Notes2theWorld ENGL489 Advanced Portfolio Workshop
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LEE TORDA, PHD Dean, Undergraduate Studies Associate Professor of English 200 Clement C. Maxwell Library 508.531.1790 “Let’s save pessimism for better times” --Eduardo Galeano (Who is Eduardo Galeano? ) |
Teaching Website: www.leetorda.com
[email protected] [email protected] www.leetorda.com Open Hours for students (office hours): By Appointment. Email me at [email protected] with times/days you'd like to meet, and I will respond within 24 hours. |
Overview: Let me say at the outset that I know this could be a total disaster. But if it is, we’ll pivot. The New York Times has this weekly column “The Good List: 6 things to bring Joy to Your Day” I think they started it because the news is so heavy thes days (since, like 2020 at this point). Incidentally, I hope you know that you have access to the NYT free using your BSU credentials. You should definitely get access to it because we will be using it in class anyway.One of the six things this past month was about the project “The World Needs More Love Letters.” Not those kinds of love letters, though the world might need those too. In a nutshell, this nonprofit solicits nominations for people who need some analog love. And then people all over the world write them letters and they get them in bulk.
I love this. I am a letter writing. Every Lent, I write one letter a day to a different person for forty days. During the pandemic, I kept on doing that–writing old students and the children of old students for a really long time. Now I write almost everyday to my two nephews. Not a big long thing, just a message to say I’m thinking of them.
Guys, people love getting letters.
Part 2 Overview: Another Good List idea was just leaving messages out in the world. If you know the “Tell your dog I said Hi” guy, it’s that kind of thing, but less formal. It’s like literally leaving notes where strangers can find them. I am frankly less sure of this. But, either way, I can’t think of a better way to really dig into what writing can do in the world. So I made it a class project.
Here’s how it will work:
At the end of the semester. . .
Evaluation
Notes2theWorld is worth 10% of your final Grade.
I love this. I am a letter writing. Every Lent, I write one letter a day to a different person for forty days. During the pandemic, I kept on doing that–writing old students and the children of old students for a really long time. Now I write almost everyday to my two nephews. Not a big long thing, just a message to say I’m thinking of them.
Guys, people love getting letters.
Part 2 Overview: Another Good List idea was just leaving messages out in the world. If you know the “Tell your dog I said Hi” guy, it’s that kind of thing, but less formal. It’s like literally leaving notes where strangers can find them. I am frankly less sure of this. But, either way, I can’t think of a better way to really dig into what writing can do in the world. So I made it a class project.
Here’s how it will work:
- Each week or so, in class, we’ll pick a person on the “Love Letters” and write them letters–in class. You never have to do it out of class. I’ll pay postage and have envelopes and all of that. These people probably won’t write back; that’s not the point, but still.
- Outside of class, you will be responsible for leaving two notes to the universe: one on campus and one off or, if you are a resident who can’t really get off campus, two on campus.
- You’ll take a picture of your post it out in the wild. You’ll send them as two .jpg files to [email protected].
- I’ve got a sticker you can attach to your post-it (this is the part that could be a total disaster). So if people find it and want to tell us about what they felt about it, they can send us an email.
- On my end, I will create a blog space on our class website to house the images and, if it works, any responses we get from the universe.
At the end of the semester. . .
- You’ll include in your final portfolio, a 500-750 word reflection on what it felt like to write analog and to write when you know or when you don’t know if people are reading it. How do you think your writing in the world made a difference?
- If we get responses, you can reflect on that. If we don’t, then we won’t
Evaluation
Notes2theWorld is worth 10% of your final Grade.
- To earn a B for that 10% you need to do write all but 1 of the in-class letters; you can pass on 2 weeks of post-its in the wild.
- To earn an A for that 10% you need to write all of the in-class letters; you can pass on 1 week of post-it's in the wild.
- To earn a C for that 10% you need to write all but 2 of the in-class letters; you can pass on 4 weeks of post-it's in the wild.