ENG1101 SectionD365 Composition 1- Spring2015

Hi Class,

Sorry about the technology glitch today. I’ve posted the John Berger article under the “Readings” menu tab.

The quiz on Monday will be over Sontag and Berger.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

Just a reminder:

For Wednesday, March 4th, bring in a summary of Susan Sontag’s chapter extract from “On Photography.” Find it under the “Readings” menu tab. (250 words, typed, using the journal format)

The Main Concourse of Grand Central Station, 1929, Anonymous

Henri Cartier Bresson, Derriere la gare de Saint Lazare, 1932

Hi Class… two posts…lot’s of information today!

VIDEO CLIPS:

1. How does a digital camera work?:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic0czeUJrGE

2. How to develop film using coffee and vitamin C:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYjOqcbBEco

3. A Darkroom in Use:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nue495wxlXo

4. Five tips for taking your own digital photographs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YroMyQJ-GMQ 

——————–

Here’s a written description of a store:

“It was a narrow room, with a rather high ceiling, and crowded from floor to ceiling with goodies. There were rows and rows of hams and sausages of all shapes and colors–white, yellow, red, and black; fat and lean and round and long–rows of canned preserves, cocoa and tea, bright translucent glass bottles of honey, marmalade, and jam; round bottles and slender bottles, filled with liqueurs and punch–all these things crowded every inch of the shelves from top to bottom. “

-Thomas Mann

What is the dominant impression of this scene?

Hi Class,

Essay 2 is about taking photos, reading them, and writing about them.

These questions will help us as we move toward Essay 2:

1. What is a photograph? What is the history of photography?

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography]

2. Why do we take, keep, share, and discard photographs?

3. How should we make sense of photographs?

The French sociologist and critic Roland Barthes wrote about photography, and he came up with two useful terms for studying photographs.

1. Studium: The studium of a photograph is the public and historical background of a photo. The studium is the photo’s context and its general understanding. The studium of a photo must be visible, and it is the cultural reading of faces, gestures, buildings, clothing, and actions within a photo.

2. Punctum: The punctum of a photograph is highly individual, not public. The punctum pierces the viewer in a particular, private way. The punctum, which must be visible,  pierces the viewer like a arrow, raising certain individual memories and consciousnesses to the surface. The punctum bruises me but not you. The punctum is about loving, while the studium is about liking.

SENTENCES:

i could of danced but first i should of eaten a balanced meal

in the passed our school let out at half passed three but the principle recently past a new rule that states we have to stay in school until four

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Hi Class,

Essay 1 is due at the beginning of class on Monday, February 23.

In a paper folder, please include the following:

1. Final Draft–make sure the words “final draft” are on it

2. First Draft

3. Peer Review form

4. Essay 1 details

Proofing and Editing:

1. Have a classmate, friend, or relative read over your essay.

2. Read your essay out loud. Your voice can catch what the eyes miss.

3. Read “backwards.”

4. Update the settings in your word processing program to catch style and grammar mistakes. This is a formal essay, so you must strive for accuracy in terms of spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and style.

5. Make sure that your thesis contains the words “intellectual home” and utilizes the thesis blueprint.

6. Go to Purdue OWL (look under Helpful Links) and find a sample MLA paper. Make sure your essay looks similar in terms of formatting.

If you have any questions, please email me with specific questions.

Best,

Prof. Scanlan

Four Brief Thoughts on Home:

These ideas on home will help us prepare for our first formal essay.

Maya Angelou (American Author and Poet): “I believe that one can never leave home. I believe that one carries the shadows, the dreams, the fears and the dragons of home under one’s skin, at the extreme corners of one’s eyes and possibly in the gristle of the earlobe.” (from Letter to My Daughter, by Maya Angelou. New York: Random House, 2009).

Gaston Bachelard (French Sociologist): The home is our “first universe” and our “first world.” Such space is important, but size does not matter; a simple hut has more dream potential than a mansion. What matters is the degree of intimacy and intensity of our experience there. (from The Fate of Place, by Edward S. Casey. Berkeley: U of California P, 1998. 290)

Svetlana Boym (Russian-American Literary Critic): “To feel at home is to know that things are in their places and so are you; it is a state of mind that doesn’t depend on an actual location.” (from The Future of Nostalgia, by Svetlana Boym. New York: Basic, 2001. 251)

Immanuel Levinas (Lithuanian-French Philosopher): “The privileged role of the home does not consist in being the end of human activity but in being its condition, and in this sense its commencement.” What is accomplished by the home? These four: our ability for recollection, our ability to have intimacy, our ability to work, and our ability to make representations of the world. (from Totality and Infinity, by Immanuel Levinas. Pittsburgh: Duquesne UP, 1969. 152-4.)

Best wishes,

Prof.  Scanlan

Hi Class,

Please go to the “Assignments” menu tab and print out Essay 1 Details. Then read it over carefully and be prepared to ask questions about it on Monday, Feb 9.

Also, Journal 2 is due: 250 words on which article (of the four that we have read so far) is your favorite and why:

Have a great weekend,

Prof. Scanlan

ps. make sure that you bring our textbook to class on Monday. And make sure that you have signed up for OpenLab and registered for our class.

Hi Class,

WELCOME:

I hope that your holiday break was great: as productive and as relaxing as you wished it to be. This site will grow each week. Our OpenLab course site will act as an “intellectual home,” where we can post our ideas, read new texts, find out what is happening at City Tech, and research New York City.

WIKIPEDIA:

As we get to know each other, I believe that you will find that I am very fond of reading, and I am interested in new digital technologies. In particular, I like to examine digital tools that can help students work more efficiently. One such digital tool is Wikipedia. Hardly a week goes by when a friend, or a parent of a college student, or a colleague rips into Wikipedia (a new digital research tool) for its flimsy research, its weak documentation, its biased approach. Well, I’ve always thought that Wikipedia keeps gaining ground on other encyclopedias, and it looks like it has truly reached the tipping point, especially when esteemed historian William Cronon gives it the thumbs up:

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/02/one-of-the-nations-top-historians-decides-its-time-to-embrace-wikipedia/252576/

Try this exercise: look up the terms “immigration”and “Brooklyn Bridge” on Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia and tell me which one is more complete with more footnotes and more resources.

HOMEWORK:

Go to the “Readings” menu tab and go down down to the bottom of the page to find the first article: “Reading #1: Isaac Asimov.” Print it out, and read it carefully. Circle any words that you don’t know and look them up. Lastly, write down two questions about the article; you may write the questions in your notebook or on the printed article. You do not have to turn these questions in.

Cheers and welcome to my class,

Prof. Scanlan