Writing Across Cultures

While we will meet in the lab to prepare our portfolios, once you have completed your printing and turn in your portfolio, come down to the classroom to join us in our viewing of Smoke Signals   (1998) directed by Chris Eyre; screenplay by Sherman Alexie. Remember to attach old drafts (particularly the ones I (or your peer group) marked up) to new drafts (new drafts on top!)  It is better to turn in what drafts you have now, than turn in your entire portfolio later. But remember that late work is only one small part of your portfolio grade. The rubric is a general overall average based on class participation, behavior, writing quality, creativity, growth, and skill. Portfolios are due March 28. If you turn in your work after class (still on March 28 by 2:30--end of day) your work is not late. Print out copies of your drafts on your own--don't expect to email me and have me do your prep work. Take responsibility for your own work. Refer to the rubric for how your portf...

Period 1: Please work on your finishing touches for your portfolio. These are due March 28. What you need in your portfolio: Writing reflection response (avoid vague pandering about the course and discuss YOUR writing)--what's missing from your curriculum, what is still giving you trouble in your writing, how have you grown or what's going on in your writing? Revised work A Brechtian play draft A piece about race Period 2:  Please continue reading the short stories in The Lone Ranger & Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Aim to complete the collection over the April break.  At 8:30, Aspenleiter requests your attendance in the Ensemble theater to measure your caps/gowns for graduation. HOMEWORK: Keep reading the collection of short stories. Aim to complete the book by or during Spring Break.

A morning with mythology: This morning please take a look at the following videos. As you view, consider how all stories use mythology as their primal basis--can you think of tv shows/characters, movies, stories, books, or plays that echo some of the character types found in these myth cycles? For example: many stories we tell to each other as humans have to do with men creating, influencing, or shaping their world--and the problems that arise because of their use of power.  Alternatively, many myths set up a conflict between opposite forces: male/female, gay/straight, fat/thin, short/tall, young/old, day/night, good/evil, father/mother, parent/child, etc. How might we interpret our dual nature as humans? How is this dualism found in our culture/traditions/identity? How are women and men drawn into conflict in these myths? What assumptions about gender do we notice in these myths? How does the myth cycle support the status quo or challenge our thinking about how we, as human...

LAB: If you missed it the first few times around, take a look at this video to prepare you for today's class. A Conversation with Native Americans on Race (short video) TASK: In the COMMENT section of the blog, please post a comparative/contrasting critique of the plays and graphic novel American Born Chinese . Consider what we've learned about race--how does cultural heritage, identity, and the issues of race infuse these plays and graphic novel with significance for a contemporary audience?  Your post on the topic will be due by the end of first period (lab) Tuesday, March 20.  No late responses will be given credit.  When you have completed your post, please use the time to workshop or work on your upcoming portfolio (due next week!) See previous posts for details. At the end of period 1, please go to the library to pick up the short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven  by Sherman Alexie . This unit will move us into our uni...

Period 1: Lab Please read the short story "From the Roaches' Perspective". Inspired by the story, choose an insect, object, or animal and write a story from this perspective. Like the story, allow the animal/object to witness something it shouldn't have seen. See: Garden Party (animated short, trailer; winner of best animated short film, 2018) Use your time in the lab to work on your portfolio. Workshop your pieces. Read American Born Chinese (see homework below) or look at the links bulleted below. Portfolios are due March 28. A revision of a previous piece of writing A Brechtian play draft A piece about race Period 2: What does the Word Asian Mean to You? How You See Me (Asian) Let's read the short stories/poems from China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Korea. Then read the short Brechtian play "Los Vendidos" by  Luis Valdez  and the one-act play "My Beatles" by  Satoh Makoto . TASK: In the COMMENT section of the blog, please ...

Lab: Period 1: Please get together in your reading groups and continue reading, discussing, and completing your discussion questions. Turn in your group's responses/answers by the end of period 2. If your group finishes before the end of period 1, please continue to work on your portfolios or begin reading your homework. See below. Trevor Noah: Clip from the Daily Show (racist facial recognition),  stand up sample , and Trevor Noah on Race, Comedy, & Politics (interview), interview on the Ellen show , and pop culture Lupita Nyong'o on The Daily Show . Period 2: In between our writing exercises, we will read the short stories "Terminal" by Nadine Gordimer , "Arrest Me" by Denis Hirson , "By the Creek" by Barry Yourgrau , the poem "Up Late" by Arthur Nortje , and the essay by Gcina Mhlope . Other South African writers we've read include: Bessie Head Athol Fugard Writing Tips for Fiction: Successful writers...

Lab: Some information about South Africa , Apartheid , and Athol Fugard . Please read the short stories: "Snapshots of a Wedding", "The Interpreter for the Tribunal" and "Not Far From the Tree". Choose one of the prompts & write: Think of a celebration (a wedding, birthday, graduation, holiday, a March Madness party, retirement, funeral, etc.) and use Bessie Head's structure to write various "snapshots" of the celebration. Use the information about South Africa or Apartheid and set a short story there. Move outside of your comfort zone as a writer. Write from the perspective of a character from a different race, gender, sexual orientation, or country (culture) Use time in the lab to work on your portfolio or workshop your pieces. Remember to put drafts in your group workshop folder! Members of your group should give you feedback. Period 2:  We will continue reading Master Harold and the Boys.  Get into reading groups of...

