Nothing is more beautiful than an authentic voice that comes straight from the heart and soul of another human being. I can’t think of a better illustration of this fact than Susan Boyle’s first appearance (2009) on the TV show Britain’s Got Talent, which electrified the audience and, eventually, the world. Even if you’ve watched this video a dozen times, as I have, watch it again.

Susan has a signature story. She comes from a village in Scotland so small that she even forgot the name “village” while waiting to perform. She obviously did not impress the audience or the judges at first glance. She described herself as someone who was unemployed and had never been married or even been kissed.

She looked the opposite of a diva in every way — clumsy mannerisms, frumpy dress, overweight body. When she said she was 47 years old, the audience laughed at her.

If this were the Gong Show of the 1980′s, she might have been gonged off the stage before she opened her mouth.

But then she did open her mouth. Within twenty seconds, she started bringing the audience to their feet. The song she sang, “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserable was perfect.

Here are five lessons  from Susan’s story to help you create our own personal essay that sings.

1. Be yourself. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. Susan wanted to be a diva, to move people with her music, but she didn’t focus on trying to change her dumpy image (that came later). She looked and acted like a woman from the village. In the end, her authenticity yielded an amazing surprise. Had she somehow managed to lose thirty pounds, squeeze into a designer gown, and have her hair and face lifted, she would still have wowed the audience, but she could never have been Cinderella. And the audience would not have identified with her the way they did.

2. Laugh at yourself. When she couldn’t remember the word “village,” Susan didn’t get all flustered. She  just kept going. She didn’t hang her head when she said, she’d never been kissed. She laughed and said, “Shame.”

3. Share your feelings and go down deep. Susan chose the right song. The dream of Fantine from the musical Les Miserables was really her own dream. As soon as she gave that dream her all, the audience was on its feet applauding.

4. Tap into your audience’s dreams as you express your own. In the end, the judges recognize a great truth. We feel shame when our stereotypes and prejudices based on external appearances are revealed to us. But what we really want to feel is redemption. Susan Boyle forgave that audience before she sang to them, knowing that they could not see what mattered most about her until she showed them herself. The audience began by looking down on Susan. Soon, they were looking up to her, hanging on every note.

5. Find your own rhythm. Watch Susan’s face as she sings. She knows the audience is waiting for her to hit the high notes. So she pauses a milli-second to make them want it even more. When she finally explodes with passion, they do also.

From Singing to Writing

Moving from one art form to another may not always work exactly, but surely when you sit down to write an essay about your own life, you can find ways to apply the lessons above from Susan Boyle.

1. Think of the worst thing about yourself. In Susan’s case it was her looks and her age and her desire to be loved. Is there a secret you might prefer to hide? Not every secret should find its way into print. Start with a little one and find a way to reveal it. Focus on what embarrassed you in the past. Don’t overplay or underplay it. But if you don’t admit it, the reader may admire you but will not fall in love. We don’t give a fig about your accomplishments or your misery unless you come across as aware of yourself in all your complexity. Full out in front of us. Like Susan.

2. Even if you are writing about painful conflicts and injuries, don’t forget to keep a light tone.

3. Reveal your dreams. The reader wants to know why you write. Wants to feel it. Wants to be carried away by it.

4. If you, like me, have been taught the dangers of pride and of focusing on the self, re-frame that thought. Think of your work as serving a larger community. Nothing stimulates my own dream more than seeing you fully realize yours in print. I like to refer to this spiritual connection with the South African name “ubuntu.” If you can tap into this universal source of joy, you will have us singing too. Your pen has the power to heal wounds and stimulate goodness, even greatness, in others.

5. “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing!” When you have written and polished your best essay, read it aloud. You will hear and see things you missed by reading only in your head. Repeated words, unecessary clauses, and word order will all “sound” different to you. Read and tweak. Then read again. Practice your essay outloud in front of a group. When do their eyes glaze over? Do you ever have them on the edge of their seats? Like Susan and Duke Ellington, you’ve gotta have rhythm.

Okay. Now what did I miss? Watch the video again and either correct me or add to this list. I’m really interested in your ideas — and your stories.

How do you view your work? Is it a paycheck, an obstacle to your real life, a source of anxiety, or just something you do because everyone else does it?

Do you cherish the dream that your work could be a calling — something that challenges you and makes you stronger and better? Something that gives you a deep sense of purpose?

My work for the last three years has been full-time writer. Before that I was a teacher, a professor, a college president and a foundation executive. Those were my jobs. I was lucky because, though all of them were difficult, they were all rewarding. They all contributed to my growth as a person and as a leader.

But my calling goes beyond any job I ever had.

If you want to read more about calling and about the five practices that ground my own calling, please hop over to Full Cup, Thirsty Spirit, the blog and newsletter of Karen Horneffer-Ginter. While there, enjoy exploring Karen’s site and read about her wonderful new book Full Cup, Thirsty Spirit.

 

 

 

Three years ago today our only daughter became a bride and wife. Stuart and I were asked to write wedding blessings to read in the ceremony. We were honored and a little daunted by the seriousness of the occasion. How to choose the words when the heart was so full, the memories so overwhelming, the hopes and dreams so large?

We talked about memories. I reviewed my journals. We went back to our own favorite sources of language — poetry and spiritual writers.

The blog post below, written exactly three years ago today, has found a place online as people search for the topics of wedding blessings, especially for mother-daughter and father-daughter occasions.

Happy anniversary, Nik and Kate. I’ll always associate your wedding with Mother’s Day. Every year we add new memoir moments to the foundation we built together in childhood.

Here’s hoping that many other parents and children will find their own moments of joy, their own beautiful words from poets and wisdom figures.

Most of all, here’s hoping that love, so strong in youth, continues throughout a lifetime.

 

A Blessing from a Mother to Her Daughter Upon the Occasion of Her Wedding

May 8, 2010

Kate, I have been flooded with memories in the last months and weeks as we have journeyed together toward this day.

Before you were born, I felt God knitting you together inside me, like the Psalmist says.

And before you turned two, you were you. Here are a few descriptions from the journal I kept for you since the day you were born, describing you to your adult self I then imagined: “Your hands are so gentle and so expressive. When you want me to come, you hold your whole body forward, cupping your hands in the most plaintive gesture I have ever seen. Just perfect for El Greco or Picasso’s Blue Period.”

And here you are in the journal just before your second birthday: Dad was swinging you in the tire swing hanging from the chestnut tree in our Goshen back yard. “How high do you want to go?” he asked. “I want to go as high as the wind!” you replied.

The first book you read on your own was called What Color is Love? When I asked what you thought the color of love was, you did not skip a beat. You exclaimed, eyes shining, “Hot pink!” When asked where you want to live 20 years from now, you said, “In a pink tile house with white trim and with hot pink flowers in the garden.”

When you were seven years old, you came up to me and shyly asked, “What do you call your husband when you get married?  Is it a broom?” I swallowed my smile and told you the word you were looking for was “groom.”

And there he is. Your groom.  He started showing up in the journal in 2003, just before he graduated from Goshen College and just after your email courtship while you were in London taking your fine arts course. This is what I said after we met officially at El Camino Restaurant, “He seems interesting, curious, intelligent, mature, and sensitive.” We liked him at once, noticed the gentle way he treated you, and now we have come to love him as a second son.

