In Class

Final Exam.
  1. Much Ado about Nothing e-book HERE.
  2. Introductory presentation on Much Ado about Nothing HERE.
  3. Much Ado about Nothing's Main Characters' Status, Alliances, and Relationships HERE.
  4. The Battle of the Sexes: Male and Female Reputation HERE.
  5. Happy Endings? Marriage, or The Taming of the Shrew HERE.
  6. Print your final exam if you are typing it. Make two copies if you want one for yourself.
Put your name on the signup sheet to meet with me nest week for grades and recitation. Choose ONE poem:
  • Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130," 
  • Donne's "Holy Sonnet X," 
  • Millay's What lips my lips.."

--Week Eleven--

Petruchio forcing Kate to kiss him at their wedding ceremony.
Image from Franco Zefirelli's 1967 film version of
Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew found in TV Tropes
BENEDICK
Peace! I will stop your mouth.
Kissing Beatrice.
*** 
A. Much Ado Jeopardy!:
  • Open the Introductory Presentation on Much Ado HERE.
  • Open the Literary Terms III: Drama Presentation HERE.
B. How to revise a draft to turn in as Essay 3 (see Guidelines for Revision on page 57-69 of the packet)

C. Work on Journal 10.

For next week

1. Read
  • The Battle of the Sexes: Male and Female Reputation HERE.
  • Happy Endings? Marriage, or The Taming of the Shrew HERE.
2. *Write Journal 11.

3. Complete the Quiz on Literary Terms III on Blackboard.

Schedule of Last Days
Tuesday Nov. 26, Tuesday Dec. 3-Friday Dec. 6 (inclusive): Meetings for Essay 3

On Friday Dec 6 in class:
  • Writing Journal 12 (and other missing journals) 
  • Meetings for Essay 3 
  • If you did not turn in a draft for Essay 2 today, your only option is to revise Essay 1. 
By Sunday 8 at 9am:  Turn in all Journals (no extensions)

From Dec 9-13: Revise Essay 1 or Essay 2.
  • See Guidelines for Revision on page 57-69 of the packet.  If you do not follow these guidelines to the letter, I will not accept your revision.
  • Submit your revisions to me or my box in E-103
On Friday, Dec. 13 in class:
  • Final In-class Exam
  • Turn in Take –home final
  • Last Day to turn any/all Essays and/or Revisions (no e-mail submissions, no extensions)
From Tuesday, Dec. 17 to Th. Dec. 19: Meetings for Grades and Poetry Recitation for Extra Credit in M109 H. Choices:
  • Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130," 
  • Donne's "Holy Sonnet X," 
  • Millay's What lips my lips.."







--Week Ten--

If you are turning in Essays 2: When you have completed the writing process, turn in
Class Meeting
Original cartoon by Tony Lopes
See more at Stoney Toons
Image from Sophia Literaria

Much Ado about Nothing is the text we will use for the in-class Final Exam, so you need to be very familiar with it. To help, today we will screen Kenneth Branagh's version of play.
If you are/were unable to come to class on Friday, November 15, search the film in our library's Streaming Media Project  HERE. For copyright reasons, you can only watch the film on campus. Otherwise, check the film information so you can rent it, watch it on YouTube, etc. HERE. 
2. Discussing the Final Exam. Once you have decided what question you want to answer, check the work you should complete for Journals 9, 10, and 11. Instructions and Prompts for Journals

    For Next Class
    1. Review an introductory presentation on Much Ado about Nothing HERE.
    2. Review Much Ado about Nothing's Main Characters' Status, Alliances, and Relationships HERE.
    3. Complete Journal 9. You will need the play for evidence. If you do not have Much Ado about Nothing, check the e-book HERE.
                _______________________________________________

      --Week Nine: CLASS CANCELLED--

      Image result for the american dream
      Photo from Johnson Museum of Art and the American Studies Program

      --Week Eight--

      Class Meeting
      Iron Mask and Collar for Punishing Slaves, Brazil, 1817-1818
      Source: Jacques Arago, Souvenirs d'un aveugle. Voyage autour du monde... par M. J. Arago (Paris, 1839-40), 
      vol. 1, facing p. 119.
      From The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas
      by Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite
      Sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia Library.
      "Did you speak to him? Didn't you say anything to him? Something!" [said Sethe.]
      "I couldn't, Sethe. I just... couldn't" [said Paul D.]
      "Why!"
      "I had a bit in my mouth."
         --From Toni Morrison, Beloved (84). 
      This image is one of the many representations of a series of masks, bridles, and mouth bits created to silence women and slaves. For more, see the blog U.S. Slave HERE (Warning: nasty images). To see how the tradition continues, if much abated, HERE. (Thanks to HiccupsS for the link!) 

