Author: Prof. Savonick

For week 14, you have three primary tasks…

1. Revise, revise, revise those blog posts to get them in the best possible shape. Run a spelling and grammar check; make an appointment at the Writing Center; mess with the font size, style, and spacing to help you get distance from your writing and view it through an editor’s eyes; read (or bribe a family member to read) your post aloud; exchange final drafts with friends from our class (or another class); download Grammarly and thank yourself later — do whatever it takes!
2. Post your final project to our course website by your assigned due date/time. Don’t forget to add a featured image, so I can compile them into a collection (instructions in lecture #2). 
   1. Group 1 (Acevedo-Hallman): 4 pm on Monday, May 4
   2. Group 2 (LeTourneau-McCarthy): 4 pm on Wednesday, May 6
   3. Group 3 (Oakes-Zimmer): 4 pm on Friday, May 8
3. For the two days your post is not due, read your classmates’ posts and leave a comment on at least one. I ask that you complete the two comments by 4 pm on Monday, May 11. You might also try to share the love — if one project receives many comments, try to leave a comment on a different one. You are, of course, welcome to comment on as many as you’d like. 

As described on the assignment sheet, extra credit will be awarded to those who email me an audio recording of you reading your final draft aloud to catch mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

For week 13, you have three primary tasks.

1. Complete peer review of the two drafts *BELOW* yours in this document by 4 pm on Monday, April 27. It’s important that everyone reviews the two below theirs so that you each receive feedback from two of your peers. To leave feedback for your classmate, simply open the google doc in the right-hand column under “Peer Review Doc.” There you will find the instructions for peer review. Please make sure to add your name so I can give you credit for completing the peer review assignment. 
2. Attend your small group conference, if you haven’t already. 
3. Use the feedback you got from peer review to revise your draft. Send me a complete draft for feedback by 4 pm on Wednesday, April 29. Please send either a Word Doc or a link to a Google Doc set to “Anyone with the Link can Comment.” If you’d like to submit your draft earlier, that’s fine too. I’m going to try and do a quick turnaround and get those drafts back to you ASAP so you have time to revise.

For week 12 (4/20-4/24) you have one major task (and some smaller ones that will help you with that)… 

1. Week 12 is primarily a writing week. A complete rough draft of your final project is due by 4 pm on Friday, April 24. All information about the assignment is in this post, including lecture #1 explaining the project. 
2. Watch lecture #2 reviewing the writing skills you will be expected to demonstrate in your final project (title, thesis, evidence, analysis, etc.). I tried so hard not to make it 47 minutes, but at least there are subway rats in there? (Slides from lecture #2)
3. Sign up for and attend your small group conference. Please come prepared to discuss your draft (especially your argument) and with any questions you have about the assignment. Conferences will take place via Google Hangout. 
4. (Optional): send me your thesis (and outline, if you wish) for feedback. You can also make additional one-on-one office hours appointments to chat about your final projects.  

Congratulations on making it through week 10! For those of you who were unable to attend our discussion, here are the recording and the slides.

For week 11 (4/13-4/17) you have five primary tasks…

1. Read through the assignment sheet and rubric and watch 30 min lecture on the final assignment. All info regarding the final project is in this post. A complete rough draft will be due on Friday, April 24.
2. Watch the film Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years (available through MyRedDragon library tab) and respond to the discussion prompt by 4 pm on Monday, April 13. This post includes instructions for accessing the film and the discussion prompt.
3. Complete the readings on the syllabus about Lorde’s time in Berlin. One is an interactive website, so just play around. Another is an excerpt of a book written by Lorde’s students in Germany, translated into English by SUNY Cortland Professor Anne Adams! This text will allow us to connect our conversations about Lorde’s teaching to her experiences in Berlin. 
4. Keira and Hailie will post blogs by 4 pm on Wednesday, April 15. Everyone else, please read their posts and leave a comment by 4 pm on Friday, April 17. 
5. As per your request, we will have another virtual class discussion next Friday, April 17, 12:40-1:30 via this WebEx link. Please come prepared with topics you’d like to discuss re: Lorde’s time in Berlin and any questions about the final assignment. For those of you who are unable to attend, this will not count as an absence.

2012 Documentary 
Dir. Dagmar Schultz 
Approx. 1 hr 20 mins

I think you will like it! Access via myRedDragon library tab:

Please leave a comment with your response to the following prompt by 4 pm on Monday, April 13.

Describe one moment, idea, or scene from the film that struck you as particularly interesting or important. Why did you feel this way? Be as specific as possible.

Hi all. Here are the assignment sheet and rubric for your final project.

• Video lecture #1 (30 mins) explaining the assignment
• Video lecture #2 (47 mins) reviewing writing skills for the assignment (slides)

Rough Drafts

A complete rough draft of your final project is due by 4 pm on Friday, April 24. Please paste a link to a Google Doc next to your name in this document. The document should be set to “Anyone with the link can comment.” 

Group Conferences

For this assignment, you will sign up to meet with me in small group conferences via Google Hangout. Each conference is 45 minutes. You may sign up with whoever you like. Please come prepared to discuss your essay and with any questions you have regarding the assignment. When you are ready to attend your conference, the Google Hangout link is here.

Peer Review

For this assignment, you will give feedback on two of your classmates’ drafts by 4 pm on Monday, April 27.

You will be reviewing the two drafts BELOW yours in this document. Instructions for reviewing your peers’ drafts are in the Google Doc in the righthand column “Peer Review Doc.”

Feedback from Prof. 

