Class Update for This Week and Final Sessions

This post is NOT for Fall 2009 students!


Monday, April 20 - Class was cancelled due to illness .

FOR NEXT WEEK (April 27):

- Finish reading Junot Diaz's novel Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

- Complete assignment indicated below "Language of Power" - bring a typed response for sharing in class. It is not an essay; it may have bullets or other lists.

- Optional: Supplemental and enrichment reading - George Orwell's essay "Politics & the English Language" which takes up the issue of power and the uses (and abuses) of language

- Wayne will return the Cosmo paper with a grade. If you attended class on 4/20 by 6:30, Wayne took your draft of the Angels paper. This, too, will be returned with feedback.

- Give some thought and begin notes on a possible topic for Oscar Wao paper. Consider favorite characters, political fictions, use of narration, the impact of political fictions on the characters.

CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO THE GEORGE ORWELL ESSAY

Ignore the syllabus directions to bring 25 copies of a paper! We will NOT be undertaking the publication activity this semester.

Agenda for April 27:

Looking at samples of Angels drafts together (6:00-6:45)
Writing about Oscar Wao (6:45-7:00) and share responses
Political fictions in the novel (charting activity - 7:00-7:30)
Language of Power and the homework assignment (7:30-8:00)
Topics for the Oscar Wao paper (8:00-8:15)
Conferences (8:15-8:45)

FOR MAY 4:

- BRING TWO COPIES - Draft of Oscar Wao paper for peer review (syllabus indicates a draft is due April 27 so this is a revised due date)

- Bring Final Draft of Angels paper for a grade

FOR MAY 11 (Last class session):

- Bring final draft of Oscar Wao for grade

- In-class course reflection

- Get back Angels paper with a grade

Reminder: Please complete the online course evaluations! The English department - and the university - take these seriously and ask that you complete them for every class.

LANGUAGE OF POWER

Assignment - in lieu of meeting on 4/20 - related to Junot Diaz's novel

Please read the passage from the novel and the directions very carefully. After reading the directions, you may find it helpful to copy/paste the passage to a Word document to complete the assignment.

Directions:
To prepare for class on 4/27 we will look closely at the use of language to signify (or represent) various kinds of power in the novel. Read the passage below and identify and explain the uses of power by the characters, between the characters and by the author. Wayne suggested in class there were at least ten kinds of power represented in the passage.

"Uses of power" is intended to mean ANY representation of, but not limited to, the following:

advantage / disadvantage
weakness / strength
truth / lie (deception)

How is the "language of power" expressed in this passage?

Oscar was lucky; if he had looked like my pana, Pedro, the Dominican Superman, or like my boy Benny, who was a model, he probably would have gotten shot right there. But because he was a homely slob, because he really looked like un maldito pariguayo who had never had no luck in his life, the capitan took Gollum-pity on him and only punched him a couple of times. Oscar, who had never been "punched a couple of times" by a military-trained adult, felt like he had just been run over by the entire Steelers backfield circa 1977. Breath knocked out of him so bad he honestly thought he was going to die of asphyxiation. The captain's face appeared over his: If you even touch my mujer again I'm going to kill you, pariguayo, and Oscar managed to whisper, You're the ex, before Mssrs. Grundy and Grod picked him up (with some difficulty), and squeezed him back into their Camry, and drove off. Oscar's last sight of Ybon? The capitan dragging her out of the Pathfinder cabin by her hair.

What’s Ahead for Monday, April 6

This post is NOT for Fall 2009 students!

Bring the following to class:
1. Draft of Cosmopolitanism paper for Peer Review
2. Text of Angels in America (have it read by this class, too!)
3. Notes on a PAIR of characters you find most interesting and as possible topics for the paper
4. Read the New York Times obituary for Roy Cohn (see link at right)

Class Agenda:

1. Writing about Angels in America (starting class with a prompt)
2. Peer Review of Cosmo paper
3. Share responses to peer review
4. Read aloud a scene from the play
5. What do we notice? (What do you hear that connects to a political fiction?)
6. Time permitting: View DVD film of read aloud scene
7. Topics for Angels paper

Still need a topic for Cosmo paper?

Enemies of Cosmopolitanism – In this paper you will explain the basic premises of cosmo and present worldwide cultural and political foes to the emergence of cosmo attitudes and philosophy

Why Cosmo Matters in the World Today – In this paper you will articulate 3-5 reasons why cosmo matters in the world today. Identify an issue cosmo potentially responds to and why it might be helpful to see the issue form a cosmo point of view

Whose Culture Is It Anyway? – In this paper you will write a brief synopsis of Chapter 8 and research a recent antiquities looting case to explain it from a cosmo point of view.

Another option is to choose ONE of the scenarios from the class activity. – In this paper you will address the questions in 3-5 paragraphs for each questions.

Scenario A - The City Art Museum has had a ten-foot high African statue on display for two hundred years. The statue comes from the (fictional) nation of Republic of Tora. Nicknamed “Otto” after the German “explorer” who first introduced the piece to the Western world, it is now believed to be extremely valuable and spiritually important for the Torians and they now want it back. Sadly, the Republic of Tora has been in a suffocating civil war for the past five years and there is no end in sight. The City Museum has refused to turn over “Otto.”

What is the cosmopolitan view towards the situation?
Is there any additional information you would want before making a decision?
What would YOU do if you were the director of the museum?

Scenario B - A large community of faithful (let’s call them the Dutilites- duti for “duty” and “-lites” for followers) have essentially turned the six blocks of their immediate neighborhood into an “exclusive zone” with their own bakery, butcher shop, meeting house (their version of a church or temple), two schools, a clinic and various other retail stores. They are known by their distinctive blue robes for both men and women. Included in this neighborhood are two blocks of public streets that the Dutilites want to block pedestrian and auto traffic of anyone who is not a Dutilite (visibly obvious from the absence of the blue robes) on certain days of the month in accordance to their worship calendar. At the moment some residents who are non-Dutilites DO remain on these blocks, although very few. These are city streets and are not private property. The group’s leaders have been blocking the streets with move-able barriers as a deterrent to autos but want greater authority to do it.

What is the cosmopolitan view towards the situation?
Is there any additional information you would want before making a decision?
What would YOU do to accommodate this group while respecting the needs of the non-Dutilites?

Scenario C - The local library in a small town has made public the following: they have received a formal written request from the national group African Interests & Rights (A.I.R.) that all copies of the classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain be removed from the shelves. The director of the local library has appealed to the community for help in respectfully denying the request. The group plans a protest rally at the library and a community support meeting with the slogan “Breathe OUR A.I.R. – Ban toxic books!” A.I.R. asserts that the novel is offensive for it use of the N-word, the outmoded and racist depiction of blacks and its condescension to black dignity with the white boy Huck in the role of supervisor or parent of both he and Jim, an adult black male. The library has refused to agree to the ban. The mayor wants the library to pull the novel “temporarily until the noise dies down.”

What is the cosmopolitan view towards the situation?
Is there any additional information you would want before making a decision?
What would YOU do to respond to A.I.R. if you were in charge?