Writing Workshop #1 & Fettling, Uncomfortable Silences (pp.30-42)

#1: Read Fettling's essay, "Uncomfortable Silences: A Walk in Myanmar" for next week's class. If you don't have the book yet, here's the essay (with pictures!): https://longreads.com/author/davidfettling/. We'll discuss this essay in class next week as well.

#2: Watch the video below which talks about starting 'in the middle' when you write papers, which takes its cue from Fettling's essay. Then, answer the question that follows as a COMMENT on the blog (so we can have a virtual discussion among the classes--you can read other people's responses and learn from them, and they can learn from yours).

Tuesday classes should post a comment no later than Friday.

Thursday classes should post a comment no later than Tuesday. 

Now that you've watched the video, respond to this prompt as a COMMENT below: Introduce us to one of your most prized possessions--some inanimate object that allows us to see or understand something essential about who you are or how you see yourself. Describe this object and your relationship to it (maybe even when you bought it, or who gave it to you) so we can understand why it's important to you, or why it is such an important part of your identity. I answered this with my own comment to help you along,but just take a stab at it. This is a fun way to start writing 'in the middle' rather than simply introducing yourself by saying "My name is so and so, I'm majoring in English, I'm 18 years old, etc." 

Reading & Questions: Petersen, "How Nashville Became One Big Bachelorette Party" (pp.251-267)

 

NOTE: This is your first reading assignment, and will be due the day you return to class. You can either bring a hard copy of the  questions with you, or e-mail them to me on the day of class. This is the work I want you to do "on-line" when you're not in class on either Tuesday or Thursday (depending on your class).

Tuesday Classes: this will be due next Tuesday in class (or by class if you e-mail it)

Thursday Classes: this will be due next Thursday in class (or by class)

After you read the article, answer TWO of the following questions in a short response--at least a few sentences, and try to avoid answers that sound like this:

"Yes, because she says that it does in that one passage." OR "No, I don't think so."

Give me some thought and try to be as specific as possible; quote from the article when possible, to show me you not only read the article, but to support your ideas (since not everyone will read/understand the essay the same way).

THE QUESTIONS (answer any 2 of the following 4):

Q1: Early in the essay, the writer says that the appeal of Nashville is "the ability to try on a culture while avoiding accusations of appropriation" (253). What do you think she means by this? How do you try on a culture, and what is appropriation? 

Q2: Petersen writes that "at the heart of the bachelorette ethos, after all, is the notion that every space, every restaurant, every service should accommodate you. During your visit, you bend the city to your needs" (261). Do you think this is fair? Should a city have to adapt to the people visiting it--or the reverse? What might be a down side to having a city cater so drastically to its tourists? 

Q3: Quoting an earlier writer, Thorstein Veblen, the author notes that "travel is always, at least in part, about being seen traveling" (262). Why do you think this is true? And why is it especially true in Nashville? 

Q4: In general, do you think Petersen (the author) approves or disapproves of the bachelorette experience? Does she want us to walk away from the essay shaking our heads...or does she want us to understand why they do it (and maybe, somewhat approve)? 

Welcome to the Course!

Welcome to the pandemic edition of Freshman Composition 1, Sections 11, 12, 28 & 29 with Dr. Joshua Grasso! 

This blog site will be our base of operations, and all of your assignments, announcements, videos, and handouts can be accessed here instead of on Blackboard. I'll explain all the work in class this week, so don't worry if you have questions. I'll give you the syllabus in class and will post it on the blog later in case you lose it. But again, don't worry about anything for now--I want to walk you through the class on Tuesday and Thursday.

Be sure to check your schedule: Sections 11 & 28 will meet on Tuesdays and 12 & 29 will meet on Thursday. The "off day" will be spent doing work on the blog, which you can complete on your own time, and won't be due until the next "on" day of class. Again, I'll explain all of this once you arrive. 

BE SURE TO BUY THE BOOKS FOR CLASS! You can find them at the ECU bookstore, or you can get them Amazon, etc., if you hurry. But really, hurry--since we'll need the first book by the end of the week. The books are:

* Best American Travel Writing 2019, ed. Alexandra Fuller

* Bourdain, A Cook's Tour 

I promise to explain everything else when you get to class! See you then! 

[NOTE: The posts below this one are from last Fall. You won't have to do any of this work. But feel free to browse if you're curious about the kind of work I usually assign.] 

Final Exam Assignment--read below carefully! Due Thursday, Dec.12th

Freshman Composition I: “Travel and Culture

Final Exam Assignment (Short Paper #3): Where Are You From?

In Haile’s essay, “We Go It Alone,” she’s confronted by another hiker who tells her, very matter-of-factly, that “blacks don’t hike.” In other words, when he looks at her he knows where she’s from and who she is—not who she says she is. Often in society, the reality of who we are clashes with how we’re perceived by society, and sometimes, we play along so as not to make waves. Yet our true self can’t be packaged into a stereotype or emblazoned on a t-shirt. To know us, you have to travel in our footsteps, inhabit our thoughts, and forget everything you think you know about where we’re from-from.

