Central Park Five
Assignment for Wed., April 18th
As a follow-up to our viewing of Central Park Five, please use the link below to access a timeline about the case that includes links to media coverage of the Central Park Jogger rape case and all the events that followed.
http://www.nydailynews.com/services/central-park-five
After browsing through the site, choose one article that interests you, print out the article, do the following:
–Write a brief, one paragraph summary of the article. What is it? Where did it appear? What are its main topics?
–Write a second paragraph in which you offer your analysis of the article. What does the language of the article reveal about the way the media covered this case? To what extent do you detect any particular bias in the article? Think about the details that the author chooses to include about the people who are mentioned in the article. What do these choices suggest to you about how this case was presented by the media or viewed by the citizens of New York City? How is the article you’ve selected connected to the larger issues involved in this case?
Please bring the print-out of the article as well as your two paragraph written assignment (typed) with you to class on Wednesday.
Assignment #3 – TRIP REPORT
Your trip report my be posted to the class blog as soon as it’s complete. All posts must be uploaded by Sunday, April 15th at 11pm.
For this writing project, you will be visiting a place in New York City for the first time and creating a report of your visit to share on our blog. You will need to choose your own destination, and you will determine the shape, tone, and format of your written report, but it must include at least 750 words of writing.
You may also include photographs, videos, maps, and any other supporting materials, giving careful thought to the function you wish them to serve.
You may take this excursion alone or with a companion, but you will want to think ahead of time about what aspects of your trip you want to pay special attention to as well as what kinds of preparations might make your trip particularly successful.
No matter where you decide to go, your success with this project will be determined by the quality of your attention. What do you see? What do you hear? How do you feel? What questions do you have? Stay awake to all of the possibilities!
Your post will be evaluated on the following:
— adherence to assignment guidelines regarding length, due dates, etc…
— creativity
— clarity and freedom from mechanical error
–depth of engagement in subject
–ability to engage the reader
Choosing a destination:
We will work together to brainstorm possible destinations. Once you have chosen your destination, make a short post on the blog announcing your choice. You may NOT choose a destination that someone else in the class has already selected. All destinations must be posted to the blog by Monday, April 9th.
Your destination does not have be a famous tourist attraction. Try to think about all of the various things that go on in New York City, and use this as an opportunity to experience something that you’ve never experienced before. Maybe you want to go boating in the Hudson River or visit the New York Stock Exchange or volunteer in a soup kitchen or visit a doll hospital – it’s totally up to you!!!
Essay #2 – Literary Analysis
Four pages, typed and double-spaced
Draft Due: Wednesday, March 21st
Bring three copies of your draft with you to class.
Final Version Due: Sunday, March 25th
Upload your paper onto turnitin.com by 11pm.
(Submit your peer review materials to me in class on 3/26.)
For this essay, you have several options:
1. Bartleby, the Scrivener
Building on the group work you did with your classmates, develop a detailed, focused analysis of one of the four thematic areas we’ve explored together (food/eating/nourishment; walls/screens/enclosures; the office of “dead letters”; and business/capitalism/Wall Street). Your job here is to generate a cohesive, coherent reading of the theme you’ve chosen, committing to a particular analysis, rather than simply describing all of the possible ways of understanding a given theme. Be sure that you connect your analysis to the larger issues in the text. I would prefer that you continue to work on the topic your group was assigned in class; however, if you have a strong desire to switch topics, please see me, and I will try to accommodate you.
2. Zora Neale Hurston, “Story in Negro Slang”
Analyze the role of language in this story. What is the connection between the slang Hurston’s characters use and the story she tells in this brief narrative. Be sure to ground your analysis in specific examples drawn from the text. You may also consider material from the “Glossary of Harlem Slang” and the excerpt from “Characteristics of Negro Expression” in formulating your analysis.
3. Langston Hughes, “When the Negro Was in Vogue”
Analyze the critique that Hughes is offering in this piece. What does it mean to be “in vogue”, according to Hughes? What is the problem that Hughes is identifying here, and what are its implications for African-Americans or for the residents of Harlem in particular?
4. Brooklyn Bridge Poems
Choose one of the Brooklyn Bridge poems that you’ve read and provide a focused close reading of a single aspect of the poem. This could mean focusing on a particular symbol or group of symbols, diving deeply into a particular aspect of the poem, like voice/rhythm/structure, or limiting yourself to a particular piece of the poem (a single stanza, for example.) My suggestion, if you choose this option, is that you begin your process by posing a question about the poem you are analyzing and then develop your essay as a response to the question. No matter what, keep in mind that a successful essay will engage directly with the specific language of the poem.
