Writing Across Cultures

This morning please work on: A. Your portfolio. Prepare and complete your portfolio. They are due today. Remember to proofread as well! Grammar counts!  B. Read your chosen chapter of  Gilgamesh . Summarize the main plot points/details about Gilgamesh's journey.  Period 2: Gilgamesh  (Crash Course) Characteristics of  Epics Great length (obviously longer than a dithyramb (choral song), ode, lyric, narrative, or dramatic poem)  Dignified tone & elevated style (the tone is often formal; the diction often metaphoric or figurative) Deal with a single person; a certain, specific people; or the history of a race in a period of crisis Supernatural events and characters (often Gods and Goddesses and/or monsters) The epic often includes a contradiction between society values and the individual There is often a flashback to past problems that also foreshadow events to come The deeds of the hero in an epic affirm both the individu...

Period 1:  This morning take 10 minutes to complete  the Jungian Personality Test . You may use what you learn to create a character for a story/play/film, etc. You may also use the personality types to do the same. Did you learn something about yourself from taking the test? How accurate is the test in your opinion? [Realize that you may be defensive or unconscious about your TRUE personality...] In his book  Pathways to Bliss , Joseph Campbell defines four functions of myths: Evoke existential thought (answer: what is the meaning of my life?) Present an image of the cosmos (and your relation to it) Validate society or culture (& its rules) Make sense of a person's stages of life (birth, adolescence, adulthood, old age, death) Joseph Campbell's hero's journey Crash Course #25  (Hero's Journey)  Use Jungian archetypes for characters (ego types): the trickster, shadows, the caregiver, the rebel, etc.  Look at the 12 common arche...

Writing challenge:  Use Campbell's theories and Jungian archetypes in a story of your own. You can combine this with intertextuality, mythology, stream of consciousness, or any other idea we have covered so far in this course. If you create anything (a draft or more) put it in your writing portfolio! Writing challenge: Question(s) to consider: What's up with our fascination with strong men like Hercules? What role does gender play in our culture regarding "strength"? Write about any of the following contemporary articles: Women Rate the Strongest Men Attractive 5 Reasons to Love American Men Why Men Don't Like Strong, Independent Women Story idea: retell Herakles' story about trying to gain immortality--what might that mean for a man (or a woman) in today's culture? How do we hope to obtain fame that lasts beyond our lives? Why should we? Complete and develop your written analysis of Pinnochio .  Rewrite the myth of Cupid & Psyche ...

Carl Jung & The Collective Unconscious/Literary Archetypes (finally). Let's read about Jung in class. Then, remember Herakles? Here are some other Hercules' as the strong/hero archetype: Here are some other important strong men in mythology: Sampson Superman The Hulk  &  The Hulk  (Character Bio) Gilgamesh  (see homework)  In his book  Pathways to Bliss , Joseph Campbell defines four functions of myths: Evoke existential thought (answer: what is the meaning of my life?) Present an image of the cosmos (and your relation to it) Validate society or culture (& its rules) Make sense of a person's stages of life (birth, adolescence, adulthood, old age, death) Joseph Campbell's hero's journey Crash Course #25  (Hero's Journey) Writing challenge:  Use Campbell's theories and Jungian archetypes in a story of your own. You can combine this with intertextuality, mythology, stream of consciousnes...

Period 1: Please take the open-book/notes exam on The Dead Father's Club in our Google classroom. You may use your books/notes, but you will only have 1 period to complete the exam. If you finish early, you may work on your portfolio. Portfolios are due next Thursday. No late portfolios will be accepted for the marking period. Period 2: We will have a Socratic Seminar on The Dead Father's Club. Consider some of these questions: Philip observes, “If you speak to yourself people think you are mad but if you write the same things they think you are clever.” Discuss examples from life or literature that bear out this observation on the nature of madness and intelligence. How might you use this idea to free yourself as a writer? Discuss the effectiveness or non-effectiveness of having the story told through the perspective (POV) of Phillip. How might the book be a different experience if told through Leah, or Philip's mother or Uncle Alan, or one of the other charac...

Period 1:   We'll complete our discussion/analysis of Herakles , then take a look at Archetypal Theory with Carl Jung in period 2. Poetry/writing time: 15 minutes. Questions to consider: What's up with our fascination with strongman Hercules? What role does gender play in our culture regarding "strength"? Take 5-10 minutes to read and react in writing to any of the following contemporary articles: Women Rate the Strongest Men Attractive 5 Reasons to Love American Men Why Men Don't Like Strong, Independent Women Here are some other important strong men in mythology: Sampson Superman The Hulk & The Hulk (Character Bio) Gilgamesh (see homework)  In his book  Pathways to Bliss , Joseph Campbell defines four functions of myths: Evoke existential thought (answer: what is the meaning of my life?) Present an image of the cosmos (and your relation to it) Validate society or culture (& its rules) Make sense of a person...

