For Tuesday: Stanton, Humans of New York

For Tuesday's class, I want you to start "reading" Humans of New York. However, since it's not a traditional book, you don't have to read a set number of pages. Instead, I want you to look at specific images, as well as flip around to see what grabs you (for now). 

ALSO, I want you to answer TWO of the following questions and bring them to class. This will be your final daily response assignment (see syllabus for details).

Q1: Flip around in the book a little: which picture immediately grabs you? Why? Is it because of the person's style? Their expression? The way the photograph is taken? Or the words that accompany the image?

Q2: What seems to most interest Stanton as a photographer or as a human being? What kinds of people is he most drawn to, or what aspect of people does he like to focus on? Give an example from the book.

Q3: If you didn't know anything about New York, what impression might you walk away with after reading many of these pictures and captions? What might Stanton want you to think about the "humans" of New York?

Q4: Many of the pictures have captions that the subjects revealed to him as he took the photograph. Which caption most changes the picture for you? How did it help you see a different person than you initially saw? 

Welcome the the Course!

Welcome to Freshman Composition 2, a second-semester writing and critical-thinking class that will challenge how we interpret and respond to the cultural debates inside and outside academia. The theme for this course is "True Stories," meaning we will question what it means to tell the "truth" in a given context, and how difficult it is to tell a true story within the shifting contexts of history, culture, perspective, values, and ideas. Hopefully, the books and conversations we have in class will give you a lot to respond to in your own writing, so that your informal responses and formal papers are true "conversations" rather than writing done alone to a computer screen. 

As Errol Morris writes in our second class text, Believing is Seeing: “As I’ve said elsewhere: nothing is so obvious that it’s obvious. When someone says that something is obvious, it seems almost certain that it is anything but obvious—even to them. The use of the word “obvious” indicates the absence of a logical argument—an attempt to convince the reader by asserting the truth of a statement just by saying it a little louder” (Ch.1). 

In this course, I also hope to question what "obvious" and "common sense" really means, and how our perspective challenges (and changes) the truths we see before us. From photographs to true-crime novels, what we see is more what we believe, rather than what we observe. So how do we see a more objective, unbiased truth? 

BE SURE TO BUY THE BOOKS FOR CLASS! We'll be starting with Humans of New York for Friday, so get it as soon as possible! E-mail me with any questions or concerns at jgrasso@ecok.edu. 

For Next Week: Portfolio Guidelines

On Monday/Tuesday, I will hand back your Paper #4 with comments.  Each paper will have the guidelines (below) for your Portfolio attached.  I gave you these during your first paper conference ages ago, but I want to make sure you remember what I expect for the portfolio.  Read the guidelines below and let me know if you have any questions.  

THE COMPOSITION 2 PORTFOLIO

NOTE: You cannot e-mail the portfolio to me.  It must be submitted in hard copy form to my office.  If I do not receive your portfolio by our Final Exam Date, you will get a 0% for the portfolio.  You cannot turn it in late for any reason. 

Your portfolio should have/contain the following:

1.) A simple folder for the three papers—nothing fancy, a manila folder or normal pocket folder will do.  PLEASE do not hole punch the papers or place them into a three-ring binder.  Place them in loosely but please staple each paper together.

2.) Your name and class period and e-mail should be somewhere on the outside of the folder.  Please don’t include an elaborate cover page, just a simple identification on the front so I know it’s yours.  I ask you to include your e-mail address (the one you actually check) so I can e-mail your final results to you after Finals. 

3.) Papers 1-4, Revised.  By “revised” I mean you have read through my comments and tried to incorporate my suggestions to make your paper a ‘second draft’ paper.  If you received an A or an A- on a paper, I consider that a ‘second draft’ paper and you wouldn’t need to revise it.  You may include the previous draft of the paper but are not required to.  I will grade them as brand new papers, so don’t need the original to compare.  That said, if you made a C paper the first time and don’t change it, it will remain a C paper (I’m looking for exactly the same things).