Please email me a link to a revised draft of your post by 4 pm on Wednesday, April 29. This should be as polished and close to a final draft as possible. Students who would like feedback earlier (especially those in group one!) are welcome to submit drafts earlier. 

Final Drafts

Your final drafts will be posted to our course website as blogs. The class has been divided into three groups, each with a different due date. 

• Group One (Kianna, Hailie, Claudia, Sam B., Gabriele, Gabby, Katie): post to website by 4 pm on Monday, May 4
• Group Two (Marian, Noel, Alaina, Alice, Mikey, Megan, Kelly): post to website by 4 pm on Wednesday, May 6
• Group Three (Sam O., Savannah, Emily, Brooke, Keira, Roshawna, Kara, Cody): post to website by 4 pm on Friday, May 8  

1. Read Lorde’s teaching materials (links on syllabus).
2. Kara and Gabby will post blogs on these materials by 4 pm on Monday, April 6. Everyone else, please read their blogs and leave a comment by 4 pm on Wednesday, April 8. 
3. On Friday, April 10 we will attempt to have a virtual conversation of Lorde’s teaching materials during our regularly-scheduled class time (12:40-1:30). We will meet using WebEx and this link. Prior to our session, please click that link and download the free WebEx platform that you’ll need to access our virtual discussion. It would be great if you could come prepared with thoughts and questions related to Lorde’s teaching materials. For those of you who are unable to attend, we will miss you! This will not count as an absence. I may try and record our class meeting and send it to those who can’t attend. 
   1. One note on virtual meetings: if possible, please use headphones! They help block out external noise. You might also want to mute yourself when you aren’t speaking. 

Happy Thursday and congratulations on (almost) making it through your first week of surprise online classes! 

The third and final Zami lecture is ready to go. I tried to make it shorter and failed; instead, it grew longer (39:12).  

Once you have listened to the lecture, please post a comment in response to one of the following discussion questions by 4 pm on Friday, April 3. As always, please make sure to incorporate and analyze a quote from the reading. Comments can be posted directly on this blog post.

Discussion questions – choose one!

• (From lecture #2) How might we use Lorde’s working-class life (having to work long hours at minimum wage jobs and even sell her blood to pay rent, eat, and survive) to think about her work?
• How does Zami depict both the exciting, creative, and imaginative possibilities of living an experimental life, as well as the risks, dangers, and/or repercussions?  
• Zami concludes with a number of striking images: Afreke’s memory as an “emotional tattoo” (253), Lorde’s life as “a bridge and field of women” (255), the desire to be with women as a drive emerging from “the mother’s blood” (256). Choose one image (from these or another you liked) and describe its significance in terms of an overarching theme or question of the book. 
• With reference to some specifics from Zami, what is the value of reading about other people’s lives? Why do we do this? 

P.S… Are you trapped at home but longing to learn more about New York City’s gay, lesbian, and queer history? Check out (and maybe take a virtual tour of) the Lesbian Herstory Archives and explore Jack Gieseking’s interactive map of “An Everyday Queer New York.”

Happy Tuesday! I hope this week finds you safe, healthy, and connected to your friends, family, and loved ones despite the isolation of social distancing. 

You all did such a great job with the discussion questions for Zami lecture #1! If you haven’t had a chance to read through your classmates’ comments, I highly recommend it. You all had fantastic insights into Lorde’s experiences at school (Keira, Emily, Marian, Cody, Kara, Katie, Kelly, Mikey, Gabby), her friendships with The Branded (Sam), her increasing racial consciousness (Savannah, Alaina), the politics of silence (Kianna, Claudia), and her use of erotic language (Megan, Gabriele, Alice). 

Zami lecture #2 (81-142) is ready to go! Please make sure you listen and take notes. 

Instead of discussion questions for this lecture, I ask that you do this additional short reading from Vice on “The History of Lesbian Bars,” which will be a major theme in the final lecture. Optionally, if you have time, there is a 25 minute video embedded in that article, “Searching for the Last Lesbian Bars in America.” In the final lecture, we’ll talk about the importance of bars as political spaces for people in marginalized groups and subcultures to form networks and communities.   

To summarize: no discussion questions for this lecture. Read about lesbian bars instead. Lecture #3 with discussion questions will be posted on Thursday and comments will be due by 4 pm on Friday.

Hi all! I hope you are staying safe and healthy. Zami lecture one is ready to go! It’s 36 minutes and covers material up through page 80 (I’ll try and make the next lectures quite a bit shorter). Please let me know if you have any difficulties listening to the audio recording.

Once you have listened to the lecture, please post a comment in response to one of the following discussion questions by 4 pm on Monday, March 30. As always, please make sure to incorporate and analyze a quote from the reading. Comments can be posted directly on this blog post.

I’ll post Zami lecture #2 sometime on Tuesday, April 1 and you will have until 4 pm on Wednesday, April 2 to leave a comment. I also promise that the future weeks won’t be as time-intensive… trying to make up for lost time and ground!

PS… don’t forget to enter the #ENG430 Twitter competition. Extra credit to anyone who posts a picture of their furry friend reading something by Audre Lorde.

Discussion Questions – choose one!

• How would you describe Lorde’s experiences in school — either as a child or in high school?
• What ideas or questions were raised by Lorde’s use of sensual and erotic language (especially in her descriptions of exploring her mother’s body, interacting with her first playmate Toni, or cooking souse with her mother)? 
• Leave a comment addressing one of the other themes from the lecture: the politics of silence, powerful men taking advantage of young girls, or Lorde’s increasing racial consciousness.