21 Carey Dunne Humor Writing Spring 2022

The Art and Craft of Creative Nonfiction: Reading and Writing Humor

Instructor: Carey Dunne

Spring 2022

TTh 3:30-4:45

Course Supervisor: Bonnie Sunstein

COURSE DESCRIPTION

“Are you afraid you have an underdeveloped—or nonexistent—sense of humor?” Did you know that “Humor can be learned”? Are you aware that the staff of the Mayo Clinic––the #1 ranked hospital in the nation––has, in addition to the above, written that laughter is “no joke” the “best medicine,” that it can “stimulate many organs” by “enhancing your intake of oxygen-rich air,” and that we should all “go ahead and give it a try”?

Per the recommendation of Minnesota’s finest doctors, we WILL give it a try. Over the course of the semester, we’ll explore the different ways humor is used across a wide range of genres — from personal essays, to history, to criticism — as both a literary tool and a goal unto itself. We’ll also look at the way that form, audience, and persona shape the way we engage with humor, both as readers and writers of creative nonfiction. Along the way, we’ll take our cues from some of history’s most incisive humorists and use what we learn to craft humorous essays of our own.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Explore the World of Creative Nonfiction

Maybe you’re totally new to creative nonfiction. Maybe you’re kinda new to creative nonfiction. Maybe you are and have always been so obsessively dedicated to creative nonfiction that certain persons in your life have worried aloud about your future job prospects and/or general wellbeing. Regardless of your background, my first priority is that everyone leaves this class with a deeper understanding of the genre. This need not translate to liking everything we encounter (though I sure hope you do) or even liking creative nonfiction in general (though I extra surely hope you do) but simply using this class to read widely, grow your knowledge, and better pinpoint your literary tastes.

Murder Frogs

As E.B. White once wrote, “Explaining a joke is like dissecting a frog. You understand it better, but the frog dies in the process.” Fair enough. Over the course of the semester, we will, accordingly, strive to massacre untold scores of proverbial frogs in explaining how humor is working across a variety of nonfiction forms. In doing so, my hope is that you leave this class not only better able to articulate what makes something funny––or, just as importantly, not––but also more aware of the many different means of building and using humor to enrich your writing.

Build a Writing Community 

Annie Dillard writes: “At its best, the sensation of writing is that of any unmerited grace. It is handed to you, but only if you look for it. You search, you break your heart, your back, your brain, and then—and only then—it is handed to you.” In other words: writing is hard. Knowing you have smart readers backing you up and helping you along the way makes the process of writing and revision a whole lot easier. In this class, we will be constructive, encouraging, and generous with one another. Work every class period to build necessary trust.

WORKLOAD EXPECTATIONS

For each semester hour credit in this course, you should expect to spend two hours per week preparing for class sessions. This is a three-credit-hour course, so your average out-of-class preparation per week is six hours. This will fluctuate throughout the semester; some weeks will be a bit lighter and others busier. However, as one objective of this course is to learn how to fit writing into our everyday lives, I strongly suggest that you use weeks that are lighter in reading for more writing.

During this semester, you will each:

• write six short “mini essays” in response to provided prompts (300 – 700 words each)
• write and workshop one 750 – 1,250-word essay (Essay 1)
• write and workshop one 1,000 – 2,500-word essay (Essay 2)
• submit two rounds of feedback notes (200+ words each) for each person being workshopped
• present briefly on one week’s readings
• post to our ICON discussion boards when indicated on syllabus
• submit a final portfolio with significant revisions/expansions of your two major essays

Please note that this work is in addition to doing the weekly readings and preparing for workshop.

READINGS 

Readings are all available on ICON, generally in PDF format. I would like you to print the readings every week and bring them to class, but if printing is an issue for you, please talk to me. You are required to do the readings by the day on which we’ll discuss them, and should generally expect to do 40-80 pages of reading per week. I promise the texts are fun/good/interesting/instructive and that I spent a lot of time picking them. So, do the reading. Class will be boring and pointless if you don’t.

OTHER REQUIRED MATERIALS

• Please buy (don’t steal!) a notebook that you will keep exclusively for this course. Think of it like your artist’s sketchbook. Use it for in-class free-writes, class notes, reporting notes, brainstorming sessions, handwritten drafts, notes on stuff you find funny throughout the day, and journal entries. Try to write in it every day and bring it to every class meeting.
• ICON. All readings and course documents will be on our course ICON site. The most up-to-date version of our schedule will always be on our ICON site, too. You will also be posting to the Discussion Board and submitting all your assignments on ICON.

