Archives for September 15, 2016

Due 9/19: It’s All Happening! (Almost Famous Reference!)

September 15, 2016 By

1. The coming week represents the true beginning of the year! Everyone should be registered for the site. You should have all supplies in place! I hope to see us begin with an open mind and a positive disposition.

2. This is Water by David Foster Wallace–Read and annotate (click the link and print the handout) the commencement address. For the ensuing discussion, I am not interested in a critical discussion. Our discussion will be aimed at understanding. Here is a link to audio of the speech if you are interested:

3. The Bell Jar Unit Poetry–As part of this unit, we will read selections from Emily Dickinson, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath. This weekend print the handout and read and annotate the selections from Emily Dickinson.

Due 9/19: Future Readings

September 15, 2016 By

1. Man’s Search for Meaning–Please be prepared to discuss the book on Monday!
2. Philosophy Packet–Please take very good care of the packet! 🙂

Future Readings:

1. (Due 9/20) Read and annotate William Barrett’s The Encounter with Nothingness(Second reading in the packet). Be sure to read all three parts (the third part being Science and Finitude). Barrett’s reading will give us just a nugget of context before we move ahead. Remember, you must annotate all readings for this class! Failure to do so will result in a zero!  You will learn how to provide some focus to your annotations.  Ultimately, focused annotating prepares you for your reading responses, formal essays, and class discussions.  To annotate is to supply with critical or explanatory notes:

  • identifying lines that resonate with you, confuse you, or make you want to know more
  • asking questions of general thematic/philosophical value
  • tracking the development of a theme that may connect to one or more of the philosophical readings or other fiction.

2. (Due 9/21) Existentialism is a Humanism–Jean Paul Sartre is often the first name to come to mind when one considers Existentialism. His brand of atheistic existentialism so dominates the existential landscape that one forgets that the “first existentialist” Kierkegaard was indeed a theist. Nevertheless, Sartre’s essay most clearly defines the existential mindset. It becomes a fundamental piece of this course’s foundation.   Additionally, his essay establishes some of the tenets of existentialism that are universally applicable.  Read and ANNOTATE! Be sure you are able to discuss the four reproaches of existentialism and his defense against those reproaches.

Class Forum–Remember you must post by midnight Tuesday (in preparation for Wednesday’s class)! AND REMEMBER TO BRING A PRINTED COPY OF YOUR RESPONSE IN TO CLASS. The responses should be added to the reading response section of your binder. Be sure to include the heading and title each printed response.

3. (Due 9/22) Soren Kierkegaard–Read and annotate That Individual. Be sure you can articulate Kierkegaard’s thesis and supporting argument. The following week we will write our first précis. This requires that you have at least Control of the source article. Print out the précis detail sheet.

Due 9/19: The Beginning!

September 15, 2016 By

1. Poetry Seminar Packet–This is a very long packet, so print out poems when assigned. I would strongly encourage you to download the file to your computer. The first 48 pages have already been given to you! Be sure to bring that to class every day (you can store it in a folder). This weekend review closely pages 15-17 (stop with verse forms).

2. Reading–Read and annotate the three Shakespearean sonnets on pp. 50-51. Note: you should print all assigned readings and bring them into class. On any given day, I will collect the poems and grade the annotations.

3. Writing–Excerpt from Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet (Letter 6):

I don’t want you to be without a greeting from me when Christmas comes and when you, in the midst of the holiday, are bearing your solitude more heavily than usual. But when you notice that it is vast, you should be happy; for what (you should ask yourself) would a solitude be that was not vast; there is only one solitude, and it is vast, heavy, difficult to bear, and almost everyone has hours when he would gladly exchange it for any kind of sociability, however trivial or cheap, for the tiniest outward agreement with the first person who comes along, the most unworthy. But perhaps these are the very hours during which solitude grows; for its growing is painful as the growing of boys and sad as the beginning of spring. But that must not confuse you. What is necessary, after all, is only this: solitude, vast inner solitude. To walk inside yourself and meet no one for hours – that is what you must be able to attain. To be solitary as you were when you were a child, when the grownups walked around involved with matters that seemed large and important because they looked so busy and because you didn’t understand a thing about what they were doing.

This weekend, a two-pronged writing activity. Find a place where you can be at peace, alone and take a walk “inside yourself.” What do you see there? Who is there? What’s going on there? No need to give shape and form to this; so feel free to list here!

Second prong: Write at least 6 lines of verse capturing a bit of that journey inward. That is all the guidance you get here… at least 6 lines of verse. This can be completed in your poetry journal.

4. Be sure to bring Letters to a Young Poet into class for the first couple of weeks. (I will let you know when you can leave it at home.)