Reading in K-127, Portfolio, + Grades

Reading in Kean Hall-127.  We will set up beginning at 1:30 (if you have food come early), and the reading will begin at 2:00.

Sign up list for food + eating implements:
Tacos: Josh
Pie: Jen
Texas Sheet Cake: Sally
Pizza: Aydin
Alison: Tostidos
Milk: Sam
Apple cider: Nicci
Plates: Jen
Cups: Nicci
Plastic cutlery: Catherine
Napkins: Sally

Schedule for the reading:
2:00  Neiha
2:05  Will
2:10  Ashley
2:15 Jen
2:20  Aydin
2:25  Jimmy
2:30  Alison
2:35  catherine
2:40  Brian
2:45  Kathryn
2:50  Sam
3:00  Josh
3:05  Lauren
3:10  Amanda

The final, final date for revisions to the portfolio is the end of class Thursday.  I will read through + grade portfolios as soon as possible, and hope to send an email with your grade by Saturday.  If I don't hear from you by Sunday, I will assume you are OK with your grade and post it to Keanwise on Monday.  I am assuming everyone concerned (me included) will feel the grades are fair and there will be no surprises, still, I wanted you to have a heads up in terms of the process.

Wow.  I can't believe this term is over.  I've gotten to read some really awesome writing - and to watch you work through your ideas in writing.  Thanks.  What a great job!   I am looking forward to the reading.

12.8 Last week of class

Returned work:  You should have Essay 3-4 in your email with a grade + comments.  Good writing.  Overall, essays for this assignment demonstrate real growth in your work.  Thanks for the great reads!

 Everyone completed his/her presentations today:  well done.  Your discussion gave us an overview of who publishes CNF, what the different standards are, and how to send your work - and that was exactly the idea.

Alison suggested that we might use this blog as a clearinghouse for publication dates - and I am willing to do that.  If you send the information I will post it.

Next week:
On Tuesday we will check in to make sure your portfolios are complete and that I can access them.  If you did not receive an email telling you differently, I have a working link to your portfolio

Class Tuesday will also be devoted to planning/rehearsing for the reading.  Bring the piece you hope to read to class.  We have reserved Kean Hall 127 from 1:30 to 4:00.  I will be there at 1:30 to set up, make sure everything is in place (which should take about 5 minutes) and the rest of the time between 1:30 & 2:00 is open for you and your guests to enjoy whatever refreshments you bring and socialize.  We will firm up the refreshments list in class + create the sign up list for the readings.

Have a good weekend.
.

12.5 Performance + Presentations on Publication Venues

Performance.  The Class Reading will be held in Kean Hall-127.  I have reserved the space from 1:30 to 4.  There will be a table at the back of the hall for refreshments, 30 chairs, and a speakers table.  Feel free to bring guests + food.

Presentations on Publication Venues.  "Handouts" for your presentations should be posted on your blogs.  Todays presentations were all great and should serve as excellent models for anyone who had questions.  The rest of you will present on Thursday.

Blog 21:  Reflective/craft essays:  Your craft/reflective essays should be on your blogs.  Use your class network to get feedback.  If you are unsure or would like specific feedback from me - let me know and we can set up a conference.

Great class today - and take care of yourself during these last crazy weeks fo the term!   See you Thursday.

No class Thursday, December 1

No class - I am sick.

Presentations on publication venues:
On Tuesday you will be giving presentations on your publication venues.  Post your "handout" on your blog as a visual.  It should have a link to the homepage of the journal you are reviewing, and from there you can follow links to the particular CNF pieces you will be reviewing to characterized the journal's peferred subject material, style, voice, politics etc.  ALso you should include a link to the submissions page - so you can point out what the editor;s say they are looking for.  Part of the purpose of your presentation is to call attention to (in)consistencies between what the submissions page says the journal is looking for - and your analysis of the CNF pieces the journal actually includes.  You do not need to review poetry, critical essays, etc,. included in the jourmal - as they are not relevant to work for this class.

These presentations are informal - though you will be expected to come to the front to click through the links so your classmates have a visual tour of your venue.

What we will do for the rest of the term

Note:  Post Revised Essay 3/4 as Blog 20 (yes it is true, I skipped Blog 19), and also send it as an attachment to the course email. 


