Blog 11: Remix Proposal
In 300 words, address the following:
What are you planning on making for your Remix project? Which paper are you “remixing?” Describe the project in as much detail as you have now, including the audience, purpose, genre, and medium for your project. What are you trying to convey? Describe how you will go about making your arguent, and what rhetorical choices you will make in terms of audio, photography, video, fonts, and text. How will remaking your work into a multimedia piece changed your project? What is lost and what is gained, in other words?
Describe your process so far—biggest challenges and what you like best. What are your personal motivations for tackling this specific project?
Post bye end of day Wednesday, May 4. By the end of day Thursday, May 5: go through and read your classmates’ Remix Proposals, leaving 2 comments in which you bring up a question or connection.
Blog 10: due 4/27
Read Susan Sontag, “On Photography.” To begin her essay, Sontag writes, “to collect photos is to collect the world.” In response to this piece, take a photo and post it. You should focus on composition, purpose, message, audience, and genre when you style this photo. Do you want this photo to be an abstract piece of art? If so, how are the elements of composition working together to produce a message or interpretation? Do you want this photo to market something to the viewer? How are the elements working together to appeal to certain audiences? Edit your photo either using the iPhone photo tools, or if you don’t have an iPhone, using tools on Instagram, Snapchat or another app. Include a paragraph of writing with your post, touching on the above elements.
Post your photo and paragraph by the end of the day on Wednesday, 4/27. Comment on 2 posts by end of day Thursday, 4/28.
Blog 9: due 4/6
Read through these strategies for revision, keeping your essay in mind. Pick one and practice it on the first page of your draft. When you’re finished, write a paragraph where you reflect on the results: what did the exercise reveal to you about your writing/ essay/ topic? Why do you think you chose the exercise you did? What is the main thing you are struggling with right now? Post by end of day Wednesday. By end of day Thursday, comment on 2 peer posts.
Blog 8: due 3/25
This week’s blog will be a little more in-depth than usual. We will look at these posts and your “Starter Packs” next week!
Read “Realizing the Dream of a Liberation University” by Conor Tomàs Reed.” After reading through the piece, answer 3 out of the following 4 questions in a blog post:
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- What connections is Reed making between the 1978-1992 “retrenchment period” at CUNY and the Covid-19 pandemic?
- In what context does Reed use the term “death cult,” and what does it mean?
- Look through this Fall 2019 Latinx Student alliance campaign to decolonize the Lehman College English curriculum. How can you summarize the reasoning this group gives for demanding more diversity in their curriculum?
- What suggestion does Reed make for both anti-racist and anti-austerity groups at CUNY? (hint: find the answer on page 5)
Write at least 300 words. After, create your own “Liberation University Starter Pack” by answering this question in the form of a digital image, vision-board, or “starter pack”:
What would the CUNY of your dreams look like?
Use Google Jamboard, Canva, or any other platform/ app you’re familiar with. Download the image and attach it to this blog post. As you can see from the examples here, it can look “messy”!
Take an extra 2 days to complete this blog post. Post by the end of day Friday, 3/25. By the end of the day Sunday, 3/27, post 2 comments on peer posts.
Have fun and can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Blog 7: due 3/16
Read Read “Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Limits of Representation” by Keeanga-Yamahatta Taylor. Write a short response with your thoughts after reading. According to this author, what are the “limits of representation?”
Write your response by end of day Wednesday, 3/16. By end of day Thursday, 3/17, write 2 50-word comments on peer blogs.
Blog 6: due 3/9
Hi guys, you have all the way until next Wednesday to complete this blog. First, please review the assignment sheet for your “Art and Social Conditions” Research Paper in the Google Drive. Then, after spending the weekend thinking and brainstorming, write out a Project Proposal and post it here. In 2 paragraphs, include the following:
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- The title (or titles) of the art/ artist you chose, the artist’s name (if applicable) and the date of production
- Objectively describe the artwork in your own words
- Indicate what you think this piece of art is “trying to say” (unearth its cultural content)
- Explain why you chose this particular work
- Include a link or an image for us to reference the artwork
- Finally: include a *potential* thesis statement. Example: “This artist’s work attempts to expose the truth about….”
Keep in mind that this post is a draft of sorts: it is not intended to be the final iteration of what your project is, but more of a starting point from which you can focus or clarify your topic.
By end of day Thursday, 3/9:
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- Leave 5 comments on peer proposals (more than the usual 2). Questions you might answer in your comment (or do your own thing!): What do you like about this idea? What confuses you? Where might there be potential to narrow down or open up? Do you have any suggestions about where they might look for research?
Good luck, can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Blog 5: due 3/2
Look at the following pieces in the “Art Folder” on Google Drive:
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- Greg Bordowitz “Pandemic Haiku”
- David Wojnarowicz “Untitled”
- Adrian Piper “Decide Who You Are, Anita Hill”
Pick one, and answer the following three questions, either in numbered format or as one single paragraph.
Peruse all three art objects. Pick the one that affects you the most (or pick one randomly), and answer these three questions in a blog post.
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- How does this piece’s rhetorical properties contribute to its meaning? (think blending of image/ text, tone, audience, color, design, etc)
- How does the text resonate with social or political concerns of the present?
- What conclusions can you draw from this text to build an argument for what impact art might make on political or social concerns?
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Write at least 250 words by the end of day Wednesday. By end of day Thursday, comment on 2 peer posts. Have fun!
Tip: If you’re having trouble, I recommend looking up some background context on the art/ artist.
Blog 4: due 2/28
No comments this time. Review my slides from class for the 4 sentence types, or read about them at this link.
Blog 3: due 2/16
Read “Racial Capitalocene” by Francoise Vergès, and “New York’s Invisible Climate Migrants” by Sophie Kasakove. These pieces are totally different in genre, tone, and audience. However, they may have a similar theme in common. Write a “miniature” comparative analysis where you develop a claim that can be supported by statements made in both Vergès and Kasakove’s pieces, and include 1 quote from each.
Blog 2: due 2/9
Have you personally witnessed the effects of neoliberalism as a resident of New York? How exactly? Has the landscape of New York changed since you’ve lived here? Are there public/ social services you’ve witnessed being replaced by for-profit, privately-owed measures? Relate your own observations to an argument or multiple made in Dickinson’s text. Write 300 words by end of day Wednesday. By end of day Thursday, leave a 50-word comment on 2 peer posts.
Bonus: what does the meme mean in the context of the article? or just in general?
Blog 1
For the first blog of the Spring semester, pick a piece of art that represents you (painting, poem, music, film, object, game, symbol… the list goes on). Include a photo of the piece, or of something that represents it in your post. Under the photo, introduce yourself with your name and anything else you want to mention up front. Then, explain how the piece of art represents you, introducing us to you in the process. Say more than “I like it,” describe what qualities you share with the piece, what it reveals about you, or why it resonates. Write 250 words by class time on Wednesday, 2/2.
*Note: if we consider art in the interpretive sense, then you can make a case for art being just about anything. Once I had a student upload a picture of a Sprite bottle, with a convincing testimony to its artistic merit.
