This Week

We are not meeting for class on Tuesday. See syllabus and myemich for final assignments, due Thursday. No assignments will be accepted after Thursday.

Video Essay

video essay introduction: http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v9n1/gallery/ve-bresland_j/ve-origin_page.shtml

http://bresland.com/

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plutarch/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/montaigne/

http://claudiarankine.com/

plus: mullen vimeo: http://vimeo.com/18552888

Thursday March 28

Focus on the first part of Essay Packet 1, the short essays. We will pick up with the rest of the packet next week. For next week, write your blog on the Essay Packet 1, particularly the essays by D'Agata and Dillard.

Also, another exercise:

Creative Essay Writing Exercise

Choose one of the following to focus on:

  A memory from childhood;

  A particular person from childhood or who has been intriguing to you or   important in your life;

  An animal, place, phenomenon that intrigues you and you want to investigate further.

Then, write a detailed description that evokes every sense through the language you use to show this memory/person/phenomenon, without using the pronoun “I”; write at least 1-2 paragraphs.

Next continue or revise or expand what you have to turn it into a whole essay. You can add “I” or other characters and/or bring in other elements that will add to the work.

Department of English Language and Literature Undergraduate Scholarships

Department of English Language and Literature Undergraduate Scholarships

The applications for our English Department undergraduate scholarships are due on Wednesday.

Department of English Language and Literature Undergraduate Scholarships

Irene Little Wallace Scholarship (Excellence, Need, Majors):  This scholarship comes with a minimum, one-time award of $500.  We will be able to award this scholarship to at least five students in Winter 2013.  Students applying for the award must be undergraduate students in the Department of English Language and Literature (any program area) with a GPA of at least 3.0 and demonstrated financial need (can be a line or two description in the essay).   Applications are due in hard-copy to the English Department in Pray-Harrold (6^th Floor) and should be directed to the attention of Professor Melissa Jones.  Students who do not receive the award upon first application are encouraged to resubmit.  Deadlines for submission are listed below.  To apply, a student must submit the following:

·         Coversheet including:

Full Name and e-mail address

Student Number

Local Address

Permanent Address

Local Phone Number

Permanent Phone Number

·         A one-page summary of the following information:

Major

Class Level

Cumulative GPA

GPA in Major

Current Enrollment Hours

Planned Enrollment Hours Next Semester

·         A short essay describing academic and professional goals and achievements, including a statement showing evidence of financial need (500-700 words).  

Deadline for Winter 13 award: Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

Mariam Turbin Scholarship (University or Community Service, Majors and Minors): This scholarship comes with a one-time award of approximately $200.  Students applying for the award must be declared undergraduate majors or minors in the Department of English Language and Literature (any program area), must have a minimum GPA of 3.0, and must demonstrate leadership in University or community activities.  Applications are due in hard-copy to the English Department in Pray-Harrold and should be directed to the attention of Professor Melissa Jones.  Students who do not receive the award upon first application are encouraged to resubmit.  Deadlines for submission are listed below.  To apply, a student must submit the following:  

                                                   

·         Coversheet including:

Full Name and e-mail address

Student Number

Local Address

Permanent Address

Local Phone Number

Permanent Phone Number

·         A one-page summary of the following information:

Major

Class Level

Cumulative GPA

GPA in Major

Current Enrollment Hours

Planned Enrollment Hours Next Semester

·         A short essay describing the student’s leadership activities and the place of service in his or her life.

Deadline for Winter 13 award: Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

Madalene and Jack McClow Memorial End Scholarship (Teaching, Need, Majors or Minors): This scholarship comes with a one-time award of $1,000.  Students applying for the award must be declared undergraduate majors or minors in the Department of English Language and Literature (any program area), must have a minimum GPA of 3.0, must have demonstrated financial need, and must be seeking a teaching certificate.  Preference will be given to students who are preparing to enter their final semester and will be doing their student teaching in the fall.  Applications are due in hard-copy to the English Department in Pray-Harrold and should be directed to the attention of Professor Melissa Jones.  Students who do not receive the award upon first application are encouraged to resubmit.  Deadlines for submission are listed below.  To apply, a student must submit the following:  

                                                   

·         Coversheet including:

Full Name and e-mail address

Student Number

Local Address

Permanent Address

Local Phone Number

Permanent Phone Number

·         A one-page summary of the following information:

Major

Class Level

Cumulative GPA

GPA in Major

Current Enrollment Hours

Planned Enrollment Hours Next Semester

·         A short statement describing the student’s teaching goals and financial need (the latter can be a brief description of self-sufficiency, dependence on loans and work study, etc). 

Deadline for Winter 13 award: Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

Creative Essay Writing Assignment

Creative (nonfiction) Essay Writing: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/753/01/
 
Writing A Creative Essay Exercise (from: http://www.chsbs.cmich.edu/Robert_Root/AWP/cnf.htm)

Kim Barnes: “What is a Word Worth?”

        I often speak to my writing students about "bringing their intellect to bear" as they compose their personal essays.  What I mean by this is that the best literary nonfiction should work at a number of different levels, including the level of intellectual stimulation.  The problem we face as writers of nonfiction is how to challenge our individual stories--how to take the narrative itself and expand its breadth and reach to encompass more of the world.

        One exercise that I use to help my students achieve this goal involves building an essay from a single word. First, the students each choose one word--any word--to which they are particularly drawn, a word that resonates for them.  A young man just discharged from the military chose "paratrooper"; a middle-aged woman of Scottish descent chose "bagpipes."  I then require that the students write five sections of nonfiction revolving around this single word: The first, third, and fifth sections must be personal memories triggered by the word, and they must be written in present tense no matter the actual chronology; the second and fourth sections must be more analytical, intellectual, philosophical, and explore the word in a more scholarly way.  I direct the students to study the word's derivation and history. They often find passages in religious texts and mythologies that inform the word's meaning in their own experience.  Some discuss the word's appearance and use in contemporary literature or film.

        The goal of this exercise is to weave the word's broader application into the writer's personal experience.  Ideally, the five sections weave together and inform one another and bring to the essay a kind of intellectual unity as well as a greater depth and complexity.

latest updates

There are some poetry and creative writing performance events this weekend, come if you can: http://murielrukeyser.emuenglish.org/welcome/rukeyser-symposium-2013/

For next week follow the syllabus for assignments. You should have Cooper's Maps To Anywhere (the book) which we will be discussing.

As always you should write a response on your blog to the week's reading every Tuesday. If you haven't already, this week you should write about the first half of Cooper's Maps To Anywhere.

Have a good Break

Follow the syllabus. Readings for the week after the break are posted on myemich (Goldberg and Essay Introduction).

Write your blog post response on either or both of these.

Also of Interest:

http://murielrukeyser.emuenglish.org/welcome/rukeyser-symposium-2013/