31 August 2016

Today students began the thinking work in a pre-assessment unit that involves a set of related texts and that will culminate in a piece of in-class writing. In class, we viewed a clip from Matt Stone and Trey Parker's South Park, "In My Safe Space," then discussed the argument the video advances about the effects of the concept. Students then read and responded to "The Coddling of the American Mind." During our next session, we will discuss Nathan Heller's "The Big Uneasy" and conduct some research in class.

29 August: First Day

Today we discussed the course overview and the themes that will guide our work over the year. Students began to build community through games. The Letter of Introduction assignment is due at the beginning of our next class session. Students should also have read and annotated Roxane Gay's essay "To Scratch, Claw, or Grope..." and be ready to discuss it at our next class session.

Welcome to the 2016-2017 academic year

And welcome to the world of Themes in Contemporary Literature: Let's Play. In this course, you will have the opportunity to explore a range of ideas laced together by the concepts of game, play, sport, competition and creativity to understand how these ideas contribute to different kinds of identities in different cultures. We will explore football, boxing, baseball; we will examine poetry, drama, prose; we will write personal essays, literary analyses, theses; we will discuss, discuss, discuss. I am delighted to have you joining me in the conversation. Let's play.