Lab: Complete the test on your chosen novel on race. You may use your notes/book, but you only have 1 period to complete the essay. Period 2: Please get in your book groups and discuss the novel. Complete the socratic seminar sheet for a member of your group. Please record the questions/topics your group discusses on the back of your seminar paper. Turn the form in by the end of class today for participation credit. During the last 15-20 minutes of class, we will stop and begin reading Master Harold and the Boys together. HOMEWORK: None.

Because of our snow day, this lesson will be given on Tuesday, March 6. Lab: (until 8:00) Read the handout of poems and the article "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration." Use your creativity to write a poem or essay draft inspired by one of these poems or what the article sparks during the shortened lab time. Portfolios are due March 28. Suggestions: Write a poem about a nickname (or racial slur) you or someone you know earned in school.  Write about a time you had to declare your racial heritage. Write about your parents (or a parent/relative, etc.) that had to assimilate or taught you something about your culture. Write about a relative or neighbor that you know in prison. Write a fictional story from the perspective of an inmate in a State or local prison or from a family member or law enforcement officer affected by crime or our prison system. To help you see the following sites: Race & Homicide in America  (US World News Report, 2016)...

LAB: 5-10 minute check in. Check in with your reading groups. How is your reading going? What issues do you think are interesting in the book? Which characters and scenes are most vivid or difficult? What questions or issues do you have? Discuss. At 7:40, please turn your attention to your portfolio. Portfolio PROMPT ideas: Challenge a stereotype (explore how a character's outer image reflects on his/her inner image, or explore how certain behaviors lead us--or a character--to judge that character's personality or future behavior, etc.) Write about an event that happens on one single day. Tell the story of  at least  3 characters who experience that event on that single day. Write a story/poem outside your identified culture (if you are Black, write from a White perspective, if you are Asian, write from a Black or Latino perspective, if you are female write from a male perspective, if you are straight write from a gay or lesbian perspective, etc.) Make a short film a...

Spike Lee  Directors like  Spike Lee  are encouraged to make films for a black audience. Many other actors, directors, and writers begin expanding the ground opened by blaxploitation films, while other black directors are searching for voices that include black experiences or culture, some assimilate the subject, like the most recent films: Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018),  Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016) and A Wrinkle in Time (Ava DuVernay, 2018), while others continue to examine Black cinema's traditional themes of racism, slavery and freedom ( Amistad (directed by Steven Spielberg, 1997),  Belle (Amma Asante, 2013), Dear White People (Justin Simien, 2014) Selma (Ava DuVernay, 2015), and Mudbound (Dee Rees, 2017) as just a few examples. In any case, Spike Lee 's films helped pave the way for black directors and writers in feature films. His films are often thoughtful, satiric, violent, and sexist. They represent the times in which they we...

Lab: (until 7: 50) It's not a lot of time, but please use the lab time to work on your portfolio or workshop something you've written. If this hasn't happened yet, make a schedule for yourself during our Feb. break to write (and complete the required reading). See prompts in the last few posts for ideas for your writing. Remember that the "epic theater" prompt is required. You could also create a draft to send off to Geva's upcoming playwriting contest (March 1 deadline). Remember that you are graded for your behavior during the lab. If the class doesn't use the time to write, we'll use it for other stuff. At 7:45 please go to the classroom to conclude The Caucasian Chalk Circle . When we complete the play, please get together in your small reading groups based on your chosen book: Song of Solomon  by  Toni Morrison   Manchild in the Promised Land  by  Claude Brown  Native Son  by  Richard Wright   The Color of Water  by...

Lab: Please use the lab time to work on your portfolio. See prompts in the last few posts for ideas for your writing. Remember that the "epic theater" prompt is required. You could also create a draft to send off to Geva's upcoming playwriting contest (March 1 deadline). If you didn't read the articles/poems last class please do so now. At the end of period 1 (about 8:05) please go to the library to pick up one of the following book choices for our unit (there will only be 5 copies of each text...first come, first served): Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (literary/magical realism; identity/family) Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown (realistic fictional memoir; gangs/crime) Native Son by Richard Wright (literary/suspense/crime fiction; ethics, social issues) The Color of Water by James McBride (non-fiction memoir; identity/family) We'll begin working with your chosen book next class. Please read chapter 1 of the book you chose, and...

Lab: Period 1 Morning reading task:  please read the following short articles about key political ideas concerning race and culture.  Consider some of the following prompts: Respond to Lincoln's statement that "no man is good enough to govern another man, without that other's consent."  Consider how we, as citizens, give tacit (silent) consent to others in our lives by not speaking out, or examine the history of hypocrisy of the American government. Are people or certain hegemonies or cultures equal? Examine why there are inequalities in our society? How does pop culture and/or media contribute to or fight this inequality? Is our government, as Thoreau feared, the agent of injustice? Explore the idea. How and/or why? Do you have a personal story that you can relate? Tell it. How should the government or governmental institutions (like education, for example) get out of people's way to allow them to flourish? Dream of a conversation between Thoreau, Linco...