I will be using the following rubric when assessing your portfolios. A portfolio is due each quarter and comprises the major part of your quarter grade (along with attendance, participation/homework, reading, quizzes/tests, presentations and class activities). Please note that you will be expected to conduct some revision each marking period, along with a short 1-3 page reflection. Reflection pages  do not count for the # of pages indicated below.  Please also note that your portfolio grade is a combination of  quantity  AND  quality . Scores are determined by an average score based on the holistic rubric. Some papers/assignments are also required and should be included in your marking period portfolio. This marking period the summary papers, your identity drafts, and work from the psychology unit should be included in your portfolio. 4 = Exemplary 3= Accomplished 2= Promising 1=Beginning 0=Failing Exemplary : Thoroughly and artistically deve...

Period 1: (until 8:00) Please complete one of the following tasks this morning: Complete your written analysis of Pinnochio. See the psychological criticism handout to help you if you need it. Rewrite the myth of Cupid & Psyche (Cupid & Eros) Peruse (look) at this link. Choose a Greek myth of your liking and retell it in a modern style (see Dead Father's Club for examples/ideas); For example, after reading about the Myth of Sisyphus, you could tell the myth from the POV of a student who, no matter what she does, cannot pass her class--or cannot join the cheerleading squad, etc. Rewrite any of your previous drafts for your upcoming portfolio. Period 1/2: 8:00; Let's return to Herakles finally. Herakles, Crash Course Hercules in Pop Culture: Hercules (1958) with Steve Reeves Hercules Unchained (1959) with Steve Reeves Hercules in the Haunted World (1961) Medusa Vs. the Son of Hercules (1962) with Richard Harrison The Mighty Hercules (animated tv ...

Pinnochio  (1940), Disney. The archetype of any "male" story involves a # of problems or trials that need to be overcome in order to become accepted by society or at least find love and respect. For boys, this cultural expectation can cause all sorts of harm--from inadequate feelings of inferiority to lack of self-esteem to misplaced violence and a rejection of his feelings.  Essentially, to become a real boy, a boy has to prove himself to others. As you watch the film, take notes on how Pinnochio's journey toward self-actualization is a mythic journey of the self. Use Freud's theories we discussed. Identify and be able to explain how using psychoanalytical theory changes the way we approach the film. Consider: Freud's stages of development Freud's theory of the unconscious: The Id, Ego, Superego The Pleasure Principle & the Reality Principle The Oedipus and Electra complexes Phallic/yonic symbols Freudian disorders and Defenses Dreams or wish...

This morning, please take the  Selective Attention Test . How many times was the ball passed? What is your reaction to this test?  Next, let's go back to  Consciousness, Crash Course #8  and the rest of our Freud notes. Next, take one of these Freudian tests: Short Freudian Personality Test: You’re peering into the sea. What do you feel? You’re walking in the forest and looking down at the ground. What do you see? Now write down the feeling you had. You watch seagulls flying above your head. How does this make you feel? You’re looking at running horses. What emotions did you get? You’re in the desert, and there’s a wall in front of you. You can’t see the end of it. There’s a little hole in the wall. You see an oasis through it. What are you going to do? While wandering around the desert, you suddenly find a jug full of water. What are your actions? You are lost in the forest in the night. Suddenly you find a house with lights on. Think of what yo...

What is  Popular Culture ? Read about Popular Culture on Wikipedia (another pop culture idea). Take notes to define, understand the component parts of the subject area, and its characteristics. Popular culture studies popular culture from a critical theory perspective. It is generally considered a combination of communication studies and cultural studies. Barriers between so-called high and low culture have broken down, which encompasses such diverse media as comic books, television, mass media, and the Internet. The theory of progressive evolution : Capitalist economies create opportunities for every individual to participate in a culture which is fully democratized through mass education, expansion of leisure time and cheap entertainment, media, and paperbacks. In this liberal view, popular culture (low culture) does not threaten high culture but is an authentic expression of the needs of the people. Mythology (a beginning) Morning reading...

Period 1: Please prepare for your test. Look over your notes, the text, etc. This is a closed-book test. You will have period 1 to complete the test. Period 2: The Namesake/The Overcoat - Discussion Discussion questions : 1. The Namesake opens with Ashima Ganguli trying to make a spicy Indian snack from American ingredients — Rice Krispies and Planters peanuts — but "as usual, there's something missing." How does Ashima try and make over her home in Cambridge to remind her of what she's left behind in Calcutta? Throughout The Namesake , how does Jhumpa Lahiri use food and clothing to explore cultural transitions — especially through rituals, like the annaprasan , the rice ceremony? 2. Some readers have said that Lahiri's writing makes them crave the meals she evokes so beautifully. What memories or desires does Lahiri bring up for you? Does her writing ever make you "hunger"? Which passage(s) are effective in this gustatory imagery? ...