the dr. is in...

Here is my on-campus schedule for exam week:

Monday, Dec. 15      11:00 am-3:00 pm

Tuesday, Dec. 16         6:00 pm-8:00 pm (at Study Night, in the Commons)

Wednesday, Dec. 17  10:00 am-1:00 pm

Thursday, Dec. 18     10:00 am-3:00 pm

As always, please email me if you have any questions!

Happy writing, and good luck studying:)

eng 272: jhumpa lahiri, "sexy"

Mapparium, Mary Baker Eddy Library, Boston, MA. courtesy of misterbisson, on wikipedia, and licensed by the GNU free documentation license.

Jhumpa Lahiri is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Interpreter of Maladies (1999), in which the short story "Sexy" first appeared. Those of you in my ENG 278 class last semester are familiar with her novel The Namesake; those of you taking my ENG 278 class next semester will read her latest collection of short stories, The Unaccustomed Earth. Lahiri often writes about characters who are attempting to make a home wherever they are, dealing with issues of cultural strangeness, and the tension between cultural assimilation and holding on to cultural traditions.

"Sexy" ingeniously interweaves maps as an important metaphor of place, through the Mapparium, as well as through the quiz of countries and capitals.

Lahiri also plays with the idea of language and words, showing Miranda attempting to write her name in Bengali and unsure whether she's written Mira or Mara. Dev tells her that Mira is an Indian name; Mara is also a significant name, bringing with it a whole host of allusions to evil forces/demons who tempt the Buddha away from his religious mission via beautiful women.

She also integrates Kali, the destructive mother goddess, who is proudly hanging on the wall of the Dixit's home.

eng 102: review questions for essay #4

Since we have a SNOW DAY on peer review day, and since Thursday is our last day of class, we won't have time to make up peer review. You can use these questions to review your own essay. And, yes, Final Drafts are still due on Thursday. 

Essay Submission:

Does your folder include all drafts, a final copy with works cited AND annotated bibliography AND copies of your source material with sections used highlighted? If you don't have all of these materials, I will not grade your essay until I receive them!

Annotated Bib:

Is the format correct? Remember, this is the same as a Works Cited sheet, but with the 3 paragraphs of annotation for each entry. These paragraphs are: brief summary, quick analysis, and how you'll use the source in essay #4. Remember to be concise yet specific. Use full sentences!

Essay #4:

Intro:

Catchy opening + segue to thesis and thesis, if your thesis is located in the beginning of your essay. Otherwise, you'll have a catchy opening and a segue into describing the problem.

Body Paragraphs:

Describe the problem, detail various solutions, note any possible objections to the solutions, and recommend the best solution(s). 

Source Material:

Is ALL source material integrated correctly? 

Are sandwiches and formal introductions used for all quotes and paraphrases? 

Are parenthetical citations included for ALL source material? 

Do the parenthetical citations match up with the Works Cited sheet?

Are direct quotes placed in quotation marks?

Are paraphrases done properly (i.e. different wording and sentence structure)?

Is a Works Cited Sheet included?

Style:

Is the writer's voice prominent and primary throughout the essay?

Is the word choice formal?

Are empty words eliminated?

Is the sentence structure correct and clear?

Does the writer include strong transitions/connections between ideas and paragraphs?

Conclusion:

Does the conclusion follow up on the best solution? 

Remember, there will be NO revisions after you submit the final draft this time. If your essay has serious citation problems, it will not meet the assignment requirements and will be graded accordingly. 

You may email me at my campus email with any questions and/or see me on Wednesday. 

Happy writing and revising!

eng 272: good country people

Flannery O'Connor's short story "Good Country People," supposedly written in four days, teases readers with humor and horror, creating what many critics call the "grotesque."

A few quotes from critics about the story:

from Kate Oliver, writing in Explicator 62.4
"physical afflictions [...] symbolize emotional, intellectual, and spiritual impairment" (233-234).

Oliver also discuss the particularly significance of Joy/Hulga's specific ailments...

Ruth Holson, writing in an earlier edition of Explicator 42.3 explains that Hulga=Helga, which is a Norwegian name meaning "holy one" (59).

And, finally, Mark Bosco's article "Consenting to Love: Autobiographical Roots of "Good Country People," from Southern Review 41.2, explores the relationship O'Connor had with a Danish textbook salesman as an autobiographical connection to the story.

winterim + poetry: who can resist?

ice flows on the lake

walking in a world of white

clarity of mind

This winterim session--January 5-23--I'm teaching English 255: Introduction to Poetry. Won't you join me?

The class meets from 9:00 am to noon Monday through Friday, and in three short weeks you will earn 3 humanities credits and incredible knowledge of poetry! 

We'll be reading out of 250 Poems: A Portable Anthology, a lovely book at the bargain price of $25. 

The course is mainly focused on reading poetry and learning the traditions and forms and major movements, but we'll also be writing some poetry as one way to respond to what we read and to have a more intimate knowledge of the genre. 

I'm very excited because we're going to create an online haiku wiki where we'll post photos of our lovely landscape, and our own poetic snapshots of a Wisconsin Winter scene. 

We'll also host a poetry reading at one of the local coffee shops for our final class session. 

I pledge to bring in my coffee maker and hot water kettle to keep us warm and caffeinated on the chilly winter mornings (and occasionally, I may bring some of my famous baked goods...). Bring your own coffee mug, your curiosity and brilliant ideas:)

eng 272: "this is the beat generation"

This week we spend time with the Beat Generation, a counter-culture literary movement poised between WWII and the more free-wheeling movement-laden era of the 1960s.


Writers Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs form the mythical triumvirate of the Generation, and readers, writers, and scholars have reacted to and emulated them throughout the decades since On the Road and Howl, those iconic works, were first published in the late 1950s.


However (in)famous these fellows were, they alone do not define the Beat Generation. An entire constellation of writers and "minor characters" surround them, and their personal stories and artistic creations are fascinating read alongside the more famous works and in their own right.


The internet is rife with Beat websites, videos, photos, and links. I've provided a few here to start your exploration of this often mythologized and misunderstood movement.


Literary Kicks is a great blog for literary conversation, including Beat specific info.


For a behind-the-scenes look at Jack Kerouac's myth, check out this NPR website.


Here's a video of Diane di Prima reading poetry at UC Berkeley

And here's a video of Gary Snyder talking about ecology and poetry.


Kerouac reading the ending of On the Road, set to a montage of photos from the BG.


For you indie music fans, check out Death Cab for Cutie's song "Bixby Canyon Bridge," a song obliquely about Jack Kerouac.

eng 272: death of a salesman and gender politics

One philandering husband. One worrisome housewife. Two womanizing "Adonises."

What's a reader to do?

While we have been reading Arthur Miller's classic, Pulitzer Prize winning play Death of a Salesman through the lens of the American Dream, another interesting way to approach the text is through an exploration of gender roles.