Lab: Period 1 Morning reading task: please read the following short articles about key ideas involving race from a variety of thinkers: Adam Ferguson's "Mankind Have Always Wandered or Settled...In Troops and Companies", W.E.B. DuBois' "The Problem of the 20th Century is the Problem of the Color Line", Paul Gilroy's "There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack", and Elijah Anderson's "The Ghetto is Where the Black People Live." Consider some of the following prompts: Examine an area of human or cultural progress and explain the social cost of this progress (Ferguson) Is Ferguson correct in stating that "commercial growth is driven by self-interest...happening at the expense of traditional values or cooperation"? How might we advocate an issue (for example concerning race) of civic spirit, encouraging people to act in the interest of society rather than self-interest. Respond to W.E.B. DuBois' ideas. Have thi...

Period 1: We will hold our socratic seminar on the book The Distance Between Us . After our discussion, we will continue reading The Caucasian Chalk Circle . See information on Bertold Brecht and epic theater in the post below. Period 2: Caucasian Chalk Circle , etc. Prompt: Find a contemporary issue, perhaps one on race, minorities, class struggle, or clashes with ethnicity. Using Brecht's characteristics of epic theater, write a story or play that utilizes some of these elements. Bring your ideas to our lab next class to work on. We will start looking at some Sociology and Political Science to help inspire you. Bring your play scripts back with you next class. HOMEWORK: None. See the prompt above and prepare to write next class.

Period 1: "More Than Skin Deep" "In Living Color" "Grey Matter" "Color Lines" Junot Diaz Period 1 or 2: Now, let's turn our attention to the play The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht.  Question/Prompt: Should someone who owns a thing have possession of it? Or should someone who uses a thing best hold possession? Relate this to problems of race in our society. Should students, for example, be given every opportunity, even if they do not take advantage of that opportunity? Or should only those who use the opportunity gain benefits from it? Should, for example, immigrants get jobs if the indigenous people lack the skills or interest to hold these jobs? Or vise versa: should immigrants be given privileges (jobs, education, economic stability) that American citizens might lack? Respond in writing. Some background on Brecht: Bertolt Brecht  influenced modern theatre throughout the 20th century. His  brief bio  can ...

Period 1:  Set goals for your writing portfolio, Marking Period 3: Write at least 1 goal that you want to accomplish in your portfolio Check your old goals and see if you met them. If not, why not? What need you do this marking period to be more "on the ball"? Read the portfolio advice (or see below) Choose 1 piece to revise this morning from your portfolio. Call it a new "draft" or Draft #2, #3, #4, etc. Keep your original as reference. Then follow these steps: 1. Identify the climax of your story/essay/poem  2. Move this climactic scene to the beginning of your story 3. Use some of your original beginning as backstory later in the scene. Only use your backstory as suspense or as a delay when you need to transition from one scene to the next 4. Cut anything extraneous or unimportant from this draft Also, during the lab please read the short article: "When Pop Culture Sells Dangerous Myths About Romance." Try a writing prompt: Choose ...

NOTES ON GENRE/PROGRESS: Good job. Thank you for writing. Many good first drafts with much potential.  Variation in genre and samples (range); consider other writing projects you enjoy (short films, Podcasts, comic/graphic novel scripts, tv scripts, Youtube video memes, blogging, songwriting, genre fiction, speeches, Crash Course knock-offs, etc.) Many of you commented that you were surprised how well the Gothic story went Many of you commented on your improvement and progress Some issues you revisited with this portfolio: Lack of motivation (some of you have been dealing with this problem for years) Asking what is the focus of this class? Fleshing out ideas from the prompt writing(s) NOTES ON STYLE: Contemporary writing is more journalistic. Short declarative sentences. Fragments.  Dialogue (in general) goes on too long. In a few cases you still don't know how to punctuate dialogue. OMG. Pick up any fiction book and check it when you are PROOFREADING and pre...

Period 1: A moment of silence for Ursula LeGuin . We will continue our Pop Culture presentations today. We left off with Karina's "Mothman" presentation. What to consider/how to use these presentations: Part of the use for popular culture in writing is to reference it. Alluding to pop culture in our stories, poems, plays, essays, can help stress similarities and connotative symbols/semiotics by way of compare/contrast and analogy. To do this, reference pop culture by: stating the reference directly by mentioning the source (a reference to McDonald's, for example) stating the reference to the topic through a well-known line or quote (a quote from Shakespeare, a quote from a Beatles song) Compare/contrast or parody a character or setting from the original source (Zak Effron's character from High School Musical, or taking a setting from the show--naming your school after East High School, for example) Using/parodying plot events/tropes from a popular so...