Week One
On Keeping a Notebook
COMMON TEXT:
On Keeping a Notebook by Joan Didion
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FOR DISCUSSION:
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EXTRA READING:
Why I Write by George Orwell
Why I Write by Joan Didion
How to Read Like A Writer by Mike Bunn
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: Bring a Writer's Notebook to class
BLOG: respond to assigned texts
DRAFT: NONE
WORKSHOP: NONE
Week Two
The Self and Death
COMMON TEXT:
Death of a Moth by Annie Dillard
Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf
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FOR DISCUSSION:
Death of a Fish by Adam Gopnik
Living Dyingly by Edwidge Danticat
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
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EXTRA READING:
Interview with Mary Oliver by Maria Shriver
Writing Life: Introduction to The Art of Death by Edwidge Danticat
My Father's Suitcase by Orhan Pamuk
ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: upload a selfie of your notebook "in the wild"
BLOG: respond to assigned texts
DRAFT: NONE
WORKSHOP: NONE
Week Three
Craft Workshops
COMMON TEXT:
On Conflict by Dinty Moore
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FOR DISCUSSION:
Selections from Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
Don't Marry the Fly
Syntax
Don't Tell, But Show
Be Specific
Go Further
Claim Your Writing
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EXTRA READING:
Seeing by Annie Dillard
Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott
An Approach to Style Strunk and White
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: post "Syntax" exercise
BLOG: respond to assigned texts
DRAFT: NONE
WORKSHOP: NONE
Week Four
Community and Death
COMMON TEXT:
Dying Together by Edwidge Danticat
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FOR DISCUSSION:
King by Matthew Dickman
A Happy Death from Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
The Condition of Black Life is One of Mourning by Claudia Rankine
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EXTRA READING:
Andrew Garfield reads a small part of King Episode 3 27:07
Lezley McSpadden announces bid for city council
Olivia from Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: upload a page
BLOG: respond to assigned text
DRAFT: NONE
WORKSHOP: NONE
Week Five
Natural Observation
COMMON TEXT:
The View by Orhan Pamuk
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FOR DISCUSSION:
Spider Woman by Burkhard Bilger
Joyas Voladoras by Brian Doyle
My Grandfather Walks in the Woods by Marilyn Nelson
Serpents of Paradise by Edward Abbey
Characteristics of Life by Camille T. Dungy
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EXTRA READING:
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: upload a selfie of your notebook "in the wild wild"
BLOG: respond to assigned texts
DRAFT: Essay #1 - Life in Death
WORKSHOP: NONE
Week Six
The Self and Home
COMMON TEXT:
In Wyoming by Mark Spragg
You Do Not Belong Here by Jaquira Diaz
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FOR DISCUSSION:
The Shadow of Young Girls in Flower from Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Homegoing, AD by Kima Jones from The Fire This Time edited by Jesmyn Ward
Making a Fist by Naomi Shihab Nye
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EXTRA READING:
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: upload a memory
BLOG: respond to assigned texts
DRAFT: NONE
WORKSHOP: NONE
Week Seven
Community and Home
COMMON TEXT:
How it Feels to be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston
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FOR DISCUSSION:
Zora Neale Hurston https://chdr.cah.ucf.edu/hurstonarchive/pdf/Lesson-Plan-Day-1.pdf
The Atlanta Exposition Address by Booker T. Washingon
Of Mr. Booker T. Washington by W.E.B. Du Bois
Zora Neale Hurston’s Biography
Eatonville, Florida
A. Individual Empowerment
B. Erasure of Racial Lines
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EXTRA READING:
https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-main-idea-of-Mr-Booker-T-Washington-and-Others
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: upload a quote OR let someone else write in your book
BLOG: respond to assigned texts
DRAFT: Essay #2 - Natural Observation
WORKSHOP: NONE
Week Eight
The Self, Community, and Place
COMMON TEXT:
The Weight by Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah
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FOR DISCUSSION:
Notes from a Trip to Russia by Audre Lorde
What It Means to Be American by James Baldwin
Upon This Rock by John Jeremiah Sullivan
Writing the Travel Essay by Dinty Moore
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid (part one; to page19)
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EXTRA READING:
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: upload a selfie of your notebook "abroad"
BLOG: respond to assigned texts
DRAFT: Essay #3 - Home
WORKSHOP: NONE
Week Nine
Uses of the Erotic
COMMON TEXT:
Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power by Audre Lorde
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FOR DISCUSSION:
Freaks and the American Ideal of Manhood by James Baldwin
The Gutted by Justin Chin
Her Body, Mine, and His by Dorothy Allison
Ode to the Blowjob by Sharon Olds
Arabesque by Gary Fisher TW
My Vomit Fetish, Myself by Melissa Broder
Batter My Heart, Three Person'd God by John Donne
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EXTRA READING:
On James Baldwin's Radical Writing for Playboy Magazine by Joseph Vogel
Three Poems by Justin Chin
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: NONE
BLOG: respond to assigned texts
DRAFT: Essay # 4 - Place
WORKSHOP: NONE
Week Ten
Workshop
COMMON TEXT:
Workshop Essay A
Workshop Essay B
Workshop Essay C
Workshop Essay D
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FOR DISCUSSION:
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EXTRA READING:
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: NONE
BLOG: NONE
DRAFT: Written Response
WORKSHOP: TBD
Week Eleven
Workshop
COMMON TEXT:
Workshop Essay E
Workshop Essay F
Workshop Essay G
Workshop Essay H
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FOR DISCUSSION:
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EXTRA READING:
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: NONE
BLOG: NONE
DRAFT: Written Response, Essay #5 - The Erotic
WORKSHOP: TBD
Week Twelve
Workshop
COMMON TEXT:
Workshop Essay I
Workshop Essay J
Workshop Essay K
Workshop Essay L
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FOR DISCUSSION:
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EXTRA READING:
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: NONE
BLOG: NONE
DRAFT: Written Response
WORKSHOP: TBD
Week Thirteen
Workshop
COMMON TEXT:
Workshop Essay M
Workshop Essay N
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FOR DISCUSSION:
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EXTRA READING:
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: Workshop Notes
BLOG: Book List
DRAFT: Written Response
WORKSHOP: TBD
Week Fourteen
Workshop
COMMON TEXT:
Workshop Essay O
Workshop Essay P
Workshop Essay Q
Workshop Essay R
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FOR DISCUSSION:
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EXTRA READING:
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: NONE
BLOG: NONE
DRAFT: Written Response
WORKSHOP: TBD
Week Fifteen
Workshop
COMMON TEXT:
Workshop Essay S
Workshop Essay T
Workshop Essay U
Workshop Essay V
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FOR DISCUSSION:
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EXTRA READING:
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ASSIGNMENTS:
WN: "Flip Through"
BLOG: Why I Write
DRAFT: Written Response
WORKSHOP: TBD