So for your final short paper (your final exam), I want you to write about the person who are that no one can see. If someone met you for the first time, what would they never see or guess about you? Why doesn’t this show? Do you try to hide it? Or is it just impossible to show in any visible way? This could be an identity, a hobby, a dream, an aspiration, a career choice, a hobby, or even a person you no longer are (for example, people would never guess I used to have very long hair). Write about why this hidden self is (or was) important to you, and why you think it’s not written on your skin or visible on your clothing. Can people truly understand you without knowing about this? Do you ever try to tell them—or do you fear it will just be lost in translation?

REQUIREMENTS

·        As long as you want it to be, but be descriptive: make connections

·        Don’t make it sound like an assignment; don’t start “my response to this assignment is…” Tell a story, write an essay.

·        You don’t have to quote from the essay or Wild, but you certainly can if you feel it will help your conversation

·        Due Thursday, December 12^th by 5pm

For Thursday: Haile, "We Go It Alone" (BATW, pp.134-142)

Photo from Outside Magazine Online 

REMEMBER: Conversation Paper #2 is due by 5pm on Tuesday: no class! 

NOTE: This is our LAST reading for Comp 1! We have a little more work (not much), but hang in there--it's almost over. 

Here are some things to consider for the essay; we'll have a quiz over it on Thursday.

* Why does race change the experience of the "wild"? How might Strayed's experience been different if she was also of another ethnicity?

* The author says that "you don't talk politics on the trail" (137), but why does she find it impossible not to? Why can some people not avoid talking about politics when talking about the great outdoors?

* Haile says that "perspective is everything," and also notes, "the ease with which a person becomes a "them" in the woods" (138). How can perspective change even quicker outdoors?

* What does she mean by "every day I eat the mountains, and the mountains, they eat me" (139)? Does she have a similar transformative experience as Strayed?

* Why does she say that for people of color, "the wilderness is everywhere they look" (140)? 

* Finally, who does the "wilderness" belong to? A  people ? A nation? A belief system? Can anyone own the mountains and the forests? 

For Tuesday: Strayed, Wild, Part Five (Chs. 15, 16 & 17)

Feel free to finish the book for Tuesday, but I'll only ask you to read the next three chapters for Tuesday's quiz and discussion. We'll technically finish the book for Thursday--see the revised schedule two posts down in case you haven't noticed it. Also, don't forget the Conversation Paper #2 assignment, which I assigned last Tuesday (it's one post down).

Some ideas to consider...

* Do you think her experiences in Ashland represent a "relapse" in her journey of self-discovery? Consider she asks herself, "I was different. Wasn't I?"

* Why is she so anxious to hook up with a guy that she takes pains to show us isn't very articulate or interesting beyond his looks? For someone so introspective, isn't this an odd choice? Or is that the point?

* Why does she feel she is "betraying" the PCT by being so far away from it?

* She says in Chapter 15 that she wants to forgive herself even though she doesn't necessarily regret what she's done: "if I could go back in time I wouldn't do anything differently than I had done" (258). Can you ask for forgiveness without regretting or repenting your previous misdeeds? Why might she think so?

*Why does she make a list of all her mother's mistakes in Chapter 16? What kind of mistakes are they? Does she seem sympathetic about them--or judgmental?

* Why does she literally eat her mother in Chapter 16? Do you think this is a moment of acceptance or rejection? Or confusion?

* She doesn't know what to expect at Crater Lake, though her guidebook tells her to expect something awe-inspiring. Does she find it? What happens to her there?

* She says earlier that the trail gives you thinks when you're not expecting them--"trail magic." What kind of trail magic does she experience in these chapters? 

Conversation Paper #2--the Last One!

Conversation Paper #2: The Call of the Wild

“It had only to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles for no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. The experience was powerful and fundamental” (Strayed 207).

INTRO: Both Wild and the film Into the Wild are about twenty-somethings feeling lost in adulthood. Even though both are college-educated and have plenty of opportunity in the ‘real world,’ each one rejects it in favor of an experience in the “wild.” Interestingly, each one also rejects family, money, and advice taking only what they can carry on their backs, as well as books (they’re both big readers). So the question is, why did they feel the Wild could solve the problems that community and society couldn’t? And is this a universal problem with people their (and your) age?

PROMPT: For your Second Conversation Paper, I want you to answer the question, “what is society not providing to young adults—why are they seeking fulfillment ‘out there’ rather than ‘in here’? Why are so many people deciding to reject college and careers and traditional roles in search of something more “real” and “meaningful”? In other words, what are we doing wrong as a society? How are we leaving young adults out in the cold and not answering the most vital questions they have as human beings? How do you feel about this: do you feel the same way? Or do you think they’re both missing the bigger picture? Do you feel tempted to heed the call of the wild, too?

REQUIREMENTS:

• Use Wild and the film Into the Wild to respond to: show that your conversation comes from both works and quote from Strayed especially to explain where she—and many people your age—are coming from in their journey.
• Find AT LEAST TWO outside sources that also talk about some aspect of this conversation: they could be interviews with Strayed, articles about McCandless, articles about people on the PCT, or about college/job prospects, etc. Anything that you feel helps you discuss this and gives you new perspectives.
• NAYSAYER: Someone who disagrees with you or shows you another way of considering the subject. If you agree with Strayed/McCandless, who doesn’t? If you think they’re nuts, who doesn’t? Remember, you can even use Strayed to act as a Naysayer (she often does).
• No set page limit: it’s up to you to think how long this needs to be, and what you need to say.
• Due Tuesday, November 19^th by 5pm [no class that day]