MATERIALS TO BRING TO EVERY CLASS

• The assigned reading
• Your journal and a writing utensil

GRADING

• Participation 25%
• Presentations and Discussion Posts 15%
• Mini Essays 20%
• Essay #1 and Feedback Notes 10%
• Essay #2 and Feedback Notes 15%
• Final Portfolio 15%

You may view your grade at any time on ICON. I won’t discuss grades over email, so if you’d like to know more about yours, schedule a meeting with me.

My more granular grading policy is as follows:

A: Excellent work that shows initiative and sophistication that goes beyond general expectations. The writing is well crafted and reflects a commitment to the creative process. The writer is capable of analyzing, reflecting and revising. The writer takes risks in service to the work.

B: Strong work. The writing is well crafted and demonstrates that the writer is engaged with the creative process in ways that are above average. The writer demonstrates attempts to reflect and analyze their writing and can make some choices about revision. Risks are taken (some may be more successful and resonant than others) but all show an attempt to serve the work.

C: Adequate work that meets the basic requirements. The writer’s work could be stronger with more engagement with the creative process. The writer has composed essays that reflect varying levels of success. There is some revision, but it’s superficial. Some risks might be taken, but they may not be in service to the work.

D: Weak work that falls below the basic requirements. The writing produced is brief or not fully developed. The writing does not show an engagement with the creative process and does not reflect the writer’s potential.

F: Unacceptable work. It exhibits fundamental problems which consistently go unaddressed or ignored. The work is frequently incomplete. Writing that does not represent the writer’s original work will get an F.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Participation

Seminar + Discussion: Your participation grade consists primarily of an assessment of your engagement in discussion during our live classes. To prepare, you should show up to class with notes on the day’s reading(s), either in the margins of the text itself or in your notebook. Generally, if you do the readings, come to class ready to listen, learn, and share, all will be swell.

I understand that classroom participation can be difficult for more reserved students. But keep in mind that you don’t need to be speaking constantly to get adequate marks here. I’m looking more for the quality of your contribution to the discussion than a quantity of comments. If you suspect you might have trouble speaking up, send me an email and we can discuss how to ensure you meet the participation requirements.

Option to Skim: Occasionally, on weeks with a lot of reading, I will put “option to skim” in parentheses behind a particular reading. This means I want you to get the gist of what the writer is doing and why it’s unique or interesting, but you don’t necessarily need to read as carefully as the other pieces. I understand you have other classes and work and that reading is meant to help you, not drown you!

Workshop: Each of you will be workshopped twice. Your workshop essays are due to ICON by 3:30pm (class time) one week before your workshop. Timeliness here is very important; part of being a good citizen of this class is giving your peers enough time to formulate useful and coherent thoughts on your piece. So, failure to upload your piece in time will result in you forfeiting your chance to be workshopped and the loss of participation points unless you’ve made prior arrangements with me.

Feedback Notes: On workshop days, you will come to class with feedback notes of at least 200 words each for each essay being workshopped (this usually means 3 notes per workshop session). In addition, make digital in-line comments and marginalia on your copy of the essay as you read; we’ll talk more soon about what productive workshop notes look like. After class, you will upload these feedback notes and marginalia to the discussion board on ICON (so don’t be snarky!). If you are absent for a live workshop, you are still expected to send these notes. Feedback notes will be graded as complete/incomplete. If any of your fellow students’ feedback notes or marginalia make you uncomfortable, please talk to me.

Before our first workshop, we will talk at length about what good workshop participation looks like. In short: you are expected to be critical and constructive but still kind and respectful. Try to understand what the writer wants to accomplish, and focus your notes on how they could do that better, not what you would do or change if it were your piece.

If you are absent on your workshop day, you forfeit your chance to be workshopped and lose participation points unless you’ve made arrangements with me ahead of time.

Conferences: I will meet with each of you individually to discuss your writing at least twice, after your workshops. These conferences will last approximately 20 minutes and are meant to be more formal and structured than drop-in office hours visits. I will talk to you about scheduling these after your workshop occurs. Please feel free to come to these meetings with specific questions! And of course, I’m more than happy to meet more than twice.

• Note that this is how you will receive feedback from me: I will not be sending you my own written notes on your workshop drafts.

Attendance: You are expected to turn in your work on time and should miss no more than two classes over the semester. More than two unexcused absences will impact your participation grade. Note that if you miss your own workshop, you will not be permitted to make it up and will receive 0 for the day, regardless of your history of absence.

