4/18/12: Hello, everyone! Final reminders of the semester (I think), that on Friday there is no class, as indicated on our syllabus. This is time built in for you to rest, recover, reflect, and think carefully and critically (and focusedly) about your proposal, which is due in class on Monday. To help this process, I will have open office hours on Friday (4/20) from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Also, I have extended the deadline for SCD #4 to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday (4/21).
4/16/12: Hello, everyone! This is just a friendly reminder that our second film viewing of the semester is this evening, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Building (SB) 150. I will distribute a handout of questions for Up the Yangtze while there. We will be done by 8:30 p.m.
4/6/12: Folks, since we still need to discuss Burke alongside Butler on Monday, I would like to postpone the Re/Presentation quiz until Wednesday (4/11). I hope this is good news for you all!
3/19/12: Hello, everyone. This is just a reminder that Friday's class (3/23) will be on the blog, as scheduled. Please see the "Reading Qs" page for prompts and instructions.
3/2/12: Folks, in what was a fairly uncharacteristic move for me, I have cancelled Monday's reading: Wimsatt and Beardsley's "Intentional Fallacy." In its place, we will continue on with our discussion of Bakhtin's "Problem of Speech Genres." The possible connections back to Longinus and forward to the rest of the unit are getting too interesting, so I think this will be a worthwhile continuation for us.
Please reread it, skim the background reading, and do be sure to bring your Bedford Glossary to Monday's class. Some of our discussion groups haven't had a chance to present, so they will get that opportunity. Also, Tessa will report on diachronic and synchronic (thanks, Tessa!). Janelle may continue to push our thinking on langue vs. parole. And it will be an all around fabulous discussion! If you are presenting on a term, please prepare that term, as scheduled, and simply discuss its relevancy to Bakhtin, rather than to Wimsatt and Beardsley.
2/24/12: Folks, just a reminder that there are no blog posts or comments due on Monday, February 27. (This is already indicated on your blog logs.) You have quite enough going on this week and next, so feel free to post ahead if you wish, or to take the week off! Also, for those of you who have been composing your own posts and commenting very little on others', feel free to turn your energies towards commenting, for awhile. I imagine your classmates will be gratified by it. You are doing so well in this venue!
2/20/12: I have finalized our film selections for the semester (at last)! On March 26, we will view Stranger than Fiction (2006). Because it resonates with so many themes of the course, we will be viewing Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze (2007) on April 16, as originally planned. Remember that both film viewings are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Building (SB) 150.
2/13/12: Class is cancelled today, as I have managed to contract almost full laryngitis. I am both frustrated and eager to get back to class discussion. I propose that we simply follow the schedule through the remainder of the unit, just a day behind what was originally planned. This means the following:
- Wednesday 2/15 - Derrida (plus addressing questions on R/O) (discussion leaders from 2/13)
- Friday 2/17 - Bakhtin (discussion leaders from 2/15); PE #6 due today
- Monday 2/20 - Burke (discussion leaders from 2/17)
- Wednesday 2/22 - McCloud (discussion leaders from 2/20)
- Friday 2/24 - Satrapi (3-153)
- Monday 2/27 - Satrapi (any followup discussion plus questions from the unit). As before, it makes sense for me to extend the deadline for SCD #2 to 10:10 a.m. on Tuesday 2/28.
1/25/12: Well, everyone, it looks as if there will be two schedule changes for the semester, due to two different dates when I'll be lecturing away from campus. Originally, those dates were not meant to conflict with our class time. The dates are Friday 2/3, and Friday 2/10. I will arrange for us to have class on the blog (discussion prompts and details forthcoming), and this will actually work out quite well for our discussion of media cases on 2/3. For our discussion of Richards and Ogden on 2/10, I will most likely just get us started on the blog, and then we will carry over our discussion of that text the following week, as we traverse Derrida, Bakhtin, and Burke. I absolutely hate to miss any class time, but perhaps this will be a nice change of pace for you all. Also, given that we won't convene in class, it makes sense for me to extend the deadline for SCD #1 to 5:00 p.m. on Friday 2/3.
1/20/12: Folks, we finally have a location for our scheduled film viewings on March 26 and April 16: Student Building (SB) 150. Please note this on your syllabus. We'll meet at 6:30 p.m. and be finished promptly at 8:30 p.m. If you have a university-related conflict on either of those evenings, please let me know ASAP!
1/13/12: No changes to report, but just a reminder that our first blog posts are not due until Tuesday 1/17 (at 10:00 a.m.), given that we won't be in class on Monday. Have a good long weekend!
1/9/12: There may be 1 or 2 schedule changes this semester, and I have been known to drop 1 or 2 readings from our list over the course of any semester. If that happens, I will announce it here.
-Prof. Graban
