ENW 345: “Writing and Social Issues”

2016-june_webimages_2_hiietman.jpg

Marianne Moore with Muhammad Ali (1967)
(Link to our class Zoom room)

Midterm Assignment | Field Report | Commonplacing Reflection

September 3: Course Overview & Introductions

ENW 345 Syllabus (PDF) (Word)
Syllabus Review / Trade Contact Information
Set up Dropboxes (here) / Accept my email invitation
Commonplacing Assignment (here)
Letter to ENG 345 Students (here)

Some Close Reading: “Poetry” (1935) by Marianne Moore | “When Muhammad Ali Wrote a Poem with Marianne Moore” by Danny Heitman

“Harlem” by Langston Hughes | Hughes recites “Harlem”

Homework: 1. Set up your https://dropbox.cuny.edu/ account (downloading the app if you wish) and accept my folder invitation. You should receive it in your email. Everyone is entitled to a free Dropbox account through CUNY here. More instructions here. Downloading the application will make syncing seamless. Up to you!
2. Go shopping for a commonplace book that will be the “reader and writer’s house” to your thoughts this semester.
3. Read the “Letter to ENW 345 Students” linked above. Write your Letter to the Professor (response with revisions) and submit it as a PDF in Dropbox.
4. Read the 4 readings linked below under September 10. Copy passages into your commonplace book and be ready to discuss with questions or comments.
5. Read through the syllabus carefully on your own.
6. You may also wish to commonplace passages from the Marianne Moore poem we read together in class.

September 10: Introduction to Commonplacing | Child Labor

Class Notes (PDF)

HW: 1. Procure your commonplace notebook if you haven’t already. 2. Make sure your Letter to the Professor is uploaded into Dropbox (the version showing your edits). 3. Read the poems (first 6 bullet points) by Phyllis Wheatley listed below under Sept 17. Read the link to background on her life as well. Copy down favorite passages, annotated them, and offer commentary inside your commonplace book. 4. Notes from last week’s class are linked above for those interested. (Class Notes | PDF)

September 17: Close Reading Phyllis Wheatley

Lecture Notes (here)

Background on Phyllis Wheatley*

Poems by Phyllis Wheatley*:

  • “A Hymn to the Evening” (here)

  • “To S.M., A Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works” (here)

  • “On Imagination” (here)

  • “On Being Brought from Africa to America” (here)

  • “His Excellency George Washington” (here) with Letter to George Washington (included in Norton handout below)

  • Norton Anthology edition with scholarly footnotes (here)

On Black erasure and the importance of historical source materials: “His Name Was Bélizaire”

Class Activity: Historical Resources & “Where do these texts live?”

Help setting up Dropbox for those who need it.

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HW: 1. Homework: 1. Choose one of the Historical Resources about Phyllis Wheatley we saw in class (6 bullet points above) to study more closely. Write about it in your commonplace book. Be prepared to share what you gleaned from the source. 2. Skim through the Wollstonecraft, Woolf, and hooks readings below. Choose one to read carefully. Commonplace 2 passages into your notebook and annotate/discuss. Be prepared to share your passage in class.

September 24: Feminisms Crash Course

Lecture Notes for Feminisms Crash Course
Commonplace Book Assignment
Toni Morrison, “Cinderella’s Stepsisters”

Group Activity:

HW: 1) If you haven’t already, add 2 commonplace entries from any of the feminist readings we discussed during group work. Copy over a passage you find most powerful. 2) Review lecture notes from class today to digest what we learned, taking notes of key terms when helpful. 3) Get your copy of The Personal Librarian and start reading the first 5 chapters. Part 1 linked here and it’s also available on Google Books. 4) Read Goblin market by Christina Rossetti. Choose to use the book version (here) or web version (here).