If you test positive for COVID-19, you are required to self-report; I will not excuse an absence without receiving a self-report form from the University. The form is available here. If you’re sick in any capacity, please email me and explain the situation and I will excuse you on a case-by-case basis. I am very understanding, but I don’t tolerate chronic absences or lack of clear communication. It’s up to you to get in touch with me and let me know why you’re not in class.

Extensions can be discussed in exceptional circumstances but will usually not be granted at the last minute. Per CLAS policy:

Students are responsible for communicating with instructors as soon they know that an absence might occur or as soon as possible in the case of an illness. Students may use the CLAS absence form to aid in communication with instructors who will decide if the absence is excused or unexcused; the form is located on ICON within the top banner under “Student Tools.” Delays in communication could result in a forfeit of what otherwise might be an excused absence.

I will be using the Roll Call feature on our ICON site to keep attendance, but I will not be docking points per this policy until the very end of the semester, when I’m assessing final grades. Please keep this in mind when keeping track of your participation grade.

Presentations and Discussion Posts

Author presentations: Once during the semester, you and a partner will kick off our discussion of the day’s readings by giving a brief presentation on the author of those very readings. This need not be A Big Deal — we’re talking 10-15 minutes max, skewing hard in the direction of 10 minutes — in which you provide some of the writer’s personal bio, an overview of their major works/themes/literary influences/critical reception, some articulation of their particular brand/use of humor, and whatever other miscellaneous information you find pertinent. Please submit your presentation notes and/or slides (if you choose to make slides — you’re not required to) to ICON by 5pm the day before your presentation. Once we get the first one out of the way I promise this will all become very formulaic very fast.

ICON Discussion Posts: Part of this course will involve taking part in a collaborative, creative experiment. Starting in Week 1, you will have a short ICON post due by Wednesday at noon. We’ll be working together to figure out if we can come to a consensus about two pressing matters:

1. What constitutes humorous writing?
2. What makes something funny?

I’ll open up discussion boards with different prompts for each week and you’ll be responsible for contributing to the discussion. Some weeks, we’ll bring the discussion into the classroom. At the end of the semester, we’ll see if we can come up with concrete answers to these two questions as a class. This will be the chance for open discussion, energized debate, civil disagreement, creativity, and intellectual collaboration. Discussion posts will be graded on a credit/no credit 1-point scale.

Mini Essays + Reflections

Most of the writing you do in this course will be in the form of short essays—aim for 300-700 words (1-2 pages), double spaced, in 12-point standard font—in response to specific prompts. There are six total. They will be assigned on Tuesdays during class and due Sundays at 11:59PM. When you submit your Mini Essays, please include a few sentences about a craft choice you made, and explain why you made that choice. They will be graded on a check-plus/check/check-minus 3-point scale.

Major Essay 1 + Reflection

An essay on any topic of your choice, preferably “humorous,” whatever that means to you. Please make this an essay that is whole in itself, not an excerpt or just the beginning of a longer piece but a piece that can stand on its own. It should be a minimum of 750 words, maximum 1,500 words, double spaced, in 12-point standard font. You can absolutely take one of your Mini Essays and expand it for your Major Essay, but you don’t have to. Like with your Mini Essays, this will also include a brief reflection on some of your craft choices. Please pay attention to when you are up for workshop; you will submit by class time the week before.

Major Essay 2 + Reflection

An essay on any topic of your choice (again, strive for “humorous,” whatever TF that means). Minimum 1,250 words, maximum 2,500 words. Unlike Essay 1, this essay does not have to be a standalone. Please pay attention to when you are up for workshop; you will submit by class time a week before your workshop date.

Final Portfolio

Your Final Portfolio, submitted at the end of the semester, will have seven parts: your two strongest Mini Essays (as judged by you), major revisions of Essay #1 and #2, the original drafts of your revised essays, and a two-page reflection letter about what you’ve learned in this class (if you learn nothing, please lie and make something up). More details TBA.

Extra Credit

You can earn extra credit for attending a literary event (on Zoom or IRL) and writing about it. We will talk about some places where you can find these.

LATE WORK POLICY

I will accept late Mini Essays no later than the following Wednesday. You will lose half a point for every day it is late. In case of an emergency, please make arrangements with me. Extensions will not be granted on the day an assignment is due, or during the 48 hours prior. I will not accept late Book Report Presentations unless you make arrangements with me well in advance. I will not accept any late Major Essays or Final Portfolios.