As a final blessing from the two of us to the two of you, here is a wise and practical love poem by poet Jack Ridl, who grew up in Pittsburgh.

Take Love for Granted

Assume it’s in the kitchen,

under the couch, high

in the pine tree out back,

behind the paint cans

in the garage. Don’t try

proving your love

is bigger than the Grand

Canyon, the Milky Way,

the urban sprawl of L.A.

Take it for granted. Take it

out with the garbage. Bring

it in with the take out. Take

it for a walk with the dog.

Wake it every day, say,

“Good morning.” Then

make the coffee. Warm

the cups. Don’t expect much

of the day. Be glad when

you make it back to bed.

Be glad he threw out that

box of old hats. Be glad

she leaves her shoes

in the hall. Snow will

come. Spring will show up.

Summer will be humid.

The leaves will fall

in the fall. That’s more

than you need. We can

love anybody, even

everybody. But you

can love the silence,

sighing, and saying to

yourself, “That’s her.”

“That’s him.” Then to

each other, “I know!

Let’s go out for breakfast!”

God bless you, Kate, as you fly as high as the wind, plant hot pink flowers in your garden, sweep out troubles with a broom, and live in peace, lots of laughter, and deep satisfaction with your groom.

A Blessing from a Father to His Daughter Upon the Occasion of Her Wedding

Kate, I want to highlight a few of the quintessential qualities I associate with you. These qualities have been present from the beginning, but now they reflect more deeply the precious adult you have become.

At your core, Kate, you have always been attuned to your environment. You respond sensitively both to your physical setting and to the people who come into them:

• Your fascination with color has been legendary in our family, beginning with your exclusively pink and purple clothing phase. Now you also help others appreciate color as you advise customers at Ambiance Boutique, decorate living and work spaces, or extol the beauty of Pittsburgh’s parks.

• Your sensitivity to others is conveyed by the empathetic choices you make. You have always given high priority to your social relationships and to the feelings of others. You express your care for others through creative gift-giving and by volunteering your time for community causes. More recently, you have embraced the gift of hospitality. We will never forget how capably Nik and you orchestrated your first family Thanksgiving this past November.

• Another key quality for you, Kate, is your tenacity. We recall your gritty determination in a high school tennis match that seemed to continue until well after sunset. You demonstrate your tenacity in your loyalty and devotion to your family and to your many friends, and they honor you with their presence here today.

You bring these qualities – and many others – to your marriage to Nik. You have chosen well. We welcome Nik as a second son and are delighted with the way his many strengths complement yours. Both of you have much to contribute to each other and to the world. We are confident that together you will confront together the challenges that will surely come your way. And we encourage you to celebrate together the life events that will bring you joy.

Oscar Romero, the archbishop who was martyred for his faith in 1980 in El Salvadore, left us these wise words:

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

May you, Nik and Kate, experience God’s abundant love and boundless grace in your marriage – today and always.

Robert Burns asked for the gift to “see ourselves as others see us.”

Every author wants that same gift and yet trembles before the awful throne of reader judgment, hoping that one’s private thoughts made public will be held with respect, maybe even with tenderness and love.

A writer needs to earn that trust. Selecting the right words makes the most difference. No one else can help us with that except the editors and a few trusted readers prior to publication.

However, photos also help tell the story, set the tone, and suggest sources of meanings behind the words.

They can also be shared with a wider audience and are therefore perfect for social media.

In the three-year course of writing this memoir, I engaged my niece Joy Rittenhouse three times to take photos. First, I needed a set of photos for the blog and other social media. Then, when I went from brown to grey hair, I needed new photos. And, most recently, as I finished the manuscript and needed a photo for the author page. I also wanted a group of photos that would highlight one of the main “characters” in the book — the farm called the Home Place that is now a bed and breakfast called Forgotten Seasons.

Just crawling around the familiar house with both my niece and the current co-owner, Kathy Wenger, made me deeply happy.

The people who have “liked” my page on Facebook have been generous with their thoughts about the ten photos I shared there. What I enjoyed seeing, and learned from most, were not only the “likes” each picture got but also the comments.

From the ten photos I shared on FB, I have selected seven, all transferred to greytone for publication inside the cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s your turn, reader. I’ve already selected this photo taken on the arch cellar stairs to go in the text, after the introduction. So select the author photo, among the six remaining ones below, you think the reader will trust to tell a good story. I love hearing your reasons, too.

One of the rewards of intensive parenting of young children is that they grow up to be friends. I love spending time with both my adult children and their families.

Last week, I enjoyed the luxury of spending five whole days with my daughter Kate. We both are blessed with flexible schedules, so we can be together and keep up with work while also taking time to shop, visit friends, cook, bake, eat out, exercise, watch movies, and visit Pittsburgh cultural attractions such as the Phipps Conservatory.

We had good fortune while shopping. We found bar stool cover fabric, some clothes on sale at Banana Republic, great ingredients from Whole Foods for our cooking adventures, and we even visited one thrift shop, a tradition.

I’ve hired Kate as my marketing director for my upcoming book, Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets the Glittering World. Now that the manuscript is in the final editing stage, we get to map out a plan for how to better serve the readers of this blog and the community we are building on my author page on Facebook. We want to provide inspiration and connection to the great folks who have “liked” the page and who keep coming back for conversation there about writing, memoir, and the process of transmuting experience into wisdom.

While in Pittsburgh, I also met up with Sharon Lippincott, a memoir writer friend and blogger who drove into the city so that we could have coffee together. Sharon teaches memoir and has turned her years of experience into a book, The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing: How to Transform Memories Into Meaningful Stories.  Sharon and I were able to connect immediately around our shared interest in teaching and writing.

It just so happens that Kate herself is becoming a writer and speaker. While I was visiting, she was interviewed twice. First, by Pittsburgh’s Channel 4 Action News, WTAE and later by two podcast hosts, John and Carl, at Creative Briefs. The questions she answered turned the tables on her own role as an interviewer of young creative professionals on her blog Yinzpiration. She also talked about her networking and coaching group Rock It! at Propelle and what it’s like to host Creative Mornings/Pittsburgh.

Kate is also digital strategist at Plumb Media. She works for and with her husband Nik, one of the founders of this web design company, and with two other employees, Dagen and Ryan. The business is located on Penn Avenue, one of the busiest streets of the city, linking their district of Garfield to many other districts.

Kate and Nik renovated an old building and live two floors above it, renting out the middle floor. They enjoy the “30 Second Commute” back and forth to work and get to play with their cat, Sargent Pepper, during the day.

Since Kate and I tested recipes which will appear in my book, we needed a place to take the fruits of our labors. First, there was rhubarb cake made from a recipe handed down from my Great-grandmother Herr. We gave away as many pieces as possible.

Then we made pickled beets, onions, red beet eggs, and deviled eggs. We took our masterpiece downstairs to Nik, Dagen, and Ryan. Together the five of us scarfed them down. All that was left was a little red juice on the glass dish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a wonderful week, and my book will be better for this time of doing as grown-ups many of the things we enjoyed when Kate was a little girl. Some people think it isn’t wise to work with family members. What do you think?

 

I’m grateful today for publishers and publications that allow small groups of people to keep their collective identity alive.

Good Books is one of those publishers. Mennonite World Review offers a place for readers to connect to the books. Hurrah for both!

