Category Archives: Barthes

In the beginning there was “swag.” Swag is neither real nor imaginary. Swag is in how the seminar carries itself–it is both physical and mental, alpha and omega. All seminars require a certain level of swagger.

The Three Spaces

1. Place: Know your surroundings. A swag seminar can only exist successfully in a space that is familiar, encourages discussion, and generally has a good vibe.
2. People: All members of the seminar need to have swag. This swag is individualized and necessary for the success of individuals and of the seminar as a learning community whole. Seminar members must also possess a generalized knowledge of how to define and recognize swag.
3. Product: By the end of the seminar, all members of our learning community will create a text of critical acclaim and “swagger.”

Conversation: This seminar will create a space in which all conversations, discussions, and responses will exude swag. This means that all videos, texts, artifacts, images, etc., will include an open -minded exploration and respectful responses relevant to the topic of persuasions.

Practices:  Please see our comprehensive list of “educational practices” here.

Knowledge: In this seminar we understand that knowledge is gained, received, and given. As Toni Morrison mentions, knowledge doesn’t always have to be spoken, it can be disseminated through writing, the reading of texts, and other medias. We will never permit negative language to interfere with the possession of knowledge.

Motivation:In this seminar we will motivate each other, as well as ourselves in order to speak out and listen to each other. This genre of motivation will enable us to gain confidence and learn to be active participants and writers of persuasive swag.

Play: Play is an important element of our seminar. It is necessary to prevent content from becoming stale or monotone. Play fosters creativity. This seminar is committed to playing with language, our environment, and even “Shellshock Live.”

Accomplishment:This seminar will enable us to produce work in a timely fashion, learn to be persuaded to abide by deadlines, and persuade us to love thesis statements, as they are necessary for an expression of “swag.”

Camaraderie: This seminar is not a space for haters. We will be respectful of each other, actively listen to everything and anything we have to write or say, and help each other along the windy road of the semester. We will make it a practice to sing, “why can’t we be friends” regularly, as mandated by our seminar member, Abraham.