Narrative of the Life: Notes Towards Day 10 (Tues, Feb. 7)

I. (2:25-2:40, Anne): coursekeeping
* for tomorrow's class, 2 p.m. in Thomas 104: read one another's praxis postings

* for Thursday, please finish your reading of Douglass' Narrative, including the appendix

* we will use your postings sometimes in class, including today (and we did email); do you want us to email you ahead of time about this? (we'll put 'em up on the course notes; you can check there if you want to know)

* heads up that your first 5-pp. paper for us
will be due two weeks from y'day (midnight, Mon, Feb. 20);
we will have a writing conference w/ each you next week:
sign-up for this tomorrow (so bring your schedules!)

The topic for this first paper – broadly about “the politics of literacy” – is open to your passion/direction/questions--and we would like you to ground it in at least one of our shared texts/film. A process for beginning:  think about questions raised for you at this point in the course (look over both sets of your postings--often a great resource!); come to your writing conference with the question you're most engaged with, and a tentative plan for how you might pursue this.  What shared texts and/or additional readings, considerations from your site work and/or other experiences, freewriting, etc. might help you move toward this paper/“web event”?

II. (2:40-2:50, Jody): on Goodman and Goodman

III. (2:50-3:10, Anne): your postings about last week's readings/discussion

* Hand out 4 selected posts, take time for silent reading, then discuss in pairs. 

RainQueen: I've always been someone who writes.  I started doing so when I was young and continue this habit especially when I'm nervous or stressed. It's become a safe thing to do: to sit and reflect. That being said, I never progress from that point: I'm afraid to share what I write with others. Is this a problem, or is writing simply for my own healing? I feel that it is, but I'm stopping part of the process by being unable to share. It's like I have something helpful to myself that I know could also help others.
I wonder where the sweet spot of this is: why is my private  writing something I'm proud of and love while academic writing to me feels "flat?" I feel that the writing I produce for pleasure feels more real; it jumps off the page with vivid details, while the writing I compose professionally is boring. I even get this critique on papers sometimes. But I don't know how to bring the independent spirit of my writing into the world of academia. Is there even a place for it?

msch: I have always resented my education for robbing me of the love of reading I feel I should have....I remember that within a year of getting into middle school, reading and writing both became a horrible chore, a task that sucked the life and fantasy from books I used to love....Looking back on this, it makes my heart ache, but moreso, it makes me angry....
The most frightening part of all this is that I know how dangerous a dislike of reading can be for a student....Reading was how so much of my homework was done, and homework was for learning, after all (right?)....it's still so, so hard to learn in any setting where I'm required to delve back into reading. Every time I do a reading for a class, that same old feeling of frustration because I can't focus on the paragraph for long enough to get my head around the damn sentance...

A.rsr.: No overthinking. Just writing.
3
2
1
Okay. So here is the writing that I'm doing for this reflection. Will it be authentic? I have no idea. Maybe you'll find it "authentic" or maybe ridiculous or just completely unreadable. But, hey, I guess this is what I'm doing.
Can I be in charge of my own consciousness? No, because it's my conscious. It just happens, I guess. I can't really remember the last time I ever did a free write as freely as this. If I did do it, it certainly wasn’t for a grade. Why do we grade writing anyway? Why do we grade literacy at all?...
Can grades suffer? They don't seem to have feelings. But I have feelings. About my grades....
How dumb are my thoughts right now.
Oh, and there's the judge.
It's a free write.
Let's keep going.
Anyway.
Editing. I feel like I'm much more literate when I'm editing something.

jane doe: As I write this reflection, I am extremely cognizant of what I am writing, who will be reading it, and all the uncertainty surrounding what exactly this means. I am going to try to write the rest of this piece in the surrealist form that Morell highlighted in his piece. Or rather, a watered down surrealist writing or stream of consciousness. Who are the eyes? Who should be reading this reflective writing? Who is reading this reflective writing? Will I revisit this writing again and when I do, will look at the content or the poor grammar and the awkward spelling. What does it mean to authentically reflect? I want to own this writing, but is it true ownership without my name? A pseudonym creates dishonesty between the reader and writer. When we write about our placements there is an inherent dishonesty because of the pseudonyms, but it could be argued that there is inherent dishonesty in all writing because no one person holds the truth.The pseudonym may be dishonest, but I am learning to own it, own my presentation of these people, my characterization of these people. I am learning to own myself. What will I learn about myself as we continue.. you... you.. you...All writing is performance. Who am I performing for?....I am writing myself into existence. [comment from sudhir kumar: “I like this great thought”!?]

what's emerging? anything to bring in to full group?

IV. (3:10-3:45, Jody): Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave

Large group: time for open responses
Thoughts about Garrison and Phillips as allies/accomplices?

Working alone on this question:
What are the consequences of learning to read? 
Find three passages from Douglass that explore this.

Go around and read one passage aloud.

Open discussion: what are the consequences of
acquiring literacy, as explored/evoked in this text?