April 1 issue

Since I am preparing to teach memoir to college students, I’m anticipating a question: How write about a life when it does not yet contain a long timeline with twists and turns in it?

There are many solutions to this problem:

• Memoir thrives on the short view anyway. It is not the chronicle of a long life but a slice in time as seen from the present. So even older children can write it.
• Young people are closer to their childhoods, that time of life closest to wonder. They have better access to the feelings of the child. That’s an advantage.
• Older people can help young people. Young people can learn more about how to live their own lives by paying serious attention to the old.

Which is where today’s syllabus takes us — to a class that brings the old and young together around the creation of stories. Thanks to Professor Vi Dutcher for sharing this creative idea.

Senior Seminar:  Orality and the Written Memoir

ENG:  49091-600 Kent State University, Stark Campus, Fall 2004

Instructor:                 Dr. Dutcher

When you walk into your memories, you are opening a door to the past; the road within has many branches, and the route is different every time.

–Xinran in The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices

“I have always trusted this voice.”

–Eudora Welty in “Listening”

Course Description:

In this course you will both read and write memoirs. Although you will write a short personal memoir, the course is focused upon the memoirs you will write for residents of St. Luke Lutheran Community.  These memoirs will undergo several drafts with critiques from your writing group and me.  Your work will change substantially from first to last draft as you learn to make clear why your story is significant to your partners, to “show” rather than “tell” the stories, to eliminate interesting details that are not relevant to the “spine” of your story, and to keep your readers, the descendants of your partners at St. Luke’s, firmly in mind.  Journal assignments and class discussion will often ask you to reflect upon problems with the interviews, with your classmate partners, and with those in your writing group.  You, a competent writer, will become a better writer this semester.  You will also develop sharper critical thinking and problem-solving skills.  And you will receive the added bonus of a new understanding of history:  it will become real to you like never before.

Course Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, you will

•  Develop writing skills by writing personal memoirs, life stories, and

reflective essays.

•  Develop critical thinking skills as you discover and use the conventions of

memoirs and critique each other’s work.

•  Integrate theory and practice by comparing theories of memoir and aging with personal experience gained from working with residents at St. Luke Lutheran

Community.

•  Learn to interact successfully with classmates and seniors by recognizing

and solving problems through reflection and discussion.

Residents of St. Luke Lutheran Community (www.stlukefoundation.org) will

•  Enhance and preserve memory through telling the stories of their lives.

•  Preserve stories of the past (and of their past) for their children and

grandchildren.

Required Texts:

Allison, Dorothy.  Two or Three Things I Know for Sure.  New York: Plume, 1996.

Dyer, Joyce.  Gum-Dipped:  A Daughter Remembers Rubber Town

Ellis, Neenah.  If I Live to Be 100.

Gates, Jr., Henry Louis.  Colored People

Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki.  Farewell to Manzanar

Jacobs, Harriet.  Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.  New York: Oxford UP, 1988.

Zinsser, William, ed.  Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir.  2^nd ed.  New York:  Houghton Mifflin, 1998.

Handouts provided by instructor

Course Requirements and Course Grade:

Grading Procedures:  Final class grade will be based on:

• 9/08  Assignment #1:  Discovering the conventions of writing memoir        5%
• 9/22  Assignment #2:  Writing a personal memoir                                       10%
• 10/06  Assignment #3:  Attitudes toward aging                                            5%
• 10/25  Assignment #4:  A brief life history of your client at St. Lukes      10%
• 11/08  Assignment #5:  Memoir #1                                                             10%
• 11/17  Assignment #6:  Memoir #2                                                             10%
• 11/24  Assignment #7:  Memoir #3                                                             10%
• 12/06 Assignment # 8: Revised Life History                                              10%
• Final Exam :        Reflective Essay                                                              10%
• 6 reflective journal entries                                                                            10%
• Participation:      Participation in interviews* and group work**               10%

*The service-learning component of this advanced writing course will require you to meet with and interview a resident of St. Luke Lutheran Community at least five times during the semester.  (You will be paired with another student for the interviews.)  Assignment #4-8 will be based on the interviews. The first interview will be conducted at St. Luke’s during a regularly-scheduled class period; subsequent interviews will be scheduled weekly at the resident’s and your convenience.  It is vital that you be on time for the interviews you schedule.  Cassette tape recorders and blank cassette tapes may be checked out at the library.  You are responsible for lost and stolen equipment. Please note:  You are responsible for submitting corrected final drafts of these assignments in a form that has been approved by the client and is copy-ready.

** You will be placed in a writing group for each assignment.  Since much of the success of the revision process depends on feedback from students in your writing group, you must attend all classes and have drafts ready on time.  To receive a grade, all assignments must be on time, neatly typed (double-spaced), and should include pre-writing, all drafts, and copies of feedback from me and from your writing group.

Policies:

1. All papers must be written according to MLA requirements and handed directly to the instructor on the informed due date.  Late papers are not accepted.
2. The usage of cellular phones and pagers is not permitted in class.
3. Unexcused absences:  Your final grade may be lowered by one full letter grade if you miss more than two classes without documented excused absence evidence.  More than three unexcused absences may result in an F for the course.  Use your two allowed unexcused absences for transportation problems, court appointments, day care glitches, short illnesses, appointments, etc.
4. Excused absences:  Absences will be excused only with written proof of medical, emergencies, death in the family, or participation in an approved university activity which prevents attendance on the day in question.  The written verification of absence must be provided by another person as witness or authority and presented to the instructor prior to the absence.
5. Lateness and/or missing a portion of our class session is strongly discouraged and is disruptive to the class session.
6. To plagiarize means to present as one’s own a material portion of the ideas or words of another without full and proper credit to the source of the ideas, words, or work.  Cheating and plagiarism constitute fraudulent misrepresentation for which no credit can be given and for which appropriate sanctions are warranted and will be applied.  This policy applies to all students of the University.

7.         Students with Disabilities:  In accordance with University policy, if you have a documented disability and require accommodations to obtain equal access in this course, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester or when given an assignment for which an accommodation is required.  Students with disabilities must verify their eligibility through Kelly Kulick.  Her office is in Student Services, and her extension is 53287.  After the middle of September, the Office of Student Disability Services will be relocated in the new Campus Center on campus.  The new Office number for the Office of Student Disability Services will be # 47.  The new phone number will be 330-244-5047.

8. The Writing Center is an excellent resource for writers at any level or at any

stage in the writing process.  Take advantage of the free individual tutoring that you receive there.  I would be happy to see that you’ve consulted with them, but I do not require you to do so.  You may choose to keep any visits confidential.

1. Since this course is conducted in workshop format, student writing is considered a

part of the public domain and may be used anonymously for teaching purposes.  Please notify me if any of your essays contain writing of a personal nature that you do not wish to see duplicated or read aloud.

FYI:  The last date to withdraw from this course without a grade of “W” is September 11, 2004.  The last date to withdraw from this course is November 6, 2004.

Course Schedule

(Subject to change to meet class needs)

Note:  I strongly urge you to fully read each book before we begin discussing it in class.  It’s best to be able to talk about works of literature as a whole instead of in pieces.   As a result, I will not be limiting my comments on the first day of a novel, for example, to only the first 50 pages or so.  Rather, we will be discussing each text as a whole.

