Course Schedule, Spring 2024 (16 weeks)
Week 1
Tuesday, January 23: Syllabus review and class introductions.
Thursday, January 25:
Readings
William Wordsworth, “The Idiot Boy” (audio at Librivox, track 9) [always feel free to skim the linked author biographies]
Charlotte Smith, “Sonnet: On Being Cautioned Against Walking on an Headland Overlooking the Sea, Because It Was Frequented by a Lunatic” (1783);
Barker and Murray, “Introduction: On Reading Disability in Literature”
Definitions of disability (Medical model, Social model) and ableism.
For further information on intersectionality and dis/ability, check out Intersectionality and Disability.
Connecting Intersectional approaches to Habits of Mind
Week 2
Tuesday, January 30: Read act 1 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet [content notice (hereafter “cn”): ableism, depression, misogyny, murder, suicide]; our primary text in class will be Lisa Peterson’s translation of Hamlet from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Play On! Project.
Every day of Hamlet, we’ll be watching the 2009 David Tennant Hamlet in class together.
- Term clarification: Medieval and Renaissance (Early Modern)
- ADHD and delayed choices (Key terms: Normativity, Neurotypical, Neurodiverse/divergent)
- Introducing: Writing from Fiction
Optional materials to skim before class:
Watch the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2009 production of Hamlet, starring David Tennant
If you’d like a more fully contemporary English translation of the play to read alongside the original, check out No Fear Shakespeare.
Hamlet as corpse (Slings and Arrowsclip of Darren Nichols)
Hamlet as inaction and adaptation (Last Action Heroclip)
“Oh that this too too ___ flesh” (RSC 2009 clip, linked above)
Ian Holm, 1990, To thine own self be true (0:45-2:15)
Bill Murray, 2000, To thine own self be true (2:42)
Oliver Ford Davies, RSC 2009, To thine own self be true (linked above)
Thursday, February 1: act 2 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet; Read Read They Say / I Say, “Preface: Demystifying Academic Conversation,” and “Introduction: Entering the Conversation” (page numbers vary by edition)
Week 3
Tuesday, February 6:
Read:
act 3 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet;
Read Jay Dolmage’s “An Archive and Anatomy of Disability Myths” (book);
Read They Say / I Say, “‘On Closer Examination’: Entering Conversations About Literature”
In class we’ll watch:
Mel Gibson, 1990, To be or not to be (3:46)
Thursday, February 8:
Read:
acts 4-5 of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Laurie Block’s “Stereotypes About People With Disabilities”
Browse the MLA Style Guide at Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL).
Visual texts of Ophelia:
In class we’ll watch:
Week 4
Tuesday, February 13: Read They Say / I Say, “‘They Say’: Starting with What Others Are Saying,” and sample essays by Delaney, Smith, and Taylor.
Thursday, February 15: Read They Say / I Say, “‘Her Point Is’: The Art of Summarizing”
Today we’ll be drafting Writing from Fiction Essays in class.
Week 5
Tuesday, February 20: Read They Say / I Say, “‘As He Himself Puts It’: The Art of Quoting”
Today we’ll be workshopping Writing from Fiction Essays in class. Come prepared to discuss and work on whatever stage of the project you’re at today.
Thursday, February 22: Today we’ll be workshopping Writing from Fiction Essays in class. Come prepared to discuss and work on whatever stage of the project you’re at today.
Writing from Fiction Essays are due by the end of the day on Friday, February 23rd.
Week 6
Tuesday, February 27: Read They Say / I Say, “‘And Yet’: Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say,” (p67-76 in 3rd ed)
Listen to S-Town, ch. 1 (https://stownpodcast.org/) [cn: depression, foul language, masochism, mental health, misogyny, racism, suicide, tattoos (extreme)]
In class, introducing Writing from Research
[When you write and post weekly questions and reflections on S-Town on the podcast to your blog. (Use the transcripts to get quotations.)]
Thursday, Feb 29: Read “Introduction,” from Disability Visibility, xv-xxii.
Listen to S-Town, ch. 2 (https://stownpodcast.org/)
Week 7
Tuesday, March 5: Read They Say / I Say, “‘Skeptics May Object’: Planting a Naysayer in Your Test” (p77-90 in 4th ed); Listen to S-Town, ch. 3 (https://stownpodcast.org/)
Class visit with Kurtis Pierret, Program Coordinator for New England Disabled Sports
Thursday, March 7: Read Harriet McBryde Johnson’s “Unspeakable Conversations,” from Disability Visibility, 3-27 (CN: eugenics, infanticide, assisted suicide)
Listen to S-Town, ch. 4 (https://stownpodcast.org/)
Week 8
Spring Break!
