ASSIGNMENTS TO DO

Discussions

Sixth Discussion (Week 12)

Background

Ever feel as though you have acceptance and power one minute, only to whipsaw back to outsider status the next? Perhaps you have had the unhappy experience of knowing that some part of who you are puts you at a disadvantage even as another part gives you status. This week, use intersectional thinking to examine the ways characters may simultaneously gain and lose power in different contexts. The lesbian speaker of "Ways the Philippines Can Talk" hears her family distort her life in the language she shares with them. She thinks, "Convictions of divide and conquer are tossed like habits" (Barrett). Midwestern-born Raúl decides how to feel about the ways his family, boyfriend, and culture at large classify him. In frustration, he thinks, "I felt supremely stupid, calling myself Mexican all this time without even knowing what the word meant."

Avoid summarizing the story! Instead, use your intimate knowledge of the text and refer to whatever specific characters, events, conversations, and plotlines show Raúl’s position. Do not quote full passages in your answer; however, you can refer to key words or phrases from it if they give focus to your close reading. In Part 2

Tip: Write your own responses to the prompts fully before you post them and read classmates’ responses. We are well into the semester now, and you have demonstrated your ability to read and analyze literary texts. Put your time and energy into writing the best answers before you scan what others have chosen to say. Like every assignment in this class, your discussion responses should reflect your knowledge and skills. Please do not plagiarize or cheat in any form.

Part One

First, explore the ways in which Raúl does and does not identify with his heritage at various points in "The Moon’s Navel." For him, does heritage mean family, the Mesoamerican objects in the Museum, Spanish as a language, being a midwesterner,being ethnically Mexican, or some other intersecting part of his identity? What roles (son, gay man, American, grandson, adult, non-Spanish speaker, New Yorker) allow him to have some power when it comes to his heritage? Which parts of his identity cause him to lose, detach from, or struggle to maintain his heritage? By the end, what kind of control over his identity does he have, and what is he still working toward and/or learning to live without? The aim of your response should be to analyze, NOT summarize, Raúl’s relationship to being Mexican. When is he included and when excluded?

Part Two

Next, using specific details from both Brammer’s and Barrett’s works, explain how Barrett’s poem impacts your understanding of "The Moon’s Navel" (or vice versa). You might focus on the narrator/ speaker roles, settings, imagery, dialogue, or other literary devices of your choice to support your claim. Both speakers deal with family, language, and the problems of belonging, but how does one text direct your reading of the other?

Seventh Discussion (Week 13)

Background

We have no assigned reading this week. Most of your time can be devoted to researching and planning your upcoming essay. However, we still have a Discussion to participate in, and this week’s questions are designed to help you keep and perhaps deepen your focus on Circe.

Please remember to reply to at least one other classmate’s post!

Part One

"Famous," by Naomi Shihab Nye, is a short poem we have read but not yet dealt with in class discussion. It is a self-description by the speaker and an indirect defintion of what it means to be famous. According to the poem, fame is shaped by a beholder sometimes, as in the line "The river is famous to the fish," but the beholder is not always contained by what is famous. Since "The boot is famous to the earth," it is evident that an object can also be famous. The poem leads readers in additional directions. It creates a complex understanding of what "famous" can mean, and it is a portrait of the speaker’s very particular, oddly humble dream of personal fame.

In a paragraph, apply some parts of the poem’s notion of "famous" to a particular passage or episode in Circe. In other words, present some images of fame from the poem and explain what insight they can give readers into Circe’s renown or self-image or desires. You may pick any passage, scene, or episode you want, to use as a basis for your response. Or perhaps you have already chosen a few parts of the novel to use in your Essay #2 analysis, and if you’d like, you can use one passage or section you already know well as the basis for this analysis.

Your response should use quotations from the poem (remember to use a / to indicate line breaks). You can use quotations from the novel or refer to specifics of a section in a paraphrase. Either way, your response must make clear what part of the novel you are analyzing. A parenthetical citation of the page number will do the trick, but if you are paraphasing, you can refer to the chapter number.