WEEK ONE

Monday, 8/30  Intro to course. HOMEWORK:  Read Two Or Three Things I Know For Sure by Dorothy Allison; first chapter in Zinsser

Wednesday, 9/01  Uncovering Your Most Vivid Childhood Memories; Discussion of Allison and Zinsser (first chapter). HOMEWORK: Assignment # 1; Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl pp. vii-172; Continue reading Inventing the Truth.

WEEK TWO

Monday, 9/06—NO CLASS—LABOR DAY

Wednesday, 9/08  Introduction to Inventing the Truth;  Due: Assignment # 1 HOMEWORK: Continue reading Inventing the Truth and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

WEEK THREE

Monday, 9/13  Uncovering your most vivid childhood memories; Discussion of Jacobs.  HOMEWORK: Continue reading Inventing the Truth and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.  Write a first-draft of your memoir, taking into account the response of your writing group and the pre-writing exercises you were given in class today.

Wednesday, 9/15 Writing Groups:  Bring two copies of your draft, one to read to your writing group and one to turn in to me. HOMEWORK:  Revise your draft, taking into account the feedback from your writing group and the revision strategies you were given in class today.  Continue reading Inventing the Truth and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl pp. 173-end; we will begin discussing the essays Monday, September 27.

WEEK FOUR

Monday, 9/20  Conclude discussion of Jacobs. Writing Groups: Be ready to read a revised version of your memoir.  HOMEWORK:  Revise again, taking into account feedback from your writing group and my comments.  Make a clean copy of your finished draft to turn in on Wednesday.  Structure a journal entry reflecting on your experience with this assignment.  Continue reading Inventing the Truth.

[attend Lani Silver Lecture Tuesday, September 21, 2004  7:00 p.m. MH Auditorium]

Wednesday, 9/22  Establishing a “timeline” for the lives of the people you will interview and deciding on appropriate interview questions.  Due: Assignment # 2 (Be sure to turn in all drafts of your memoir, the responses of your writing group, my comments, and the pre-writing you have done.)  HOMEWORK:  Complete Inventing the Truth.

WEEK FIVE

Monday, 9/27   Grammar/Mechanics Review; begin discussion of Inventing the Truth; Journal Entry # 1 due

Wednesday, 9/29  Inventing the Truth discussion; Approaches to writing about people. HOMEWORK: Read Gum-Dipped: A Daughter Remembers Rubber Town

WEEK SIX

Monday, 10/04 Discussion of Gum-Dipped; Attitudes toward aging; how to conduct an oral interview. HOMEWORK:  Write a 1 ½ – 2 pg. exploration of the origins of your attitudes toward aging.  (This assignment could take the form of a memoir.)

Wednesday, 10/06  Conclude discussion of Gum-Dipped; Practice conducting oral interviews; Due: Assignment # 3

WEEK SEVEN

Monday, 10/11  Oral Interview # 1 (Class will meet at St. Luke Lutheran Community, 220 Applegrove St. NE.  HOMEWORK:  Before you leave the interview, schedule a 2^nd meeting with your client by October 20.  Turn the date and time in to me before you leave St. Luke’s.  Structure a journal entry reflecting on problems you encountered in your first interview and possible solutions.  Begin reading If I Live to Be 100 by Neenah Ellis.

Wednesday, 10/13  Ellis, pp. 3-45.  HOMEWORK:  With your writing partner, complete and make two copies of a draft of a brief (5-6 pp.) “life history” of the person you interviewed last week.  (Use today’s handout for suggestions.)

WEEK EIGHT

Monday, 10/18 Ellis, pp. 49-100; Writing Groups:  Bring two copies of your draft, one to read to your writing group and one to turn in to me; Journal Entry # 2 due.  HOMEWORK:  Revise your draft.

Wednesday, 10/20  Writing Groups; Bring your 2^nd draft to class.  Be prepared to read it to your group. DON’T FORGET TO GO TO YOUR INTERVIEW THIS WEEK AND TO SCHEDULE ANOTHER INTERVIEW SOMETIME BEFORE NOV. 1.  At this week’s interview, show the draft of the “life history” to your “client” and make any necessary deletions, corrections, additions.  Tape the first “stories” you will turn into memoirs.  Use the handout you have been given to write a journal entry reflecting on any problems you encountered with this assignment and how you solved them.

WEEK NINE

Monday, 10/25  Ellis, pp. 103-43;  Due:  Final Draft of the “life history,”  the schedule for your next interview, and Journal Entry # 3.  HOMEWORK:  Using your notes and the taped interview with your client at St. Luke’s, draft memoir # 1 (be sure to discuss what story you will tell with your partner) and make two copies.

Wednesday, 10/27  Writing Groups:  Bring two copies of the draft of your memoir, one to read to your writing group and one to turn in to me.  HOMEWORK:  Revise your draft.  DON’T FORGET TO GO TO YOUR INTERVIEW to check for the accuracy of your memoir and to gather material for your next memoir.  If you have not already done so, schedule another interview sometime before Nov. 15.

WEEK TEN

Monday, 11/01  Ellis, pp. 147 to end; Bring your 2^nd draft to class and be prepared to read it to your group.  HOMEWORK:  Final Draft of Memoir # 1; Read two literacy narratives (handouts)

Wednesday, 11/03  Literacy Narrative discussion; Writing Groups:  Bring two copies of your first draft to class, one to read to your group and one to turn in to me.  HOMEWORK:  Revise your draft.

WEEK ELEVEN

Monday, 11/08  Due:  Memoir # 1.  HOMEWORK:  Write a journal entry reflecting on ways your memoirs thus far do or do not follow the conventions of memoir writing.  Write a draft of Memoir # 2.  Make two copies.

Wednesday, 11/10 Writing Groups:  Bring two copies of your first draft to class, one to read to your group and one to turn in to me.  HOMEWORK:  Revise your draft; Read Farewell to Manzanar.

WEEK TWELVE

Monday, 11/15  Due:  Journal # 4; Writing Groups: Bring your revised draft to read to the group.  DON’T FORGET TO GO TO YOUR INTERVIEW THIS WEEK to check for the accuracy of your memoir and to gather material for your next memoir. Schedule another interview for sometime before Nov. 24.

Wednesday, 11/17 Farewell to Manzanar discussion; Due: Memoir # 2. HOMEWORK:  Draft Memoir # 3, and make two copies

WEEK THIRTEEN

Monday, 11/22  Writing Groups:  Bring your revised draft of Memoir # 3 to read to the group. DON’T FORGET TO GO TO YOUR INTERVIEW.  Check the accuracy of your memoir.  HOMEWORK:  Complete the final draft of your memoir.

Wednesday, 11/24  Due:  Memoir # 3 HOMEWORK:  Write a journal entry reflecting on the changes you made from your first drafts to your final drafts.  Read Colored People

WEEK FOURTEEN

Monday, 11/29  Due:  Journal Entry # 5; Work on revision of Life History

Wednesday, 12/01  Colored People discussion; Writing Groups:  Bring your revised draft to read to the group.  HOMEWORK:  Complete your final draft.  Write a journal entry reflecting on ways future classes could make interviews with seniors more productive.  Select your favorite memoir to share with the class.

WEEK FIFTEEN

Monday, 12/06  Favorite memoirs; Due:  Journal Entry # 6 and Revised Life History.  HOMEWORK:  Prepare copy-ready drafts of the life history and memoirs you will present to your partner at St. Luke’s.

