The Submissions Are In!! Thank You Everyone For All Your Dedication and Hard Work! We Can’t Wait For February 6th, 2013!

Thank you everyone,

The submissions are in, and we received so many quality papers. So thank you everyone for your hard work and commitment. We’re looking forward to reading all the essays. All together, there were over 80 entries from the following nine schools: Cistercian Preparatory School, The Greenhill School, St. Mark’s School, The Hockaday School, Fort Worth Country Day School, All Saints’ Episcopal School of Fort Worth, Southwest Christian School, Trinity Valley School, and The Oakridge School. We couldn’t be more pleased with the turn out, so once again, thank you!!

As stated before, the colloquium will take place Wednesday morning, February 6th, 2013. Our plan is to have all papers read and evaluated in time for students to be notified of acceptance for presentation no later than January 8th, 2013. The committee of evaluators consists of faculty persons from almost all the above mentioned schools, so there will be a diversity of perspectives and opinions in the process of judging all the great work by the 80+ students who decided to submit.

Once again, we at The Oakridge School appreciate everyone’s involvement and contribution thus far, and we look forward to the conversations this February.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

-Jared Colley
Upper School Teacher
The Oakridge School


Some More Video Posts from Oakridge Students:

Here’s a couple more video postings by some Oakridge Philosophy students. The first clip is by Ben F., who is writing on the early childhood stories. Ben has taken great interest in the process of identity formation, noting how the movement from first person perspective to third person narration seems to correlate with the younger characters’ development towards more self-awareness as socially-constructed individuals. Check it out:

The next video is of Dan C. who is writing a more Montaigne-styled essay which explores the musicality of Joyce’s narrative tapestry. Dan likens Joyce’s collection to a “concept album” with recurring melodic motifs which echo, develop, and distort as the text moves from story to story. Here’s Dan’s clip:

Once again, we look forward to seeing everyone this February 2013 for the James Joyce Dubliners Colloquium at The Oakridge School. Happy Holiday!!

Due Date is Here!! A Word on Hockaday's Video and More Paper Talks from Oakridge!!

Papers Are Due Nov. 15th for the Dubliners 2013 Oakridge Paper Colloquium. Please Email Submissions to Mr. Colley as an Attached Word Document. 

Thanks to Hockaday Philosophy class and Dr. Moreland for posting their fascinating conversation of Dubliners, the Moral Life, and the philosophies of Aristotle and Cornel West.  As a class, we enjoyed viewing the discussion, and we took a lot from it. In fact, we were inspired to watch more videos of Dr. West.

As Hockaday pointed out, there are many divisions in Joyce's Dublin: gender, class, religion, nationality, etc., and these interpellating categories cause so much "tension" between characters.  Cornel West reminds us, however, that what binds us together more strongly as a humanity is our commonly shared experience of being-towards-death - an insight he takes directly from German Philosopher, Martin Heidegger. I like how Cornel West emphasizes that the "examined life" is one that practices how to die well, something the characters of Dubliners do not always succeed at doing... Hockaday students also put forward the thought that perhaps the characters of Joyce's collection live in extreme or deficient situations such that there is no "happy medium" - no moderate mean - to be chosen at that given time. Perhaps Aristotle's caveat about material conditions is an attempt to get at this same insight, which of course directs our critical focus back to the social space of Dublin. One Hockaday student mentions that when faced with extreme and/or deficient choices, a person's thought process becomes stagnant - that's a very interesting thought, and I think we see forces of stagnation at work as we progress from child-centered stories of Dubliners to those of the dreary adult world. But then, of course, we come to Gabriel - a character we hope escapes from the stagnant cave of automated thought as he realizes Cornel West's humanist truth that "[snow falls] upon all the living and the dead." Thank you Hockaday! Cornel West's words have elevated the discourse all the more here at Oakridge.

On another note, we have more videos to be posted here at Oakridge. David R., for instance, has written a paper on "Araby," exploring how the main character's both physical and intellectual powers of action become compromised by the structures of his environment. West of course was also interested in the power structures of social existence that interpellate, limit, and sometimes determine us as subjects. Well, let's see what David has to say:



Thanks David! We can't wait to read your paper. And yes, we'll see you at the conference this February 2013!!

Here's Connie T. talking about her paper on "A Painful Case" and the paradoxical experience of Alienation in the modern urban/suburban environment. Check it out:



Thank you Connie! We look forward to reading your paper!!

Adam Schrock will be examining the Joyce's notion of the epiphany in the stories "After the Race" and "The Dead." Here's his video:



Thanks Adam! Your paper sounds fascinating!

Here's one more video for today's posting. Lejla is writing on the story of "Eveline" from a 21st century female perspective. Let's hear what she has to say about it:



Thanks to everyone for their video postings!! Remember, papers are due tomorrow, Nov. 15th!! Email submissions to Mr. Colley at either (1) jcolley@theoakridgeschool.org or (2) dubliners.conference@gmail.com, and make sure the document is attached to the email in Word format. Thanks everyone!!

Hockaday Lit & Philosophy responds to Oakridge....

After reading Oakridge's posts on Aristotle and Dubliners as well as reading some other pieces that are part of our curriculum, Hockaday students tried to synthesize a variety of ideas that the colloquium opened up for us. Our readings of Cornell West prompted further thoughts about the power structures in Dubliners, especially "Araby," "The Sisters," and "The Dead," which are the stories we focused on the past few weeks. We would love to hear your responses. Meanwhile, we thank Oakridge for its video and for all the ideas that  they as well as Greenhill students offered these past weeks. And a special thanks, too, to Mr. Garza and Mr. Colley for their inspiration and organization!

Even More on Paper Talks for the Class and the Upcoming Conference

So it looks like Aristotle himself will be submitting a paper on Dubliners for the conference. Who would have thought?!? Wait, actually this is Nathaniel P. sharing his thoughts about his paper, which seems to address prompt one of the call for papers but does so with Aristotelean moral theory in mind. Check it out:


I've heard of method acting, but Nathaniel seems to be employing a kind of "method writing" - really getting into the character of Aristotle for his planned composition. Very good Nathaniel! I do suspect, however, that this video was shot on Halloween, but I hope to see similarly festive outfits at the conference itself... :)  Thanks for sharing your ideas Nathaniel!!

More Paper Talks for February 2013 Conference and Beyond

Maren M. is writing a paper for the Dubliners conference, and she has been researching the life of James Joyce and that of his wife Nora Barnacle. I believe she will be writing on "Eveline" and the role of women both in Joyce's text and in his own life. Check out her video:



Thank you Maren! The paper proposal sounds fascinating, and we look forward to seeing you this February as well!

Paper Talks for the February 2013 Conference and Beyond...

Here at The Oakridge School, my junior and senior Philosophy students recorded short videos to speak briefly about the papers they are working on. Many students are writing directly on Dubliners; some are writing on Socrates, Plato, and/or Aristotle, while some are writing papers that respond our conversations of synthesis, addressing several of the topics just mentioned. Several of these papers will be submitted for the conference this February 2013. Over the next two weeks I'll be posting various videos, and as stated, some will relate less to our collective investigation of Joyce's text.

Here's our first example provided by Thomas M. who will be investigating both Socrates' and Aristotle's moral theories. Check it out:

Thanks Thomas! I look forward to reading your final product and thanks for sharing!

Check the webpage later for more additions by other students. Take care everyone!