After reading the chapter on "Black and Brown" in Victoria Finlay's Color, read the chapter on verbs in Constance Hale's Sin and Syntax.
Find one sentence in "Black and Brown" that embodies Hale's recommendation for writers to use dynamic verbs. Copy that sentence, and explain why Finlay's choice of verbs in the sentence is so effective.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Spring 2017, Post #3
For this post, first read "Ochre" in Victoria Finlay's Color.
Our class has students from a wide variety of majors and disciplines: Liberal Studies, Criminal Justice, Philosophy, Business Administration, Nursing, Biology, Physical Education and Kinesiology, Psychology, Religious Studies, Communications, and Child, Adolescent, and Family Studies. Each major and discipline is a way of seeing and understanding the world.
Choose two majors/disciplines from this list, and explain what parts of the chapter on "Ochre" a student of this field would find most interesting.
Our class has students from a wide variety of majors and disciplines: Liberal Studies, Criminal Justice, Philosophy, Business Administration, Nursing, Biology, Physical Education and Kinesiology, Psychology, Religious Studies, Communications, and Child, Adolescent, and Family Studies. Each major and discipline is a way of seeing and understanding the world.
Choose two majors/disciplines from this list, and explain what parts of the chapter on "Ochre" a student of this field would find most interesting.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Spring 2017, Post #2
Read pages 1-8 in Constance Hale's Sin and Syntax. Find one sentence in Victoria Finlay's chapters "The Beginning of the Rainbow" or "The Paintbox" (in Color) that embodies Hale's advice to "relish every word," "be simple, but go deep," "take risks," "seek beauty," or "find the right pitch." Copy that sentence, and explain why and/or how it succeeds. In other words, don't summarize the sentence; instead, explain why it is a well-written sentence.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Spring 2017, Post #1
Hello All,
As I wrote in the e-mail, introduce yourselves and ask a question about the class or syllabus.
As I wrote in the e-mail, introduce yourselves and ask a question about the class or syllabus.
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Post #17: Personal Essay / Rhetorical Modes
Which rhetorical modes will you use for your personal essay?
In case you've forgotten, here are those nine rhetoical modes once again:
Argument: Make an assertion, and support that assertion through reasons and evidence.
Description: Illustrate an object or idea by providing specific imagery (such as visual details) or figurative language (such as metaphors).
Definition: Specify the essential qualities of an object or idea.
Exemplification: Provide examples.
Narration: Tell a story.
Compare/Contrast: Detail similarities and differences.
Cause/Effect: Detail the causes (and/or effects).
Process Analysis: Explain how to do something or how something was done.
Division / Classification: Break an idea down into categories, and then label each category.
In case you've forgotten, here are those nine rhetoical modes once again:
Argument: Make an assertion, and support that assertion through reasons and evidence.
Description: Illustrate an object or idea by providing specific imagery (such as visual details) or figurative language (such as metaphors).
Definition: Specify the essential qualities of an object or idea.
Exemplification: Provide examples.
Narration: Tell a story.
Compare/Contrast: Detail similarities and differences.
Cause/Effect: Detail the causes (and/or effects).
Process Analysis: Explain how to do something or how something was done.
Division / Classification: Break an idea down into categories, and then label each category.
Be sure to specify HOW you will be using the mode. For example, if you plan on using compare/contrast, what two things will you be comparing and contrasting?
Monday, May 16, 2016
Post #16: "Arrival Gates"
In "Arrival Gates," Rebecca Solnit uses syntax and metaphors to develop her theme of physical and psychological "arrival."
Here is one metaphor Solnit uses to describe the present: "the present is a house into which we always have one foot, an apple we are just biting, a face we are just glimpsing for the first time."
1. Using this sentence as a model, write a similar sentence for your "Lost & Found" essay:
"Being lost is ...., is ..., is ...." or "Being found is ..., is ..., is ...."
These metaphors should be specific things (such as Solnit's house, apple, face), and the more specific, the better !
2. Look at the opening sentence of Solnit's essay . . . it is a long paragraph that is all one sentence, a sentence that begins with a long string of "after" clauses tied at the end with the simple independent clause "I arrived at the orange gates."
Somewhere in your essay, I want to see you write a similar paragraph, one that is a long string of phrases or clauses tied at the end with a short, emphatic independent clause. Instead of "after," you could use any of the following words:
although, as long as, as though, because, before, even if, even though, since, unless, until, when, whenever, where, whereas, while,
Which word will you choose to repeat throughout your sentence to build tension and rhythm?
Here is one metaphor Solnit uses to describe the present: "the present is a house into which we always have one foot, an apple we are just biting, a face we are just glimpsing for the first time."
1. Using this sentence as a model, write a similar sentence for your "Lost & Found" essay:
"Being lost is ...., is ..., is ...." or "Being found is ..., is ..., is ...."
These metaphors should be specific things (such as Solnit's house, apple, face), and the more specific, the better !
2. Look at the opening sentence of Solnit's essay . . . it is a long paragraph that is all one sentence, a sentence that begins with a long string of "after" clauses tied at the end with the simple independent clause "I arrived at the orange gates."
Somewhere in your essay, I want to see you write a similar paragraph, one that is a long string of phrases or clauses tied at the end with a short, emphatic independent clause. Instead of "after," you could use any of the following words:
although, as long as, as though, because, before, even if, even though, since, unless, until, when, whenever, where, whereas, while,
Which word will you choose to repeat throughout your sentence to build tension and rhythm?
Post #15: "Reflections on Indexing My Lynching Book"
In "Reflections on Indexing My Lynching Book," Ashraf H.A. Rushdy meditates and reflects on another work he has nearly finished completing. In this way, he uses nostalgia to interrogate his own writing process as well as the historical contexts and traumas that formed the subject of his books.
1. If you were to look back on something you've written for another class that affected you and that left you feeling "lost," what assignment would that be?
Rushdy begins his essay by using the second-person pronoun "you" to create a scenario and put the reader into the writer's experience.
2. With what sort of scenario could you use the second-person perspective in a similar way in your "Lost & Found" essay?
One way Rushdy organizes his essay is to divide and classify the people in his books (and in American history).
3. In your essay, who would be on your list of "someone who stood up for justice and righteousness, someone who performed a daring intellectual or heroic deed" (174)? Who would be on your "personal axis of evil" (176)?
1. If you were to look back on something you've written for another class that affected you and that left you feeling "lost," what assignment would that be?
Rushdy begins his essay by using the second-person pronoun "you" to create a scenario and put the reader into the writer's experience.
2. With what sort of scenario could you use the second-person perspective in a similar way in your "Lost & Found" essay?
One way Rushdy organizes his essay is to divide and classify the people in his books (and in American history).
3. In your essay, who would be on your list of "someone who stood up for justice and righteousness, someone who performed a daring intellectual or heroic deed" (174)? Who would be on your "personal axis of evil" (176)?
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