Wednesday, 12/08 Reflection.  Due:  Copy-ready material for binding.  HOMEWORK:  Take-home final.

Exam:  6:00 p.m., Monday, December 13, 2004  Presentation of Memoirs to residents at St. Luke Lutheran Community

         Due:  Final Exam

Have you ever been part of an intergenerational story-gathering/writing/sharing project? Tell your story or ask your question here:

Since my own book order is due to the bookstore by April 15, I need to start thinking hard about my own choices for the course I’ll be teaching in the fall. So here is one more syllabus to study.

Every time I look at a syllabus created by Richard Gilbert I want to sign up! The only books I’ve read on this list are Barrington’s and Cameron’s, so I want to read the others. But what I really want to do is sit around a seminar table with students and see how Richard guides the conversation. He’s such a skillful blogger that I know his classes will also be stimulating.

 Writing Life Stories: The Power of Narrative

Required Course Texts

Barrington, Judith. Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art

Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Cameron, Julia. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

Klinkenborg, Verlyn. Several Short Sentences About Writing

Martin, Lee. Such a Life

Moore, Dinty. Between Panic and Desire

Strauss, Darin. Half a Life

Other readings will be available for download from Blackboard.

Overview

The memoir has become an exciting, emerging literary genre—and a bestselling one. According to memoir scholar Ben Yagoda:

Total sales in the categories of Personal Memoirs, Childhood Memoirs, and Parental Memoirs increased more than 400 percent between 2004 and 2008.

A memoir, whether one essay or an entire book, focuses on a resonant slice of a life. A dramatic incident. A moment when something happened or came into focus. A journey of some kind that changed you. One key to making a personal narrative interesting is what you discover in the process of writing. The most effective stories usually explore what we can’t stop thinking about but can’t fully grasp. In writing we both relate incident and discover meaning. According to memoirist and memoir theorist Patricia Hampl:

Memoir seeks a permanent home for feeling and image, a habitation where they can live together. It can present its story and consider the meaning of the story.

Hampl alludes to a dual voice or perspective—you then, you now—that is a signature feature of memoir and one of its great appeals for readers. We’ll focus on emulating that double viewpoint as well as on learning the tools of dramatized narrative, some of them first noted by Aristotle. These include scenes, narrative suspense, rising action, dramatic act structure, summary, and reflection. We’ll also read some classical essays (largely expository and meditative) and some recent experimental ones (graphic, collage, lyric), and you’ll have the opportunity to experiment as well.

Every week I will assign readings intended to stimulate discussion on a particular element of craft or process. These will be accompanied by writing exercises that will introduce new ways of thinking about your subject and will generate new material—new essays or parts of longer essays.  Ultimately our collective goal as a class is to read thoughtfully, write regularly, experiment fearlessly, and start a writing practice.

Class Goals  

• to read carefully as you analyze specific writing techniques and gain insight into how writers structure stories;

• to engage in what you read through class discussion, through modeling examples in your own writing, and through reflective journaling;

• to work from an idea to freewriting and through a first draft to discovery, revision, editing, and proofreading;

• to use writing techniques such as scenemaking, character development, sensory details, metaphor, exposition, and reflection as you explore your own history;

• to be part of a conference group with classmates to assist them and receive feedback yourself while you improve your analytical and editing skills;

• to write clearly, correctly, colloquially, and effectively at the level of the sentence, paragraph, section, and document;

• to develop a portfolio of diverse writing in length, content, structure, and style.

Course Basics & Preparedness Policy

As there are no tests or exams in this class, in order to do well you must complete all of the assigned work, in and out of the classroom, including writing exercises, essays, peer critiques, participate in class discussions, and successfully upload and download documents to and from Blackboard. Bring books and printouts to class per instructions or schedule.

To be eligible for credit, assignments must be present or uploaded, as specified, at the beginning of the class session on which they are due. I will not accept late assignments unless you have talked with me in advance. Although this syllabus is a general guide and contains major assignment due dates, these can shift; you are responsible for class announcements and for checking updated assignments on Blackboard. All current assignments will be uploaded to Blackboard as the semester proceeds; follow these updated and complete assignments.

Note: It is imperative that you have a computer and software (latest Chrome or Firefox browser and Microsoft Word) compatible with Otterbein’s Blackboard 9.1 system. Most Blackboard problems stem from using an old browser and having a full computer cache. If you have a current browser and have problems try emptying your computer’s cache and then clearing cookies to remove internal conflicts. Also, make a bookmark directly to Blackboard instead of going through Ozone.

 

Assignments & Grades

Classwork, Participation, and Attendance: 15%

Participating means you help further the community of this class: you take part in discussions, complete in-class writing exercises, and share your insights about our readings and your writing. We meet only once a week, so please plan on attending each class. If for some reason you do have to miss class, you have a maximum of one absence without penalty. After one absence, for each subsequent absence (“excused” or “unexcused”) your overall grade will be lowered by five percentage points. (Tardiness can result in a point penalty as well.) This reflects the fact that you contribute and participate when you are present and moving forward with the class; absences are correlated with poor performance, confusion about assignments, and late work.

Reading Journal: 12%

This will consist of your response to our readings, which shows you’ve done the assigned reading, thought about it, and have an opinion—I want to see you think on the page. These posts to Blackboard are half a single-spaced page—about 250 words—and are handed in at the end of the semester as hard copy.

Reading Journal responses are to be uploaded to Blackboard by midnight Sunday. And by classtime Tuesday you must respond to at least three classmates’ entries.

Writing Journal: 24%

Producing quality work consists largely of having quantity to choose from. For your Writing Journal, you will write one single-spaced, computer generated page per week as specified—500 words—due as hard copy each Tuesday. This will consist of a response to writing exercises that employ the skills being emphasized that week and in many cases will serve as building blocks of your two major memoir essays or be some part of them. In some cases all or part of an entry will be uploaded to Blackboard by class time on Tuesdays, as specified.

Note: These journals are a place to relax and explore. I will not grade them on grammar or punctuation, though I’d appreciate fairly clean copy for readability’s sake, but instead want to see you thinking and trying out new material. You can write more than 1.5 pages for the two journals but must write at least 1.5 single-spaced pages each week to receive full credit. There are twelve journal entries in the course of the semester. I won’t accept late journal submissions.

Note: Attendance and the Journal count for fully 51 % of your grade. This is because both elements are so important to your progress as a writer: participating in class and reading, thinking, and writing outside of class.

Life Stories Essays: 40 %

During the semester, you’ll write two complete memoir essays, each of which you’ll rewrite at least three times. You’ll write a short proposal, then a first draft, receive feedback from your group, revise, and then submit to me for a grade. You’ll then rewrite the essay, after you’ve had my feedback, and receive a second, final replacement grade. These essays will mostly grow out of your Journal entries and classroom exercises.

The first essay will be approximately five to six pages, the second eight to ten pages. Essays can be shorter than the suggested page length if they work at that length; the upper suggested limit is mostly to help make all of our reading and workshopping manageable, though in some cases a student might submit up to fourteen pages. I will encourage, but not require, that the first essay be set in your childhood—through about age twelve, say—and the second be set in your teen years or early adulthood.

