Week 1:
Monday, Jan.
6: Introductions, syllabus, etc. Read “How to Become a Writer" by Lorrie
Moore. Perform “Bedroom” writing exercise in class. Time permitting, watch the
"School of Life" short
film.
Wednesday,
Jan. 8: Discuss “Blood of Dresden” by Kurt Vonnegut, and Tom Wolfe excerpt. Two
page Journal #1 due on any/all of the assigned readings so far. Don’t just talk
about the readings in general; give me specific lines/phrases/word choices
that you liked/disliked. Note: I will accept journals either printed or via
email as a doc or docx.
Friday, Jan.
10: Perform Single Event writing exercise in class. Share exercises, time
permitting. Late Registration and Change-of-Course end. (NOTE: BECAUSE OF THE SNOW CANCELLATIONS, I'LL ACCEPT JOURNAL #1 EITHER FRIDAY OR MONDAY).
Week 2:
Monday, Jan. 13: Discuss Thoreau
excerpt and “Living like Weasels”. Perform Nature Exercise in class. Time permitting,
share writing exercises aloud.
Wednesday,
Jan. 15: Discuss “You Can’t Kill the Rooster” by David Sedaris. Journal #2
(over Sedaris) due in class. In-class listening activities. Discuss
Creative Nonfiction assignment.
Friday, Jan.
17: Discuss "WQED, Channel 13: Programming Guide" by Ann Claycomb,
"Vitamin M" by Jehanne Dubrow, "Somebody Else's Genocide"
by Sherman Alexie, and the excerpts from Bill Bryson. Journal #3 due (over
any or all of Claycomb, Dubrow, Alexie, and Bryson). in class.
Week 3:
Monday, Jan.
20: Martin Luther King Jr. Day. No
class.
Wednesday,
Jan 22: Perform Childhood Exercise in class. Share some writing exercises in
class. Sign up for conferences.
Friday, Jan.
24: Conferences instead of class. Bring me a draft of your Creative Nonfiction
piece.
Week 4:
Monday, Jan.
27: Conferences instead of class. Bring me a draft of your Creative Nonfiction
piece.
Wednesday,
Jan 29: Conferences instead of class. Bring me a draft of your Creative Nonfiction
piece.
Friday,
January 31: Journal #4 due (over "Bullet in the Brain" and "A
Perfect Day for Bananafish"). Discuss “Bullet in the Brain” and “A
Perfect Day for Bananafish”. Watch “Bullet in the Brain” short film in
class.
Saturday, Feb. 1: We won't meet in the classroom. Instead, on your own, watch this reading of a couple excerpts from "Another Country" by James Baldwin. (If you want to follow along, here's the text for the first excerpt and here's the text for the whole novel.) second excerpt. Also, watch this reading of prose and poetry by Bonnie Jo Campbell. The whole thing is interesting but at least pick up where she talks about how to use the same subject/inspiration for different genres, at 10:00 minutes in. NOTE: I WON'T REQUIRE A JOURNAL FOR THIS, BUT I'LL ALLOW YOU TO DO A JOURNAL OVER THIS FOR EXTRA CREDIT!
(If you like the Baldwin excerpt, by the way, you might also enjoy this short collection of interview excerpts, but that's optional.)
Week 5:
Monday, Feb.
3: Finish discussion on “Perfect Day for Bananafish" and the reading excerpts. Extra credit journals due. Perform Metaphorical Form Exercise in class.
Wednesday,
Feb. 5: Discuss “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut, as well as Vonnegut's 8
Rules for Writing. Watch the short film in class. Discuss Fiction assignment.
Friday, Feb.
7: Discuss "A Man Gets Tired" by Jared Sexton. In-class
listening exercise. Journal #5 due in class (over Sexton).
Week 6:
Monday, Feb.
10: Discuss “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" by J.D. Salinger. Journal
#6 due (over Vonnegut and/or Salinger). Watch the “Pretty Mouth and Green
My Eyes” adaptation. Perform Vicarious Protagonist Exercise in class.
Wednesday,
Feb. 12: Perform the Dialog Gesture Exercise during class time.
Friday, Feb.
14: Discuss the flash fiction pieces. Discuss “Cathedral.” Share one of your
recent exercises with the class, time permitting. Journal #7 due,
covering "Cathedral" and/or the flash pieces.
Week 7:
Monday, Feb.
17: Discuss Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” and “The Killers.” Food
for thought: what about Hemingway's use of racist language in "The
Killers?" Do you notice any patterns or possible reason for it? Is it
justified? Listen to some audio files of Hemingway’s stuff in class. No
required journal but I'll take a journal over Hemingway for extra credit or to
replace a previous, missing journal.
Wednesday,
Feb. 19: Watch an adaptation (made from over 29,000 painted frames) of Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." Possibly
listen to “The Man in the Well” by Ira Sher in class.
Questions for The Old Man and the Sea: 1) why does this story end where it does? 2) why does the old man keep fighting? 3) in your opinion, what's the point of the arm-wrestling flashback? 4) race is often a factor in Hemingway's stories; what role does it play here? 5) how does the old man feel about the fish?