Week 14
T Nov 29  Due: Revised Essay 3/4 
Writing journal: looking for possibilities for future publications
Portfolio check =>to make sure I have everyone's URL
Select piece for end of term presentation/reading - time and place TBA
Workshop essay of your choice
Blog 21: Post Draft Reflective writing

Th Dec 1  
In-class comments on reflective essays
Work on piece for end of term presentation/reading
Workshop essay of your choice

Blog 22: Post Rhetorical Analysis of Publication Venue

Week 15
T  Dec 6  Returned:  Essay 3/4   
Presentations on publication venues

Th  Dec 8  
Presentations on publication venues

Week 16
T Dec 13   
Turn in portfolio + practice reading for performance/reading

Blog 23: Reflection on the course

Th Dec 15   

Performance/reading
Congratulations!   You have completed ENG 4017!

11.17 Final "I" essay, brainstorming for Craft/reflective essay

Important:  Send your revised "I" essay to the course email as an attachment.  That way I can provide comments directly to the writing.


We spent some time in class working on invention/reflection writing to set up your craft/reflective essay = and we talked through the assignment sheet.  Hopefully the dates on the assignment sheet match the dates on the Blog with all the due dates.


In class on Tuesday you will set up the portfolio - and we will make a decision about where to have our final performance.

Thanks for your good discussion today!   Have a great weekend.

11.17 What to include in the portfolio

We will set up electronic portfolios using google.sites on Tuesday.  Today - you will do some brainstorming/analysis to get started on the Reflective/Craft essay that will introduce your writing.  The assignment sheet for the Craft/Reflective essay is posted to the right under "Assignment Sheets"..  

What to include in the portfolio

Craft essay (introduction to your portfolio)

Rough draft: Essay 1 - 4

Revised draft:  Essays 1/2, Essay 3/4

Polished work:  Best essay

Page with brainstorm writing to serve as "evidence" of your revising process: from your journal or from the blog

Any other writing you would like to include

11.15 Clarification about dates and conferences

I have had conferences with many of you - to talk through essay 3/4 drafts and about revisions, etc.

Remaining conferences:

Wednesday, 11.16
2:00 Lauren Frisoli
2:20 Catherine Roth
2:40 Neiha Bhandari
3:00
3:20Nicole Dreste

In class I talked about craft essays - about using them as a way to think about your own writing - and I introduced the fact that you will be turning in your work as an electronic portfolio - and that it will be introduced with a kind of craft essay where you write about the work in your portfolio in terms of its craft, its ethics, and your intentions.

We also agreed that this blog would list the due dates for all the many projects that have accumulated over the term. You will have most of the remainder of class days to workshop/develop your writing, and to listen to presentations by classmates. I will provide the assignment sheets for the reflective/craft essay and for the portfolio on 11/17 and 11.22, respectively..

Due dates for the rest of the term

11.17 Revised Essay 1/2 I essay

11.29 Revised Essay 3/4 Eye essay

12.1 Draft writing for reflective/craft essay (posted on blog for in-class discussion)

12.6 Rhetorical analysis of publiation venue (posted on blog)

12.13 Complete portfolio

12.15 Final performance, reading

For class Thursday:

Read: Joan Didion, "On keeping a notebook" 340; and Lee Gutkind, "The creative nonfiction police," 349.

Write: a description of your writing that will indicate characteristics of the kinds of journals that will "like" your work

You have spent some time looking at/analyzing publication venues. This blog is kind of the reverse of the rhetorical analysis assignment. Do an analysis of YOUR WORK = what is your style? what are the politics? how would you classify your subject material? length? and any other feature that you think might be a good indicator of what makes your work unique.

11.10 Analysis of Publication Venue project + sign up for conference

IMPORTANT NOTICE:   Since I will not be able to begin grading the Revised Essay 1/2=> you may have until Thursday to turn them in (even though it is posted as due on the blog for Tuesday.) In class we will talk briefly about the writing about writing essays in your anthology, and then you will work on the essay of your choice or on the rhetorical analysis project.

We spent most of class discussing + planning the Analysis of a pubication venue projec (assignment sheet posted to the right).  Everyone present in class signed up for a venue (list so far posted below).

