Short Paper #1: The Power of Place due NEXT Tuesday

“One of the gifts of age, though, is the way it gently dispels all of our heroic notions. The whole time that I thought I was busy taking care of the ranch, the ranch was busy taking care of me” (Houston 168).

For your first Short Paper, I want you to write about a PLACE that shaped who you are today. Not a person or an activity (though you might reference both), but primarily a place where you started to become who you are today. It could be anything from a school, a church, a field, a car, a job, a room, or just an area of land. Just like Houston does in her essay, I want you to consider how a place can “take care of you,” and be an active agent in influencing your attitude, ideas, and personality.

Though a short paper, I want you to have roughly three parts in this essay: (a) a literal description of the place, the way an outsider would see it—what would I see, for example, the first time I walked into the place? (b) a significant experience that was instrumental in changing your relationship with this place, (c) what you feel you most learned or took away from this place. In other words, what do you most ‘see’ when you think of the place today?

NOTE: You can re-arrange the order of the essay, starting with c, then going to a, then b, if you like. Just make sure your essay has all three parts, even if you spend most of the time on b, for example.

THINGS TO CONSIDER / REQUIREMENTS

• Describe the area using specific details, and don’t just tell us how it looks. What smells or sounds accompany the place in your memory?
• Try to experience the place as an outsider, so you can see things you no longer notice. Then help us see what only you see when you go there.
• Talk about yourself—don’t make this a third-person paper. Otherwise, we won’t understand it.
• Quote from at least ONE of the essays in class to make a comparison between your space and theirs. Even though your work might not be as exciting or interesting as Mt. Rushmore, you can use Anderson’s ideas to help your own.
• Use the Quotation Sandwich when citing sources: INTRODUCE SOURCE + QUOTE & CITATION + RESPONSE. (we’ll discuss this in class)
• At least 3 pages long, though you can do more…

PAPER IS DUE IN-CLASS ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10^th. Any papers after class are late and are subject to the late paper policy (see syllabus).

For Thursday: Knighton, "Out of Sight" (pp.180-188)

Remember to read "Out of Sight" for Thursday's class; we'll have another quiz based on some of the questions below. These questions will also guide our discussion and give you ideas that will relate to our 'conversation' and the paper assignments to follow.

* Knighton writes that "a safari, by cliche and assumption, is overwhelmingly driven by photography" (181). How might photographs and the act of taking pictures get in the way of having an authentic experience with the environment? 

*  Why does the author learn that taste, as much as sight, is crucial to understanding the animals in a given environment? What can taste allow you to 'see' on a safari? 

* The author talks of wanting to collect "audio postcards" in the essay. What is this, and why might it be as valuable as a photo--or even more so?

* What is the limitation to "simply point[ing] to a distant scene and label[ing] it with names and facts like captions" (184)? Why doesn't this really capture the beauty and danger of the wild?

* How might this essay relate to the world outside of the safari? Do we read the world too much with  our eyes? What could we 'see' if we chose to listen--or taste--as much as look? 

For Tuesday: Anderson, "Peak America" (pp.28-36)

For Tuesday's class, be sure to read our first essay from The Best American Travel Writing, "Peak America." Usually when you read an essay for class, I'll give you a brief reading quiz over the material--a very short questions, and sometimes, a single essay question. This not only proves to me that you've read the material, but also, that you can apply it to bigger ideas outside of class and in your own life/culture. 

NOTE: I always give you a few questions to consider on the blog as a 'reading guide,' to help you if you find the essay confusing, boring, or even too simple. Like the photograph we looked at on Thursday, there are so many different ways to read a single essay, so I want you to consider as many as possible before you give up on it. ALSO, the reading guide questions often show up in some form on the quiz...

READING GUIDE (to help you read the essay & prepare for the quiz) 

1. When the author leaves the Mall of America, he says "we were on a different pilgrimage, in search of a different America" (28). What kind of 'America' is he looking for, and why does he call it a 'pilgrimage'?

2. How does knowing the context of Mt. Rushmore change how we 'read' it? How is it a little like the Weegee photograph we viewed on Thursday? Does it make the work more meaningful? Less? More problematic? 

3. The author says that "Rushmore is a ubiquitous American image, tattooed on the inside of every citizen's eyelids" (33). What happens to him and his family when they finally do experience it first-hand? Does it live up to the expectation? Does it transform them? Move them? Excite them? Disappoint them?