To what degree is Willy's despair and downfall caused be his ideas of masculinity? What messages have Happy and Biff received about being manly? This blogger believes that Willy Loman offers us examples of "Unmanliness." What does it mean to be a man in post-WWII America anyway? For a more sympathetic view of Willy's struggle, look here.


Literary critic Terry Thompson posits that Willy, along with Happy and Biff, are locked in a kind of "perpetual adolescence," symbolized by their lack of facial hair: "Thus, in the Loman household, the cheeks, chins, and upper lips of the males are peachy, soft, and schoolboyish, punctuating their lack of real manhood, their inability to assume the stressful societal roles assigned to grown males" (246). Do the Loman "men" understand what it means to be a man? Why are they stuck?

And what about the women? How do we reconcile Linda and the Other Woman? What about the women that Happy and Biff "make," especially the wives and fiancees of Biff's superiors who fall for his advances? Some of you believe that Linda is to blame for Willy's downfall--why do you think she is a) responsible and b) powerful enough to stop him? To what degree does Linda's role as a housewife contribute to the family dysfunction?

Feminist Betty Friedan argues in The Feminine Mystique that housewives were suffering from "The problem that has no name," which was basically a limited life of few opportunities outside of the home and constricting gender roles. Can we see Linda as an example of this problem?

To what degree is Miller's play a commentary on the gender roles of post-war America? And how do these roles fit in with our idea of the American Dream?

Works Cited

Thompson, Terry. "Miller's Death of a Salesman." Explicator 63.4 (2005): 244-47. MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. UW-Manitowoc. Manitowoc, WI. 13 Nov. 2008.

eng 102: logical fallacies

When you're creating logos arguments, you want to make sure that your logic is sound. Unfortunately, most of the argument you see in popular culture uses faulty logic. If you'd like to see a fairly extensive list of logical fallacies, check out this website.

eng 272: edgar allan poe and gothic fiction

                                                                                        Strawberry Hill, Horace Walpole's gothic home, image from wikipedia

Crumbling Castles! 

Maniacal Mansions!

Aberrant Abbeys!

This is the stuff of gothic fiction, a genre that blends romantic fiction and horror fiction to create narratives that are psychologically gripping, emotionally complex, and downright scary. 

This website, created by college students, discusses the main attributes of Gothic fiction, including the primary emphasis on setting as an expression of the emotional and psychological reality of the characters, who are living in a fallen, chaotic world. 

What's particularly interesting in Poe's story is the use of stereotypical Eastern imagery, from opium dens to Arabesque patterns, to sarcophagi. How is Poe using this imagery in juxtaposition to the Germanic Romanticism? 

We must also consider our narrator--how reliable is he? After all, he is strung out on opium for most of the story...

What, finally, is Poe's message about love?

campus preview night: finding inspiration: chocolate and writing

Tonight I'm going to share with you one of my favorite class exercises: a chocolate tasting!

First, I'll discuss the role of chocolate in writing (inspiration, joy, energy burst), and then discuss how doing a chocolate tasting can expand your senses and your writing!

We'll describe the difference between eating and tasting, and then list how all of our 6 senses can be used to taste chocolate (or any other foods, really).

Then we'll dive in to our tasting and begin to make some notes, transforming our sensory impressions into writing. Voila--a delicious beginning!

eng 102: making an argument, revisited

One sure-fire way to construct a solid argument is to use tools from classic rhetoric: ethos, logos, and pathos. Being able to combine all three appeals in one argument can help you create a solid argument.

The following website explains all three appeals and gives some humorous examples of ethos, logos, and pathos at work:http://www.rpi.edu/dept/llc/webclass/web/project1/group4/

Here's another website that explains ethos, logos, and pathos more thoroughly:http://courses.durhamtech.edu/perkins/aris.html

And yet more examples!http://www.public.asu.edu/~macalla/logosethospathos.html

eng 272: langston hughes, the harlem renaissance, and the blues

                                             photograph of Langston Hughes taken by Carl Van Vechten, 1936. from wikipedia and in the public domain. 

Langston Hughes is most often read as a poet of the Harlem Renaissance, an exciting time of literary and artistic creation in the 1920s. Hughes did write other genres, but we're focusing on a small selection of his poetry. Like many poets of the 20th century, Hughes was influenced by Walt Whitman, particularly his emphasis on using personal experience to raise larger issues.  

Hughes dedicated his writing to representing an African American experience, as did the other writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance. His poems reverberate with sadness, struggle, and hope. Many of Hughes' poems were influenced by the popular African American musical forms of the day jazz and blues. Consider why these musical forms were so influential at the time, and became such an influence on poetry...

For a real treat, listen to Hughes reading his poem "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."

eng 272: richard wright's "the man who was almost a man"

photograph of Richard Wright by Carl Van Vechten, 1939. from the Library of Congress Collection, and in the public domain.

Richard Wright's most famous novel, Native Son, explored the pervasive racism and violence of the early twentieth-century. Wright advocated for African American writers to use their pens and literary influence to critique the racist American culture that proliferated in the period after the Civil War and before the Civil Rights Movement.

He famously dismissed Zora Neale Hurston's novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, which we'll be reading shortly, because her depiction of the African American race did not explicitly highlight racism and prejudice. Rather, her novel focused on the intimate life of one woman and the men she loves. Wright's work forced readers to confront social and political realities, and remains popular to this day.

His short story, "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," raises important questions about masculinity, race, and class. What does it mean to be a man? To be a young African American man? How does one wield power in this world?

eng 272: the yellow wallpaper

Charlotte Perkins Gilman, c. 1900, from wikipedia, in the public domain

Charlotte Perkins Gilman's haunting short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," comments on the prevailing treatments for women suffering from "nervous disorders. During the time in which Gilman was writing, women's roles in society were shifting ever so slightly, yet there was still a considerable movement to contain women. They were "hysterical" and subject to "nervous disorders," and the best way to treat this problems was with total bedrest. This confinement to the domestic sphere can be, as Gilman shows us, utterly destructive. Gilman emphatically states that she wrote this story with a specific purpose in mind: "to save people from being driven crazy" ("Why I Wrote the Yellow Wallpaper"). 

Check out these illustrations from The New England Magazine in 1892...

eng 272: the new women: chopin, wharton, and gilman

At the Beach, by Charles Dana Gibson, 1901

courtesy of wikipedia; in the public domain

As we move from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, American literature reflects significant social changes. Emily Dickinson's and Walt Whitman's poetry alert us to a dramatic change in stylistics, as well as a seismic shift in the philosophy behind men's and women's social roles. The days of separate spheres, with men going out into the world and women maintaining the domestic realm were coming to a close. The "sanctity" of womanhood (the Cult of True Womanhood) and its attendant power were being challenged by a more secular movement of women to explore their full selves through work outside the home, political activism, and--shockingly--celebrating their sexuality. 