Alison  Fourth Genre
Amanda  Silk Road?
Ashley  Fugue
Aydin  Collision
Brian  Word Riot
Catherine  Brevity
James  Splinter Generation
Jen  The Kenyon Review
Josh  The Big Ugly Review
Kathryn  Hunger Mountain
Lauren  Tiny Lights
Nicole  Creative Nonfiction
Neiha  Upstreet
Sam The Whistling Fire
Will  Narrative

Conferences. You spent the rest of class talking over your "eye" essays so far - and thinking about which one to revise.  I posted a sign-up sheet for conferences.  This conference is a place to talk about revising the "eye" essay - and to begin thinking about which essay is your "best" => the one that you will submit for publication.  The rhetorical analysis project will help you identify your audience - and the right place(s) to send your work.

You each should have received an email invitation (to your kean email for everyone but Amanda who received an invite at her gmail account) to the google.doc sign-up sheet.  If you can't find the document or edit (sign your name next to a time) let me know and we will figure it out.

For next class:.
Blog 18: Post Revised Essay 1 or 2


I will be reading Blogs 13-16 and providing comments over the weekend.  If you want to do some more tinkering with Essay 4 - go for it and we will use what ever you have posted at the time for your conference.


Have a great weekend! 

Corrected calendar

Check out the revised calendar.  I am hoping the dates are closer to correct than on the last one.  We will talk over the p.lan for the rest of the course in class on Thursday, 11/10

11.3 Drafts essays 3 & 4 + schedule for conferences

What an awesome discussion of description and how it is used in creative nonfiction.  Your "far back" descriptions were absolutely the best - and it was a real pleasure to be part of the discussion about how to use the different approaches to description represented by your posts.

I will be reading your essays and talking/writing to you with feedback.  I have glanced through a few and I am really excited about spending some time with them.  Thanks so much for your good work.

The schedule for conferences is as follows:

Monday
1:30:  Sam

Tuesday
1:20 James
2:00 Josh

Wednesday
1:45  Alison
2:00 Catherine
2:20  Kathryn
2:40  Aydin
3:00 Neiha

Written feedback:  Ashley, Jen, Will & Amanda.

For Tuesday:
comments on 3 classmates' work (individuals you haven't commented on before)

For next Thursday:
Blog 17:  Essay 4

In class I will introduce the publication venue assignment - and we will get started with the last part of the course.

Awesome class today .  Have a great weekend.

10.27 Description and schedule for the next 2 weeks

Today you wrote descriptions - and we identified features of description (the moves you made that made them work).

• sensual representations :  that visual features are most frequently referenced.  Many writers have long noted this as a fact, and have suggested that resort to other sensual features - smell, touch, sound => can often be more intensely evocative.
• comparisons/metaphors = often used to connect to a more vivid or familiar object that will evoke what you describe.  
• cultural references often function to identify an audience (place readers as insiders or outsiders with respect to the author's perspective on the object)
• personifications/animations like comparisons/metaphors, often evoke more intense, fully realized connections from readers
• close-in versus far-back perspectives demand differing amounts of interpretive "work" from the reader; such "description" is accompanied by clear or explicit interpretation (close-in - as in Final Cut and Neiha's description of Alyson's boots = where we are told the "point" of the description) or left for the reader to figure out and apply (as in Marvin Gardens + Ashley's description= lots of detail but the reader needs to do more work to put the details together to create an interpretation)

Class for next week.  

On Tuesday, November 1, you may schedule (optional) conferences on the essay of your choice.  

We will meet on November 3 to workshop Essay 3, brainstorm for Essay 4 and otherwise discuss how your writing is going.

Blog 15 (for Tuesday): Description.  Write a far-back description (without explicit references to what the description is meant to "show".  A perfect example would be James description of his I-phone.  It contrasted the sleek, highly engineered "beauty" of the phone with the real-world evidence of what happens to our machines in use.

Blog 16 (for Thursday):  Post draft essay 3.

On Thursday you will sign up for conferences for essay 3, and we will use class November 8 as part of the available conference time (we will not meet in the classroom).

Have a good weekend.

10.25 "Objective" representations

We went over the dates for turning in drafts for Revised Essay 1/2, and for the Drafts & Revisions for Essays 3/4.  We decided to (for now) stick with the dates on the calendar.  

We then talked about John McPhee's "Search for Marvin Gardens." We talked about the "facts" McPhee included - and gradually figured out the "message" - or one message - he set us up to read into those facts. We thought about why he might write his essay in the form he wrote it - the audience he was writing to - and how that strategy (engaging the reader in "solving" the essay as opposed to simply reading it) might be useful to you as a writer.

