yea.. def can't find any of the william pope L videos which is really unfortunate because I really wanted to write about that.

Using Washington's Atlanta Address in Prompt One

Hey, I'm using prompt one for my paper because it took me too long to find those Pope L. videos unfortunately. Anyways, my paper is progressing nicely but I need to highlight the basic ideas of Black culture for Washington and was hoping I could use the "fingers on a hand quote" in my paper.

William Pope L.

has anyone been able to find those videos using that Miro thing?

How to scan poetry

Hey everybody,

For those of you interested in (or confused by) the way rhythm and meter work in poetry, here's a decent little guide written by Robert Hass, former US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner (and current Berkeley professor!). For those of you who aren't, feel free to ignore this post.

How to scan poetry

Enjoy!

Black Dada Nihilismus

Does anyone know what "Dada Nihilismus" is/means? Also was anyone able to find out what some of the references/definitions were including but not limited to Mondrian, Trillby, patrice, mantan, bronze buckaroos, tom russ, and l'overture? The poem has a lot of references that appear random but I am hoping that finding out what these are will help me discover some kind of connection among them :]

Amiri Baraka poems

Hey all,

In case any of you were interested, here are the two recordings of Amiri Baraka (then LeRoi Jones) reading the two poems we're looking at, both with free jazz accompaniment.

Black Art

Black Dada Nihilismus

Enjoy!

Videos Black Factory

Hello Everybody!
I cannot post the videos directly to the blog. But that does not mean that you cannot watch them.

Please click on the link below. There you will find a set of instructions to download a FREE video sharing program. Once downloaded, subscribe to the channel of the company that made William Pope.L's videos. Everything is FREE and EASY.
Here is the link,

http://www.roundpointmovies.org/roundpointmovies/mvanondtv.html

Hey everyone... so I'm maybe planning on going to see the movie "The Secret Life of Bees" tonight (has anyone read the book?!) after 7p.m. and wanted to invite anyone who's interested to join me. I figured the situations in this movie are similar with those we've been studying in class so therefore by letting everyone know I could create an opportunity for anyone more interested in those subjects to go to something fun outside of class. Plus it's a really great story with a good message. I'm really looking forward to seeing it. Just fwy actors include Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah,  Alicia Keys, and Jennifer Hudson (from american idol). Let me know! 

6505040700

-Cyrena

this tuesday

is there any pre-reading we need to do about William Pope L. for Tuesday?

Mid-semester feedback

Hey all,

I'm really interested in getting mid-semester feedback from all of you on the class as it's been going so far. Feedback is always helpful, and there are often issues that one doesn't know about until one reads the end-of-semester feedback forms, by which time it's too late.

Anyway, I've been trying to figure our a way for you all to submit feedback anonymously, so I set up a (very) short feedback form online. It doesn't need your name, and won't record your IP address.

I've also been trying to come up with some sort of incentive for you to fill it out, so how about this: if 2/3 of the class (which is approximately 22 of you) fills out this survey in the next week, everyone in the class will get one "lateness" day scratched from the attendance sheet. And if you haven't been late yet, you'll get one "late day" in the bank that you can use later.

Click Here to take survey

Thanks everyone!

Paper Topics, paper #2

As promised, here are the prompts for the second essay. The essay should be 5-6 pages long (minimum 5, maximum 6), standard formatting.

Paper Topics:

In our three-week investigation of W. E. B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk, we’ve noticed a number of important themes and strategies that operate either throughout or at different moments in the text. A list of them would probably include the following:

- the notion of “double consciousness,” both on the level of philosophical or psychological description and as a mode of textual performance (as in the epigraphs before each chapter, or the story of the two Johns, e.g.)
- the idea of and problem with the color line
- the invocation of “Africa” as an important yet inaccessible past
- the role of music in the text, “music” as both figure and as textual fragment
- Du Bois’ criticisms of Booker T. Washington
- the figure of the “Black Belt” as sacred or ancestral ground; relation between North and South
- the history of emancipation as a new version of slavery
- the relationship between history and culture; different forms of cultural transmission
- the relation between personal story and historical or sociological analysis
- the employment of a certain textual “silence”; the invocation of an experience for which language may be inadequate
- Souls as a whole conceived as a sort of textual journey
- the importance of the Sorrow Songs for all of the above

With these as your starting point, write a 5-6 page paper using one of the following prompts. Your paper should include a clear, strong thesis and should aim to develop an idea that moves past mere explication and into textual analysis:

1) Take a smaller part of Souls, hopefully but not necessarily one that we didn’t cover thoroughly in class, and perform a close reading of it with the aim of demonstrating how the piece you’ve chosen works to assist, complicate, deepen, modify or otherwise work with what you take to be one of the important goals or strategies of the book as a whole. Feel free to interpret “smaller part” as you like – you can look at a particular chapter or set of chapters, a particular paragraph or passage, one of the Sorrow Songs that head each of book’s chapters (this option may involve a little bit of research, especially if you choose to write about the song’s unpresented lyrics), one of the musical/poetic pairings at the beginning of each chapter, one of the stories Du Bois tells, one of the characters about whom he writes, or any other detail you deem significant. The choice is up to you. Whatever you choose, your goal should be to show both how the detail you’ve selected works as a piece of the larger text and why it matters to the book. What does your analysis of this “smaller part” show us about the book that may not be apparent on the surface? Feel free to use (or not!) any of the themes listed above as starting points.

