12/3/12: Final announcement of the semester! Since we are devoting Monday and Wednesday of this week to workshops, I'd like to do what I have done at the end of the other units, and schedule conferences on Friday, in lieu of class. I will distribute a sign-up sheet, so please note that I will be holding conferences on Thursday (12/6) and Friday (12/7) for whomever would like to take advantage of them. There will be no class on Friday 12/7.
11/28/12: Hello, everyone. By popular request, I'm giving you one more week on the blog, especially for those who need the opportunity to make up a week's worth of posts. So, I won't close down the blog until next week. Please give us all one great post and one great comment by the beginning of your class time on Monday 12/3. I need to tell you I have truly enjoyed witnessing (and in some cases, participating in) your conversations on the blog. As a class, you have worked out and worked through the nuances of some difficult texts, and I'm pretty proud of your discoveries.
11/19/12: Schedule change (quiz) and final film reminder! So as not to interfere with anyone else's discussion leading, and because we are still haggling through some critical definitions, the final quiz will be given on Friday 11/30, and I have noted all changes on our <"Preparatory Exercises"> page!
This is also timely reminder that our final film screening is on Wednesday 11/28 as listed on the syllabus, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in WMS 013. We'll be watching Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze. Please e-mail me ASAP if you have conflicts (work, class, univ. business, childcare, etc.) so that I can make alternate arrangements!
11/16/12: Hello, everyone. So as to continue this week's discussion of Burke, Benjamin, and de Certeau, I would like to announce our second "dropped" reading of the semester: Butler's chapter in Gender Trouble. I am doing this against my better judgment and with the great concern that I am jeopardizing your education and depriving you of a very important text. But, you can make up for it by reading George and by skimming the background readings as scheduled! I have noted all changes on our <"Preparatory Exercises"> page!
11/7/12: Film discussion and completion of Landow discussion postponed to Friday (11/9).
11/5/12: Okay, folks. My perception is that you could use a slight extension on SCD #3 -- time enough to think through our readings, revisit class notes, draw some critical connections, and invent. So, I have extended the deadline for <SCD #3> to Monday (11/12) at beginning of your class time (10:10 for the first section, 11:15 for the second section). Please honor this time and use it well. This is the opportunity for you to argue intertextually as you never have before!
10/31/12: Hello, everyone! This is a timely reminder that our first film screening is on Monday (11/5) as listed on the syllabus, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in WMS 013. Note: In response to some of the conversation threads that have come from blog and class discussion in this unit, I'm changing out our first film! Instead of Stranger than Fiction, we'll be watching a 2007 documentary entitled Good Copy Bad Copy. Please e-mail me ASAP if you have conflicts (work, class, univ. business, childcare, etc.) so that I can make alternate arrangements!
11/28/12: Hello, everyone. By popular request, I'm giving you one more week on the blog, especially for those who need the opportunity to make up a week's worth of posts. So, I won't close down the blog until next week. Please give us all one great post and one great comment by the beginning of your class time on Monday 12/3. I need to tell you I have truly enjoyed witnessing (and in some cases, participating in) your conversations on the blog. As a class, you have worked out and worked through the nuances of some difficult texts, and I'm pretty proud of your discoveries.
11/19/12: Schedule change (quiz) and final film reminder! So as not to interfere with anyone else's discussion leading, and because we are still haggling through some critical definitions, the final quiz will be given on Friday 11/30, and I have noted all changes on our <"Preparatory Exercises"> page!
This is also timely reminder that our final film screening is on Wednesday 11/28 as listed on the syllabus, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in WMS 013. We'll be watching Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze. Please e-mail me ASAP if you have conflicts (work, class, univ. business, childcare, etc.) so that I can make alternate arrangements!
11/16/12: Hello, everyone. So as to continue this week's discussion of Burke, Benjamin, and de Certeau, I would like to announce our second "dropped" reading of the semester: Butler's chapter in Gender Trouble. I am doing this against my better judgment and with the great concern that I am jeopardizing your education and depriving you of a very important text. But, you can make up for it by reading George and by skimming the background readings as scheduled! I have noted all changes on our <"Preparatory Exercises"> page!
11/7/12: Film discussion and completion of Landow discussion postponed to Friday (11/9).
11/5/12: Okay, folks. My perception is that you could use a slight extension on SCD #3 -- time enough to think through our readings, revisit class notes, draw some critical connections, and invent. So, I have extended the deadline for <SCD #3> to Monday (11/12) at beginning of your class time (10:10 for the first section, 11:15 for the second section). Please honor this time and use it well. This is the opportunity for you to argue intertextually as you never have before!