I closed class by suggesting (pleading?) that you might use your blogs as an opportunity to explore relationships to audience = to put your work out there, "listen" to how it is received - and to be a reader for your classmates.  This is an important part of what you can "get" out of this class.

For Thursday:

Read: Gawande, 245.

Blog 14: Post any writing you have for essay any requests for comments that work for you

Practice for Day of Writing Open Mic

You worked in groups to practice your readings for the Open Mic while I had conferences on Essay 2.  So far - it looks to me like you are doing great work - each of you moving forward at your own pace.  I will continue with the conferences this week and by Tuesday - everyone will have had a chance to talk through their work & make a choice about which "I" essay to revise.


We will have a whole class discussion on Tuesday to decide the due date for revised Essay 1/2.


Day of Writing Open Mic:  please get to the Cougar's Den as close to 1:45 as you are able - and we will go from there.  From what I have overheard, and from talking to you - it sounds like it should be great!


No homework for Thrusday other than to make sure your reading comes in at around 7 minutes.  Break a leg!


For Tuesday:  We will talk over Graham (assigned last week but we didn't talk about it), and McPhee as examples of "eye" essays.
Read: McPhee, 117
Blog 13: More brainstorming for Project II

Telling the World "Why I Write"

Publish an essay with the National Writing Project!


Submit student essays to Figment.com: Figment will be accepting submissions through October 29. A curated anthology of selected submissions will be available as an e-book later this winter. Submit to Figment ›

10.16 Conference List

Monday, 10.17
1:00  Josh Spear
2:00  Jen Theesfeld
2:20  Amanda Levie
3:00  Neiha Bhandari

Tuesday  10.18
2:00  Catherine Rothweiler
2:20  Brian DeJoy
2:40  Sam Haimann
3:00  Ashley Sgro

Wednesday  10.19
2:00  Kathrym Jackson
2:15  Aydin Reyhan
2:30  Lauren Frisoli

Thursday, 10.20
12:30  Will Barbieri
12:50  Alison DiGiacomo
1:10    James Pompeo

Lauren Frisoli = send me an email with some times that work for you.

10.13: Feedback for Essay 2 (second "I" essay)

We spent some time following through with our discussion of "truth" and expanded our discussion to think about how we felt about the ethics of writing about others in fiction - as well as in CNF.  The discussion indicated that it depends both on the material, the genre - and your relationship to the person you are writing about - and it led us into some more discussion of who owns writing . . . .  I don't think this is going to sort out easily.

You then spent some time commenting on group members essays AND on three random essays.  You were asked to make a post that gave your readers some direction for the kind of feedback you are looking for - and I encouraged you to give classmates a heads up if you thought their draft had possibilities for a good "reading" (looking forward to next Thursday.

We finished class by taking a look at the assignment for the "eye" essay - and doing some writing to set you up for this genre.

For next class:
Come to class with the text of the material you expect to read on the National Day of Writing.  You will practice with your group (get the time down) and have a chance to try out your reading "personae".

Read:  Graham, 314

Blog 12: Brainstorming topics for Project II

10/1. Lies, Lies, Lies

We identified, classified and ranked lies associated with James Frey's book A Million Little Pieces.  Lots of good things to think about in this discussion.  I am hoping it served as a place for you to begin thinking about your personal relationship to "truth" in your own writing - whether it is fiction or nonfiction.

In a later conversation, another student brought up the point that writing into the cultural stereotypes (corrupt, fat police; the possibility that "willpower" can overcome all obstacles, the vulerable, suicidal lover, the bad guy with a heart of gold; etc) - even if it is in fiction - works toward oversimplifying the world - which is a kind of a lie.  This is a complicated consideration - and I am hoping you continue to think about it.

In general - lies that affected others - seemed to hit the top of the list - and there are reasons for that.  And our in-class conversation raised the point that while some lies affect the lives of others more directly than others - in some sense any lie ends up contributing to an imagined world - the world of stories we use to make sense of experiences - and that in itself will always affect others.  So - yeah - that's pretty philosophic.   Thanks for the passion in this discussion.  I was left with a lot to think about.

For next class, 

I said the blog was to write about truths you are connected to - but I was wrong = it has to be a post of Essay 2.  So. . . 

Blog 9:  Draft Essay 2

In class Thursday I will go over the assignment for Essays 3 & 4, and set up conference times  for Essay 2.  You will also spend some in-class time journaling + getting feedback on your second draft.  Over the weekend you can catch up on the readings for "eye" essays - and we will be back on schedule.

