"A Book of Human Language..."
It's not that I'm ignoring World AIDS Day, but it's just that I'm tired of talking about it on this day, somehow cementing it as they day (and therefore the only day) that AIDS matters. And when I choose it as the day to say something poignant, I fail. Or, perhaps it is better to say that I can't reach a bar set so high. I'm not going to try.

So, another topic more specific to this day is that I finally ordered all my books for spring courses. It's typical of students and faculty that we look forward to the future, seeing its potential and opportunities. It's easier to do that than face the intensity of specific demands at the end of the current semester. Still, just having the books ordered and knowing that I'm going to be teaching some of my favorites makes me excited.

I think I've explained before why I prefer to teach book-length, narrative nonfiction. Basically, I think the lengths of such texts allow for an in-depth exploration of an issue, really delving into the complexities. And I always value a personal, individual perspective because the good ones offer a sense of exploration, inquiry, and process. We see thinking in action and can envision how the writer moved from points A to B to C and on through whatever jagged path the author has taken. I love that stuff. I've included something in every course I have taught here for which I have had complete curricular control, and students generally respond well.

For my honors composition course, I am including Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. It's the research essay course. We're going to start with that book, and their research projects will emerge from there. They can research something from the content of the book or from the style of genre, meaning they can research nonfiction writing or literary journalism in some way. I'll make sure to make them aware of all of the options and prompt them to think outside the box.

For my interdisciplinary gender studies course, I have assigned The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams, Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods--My Mother's, My Father's and Mine by Noelle Howey, The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman, and Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles by Anthony Swofford. Yes, I know Cisneros's book is a novel, but it has strong autobiographical elements, and Kaufman's is a play, but it's based on actual interviews. Some of you will know that Refuge is my favorite book of all time. I had not really thought of teaching it, but I wanted to do something different than I did last spring. I was actually reaching for my copy of Girl, Interrupted when I saw Refuge next to it, and I literally stopped and wondered why I would not teach the book I know better than any other. It's been over two years since I last taught it, and that's too long. I've taught everything on this list except Jarhead, which I read last month (entry to follow). It's perfect for a discussion of masculinity.

For my cross-listed professional and technical writing/gender studies course on the rhetorics of gender activism, we will read Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black by bell hooks,
Close to the Knives: A Memoir of Disintegration by David Wojnarowicz, and The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman. I wanted to teach the Kramer book I mentioned a couple of entries ago, and it makes perfect sense to teach Wojnarowicz since he is the center of my research. So, why didn't I plan to teach his book since the start? As I student, I didn't have great experiences with faculty teaching texts that were the cornerstones of their research. Perhaps because I was always at Research I institutions where faculty felt a certain form of research pressure and taught with one eye on their books and articles, but if often felt like our discussions were designed to fuel their writing and not student learning. I can remember one particular graduate class where we all started shutting down because we really believed any good idea we shared with the class was going to end up in the professor's next book. I don't want to do that and try to keep on my toes about that. And I do owe it to my students to teach what I know. They will write an essay comparing Wojnarowicz to hooks, which should be very interesting.

And that's the spring, but I do have this fall semester thing to wrap up first.
- posted by Nels @ 9:37 PM | | | Link |