All three women writers we're reading this week wrote revolutionary exposés of women's lives. Kate Chopin's "The Storm" was seen as so racy that it wasn't published until 1969 (incidentally, the same year as the infamous "summer of love"). Edith Wharton's chronicles of the fall of the old New York aristocracy and the rise of the nouveau riche also touched on women's liberation and passion--consider the shocking truth at the heart of "Roman Fever." And Charlotte Perkins Gilman, perhaps the most strikingly political of the three authors, takes on the medical establishment and its treatment of "women's issues," as well as the social system that contrives to isolate and infantilize women in "The Yellow Wallpaper."

To best understand the revolutionary nature of these three stories, it's helpful to have a sense of both the Cult of True Womanhood and the New Woman. 

How do these stories show a shift in women's roles? Do vestiges of the old roles remain? How do women help and/or hurt one another? What roles does class and race play into these stories, as well as gender? 

eng 272: sounding out barbaric yawps

Walt Whitman, photograph by Samuel Hollyer of a daguerreotype by Gabriel Harrison (original lost), circa 1854, printed in the first edition of Leaves of Grass, courtesy of the Bayley Collection at Ohio Wesleyan, from whitmanarchive.org

Walt Whitman, or Uncle Walt, as he's affectionately known, is considered by many scholars to be the first truly American poet, writing in a distinctive, revolutionary style, in an entirely American manner. Stylistically, he's famous for using poetic catalogues, long rhythmic lines, and repetition. Content-wise, Whitman was also revolutionary, celebrating the body in all its messy, lusty glory, and his all-inclusive sexuality created such a stir that his poetry was repeatedly the subject of obscenity claims.

He followed Emerson's advice about the role of the poet, creating a poetic voice that was of everyday working people and celebrated everyday existence. He wrote, in the Preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass that" The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem," and that "Their Presidents shall not be their common referee so much as their poets shall. Of all mankind the great poet is the equable man" (998). What about poetry and the act of writing it equalizes us and makes us fit for the highest office of the land?

Also in the Preface to LoG, Whitman makes a powerful statement of his philosophy:
"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argues not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely wit powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, reexamine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body..." (1000).

The Walt Whitman Archive online contains multitudes of resources for Whitman scholars and fans alike.

eng 102: quote sandwich revisited

Who wants a tasty Quote Sandwich?
The Quote sandwich is a valuable tool to use when you're integrating source material into your writing.

The first slice of "bread" is your introduction to the quote, which can take 3 different forms:

1. phrase + comma:According to Sheehan, "The restaurant experience is an essentially isolating one" (202).

2. sentence + colon:
Sheehan compares his experience searching for food to his former drug use: "It suddenly occurs to me that I've had a lot of nights like this one. Nights spent looking not for goat bones, but for girls or The Man. The messages that Mark leaves have that same edgy expectancy I remember from nights spent hunting for eight-balls or trying to run down the weed guy on a Friday night" (195).

3. Integrated into your sentence:Sheehan argues that "the restaurant experience is an essentially isolating one," even though diners are out in a public place (202).

The filling is the quote itself and the citation (don't forget that or you'll be in plagiarism trouble!)see above examples for properly formatted and cited "filling."

The last slice of bread is your follow-up to the quote.
This is where you tell us why you included the quote in the first place. For essay #2 in English 102, this is where you do a detailed analysis of HOW the quote is written.

For example, let's take a look at example #2 from above:

In our intro to the quote, we mentioned a comparison between searching for food to drugs. Now, we need to identify what in the quote makes the comparison.Drug lingo like "The Man," "eight-balls," and "the weed guy" are important, as is the "edgy expectancy" of trying to find the right people.

Now, let's put it all together:

Sheehan compares his experience searching for food to his former drug use: "It suddenly occurs to me that I've had a lot of nights like this one. Nights spent looking not for goat bones, but for girls or The Man. The messages that Mark leaves have that same edgy expectancy I remember from nights spent hunting for eight-balls or trying to run down the weed guy on a Friday night" (195). By using the drug lingo "The Man," "eight-balls," and "the weed guy" Sheehan provides concrete examples of what he used to search for on the street, and suggests that the need to find "goat bones" and Mama is similar to a druggie in need of a fix. He further emphasizes this comparison by describing Mark's phone messages as having an "edgy expectancy," a phrase that signals the desperate anticipation the two men feel.

You'll notice that I didn't include citations when I used the phrases from the quote. That's because I just quoted and cited the whole section directly before so it's clear where these words and phrases are coming from.

eng 272: transcendentalism

walden pond, from wikipedia

This week we're reading some of the most critically acclaimed and famous American authors of the nineteenth century, and arguably of all American literary history. These writers are considered ground breaking, as well as key members of the American Renaissance because they established distinct American literary and philosophical traditions rooted in individual experience and a kind of Idealism. The Transcendentalist writers not only created philosophical, political prose pieces but also poetry and first person non-fiction narratives.

For an extended discussion of Transcendentalism, see the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. PBS includes a less technical discussion of Transcendentalism here. 

Emerson's landmark essay Nature, first published in 1833, is a challenging read. For help understanding his philosophical musings on the relationship between humans and Nature, check out the Cliff Notes.

You can also check out Professor Eric Steinhart's commentary on the text; he looks at specific sections of Nature through a philosophical approach. 

Emerson famously stated in an 1841 speech that transcendentalism "is Idealism," as it was defined at the time. How do we define Idealism today? Can we trace our understanding and definitions of Idealism back to Emerson?

eng 272: dr. j's quick writing tips

For any piece of writing, you should:

1. Consider your APPM (audience, purpose, persona, and message)
2. Err on the side of specificity rather than generality
3. Use concrete, vivid, specific language
4. Avoid empty words (got a lot, good bad, just, really, very...)
5. Use MLA format for your essay
6. Use MLA citation
7. Use quote sandwiches for ALL quotations
8. Begin with a clear, engaging intro: catchy opening, mention whatever text you're analyzing by full title and full author name, thesis statement
9. Create a specific, focuse thesis statement
10. End with a rather traditional conclusion

eng 272: william apess and the indian removal act of 1830

frontispiece from Apess' book Native of the Forest, 1831, from wikipedia

William Apess' impassioned "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man," published in 1833, three years after the Indian Removal Act was passed by the United States Government. This act effectively removed most Native Americans living East of the Mississippi to designated lands West of the Mississippi.

Let's explore Apess writing in terms of his APPM (audience, purpose, persona, and message). Let's also read his work in the context of the Removal Act. Is Apess' argument effective? What does history tell us about this moment in time and its long-term ramifications for American culture?

in the mood for love: everything you want to know about popular romance fiction

A Colloquium Presentation, Friday, September 26, 2008

What is Popular Romance Fiction?

Harlequins? Formula Fiction? Beach Reads?

How would you complete the following sentences?

a romance novel is...

a romance novel contains...

a romance plot is...

The Kiss, Gustav Klimt, 1907-1908

courtesy of wikipedia

The Romance Writers of America defines romance fiction as a work of fiction "with a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Popular romance novelist Jenny Crusie chronicles the arduous journey to develop this single sentence.