Week 9
Tuesday, March 19:
Read:
They Say / I Say, “‘Yes / No / Okay, But’: Three Ways to Respond,” (p53-66 in 4th ed)
“‘S-Town’’s John B. McLemore’s Ambient Music Released: Listen”
From Disability Visibility, Sandy Ho, “Canfei to Canji: The Freedom of Being Loud,” 112-16
Listen to S-Town, ch. 5 (https://stownpodcast.org/)
Thursday, March 21: Read selections from Disability Visibility: Keah Brown, “Nurturing Black Disabled Joy,” 117-120, and Shoshana Kessock, “Falling/Burning: Hannah Gadsby, Nanette, and Being a Bipolar Creator,” 179-88
Listen to S-Town, ch. 6 (https://stownpodcast.org/)
Watch:
Week 10
Tuesday, March 26:
Read selections from Disability Visibility
Jen Deerinwater, “The Erasure of Indigenous People in Chronic Illness,” 47-52
Jillian Weise, “Common Cyborg,” 63-74
Sky Cubacub, “Radical Visibility: A Disabled Queer Clothing Reform Movement Manifesto,” 90-100
Listen to S-Town, ch. 7 (https://stownpodcast.org/)
Thursday, March 28: Today we’ll be drafting Writing from Research Essays in class.
Week 11
Tuesday, April 2: Read They Say / I Say, “‘So What? Who Cares?’: Saying Why it Matters,” (p91-100 in 4th ed)
Today we’ll be workshopping Writing from Research Essays in class. Come prepared to discuss and work on whatever stage of the project you’re at today.
Thursday, April 4: Today we’ll be workshopping Writing from Research Essays in class. Come prepared to discuss and work on whatever stage of the project you’re at today.
Writing from Research Essays due by the end of the day on Friday, April 5.
Week 12
Tuesday, April 9: Read They Say / I Say, “‘As a Result’: Connecting the Parts,” (p101-16 in 4th ed), and selection from Disability Visibility: Ellen Samuels, “Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time,” 189-96
In Class, introduce Writing from Life
Thursday, April 11: No synchronous class.
Read selections from Disability Visibility:
Lateef McLeod, “Gaining Power through Communication Access,” 220-25
Harriet Tubman Collective, “Disability Solidarity: Completing the ‘Vision for Black Lives,’” 236-42
(I’ll be traveling to the Shakespeare Association of America conference this week. Daily Posts are due as per usual)
Week 13
Tuesday, April 16: Read, They Say / I Say, “‘You Mean I Can Just Say It That Way?’: Academic Writing Doesn’t Mean Setting Aside Your Own Vocie,” (p117-30 in 4th ed), and from Disability Visibility, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, “Still Dreaming Wild Disability Justice Dreams at the End of the World,” 250-61
Tuesday, April 18: Read from Disability Visibility, Stacey Milbern, “On the Ancestral Plane: Crip Hand-Me-Downs and the Legacy of Our Movements,” 267-75
Week 14
Tuesday, April 23: Flex day, catch-up reading or brainstorming.
Thursday, April 25: Today we’ll be drafting Writing from Life Essays in class.
Week 15
Tuesday, April 30: Today we’ll be workshopping Writing from Life Essays in class. Come prepared to discuss and work on whatever stage of the project you’re at today.
Thursday, May 2: Today we’ll be workshopping Writing from Life Essays in class. Come prepared to discuss and work on whatever stage of the project you’re at today.
Writing from Life Essays due by the end of the day on Friday, May 3.
Final Meetings, Week 16
Our final meeting period will be Tuesday, May 7th, 11:00-12:30 PM, in Lamson 124.
We’ll be sharing our favorite projects from the semester and reflecting on the arc of the course. Individual reflections will be posted to Canvas as a Daily Post, and I’ll ask you to talk through your Reflection during the Final Class Meeting. This is our final class conversation reflecting on the semester. (Treat each of the options below as Reflections posts; you may complete up to all three of these Reflections posts this week if you so choose. If you’d prefer not to talk during our Final Class Meeting, you can prepare an audio or video recording beforehand and put it in your post (60-90 seconds), or contact me for other presentation options.)
Before class, select one of the below. Your post should include either 150-200 words of text or 1-2 minutes of audio, and should link back to the project being discussed or the PSU Habits of Mind page.
#1: Present via a new Weekly Post (can involve audio) your favorite project from the semester that you completed.
#2: Present via a new Weekly Post (can involve audio) your fav project someone ELSE completed this semester
#3: In a new weekly Post, Reflect on the PSU Habit of Mind “Integrated Perspective” and what you’ve learned on that front this semester: what have you learned from class readings, discussions, and assignments about “the recognition that individual beliefs, ideas, and values are influenced by personal experience as well as multiple contextual factors—cultural, historical political, etc.”?
During our Final Class Meeting, we’ll go around and bring up each person’s post in turn. You can choose to either talk through your post live or to play your prerecorded video.
The deadline for all work and revisions is the end of the day on Thursday, May 9 (11:59 PM).
Sprockets and Springes 