What to do if you missed 12/12 class

We spent the day discussing the phrase "body of knowledge." If you missed class, please write a blog response exploring three of the following questions:

What associations do you have with the phrase “body of knowledge?”
Who determines what you read in school? How or why are these decisions made?
How is what you read in school different than what you read at home?
Brainstorm a list of authors you have read in school? Do you notice any patterns about how/why they may have been selected?
Who/what determines the value of a work of literature?
What modes of writing seem more valued in our society than others?

Our art project for the day was altering texts. We read excerpts from Jenny Boully’s The Body
Homework was to create the text that Boully’s words footnote. In class we created an "erasure" using old romance novels. Visit this site for some good examples of erasure.

I recommend that you complete one of the projects listed above at home and return with them to class the next time we meet. You can get materials from Renee after class or stopping by the Poetry Center.

Blog Assignment for 11/28-12/5

Answer the following questions in your blog post:

When do you use your voice?
How do you use your voice?
Silence. What is it? How is it useful? Not useful?

Your blog assignment for 11/21-11/28

Find a "text" (piece of music, fashion, written work, a dance, a TV show, a museum exhibit, etc, etc, etc.) that somehow relates to the themes we've been discussing in class. Describe this "text" and then reflect on it. What do you think about it? Why is it a significant part of our culture?

Writing Exercise from 11/21/07 Class

In my body when a sweet potato sits in the folds of a dress I go to the Super; so many have been with the rough ended dirt and roots that have settled. Fish nets full of women's legs, full of women's fish. All my groceries, fruit filled with underhold. Smell the cilantro green shine. Go to fancy super no longer growing blood and all the vegetables saddled in their boxes coated and capped in foam or plastic in a number of lusty mouthed chemicals which is why I approached this kettle blindly.

Today's Class Meets at...

1013 S. Tyndall (north of 22nd, 1 block east of Euclid, south of Armory Park neighborhood)Here are directions:http://maps.yahoo.com/dd?taddr=1013%2BS%2BTyndall%2BAve&tcsz=Tucson,%2BAZ%2B85719-6637&country=us You should wear clothes comfortable enough for you to bang a drum!Also bring something to write with...notebook/pen.

Our Next Class November 21, 2007

620 E. 19th Street, Suite 150Near 19th and Euclid in long warehouse/storage shed-like facility. Look for suite 150.More info and a map is here:http://www.thedanceloft.com/location.htm

Blog posts you should have so far

1. Body Maps writing based on the "Body Map of My Life" by Bridget Booher which is in the handout that you got in class 10/31/07. (It accompanied all the "You Are Here" maps and excerpts from "This Bridge Called My Back.")

2. I Am What I Am writing based on the poem "I Am What I Am" by Rosario Morales which can be found in the handout that you got in class 10/31/07. It was a part of "This Bridge Called My Back" handout.

3. A response to the reading packet you received 11/07/07 which included the essays "Our Barbies, Ourselves," and "Behind the Formaldehyde Curtian."

4. Post all the in-class writing you've done so far: your "Barbie or Beauty Head" poem/prose piece, your anatomy piece using the word list you developed in class, the writing you did on the first day of class in your accordion book. If you have time, write a new piece splicing together your I am what I am piece with your word list. Use the word list to make interesting/weird metaphors. Don't worry so much about "making sense."

Don't forget to make comments on your classmate's blogs!!