October 1: Games and Play with Christina Rossetti

Review: Shakespeare’s Sister (Virginia Woolf) and Cinderella’s Stepsisters (Toni Morrison)

Class Lecture notes on Rossetti (here)

Rossetti Readings:

  • Christina Rossetti, Goblin Market. Choose to use the book version (here) or web version (here)

  • Rossetti, “When I am Dead My Dearest” (here)

Background Research & Sources:

  • The British Library on Christina Rossetti (here) | Use American Academy of Poets for now (here)

  • More images of CGR from NYPL Digital Collections (here)

HW: (1) Commonplace your favorite 2 passages from any Rossetti poem in your commonplace book. (3) Photograph and upload all of your commonplace book entries thus far. (4) Read the Introduction to Commonplacing website completely (First bullet point below). Take notes. (5) Skim through the 2 issues of Keats-Shelley Journal+ below and choose 2 articles to focus on. Summarize them in your commonplace book in 2 paragraphs: Write about the title, author, key words, main points.

October 8:  Commmonplacing & Commonplace Books

  • Introduction to Commonplacing (here)

  • Keats-Shelley Journal+ Special Issue on Commonplacing: (Volume 1)

  • Keats-Shelley Journal+ Special Issue (Volume 2)

Class Plan
Introduction to Commonplacing (slides)
Commonplace Book Assignment (PDF)
Lecture on Women’s Commonplace Books from the Pforzheimer Collection
Group Activity: Descriptive analysis of one page or portion of a c-place book from the Pforzheimer Collection. (Click here for access to 100+ images!)

More Historical Commonplace Books to explore on your own time:

  • 1805 Commonplace Book (here)

  • 1834 Mary Burdoch Bland Liverpool Commonplace Book (here)

  • 1551 Medical Commonplace book (here)

  • 1892 American political commonplace book (here)

  • 1723 Commonplace book (here)

  • Felicia Hemans’ Commonplace Book (Part 1)
    Felicia Hemans’ Commonplace Book (Part 2)

HW due on 10/22: 1. Think about the different organizations or set pieces used in commonplace books we saw in the slideshow. What might you add to your commonplace book? How can you organize your entries so far? Add one new apparatus to your commonplace book and make a plan for adding some innovation to your future entries. 2. If you haven’t already, photograph or video the pages of your commonplace book so far and upload them to Dropbox. You should have 5 entries (10 passages total) so far. 3. Finish reading The Personal Librarian. If you don’t own a hard copy, the PDF is linked below under 10/22. 4. Skim and read the bullet points linked below on Belle da Costa Greene’s life. Commonplace 2 passages from either the novel or these sources. Reminder: no class next week!

October 15: No class (Indigenous People’s Day).
Tuesday takes a Monday schedule at CUNY.

HW due on 10/22: 1. Think about the different organizations or set pieces used in commonplace books we saw in the slideshow. What might you add to your commonplace book? How can you organize your entries so far? Add one new apparatus to your commonplace book and make a plan for adding some innovation to your future entries. 2. If you haven’t already, photograph or video the pages of your commonplace book so far and upload them to Dropbox. You should have 5 entries (10 passages total) so far. 3. Finish reading The Personal Librarian. If you don’t own a hard copy, the PDF is linked below under 10/22. 4. Skim and read the bullet points linked below on Belle da Costa Greene’s life. Commonplace 2 passages from either the novel or these sources. Reminder: no class next week!

October 22: Belle Da Costa Greene & The Morgan Library

The Personal Librarian novel: (Part 1 linked here | Part 2 linked here )

If you haven’t already, sign up for your free New York Times account (here).

Homework: Choose one of the poems below to focus on for your midterm recitation project, which will be due on November 5.

October 29: Recitation & Performance

Lecture Notes (here)
Midterm Poetry Recitation assignment (here) - due Nov 12.
Recited Verse website (sign up here)
Instructions for how to upload your recording (here)

Some poem choices:
 William Blake, “The Chimney Sweeper” or “The Tyger”
Langston Hughes, “Harlem” or “Mother to Son”
Gwendolyn Brooks, “beauty shoppe,” “intermission” or “One wants a Teller in a time like this”
Felicia Hemans, “Casabianca” (critical edition here)
Harryette Mullen, “Dim Lady”
William Shakespeare, Sonnet 130
Alfred Tennyson, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”
William Ernest Henley, “Invictus”
Dorothy Wordsworth (here)
Anna Letitia Barbauld, The Mouse’s Petition
Charlotte Smith (here)
Leititia Elizabeth Landon (here)

HW: 1. Read excerpts from Mary Phillips, Black Panther Woman and the article from Essence Magazine. Commonplace passages in your commonplace book. 2. Read about author Mary Phillips and listen to the podcast. 3. Work on your Midterm Poetry Recitation, which should be submitted by November 12. Optional Field Trip on Sunday! (Details below)

Optional field trip: Belle da Costa Greene | Morgan Library Trip, Sunday Nov 3.

