Day 7

Mon. Nov. 16

• Share micro-poem titles

• Observations on Sheng Keyi

• Introduction to form

• Intro to character essay and “Proverbs of Hell”

• Reading by Charlotte

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Homework

➤ Write a “postcard from the past”

Write a “literary postcard” (about 5-6 sentences long) about a place you know well, in the form of “once…; now…” Bring it to class and be ready to share it. Please also upload it to our Box folder.

➤ Read the instructions for Essay 3

If you’re interesting in completing this assignment as journalism (a character profile), please message me now and tell me. If you want to do a journalistic character profile but don’t know who you want to write about or how to find someone to write about, we can talk about it, and perhaps I can help you.

➤ Read “Uncle Pat is the Law”

Make sure to check out my annotations in the electronic version of the article! (VPN required.)

Please come to class ready to share one sentence that you feel really characterizes either Uncle Pat or the town of Jean Lafitte. (In other words, a sentence that answers the question: What kind of person is this? or, What kind of place is this?)

➤ Read “The Proverbs of Hell”

Read over the proverbs. (You don’t need to “understand” all of them—in fact, many of them can’t really be “understood.”) Pick one you like or find intriguing, and come ready to tell us: What kind of person do you think would believe this? (Try to imagine this person as specifically as possible. What do they like look? How do they dress? What kind of vehicle would they drive? etc.）

➤ (If you have time) start reading “Mazie” or “The Man Who Eats”

For Monday of next week I’ll be asking you to choose one of two longer essays about characters — “Mazie” by Joseph Mitchell and “The Man Who Eats” by Yiyun Li — and read in full whichever one you like most. If you have extra time you might want to get started on that, since the essays are on the longer side.