs,” to his piece, and to ... Read More