This is the page for:
(Course-related content will appear here in reverse chronological order: the newest things at the top of the page, and older posts toward the bottom.)
Chinua Achebe on “Heart of Darkness”
By the way — I was meaning to give this to you last time we talked about it, but here’s a link to what Chinua Achebe, a major Nigerian author, had to say about racism in the novel “Heart of Darkness.” It’s very interesting and very pertinent, and I wonder what you think of it. (Some similar thoughts occurred to me on reading it for our discussion, and I am happy to say some of what you said in class reflected similar thinking…)
Stuff to Read for Next Monday, May 3rd
Hi folks,Well, midterms are over, so it’s back to work for us! Since only one of the stories for critique is online, we’re going to discuss this week’s topic, the Telling Detail, today. For this topic and next, I’d like you to read two stories — one a little shorter, and one a little longer — from Maureen McHugh’s short story collection Mothers & Other Monsters. The book is available as a Creative Commons download from Small Beer Press, so go to this page and choose whichever format you prefer. The stories to read are: “Ancestor Money” and “Laika Comes Home Safe.”
By the way, your writing exercise for next week — due Wednesday next week, though if I were you I’d try get it done for Monday — is titled The Telling Detail, and your job is to describe three places you know, using just a few specific details, so that the reader feels vividly what that place is like, or has a clear, vivid mental “picture” of the place. (But remember, “pictures” aren’t just visual. Other senses are great for building up the sense of a place. How does it smell? What sounds can be heard? How does the air feel?) The trick is: describe each place vividly in only 150 words per place.
This is a tight limit, so choose your details carefully. You can have a character in the place, doing something, or you can describe the place without a character in the scene. (I think having a character is easier, so feel free to work with the characters in your major project, writing about places he or she goes, or also feel free to create a new character if you want to explore other places.)
Business Across Cultures
Hi folks.So, a few things.Today (April 27th) I’m not at school: I’ve lost my voice. However, I’m hoping to be back for our next class, and here’s what you’ll need to do before then.
- Upload your Heart of Darkness-related questions and thoughts to the appropriate folder (you should have gotten an email from Google Docs. If not, try signing into Google Docs using your email address (the one you gave me in class or normally use), and see if you can find the folder for our class.
- Upload a copy of your midterm essay to the appropriate folder. You will each be doing a presentation on your midterm essay data and interpretations on a Thursday between now and the end of semester. The presentations will begin on May 6th and continue to the end of semester. The link to an online sign-up sheet was emailed to you. I’m trusting that you won’t delete each others’ names, since anyway if you do I will find out and change back what you changed — whatever changes you make are tracked on the document. By the way, everyone will be responsible for reading your paper before your presentation, and preparing some questions. I expect 20-30 minutes of presentation, followed by discussion for the remainder of the class. Don’t stress out about preparing a perfect powerpoint — if you want to use one, I don’t mind, but the point is not to show off your powerpoint skills, and your time is better spent thinking about how (and preparing) to really to communicate your questions, thesis, research, and conclusions to the other students and to start an interesting discussion. Presenters and listeners alike should come to class prepared to participate in a discussion, which means both presenters and listeners alike should do a little more preparatory research, have some questions and ideas prepared for discussion, and so on. Disagreement is not only acceptable, it’s encouraged: we should all be able to defend our ideas from criticism, as well as to learn from criticism when it is valid.
- Review your thoughts on Heart of Darkness. If I remember right, I said that we would continue that discussion, looking at your questions a little more closely. We can do that for Thursday, and follow it up with something a little lighter next week. (And then followed by more readings and discussions for the rest of semester.)
- Begin thinking about your final paper (essay) for this class. You will be required to write one more essay, and it should be different from the midterm essay, though it can be in a related subject. One thing I ask is that you branch out in your approach: if your midterm paper was from a literary perspective, then take an historical perspective; if you talked about real-life business, maybe discuss business as depicted in entertainment media (for example, in the film Thank You For Smoking). All I’m saying is — come at the field of Business Across Cultures from a different approach — literary, historical, political, economic, cultural, cinematic, or whatever.