Great class today.  Thanks.   

More about Frey

Current exploits

Class October 6

Today's class was focused on  thinking about ideas for your next essay.  Your first essays were awesome.  You have a lot of good material, and you are definitely writing into the features that define the genre.  Keep going!  The draft for the second "I" essay is due next Thursday.  I am looking forward to reading your next piece.

We also took a look at the sign up list for the Open Mic reading and it was finalized as follows:

1:45  Will Barbieri

152   Jen Theesfield

2:00 Nicole Dreste

2:07  Catherine Rothweiler

2:14  Josh Spear

2:21 Kathryn Jackson

2:28  Ashley Sgro

2:35  James Pompeo

2:42  Sam Haimann

2:49 Aydin Reyhan

2:56  Brian DeJoy

3:03  Amanda Levie

3:10  Neiha Bhandari

3:17  Alison DiGiaacomo

3:24  Lauren Frisoli

For next class: We will begin a discussion of "truth" in CNF.  

Read: Smoking gun expose of A Million Little Pieces
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/million-little-lies
Winfrey backlash
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/27/books/27oprah.html?ex=1296018000&en=ddd9b3b2c1f92c9a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Blog 9: What went well in your first essay?  What would you work on if you were going to revise it?  What do you want to explore – in terms of craft or content - in your next essay? 

10/5

For Thursday - no assignment - but work on developing ideas/writing for Essay 2.

Conference sign up times

Monday, October 3
1:00 Josh Spear
1:20
1:40 Sam Haimann
2:20 Jen Theesfeld
2:40

Tuesday, October 4
3:15  Ashley Sgro

Wednesday, October 5
2:00 Catherine Rothweiler
2:20 Lauren Frisoli
2:40 Kathryn Jackson
3:00 Aydin Reyhan
3:20 Neiha Bhandari

Thursday, October 6
12:30 Will Barbieri
12:50 Nicole Dreste
1:10 James Pompeo
1:30 Brian DeJoy
3:15 Alison DiGiacomo

Ashley = suggest some times and we will see what we can do.

9/29 - who you are and what you (won't) write about

We started class with a 5 part prompt that sets writers up to reflect on their emotional connections to their writing, and to do some reckoning between who they say they are to themselves -and what their writing suggests.  You did some good, honest work on this one - if it was useful, dig into it some more in your journal.


You spent the rest of class looking at Rodriguez writing, and thinking about what you might like to hear/ask/think about in response to the focus of his writing. You raised thoughtful questions - both about content and his writing life, and even if you don't ask them  - they may enrich your "listening."   The details of the event are: 


Hearts and Hands: Creating Community in Troubled Times, Tuesday, October 4, at 1:45 p.m. in Wilkins Theatre., Luis J. Rodriguez, award-winning poet, activist and bestselling author of Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A., will share his personal story of using education and the power of words to lift himself out of poverty and despair in the barrio of East L.A.


Sign up sheets

You also signed up for conferences on Essay 1, and for a "spot" for the Open Mic on the National Day of writing.  The conference list is available as a separate post (you can also use this list to look up the last names of individuals in your group so you can comment on your blogs.)


For Tuesday:
Blog 7:   Post Essay 1.  Even though we don't meet as a class - the essays are due Tuesday before class.  Those of you who signed up for conferences on Monday - please post your essay sometime Sunday so I can do some thinking about it before your conference.


Write: Provide some feedback to your group.  Yeah, they are somewhat random.  You are welcome to read and comment on as many classmates' drafts as you like - spend some time with your group.


Jen, Sam, Alison 
Aydin,  Nicole, Ashley, Cathryn
Amanda, Will,  Lauren, Brian
Josh, Neiha, James, Kathryn


Provide readerly feedback that dentifies what interests you, what you would more (or less) of;  and anything that left you with questions.  

9/27/2011

Family stories
The writing journal prompt for today was to document + think about some of the stories your family tells -about you or each other.  Family stories that come up at particular occasions (holidays, birthdays, when you bring home new friends, when you go to particular places), in response to certain kinds of interactions, or that seem to accompany specific, recurring events or conversations (when you leave home or come home, when you mention your car, your choice of career, your current significant other) - can be emblematic.  They can stand for both how the storyteller thinks about the person in the story, and they can represent unstated family relationship and patterns for relating to one another.  They can connect to fears, jealousies, unfilled wishes, and a host of other assumptions & feelings that are only partially conscious  - or that might never be talked about directly.  Good material for figuring out relationships.

