Hi Everyone,

Believe it or not, we are just about at the half-way mark of the semester.  We will be doing some formal evaluation next week, but in the meantime, this a good time to pause and reflect on how you’re doing so far and to think about what you would like to accomplish in the next eight weeks.  This long weekend may also be a good opportunity to catch up on any missing assignments.

• Baruch is closed on Monday, October 11th, so I will not be holding my regular office hours, and you do not have any assignments to complete!
• In advance of Wednesday’s class, please read Vershawn Young, “Should Writers Use They Own English.”  (You can find the link to the text under the “Texts” tab.). We will be discussing it in class on Wednesday, so have it available when you come to class.  Young wrote this essay in response to an opinion piece published in The New York Times by Stanley Fish.  Young includes some of Fish’s argument in his essay, but if you’d like to go back and see Fish’s full piece, I’ve provided a link to that too.
• For Wednesday, also watch Jamila Lyiscott, “Three Ways to Speak English”.
• Please write a response to these two texts and post it to the blog as a new post.  Your post should be 350-500 words and must be posted by 11:00 am on Wednesday, October 13th in order to receive full credit.  In your post,  you might want to consider the following:  What were your initial reactions to these two texts?  What do Young and Lyiscott have in common? What messages did you take away from each of these texts? Both Young and Lyiscott use unconventional strategies for conveying their messages.  How might you connect the form of their texts with their content?  Did anything either of them said particularly grab your attention? If so, what was it?  Did you find that you agreed with these authors’ perspectives? Why or why not?  What ideas stuck with you after reading Young and watching Lyiscott? What questions are you left with?

Enjoy the long weekend, and I will see you on Wednesday!