A Note on Grading: I will give essays two grades that are added to achieve the total points: a grade for Content and another for Style—spelling, grammar, punctuation. Again, the final draft grade replaces the grade on your previous draft.

Oral Reading: 4 %

You’ll share one of your life stories with the entire class for critique and will read about two pages to the class. You’ll upload the essay to Blackboard a week before your time slot (I will circulate a sign-up sheet) so that everyone can print out, read, and mark comments. After your reading, the class will give you feedback, and I will use your draft to discuss writing techniques.

Story Research: 5 %

For this assignment you’ll find a situation where people in a group—at least two people, not counting your—such as family, friends, coworkers, fellow dorm rats, student peers are telling stories. Note what kind of stories they tell. What appears to be their motive? Is there a theme? Dramatic structure? Prevalence of humor? Are the stories continuous or are there resonant breaks? How do the stories reflect principles we’ve learned in class? What do the stories appear to do for the group? For the teller?

Note: In rare instances, you can eavesdrop on strangers—a coffee klatch, say, that you know about at Panera on Thursdays—but this is risky in terms of getting what you need versus family or friends who are cooperative. In either case, you may want to avoid taking notes openly, instead jotting down notes right after, unless you are confident your note taking won’t influence the storytelling adversely or make it untypical.

Write two double-spaced pages of analysis and discussion—an essay!—and prepare a five-minute oral report. We will hear each other’s results at our final class meeting.

Style for All Writing Assignments—Essay Proposals, Essays, Journal Entries

Use Times New Roman 12 pt. font. In the upper left corner, single spaced:

[your name]

IS4030/Gilbert [class, section]

Memoir Essay 1, Final Draft [assignment name]

March 12, 2013 [due date]

Crash on the Levee  [your title, centered]

Body copy, single or double spaced depending on assignment, begins below title. Use one-inch margins, left and right. Indent the first line of paragraphs 0.25 inches. On following pages, put the page number in upper right corner. For hard copy assignments, staple the pages of the paper together.

Tentative Schedule & Key Dates

This schedule emphasizes major due dates and workshop nights. Pay attention in class and consult Blackboard online for complete, updated reading and writing assignments.

Week 1

Tuesday, Jan. 29—Defining the Genre: What is Memoir? Your Situation, Your Story

—Read the Syllabus. Note requirements, deadlines, class format for all assignments.

—Write a Childhood Memoir Proposal.

Week 2

Tuesday, February 5—Narrative Persona: You Then, You Now

—Childhood Memoir Proposal Due.

Week 3

Tuesday, February 12—Scene: Dramatized Action, Sensory Details

—Memoir draft for peers due.

Week 4

Tuesday, February 19— Summary: Covering Ground, Passing Time

—Peer Workshop

Week 5

Tuesday, February 26—Discovery & Thinking About Theme

—Childhood memoir draft two due to instructor

—Student readings from work.

Week 6

Tuesday, March 5— Reflection: Making Sense of the Story for You, for Others

[Note: There’s an open class session in Roush 114 from 1:15-2:45 with Alison Bechdel]

—7 p.m., class goes to Riley for Bechdel reading

—Write your Proposal for your second memoir, rewrite Memoir 1.

Week 7

Tuesday, March 12: Narrative Persona Redux: You Then, You Now

—Proposal due on second memoir.

—Essay 1 final draft due to instructor

—Student readings from work.

Tuesday, March 19—NO CLASS: SPRING BREAK

Week 8

Tuesday, March 26—Plot & Structure: Braiding, Framing, Chronology.

—Write your Personal History Memoir and upload to BB for your peer group.

Week 9

Tuesday, April 2—Dramatic tension, foreshadowing

—Second memoir draft due for peers.

Week 10

Tuesday, April 9—Dramatic tension, foreshadowing cont.

—Guest: Such a Life author Lee Martin

—Peer workshop

Week 11

Tuesday, April 16—Language, Tone, Style, Humor

—Second memoir draft due to instructor.

—Student readings from work.

Week 12

Tuesday, April 23—Language, Tone, Style, Humor

—Rewrite memoir based on instructor feedback

—Student readings from work.

Week 13

Tuesday, April 30—Editing & Developing Theme

—Memoir 2 final draft due

—Student readings from work.

Week 14

Tuesday, May 7—Polishing & Developing Theme

—Story Research reports.

—Turn in Reading Journal

What do you want to know from Richard about his choices here?  I’ll start with a few questions of my own. You can chime in too!

1. You don’t seem to be assigning particular books to particular days of class. How does that work out in practice?

2. Are the students in this class taking it for general education or for departmental credit?

3. Have you taught these books before? What responses from past classes have guided you in these selections and course structure?

 

 

I’ve been a teacher since the age of three. That’s when I became a big sister. Ready or not, poor Henry got to pitch me softballs while I learned to bat. He was the first pupil in my classroom and the Watson to my Sherlock.

Next fall I will be teaching again, and I’m excited. My last two jobs were college president and foundation executive, both of which allowed me to teach in new and different ways.

Now I get to go back to the undergraduate classroom, figure out my technology policy (!), and share the learning I’ve been doing as a reader and writer in the last three years –and throughout my life. What a gift.

Since I am teaching in the honors program of my alma mater, having been recruited by one of my outstanding former students at Goshen College, and the director of the EMU Honors Program, Mark Sawin, I want to make the course challenging and unforgettable.

So, I turn to other teachers and to the collection of course syllabi already started on this blog.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll share several new syllabi. I suggest that you take a look even if you aren’t a teacher or professor yourself. Each syllabus offers the potential student a window into the education, values, personality, and philosophy of the professor.

Every syllabus is a memoir!

Here’s one from Otterbein University professor Richard Gilbert, no stranger to followers of this blog and one of the best sources on memoir, especially on craft, to be found.

I’ll post one of these now, another within a week, and then at least one more. Richard and I would love to have your questions and comments below.

Syllabus Ver.: January 27, 2013

Self Discoveries: “Tales of Dangerous Youth”

Spring Semester 2013

Instructor:  Richard Gilbert

Office Hours: Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in main room of Courtright Library.

NOTE: I will meet with you any day/time we can work out to discuss your work in person.

Email: rgilbert@otterbein.edu (This is the best way to reach me.

The memoir has become an exciting, emerging literary genre—and a bestselling one. In this class we will read memoirs united by a focus on the challenges of growing to adulthood. What compels writers to try to make public sense of their most intimate experiences? What motivates us to read about them? How does a writer use her present self to explore her past self? We will consider these questions, as well as how memoirists use scenes, summary, reflection, and dramatic structure to probe the self in its historical and personal depths.

You will read and analyze to sharpen your writing, reading, and thinking skills. You will gain a deeper understanding of the power of language and of the strategies that are used to move and to persuade us. You will read and write as a way of understanding who you are as an individual and as a member of a family and of larger groups. You will write to reach an audience with your ideas, your information, and your personal stories.

My Guarantee: If you do the required reading and writing in this class and participate fully in peer workshopping, you will become a better writer: more stylistically correct and engaging, as well as one who writes with greater ease and pleasure.

Required Course Texts

Chambers, Veronica. Mama’s Girl

Rapp, Emily. Poster Child

Strauss, Darin. Half a Life

Strayed, Cheryl. Wild

Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle

*Note: Andrea Lunsford’s The Everyday Writer is a text required by the Integrative Studies curriculum as a whole. We’ll use this reference as needed, especially for checking proper MLA style. You should acquire a copy if you have not.

