Small Change to the Calendar

There has been a small change to the calendar. Rereading "The Guide to Blogging in this Class" has been moved from October 7 to October 5.

First "Special Entry" (Character Based Short Story), October 7

The "Guide to Blogging in This Class" says that there will be three "special entries" which "will require freewriting, drafting, and revision before posting" and which "will count for more than regular entries." The first of these special entries will be a character based short story, to be due October 7. The instructions for this story are as follows:

• By "character based,"  I mean that the "point" of the story should mostly be about revealing and developing a nuanced or multi-layered or complex character.
• You are encouraged to either use the character sketch that you wrote during class as a basis for the story--or to start over if you like. (The character could even be loosely based on someone you know.)
• This story can be as long as you like. At a minimum, it should be at least 1000 words.
• You can use as a model any of the stories we've read so far: "My Tea with Madame Descartes" by David St. John would serve particularly well.
• It should be informed by the chapter of The Literary Experience on character and should make use of all of the tools of "characterization" as discussed in class: (a) what the character looks like (or sounds like, smells like, etc.), (b) what the character does, (c) what the character says (or thinks, if you decide to give us a view of his or her thoughts), and (d) what other characters say or think about him or her (if you have other characters).
• It should have one or more characters, as many as you want, though in general one ought to be the main character.
• Concerning plot, the story should have a beginning, middle, and end. It may have one or more scenes. 
• The story should be written and revised through at least two drafts. I don't need to see the drafts, but the quality of the story ought to demonstrate that it is not a first draft.
• The final draft of the story should be posted as the entry due before class on October 7, though you should begin working on it much sooner than then.

Bring Your Painting Supplies to Class, September 23

Make sure to bring your painting supplies to class on Thursday, September 23, as the course syllabus lists: "Brushes, paints, and a sketch pad suitable for painting, something other than watercolor. About $10." Participation on this day depends on you bringing these painting materials to class. We will be painting in response to The Book of Joel (download the version on the course calendar). Visual and visceral elements are central to apocalyptic literature. As the chapter on theme in The Literary Experience points out, the "meaning" or "theme" of a text is only one aspect of it. By painting in response to Joel, we will be able to appreciate and participate in these other dynamics of the text. Painting--if you emphasize the actual, physical process of painting and not just the end result--is a physical activity that happens in time that will allow us yet another way of experiencing the text. This means that it does not matter whether you can paint or not or even whether you consider yourself "artistic." I certainly do not have any painting abilities, but I have been able to get a lot out of this activity. The texts I've painted from are some of the ones I remember best and most meaningfully. The images in this post are samples of my painting in response to literature.

Cemetery Field Trip

Before class on Tuesday, September 14, you will need to visit the oldest burial gardens in Lakeland, three connected cemeteries called Lakeview, Roselawn and Tiger Flowers. You will need to spend a minimum of a full 40 minutes inside the cemetery. These burial gardens are located less than ten minutes from Southeastern, at the corner of Ingraham Avenue and Parker Street (map). Parking is available across Ingram from the cemeteries, in the parking lot of the Polk County Government Center. I suggest that you enter the Tiger Flowers Cemetery entrance directly across from Everest University. You are responsible for arranging you own transportation, but I encourage you to carpool with other members of the class. 

The purpose of this trip is to "inform" your reading of C. S. Lewis' A Grief Observed. In particular, it may "illustrate" Lewis' discussion of a man caring for his dead mother's grave site in Chapter 2 (page 21 in my book). More generally, it should give you a quite time to reflect on death and on the book as a whole.

You will need to bring the text of A Grief Observed with you to the cemetery. You should arrive at the cemetery quietly and solemnly. This is a public place of grief. You need to show the utmost respect for the dead and for those still alive who have dead loved ones buried there. During your visit, I would like for you to spend most of your time walking around in silence, looking at the tombstones, and reading.  Please reread select pages and passages carefully and meditatively. This should be a "prayerful" event. It should also be an event that takes you deeper into the text and into life.

To be counted as "present," for this fieldtrip, you will need to post an extra post on your blog with the following statement: "I went to the Lakeview, Roselawn and Tiger Flowers cemetery complex for this fieldtrip, and I stayed there for at least 40 minutes." Optimally, you will also post a picture of yourself at the cemetery. You may also want to add some reflections about your visit since extra blogging can boost your blog grade.

If visiting this specific cemetery provides some hardship, you may visit a different one providing that it is comparably old and large.

If you think that visiting a cemetery at all will prove too emotionally difficult for you, you may arrange in advance with me for an alternative activity.

Tuscana Ristorante Fieldtrip, September 7

During class time on Tuesday, September 7, we will be meeting at Tuscana Ristorante. Students must arrive to the dining hall by 12:00. I highly recommend that you get there early if at all possible in order to get a table--or send someone in your small group to get a table for the group. You will need to find me, hand me a note card with your name on it (so that I can take attendance quickly and quietly) and get a copy of the discussion guidelines. Students without meal plans will need to buy lunch. The element of "food" is an important part of making this "fieldtrip" work.

The purpose of this fieldtrip is to highlight--and practice--the social aspect of literature. By social, I don't mean "socializing" as a "social butterfly" might do. I mean simply, normal human interactions between people. In "real life," when literature is discussed, it is most often discussed around dinner tables or at lunch time. Literature is about life and the doing and happening of literature takes place, in addition to in classrooms, in the arenas of real life.

The guidelines are as follows:

1. You need to bring a literary text or several texts to discuss. These may be ones we've read in this class or ones you've read elsewhere. They should, however, be literature, meaning poetry, fiction, drama or so on. While philosophy and theology and self-help books are all worth discussing, and can be brought to bear on the reading of literary texts, this event should focus on literature proper.
2. You should prepare beforehand some discussion questions or points or comments. You also need to get from me, when you arrive, a copy of my discussions questions.
3. You need to sit with members of the class. You should sit with the small group you've been meeting with in class; however, if there are less than three members in your group, you may join with another group. No group, though, should have more than five or more than can fit around a small table.
4. You should get some food and drink.
5. You will have to stay "on topic" from after you get your food and make sure you know each other's names, until the end of the class period. However, you can decide what constitues being "on topic." You can decide what is relevant to discuss about literature and life. This will be hard work, especailly if you are not used to having meaningful discussiong about literature. But since I am taking this risk of having this fieldtrip, please give it a long, solid try.
6. Make sure to continually "return to the texts," whatever texts you have, weaving the actual words of the literature throughout the whole discussion. Make sure during the course of the discussion to read aloud short passages to each other.