2) Take either William Pope L.’s piece “The Black Factory” or any one or two of the poems from our second set of poetry and read it through, with, in light of, against or otherwise paired with Du Bois’ book. As with the last paper, you don’t want to provide a mere compare-and-contrast, but want to use the pairing to reveal something interesting and important about both of the works in question. Does the work you’re analyzing take Du Bois’ work a step further? Demonstrate a problem with Du Bois’ premises (or vice versa)? Recontextualize Souls for a more modern audience? Bring Souls into dialogue with a different aesthetic mode? Again, feel free to use any of the above themes as points of focus.

Poems for Thursday

Here's the packet of poems for this Thursday (remember, this week we're switching up the syllabus a bit, so Claudia's day on William Pope L. will be on Tuesday, and we'll be reading poems on Thursday):

Poems, second set

Enjoy!

Late Excusal For Thursday (I Hope)

Okay, sorry for how late this is but I finally got the strength to get out of bed today.

I woke up Thursday around 9 so I could workout as usual and I felt like a truck hit me or something. It hurt to even think about moving that day and for much of the next until yesterday I got hauled to the doctor's. It appears I'm just handling a case of the flu really poorly. I'm feeling better and I'll make class on Tuesday. I just hope that this is a satisfactory reason for my absence (I know on a very important day that I really didn't want to miss).

I hope that at the very least an extra copy of a worksheet or whatever I might have missed on Thursday could be brought Tuesday to help me catch up. Thank you for understanding.

Of Spirituals

Obviously, the spirituals in Du Bois's book are fairly important, so I'd like to share some information that I learned in MUSIC 26AC (I think there are a couple more of you guys in the class too, so add/correct this as you wish).

Old African American religious music (spirituals) usually consisted of ring shouts, foot-stomping, clapping, drumming, etc. These kinds of expression have a fair amount of connections with the true African way of dancing and singing. However, these were thought to be profane among the white Christians, so Thomas White, the white Fisk University treasurer created the arranged spirituals sang by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, which we heard in class today. The arranged spirituals transferred the African American spirituals onto the concert stage to appeal to white audiences (which is kind of interesting when reading Du Bois) and this made the spirituals more reserved to a degree - excessive physical expressions and emotional outbursts ceased and singing became definite and refined. Basically, what we heard in class today is like a "westernization" of old spirituals, and they differ quite a lot from what the rural folks actually sang. Nevertheless, they remain a huge part of African American culture largely due to its popularity among all audiences.

How to write a [good] Thesis?

Hi Ben,
I asked you at Office hours on Thursday about constructing a well working thesis. Could you please go over your thoughts again via blogspot?

Exercise 5.2

1. Vegetation covers the earth, except for those areas continuously covered with ice or scorched by heat. Plants grow most richly in fertilized plains and river valleys, but they also grow at the snow’s edge in the high mountains, in the cracks of busy sidewalks, and on seemingly barren cliffs. Densely vegetated areas include the ocean and its edges and around lakes and swamps. Vegetation covered the earth before humans existed and will continue to exist long after humans disappear.

2. Animals do not have the power to create a new message based on new experiences. Their genetic code limits the number and kind of messages they can communicate. For example, bees can only communicate about distance, direction, source, and richness of pollen. A species of animal delivers a limited repertoire of messages in the same way, generation after generation.

3. According to Jones’ 1985 paper, language skills are very important to children’s problem-solving skills. Improvements in language skills resulted in an improvement in nonverbal problem solving. This occurs probably because language habits acquired earlier are used to articulate problems and to activate knowledge that has previously been learned through language. Therefore, problem solving in general can be enhanced by practicing formulating nonlinguistic problems verbally.

Dr. Jonhson

Hey does anyone know who the "Dr. Johnson" referred to on page 77 is?

Style: Exercise 5.3 (page 87)

Style: Exercise 5.3 (page 87)
1. Vegetation covers the earth, except for those areas continuously covered with ice or utterly scorched by continual heat. Plants grow not only in rich plains and river valleys, but also at the edge of perpetual snow in high mountains. Dense vegetation grows in the ocean and its edges, as well as in and around lakes and swamps. Plants exist in the cracks of busy city sidewalks, as well as in seemingly barren cliffs. Vegetation covered the earth before humans existed, and they will continue to be there long after the evolutionary history swallows us up.
2. Animals naturally lack in power to create and communicate a new message to fit a new experience. Their genetic code limits the number and kind of messages that they can communicate. For examples, bees can only communicate information about distance, direction, source, and richness of pollen in flowers. As a part of their characteristics, animals of same species keep delivering a limited repertoire of message in the same way, generation after generation.
3. In his paper on children’s thinking, Jones (1985) stressed the importance of language skills in their problem-solving ability. He reported that the children with improved language skills showed enhanced capability in solving the nonverbal problems. According to him, they performed better when solving the problems because they used the language habits they already acquired in order to articulate the problem and to activate the knowledge they learned through language. Therefore, we will be able to explore the way to enhance problem solving in general by systematically putting the nonlinguistic problems in verbal form.