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Students are responsible for attending class and for contributing to the learning environment of a course. Students are also responsible for knowing their course absence policies, which will vary by instructor. All absence policies, however, must uphold the UI policy related to student illness, mandatory religious obligations, unavoidable circumstances, or University authorized activities. See the CLAS Academic Policies HandbookLinks to an external site. Students may use this absence formLinks to an external site. to aid communication; the instructor will decide if the absence is excused or unexcused.

You may miss two live meetings without penalty. Further unexcused absences will negatively affect your participation grade, unless you are absent because you are ill. If this is the case, please email me. If you will be absent, I appreciate a heads up via email beforehand. I will be using the Roll Call feature on our ICON site to keep attendance, but I will not be docking points per this policy until the very end of the semester, when I’m assessing final grades. Please keep this in mind when keeping track of your participation grade.

TECHNOLOGY POLICY

No cell phones in class, ever. Period. Put it in the depths of your bag so you’re not tempted to look at it.

I’m not a fan of laptops or tablets in class, but understand that sometimes they make accessing the reading materials easier. That said, if you seem to be busy doing anything on your device other than engaging with the reading, I will ask you to put your device away without hesitation, and/or I will simply give you a zero in participation for the day. If these devices become a distraction generally, or give the class a “bad vibe,” I will no longer allow anyone to use them and will require that everyone print the readings.

On workshop weeks we will be 100% analog. That means paper, pens, and minimal distraction.

NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY

The University of Iowa is committed to making the classroom a respectful and inclusive space for all people irrespective of their gender, sexual, racial, religious or other identities. Toward this goal, students are invited to optionally share their preferred names and pronouns with their instructors and classmates. The University of Iowa prohibits discrimination and harassment against individuals on the basis of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, and other identity categories set forth in the University’s Human Rights policy. For more information, contact the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity at diversity.uiowa.eduLinks to an external site..

The bottom line: Be respectful. Take care to remember your classmates’ pronouns and how to pronounce their names. If you make a mistake, just correct yourself and move on. Do not read aloud harmful language, like slurs, that you come across in an essay, whether that piece is published or written by one of your peers. And do not share or discuss your peers’ work with anyone who is not enrolled in this class.

OFFICE HOURS

You can drop into my office hours if you have general questions about our course readings or other academic matters.  And please note that the English department does not allow me to comment on writing that you didn’t do for this class.

THE WRITING CENTER

If you need help with proofreading, drafting, grammar, punctuation, ideas, or anything else related to writing, please visit the Writing Center in 110 EPB (335-0188). You can schedule individual or continued appointments with trained professionals. Tutoring via videoconference is also available. The Writing Center can seriously help you improve and polish your essay.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY + PLAGIARISM POLICY

All CLAS students have, in essence, agreed to the College’s Code of Academic HonestyLinks to an external site.: “I pledge to do my own academic work and to excel to the best of my abilities, upholding the IOWA ChallengeLinks to an external site.: “I promise not to lie about my academic work, to cheat, or to steal the words or ideas of others; nor will I help fellow students to violate the Code of Academic Honesty.” Any student committing academic misconduct is reported to the College, resulting in suspension or other sanctions, with sanctions communicated to the student through the UI email address.

In short: DON’T PLAGIARIZE! Submitting work that is not your own in a workshop-based course is a waste of everyone’s time—including yours! If I have identified a plagiarized assignment, it will receive a zero. If this ever applies to you, we will meet to discuss it. Note that reusing an assignment you did for another course is considered plagiarism. All work you submit for this course should be completed specifically for this course.

EMAIL POLICY

University policy specifies that students are responsible for all official correspondence sent to their University of Iowa email address (@uiowa.edu). Faculty and students should use this account for correspondences. (Operations Manual III.15.2Links to an external site.. Scroll down to k.11.)

You’re welcome to email me (carey-dunne@uiowa.edu) questions and concerns you have throughout the semester. However, there will also be a discussion board on our ICON site titled “Any Questions??”. If you have a question that might apply to everyone in the class, post it there, and either I or one of your classmates will respond within a day or two.

Please only email me with your university (@uiowa.edu) email address. I won’t respond to emails from non-@uiowa.edu email addresses. Though I’ll often respond sooner, please allow me 48 hours to respond before checking in again. If it is an urgent matter, say so in your subject line. And check your email regularly to make sure you don’t miss any messages from me about class meetings.