Friday, Feb.
21: Discuss "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor. In-class
listening activities.
Week 8:
Monday, Feb.
24: Discuss "Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned" by Wells
Tower. Listen to the audio
file. Journal #8 (over "The Lottery," "A Good Man is Hard
to Find," and/or "Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned") due.
Wednesday,
Feb. 26: Class visit/reading from my colleagues/friends, Angela Jackson-Brown (novelist) and poets Peter Davis and Liz Whiteacre, all of whom just published new books.
Friday, Feb.
28: No class! I’ll be out of town for a
reading/presentation at the AWP Conference. I strongly encourage you to
start working on your Short Story.
Week 9:
Monday, March
3: Discuss "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. In-class listening
activities. Do the Point of View Exercise in class, time permitting.
Wednesday, March
5: Guest-lecture.
Friday,
March 7: . Guest-lecture.
Spring
Break: No class Monday, March 10, through Friday, March 14
Week 10:
Monday,
March 17: Small group midterms in class.
Wednesday,
March 19: In-class work on adaptations. In preparation for your final project,
especially for those of you wanting to film a scene from a story, take a look
at “While the Auto Waits” by O. Henry and “The Death of the Hired Man” by
Robert Frost (both adapted by Walter Wykes). Specifically, pay attention to how
the stage adaptations draw from the original text. There's also a free program
you might want to use at http://celtx.com. Sign up for adaptations.
Friday,
March 21: Discuss Poetic Terminology and Schools of Poetry readings off the
blog, time permitting, as well as the assignment for Poem #1 (you may choose
from the different prompts at the beginning of the packet). Note: you can
substitute a flash piece for this, if you like, but still follow one of the
prompts. Sign up for conferences.
Week 11:
Monday,
March 24: Conferences in my office. Bring me a draft of your Short Story
(absolutely no POV violations, verb tense problems, or misused dialog tags)! Conferences
in my office. Bring me a draft of your Short Story (absolutely no POV
violations, verb tense problems, or misused dialog tags)!
Wednesday,
March 26: Conferences in my office. Bring me a draft of your Short Story
(absolutely no POV violations, verb tense problems, or misused dialog tags)!
Friday,
March 28: Conferences in my office. Bring me a draft of your Short Story
(absolutely no POV violations, verb tense problems, or misused dialog tags)!
Week 12:
Monday, March 31: Start watching "Howl." Also, please work on revising your Nonfiction and
Short Story and/or your adaptations AND read and/or listen to "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg.
Wednesday, April 2: Continue
watching “Howl.”
Friday,
April 4: Finish watching “Howl.” Distribute
copies of Poem #1 to the class. You should bring twenty-one copies.
On your own, read all student poems and make some constructive comments on each
one.
Week 13:
Monday, April
7: Watch some poetry videos. Begin poetry discussion. Discuss “Oranges,”
"Waiting," "The White Museum," “Windchime,” “Woodwork
Redemption,” and “The Lanyard.” Journal #9 due on any or all of the assigned
poems that we discussed.
Wednesday,
April 9: Begin workshopping Poem #1.
Friday,
April 11: Continue workshopping Poem #1.
Week 14:
Monday,
April 14: Finish workshopping Poem #1, if necessary. Discuss "Traveling
Through the Dark," "Speaking American," “Blues for Cleveland”,
“Sex and Death”, “Soldiering”, “The Conversation”, "Fixation,"
“Suicide Song,” and “The Call.” Journal #10 (your final journal) due in
class.
Wednesday,
April 16: Discuss the rest of the poems from our textbook. Bring 6-7 copies of Poem or Flash #2. This time, we’ll workshop these in small
groups.
Friday,
April 18: In-class exercise
(an imitation of Albert
Goldbarth's "Library") that can take the place of Poem/flash #3
(otherwise, you can submit something else).
Week 15:
Monday,
April 21: Bring 6-7 copies of Poem or Flash #3, small group workshops. On
your own, work on Poem or Flash #4.
Wednesday,
April 23: Bring 6-7 copies of Poem or Flash #4, small group workshops.
Friday,
April 25: OPTIONAL revision workshop. Otherwise, I’ll give you in-class time to
work on your revisions and/or adaptations.
Week 16:
Monday,
April 28: Last day of regular class.
Final: YOUR PORTFOLIO IS DUE ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, AT 9:45 AM IN MY OFFICE, RB 246!
-Bedroom Exercise
-Single Event Exercise
-Nature Exercise
-Childhood Exercise
-Metaphorical Form Exercise
-Vicarious Protagonist Exercise
-Dialog Gesture Exercise
-Point of View Exercise
-Your Creative Nonfiction Piece (finished draft)
-Your Short Story (finished draft)
-Your 4 Poem/Flash Pieces (either marked up copies or clean print-offs are fine)
-At least 3 MAJOR REVISIONS of previous pieces (NOT exercises)
Everything should be clearly labeled. Also, remember that your "major revisions" should reflect some serious thought and effort, not just changing a few words (though you can label those "Minor Revisions" for a little extra credit).
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