NOTES ON REVISION:

• Don’t simply change a sentence or two and call it a day.  Look carefully at my comments—they often ask you to change an introduction, add more passages from a source, or discuss a quotation in more detail. 
• Make sure you clean up all spelling errors and obvious (sloppy) grammar issues.  Many papers were very sloppy—full of spelling errors that even Spell Check would have caught.  A paper that reads like this could potentially receive an even lower grade.
• Look at the original assignment again (you can find them all on our blog).  Make sure you actually followed the assignment carefully.  Many students got a lower grade on a paper simply because they ignored one of the major components of an assignment. 
• Make sure you cite your sources correctly and have a Works Cited page for each paper.  Check your comments—many of you did not cite your quotations properly (or at all!).  This is an example of a ‘sloppy’ error and must be fixed in your portfolio.
• DUE NO LATER THAN WEDNESDAY, MAY 6th BY 5pm 

For Wednesday/Thursday: Planet of the Apes, Chs.25-30 & Paper #4 (below)

NOTE: Tuesday's questions (for TR classes) are BELOW this one.  These are for Wednesday (MWF classes) and Thursday (TR classes).  

Answer 2 of the following...

1. What happens to Professor Antelle, the man who organized the trip to Soror in the first place?  Where does Ulysse find him, and how has he adapted to the strange new world of ‘human’ society?  What might this say about our own humanity and relative civilization in the past and future? 

2. The experiment conducted by Cornelius and Helius finally sheds light on the destruction of human civilization on Soror.  What was it that made humans decline and apes advance?  Why did our race “give up” in the face of a new competitor?  What might this say about Boulle’s ideas about civilization and the human intellect? 

3. Why is Ulysse so intent on teaching the other humans to talk and become more "ape-like"?  Originally he wanted to be the only one, but something changes in these chapters.  What would this prove to him, and what evidence does he have that such evolution is even possible (especially since Zira and the others think it a lost cause)?  

4. On page 150 (Ch.30),  Ulysse writes, "Machines will always be machines; the most perfected robot, always a robot.  But what of living creatures possessing a certain degree of intelligence like apes?  And apes, precisely, are endowed with a keen sense of imitation..."  What does he mean by this, and ultimately in his mind, what separates artificial intelligence from "human" intelligence?  What is our greatest asset over the 'animal' world?  

Paper #4: Travelers from Planet Metaphor

BACKGROUND:

Boulle’s novel, The Planet of the Apes, uses science fiction as a metaphor, to showcase and satirize many of our beliefs about science and the modern world.  In our struggle to master the earth and the stars, we often forget about our own human frailties, and ignore issues of race, poverty, ethics, and equality.  By focusing on another world, in another time and place, it becomes easier to make connections to our own world—and the questions that science is beginning to ask, that we have yet to answer.

THE ASSIGNMENT:

For your final paper, I want you to use The Planet of the Apes to help you “read”

a science fiction movie/show as a metaphor for the modern world.  In other words, how can the ideas, issues, concerns, and predictions of this novel connect with another work of art (a movie) that is also from “planet metaphor”?  Remember, science fiction is merely a frame: we need to look inside and see our own reflection staring back at us.  So try to find a movie that is loosely is loosely about the future, or a possible past, or a different present that has some elements of science fiction: robots, space, technology, advanced medicine, clones, aliens, super heroes, apocalypse, and yes, even zombies.  How do the characters, ideas, and issues of this film connect with The Planet of the Apes?  What are both works trying to say about our world and our time?  What is it trying to warn us about?  What is it trying to compare through the metaphor of a possible future? 

Don’t know any science fiction movies? We actually have several in our library which you can check out. You can also find many on Netflix, You Tube, Amazon, or for sale cheap at Walmart or Hastings.  Here are some recent/notable movies to consider if you’re drawing a blank: Avengers, X-Men (any of them), The Hunger Games, Divergent, Star Trek (any of them), Star Wars, Never Let Me Go, Wall-E, Blade Runner, Inception, I, Robot, World War Z, I Am Legend, or even TV shows like The Walking Dead, Falling Skies, etc. 