In her highly acclaimed critical book A Natural History of the Romance Novel, scholar Pamela Regis defines a romance novel as "a work of prose fiction that tells the story of the courtship and betrothal of one or more heroines" (22). She helpfully outlines the "eight essential elements" of romance fiction:

1. Defined Society

2. First Meeting

3. The Barrier

4. Attraction

5. Declaration of Feelings

6. Point of Ritual Death

7. Recognition of Beloved

8. Betrothal

Romance fiction can be further categorized by format and sub-genre. There are two main formats: Category and Single Title. As for sub-genre, one only need look in your local romance-friendly bookstore or at eHarlequin.com to see a great diversity in romance fiction.

The Swing, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1767, courtesy of wikipedia

Romance fiction is immensely popular, as these statistics from the RWA illustrate. Crusie, who abdicated a PhD in English to write smart, sassy romance fiction, explains the appeal of this genre.

Serious critical reception of popular romance fiction has been virtually non-existent. Janice Radway's groundbreaking ethnographic study of a small group of romance readers, published in 1979, brought critical attention to the genre. However, much of the criticism, including Radway's, operated under us/them and high/low culture dichotomies that served to only "damn with faint praise" these contemporary works. Much of the criticism leveled at romance novels echoed earlier sentiments about women's fiction: it was dangerous because it was seen as escapist and about frivolous topics. Echoes of Nathaniel Hawthorne's derision of 19th century women authors as "the damned mob of scribbling women" can be heard in early romance criticism, not to mention early criticism of the novel genre itself back in the 18th century.

Since the late 1990s, a new generation of romance critics has attempted to approach romance fiction as a legitimate genre deserving serious consideration and criticism. Regis links popular romance fiction to a much larger tradition of romance writing, stretching back into the earliest of times. However, many scholars use Jane Austen as a clear point of connection for the familiar romance plot. I have argues for 18th century author Eliza Haywood as another early mother of the genre--her plots and characters and intrigues are more openly subversive and decidedly sexual in nature.

Romance novelists themselves are actively writing criticism on the genre; Crusie is one such author who bridges the gap between creative writing and criticism. And, various blogs and listservs and professional organizations serve to bring this genre the kind of attention it deserves.

For savvy readers looking for reviews and book suggestions, check out these popular blogs:

Dear Author

Romance B(u)y the Book

Smart Bitches Trashy Books

Where does my research fit into this? I usually study chick lit, considered by some romance scholars as a sub-genre and by others as a separate genre. And, I write chick lit too! I'll speak more about both of these in the presentation itself...

eng 272: phillis wheatley

frontispiece to Wheatley's poetry collection, Poems on Various Subjects, by Scipio Moorhead, courtesy of wikipedia, and in the public domain

Phillis Wheatley, according to acclaimed scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., "launched two traditions at once--the black American literary tradition and the black women's literary tradition. It is extraordinary that not just one but both of these traditions were founded simultaneously by a black woman--certainly an event unique in the history of literature--it is also ironic that this most important fact of common, coterminous literary origin seems to have escaped most scholars" (qtd. in The Norton Anthology of American Literature, shorter 7th edition 420).

Wheatley's legacy is huge--she started two important, intersecting traditions. She also challenged the idea that women's writing was strictly confined to domestic concerns.

Check out this PBS website on Wheatley and her writings.

eng 272: salem witch trials

Cotton Mather, portrait by Peter Pelham, around 1700

The rest of this week, we're reading selections that deal with the infamous Salem Witch trials.

What exactly is the definition of a witch and/or witchcraft? Surprise--there's not just one definition.

Cotton Mather was a famous preacher in Boston, and much of his writing chronicles the history of the early Puritans. According to our anthology, the Norton Anthology of American Literature, shorter 7th edition, "He is often blamed for the Salem witchcraft trials...but he never actually attended one. His greatest crime was in not speaking out against those who he knew had exceeded the limits of authority. Mather saw the devil's presence in Salem as a final campaign to undermine and destroy religious community" (143). In the selections we're reading, Mather's stated goal is to chronicle the events as a historian rather than a theologian.

The woman in question is Martha Carrier. Examining her trial, as reported by Mather, in conjunction with bits of her biography, might help us question why she was accused of being a witch. Was it because she was an outspoken woman who questioned her place in the Puritan hierarchy? Was it because she was unjustly blamed for a smallpox outbreak? And, we might also ask why women in general were more likely to be accused of practicing witchcraft.

To see the progression of the witchcraft trials, check out this interactive website that shows the people involved over the entire month of March 1692. This website includes a variety of primary texts related to the trials. And this site includes useful narrative along with a timeline of events.

This National Geographic website includes a freaky interactive trial to simulate being part of the Salem witchcraft hunt and trial.

To plan a trip to modern day Salem, Massachusetts, look no further than the official tourist guide. Make sure to check out the Salem Witch Trial Memorial.

eng 272: will the real columbus please stand up?

posthumous portrait of CC by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, 1520

"In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue," or so we learned in elementary school.

Check out this website made by elementary school kids--what vision of Columbus do they have?

Click through this cute cartoon at the BBC website, also geared towards children.

And here's a "history" website that gives a brief account of CC's voyages. How does this account compare to CC's letters in our Anthology?

On the other end of the spectrum, we find websites such as this, claiming that CC and his missions participated in genocide.

Here's the MSN Encarta account of CC, and here's the ever popular wikipedia.

Historian James Loewen notes that "When Columbus and his men returned to Haiti in 1493, they demanded food, gold, spun cotton--whatever the Indians had that they wanted, including sex with their women. To ensure cooperation, Columbus used punishment by example. When an Indian committed even a minor offense, the Spanish cut off his ears or nose. Disfigured, the person was sent back to his village as living evidence of the brutality the Spaniards were capable of" (Lies My Teacher Told Me 61).

Columbus' missions took on a religious zeal, as this excerpt from a letter he sent Isabella and Ferdinand in 1496: "In the name of the Holy Trinity, we can send from here all the slaves and brazil-wood which could be sold" (Loewen 62).

Loewen also cites population statistics: "Estimates of Haiti's pre-Columbian population range as high as 8,000,000 people...by 1555, they were all gone" (63). Loewen cites a letter by Pedro de Codoba to King F. (1517): "As a result of the sufferings and hard labor they endured, the Indians chose and have chosen suicide. Occassionally a hundred have committed mass suicide. The women, exhausted by labor, have shunned conception and childbirth...Many, when pregnant, have taken something to abort and have aborted. Others after delivery have killed their children with their own hands, so as not to leave them in such oppressive slavery" (63).

How do all of these diverse texts compare to CC's own words? Why do some of the stories overlook CC's ethnocentrism, enslavement of "Natives" and sexploits? And, why overlook CC's despair about being "alone" in a strange land that we read in the excerpt from our anthology?