      One of the many reasons why Butler's and especially Morrison's storytelling is important, therefore, is that they reclaim the power of language and representation for those who have been denied such a voice. Thus, Kindred touches on many "unspoken" issues that define present American culture.

      Workshop for an essay on Kindred
      • Instructions for Essay 2 HERE 
      Title
      kindred>black and white America are kindred>family of choice rather than blood

      Plot
      whodunit>missing arm-scars>different scars>metaphor of white and black America / the legacy of slavery
      • Time traveling
               -juxtaposition of present and past>present not as different (yet different) than past-black time/double consciousness
               -metaphor for Middle Passage>time difference allows for the the normalization of violence and bondage
               -sf's grandfather paradox>symbiosis of slave and master

      First person participant narrator
      Dana as "author" of Kindred>a subject rather than object> giving voice to the voiceless>appropriating the gaze 

      Characters 
      -mostly static and so representative of specific worldviews. Quick Character Activity
      -set up for comparison>Tom, Rufus, Kevin; Dana and Alice as doppelgangers > argues for environmental causes
      Buckner Topsy Turvy 1901 doll.  Image and historical context below from Black Legacy Images.
      Oral history of the doll: A slave mother designed this type of doll for her children because slave children were not allowed to play with white dolls. When white people were present slave children always had to play with the black doll. The black doll was the only legal doll black children could play with in America during slave times.














      For Next Class (10/15--NO CLASS 10/8)
      1. Complete the Quiz on Literary Terms III on Blackboard based on THIS PRESENTATION
      2. Work on Essay 2. When you have completed the writing process, turn in

      --Week Seven--



      Class Meeting
      Houses Workshop on Secondary Readings for Kindred 
      For the reading assigned to your House: You will have 15 minutes to discuss the questions assigned HERE. Then you will present your findings to the class as we put together a bigger picture of the ways these readings speak to each other. Have a copy of the readings handy. Left that packet at home? That's okay. Here it is.

      If you want, for Essay 2 you can use the podcast featuring Brittney Cooper:   https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=707189797

      or any of the readings/podcasts/images in The New York Times 1619 Project:   https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html

      For Next Class
      1. Write Journal 8 ("The Storm," "The Rope.")
      2. Complete Quiz: Kindred: "The Storm," "The Rope" and Quiz: Literary Terms II
      3. Bring in a brief proposal of your topic and angle for Essay 2 to pitch in class. Your proposal must include THREE pieces of evidence from the novel.  Prompt for Essay 2
      Ongoing:
      Turn in work for Essay 1:





      --Week Six--

      Class Meeting

      Today we begin exploring the novel Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. This novel is partly set in Maryland before the American Civil War. To really understand the kind of world Dana, our protagonist, is time-traveling to, we need to do a bit of research on slavery in the United States.
      “Caution!! Colored People of Boston” Anti-Slavery Poster (1851)
      from The Boston Public Library

      The modern epoch was founded on European imperialism and African slavery. Both these systems were organized racially. The theft of labor and life, of land and resources, from millions of Africans and Native Americans, and from Asians and Pacific Islanders as well,  financed the rise of Europe and made possible both its subsequent mercantilism and its later industrialism. Conquest, imperial rule, and the chattelization of labor (principally but not entirely African labor) divided humanity into Europeans and "others." Ferocious and unending cultural and psychic energies were expended to sustain this schism, which was also constantly challenged and undermined in innumerable ways.
         --Howard Winant. New Politics of Race : Globalism, Difference, Justice: 205.

      A. Backgrounds for Kindred I: Slavery in the United States

       Part I:
        1. On the list below, find the topic that matches your assigned number
        1. Punishment 
        2. Slave Breeding
        3. House Slaves 
        4. Field Slaves 
        5. Education  
        6. Family Life  
        7. Whipping
        2. Visit the Spartacus Educational site Slavery in the United States at http://spartacus-educational.com/USAslavery.htm Scroll down until you see the topic “Slave Life.” Click on your topic.
        3. Read the entire page for your topic. On a piece of paper, summarize what you have read. Include any striking details.

        Part II:
        I will put you in a group so all seven aspects of slavery are represented. Take about 2 minutes to tell the others what you have learned, using the summary to help you remember key ideas. The point is to acquire as much general information about slavery as possible in a short period of time. As you listen, write down the ideas that made the strongest impression on you.


        B. Backgrounds for Kindred II: Introductory Lecture on Kindred

        As you think of what you would like to do for Essay 2, consider
        From Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks: Because I Know You Don't Read the Newspaper (2000): 38.
        Image from Rad Geek People's Daily

        For Next Week
        1. Quiz: "The Fight" on Blackboard
        2.  *Journal 7 (Kindred--"The Fight" II-sections 11-16)
        Ongoing:
        1. Quiz: Literary Terms II
        2. Next week is the deadline for turning in Essay 1. To do so, turn in
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