Writing Assignment for Week Two:
During last week's class you were asked to respond to several questions designed to elicit some representation of how you construct your identity. You were asked to write a paragraph about your defining characteristics, and a paragraph about your lineage (defined as whatever you see as the continuing line of humans of which you are a part, with some humans preceding you and some coming after you but all along the line linked by a common attribute which is prominent in the construction of your personal sense of self). You were asked to write a paragraph that discussed what you were standing on, that is the personalities, ideas, ideals or ideologies perhaps that constitutes the ground on which you stand as a person. And finally I asked you to consider and write about how these strong traits of your identity form your assumptions. What prejudices come with these traits that effect and filter what you perceive through your point of view?
If you write all four of these paragraphs you will have a statement that begins to describe your position in the mediascape. That position does not need to be fixed, but some identity traits may be very powerful in shaping your experience of the world. Such traits as gender, class, ethnicity, religion and nationality can often be very strong in determining how we tell our own stories and how we read the stories of others. There may easily be other factors that are equally important to your identity and experience.
Homework:
You are asked to write an account, inspired by the approach that Gilbert Seldes takes to Chaplin and the genre of slapstick comedy, about an artist (author) or work that you find particularly interesting and important to you. You are especially encouraged to write about an art form or genre that many people might disparage or ignore or fail to see as important. Make your argument for why you think this work should be considered and appreciated for the qualities that you see in it. Make your references as specific as you can. Use description to describe the work and some of its contexts. Please post your account on your blog by next week's class. Try to read some of the accounts written by others in the class. You can follow the links to their blogs on the lists of blogs for this semester on the course blog.