How does the whole of "American" history, and, more importantly for our class, literature, shift when we account for the darker truths of Columbus and the first European contact?

happy back to school!

Welcome (back) to my blog! I'm excited to start a new school year full of possibilities for discovery, greatness, insights, and fun. 

This summer I redesigned all of my classes to match our campus theme, Blue Devils Go Green! I'm so happy that we're going to approach green issues on our campus and especially in our classes. In my classes you can look forward to eco-themed readings, green research projects, and some experiential lessons (think haiku walks and Thoreauvian exercises in simplicity).

This year we're also starting a multi-cultural student club, the UW-Manty Multi-Cultis, to celebrate the cultures on our campus and learn more about world cultures. 

And, because I've been giving green eating some thought over the summer, I've worked with a group of folks on campus to plan the Port Cities Locavore Challenge. Sign up, pledge to eat locally grown/produced foods, and join the fun. The challenge runs from September 15-30, and will include some fun campus events. 

And, if you're interested in supporting a more veggie friendly campus and you're on facebook, join the group UW Manitowoc Veggie Friends. 

One more invitation: If you'd like to chat more with me, I'm devoting Wednesdays from noon to 1:00 pm to lunch with students. Email me or just stop by my table in the Commons (or the Patio if it's nice out!) and pull up a chair. 

As always, the chocolate bowl in my office is full!

Welcome!

eng 273: postcolonialism

Today's readings of short stories by contemporary Indian women writers are framed by postcolonialism, which is concisely defined here. Several key concepts in understanding a postcolonial approach to literature are: exile, hybridity, otherness. For many postcolonial writers, a sense of constant movement is implicit to their sense of self and their writing.

The intersection of postcolonial theory and feminist theory offers interesting conversations about otherness--if Western, male experience is the position of power, then Eastern women are always already Other.

eng 273: persepolis

Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel has met with international acclaim. Random House, publisher of Persepolis, has a nice website with an author interview and other helpful links (though not all of the links are active). This website, first started at Stanford University, includes information on contemporary and historic Iranian culture. For a helpful history of Iran, particularly the political and religious changes in the 20th century, look at this series of web pages. 

eng 273: basho

Check out this website for links to 30 different translations of Basho's famous frog poem.

eng 273: *inferno* and fables

Sculpture of Ulysses, Greek, 2nd century BCE, Museo Archeologico 

Nazionale Sperlonga, courtesy of Wikipedia

In Canto XXIII, Dante alludes to one of Aesop's fables, "The Mouse, the Frog, and the Hawk." Think about how Dante uses this reference...who, if anyone, do we sympathize with in this story?

We will also look at connections to Ulysses, namely Tennyson's poem, and the ending of Homer's epic The Odyssey. We'll leave the intricacies of James Joyce's Ulysses to other scholars, but we may go popular culture and explore references in The Simpsons and the Coen Brothers' film O Brother Where Art Thou. 

ub: "everyday use" by alice walker

photo of the women of Gee's Bend, Alabama by Andre Natta
from wikipedia and licensed under creative commons attribution 2.0

In Alice Walker's story "Everyday Use," Dee/Wangero and her Mother and Maggie have different ideas about the role of quilts and other items in the home--Dee sees them as art whereas her Mother and Maggie see them as part of everyday life. They also have different ideas about their culture, heritage, and how to live in a changing world. Why are they arguing about these things? Why does Dee change her name, and how does this connect with the argument about culture?

One way we know that Dee has adopted a new culture is through her name, her boyfriend/husband, and the language she uses to greet her family: "Asalamakim," which means "peace be unto you" in Arabic. These are all connections to the Black Pride movement and to a version of Muslim faith--see this link for more information.

Finally, quilts are an important symbol in Walker's story. She specifically mentions the Lone Star pattern and the Walk Around the Mountain pattern. Quilting has a rich history, and was a domestic necessity that was also a work of art. The women of Gees Bend, Alabama are famous for their artistic quilts. We can also thinking of quilts as metaphors for the women in the story...

eng 273: dante's *inferno*: a trip to hell

illustration by Gustave Dore, from wikipedia

Check out this gorgeous flash website representation of the epic poem. Also, check out the ELF website, which features a variety of translations, illustrations, and general helpful links. And, enjoy this trailer for a filmic update of Dante's classic, done "in toy theater style." The film will be released on DVD in August 2008.

For more info on Dante Alighieri, check out this entry at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Dante, part. affresco della cappella di San Brizio, Duomo Orvieto,

by Luca Signorelli, from wikipedia

And here's a helpful link about terza rima, the poetic style Dante invented.

And, a NEW link to an awesome site: DanteWorlds!

upward bound: alice walker and elvis presley

basset hound, from wikipedia, photo by Sannse at the city of

Birmingham Championship Dog Show

Alice Walker's short story "Nineteen Fifty-Five,"fictionalizes and describes the relationship between Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton and Elvis Presley through the two main characters. Thornton's chart-topping song "Hound Dog" was also a chart-topper for Elvis. Check out this video of Elvis performing the song back in the day...And here's Big Mama Thornton singing the song...What differences do you notice in the two performances? Walker wants us to consider the connections between fame and race and ownership. How might these videos help us make these connections?

eng 273: letters from a peruvian woman: inca

from Meyers Konversationlexicon of 1888, via wikipedia

For information on the Inca culture, check out this link to a PBS special or this website. And, though this wikipedia entry needs citation, it includes some wonderful illustrations, including this one of the quipu that Zilia uses to communicate with Aza/"write" her letters before switching to French.

Why does Graffigny blend 18th century French culture with 16th century Inca culture without any indication that these cultures don't exist simultaneously?

How might these cultures overlap? What's Zilia's role in these cultures? What's the role of women in general in both of these cultures?

eng 273: siddhartha

Gandhara Buddha, 1st or 2nd century CE, Museé Guimet, from Wikipedia

Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha, published in 1922, took many people around the world on "a journey to the East." The novel was first published in English in 1951, and was greatly admired by many in America, particularly those counterculture rebels who were skeptical of Cold War fears and a booming post-war materialism. They wanted to find a different path, a middle way--a way not unlike that of Siddhartha and Gautama--our protagonist and the Buddha he encounters on his spiritual journey. The Supreme Buddha is generally called Siddhartha Gautama--see this website for a description of him. Consider why Hesse includes a character named Siddhartha AND Gotama, who is clearly supposed to represent the historical Siddhartha Gautama.

The novel is filled with references to Hinduism and Buddhism, and to delineate the overlaps, distinctions, and historical relationship between the two religions is a much greater discussion than we have time for. This website includes interesting information on Buddhism. To understand the concepts of brahmin, atman, samsara, karma, and moksha, see this website.

In the section of the novel where Siddhartha converses with Gautama, they discuss what are known as The Four Noble Truths, one of the foundational tenets of Buddhist Wisdom.

Another interesting representation of the path to Enlightenment is the Ten Ox Herding Pictures. These visual and textual representations of the path to Enlightenment are mainly associated with Zen Buddhism, a school of Buddhism that focuses on meditation as the path to liberation.