Blackboard Online System

Our class has its own Blackboard site, which we’ll use for uploading and accessing important documents like the syllabus, some readings, and for your major essays. You’ll make regular postings to this site.  You need to get set up on Blackboard within the first two days of the semester, as we’ll start using it right away.

For technology support, contact Otterbein IT at 823-1060.

Note: Most Blackboard problems stem from using an old browser and having a full computer cache. Blackboard works best with the most current version of Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, so make sure you have updated yours. If you have a current browser and have problems try emptying your computer’s cache and then clearing cookies to remove internal conflicts. Also, make a bookmark directly to Blackboard instead of going through Ozone.

Integrative Studies Learning Goals for “Identity Projects” Thread Courses

•     To inspire intellectual curiosity about the world as it is and a deeper understanding of the global condition.

•     To assist students in cultivating intercultural knowledge and competencies.

•    To promote active and critical reflection on the human self in its full range of contexts.

•     To challenge students to critically examine their ethical responsibilities and choices in both local and global contexts.

•     To encourage purposeful public engagement and social responsibility. •    To make students aware of moral and spiritual issues, including knowledge of their own beliefs and respect for those of others.

Reading and Writing Goals

1.        To read and think closely, creatively, analytically, and innovatively.

2.       To articulate a clear, critical thesis in an introduction.

3.       To support a thesis with relevant and varied forms of evidence and sustained critical analysis.

4.       To substantially revise one’s own writing using instructor comments and peer reviews.

5.       To craft sentences and paragraphs which demonstrate correct and effective mechanics, grammar, usage, and style.

6.     To begin to develop creative and novel ways of framing an argument, and to engage multiple points of view, distinct audiences, and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Essays, Workshopping, Readings & Events

A word about workshopping: three of your four major essays will receive feedback from your peer group as well as from your instructor. This is a key feature of this course.

Four Major Essays = 48%:

Major Essay One: A Literacy Narrative

This personal essay explores the impact of learning—specifically reading or writing—on your early life. Examples: bedtime stories as an evening ritual; how Aunt Sally taught you to read; how you loved or hated your elementary school reading group; how Sunday school coloring books brought Bible stories to life; about how you read a book that changed your life in middle school; about how you loved or hated a high school English class or teacher (or, often, both). As with any memoir, it’s good to focus on a single event or experience that took place during a relatively brief period of time.

Requirements: Four pages minimum, with a separate cover letter to readers, followed by written and oral critiques of peers’ papers. This essay will be workshopped and rewritten. 8 points

Major Essay Two: A Critical Analysis

Pick the memoir that spoke most powerfully to you so far and explain how the author achieved her desired effects to draw you in using technique (e.g.: unfolding events, characters, voice, style, reflection, scene). How and where does the writer comment from the present on the emotional import of events, the “real” story? You can also use another memoir as a secondary source to show how another writer used the technique(s).

Requirements: Four pages, with a separate cover letter to readers, followed by written and oral critiques of peers’ papers. You will have a boldfaced thesis statement, use MLA in-text citations from the memoir(s), and include a Works Cited page. This essay will be workshopped and rewritten.  12 points

Major Essay Three: A Coming of Age Story

We write memoirs to explore our past and to convey to others a key experience and our feelings about it. Memoirs capture an important moment, usually one involving conflict or drama or a question to be resolved. About seventy percent of memoirs deal with painful subjects and the rest are comic or humorous. Examples of all types include a death or divorce in the family, a defeat or triumph in sports, a major injury or illness, the experience of first love or a breakup, a key friendship, a special pet, a hard decision, or some struggle that resulted in change—good or bad or both. This essay may benefit from peer feedback but will not be formally workshopped.

Note: You may find it very useful or inspirational to reflect on photos or memorabilia, and you may find it helpful to call or email parents or others who were present during the time of the events being portrayed.

Requirements: Six pages. 12 points

Major Essay Four: A Researched Critical Analysis Essay

Among the questions you might explore in one or more of the memoirs we have read in the second half of the course: what is the story’s larger idea(s) or theme(s)?; what is the author’s stance toward her or his material, both in terms of being separated from it in time and in terms of how she or he sees the larger human dilemma being portrayed?; what is the historical backdrop to the story?

Requirements: Five pages, followed by written and oral critiques of peers’ papers. You will have a cover letter to readers, a boldfaced thesis statement, use MLA in-text citations, and include a Works Cited page. In addition to our class books, you will need to find a minimum of three new outside sources on your topic; you may also consult websites but they don’t count toward the source minimum. Possible sources include book reviews of the memoir, the author’s biography, books or journals of literary analysis, and histories. This essay will be rewritten as your final project. 16 points.

A Note on Grading: I give essays two scores: one for Content and another for Style—spelling, grammar, punctuation.

Proposals & Essay Starts = 12 %:  For each major essay above, you will type a proposal of at least a page laying out your idea(s) and possible approaches (1 pt. per proposal), and later will bring to class to share and turn in your essay start, usually of two pages (2 pts. each start).

In-Class Writing = 12%: These are weekly in-class handwritten responses to readings or prompts. Note: You must do these in class; they cannot be made up if you miss the class in which the prompt was given

Event Responses = 12%: These essays are typed reactions, of two pages, to three events during the semester, as specified. These are your personal responses and thoughts, but are thesis-driven in that you will develop your main idea or argument (thesis), which you will boldface. Correct style will count for half the grade (4 pts. each). These will be turned in on the due dates on hard copy only.

ePortfolio Uploads & Presentations =  4%: You must upload at least two major essays from this course; these can be both of your analytical essays or a memoir essay and an analytical essay or two memoir essays. (In addition, you might choose to upload one or more Event Responses. I recommend that you consider including major essays that seem strongest to you and that showcase skills relevant to your major (a creative writing major might upload different essays than a biochemistry major).

Late in the semester, you will show the class your ePortfolio and discuss what you uploaded and why. This is a great way to improve the look and content of your ePortolio by learning from others’ portfolios. I do not grade you on the “look” of yours but urge you to consider it.

Classwork & Attendance = 12 %: Plan on attending every class and participating in class discussions and activities. You are expected to be present for and participate in class discussions, peer review workshops, and peer editing.

You have a maximum of two (2) absences without penalty. After two absences, for each subsequent absence—whether “excused” or “unexcused”— you will lose four points. And never miss a writing workshop, a key feature of this class: missing a workshop will result in a point penalty even if you have not yet missed two other classes.

Late arrivals or early departures are subject to a loss of attendance points.

A word to the wise: Bank those two allowed absences and try not to use them; they are an insurance policy for if you do get sick. Attending class is a big part of your job as a student, and when you miss class you miss a lot. Absences are correlated with falling behind, with assignment misunderstandings, and with late work. Losing points, therefore, isn’t so much a penalty as a recognition that there is a real cost in being absent and a benefit to being present.

Note: Due to the workshop model we’ll use, you will automatically get 3.5 extra days off. The reason is that during workshop week you will attend only the hour-long workshop with your peer group. The rest of that class time and the other day during workshop weeks are used for other groups.

 

Course Basics & Preparedness Policy

 

First, basic courtesies: Turn off cell phones. No text messaging in class. Don’t use laptop computers in class unless approved for that class’s work.