Workshop your ideas
Some of are still at the brainstorming stage - some of you have written your whole essay.  Today's workshop was about getting some feedback from peers in terms of what to do next with your text.

Blog 6:  Do some more writing for Essay 1.  Write about what every you talked about with your group - or - if they said it was wonderful and there is nothing left to work on => take a look at the model essays (in your text) or the assignment sheet and think about how you can make your essay more focused, more artful, or more like the kind of CNF we have been reading.
Read:  Luis Rodriquez will be speaking on October 4 and we will attend his talk.  In class Thursday we will talk about his work - and spend some time thinking about what kinds of questions you might like to hear him address.
Forward to Always Running
Excerpt from Always Running

Good class today - sorry we did not get to the Nye (108).

In class on Thursday we will talk about Rodriguez, you will sign up for conferences on Essay 1, and we will talk some more about the reading on October 20.

See you Thursday!

September 22: Draft Essays 1 & 2

We talked through the assignment sheet for Essays 1 &2 => the "I" essays, and the process for writing them.

You then turned to your writing journal and looked for repeated topics, patterns in interest, recurring characters or references as a way to identify issues, ideas, topics that you might be lurking at the back of your mind as important - even though you might not have thought of them.  You then did some freewriting, listing, exploring - and I think I spoke individually with everyone in class today - to map out both the stories/events that will be the "action" of your essay, and the "aboutness" that will direct the focus/reflection/concept you are exploring.  It sounded to me like you had some great ideas, and I am very eager to read your writing!

We then talked about John McPhee's essay "The Patch."   I chose it as an elegant example of a segmented essay with more or less three storylines - the frame story, the story he tells his father, and "the facts" about fish - each of which serves a different function in the narration.  The title, and the heading under the title were chosen to set the scene for these narrations - and together - they told a story within a story = and offered McPhee's reflections on one part of his relationship to his father, his regard for impersonal medicine, and fishing the patch. If I didn't make it clear in class today - I love this essay.

For next class:
Read: Nye, 108 (I think that's the right page - whatever I said in class - the essay about moving to Palestine.)
Blog 5: Brainstorming for your first essay = do some writing to develop either your concept/focus (what you will write about); some of the stories/events (actual writing you might use to create "scenes" or the "action" of your piece); planning, or just random freewriting with a little of each to get you started,


In class, you will use the blog writing to do some workshopping and get some support & ideas.   We will also use a discussion of Nye to continue to talk about how creative nonfiction is "built."  Have fun and see you on Tuesday.

September 20 - segmented essays & Luis Rodriguez

Luis Rodriguez will be speaking at Kean on Tuesday, October 4 at 1:45, and we will be attending as a class. On Thursday, September 29 - we will be discussing his writing. Check out his web site + work of your choice.  I will bring a copy of Always Running to class this Thursday to pass around - and will make it available in the Writing Center.


I will be reading blogs 1-4 inclusive this weekend.  We've taken the first couple of weeks to get used to the routines for posting and feedback -and I think we've got it down.  During these first couple of weeks, I gave feedback for late posts - but beginning with Blog 5 - if a blog is not posted on the due date - that can be one of the blogs you skip (you can miss 3 with no compromise to your grade).  


In class you did some writing about experiences that changed you.  I used discussion of your stories to belabor the point that creative nonfiction has to have both a story (the telling of a compelling experience or happening) and a "point" (the concept, reflection, or realization that the essay is "about").  As in McPhee or Simic (though his concept is in the title)  - while you do not necessarily need to state your idea straight out - it must be there, clearly, in all its depth and complexity.  Thank you for your brave contributions to the class discussion.  I am REALLY looking forward to reading your essays.  


In class on Thursday we will go over the assignment sheet for the first essay.  It is posted to the right if you are interested in reading it before class.


Read: John McPhee, “The Patch,” The New Yorker, February 8, 2010, p. 32 – available through Kean University Library databases


Blog 4: (due by class Thursday):  Either write about how & why the "sections" in the assigned readings (Cofer, Simic &/or) Atwook "worked" => or, brainstrorm some ideas for how you might use segments in an essay you might write.    

Interesting classification for segmented essays

In his essay "Collage, Montage, Mosaic, Vignette, Episode, Segment," Robert Root names segmented structures in terms of the relationships between their sections. The following listing is taken from his essay, with a few modifications.