ADMINISTRATIVE HOME

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the administrative home of this course and governs matters such as the add/drop deadlines, the second-grade-only option, and other related issues. Different colleges may have different policies. If you have questions, please see the CLAS Academic Policies HandbookLinks to an external site..

FINAL EXAM POLICY

We do not have a final exam in this course (wooo!). Instead, you’ll be submitting a Final Portfolio (basic guidelines above; more details to be announced).

MAKING A SUGGESTION OR COMPLAINT

Students with a suggestion or complaint should first visit the instructor, and then with the Director of Undergraduate Studies in English (Adam-Hooks@uiowa.edu) before appealing, if necessary, to the DEO (Loren-Glass@uiowa.edu). See the Academic Policies HandbookLinks to an external site..

SCHEDULE

This schedule is subject to change. The most accurate, up-to-date calendar will always be on our ICON site. Under “Modules,” you will find checklists of each week’s reading and writing assignments. We will workshop student pieces on the days indicated. I will assign workshop dates Week 2 to allow for fluctuations in our class list.

Week One | Welcome Week

Tuesday, January 18

• Who the heck are you people?? Also, the syllabus.
• Mini Essay 1 assigned (peer profile)

Thursday, January 20

• Show and Tell: Discussion Post 1
• Excerpts from The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon
• “Yes, Make Coronavirus Jokes,” Tom McTague
• “A Quest to Understand What Makes Something Funny,” Shane Snow
• Workshop and presentation signups

Discussion Post 1: Post your Funny Thing of the Week to ICON by Wednesday, January 19th at 11:59 p.m.  

Mini Essay 1: Peer Profile. Due to ICON Sunday, January 23rd at 11:59 p.m.

Week Two | Parody and Satire

Tuesday, January 25 

•  “18 Reasons To Quit Your Job and Come to Australia,” Buzzfeed
• “7 Reasons To Quit Your Job And Travel The World, Maybe Swinging Through Indonesia To Help Me Climb Out Of This Quarry,” Clickhole
• “21st Century Cooler that’s Actually Cooler,” Kickstarter
• “Help Me Follow My Sister into the Land of the Dead” by Carmen Maria Machado
• “Which One of My Garbage Sons Are You?”, Clickhole
• “Ask the Optimist!”, George Saunders

Thursday, January 27  

• “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift
• “The Case Against Babies,” Joy Williams
• “How to Write about Africa,” Binyavanga Wainaina

Post to ICON Discussion Board by Wednesday, January 26 at noon. 

Mini Essay 2: Formal Parody. Due to ICON Sunday, January 30 at 11:59 p.m.

Week Three | Voice, Persona, Narrative

Tuesday, February 1 

• • Excerpt from Priestdaddy, “The Communal Mind” by Patricia Lockwood

• “You Can’t Kill the Rooster,” “Genetic Engineering,” “I’ll Eat What He’s Wearing,” “Repeat After Me,” David Sedaris
  • Lockwood and Sedaris presentations by: 1. Airi and 2. Kait

Thursday, February 3

Special guest Tatiana Schlotte-Bonne!!!

• “High School for Dummies,” Tatiana Schlotte-Bonne

Post two questions for Tatiana to ICON discussion board by Wednesday, February 2 at 11:59pm. 

Mini Essay 3 due to ICON Sunday, February 6th at 11:59 p.m.

Week Four | Immersion

Tuesday, February 8 

• “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” by Hunter S. Thompson
• “Shipping Out” by David Foster Wallace
  • Thompson and Wallace presentations by: 3. Graham and 4. Spencer

Thursday, February 10

Special guest Gyasi Hall!!!

• “Alas, Poor Fhoul,” Gyasi Hall
• “Malfunctioning Sex Robot,” Patricia Lockwood

Post questions for Gyasi Hall to ICON discussion board by Wednesday, February 9 at 11:59 p.m.

Mini Essay 4: Immersion. Due to ICON Tuesday, February 15 at 11:59 p.m.

Week Five | Humor and Pain

Tuesday, February 15

• “Shooting Dad,” “The Partly Cloudy Patriot,” Sarah Vowell
• “A Total Attack of the Heart,” “A Blues for Fred,” “Yo, I Need a Job,” Samantha Irby
  • Vowell and Irby presentations by: 5. Katie and 6. Ciara

Thursday, February 17 

Special guest Lulu Dewey!!!

• “Giddy Up, Horse Boy,” “Seven Minutes to Beauty,” “Looking for Love,” Lulu Dewey
• “I Shit My Pants in the South of France,” Jonathan Ames

Workshop essays from Greta and Kait due to ICON Thursday at 11:59 a.m.

