Assignment constraints

Here are the constraints I am giving you for the next assignment:

1.     It must be non-fiction.

2.     It must involve primary research, the collection and creation of data (not primary textual research, but something more ethnographic involving other people).

3.     It must include secondary research.

4.     It must have a certain heft – think in terms of 2500 words or its equivalent (if you have alternative forms in mind than a straightforward 10 page paper).

5.     Don’t be boring.

On Thursday, please come to class with some basic ideas about what you might do for this paper. We’ll discuss them in small groups and then as a class. For Thursday March 6, please bring a proposal that addressing the following questions:

1.     What is your project?

2.     What process will you use for primary research? (Who, where, what, etc.)

3.     What directions do you imagine your secondary research going?

4.     Why is this an interesting subject for you?

5.     What questions do you have about the topic as you enter it? (These are important because they will help shape what you do at the beginning, but they will almost certainly change as you work on your project.)

You don’t have to answer these point by point like this - just address them in the proposal. Please post that to your blog by Tuesday’s class.

Comments

Hi -

My comments are up. I'd actually recommend that you read my comments to everybody. My sense is some of it crosses over to other writers, and in any case, it's the best evidence you've received so far about the kind of reader I am, which is probably useful information, though I wouldn't get bogged down in it, which seems like a good place to end an already very long sentence.

A couple of you have commented that you'd do it differently if you could start it over. Of course. But that's an idea I'd like to take on for next week.

You all dove into this and did it, in interesting ways. Thanks. We were all stepping out a bit with this, and it's exciting to see where you've taken it.

Almost

Sorry. I am running behind. I'll have comments by tomorrow morning for those of you who don't have comments. Please send me questions about my comments if you need them.

papers

Some of you gave me papers with your notes on them from Tuesday's class, and I told you I would give them back on Thursday, and in fact meant to, but I did not. I will tape an envelope to my office door with your papers in them by 10:00 this morning.

Those papers don't have my comments on them, just your notes - so if you didn't make comments on your papers, or don't care if you have that draft, don't worry about it.

Response for Thursday

Hi -

Please read everything the class has posted, and then with the two you identified in class today, respond to the following. Please come prepared to discuss this in class on Thursday:

1. Describe your experience as a reader. What things intrigued, excited, bored, amused, confused (& etc.) you? Be specific.

2. Offer specific feedback for the writer, referring to specific aspects in the pieces.

3. Come up with 2-3 generative questions for the writer (questions that will require the writer to think more fully about the project in some way).

You can post these as comments to each writer's blog, but again, come in prepared to discuss them on Thursday.

Yippee!

Reading photographs

    Please look closely at all the photos your classmates have posted, and make a note of any especially interesting things you notice, or questions that come up for you. Then, return to the photos posted by people from the groups you were with in class today, and write a specific response for each person. What do you see in these photographs? What connections can you make? What questions do they raise for you? What sort of emotional response do they evoke? Those are just sample questions - of course respond as the photographs lead you. In any case, look, and look again, and then write about what you see in a way that might be helpful for your classmates.

Style analysis

     For Thursday, read each of the entries from the class, with special attention to the students in the groups from Tuesday's class (if you weren't here on Tuesday, then pick three blogs to respond to).

     Focus at the level of the sentence on the style of the writers, on features that stand out to you when you look closely at their writing. What do you notice about their sentences? About their word choice? What effects can you connect to their style? Please include a short passage from each writer as an example of what you noticed in the style. Also, please pay attention to things you notice, but don't know how to name or describe.

     Another way of thinking about this: if a writer is funny (or sarcastic, or angry, etc.), how does she create that tone stylistically? We want to start noticing, on a technical level, what writers are doing, especially writers who happen to be ourselves.

(Note: Shannon's blog is still not posted, if you are looking for it. I hope to have it up soon. If you read this, Shannon, send the url and link to me!)

The Photo Essay

I’ve given you several examples of photo essays below, chosen more or less randomly (though I like all of the ones included here). As you examine the photo essays below, ask yourself these questions about them:

What effect does the arrangement of the photos have?

What story or stories do the photos tell?

What does the photographer seem to emphasize? (landscape, architecture, people, etc.)

What themes can you identify in the photographs? How?

What tone to the photographs have? (humorous, distant, angry, compassionate, etc.)

How would you define the photographer’s technique?

What statements or ideas (if any) do you think the photographer is trying to convey?

Walker Evans Photo Essay – Businessmen:

http://www.fulltable.com/vts/f/fbm/e.htm

http://www.fulltable.com/vts/f/fortune/evans/a.htm

Walker Evans Photo Essay – Chicago:

http://www.fulltable.com/vts/f/fortune/ch.htm

Walker Evans Interview (at bottom of page):

http://www.fulltable.com/vts/f/fortune/menug.htm

Bruce Davidson – Time of Change:

http://www.edelmangallery.com/davidsonshow4.htm

Bruce Davidson – Brooklyn Gangs:

http://www.edelmangallery.com/davidsonshow1.htm

W. Eugene Smith – Country Doctor:

http://life.time.com/photographers/life-classic-eugene-smiths-country-doctor/?iid=lf|latest#1

(there are also links to other Life Magazine photographs in this section)

Sim Chiyn – The Mean Streets of Vietnam:

http://thephotoessay.com/chiyin/v1.html

Links to other photo essays here:

http://thephotoessay.com/index.html

http://motherjones.com/photoessays

http://www.richardross.net/

You can find dozens of other examples yourselves.