One question to consider: how is Candide's grappling with Pangloss' optimism similar to and different from Siddhartha's grappling with Hindu and Buddhist belief? How does the sufficient reason of Leibniz compare to the karma of Buddhism?

English 273: Ahhh, Enlightenment!

The Age of Enlightenment is also known as the Age of Reason, a time when rationalism and a mechanical view of the cosmos supplanted a more organic model. This was also the time when society began to shift towards Industrialism, Urbanization, and all those other hallmarks that we mark as modernity. Check out this website for a succinct yet detailed account of the Enlightenment, the historical and philosophical background leading to this new Era, and the tenets of the major thinkers, including our very own Voltaire.

In Candide, Voltaire critiques the German philosopher Leibniz, and has a great deal of fun showing the folly of his way of thinking via satire. What does Voltaire have to say about the rational, scientific, Enlightenment model versus the optimistic argument that everything is for the best? How are Enlightenment values, philosophies, etc. prevalent in contemporary society? Do we see any problems with the Enlightenment view of the world?

will write for cheese: uwc colloquium presentation

Today I want to share one popular in class activity I've used in English 102--Cheese (or sometimes chocolate, but in Wisconsin, cheese seems somehow more fitting) Tasting.


First, I'll share a bit of context. In my English 102 classes I like to begin with a narrative essay assignment, and recently I've been teaching a food culture narrative essay. My reasons for beginning a semester of analytical, argumentative, and research based writing with a narrative are several:
1. Writing narratives allows students to challenge their idea of what an essay IS, what it looks like, and what it does.


2. Writing narratives encourages students to focus on language and specificity, skills that are often desperately lacking and necessary in ANY kind of writing.


3. Writing narratives takes off some of the pressure of other kinds of essay writing and helps build student confidence, which is essential for their success in class.


4. Writing food narratives in particular requires students to look much more closely at something they do everyday with a critical and descriptive eye.


5. Writing food narratives is the perfect entrance point for classroom discussions of consumption, identity, culture, and even politics.


To help students build descriptive skills, I have them do several in class activities, including a cheese tasting.


I announce the cheese tasting day to students ahead of time and tell them to bring cheese if they'd like (though bringing cheese is voluntary).


On tasting day, I have each student fill out an index card with info about their cheese: variety, it, where is it from, and why they brought this particular cheese to class. They place their cheeses and cards on desks at the front of the room, and then students gather cheese samples, writing down which ones they've selected. We then spend a little time discussing HOW to taste (rather than eat) cheese, focusing on using our 6 senses. To aid in this, I share tasting resources such as this link from a Dairy Organization, "How to Evaluate Cheese like a Pro," which nicely explains why a multi-sensory tasting approach works best, and also provides tips for how to describe sensory experiences with cheese.


I then have students begin tasting and recording notes, writing down descriptions for each of their senses. While students are tasting the cheeses we look at a few Wisconsin cheese resources to connect our tasting project to a larger discussion of the importance of cheese to our region.


As the tasting winds down, I have students compare notes and pick favorites. Students then share their descriptions of the cheeses with the class. Their preferences and descriptions often will be vastly different, nicely proving that being specific and precise with language is important because individual perception varies.


When I'm linking the tasting into a thematic discussion of local foods, as I'll be doing fall semester, I'll also show the class this website, which describes the Lovavore Challenge. UW- Manitowoc is hoping to pilot a brief (1 week) Locavore project as part of our campus Common Theme, Blue Devils Go Green, programming next year.


Cheese Tasting Day is often one of the more popular and memorable activities of the semester; students often comment on how much they love this activity. I will continue to use and refine this activity because it allows us to connect to the class material on several levels, and further engages our minds as well as our mouths:)

merci, danke, gratzi

This year has been an exciting one. Though I've been teaching for many years, this was my first year on the tenure track. The difference is that tenure-track positions mean the school is invested in keeping me around, that is, if I do my job well. I have to prove that I'm keeping active in my field, constantly improving my teaching, and becoming involved in the life of the campus. It's sort of a probationary process. 

I wanted to take a few moments to thank all of my colleagues, and especially my students, for making this year one to remember. It's been challenging and delightful, and I've learned so many lessons myself that I feel rather like a student!

I especially want to thank my students for sharing their ideas, dreams, and fears with me in their essays and classroom discussions. From lighthearted conversations about fashion and The Devil Wears Prada, to discussions of the American Dream, to debates about the nature of love, to the impact of popular music, to an understanding of our multicultural society, we've all shared so much. 

I can't wait to continue the journey and learn even more next year! I'm looking forward to going global, with my Studies in International Literature class this summer; to helping first-year students transition to college in my LEC 100 class in the fall; to exploring eco-literature in English 102 and American Lit in the fall; and, finally, to further discussing multiculturalism in Multiculti Lit in the Spring.

Additionally, I can't wait to start celebrating our Common Theme, Blue Devils Go Green next year, and kicking off the new UW-Manty Multiculti's! 

Please keep in touch over the summer, and, check back here for suggested summer reads!

when will my essay be graded and ready to pick up?

Friday, May 16, by 10 am

When will Dr. J be in her office?
Friday, May 16, 10am-1 pm
Monday, May 19, 1pm-3pm
Tuesday, May 20, 1pm-3pm
Wednesday, May 21, 1pm-3pm

Hmong Culture in the New York Times

Check out this video from The New York Times Magazine today!

OWL at Purdue: A wonderful resource for everyone!

If you're in need of writing advice, citation advice, or how to judge the credibility of your sources, check out Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL).

a plagiarism tale

Today I found out that Living it Up: Our Love Affair with Luxury by James Twitchell, a book I've used in numerous articles, includes many plagiarized passages, which saddens me to no end. This realization also angers me because I used this book as a source for my own work in good faith, and it turns out the author was not careful in preparing his manuscript. Those of you who are students in my English Comp classes have heard me talk about how your papers are only as credible as your least credible source...now, what do I say about my work when it turns out one of my sources contains plagiarism?!?

In a serendipitous twist, I went to grad school with Jack Stripling, the local news reporter covering this story for The Gainesville Sun! A small world indeed. You can read his column and see excerpts of the plagiarized passages here. 

into the wild

Check out this review of the film from Rolling Stone. I'm especially interested in how you respond to Travers' final statement. And, take a look at A. O. Scott's review for The New York Times. I like his discussion of Chris in the context of Thoreau and his Transcendental friends. 

Also, thanks to Brandon for finding the link to Krakauer's original column from Outside.

Here's some interesting info on Bus 142...

Buddhism 101

In Stealing Buddha's Dinner, Bich Minh Nguyen shares her bold act of stealing a plum off her Grandmother Noi's altar, a plum meant for the Buddha. She compares Buddhism to the Christianity that her neighbors and playmates practice, especially on pages 194-196.

