About the course
In this course I expect you to commit yourself deeply to working as artists and writers. This means that your relationship to language may be located as much in your arms and belly and mouth as in your brain. We will work with three literary genres that have long and complex traditions, traditions that are largely western-based, within and beyond which there are diverse models of resistance and innovation. We will focus on performances of gender and sexuality. What is sex and gender and sexuality? How do we perceive its norms and transgressions? What influences our reading of a text? In our acts of reading and writing, what kind of attention can we bring to topics of desire, control, conformity and fluidity? Can we bring a queer eye to our own production? What does that have to do with memory and art? In this class I expect you to work hard, take risks, and learn from feedback and mistakes. I also expect you to respect one another’s styles and journeys, challenge artifice and laziness where you sense it, and contribute to a positive, honest and humble class environment.
Nonfiction Unit Lesson with Movement Matters
Noticing crossovers between the practice of writing and dance while considering the body, movement, personas, and engaging the senses while referencing feminist philosophies about locating oneself and considering that which is erotic from class readings.