We will meet at The Morgan Library, 225 Madison Ave (Btwn 36th and 37th Sts.) Optional Field Trip for Extra Credit to the Morgan Library at 35th St. and Madison Ave: Sunday, November 3, 1 pm. The Morgan Library’s exhibition on Belle da Costa Greene. Meet in the Morgan Library just before 1pm. Reserve your own tickets here by selecting Nov 3: Free College Sunday. You’ll need to bring your student ID.

November 5: Ericka Huggins

  • Mary Phillips, introduction to the new book Black Panther Woman (2025) (here)

  • Essence Magazine, “Honoring the Women of the Black Panther Party” (here)

  • About Mary Phillips (here)

  • Podcast interview about the life of Ericka Huggins (here)

HW: 1. Write a paragraph reflecting on our class discussion about Ericka Huggins’ life. What does wellness mean to you? 2. Complete your Midterm Recitation assignment and upload everything by Nov 12. 3. Think about the social issue that is most on your mind. Thinking about the idea of “performing politics,” draft out a short drama in your mind that illustrates the social problem you most care about (and think about solutions or small improvements one might make.) Write 1-2 paragraphs about this in your commonplace book. You can click below if some lines of literature will help springboard your ideas.

November 12: Performing Politics & Final term planning

Read and complete the Byronic Vibes or Uncloseting Byron assignments. (Whichever you find easier.)

Some Writing Resources:

Individual Audre Lorde readings assigned

HW: 1. Submit your Midterm Recitation PDF to Dropbox if you haven’t already. 2. Finish and submit your Performing Politics comic strip through Dropbox. Make sure you have captions and the accompanying paragraphs to explain your social issue problem and solution. 3. Read from the Audre Lorde works below. There are many readings linked, so skim around and find what you like best. Choose 2 excerpts to commonplace and respond to in your notebook. Be ready to read your passages aloud and to discuss in class! 4. I have linked the helpful worksheets about “block quoting” or “in-text" quoting” above.

Nov 19: Audre Lorde

Reading assignments:

HW. 1. Draft your Field Report Assignment. We will have a writing workshop together next week.

Nov 26: Final Project Assignments

Field Report Assignment (linked here)

Writing Workshop

If you didn’t visit the Morgan Library, you can choose to write your field report about something else:

  • Zoom lecture: “What New in the Goblin Marketplace?” Prof. Margaret Stetz, University of Delaware (here). Guidelines for the Field Report write-up are here.

  • Any image or page zooming in on a commonplace book (the ones linked under October 8’s class in bold.)

  • Any high res document, photo or artifact we looked at during class using a library or university source (such as the documents about Belle Greene or Phyllis Wheatley’s lives and publications)

Some Writing Resources:

HW: Draft your Commonplacing Reflection (linked here). We will revise them and talk about polishing and improving them next week.

Dec 3: Final Class

Commonplacing Reflection (linked here)

Writing Workshop

HW: 1. Take photos or videos to submit the remainder of your commonplace book. 2. Clean up and organize your Dropbox. You should have all writing assignments completed by next week!

Make sure that you are caught up on any missing assignments in Dropbox. Make sure each assignment is in your Dropbox and clearly labeled. Scroll all the way down to see what your Dropbox should look like.

Dec 10: No CLass Session

Please use this opportunity to polish your final submissions (especially the Commonplacing Reflection), being sure to improve on the grammar points I’ve asked you to work on this term. Scroll down to see the grammar exercises and how your final Dropbox files should be named and sequenced.

Final Dropboxes due by 8 pm.

Final Dropboxes (PDF files) are due on December 10 by 8pm.

Your final dropbox should include:

  1. Letter to the Professor
    2. Photos of your full Commonplace Book
    3. Midterm Reflection
    4. Performing Politics Panel w. Explanation
    5. Field Report
    6. Commonplacing Reflection
    Make sure your files/folders are labeled clearly.