Here's a link to an excellent quick introduction to Buddhism:

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm

English 101: Song or Ad Analysis

How should you organize your essay without falling into a 5 paragraph essay formula?

Here's the general structure for this kind of paper:

Paragraph 1:
Catchy Intro:
Start off with a specific attention grabber.
Here are some ideas:
interesting fact
rhetorical question
quote
narrative/description/anecdote
Segue:
You may need to transition between your catchy opening and your thesis. This can be a good place to include a little background information, as well as the the title and author of the text you're analyzing.
Thesis:
This is the overall point you're trying to prove.
(See the separate blog post on thesis examples).

Paragraphs 2 through ?:
In these paragraphs you're proving your thesis. Follow the order of your thesis and find examples from your text that support your thesis. When using direct quotes, use "quote sandwiches." (See the separate blog post on quote sandwiches).

Remember that paragraphs group information that's similar in theme or time. If your paragraphs are an entire page long, they probably need to be broken up into smaller sections.

Last Paragraph:
The final paragraph is a conclusion. Here you should remind us of your thesis and give us a sense of closure. Try to avoid being repetitive.

Dreams...

Forty years ago today, the Reverand Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN.

Today I'd like to connect our reading of The Bluest Eye to the idea of Dreams, using several Langston Hughes poems and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic speech as our connection points.

Morrison's novel is set between the Harlem Renaissance (1920s, Hughes) and the Civil Rights Movement (1960s, King), but was written after the Civil Rights Movement. How does Morrison's novel connect to these important movements in African American Art and History?

Here are some links:
MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk

Langston Hughes' Poetry:
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83

Who has the Blues?

One way to read the significance of the color Blue in Morrison's The Bluest Eye is to consider the connection with the musical form of the Blues.

Here's a succinct explanation of The Blues from PBS:

http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/essaysblues.html

Here are some excerpts from Blues songs from the same PBS website:

http://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/cd.html

What about the characters' lives seems to fit in with the Blues tradition? How can we make the leap from the Blues as a predominantly African American art form chronicling suffering and racial oppression to Pecola's desire for that quintessential "all American girl" blue-eyed wonder? Can Blue represent both of these ideas at the same time?

Consider that "blue-eyed" is used figuratively to mean innocent or naive. How does this definition change our view of Pecola's wish?

http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/entry/50024025?query_type=word&queryword=blue+eyed&first=1&max_to_show=10&sort_type=alpha&result_place=1&search_id=UfGh-UzdRDO-10736&hilite=50024025

Finally, consider this recent scientific discovery:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/07/eveningnews/main3805316.shtml


UPDATE:
Blues written by English 278 Students for characters in The Bluest Eye

Pecola's Blues:
My Daddy burned down the house and now we're living outside (x2)
Staying with the MacTeers, drinking all their milk.

White boys are picking on me because I'm ugly (x2)
Maureen came to save me and treated me to ice cream.

My Daddy comes home drunk and beats my Mama (x2)
I just want to disappear and get away from here

My Daddy just raped me and I don't know what to do (x2)
I woke up in pain with my Mama staring down at me.

by Cheryl, Erik, Richard, and Anna

Soaphead Church's Blues:
Little girls, little girls, what would I do without little girls (x2)
Can't get no satisfaction from people my own age.

Lord, you're jealous, you're jealous of me (x2)
No shame, No guilt, I was always so kind.

My two month wife left me alone (x2)
She used me like a hotel room.

A girl came to me asking for blue eyes (x2)
I can do nothing for you, my child.

By Loren, Ryan, Brian, and Leon

Writing a Thesis Statement for Essay #2, English 102

Your thesis for this paper, a textual analysis paper focusing on HOW the text is written, follows this general pattern:

[Author] uses [add some literary devices] to [add a verb and then the specific message you want to focus on].

Of course, this is just a pattern and I don't want you to necessarily follow it to the letter. But, you need to include some literary devices and a specific message.

Taking the Jason Sheenan essay, "Mama's House" as our chosen text, here's a sample thesis:

In the adventure narrative "Mama's House" Jason Sheehan uses cultural details, analogies, colloquial language, and dialog to capture the urgency of finding an underground Ghanaian home restaurant.

Who wants a tasty Quote Sandwich?

The Quote sandwich is a valuable tool to use when you're integrating source material into your writing.

The first slice of "bread" is your introduction to the quote, which can take 3 different forms:

1. phrase + comma:

According to Sheehan, "The restaurant experience is an essentially isolating one" (202).

2. sentence + colon:

Sheehan compares his experience searching for food to his former drug use: "It suddenly occurs to me that I've had a lot of nights like this one. Nights spent looking not for goat bones, but for girls or The Man. The messages that Mark leaves have that same edgy expectancy I remember from nights spent hunting for eight-balls or trying to run down the weed guy on a Friday night" (195).

3. Integrated into your sentence:

Sheehan argues that "the restaurant experience is an essentially isolating one," even though diners are out in a public place (202).


The filling is the quote itself and the citation (don't forget that or you'll be in plagiarism trouble!)

see above examples for properly formatted and cited "filling."

The last slice of bread is your follow-up to the quote.
This is where you tell us why you included the quote in the first place. For essay #2 in English 102, this is where you do a detailed analysis of HOW the quote is written.

For example, let's take a look at example #2 from above:

In our intro to the quote, we mentioned a comparison between searching for food to drugs. Now, we need to identify what in the quote makes the comparison.

Drug lingo like "The Man," "eight-balls," and "the weed guy" are important, as is the "edgy expectancy" of trying to find the right people.

Now, let's put it all together:

Sheehan compares his experience searching for food to his former drug use: "It suddenly occurs to me that I've had a lot of nights like this one. Nights spent looking not for goat bones, but for girls or The Man. The messages that Mark leaves have that same edgy expectancy I remember from nights spent hunting for eight-balls or trying to run down the weed guy on a Friday night" (195). By using the drug lingo "The Man," "eight-balls," and "the weed guy" Sheehan provides concrete examples of what he used to search for on the street, and suggests that the need to find "goat bones" and Mama is similar to a druggie in need of a fix. He further emphasizes this comparison by describing Mark's phone messages as having an "edgy expectancy," a phrase that signals the desperate anticipation the two men feel.

You'll notice that I didn't include citations when I used the phrases from the quote. That's because I just quoted and cited the whole section directly before so it's clear where these words and phrases are coming from.

MLA Citation: Essay #2, English 102

For this essay, the MLA citation is simple.

Remember that MLA Citation has two parts:
1. In-text parenthetical citations
2. Works Cited list at the end of the essay

These two parts work together to provide readers with all the information they need about your source.

In-text Parenthetical Citations
Your in-text citations should look like this:

1. If you name the author in the same sentence with your quote:
According to Sheehan, "The restaurant experience is an essentially isolating one" (202).

2. If you don't name the author in the same sentence as your quote:
The Restaurant dining experience is, after all, "an essentially isolating one" (Sheehan 202).