Part Two

** I can do this part of the discussion***At this point in your planning, conceptualizing, and research for Essay #2, what is the most interesting idea you’re reading in your research or planning to put into your paper? What do you like about it? In other words, what controversy, edgy interpretation, new piece of information, or previously unnoticed feature of Circeworld is grabbing you this week, and why? One paragraph. Please be as specific as possible, and remember that what will be valuable about your answer is that it is individual to you and gives a peek into what you are working on.

Third Discussion (Week 5)

Background

We often consider it an advantage to have a role model or a hero/ine whose advanced life helps us shape our own lives. In “Big Fan,” Tinsley thinks about Mia’s career, “It was the sum total of it all, sharpened to a lethal point with relatable cool-girl speak and flecks of references to the kinds of books most people never read but pretended they had,” and Tinsley reasons, “Who wouldn’t want to be like Mia?” (Cai). In “Playing Kerri Strug,” the narrator observes, “Mark played Kerri Strug so much that the couch cushion became discolored and limp on one side” (Reid).

Direct evidence from the stories will be necessary here; remember to use in-text citations (aka parenthetical citations) when you quote. You can see examples of in-text citations in the paragraph above. Another tip: Every time you quote from any of this week’s texts, your in-text citation will be placed at the end of the sentence in which you quote, and it will include only the last name of the author.

Part One

In a paragraph, evaluate the hero-worshiper in each story and consider the top obstacles that get in the way of their admiration. Does the trouble come from the heroines themselves, their admirers, other characters, or the world in which they meet?

Part Two

After you read our course document “Critical Theory: Archetypal Criticism” and have an idea of Jung’s terms “Shadow,” “Anima/Animus,” and “Persona,” choose one of the main characters from this week’s stories and see if you detect a Shadow, Anima/Animus, and Persona for that character. Do you think that character achieves "individuation" as it is described in our class document "Critical Theory – Archetypal Criticism"?

Second Discussion (Week 3)

Background

People going into the woods is one of the most fundamental story plots in folklore and fairytales. In some cases, the forest is just a terrain to be traveled through; in others, it is a means of earning a living by hunting, chopping wood or finding medicinal plants; in still other stories, the forest is a location where the rules of the town do not apply. Hawthorne’s mysterious narrator says Young Goodman Brown "had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind" (Hawthorne). To "mother in the woods" Daphne, her local forest seems "isolated, so much farther from their home than it really is, and there’s even something a little pagan about it" (Wisdom).

Part One:

Comparing the two stories, explain what purposes are served by the women being in the forest. Are those purposes determined by the women themselves or by others? How much are the narrators (one of whom is a woman) allowed to know, and why are they allowed to know it? As you compare the two stories, use textual evidence to support your claims.

Part Two:

From one of the stories–either "The Mothers in the Woods" or "Young Goodman Brown"– pick a character who is distressed and upset. Imagine you are a trainee Psychoanalyst who has spoken with the character and read the account of what happened in the woods. Write your clinical evaluation of that character’s experience. Were the events real or imagined, and is the character coping well or not? Would you recommend further help for the person? Use at least one concept or question from our "Critical Theory: Psychoanalysis" document in your evaluation, and support your judgments with quotes from the story.

Eighth Discussion (Week 14)

Background

This is a philosophical week. On the one hand, in "Three Women of Chuck’s Donuts," Tevy is in a Philosophy class at college and finds herself motivated to discover how people come to know anything. However, it’s not only writings by the philosopher Wittgenstein that compel Tevy but the everyday questions about knowing that she and her sister have asked for years, such as "How does one know what is and is not Khmer?" and "How can you tell?". On the other hand, Warsan Shire’s poem shows many overlapping ways of intimately knowing a partner even as the speaker seems uncertain of whether there was ever love there: "so what did you want to do, love/ split his head open?".

