Anger and Revenge

Hello all,

Here are some questions to help you get started with your final essay:

What is anger? Don't use a dictionary definition. Come up with your own definition, and see how that compares to other definitions. For example, "wrath" is considered one of the seven deadly sins, and Buddhist philosophy considers anger a manifestation of the ego.

What are the different causes of anger?

What are the different ways people manifest and show anger?

What are the different effects anger can have?

How can anger be a positive? Can it be productive?

How do the causes and expressions of anger differ in the personal, social, and political spheres?

What makes you angry? How do you express your anger?

What has made you the angriest? Why?

For this blog, post a question of your own that you (or one of your colleagues) could answer in the final essay.

Creative Nonfiction: The Personal Essay

Hello All,

Our final essay is going to be a work of creative nonfiction; it will be based on your memories, experiences, and ruminations. The theme of this assignment is "Anger and/or Revenge," so you might access your memories of times you became angry or witnessed others become angry. What causes this anger? Was it warranted? Was it proportional? What effects did it have?

For this blog, read the following essays, and choose one that you think is effective; briefly explain what about it worked for you.

"Einstein Didn't Dream of My Mother"

"A June Journal"

"Red, White, and Silver"

"Shunned"

"Unwired"

Dominant Impression

Hello All,

For this post, briefly explain the dominant impression your profile will present. In other words, what is the message you want to convey about this place that you are profiling?

Profile Examples

Hello All,

For this blog, read (at least) one of the following profiles:

Streets of Sorrow (about Hollywood)
California Dreamin' (about Big Sur)
Desert Byways (about Death Valley)
Eliza Grace, the Mojave, and Me (about Death Valley)

Then, describe one writing technique the author does especially well.
Make sure not to duplicate another student's post.

Profile

Hello All,

As the assignment description on the syllabus states, your next assignment is to write a profile of a place in Kern County (if you live outside of Kern County, choose a place near where you currently live). Your profiles must use two sources, one of which must be an interview. The file I posted to Blackboard gives suggestions as to how to conduct an effective interview.

For this post, just name . . .

1. The place you plan on profiling;
2. The person you plan on interviewing as your first source;
3. The second source you plan on using.

These are not binding, so you are free to change your mind at any time.

5th Post

Hello All,

1. Read the file on Syntax and Punctuation that I sent to you and posted to Blackboard.
2. Write (and post) a body paragraph for your essay that uses an example of each of the following types of sentences:
Simple Sentence
Compound Sentence
Complex Sentence
Compound-Complex Sentence

Complete this blog by Friday.

4th Post

Hello All,

For this blog, name the two photographs from the Where We Live exhibit that you will compare and contrast for your first essay.

Here are the links to the other readings:

Roland Barthes's "Rhetoric of the Image"
Siegfried Kracauer's "Photography"
Andre Bazin's "The Ontology of the Photographic Image"
Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction"

Here is a link to a page with helpful definitions of photography terms.

3rd Post

Hello All,

This post will take you a little longer, so I'm going to give you until Friday afternoon to finish this one, and I'll post a description of your next essay on Saturday.

1. Read the file on "Using Quotes."
2. Read Susan Sontag's essay "The Image World." (Both of these files are posted on Blackboard)
3. Write a one-paragraph analysis of Dorothea Lange's 1936 photograph "Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California" in which you use your newly revised powers of description and three direct quotes from Sontag that help you explain what the photograph "means" and how we as an audience can and do relate to the image.
One quote must be introduced with an introductory phrase; one quote must be introduced with an independent clause and a colon; and phrases from one quote must be used in the context of your own syntax.

2nd Post

Hello All,

Now that we've finished the resume and cover letter, we will begin discussing and working on the academic analysis and the relevant aspects of effective writing. The first subject we will discuss is the use of rhetorical modes.

1. Read the file I sent via e-mail (and will post to Blackboard).
2. Explain the meaning behind one of the similes or metaphors.
3. Describe one of Joel Sternfeld's photographs from the Strangers Passing slideshow using both sense imagery and figurative description. Your description should be a solid paragraph of 5-10 sentences.

First Blog Post

Hello All, and welcome to the blog!

Your first assignment will be the resume and cover letter, so for this first post, all I want you to do is to describe the job/position that you will use for the resume/cover letter. In other words, what job are you applying for?