This is just to remind you that we will meet at the Ursula C. Schwerin Library tomorrow, May 9th at 2:30 pm for class. Please be there on time in front of the library entrance in the NAMM building on the 4th floor.
If you have not emailed me your final research project proposal, please do!
See you tomorrow!
Apologies for interrupting the flow of responses to Sweat, but there are two events I wanted to let you all know about this week.
Please post your thoughts on the experience of seeing Sweat on Broadway.What was your experience seeing a play on Broadway? What were your overall thoughts on the play? How does the play contribute to a broader conversation about current social, cultural and political issues in the United States?
Hi all,
For those of you who have not yet received your copy of Skeleton Crew. Please download and print Scenes Two and Three to read before Tuesday’s class and bring it with you to class.
Scenes 2 and 3 of Skeleton Crew
As you have most likely heard, CUNY is closed again tomorrow as a result of the Blizzard.
Please use tomorrow to catch up on the reading, and start working on your creative non-fiction assignment. If possible, please email me your proposals for the creative non-fiction project tomorrow, and I will read them and give you feedback by email. My email is: mbehrent@citytech.cuny.edu
Also, please work on  Reader Response Paper # 4 in which you should focus on your overall reactions to Men We Reaped and/or your reaction to the end of Men We Reaped. As always, you must include at least one quotation from the text.
We will also likely have a visitor in class with us on Thursday, so please be on time and prepared!
Stay warm and safe!
For tomorrow,  make sure to look at the updated syllabus (see Class Schedule on OpenLab if you’re not sure). You are supposed to read:  “We Are Watching” & “Ronald Wayne Lizana” from Men We Reaped.Â
Also, please post your reflections on the Literature Roundtable to OpenLab! Thank you to Jessica for posting her reflection to start the conversation!
Please be on time for the literature roundtable tomorrow at 2:30 pm sharp in the Atrium Amphitheater. Be prepared to ask questions and/or share your writing.
After the roundtable, for OpenLab assignment # 3, please reflect on the experience and write a short response about any reaction you had to the event and/or further questions.
Thank you all for your introductions and fascinating thoughts on the history and meaning of your names.
For your next OpenLab assignment: share two questions you might like to ask author Sarah Schulman when she comes to City Tech by 2/19. If you see a question that you think is particularly thoughtful or interesting, please reply to your classmate and explain why.
As you were all hopefully informed, all of CUNY (including City Tech) is closed today due to the storm. Thus, class is canceled for today.
For Tuesday, please complete the assignments for today AND for Tuesday.
This means that for Tuesday you should bring with you to class:
If you have any questions about any of these assignments, please feel free to email me at mbehrent@citytech.cuny.edu.
Please stay safe and warm!
In what ways do our names define who we are? In this definition assignment, explore the meaning of your name and how it relates to your personality. First, read Rowan Ricardo Phillips’s poem “Proper Names in the Lyrics of Troubadours.” Then, use the questions below to write your own poem or creative prose composition introducing yourself to the class.Â
Proper Names in the Lyrics of Troubadours
My parents never call me Rowan.
I’m Ricky, from Ricardo.
But not Ricky Ricardo.
I’m also the first Phillips in my family.
My mother decided Phillip, my father’s
Family name, sounded too much like a first name.
(In America, at least).
Rowan Phillip would lead inevitably
To Phillip Rowan. That was her story, and she’s sticking to it.
For the record, that’s an Old Norse first name,
A Spanish middle name,
And one of those faux-English-faux-Dutch-sounding last names
That’s really Greek for lover of horses.
“Rowan Ricardo Phillips”:
Another of those names that straddles seas in the sails of unseen
Ships. Still, it sounds typically West Indian to me.
And like “the West Indies” indefinite.
An indefinite room in an indefinite poem.
It took me a while to accept it.
After reading the poem, read the following questions and answer at least five of them.
Based on your responses, write a poem or a creative prose composition introducing yourself and your name to the class.
Post to OpenLab! Include a photograph or image in the post or as your avatar. ..
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