You should be using some paraphrase and a few brief quotes in each answer. Please remember to reply to a classmate in order to scoop up the most points.

Part One

In a paragraph, identify two moments in "Three Women" that are about the problem of knowing. You should paraphrase the moment and only quote up to a single sentence that best represents it. Which one more sharply or informatively conveys the difficulties of whether people can know? The passages you choose should not just be a series of questions, and they should not even be directly about the philosophy class. They should describe a thought, piece of conversation, or action that brings a character some revelation about whether we ever can, should, need to, or want to know. Be precise about what type of knowing each passage is about: knowing the causes behind an event, or knowing another person, the future, or our identity.

Part Two

Both the story and the poem for this week have "women" in the title. In a paragraph, do a gender-aware reading of them to answer the question "what does each work say about love?" Some ideas to keep in mind:

the gender requirement means that whatever message each piece has about love, it must involve women in some way. That may or may not result in a definition of love that you yourself have first-hand knowledge of, and that’s ok.

you don’t have to account for every notion of love throughout the entire text. Pick an observation or revelation about love from each text and go with it. If you find that they are similar or different in any way, you can mention that too.

this answer should be between 150-200 words long, so no need to write a dissertation, but be as specific as you can.

Papers

English

Analysis Assessment #4: Evaluation–

Process

Please open a document on your computer. This is where you will type and save your answers to the questions below.

Please clearly label your responses so I know what questions you are answering.

Please also use MLA format, incuding double spacing.

Directions

Choose Four: Below you will find six topics. Choose and respond to four.

Point Values: Each topic is worth 12.5 points (for a total of 50 points possible).

Different characters, setting, and language: for all of the topics, you will establish and evaluate some basic feature of the literary works: characters, settings, or language.

Expectations for Responses:

For your selected topics, generate a one-paragraph response in which you explain a.) how both provided characters accomplish the stated goal and b.) specifically why your choice accomplishes this goal more effectively than the alternate option.

Responses must be written in complete sentences and properly structured paragraphs.

Each response must be 150-250 words. I recommend including the word count at the end of each of your responses, to make sure you are meeting this requirement.

Responses should clearly address the prompt and follow all directions.

Quotations: You must use specific examples from the texts (give names, refer to particular scenes or statements made by characters, point out key descriptions), but you may not quote or paraphrase.

Research: Do not research your responses formally or informally. Your responses should demonstrate your understanding of the texts and concepts.

Assistance: The purpose of Analysis Assessments is for students to demonstrate their understanding of the critical approaches and literary texts we cover. If you consult Ashly or me, you can do so about grammar or clarity, but not about concepts or your knowledge of the texts.

Types of Criticism Covered by this Assessment:

Intersectionality, Feminist criticism, and Gender criticism

Texts Covered by this Assessment:

J.P. Brammer’s "The Moon’s Navel"

Kay Ulanday Barrett’s "Ways the Philippines Can Talk"

Anthony Veasna So’s "Three Women of Chuck’s Donuts"

Warsan Shire’s "For Women Who Are Difficult to Love"

Eloghosa Osunde’s "Rain"

Julian Jarboe’s "I am a Beautiful Bug!"

Kayleb Rae Candrill’s "On Crescents & Transition & Waning"

Topics

Write about any single text no more than two times. It is to your advantage to write about as many different texts as possible, so you can demonstrate your understanding of the readings.

1. Which character struggles the most as a result of one of their obvious identities? The narrator of Jarboe’s "I Am a Beautiful Bug" or the speaker of Barrett’s "Ways the Philippines Can Talk"?

2. Which character loses the most power because of their gender? Sothy in "Three Women of Chuck’s Donuts" or the speaker of Barrett’s "Ways the Philippines Can Talk"?

3. Which character most successfully pushes back against a dominant aspect of their culture? Raúl of Brammer’s "The Moon’s Navel" or the Wuha of Osunde’s "Rain"?