Texts: Bring required texts to class if instructed or on days they are being discussed.

Graded Work: To be eligible for full credit, assignments must be present at the beginning of the class session on which they are due. Assignments are fluid and change—you are responsible for class announcements and for checking assignments on Blackboard.

I don’t accept late or emailed work without advance discussion and written permission.

Printing Problems: You are expected to have hard copies of assignments at the beginning of the class session on which they are due. If you encounter a printing problem, email yourself the paper and print it in an Otterbein computer lab before class.

English Department Statement on Learning Differences

If you need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability, you should contact me to arrange an appointment as soon as possible. At the appointment we can discuss the course format, anticipate your needs and explore potential accommodations. I rely on the Disability Services Coordinator for assistance in verifying the need for accommodations and developing strategies. If you have not previously contacted the Disability Services Coordinator, Kera Manley (823-1618), I encourage you to do so.

Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy: If I learn that you have copied the work of a fellow student, gotten someone else to do your work, or copied material from Internet sources without credit you will get an F on that assignment. The infraction will be reported to Academic Affairs, which records violations to track repeat offenders.

Plagiarism is easy to spot. Please talk to me if you are unsure about your use of sources. When in doubt, simply credit your source fully and clearly! Taking the words and ideas of others without credit is plagiarism.

Style for All Writing Assignments—

Essays, Event Responses, In-Class Prompts, etc.

In the upper left corner, single spaced:

Jane Doe [your name]

INS1501/Gilbert [section]

Writer as Teacher [use assignment name]

March 27, 2013 [use due date]

The Memoirist as Teacher in The Blessing  [your title, centered]

Body copy, double spaced, begins below title. For citation use MLA style. Use Times or Times New Roman 12 pt. font for all typed papers. Use one-inch margins, left and right. Indent the first line of paragraphs 0.25 inches. On following pages, put the page number in upper right corner. Staple the pages of the paper together.

Tentative Schedule & Key Dates

This schedule may change slightly, but major due dates and workshop weeks should hold. Pay attention in class and consult Blackboard online for complete, updated assignments.

Week One

Tuesday, Jan. 29: Welcome & intros, syllabus. Read: through page 50, Walls.

Thursday, Jan 31: Discuss memoirs, structure, scene, summary, reflection. Read pp. 50-125, Walls.

Week Two

Tuesday, Feb. 5: Bring to class to share and turn in ideas for Essay One. Read 129-163, Walls.

Thursday, Feb. 7: Discuss and turn in Essay One start: one page. Read 164-241, Walls.

Week Three

Tuesday, Feb. 12: Essay One start, part 2, due. Read 245-271, Walls.

Thursday, Feb. 14: Upload Essay One to Blackboard by class time. Read 272-End, Walls

Week Four: Note: this is a Workshop Week

Tuesday, Feb. 19: Groups 1 & 2 Workshop peer papers. Everyone: Read through 80, Strauss.

Thursday, Feb. 21: Groups 3 & 4 Workshop peer papers. Everyone: Read through 80, Strauss

Week Five

Tuesday, Feb. 26: Upload Rewritten Essay One by class time. Read pp. 83-142, Strauss.

Thursday, Feb. 28: Discuss ideas for Essay 2. Finish Strauss.

[Note: March 1 is last day to drop a class without a grade.]

Week Six

Tuesday, March 5: Essay 2 Proposal Due.

Thursday, March 7: After the Fall opens (attend Th-S for Event Response 1)

Week Seven

Tuesday, March 12: Event Response 1 due. Essay Two start due.

Thursday, March 14: Essay Two Due. Read through Page 115 in Strayed, Wild.

March 18 – 31: SPRING BREAK, NO CLASS

[Note: March 28 is last day to drop a class with a W.]

Week Eight: This is a workshop week.

Tuesday, March 26: Workshop Groups 1 & 2. Everyone: Read through page 145, Strayed.

Thursday, March 28: Workshop Groups 3 & 4. Everyone: Read through page 233, Strayed. Attend student art exhibit for Event Response 2.

Week Nine

Tuesday, April 2: Essay 2 Rewrite Due. Finish Strayed.

Thursday, April 4: Essay 3 Proposal Due. Read through Page 110, Rapp’s Poster Child.

Week Ten

Tuesday, April 9: Essay Three First Pages due. Event Response 2 due. Read through page 167, Rapp.

Thursday, April 11: Essay Three Due. Finish, Rapp.

Week Eleven

Tuesday, April 16: Read through Page 50, Chambers’s Mama’s Girl.

Thursday, April 18: Essay Four Proposal Due. Read through Page 148, Chambers.

Week Twelve

Tuesday, April 23: Library Research Training. Finish Chambers.

Thursday, April 25: How to Succeed in Business opens.

Week Thirteen

Tuesday, April 30: Essay Four first pages due. ePortfolio presentations: Groups 1 & 2.

Thursday, May 2: Essay Four due. ePortfolio presentations: Groups 3 & 4. How to Succeed in Business closes Saturday.

Week Fourteen This is a workshop week

Tuesday, May 7: Groups 1 & 2 Workshop. Event Response 3 due

Thursday, May 9: Groups 3 & 4 Workshop. Event Response 3 due.

Final Project, Homework for everyone:

Rewrite Essay Four and upload it to Blackboard by Monday, May 13, at 2 p.m. There is no final exam in this class; the essay rewrite and upload is your final project.

 

 

I love lists. Don’t you?

Lists save us time. They help us visualize our goals. They inspire us. They appeal to our sense of completion with a beginning, middle, and end.

Book lists are the best of all.

I first enjoyed lists I found on Amazon. Then Goodreads offered me the chance to see the books others are reading and to find their reviews. That’s terrific.

But the newest social media entry, Riffle,

offers something that none of my other online locations does as well. It allows me to create lists from this website and distribute them to help other people find great reads and helpful books to guide their own writing.

I started blogging by challenging myself to read 100 memoirs back in 2009. Now I can aggregate them into fun lists which consist of colorful book covers. They don’t take long to make, and they are very easy to access. I’ve made six of them so far. I try to give them catchy titles.

Here they are as easy links for you to click on, listed in order of their popularity with other readers and writers:

So You Want to Write a Memoir: Writing Advice That Makes a Difference

Girls Who Dreamed Big and Got Out of Dodge

For People Who Crave Real-Life Amish and Mennonite Stories

Memoirs That Made Me Laugh Out Loud

Memoirs That Illustrate the Varieties of Spiritual Transformation

Mary Karr’s Top Ten Memoirs, Plus a Bonus

Why did I start up yet another social media connection? I like Riffle because of how visual and easy it is. It’s still in the “Beta phase” of development, so I will continue testing the value of it. What’s fun for now is that I have a new way to share my love of good memoirs and find other readers. Of course, I hope readers will “discover” my memoir Blush when it launches. I already connected with a librarian in Ohio who found the Amish and Mennonite list useful.

Your turn: Some of these lists I want to make comprehensive (the Amish and Mennonite one) and others, I will make more selective, only adding a new book if it is one I have read and love. Here are three ways to comment below:

1.Did you find these lists helpful? Want to suggest changes?

2. If you are on Riffle, share some of your own lists as links below.

3. If you would like an invitation to Riffle (like Pinterest it expands through invitations), just let me know below.