ThoughtMeat

For Tuesday, I'd like you to read several articles that go against the "party line" (though we can discuss this concept of the "party line", if you'd like!):
Tarek Atia's "Instantaneous Translation": http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/603/sc42.htm
A.R. Torres' "Confessions of a 9/11 Widow" (also called "The reluctant Icon")
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2002/01/25/widow_speaks/print.html
Asra Q. Nomani's "At Home with the Taliban"
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/10/10/taliban/index.html

and, if you're interested in the article I read a passage from in class (this one's optional):
Lauren Sandler's "Missing Women" (also called "Hearts Broken, Hands Full":
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2001/12/06/widowers/index.html

The Sandler, Torres and Nomani articles can also be found in print-friendly doc formats in the content section of the learn@uw site, if you have any trouble with the salon.com links here.

Welcome to the world of blogging, my pretties! I'm so excited that you'll soon be joining me in this blog forum. Really, it's less painful than you think. Here are the steps you need to go through by this Thursday:

1. Go to the learn@uw site and download the blog set-up instructions in the Content folder.
   
2. Read them and follow them. (Here, you'll set up your blog and make your first post.)
3. Email me with the url of your blog so I can link it to this site. (Be sure to test your link first; if it doesn't get you to your blog when you've pasted it in your browser, you either haven't made a test/hello post yet or you've not copied the url correctly.)

By Friday, please make a "free post" to your blog, and by Sunday, please respond to someone else's free post. We'll talk about this in class on Thursday.

In your >2pg memoir for Tuesday, I'd like you to think hard about the story you want to tell to your readers (me, the rest of the class, possibly your roommates, friends or family). Don't just give a blow-by-blow account of what happened. Think also:

• what did it mean?
• what were you feeling?
• how was this different/similar to anything you'd ever experienced before?
• how could your presentation of the story affect the way your readers experience it?

Please write a cover letter addressed to me and attach it to the beginning of your paper (it does not count towards your 2 pages). In the cover letter, please address some of the following questions:

• did you try anything new in this paper?
  
• how do you feel about the way it turned out?
  
• what could have made it better?
  
• what do you particularly like about the paper?
  
• what would you do if you revised it again?
  

Turn your paper and cover letter (in one document) in to the "dropbox" at our learn@uw site by 2:30pm on Tuesday. If you have trouble with the site, bring a hard copy to class or send it to me via email. If you have any questions, please send me an email.

I've been spending a lot of time looking at 9/11 sites online, and I've found some interesting ones. This is by no means an exhaustive list of links on 9/11, but it's a place for you to start. Feel free to follow your interests as you browse though these and other 9/11 sites. Take notes on what you see and learn and find interesting and we'll talk about it in class on Thurs. I'd like you to spend at least an hour browsing these and other 9/11 sites.

(these are in no particular order)
Library of Congress oral history project
Library of Congress Witness and Response
CBS interactive (you can to follow the link to the Sept 11 commission here, or find other interactive features)
Dept of State International Heroes
Response to 9/11 from an English language Egyptian newspaper
NPR's 9/11 archive
PBS's Documentary, The American Experience, The Center of the World--New York
Smithsonian's 9/11 site
9/11 victims memorial site
Peaceful Tomorrows: 9/11 victims' families united for peace

I'm always on the lookout for new links, so send me one if you find a good one.

I'm excited to be teaching 201 again this semester, and I hope that you're excited about taking the course. If you're not now, I'm sure you will be once we get to know each other better. :)

You may not be used to getting to know your peers and your instructor in a college class, but if you've ever taken a composition class before, then you know it's very different from other courses. There are 19 of you in the the class, and you're my only students this semester. This means we get a lot of quality time together. In a composition course, it's important that we all get to know each other well because it's important we feel comfortable sharing our writing and talking about it.

Because I always find the first couple of weeks of getting-to-know-each-other a little awkward, I've decided to try something new this semester. For the first day of class, I'd like you to bring a self-portrait and be prepared to share it with the rest of us. Now, don't be alarmed! I'm not looking for a work of art. I'm defining "self-portrait" very loosely. I mean, please bring something to class that is reflective of you (hopes, dreams, interests, friends, talents, fears, whatever) and be prepared to talk about it. It could be a photograph, an object, a written text, a song, a drawing, a collage, etc. I'll bring something to share with you, too. By asking you to do this, I'm hoping to avoid the traditional, "what's your major, why are you taking the course" introductions. I often find those boring and unhelpful in getting to know students because knowing you're a pharmacy student tells me next-to-nothing about you.

Feel free to browse this site and the links of my previous students' blogs to your right. We'll talk more about the course when we meet, but in the meantime, reading some of these may give you a good window into student experiences in my class.

See you Tuesday!