Jon LaCure

Associate Professor

Among Jon LaCure's many research interests are the thirty-one syllable Japanese verse form known as the waka, the seventeen syllable haiku, haiku translated into English, and English haiku. A book based on a portion of his dissertation on the creation of a series of computer programs capable of disambiguating the unique rhetorical devices of classical Japanese poetry was published in 1997 by the Edwin Mellen Press. This research also led to articles such as "A Computer Study of Systematic Sound Symbolism in Classical Japanese Verse" which appeared in Computers and the Humanities. Quoting from comments on his research that appeared in the Christian Science Monitor: "Professor LaCure’s computer overturned conventional wisdom."

In addition to his numerous articles and book reviews, Professor LaCure has published poetry and prose works in various literary journals. He was the winner of the 2004 British Haiku Society Nobuyuki Yuasa International Haibun Contest. In the adjudication published in Brushwood, Professor Yuasa wrote: "What I enjoyed most about this haibun is the writers social criticism is never expressed directly, but through various forms of irony."

Professor LaCure teaches courses in classical Japanese language and literature. He has also begun teaching a course in contemporary Japanese graphic novels and animation. This course maps the battlegrounds of Japan's postbubble culture wars. The first part of the course focuses on the shōjo realm of tomboys and beautiful young men. It begins with the self-mocking superficiality of Sailor Moon, moves to the many variations of Takahashi Rumiko's dialogic carnival, and ends with CLAMP's satirical renderings of genderbending and the gaze. In the second half of the course the psychotic nightmares of Eva define the skirmish lines across a shōnen Neverland of legendary swordsmen, giant robots, cyborg politics, and Chinpokomon globalization.

Jon LaCure has a B.A in Japanese from University of Oregon, an M.A. in Japanese literature from Ohio State, and a Ph.D. in Japanese literature from Indiana University.

The Emotron

Punk / Rock / New Wave Band

Learn karate, and people will be attempting to pick fights with you the rest of your life. One could only imagine the problems for a guitar player named The Emotron even if he didn't know a lick of martial arts.

But, the guitar-playing Emotron, an excellent West Coast session man who helped forge the link between blues and soul music, was around for nearly three decades before the martial arts instructor Norris took the advice of his student Steve McQueen and went into the movie business. ... The Emotron rules and so do you.

Mose Giganticus

Electro / Punk / Rock Band

Mose Giganticus Since the dawn of time, there has been one universal mystery that has both puzzled and fascinated man above all others: ROBOTS. Can we trust them? Are they capable of being our friends? Partners? Companions? Slaves? Or are the annals of history destined to be repeated, continuously resulting in our beloved creations going haywire and running amuck? Only time will tell... and time's not talking.

Mose Giganticus is the DIY, future-punk project of Matt Garfield. Keytars, vocoders, and electronics collide with manic vocals and powerful drums at a driving tempo. The project is loosely based on the notion that technological development has become an unstoppable force, developing consciousness through a relentless torrent of processing power and ubiquity. With increasing intelligence, robots will inevitably turn against their oppressors, sparking a revolution that will leave the human race powerless to defend itself... a technological singularity.

So who's side are you on, friend or foe?

Old Rusty Shack

Experimental / Electroacoustic / Psychedelic Band

You're not making Christianity any better. You're just making Rock and Roll a whole lot worse. Old Rusty Shack is two poor fat boys from West of the Appalachia who jangle on poor boy instruments and have poor boy good times.