Day 1
Thurs. Jan. 7
Intro to the course, self-introductions
Literary writing and concrete details
Definitions of home
Homework:
➤ WRITE A DEFINITION OF “HOME” AS A LIST OF CONCRETE DETAILS
Define “home” as a list of concrete details. Make me feel “there.” Type it up in a Word document, formatted neatly: Times New Roman Font, 12-point font, double spaced. Your list should be ~100 words long, more or less.
Upload your definition as a .doc or docx file to our shared Box folder. Please also print a copy and bring it to next class so it’s easy to refer to.
(just to give you an idea of what this’ll probably look like…)
➤ READ “THE OLD HOUSE AT HOME” (EXCERPTS)
Read this classic piece of literary journalism, which paints a vivid portrait of a neighborhood saloon in New York in 1940. I highly encourage you to read my annotated version. If you have trouble seeing the annotations, please message me!
Come to next class prepared to share your three favorite details — details that really makes you feel like you’re “there” — and explain why you like those details.
➤ Think of a place
Think of a place you could write a vivid portrait of, in the same way that Joseph Mitchell writes a vivid portrait of McSorley’s saloon. Come to class ready to share what that place is and why it might make a good subject for an essay.
➤ READ the course handbook, peruse the syllabus
The syllabus describes what this course is about; the course handbook explains how class works. I suggest you skim through the syllabus to get an idea of what we’ll be doing, and read the course handbook more carefully to understand my class policies in detail.
