Assignment 4 Continued . . .

Hello All,

Watch this video before (or after, if need be) you read Kracauer's analysis . . .

The photographs are part of a project called "Back to the Future" by the Argentinian photographer Irina Werning. Not to get all sentimental on you, but this is a video that makes me both smile and cry.

Assignment #4

Hello All,

For this assignment, follow the usual procedure: analyze two quotes from Kracauer's "Photography," and post a photograph.  Here's one of my son from the Monterrey Bay Aquarium.

Assignment #3

Hello All,

For this assignment, read Roland Barthes's "Rhetoric of the Image," which discusses how an image conveys meaning or a message.  As before, find two quotes you find interesting: explain what intrigues you with each quote.

Finally, post another photograph you've taken.  Here's one I took in Balch Park.  There's a bear in the upper right-hand corner . . . and the bear is not scared of us.

"The Image World"

Hello All,

Your second blog assignment is to read Susan Sontag's "The Image World" (which you can access through Blackboard in the Essay 1 tab). 

Once you've read the essay, find two quotes that you find intriguing.  Copy those quotes to your blog, and explain why you found them interesting.

Finally, post a photograph that you have taken.  The only qualification is that you need to have taken the photograph (it can be of anything).

The photograph I've posted is from a trip I took to Turkey.  The graffitti means "Live Primitively" or "Be Primitive" in Turkish.

Summer 2012 Blog Introductions

Hello All,

For this first assignment, create your blog, and post its URL (the web address of the blog itself) into the Comments box below this post.  Make your blog unique and reflective of your personality (don't just use "English Blog" as your title).  If you run into problems and/or get stuck, don't get frustrated: we'll walk you through the process during the orientation.

Take care!

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"