4. Which character gets the most satisfaction out of their physical transformation? The narrator of Candrill’s "On Crescents & Transition & Waning" or the narrator of Jarboe’s "I Am a Beautiful Bug!"?

5. Which character discovers more about themself over the course of their text? Raúl of Brammer’s "The Moon’s Navel" or the Tevy in "Three Women of Chuck’s Donuts"?

6. Which character most successfully learns about a part of their identity that is not apparent to others? Wuha of Osunde’s "Rain" or the speaker of Shire’s "For Women Who Are Difficult to Love"?

Analysis Assessment Rubric (1)

Criteria Ratings Pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome

First Response

Does it answer the prompt as asked; does it analyze and/or interpret both texts; does it give sufficient support from the text that is not quoted; is it readable and clear?

12.5 pts

Exceeds Expectations with High Quality 10.6 pts

Capably Meets Expectations 9 pts

Fulfills the Requirement 6 pts

Does not Demonstrate Most of the Required Skills

12.5 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome

Second Response

Does it answer the prompt as asked; does it analyze and/or interpret both texts; does it give sufficient support from the text that is not quoted; is it readable and clear?

12.5 pts

Exceeds Expectations with High Quality 10.6 pts

Capably Meets Expectations 9 pts

Fulfills the Requirement 6 pts

Does not Demonstrate Most of the Required Skills

12.5 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome

Third Response

Does it answer the prompt as asked; does it analyze and/or interpret both texts; does it give sufficient support from the text that is not quoted; is it readable and clear?

12.5 pts

Exceeds Expectations with High Quality 10.6 pts

Capably Meets Expectations 9 pts

Fulfills the Requirement 6 pts

Does not Demonstrate Most of the Required Skills

12.5 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome

Fourth Response

Does it answer the prompt as asked; does it analyze and/or interpret both texts; does it give sufficient support from the text that is not quoted; is it readable and clear?

12.5 pts

Exceeds Expectations with High Quality 10.6 pts

Capably Meets Expectations 9 pts

Fulfills the Requirement 6 pts

Does not Demonstrate Most of the Required Skills

12.5 pts

Total Points: 50

ASL

ASL Film Reaction Paper– (Movie Reflection Paper)

You will watch a two-hour film about ASL and deaf culture then write your personal reflection.

Do not write a summary of the movie.

Your reflection must be relevant to the scenes of the movie.

What insights did the movie give you about ASL and deafness? What scenes from the movie changed your perception of ASL and deafness?

This requires a full typed two-page, 1.5 line spacing limit, please follow APA/MLA formatting.

You may choose to submit your work here by typing in the Canvas RCE (Rich Content Editing) platform or upload a MS Word document file (.doc or docx). Other forms of file will not be accepted.

Film Assigned: Children of a Lesser God (1986) (Links to an external site.)

Please be advised that this requires a DVD rental or Online Streaming. Amazon Prime and VUDU has it available for rent as low as 2.99. The HB Central Library also has it available for free. They require a membership and a curbside pick up. If you live outside HB, you can check with your local library.

ASL/English Bilingual Reaction Paper

Subject: ASL/English as a Bilingual Model for DHH Students

Objective: To learn about ASL/English model and how it plays a vital role in the field of DHH education.

Procedure:

Find a published article (study, analytical, or argumentative) on topics about ASL/English as a bilingual model for deaf and hard of hearing children. Anything pertaining to the topic is acceptable, as long as it is scholarly and focuses on ASL and deafness.

Article must be no older than 2005.

Upload a copy of the article with your reflection paper or provide the URL address. Make sure the link is accessible.

Share briefly what the article is about.

Share your insights about the article.

Share your thoughts about ASL/English model. Note: you may need to do additional research to find out more about the model/method if your article does not do a good job of defining it.

Reflection:

Answer the following questions on a full typed two-page paper. Use 1.5 line spacing (no double space).

What is the article about? What was the result of the study if any?

How has this article, whether it agrees or disagrees with the model/method, changed your perspective on deafness and ASL? What are your thoughts?