Exercise 5.2, Style Practice

1. Vegetation is found all around the world, save for places of extreme temperature. Plants thrive in richly fertilized plains and river valleys as well as on the edge of perpetual snow in high mountains. Dense vegetation exists in the ocean and its edges as well as in and around lakes and swamps. Plants are present in the cracks of busy city sidewalks as well as what seem to be barren cliffs. Vegetation covered the earth before humans ever existed and will continue to do so long after our existence has come to pass.
2. Animals don’t have the power to create and communicated new messages fit to new experiences naturally. Their genetic code limits the number and kind of messages they have the ability to pass on. Bees, for example, can only communicate distance, direction, source and richness of pollen in flowers. Animals of the same species characteristically have a limited cache of messages that can’t be sent that span over generations.
3. Language skills were stressed by Jones (1985) in his paper on children’s thinking as very important in children’s problem-solving abilities. Language skill improvement reportedly causes improvement in nonverbal problem solving. Language habits that were previously acquired used along with the activation of knowledge previously learned through language are thought to be the cause of better performance. Therefore, the verbal formulation of nonlinguistic problems prior to attempts at their solution, when systematically practiced, might be an avenue for exploration in the enhancement of problem solving in general.

Writing Analytically: Exercise 5.2

1. Vegetables cover the earth, except for areas covered by ice or scorched by heat. Plants grow the most richly in fertilized plains, river valleys, and on the edges of snowy mountains. Dense vegetation populates the ocean and its edges, as well as in and around lakes and swamps. Plants grow in the cracks of city sidewalks and on seemingly barren cliffs. Vegetation will still continue to inhabit the earth long after humans have been swallowed up by evolutionary history.
2. Animals do not naturally have the power to create and communicate a new message to fit a new experience. The number and kind of messages that they can communicate are limited by their genetic code. For example, bees can only communicate information regarding the distance, direction, source, and richness of pollen in flowers. In all significant respects, only animals of the same species can deliver a selection of messages in the same way.
3. In his paper on children’s thinking, Jones (1985) stressed how important language skills are in the ability of children to solve problems. He reported that when children improve their language skills, they can also improve on solving nonverbal problems. Jones thought children performed better when they use previously acquired language habits to articulate and activate knowledge previously learned though language. He, therefore, concludes that if children practiced to formulate words, they can learn to solve problems better.

Style, Exericise 5.2

1. Vegetation covers the earth, except for those areas continuously covered with ice or utterly scorched by continual heat. Plants grow mostly on richly fertilized plains and river valleys but also at the edge of perpetual snow in high mountains. Dense vegetation grows in the ocean and around its edges as well as around lakes and swamps. Plants grow in the cracks of busy city sidewalks and in seemingly barren cliffs. Vegetation covered the earth before humans existed and will stay long after we have been swallowed up by evolutionary history.

2. Animals in their natural state cannot create and communicate new messages to fit a new experience. Their genetic code limits the number and kind of messages that they can communicate. For example, bees can only communicate information about distance, direction source, and richness of pollen in flowers. Animals are characterized as the same species when messages have a limited repertoire and are delivered in the same way for every generation.

3. In his paper on children’s thinking, Jones (1985) stressed the importance of language skills in children’s problem-solving ability. He reported that when children improved their language skills, they also improved on their ability to solve nonverbal problems. Jones believed that they performed better because they used previously acquired language habits to articulate problems and activated knowledge learned through language. Therefore we could explore if children could solve problems better if they practiced how to formulate them.

Exercise 5.2

1. Vegetation covers the earth, except for those areas continually covered with ice or utterly scorched by continual heat. Plants grow most richly in fertilized plains and river valleys, but also at the edge of perpetual snow in high mountains. Vegetation is also dense in the ocean and it's edges, as well as in and around lakes and swamps. Plants can be found in the cracks of busy city sidewalks as well as in seemingly barren cliffs. Vegetation covered the earth before humans existed and it will continue to cover the earth long after evolutionary history swallows us up.

2. Animals in their natural states can not create and communicate a new message to fit into a new experience. The genetic codes of animals limit the ways they can communicate. Bees for example can only communicate information about distance, direction, source, and richness of flowers. Animals of the same species must communicate with a limited repertoire of messages delivered in the same way for generation after generation in all significant respects.

3. Language skills are important to children's problem-solving skills, as stressed by Jones(1985) in his paper on children's thinking. Reports show that when language skills improve, nonverbal problem solving improves. Previously acquired language habits used for problem articulation and activation of knowledge may cause better performance. Using language skills to approach a nonlinguistic problem before solving the problem may be a way to enhance problem solving in general.

Booker T.

Hey all,

If possible, can you try to bring the Booker T. Washington to class tomorrow? There are a few more things in it that I'd like us to review. Good times, good times.

Best,
Ben

Atlanta Exposition

Hey Ben, should we print out Booker T's Atlanta Address? Is it going to be one of those readings that we will cover extensively?