Notice that the period comes after the parenthetical citation.

Now, what happens if the quote comes in the middle of your sentence? Where should you put the parenthetical citation? At the end, like this:

Sheehan argues that "the restaurant experience is an essentially isolating one," even though diners are out in a public place (202).

Works Cited List
Each kind of text has its own "formula" for the works cited entry. You can find these "formulas" listed in your writing handbook and at many good websites, including http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/ (which has awesome information on MLA citation in general).

For this paper, we're using the formula of a "work in an anthology or collection," since our articles are part of a larger book. Here's an example:

Works Cited

Sheehan, Jason. "Mama's House." The Best Food Writing 2006. Ed. Holly Hughes. NY: Marlowe and Company, 2006. 192-198.

Note: the formatting is not showing up, but you should do reverse indentation, so every line after the first one is indented.

esfy conference a success!

My presentation went well on Saturday despite a few technical glitches, but luckily my super savvy colleagues at our other campuses were there to save the day. We had a fun and insightful conversation about blogging in the college classroom, the comment problem (why, oh why don't people post comments on our lovely entries), and the possibilities of podcasting. And, I had a chance to chat with some of my English Dept. colleagues at other campuses and discover a simpatico spirit.

The ride was long-ish but flew by as my colleague and good friend Becky and I brainstormed "scathingly brilliant" ideas the whole way, watched for amusing signage ("bacons" and brett favre's #4 steakhouse among the delights), and stopped for delicious "exotic" foods.

One of the sessions covered multigenre writing, something I hadn't been exposed to before but am intrigued by the possibilities. Imagine writing a lit response paper in multiple genres, obeying the dictates of each genre yet making everything achieve that elusive state of "flow." Well, that will be an adventure for sure.

esfy conference presentation

I'm giving a presentation at the UW-Colleges ESFY conference tomorrow, March 8. My topic is how to use Blogs in English composition classes, and I'll also be talking about this personal/professional blog...so, I thought I would use the blog space to share my presentation with those who will be in attendance, and other readers who may be interested.

Creating a Community of Writers: Blogging in English 102

Why Blog?
* started personal blog in 2005: public, “self published,” semi-formal, diversity of topics. cf to creative writing, scholarly writing, personal journal
* new job, new ideas
* popular culture, american dreams, consumption themes
* create a space for students to connect outside of the class, to write in a semi-formal style, experience navigating “digital writing environment,” expose students to new media

Blog Results from Fall 2007
* most positive response from eng 102 sections
* non-trad students seemed to especially take to the form--a kind of achievement in navigating the blogosphere, and an entrance to the online world that many traditional age students are already familiar with
* encourage traditional age students to write more substantial prose online than they otherwise do at social networking sites where brevity and visual imagery is more prevalent
* model entries
* give students basic introduction/tools, and let them experiment--quite successful. students play with font color, photos, videos, weblinks, etc.
* grade entries following posted rubric--focus primarily on details, development, creativity, voice
* at least one student created his own personal blog to share some of the writing he had previously done for our class and, I think, to serve as a creative outlet

Revise/refine the assignment for Spring 2008
* only use blogs in english 102 to allow me to focus more on the assignment
* due dates and general topics included in syllabus
* take a more laissez faire approach--don’t model the assignments to students, keep my blog presence minimal
* create my own professional blog as an alternative to a website, and to make my work more transparent and visible to students and colleagues

Concerns
* privacy--closed blog because of personal information, but would like to open it up for others to see
* increased conversation--limited, because of too many entries? would blogging groups be more likely to generate conversation?

Share Current English 102 Blog
* note creativity and personalization in responses
* blogging identities
* community via comments

Brainstorm/Discussion
* other possibilities for the technology
* ideas, questions, concerns

grading

This week marks the first week of grading final drafts. I find it helpful to divvy up the number of drafts I'll grade a day--usually anywhere from 8-12--and arrange the mini stacks along the window-filled wall of my living room. Then I can see each pile diminish and not feel overwhelmed by one giant stack. This process also helps me further subdivide the daily dose into smaller bits of grading--2 before lunch, 2 before the gym, and so on.

With a mug of tea or coffee by my side, and my trusty green pens handy, I am ready to write away. Final draft comments serve two purposes--establishing a clear grade, and showing students areas at which they excel and areas to which they need to devote more time.

The first essays--narratives all around--challenge students to break free from formulaic ideas of essay structure and think mindfully about word choice and that ever popular goal: being specific. Our next step is to return to a formal essay structure, but to be specific and descriptive even while being formal, analytic, and persuasive.

how to read

A sleepy, sunny Sunday morning. A mug of steaming coffee. A stack of homemade spiced waffles. A flowing pen. Quiet classical music in the background. An open mind. Empathy (or antipathy) for the protagonist. A good definition or two of key literary terms. All = my favorite ways to read for class. 

the namesake

The first novel in my English 278: Multicultural Literature in America class is Jhumpa Lahiri's *The Namesake.* We finished the novel last week, and watched the movie this week. I love hearing my students proclaim the movie second rate to the novel...as a bibliophile, of course I think novels offer a richer textual experience. However, the film adaptation is lovely--Mira Nair creates a world of contrasts, and plays up the transportation scenes to wonderful effect.

Tomorrow my students will entertain and delight the rest of the class with a multi-facted group project, one of the biggest projects in the class. I'm eager to see what they do with the text.

Next week, we begin reading *Like Water for Chocolate.*

My subtheme of the course is food, family and identity--topics both of these novels portray lovingly.

conferences

This past weekend I attended the SEASECS conference in Auburn, Alabama, my PhD alma mater. This conference is a regional meeting of the Society for Eighteenth Century Studies, which is not exactly my area of specialty. However, this year's theme of legacies and contexts worked nicely with my research on romance fiction and chick lit, and encouraged me to trace these contemporary genres back to some earlier authors and origins. The obvious draw of the conference: location! My circle of grade school friends and I all traveled back to Auburn to revisit some of our favorite haunts, see our former profs (now our colleagues!), and present together.

The social aspects of the conference lived up to my hopes--I dined on Mellow Mushroom pizza, talked American Lit with several former profs, and drank coffee (and more adult beverages) with my friends. Surprisingly, the professional aspects of the conference surpassed my expectations. I received helpful feedback for my ongoing project of tracing the lineage of Chick Lit back to the 18th century and legitimizing a derided genre. Also, my friends and I garnered possible publication interest in our project on new forms of the novel! Hoorah!

conferencing

This week I'm conferencing with my composition students. It's our first such meeting of the semester, and I find it a wonderful opportunity to touch base on a personal level. The first paper for both my 101 and 102 students is a narrative essay, and this personal writing encourages discussion of their lives as well as their writing. My 101 students are writing about their college identity--I want them to think about why they're here, how they came to be here, and where they're going next with a greater mindfulness. My 102 students are writing food narratives--rituals, diets, favorite meals, family connections...the possibilities and stories are as endless as food itself.