Post questions for Lulu to ICON by Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.

Mini Essay 5: Humor and Pain. Due to ICON Sunday, February 20th at 11:59 p.m.

Week Six | Workshop

Tuesday, February 22

• “My Chivalric Fiasco,” “Adams,” “My Guilty Pleasures” by George Saunders
  • Saunders presentation by 7. Alyssa
• Mini workshop: bring two printed copies of one of your mini essays to class.

Workshop essays from Airi, Tyler due to ICON Tuesday before class.

Thursday, February 24 

1. XX
2. XX

Workshop essays from Spencer, Ciara due to ICON Thursday before class.

Week Seven | Workshop

Tuesday, March 1

3. XX
4. XX

Workshop essays from Katie, Graham due to ICON Tuesday before class.

Thursday, March 3

5. XX
6. XX

Workshop essays from Sarah, Alyssa due to ICON Thursday before class.

Week Eight | Workshop

Tuesday, March 8

7. XX
8. XX

Workshop essay from Tom due Tuesday before class.

Thursday, March 10

9.   XX
10. XX

Week Nine | SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS

Week Ten | Workshop; Humor and Criticism

Tuesday, March 22

11. Workshop: Katie and Graham

Thursday, March 24

• “The More Things Change” by Andrea Long Chu (https://jewishcurrents.org/the-more-things-changeLinks to an external site.)
• “Post Malone is the perfect pop star for this moment. That’s not a compliment,” Download Post Malone is the perfect pop star for this moment. That’s not a compliment,”Jeff Weiss
• “Greta Van Fleet: Anthem of the Peaceful Army” by Jeremy Larson https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/greta-van-fleet-anthem-of-the-peaceful-army/Links to an external site.
  • Criticism presentation by Greta

Mini Essay 7: Immersion due to ICON Sunday, March 27th at 11:59pm. 

Week Eleven | Dialogue; More Painful Humor

Tuesday, March 29

Special guest Jessie Kraemer on clowning, dialogue, and illustration!!!!

• • “To Have Eaten the Octopus” by Jessie Kraemer

• • Reading TBD

Workshop essays from Greta, Kait due Tuesday before class.

Thursday, March 31

• Selections from Them by Jon Ronson
  • Jon Ronson presentation by Sarah

Workshop essays from Airi, Tyler due Thursday before class.

Week Twelve | Workshop

Week Eleven 

Tuesday, March 29 

Workshop essays from 1. Greta and 2. Kait due to ICON before class. 

Thursday, March 31

Workshop essays from  3. Airi and 4. Tyler due Thursday before class.

Week Twelve  

Tuesday, April 5

1. Greta
2. Kait

Workshop essays from 5. Spencer and 6. Ciara due Tuesday before class.

Thursday, April 7 

3. Airi

4. Tyler

Workshop essays from 7. Katie and 8. Graham due Thursday before class.

Week Thirteen 

Tuesday, April 12

5. Spencer

6. Ciara

Workshop essays from 9. Sarah and 10. Alyssa due Tuesday before class.

Thursday, April 14

7. Katie

8. Graham

Workshop essay from 11. Tom due Thursday before class.

Week Fourteen | Workshop

Tuesday, April 19

9. Sarah

10.  Alyssa 

Thursday, April 21 

11. Tom 

• Read Chapter One of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O’Toole. The PDF is here. Download PDF is here.Chapter One starts on page 5.

We will discuss Failures and bad writing today. Make sure you have posted to the Failures discussion board. 

Mini Essay 6 (Cultural Criticism) due Sunday, April 23rd. 

Week Fifteen | Multimedia Week  

Tuesday, April 26

• Watch “Wells for Boys,” SNLhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BONhk-hbiXk
• Watch “Papyrus,” SNLhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVhlJNJopOQ
• Watch My Favorite Shapes, Julio Torres (HBO)
  • https://play.hbomax.com/feature/urn:hbo:feature:GXST9BgfRl06olAEAAAAl
  • https://www.amazon.com/My-Favorite-Shapes-Julio-Torres/dp/B07W5SN7JT
  • Julio Torres presentation by Tyler  

Thursday, April 28 

• Reading TBD  
  • TBD presentation by 11. Tom

Week Sixteen | Revision Strategies

Tuesday, May 3

• Reading TBD

Thursday, May 5 

• Class Reading

Finals Week

Major Essay + Reflection due TK at 11:59 p.m.

Final Portfolio + Reflection due TK at 11:59 p.m.