4. At the end of the essay, Anderson writes, "There is something childish about this fantasy--the way it tends to conflate virtue and size. Why does goodness have to be huge?" (35). Based on this, what is his critique of not only Mt. Rushmore but the way Americans view history in general?  How did he learn this at the monument? 

Welcome to Fall 2019

Welcome to the course! This is the course blog for both of Dr. Grasso's sections of Freshman Composition I, and will be used for the following: (a) reading guides/questions for the articles, (b) to post all writing assignments as soon as they're assigned in class, and (c) other general announcements affecting the class. So whenever you miss class, be sure to check the blog to make sure you didn't miss anything important, and to see what we're doing the following class period (since the schedule on your syllabus might change). 

Be sure to buy the two books for class immediately, since we'll start reading from The Best American Travel Writing 2018 next Tuesday, and Wild only a few weeks after. If you don't keep up with the reading, you will fail the quizzes (see the syllabus) and be unable to write the assignments, so don't fall behind simply because you don't have a book! 

Let me know if you have any questions at jgrasso@ecok.edu or come to my office at HM 348. See you in class! 

Final Exam: Dec.11th and 13th (see below)

Comp I, Final Exam

When: Tuesday, Dec.11th @ 11:30 (for 11:00 class)

                        Thursday, Dec. 13^th @ 9:00 (for 9:30 class)     

What: You will need to bring both books from class, as well as paper and something to write with.

How: I will be grading you on your ability to (a) use the primary sources to create a conversation; (b) to quote and cite properly; (c) that your paper has sufficient development and techniques (Introduction, naysayers, context) for a basic conversation paper.

The Final Exam will give you three quotes/ideas to respond to, and ask you to construct a specific response to it using other ideas from behind the beautiful forevers and at least one of the essays from Best American Travel Writing 2017. I will grade this paper leniently, since you’re writing it on the spot, but I will expect you to master the basics of citation and organization. I’m also checking to make sure you’ve read and thought about each book, so the better you can show me that, the better you’ll do on the essay.

Hint: Look over your daily response questions from behind the beautiful forevers since I’ll be pulling a lot of the questions from those. 

No Class Next Week--but See Below

REMEMBER, no class on Tuesday, since I decided to cancel class so you could enjoy the entire week Comp I-free. However, try to finish behind the beautiful forevers for next week. There are NO questions--we'll do an in-class writing when you return to class. I'll also return your papers to you, and we'll start preparing for the Final Exam, which is your last assignment in Comp 1.

If you want some additional context for the book, here's an article just published in the New York Times about the persecution that Dalits (untouchables) face in modern India. As the book suggests, caste is still very much part of life for Indians trying to work their way out of the slums: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/17/world/asia/tell-everyone-we-scalped-you-how-caste-still-rules-in-india.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR121LSqi_J-hgY6Bm2I4bv5Me9_yQusKDpdCgKe8ZAN72Gd4lGoIipXYbQ

Enjoy the Break!  

For Tuesday: Boo, Behing the Beautiful Forevers, Chapters 10-13 (no class on Thursday, remember!)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Discuss how one of these chapter titles really acts as a "thesis" to the ideas that follow. How did it help you understand and appreciate each story? Remember to consider the titles not merely literally, but also as symbols/metaphors for the characters and their inner dramas. 

Q2: Why are people so callous to pain and suffering in the city considering they can relate--and often face the same suffering themselves? Consider the man hit by a car at the beginning of Chapter 10 who everyone--even Sunil--ignores and leaves for dead. Indeed, the only attention paid to the man is when he's long dead and his corpse is disturbing small children." You might consider Zehrunisa's quote at the beginning of Part 4 which reads, "Don't confuse yourself by thinking about such terrible lives."

Q3: Manju and her friend (from the Dalit caste), Meena, often spend time in the public toilets for a little "girl time." Reflecting on these moments, Boo writes that "The minutes in the night stench with Manju were the closest she had ever come to freedom" (185). What does this say about the life of a young girl of the slums, even in the "New" India? Why is she so unenthusiastic about her future--so much so, that she often contemplates committing suicide? 

Q4: Abdul writes that "Even the person who lives like a dog still has a kind of life" (198). According to him, why is suffering, scavenging, and neglect still a worthwhile life--if not the best one? What does his time in prison allow him to see about the world of the slums? And does this strike you as a strictly Indian perspective (like doing one's duty), or is it more universal?