• juxtaposition - arranging one item alongside another item so that the comment back and forth on one another
• parallelism - altermating of intertwining one continuouse strand with another (a present tense strand with a past tense strand, a domestic strand with a foreign strand, etc)
• patterning - choosing an extra-literary design and arranging literary segments accordingly (for example, using the structure of/associations with the seasons, a musical piece, preparing a meal as the sequential frame for an essay)
• accumulation - arranging a series of segments or scenes or episodes so that they add to or enrich or alter the meanings of previous segments with each addition, perhaps reinterpreting earlier segments
• journaling - actually writing in episodes or reconstructing teh journal experience in drafts (this approach may include notes, earlier versions of the essay, reflections on how to revise earlier sections, etc.)

No Class September 15

I am sick and will not be on campus today.

I really want to spend some time on the segmented essays - and I am thinking we will just do Thursday's class on Tuesday - and figure out how to go from there.

I am really sorry to miss our class - see you next week.

September 13: Kidder, Lopate + Lott - Defining CNF

The three essays you read for today presented their authors' perspectives on what CNF does and how it works.  Pay attention to their descriptions since they define the "moves" you will be expected to make in your essays for this course.
At the beginning of class,  you did some writing to explore your identity as a character - and then you read some of the pieces and we speculated about what a reader might infer about the persona in the writing.  We noticed that the narrator's identity could be portrayed through behavior within the story itself, or stated directly through first-person declarations or reflections.


We spent the rest of the class discussing the Lott's definition of CNF.  I asked you to notice both the points he made about what CNF did -and the form he used to make his points.  In particular, I pointed out how he used segments and a "refrain" => to state and "re-cap" the points in his definition.    You might also notice that the points were (in a way) cumulative, going from what might be understood as the most concrete and obvious (we write to keep the past from slipping away) - to the most abstract => that we are accountable for the truths we create in writing.  The structure + organization help to create the essays force and movement (it would be very different if he began with accountability & ended with "to record the past").  Look at the principles he used (and describes) = and think about how you might use them in your work.


For class Thursday:


In our next class we will look at essays that  use sections or segments. 
Read: Cofer, 83; Simic, 166; Atwood, 288
Blog 3:  Use your reflections on the readings and today's class discussion to develop your definition of CNF: what do Kidder and Lopate suggest about the writer's relationship to CNF?  How does Lott define creative nonfiction add to their perspectives?  How are their definitions similar to or different from your definition(s)?

September 8 = "I" and "Eye" essays

Associations to place.  We started class with a visualization exercise to connect to "felt" experiences associated with place. I talked you through a visit to  remembered places using techniques derived from work in active dreaming. In discussion of the writing you developed from this, we noticed that you tended to go to places from childhood,  particularly the homes of grandparents, that many of you went to rooms or buildings, that the kinds of places you went to often were "good" or "safe" places (though some of them had an 'edge' to them).  I also asked you to note whether beginning with a visualization worked to "prime the pump" of images and ideas to write about.   Good writing!  And I am hoping some of you noticed/experienced something of interest - something that might later play into a reflection or an essay.


Exploring strategies for writing creative nonfiction.  We spent the rest of the class looking at the three "eye" essays "Secret Ceremonies of Love and Death," Whast he said there," and "Graven Images."  You worked in groups to identify each essay's central  concept, the descriptive, narrative elements that developed that concept - and the relationship between the development of an idea & the narrative, descriptive sometimes "plot-driven" features that articulate the idea.   


In our twenty five second discussion of how "I" essays were different from "eye" essays you pointed out that "I" essays (memoir, reflective writing) is more grounded in the writer's sensibility and that the subject of the essay is some aspect of the author's self, and that  "eye" essays (literary journalism, and descriptive writing such as travel writing)  have a more objective (outside the self) focus - generally a reflection on the way the world is.  


For Tuesday:
Read:  Kidder, 67; Lopate,69; Lott, 194
Blog 2:  Develop a definition of creative nonfiction - what it does, how it works, what it is good for.  You may incorporate your observations from the sample "I" & "eye" essays we have discussed so far - and the ideas presented by Kidder, Lopate, & Lott.


 In class on Tuesday - you will continue to explore definitions of creative nonfiction. 


I will be reading over + replying to your first blog post over the weekend.  You will have comments before class on Tuesday. 