Regardless of which text you choose to write about, keep in mind the following:
–This essay is a close reading assignment, giving you an opportunity to develop your own analytical skills. Not only are you not being asked to consult any secondary sources, you are NOT ALLOWED to consult any secondary sources in writing this paper. Essays that include material taken from secondary sources will not receive a passing grade.
–Assume that your reader is familiar with the text and does not require any plot summary.
–Always use the present tense when writing about literature. (i.e. Bartleby dies in jail, alone and unloved.)
—As a general rule, the question or the text that you find genuinely perplexing will yield a stronger paper than the one that seems simplest or clearest, so resist the impulse to shy away from tough topics.
–My prompts are meant to be suggestive, not prescriptive. Use my questions as a guide to thinking about your subject, but don’t feel that you have to address every question I raise in an essay prompt.
–You should be able to articulate your paper topic in the form of a question. Be sure that the question will yield a thoughtful, complex response – rather than a yes or no answer.
–Test your main idea or central claim (a.k.a. your thesis) by asking the following: “Could a reasonable reader conceivably disagree?” If the answer is “No, no reasonable reader could conceivably disagree with what I’m saying in this paper,” then you need to do more work to refine your thesis. You want to be staking out an interpretive claim that someone else might disagree with; otherwise you’re simply articulating ideas that are readily available to any reader of the text.
–The opening paragraph of your paper should introduce your topic to the reader (i.e. what question are you asking?), and it should also tell the reader where you’re going to be going in order to answer your question. In that way, even without necessarily spelling out a thesis, your introduction acts as a road map for the rest of the paper. For this reason, you might find it useful to go back and rewrite your introduction after you’ve completed a first draft of the paper.
–Your introduction should lead the reader straight to your topic without resorting to any kind of sweeping generalizations or universal claims.
–Rather than simply restating your introduction, your conclusion should both summarize the important interpretive claim you’ve made in the paper and indicate how your analysis might help readers to understand the text in question.
Assignment for Monday, March 12th:
Choose five sentences from your personal essay that need revision. Submit your revised sentences in typewritten form. For each sentence, include the following:
-the original sentence
-the revised sentence
-a short explanation of why the revision was necessary.
(Late work will not be accepted.)
Essay #1: My New York
4-5 pages, double spaced
Draft Due: Wednesday, February 14th in class.
Bring 3 copies of your draft with you to class.
Essay Due: Monday, February 19th
Uploaded to turnitin.com by 11 pm.
Your task in this essay is to share with your readers some aspect of your own experience in New York City. Use the following prompts to help you create a direction for your essay, keeping in mind that one of the most important elements of this essay will be the extent to which it showcases YOUR voice and YOUR particular life experience. You should write an essay that is so specific that no one in the world could have written it except you – while at the same time you want your readers to be able to connect with your subject and appreciate your perspective. In each case, the questions that I am asking are simply intended to help you get started with your brainstorming. Don’t feel that you need to answer all of them!
–Make your neighborhood your focus. Introduce us to the particular elements that define your own little piece of New York (its sounds, sights, smells, rhythms, etc…) What meaning does your neighborhood have for you? What do you get from it? What pushes you away? What are the challenges facing your neighborhood? What are its strengths? Think about what format would work best here. Do you want to tell a story about your neighborhood? Profile a neighborhood character? Showcase a favorite spot? Compose a love letter to your neighborhood?
–If appropriate, tell the story of your own arrival in or adjustment to New York City. If you go this route, be sure that your essay is not simply a recitation of events, but that it is an investigation and analysis of your own experience. Again, be sure that the story you are telling could only be yours.
–What does being a New Yorker mean to you? Explore your own relationship to New York City, paying particular attention to the ways in which your own identity has been shaped by the place in which you live. Here you will have to work very hard to be sure that you don’t lapse into clichés. Using specific details and anecdotes will help your essay to stay true to your own individual perspective.
–Think of an experience or an encounter that you’ve had that encapsulates your own ideas about New York City and relate that experience in your essay, being sure to connect that experience to your own ideas about what New York City is all about. If you choose this prompt, you can either relate an experience that you’ve had or profile a person you know who embodies your New York experience. Again here, you want to stay away from clichés about New York and try to dig deep into the reality of your own lived experience.
Homework for Monday, February 5th:
- Read E.B. White’s essay, “Here is New York.” Mark at least three important lines or passages, and be prepared to share them in class.
- Post to our course blog a photograph taken in your neighborhood or on your daily commute that represents some aspect of YOUR New York City. Include a caption explaining your choice.
- While you’re at it, replace the bearcat avatar with a photograph of yourself on your blogs@baruch account.
