Writing Across Cultures

The following is a schedule for upcoming presentations. Each presentation should show a basic understanding of the culture's literary history (mostly contemporary, please, although some cultures are thousands of years old...) and note very briefly significant poets, novelists, essayists, philosophers, celebrities, film directors/writers, playwrights, singers, etc. [note: this is a summary. We don't need a lot of information about all of these people--that's impossible. Pick a few key literary or significant artists and tell us how that person influenced the culture in question. We don't really need to know the exact time or date they were born or where they went to school or who they married, unless that's important to their influence and career or helped shape the culture... . Along with your research and presentation, you should include the following: A sample poem or song from a significant poet/singer A sample short, short story (I'll provide these f...

Lab: Use your time in the lab today to continue working on your cultural projects. Prepare your presentation for Thursday if you are going to present on Thursday. Use the short story sample and print out a copy of your sample poem to share with the class (if you give these to me ahead of time, I can run off copies for you...) For those of you interested in a unit we didn't quite get to: What is Philosophy for?  (video) Crash Course Philosophy #1  (an introduction) Watch the videos and discuss the main points with a classmate. Plato Aristotle The Stoics Lao Tzu The Buddha Augustine Thomas Aquinas Rene Descartes Immanuel Kant Soren Kierkegaard Locke & Empiricism Nietzche Existentialism Sartre What is a Good Life? Michel Foucault Jacques Derrida How to Argue How to Argue, Part 2  (induction/abduction) Be a philosopher: Create a premise  (choose one to answer): What is the meaning of life? Why is there evil? Is there a God? What...

Lab: Please continue to prepare your selection for Lambent. Deadline is tomorrow or you will not be included in the magazine (no exceptions!) Remember to include a short 100 word or less bio or a JPG picture of yourself. Otherwise, please work on your final portfolio (due June 8) and continue your cultural research. See post below. Period 2: Today, a smorgasbord of culture & philosophy while you are reading Handmaid's Tale. For those of you who are not completely exhausted from learning, you may find these resources here helpful in setting your fiction, poetry, plays, and essays in a European setting. Since we are running out of time to cover the entire world in this course, we will only briefly glimpse at a very rich and extensive culture. For your benefit click on these links and learn about these cultures. Some of their literature can be found in the packets of reading as well. Czeslaw Milosz is one of Poland's best loved poets.  His poems can be found he...

Lab: Please work on your portfolio or Lambent. Lambent info is due Friday to be included. No exceptions. See Karina for details. Finally, your last project/presentation is a cultural examination Please choose and select one of the following cultures: Cuba Colombia Argentina Brazil Mexico Chile China Japan Turkey Poland Russia Thailand Phillippines Vietnam Korea New Zealand Norway Sweden Finland Denmark Iceland Spain Portugal Italy Greece Germany Hungary Austria Czech Republic Switzerland Israel Ireland Scotland Research literary history and contemporary writers (including significant singers, poets, novelists, essayists, celebrities, film directors/writers, playwrights, etc.) and find out what is unique about the culture you picked. How is the culture different from ours? Examine cuisine, gender roles, philosophy, leisure activities, pop culture, art, media, politics, religion, history, as well as authors, etc. Take notes. Along with your r...

We will finish the film and, hopefully, have time to discuss it. Please turn in your take-home test on Fun Home . At 8:00 you have to visit Mr. Robach for some PIG requirement thing. HOMEWORK: Work on your Lambent submissions, your portfolio, begin reading Handmaid's Tale if you finished reading Fun Home. Complete Fun Home for a discussion Tuesday (this is held over a week due to interruptions...like Mr. Robach and PIG...)

