Presentations Schedule (to Midterms)

Here is the Presentations Schedule from now until Midterms:

28 September:

5 October:

12 October:

19 October:

26 October:

1 November:

Remember that you will be doing a second presentation after this first one. Sign-ups will come before mid-term exams along with a list of topics so you can prepare ahead of time. If you need help preparing your presentations, or in finding a suitable topic, please come to see me for help early on and I will do all I can to help you.

Questions for Discussing “Recklessness”

Here are the questions I posed to the class, in order of discussion:

  1. Apply the “types” of characters and stories we discussed earlier this semester to the play.
  2. Who is the most sympathetic character?  Who is the least sympathetic character?
  3. Where are the “tension points” in this story — the moments when tension or anxiety for the audience grows or increases?

We’ll discuss this week a little bit, and continue the discussion next week (or, for TTH class, in two weeks).

Osmosis & Transformation: The Beats and Beyond

This week, my lecture will focus on the beats and perhaps a little on the later movement that grew out of the beats, which was known as the hippies.

The article I mentioned, in which the Beat Generation was first “announced”, is here.

The handout, “Belief & Essentials For Modern Prose” by Jack Kerouac, is here.

Allen Ginsberg’s reading of America is available in MP3 here, and the text of the poem is here.

My Powerpoint-compatible slideshow is here… I’ll be adding credits to the sources for the photos soon, but since it was created in a hurry, the credits are left out for this version.

This Week’s Homework

We discussed the underlying questions that clear topic sentences answer:

  1. What are you writing about?
  2. What do you want to say about that?

Homework for this week includes signing up for the classblog by Sept 21st, and posting your first post by the end of the week, which must be a self-introduction that is interesting and uses pertinent details for your audience… which is your classmates! In addition, students are expected to have chosen a form for their Form Mastery Project and to have written one attempt at the form by the end of the week.

Example links for the various forms I suggested for your Form Mastery Project will be added to the sidebar of this site in the next 24 hours, so please check back!

From Blues to Jazz…

Today I lectured a little about parallels between African-American and European musical traditions, focusing on musical structure and tradition of the blues, the African and the European roots of the blues, and the connection between blues and other kinds of music, especially different kinds of jazz including Swing and Bebop, especially regarding the effect “practical considerations” on performance.

In connection to folksongs of Europe, the song “Scarborough Fair” was mentioned. Here’s the Wikipedia entry for the song, and a link to the Sarah Brightman video. (It’s not the best example of the song… I recommend the Simon & Garfunkle version, but I can’t find a free MP3 online. Sorry!)

Students are expected to have read the James Baldwin essay “Stranger in the Village” for next class. Students are also expected to have emailed me by Wednesday morning letting me know about English-speaking countries, or aspects of popular culture, which are of interest to them personally. (Failure to do so will unfortunately necessarily result in assigned presentation topics.)

Next time we will watch some of the movie “Bird” (and maybe more than a little, if you are interested, later on) and discuss the Baldwin essay. We will also sign up for presentations up to the midterm exam period, and discuss upcoming topics, in order to help you prepare for your presentations in advance.

Second Handout

Hi there. Sorry, I forgot to upload the second handout for you — the one dealing with types of stories and types of characters. Here it is.

A reminder: you are supposed to have read Eugene O’Neill’s play “Recklessness” by our next class, which is:

MW: Sept. 20th

TTH: Sept. 21st (following a short discussion of Character Types)
Be prepared to do some reading from the script, as well as to discuss the subjects we’ve studied before — what the structure of the play is, what type of story (or types of stories) it involves, and what types of characters are involved. I’ll have some other questions for you as well.

Student Info Sheet

Hi everyone. Some students still haven’t given me Student Information Sheets. I’ve run out, but some people still need the sheet. If you haven’t given me this sheet yet, please download it and print it out, and then fill it out and give it to me. Thanks!

Recklessness, by Eugene O’Neill

The first One-Act Play we will be studying is “Recklessness” by Eugene O’Neill. Please have this play read by Sept 18th (MW) / 19th (TTH). Print a copy for yourself, and make sure to bring it to class.
We will talk about plot arc, character types, and story type (as discussed in the handouts for Week 2). We will also discuss the concepts of motivation, dramatic conflict, and suspense.. I’ll introduce those ideas in the abstract and we’ll discuss the play in terms of these ideas. We’ll also do some dramatic reading of the play in-class, so you might as well practice reading it out loud.

Week 1: The Roots of Popular Culture: From Blackface Minstrelsy to the Harlem Renaissance… and Beyond

Bubble SistersThis week, we talked about the roots of American and global popular culture in the tradition of blackface minstrelsy, and connections between African-American culture and popular culture in general in America. We explored this through video, recordings, audio, texts, and lecture. This brings us from 1845 to roughly 1945.

Here are some videos, mp3s, and texts of some use to the class:

Minstrelsy and Blackface:

The Harlem Renaissance:

Langston Hughes:

    • The Negro Speaks of Rivers (mp3) (text)
    • Trumpet Player (mp3)
    • Let America Be America Again (text)

James Baldwin:

Bukka White:

        So it begins…

        Welcome to the Fall 2006 semester. This is the page for students in my Popular Culture in English Speaking Countries course. Here you can find all the information for our course, including handouts I’ve prepared, links for more information, and other materials as well as information on homework assignments and so forth.

        A sub-page will soon be added containing the presentation schedule, once you have signed up for it. This way, you can check and make sure that your presentations will be ready by the right date.

        For now, here’s a copy of the syllabus for the course: Popular_Cultures_in English Speaking Countries syllabus

        See you soon!

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