September 6

We will meet in CAS 113 for the rest of the term.


Blogs:  You set up your blogs - and sent me your blog address.  I have posted links to all blog s on my Class Blog list at the right - and will update as the last several come in.  Feel free to copy the URLs and create your own link list.  If you aren't sure how to do that - we will take a minute at the beginning of class to review any remaining questions about blogs.


Early memories: Journal wiring took you back to your earliest memories.  Like the introduction to an essay or the opening scene of a novel - early memories can provide interpretive foundations for subsequent experiences.  What comes after is lived in terms of what comes before.  After we told stories, we summed up some of the patterns in the kinds of stories we told: about "pain" (bee stings); about "firsts," most were told from within that peculiar sensibility of childhood that is unaware of others watching and judging, and most were associated with family.  As we move through the different prompts - do some thinking about patterns in how we respond to certain questions.  CNF writers often write from within the mainstream answers - but with a fresh or startling perspective = the common theme connects to the audience, the freshness gives us all something to think about.


Grealy, Danticat, & Koestenbaum.  We didn't really get through this discussion - but we got a start.  In discussing what the essay was about - we noticed that there were two distinct "abouts" :1)  the sequence of events or "what happened"; and 2) the interpretative reflections on what those events/descriptions/experiences "meant".  As you re-read, re-consider these pieces, think about how (and why) the authors move between telling and reflecting.  And think about the purpose of each move.


As we analyzed Grealy - we noticed that like an essay - it placed clues to its "aboutness" in places similar to an "regular" essay.  This is not the only way to write CNF - but it is a common approach.  We also noticed that what the essay was about was not stated directly - that it was literary in the sense that its meaning unfolded through inference, images, and symbols.  


We also noticed that Grealy and Koestenbaum were "segmented" => written in "chunks" of several paragraphs that hung together in terms of focus.  This is a common strategy in CNF.  These sections operated like mega-paragraphs.  If you look at how these sections are organized - you will see other "moves" authors make to present the kind of "idea stories" characteristic of CNF.  Think about how the authors used/structured the sections in terms of "telling" and "reflecting" - then notice where you got bored - and where you lost yourself in the story.  What is the correlation?  Which parts drew you in?  Where did you withdraw?


We also  noticed - just as the class was ending - that although, after the opening section, following sections seem to be mostly chronological - in a larger sense the organizing principle of the essay is not about accurately representing the sequence of what happened to her.  Rather - the essay is in a LOGICAL (rather than chronological) order that uses selected experiences to develop an idea - a concept - a realization.    So for your first blog - 


For next class:
Read:  Lowry, 48; Vowell, 130; Bellow, 176 => we will use  these essays to continue discussion about what CNF is - and how it works.


Post Blog 1:  Do some writing about the idea or focus that organizes Grealy's essay.  What point is she making?  What sequence of ideas does she move through?  How do her stories serve as "points" in her "argument"?    Where does she move to direct statements (reflections) and why?   


This is your first blog and I am hoping you will use your post to do some thinking about what creative nonfiction is - and how it is built.  If you have a brilliant (or even an average) insight - put it out there!  


Thanks for your good stories - and see you on Thursday.

September 1

Today you shared some of your experiences with writing. I appreciated your stories - and your willingness to put them out there.   It is definitely taking a risk to tell stories to strangers - and when you are writing there is always the potential that a "stranger" will read your work; hopefully this class is going to be a safe place to explore and test stories you want to send out into the world.  It is a brave thing to be a writer.


We used that discussion to point out one of the basic features of creative nonfiction = the movement between detailed, specific narrative and reflective commentary. So that's a start.   We will spend the first couple weeks of the course digging into what CNF is, how it is built, how it works, and what "moves" produce what kinds of effects.


For class Tuesday, we will meet in the computer lab on the first floor of CAS, next to the snack machines  - near the Writing Center.


Read:  Grealy, 23; Danticat, 89; Koesterbaum, 154 (in your text book) + check out the course blog
Write:  send me an email from the account you want to use for the course
And:  Bring your writing journal to class


Great class and see you on Tuesday.

First day of class

Welcome to the course blog for ENG 4017!

The course syllabus and the calendar are posted at the Course Documents links - but as noted - these are only "rough drafts" for what we will actually be doing this term.  They give an overview of the material we will cover - and a plan for the general organization of the course.  What actually happens will respond to what happens in class.

This blog is your up-to-date connection to class activities.