Conference celebrates research, writing

By Neal Narahara

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Sometimes meandering, often inspiring, and always with a sense
of fearlessness, 20 undergraduates presented what was, for some of
them, the fruition of years of work Friday at the Second Annual
Westwind Conference for Undergraduate Research and Writing.

“It’s an opportunity to take full advantage of being
at a research university,” said Reed Wilson, the adviser for
Westwind Journal, which organized the event. “The best way to
be part of it is to participate.”

The day’s program offered a forum for humanities, social
science and creative writing students to present their work, and
featured topics ranging from Incan power to more personal histories
and experiences.

“This came out of research from studying my family,”
said Selene Mak, one of the conference’s four Dean’s
Prize award winners. Her presentation “Starring My
Grandmother,” explored the changing lives of her relatives as
they immigrated from China.

Like most of the participants, the fourth-year political science
student’s project had its origins in a class project ““
in her case, an urban planning class. Other participants such as
those who took part in the creative writing panel, presented
portions of their senior theses, which many had worked on for more
than a year.

Suzanne Karpilovsky, another award-winner, presented pieces from
her honors thesis, “The Tongue Reveals the Flames,”
which explored peoples’ differing perspectives through
verse.

Among the many views she explored were those of a newborn
experiencing its first independence outside the womb and the frozen
figures in a painting by the French impressionist Manet.

“It’s nice to hear feedback, and it’s good to
revise and revise and revise,” she said.

Despite the fact that many of her fellow participants were
classmates at one time or another, she said the panel
“Tellings/retellings: Readings of Fiction and Poems”
gave her the opportunity to present her work outside of the more
critical environment of the creative writing workshops in the
English Department.

In addition to Karpilovsky and Mak, Jeremiah Ho was recognized
for his modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare’s
“Othello,” and June Junko McIntyre, an anthropology
student, who presented her research on how adults cope with vision
loss.

Friday’s conference is the second to be held since the
revival of the Westwind Journal after a four-year hiatus. Since its
return, the journal, which traditionally featured fiction, poetry
and essays, has moved to include undergraduate research as
well.

“Our goal is to advance and promote North Campus
discussion and second, to get people from different disciplines to
talk to one another,” Wilson said.

“There were more disciplines represented this year.
I’m encouraged and looking forward to next year,” he
added.

Copies of Westwind 2000, which were first available at the
conference, are free and are available at the Student Research
Project office. They will also be distributed around campus at
Kerckhoff Coffee House, Northern Lights and the UCLA Store.

The Westwind Conference was held in conjunction with a
month-long “Celebration of Undergraduate Achievements in
Humanities and Social Science Research,” which also includes
events representing several departments from North and South
Campus.

From May 15-18, the Anthropology Department will be holding its
Ninth Annual Anthropology Honors Week Presentations in Hershey Hall
and on May 20, the English Honors Society, Sigma Tau Delta, will
host the English Undergraduate Research Conference.