If everything works out as planned, I will have some reading material copied for you and give it you on Thursday, and it will be required reading for our class meeting for 2 weeks from now. See you soon!
A Belated Update
Sorry for the lack of an update, folks. I’ve been a bit busy with things like grading, and also got sick.I can’t lecture today (April 27th) but I should be okay by Thursday.There were some inquiries as to your current articles and upcoming plans, so here’s my plan right now:
- Your best draft of your article is due this week. Some people were confused, because I changed the date, so I’m going to simply say that if you haven’t handed in your article, then you must give me a hard copy (printed out) by Thursday this week (April 29th). I’ll grade/comment on the articles as quickly as I can and get them back to you, and from the day I return them to you, you’ll have a week to get them ready to submit to the CUF magazine. And yes, besides submitting a hard copy to my mailbox in IH341, you need to upload the file to the FINAL SUBMISSIONS subfolder in our Google Docs folder.
- For next week, we will be trying to get a topic for your next article. Please write up a short pitch for the three topics you’ve got in mind. (Note (a) why you think your topic is interesting to readers, (b) why you think it’s worth writing about, (c) the angle you intend to use to approach the topic, and (d) what kind of research you plan to use.
- I mentioned an interview with Guy Ritchie that I wanted you to read. It’s here. Please print a copy, read it, and bring it to class on Thursday, April 29th. We’re going to discuss it a bit, and it will become the basis of a homework assignment.
Plans
Folks,
We were supposed to spend today discussing:
Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” (lyrics here):
… and Bessie Smith’s “You Got To Give Me Some” (lyrics here):
And then turning to the readings you did on the Harlem Renaissance, from this book (you can get book info from this page at Amazon). We were supposed to follow that up on Thursday with a discussion of the chapters I gave you from Satchmo Blows Up The World.
However, having lost my voice, it seems we’ll have to change our plans. Please check out the Billie Holiday and Bessie Smith songs and be ready to talk on Thursday about them. (I think my voice should be back by then.)
We’ll continue on to the “Harlem Renaissance” and the “Jazz Ambassadors” next week, and continue on to a new reading I’ll be giving you Thursday!
See you soon!
Wanna Hear Langston Hughes?
There are a number of videos featuring his voice on Youtube. Here’s where you can see some of them.
A Crash Course in the History of Jazz (and some other African-American Music)
Here are some videos I intend to use during my lecture this Tuesday. I’m putting them here so you can refer to them later on:
“Traditional” African Music & Dance:
“Traditional” European Music & Dance:
European Musical Instruments as “Limiting Technology”:
Two Lineages of Fusion:
Trans-Racial Crossover:
Depression Era to 1950s — Smaller Ensembles, More Improvisation and Virtuosity:
Davis wanted Jimi Hendrix to play with him in these days, but contracts and other obligations prevented it. He did help with arrangements on Hendrix’s album Electric Ladyland, though.
Standards:
See also Dinah Washington’s treatment of the same song.Vocal Jazz and Its Offspring:
And after a process we will discuss, we arrive at Michael Jackson taking over the pop music world (for a while) back in the 1980s. And the most interesting non-official Thriller video on Youtube, as little present for you:
I’m going to leave it up to you guys to trace the patterns, connections, and influences into hip-hop and more recent pop music, since I’m sure some of you know a lot more about that than I do.
Another Comparison of Avatar and the Situation in Orissa
I thought this might interest you guys!
I also hope you’re ready to discuss Conrad’s Heart of Darkness! And I’m looking forward to seeing your report on the ecological footprint of one product you own, and your 500 word proposal on how to get people to “care” about some of the issues we’ve been discussing (like, say, the environment).
For Monday
Hi folks,
Sorry, I had a problem getting this file uploaded, but it shouldn’t be too hard to complete the homework anyway…
This is a link for an approximately 20-minute-long episode comedy show called “Better Off Ted.” It is Episode 12. We’ll discuss “shoveling the grief onto your characters” next class, so make sure you have a look. This episode is a great example.
Remember, if you haven’t handed it in yet, your plot outline (for the movie you chose) should be handed in as soon as possible.