Day 11

Mon. Nov. 29

A few words about revising for the final
Share more aphorisms
Capturing a moment
Read “I Remembers” together and observe

Homework

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Due at midnight (11:59pm) on Sunday May 14 (China time)

Choose one of your three essays—the one you’re proudest of, or most interested in improving—and revise it into a complete, polished work that you could imagine being published in the Literary Atlas of DKU, or elsewhere.

➤ Tell me which essay you want to revise

By next class, please decide (at least tentatively) which of your essays you want to revise and submit as your final project.

Message me on WeChat and tell me which essay you think you’ll choose!

As soon as you have a new version of your essay ready, feel free to make an appointment with me to read it. I’m happy to give feedback on as many drafts as you’re motivated to produce before the final deadline. Please note that the final project is due at 10pm Wed. Dec. 15 (China time).

(Note that it’s better not to wait to last minute to make an appointment! The closer we get to the deadline, the greater the chance that I may already be booked up and have to say no.)

➤ Write a “postcard from the present”

Write a paragraph 4-6 sentences long that attempts to capture, as vividly as possible, a specific moment between now and next class. Imagine that your intended reader is yourself, ten years from now. What could you put down on paper to vividly transport yourself back into this moment — to make them feel “there”?

Upload this assignment to Box, to the folder titled “Postcards from the Present.”

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Joe Brainard, "I Remember" (excerpts)

Excerpts from the book I Remember, in which painter and poet Joe Brainard recalls his childhood in a series of brief vignettes, each of which begins with the words “I Remember.”

➤ Read “I Remember,” come ready to share observations

Read “I Remember” by Joe Brainard. Write a list of observations about it and come ready to share one or two. (No need to upload your observations; just be ready to share.)

➤ Aphorisms: try again

Not everybody followed directions last time or understood what I wanted you to do. (Apologies if there’s any way in which my instructions were unclear.) Please look back at your document in the folder “10-More aphorisms” and make sure you’ve done the following things. If you haven’t, redo your work. (Upload it to the same folder.)

Thing 1:

Pick a classmate’s aphorisms and rewrite it, changing none of the important words or ideas, but making the language clearer and more effective. (In other words, this time you’re not writing a new aphorism that conveys the same meaning; rather, you’re strengthening the aphorism that already exists.)

Thing 2:

In the 3 aphorisms that convey the worldview of your character, make sure you did the following:

Make at least one of these aphorisms contain the word for an object that your character is very familiar with or uses a lot or is important to them for some reason.
Also make at least one of these aphorisms contain the name of a place that is very important to your character or in which your character spends a lot time / is very familiar with.

WOC190 Fall 2021 Session 2