10/31/12: Hello, everyone! This is a timely reminder that our first film screening is on Monday (11/5) as listed on the syllabus, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in WMS 013. Note: In response to some of the conversation threads that have come from blog and class discussion in this unit, I'm changing out our first film! Instead of Stranger than Fiction, we'll be watching a 2007 documentary entitled Good Copy Bad Copy. Please e-mail me ASAP if you have conflicts (work, class, univ. business, childcare, etc.) so that I can make alternate arrangements!
10/24/12: One final reminder that Friday's class is on the blog with instructions on our <"Preparatory Exercises"> page!
10/22/12: Hi, everyone. I'd like to point out two things up ahead on our syllabus:
- Friday's assignment is posted on our <"Preparatory Exercises"> page and you'll need to compose your post ahead of class time so that you can spend your class hour reading and commenting on the blog. To be clear, Friday's class (10/26) will be held on the blog, and I'll count that blog activity for next week!
- please look ahead on the syllabus to our November film screenings (on 11/5 and 11/28) and let me know ASAP (via e-mail) if you have conflicts, so that I can make alternate arrangements for you to watch the films.
10/17/12: Folks, I have decided to postpone Friday's quiz to Monday (10/22) in order to give us as much time as possible to discuss Friday's case and Kinneavy's article on "Basic Aims of Discourse." So, I have made the change on our <"Preparatory Exercises"> page, but please make a note of it in your own calendars.
10/3/12: Serious blog fodder up ahead! The Department of English is hosting a series of <"teach-ins"> under the broad theme of "Diversity and Social Justice." Here is the schedule of topics:
- Thursday 10/25 - black masculinity and social justice - 3-4:30 p.m. in WMS 013
- Thursday 1/29 - feminism and social justice - 3-4:30 p.m. in WMS 013
- Thursday 3/21 - whiteness and social justice - 3-4:30 p.m. in WMS 013
10/1/12: This isn't a schedule change or an update, but an important announcement that may interest many of you! Our "Center for Everyday Writing" officially opened last year, and this coming Thursday -- October 4 -- the CEW is pleased to announce author Lily Koppel, on "The Art of Writing: Diaries to Tweets." You may know her from interviews on NPR, her work for The New York Times, or as the author of The Red Leather Diary. Come join us in WMS 013 (The Common Room) on 10/4 at 5:00 p.m.!
9/26/12: Well, I'd like to announce the first "dropped" reading of the semester. Please note that on Monday, 10/1/12 you do not have to read Richards and Ogden's "The Meaning of Meaning." They might be scandalized to know I am dropping their essay--it is an interesting piece that proposes something like a communications triangle, and you are of course welcome to read it on your own--but I think I will want us to focus Monday's discussion on Lakoff and Johnson's "Metaphors We Live By."
9/17/12: Folks, please note that I have extended the deadline for <SCD #1> to Saturday (9/22) at 12:00 noon. Also, because this week marks the end of our first unit, I would like to hold individual conferences in lieu of Friday's class as a change of pace, particularly for those of you who want to use Friday's conference to talk through your essay. These are not mandatory, but they are highly encouraged. I will distribute a sign-up sheet for conference slots. To be clear, we will not hold regular class on Friday, 9/21.
9/10/12: As promised, here is a list of "no-blog Mondays," i.e., Mondays on which you will not be expected to post to our <Weekly Discussion Blog> (although you are quite welcome to do so, especially if you are feeling inspired or simply want to work through a complicated idea):
- October 15 - no posts due!
- November 12 - no posts due!
- December 3 - no posts due!
8/31/12: Folks, I have finally had a chance to assign terms for <Discussion Leading>, and I did this somewhat randomly, starting at the ends of the roster and working my way to the middle. Each term has been assigned to someone in section 01, and someone in section 02. A few terms are big enough that I have assigned them to two people in the same section. This does not mean that you have to formally collaborate with your classmate, although you are welcome to.
8/29/12: Folks, this is just a reminder that we start <blogging> next week. Normally, your 2 posts would be due by Monday before class begins. However, due to the Labor Day holiday (and per our schedule), your first 2 posts are not due until class time on Wednesday (9/5). If you are posting under a pseudonym, please let me know via e-mail or after class that the pseudonym belongs to you so that I can count your posts each week. (Not to worry--your pseudo-identity will be safe with me!)
8/15/12: Hopefully, there will be no schedule changes. However, I have been known to drop 1 or 2 readings from our list over the course of any semester. If that happens, I will announce it here.
-Dr. Graban