Lambent We will be putting together our senior edition of Lambent . See the link for last years sample... Please begin gathering your BEST 3 pieces of writing EVER and a JPG photo of yourself for our senior issue of Lambent. You will be using Advanced Fiction Workshop time to edit, prepare and get your work to me by May 25 (just before Memorial Day break). Students not submitted and edited by that time will not be included in the edition. Ms. Gamzon will give you more info tomorrow. Help her out by selecting and preparing drafts of your best writing. Each entry will have a short bio of 100 words or less. Feminist Philosophy:  please read the packet of feminist philosophers & learn about these women at the following links: Mary Wollstonecraft Simone de Beauvoir Julia Kristeva Ann Oakley Use this information and what you think to write a creative piece of your own. For example, "Women" by Louise Bogan--or write your own personal essay. Use these articles/...

Gender/Feminism/Queer Studies:  See (and keep) handout on gender/feminism and queer criticism. View the following links/videos and explain what the Bechdel test is (what are its rules, for example) and why it might be important when examining pop culture, media, or literature? Use the handout on gender/feminist criticism to help you focus questions to ask while reading the texts... Two "tests" that we can use to determine if a film, video game, novel, tv show, etc. is gender biased is to use the Bechdel Test and the Mako Mori Test. Let's learn how to use them: The Bechdel Test The Bechdel Test vs. The Mako Mori Test Consider your own story narratives (short stories/plays, etc.) Do they pass these tests? If not, why not? Write about it--or revise your stories to correct this oversight. Let's put this to the test by watching the first part of the 1980 film, Nine to Five , director/screenwriter  Colin Higgins , the cinematographer is  Reynaldo Villalo...

Lab: Please use your lab time to complete (see previous posts for details): A war poem draft Further or complete your historical fiction piece A ghazal poem A short story based on the structure of Roselily by Alice Walker A graphic "novel" story like Persepolis or Fun Home . Or read Fun Home (see homework) Period 2: Readings; Read, reflect, comment, write.... Gloria Steinem: "If Men Could Menstruate" Women Against Feminism (Rush Limbaugh) Judy Syfer's essay: "Why I Want a Wife" (1971) Camille Paglia: "The Modern Campus Cannot Comprehend Evil" (2014) Ann Coulter "I Hate Feminism"  (video/audio media, 2017) HOMEWORK: Please read  Fun Home  for next Monday. As you read, consider some of these gender and feminist ideas/questions. Once you finish  Fun Home , please begin reading your Margaret Atwood selection.

Lab: Test/Discussion on your chosen novel.  1. Please get into your "reading groups" for your chosen novel.  2. Together complete the following tasks for your novel as written on the handout/notes.  3. Finally, rank the participation of your teammates. (See rubric and handout for details).  Between passing time, please go to the library to pick up Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and The Handmaid's Tale or Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood. Period 2:    "In my heart, I think a woman has two choices: either she's a feminist or a masochist." —Gloria Steinem "The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside but in councils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race." —Susan B. Anthony "In passing, also, I would like to say that the first time Adam had a chance he ...

The  Ghazal  is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in 6th century pre-Islamic Arabic verse. It is one of the principal poetic forms which the Indo-Perso-Arabic civilization offered to the eastern Islamic world. History: The ghazal spread into South Asia in the 12th century under the influence of the new Islamic Sultanate courts and Sufi mystics. Although the ghazal is most prominently a form of Persian and Urdu poetry, today it is found in the poetry of many languages. The Arabic word غزل ġazal is pronounced [ˈɣazal], roughly like the English word  guzzle . The Form: A ghazal is composed of five or more couplets. The second line of each couplet in a ghazal usually ends with the repetition of a refrain of one or a few words, known as...

Thank you for participating (and running) the coffeehouse last night. Good job! The 8th graders are taking a math exam today in our lab. So, let's watch this instead: Persepolis (2008) by Marjane Satrapi But first a little  history of Iran . Watch the crash course video and learn something about Iranian culture/history for context. Hafez : (Persian/Iranian poet) Ode 44 (translated by Richard le Gallienne)  Last night, as half asleep I dreaming lay,     Half naked came she in her little shift,          With tilted glass, and verses on her lips; Narcissus-eyes all shining for the fray,          Filled full of frolic to her wine-red lips,          Warm as a dewy rose, sudden she slips     Into my bed – just in her little shift. Said she, half naked, half asle...