REQUIREMENTS:

·       At least 3-4 pages, double spaced

·       A CONVERSATION between you, Planet of the Apes, and your film/show: so QUOTE and discuss the connections

·       You must also reference specific scenes from the movie you use and not simply summarize the plot; make sure the film is also part of the conversation

·       MLA citation throughout; introduce quotations; proofread! 

·       DUE Friday, April 24^th by 5pm

For Friday/Tuesday: Planet of the Apes, Chs.12-25

From the 1968 film, Planet of the Apes 

For Next Week: Boulle’s Planet of the Apes, Chs. 12-25

 Answer 2 of the following…

1. How does Ulysse convince Zira that he is not only a thinking animal, but a true ‘ape’—that is, someone of reason and science?  Why does she—and others, particularly the scientist Zaius—have reason to doubt his proofs of intelligence?

2. How is the simian world of Soror organized?  What kind of government/society do they have?  Who does what—who answers to whom?  How might this be a metaphor for the ways that societies on earth are organized (either in France or in America)?

3. What primary role does man serve for the apes on Soror?  Though inferior, why are they still of vital importance?  How might this relate to our own ideas of 'inferior' species on Earth?  

4. How does Ulysse and Zira's relationship develop throughout these chapters?  How are they both surprised by it, and why would it be shocking for both human and ape cultures?  

For Next Week: Boulle, Planet of the Apes, Chs.1-11

NOTE: This is for Monday (MWF classes) and Thursday (TR classes); you're on very different schedules!  

Answer 2 of the following...

 1. Why do you think the work opens with a ‘frame narrative’—two space travelers who find a message in a bottle?  Why is the entire story presented as the travelers reading this message from men long ago (and why are they so surprised, do you think, that it was written by men)? 

2. Why is the narrator so taken with Nova, the human woman from planet Soror?  What surprises and even disturbs him about her?  In what was does she confirm or deny his assumption about humanity or being ‘human’?

3. In Chapter 11, the narrator writes that “these apes, male and female, gorillas and chimpanzees, were not in any way ridiculous…Both head and hat were in keeping and there was nothing at all unnatural about any of their gestures.”  Why does he keep emphasizing the fact that the apes were “natural” and not ridiculous? 

4. Why do both the humans and the apes act with either anger or disbelief when the narrator tries to speak, laugh, or even smile?  How does each group interpret his attempts to be ‘civilized,’ and how might we translate their reaction into the modern world?  What might make us act in a similar way?  

Scissortail Festival Extra Credit

Remember, no class this Thursday/Friday: instead, you have the option to go to the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival.  Here is a link to the schedule of readings: http://ecuscissortail.blogspot.com/2015/01/2015-scissortail-schedule-of-readings.html

Attend at least ONE session and respond to the questions below either on this post or bring it to class next week.  You must answer ALL the questions for the extra credit, not just 2 of 4 as usual!  :)

QUESTIONS FOR SCISSORTAIL SESSION:

1. Discuss the manner in which one of the authors presented his/her works.  How did he/she read it, perform it, or explain it?  How did this help you appreciate the work or understand it?  Would you have responded to it the same way if you had encountered it in a book? 

2. How do you feel the three works on the panel worked together?  Were there any similar themes, subject matter, ideas, or points of view?  Did one work help you understand another?  Or did they clash in an interesting way?  Why do you think these works were presented together?

3. How did the poet(s) read their works differently than the prose writer(s)?  How does poetry read differently than prose (novels, stories, etc.)?  Which performance did you find most interesting—the poetry or the prose?  Why?  Do you think it would be the same on the page?

4. Discuss one of the works that you responded strongly to—either with surprise, love, admiration, or even disgust.  Why did the work evoke this response from you?  Did other people in the audience seem to respond/react the same way?  Did the author want this response—or do you think he/she might be surprised by it?