In this class we’re going to be thinking, talking and writing about the spaces we live in.
Our home is both a physical structure that provides shelter and an imagined place that we project onto our environment. In other words, we live as much in the stories we tell ourselves about our houses—“Dream home!” “Fixer-upper,” “Slum”—as we do in the buildings themselves. At the same time, however, our environments do determine many of the possibilities and limitations of our lives—environments that are determined by city planning, class-structures, manufacturing practices and advertising. That is to say, the life one leads from a pent house on 5th Avenue is substantively different than the one conducted from the cramped, converted quarters at the ends of the subway lines where most New Yorkers make their homes, no matter what stories they tell.
On this site, you will find course assignments, our reading schedule and our class blog, which will be a space for you to engage with the ideas and issues we discuss in class in a more creative, less formal setting. Sometimes your blog posts will respond to a specific prompt I pose in class, but often blog posts will be self-directed. You can see a more detailed description of what I’m looking for in your blog posts on the “About the Blog” page. This blog will be as colorful, lively and interesting as we make it, so be creative and respond to each other’s work!