WRIT 100 - Writing Seminar for First-Years

FDR: FW
Credits: 3

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-01: Writing Seminar for First Years: Terror and Violence (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. Using cross-cultural examples, we investigate violence and terror in historical and contemporary societies. We use ethnography (books and articles) as our guides in this seminar. What are the causes and effects of violent behavior on both individual and collective levels? What are the economic, political, and social institutions that cause violence? How do terror and terrorism transform society? Finally, we discuss possible ways to subvert, as well as heal from, physical and emotional trauma. (FW) Goluboff.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-02: Writing Seminar for First Years: Opium Lessons (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. Through this seminar, you learn how to research and write about the opiate crisis that has evolved through decades of ethical and medical concerns complicated by the misuse of scientific information within the pharmaceutical industry. As journalistic readings guide us through the issues, we examine the data and sources behind the stories to reveal the techniques of writing. For the assignments, you investigate an opium-related topic in an area of your interest. Opium and its derivatives are nothing new. History and literature demonstrate that the milky sap of the poppy (Papever somniferum) gained notoriety long before now. The course ends with student-led discussions about the lessons learned (and not yet learned) by government, industry, and society. (FW) Barry.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-03: Writing Seminar for First Years: Adaptation X2 (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. Film adaptations of stories, novels, plays, and even historical events or persons (see, for example, the long career of Oliver Stone and films such as his Snowden, World Trade Center, and JFK) have proven a mainstay of a multibillion-dollar industry along with a perennial concern of newspaper reviews, cultural debates, and dinner-table conversations. We explore this phenomenon through a series of case studies and raise the stakes by looking at instances in which there have been multiple adaptations (here limited to two) of the source. Such material allows for productive classroom discussion meant to prepare students for their individual papers, but furthers this central purpose by foregrounding complex, varying, sometimes contradictory perspectives that at once require and aid careful thinking, analysis, and writing. The course focuses upon four examples drawn from numerous possibilities—a myth or fairy tale such as “Hercules” or “Cinderella,” A Christmas Carol, Dangerous Liaisons, Jane Eyre, a Sherlock Holmes detective story, The Picture of Dorian Gray, True Grit, Murder on the Orient Express, The Maltese Falcon, Talented Mr. Ripley, Casino Royale, and The Shining. (FW) Adams.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-04: Writing Seminar for First Years: Wicked Women (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. This seminar begins with Chaucer’s Wife of Bath and ends with recent essays on Hillary Clinton. In between, we examine witches, femme fatales and prostitutes, considering representations of difficult women in literature, journalism, and film. The course is not for women only—for instance, our discussion of witchcraft and wizardry runs from Miller’s The Crucible through excerpts from Harry Potter. (FW) Brodie.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-05: Writing Seminar for First Years: Misfits, Rebels, and Outcasts (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. The title of this seminar leaves out a lot. If extended, it might include strangers, visionaries, fanatics, prophets, artists, lovers, criminals, transients, deviants, freaks, and monsters. We read stories and plays, as well as view films, about individuals challenging the status quo, either directly or indirectly, deliberately or inadvertently. Among other things, we consider what happens to the individual in the process, and what happens to the status quo. (FW) Oliver.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-06: Writing Seminar for First Years: Environmental Thought and Food Justice (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. This seminar is an exploration of the human relationship to nature. How do writers and environmental thinkers understand their relationships to “the natural world”? How can we understand our own? We read widely within environmental literature with a focus on environmental justice and food justice. Wendell Berry, Walt Whitman, Annie Dillard, Michael Pollan, and Vandana Shiva, among others, provide scaffolding for our discussion of “nature,” “interdependence,” “poverty,” “food justice,” “life,” “death,” “knowledge,” and “mystery,” and the relationships these ideas have to one another. We explore the implications of these ideas for the individual as well as for a globalized world in which ecological concern is a matter of daily news and attention. (FW) Green.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-07: Writing Seminar for First Years: The Good Wife, or How to Survive a Marriage, Run a Household, and Save a Kingdom (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. This seminar examines two iconic wives in literature: Griselda and Scheherazade. One is known for her sacrificial patience, the other, cunning fabrication. Yet both share the status of female paragons around whom a community coheres. Reading an eclectic range of texts from the medieval to the postmodern, we ask how gender shapes representation, and vice versa. We chart the various transformations of the two female archetypes through literary history and are on the lookout for moments of breakdown under the burden of exemplarity. And if their goodness resides in securing common profit, how do Griselda and Scheherazade compare to other figures of femininity, such as the diva and the whore? Throughout the seminar, our emphasis is on learning the craft of academic writing via close reading, research, and engagement with critical sources. That is, we read, think, and write like Griselda and Scheherazade—with fortitude and deftness. (FW) Kao.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-08: Writing Seminar for First Years: Nonconformity and Community (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. What is the proper role of nonconformity in the healthy community? How much conformity is needed to sustain a culture? Are complete nonconformity and strict conformity even possible? Through readings by classic and contemporary writers, we explore the importance of sameness and difference within the various communities to which we belong. In the process, the seminar includes an examination of some of Washington and Lee’s core values, including honor and integrity. (FW) Pickett.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-09: Writing Seminar for First Years: Immigrant Voices (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. The voices of recent immigrants speak of new social struggles, identity, race, isolation, discovery, xenophobia, transition, and freedom. In this seminar, we examine the lives and experiences, cultural misinterpretations, and challenges of different immigrant communities and different generations within immigrant families. Through focused readings, film viewings, personal interviews, class discussion, and reflective writing assignments, students address an intrinsic, shared human experience and construct critical, clear, organized, and well-supported articulations of their understanding of the texts and issues at hand. (FW) Ruiz.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-10: Writing Seminar for First Years: Wicked Women (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. This seminar begins with Chaucer’s Wife of Bath and ends with recent essays on Hillary Clinton. In between, we examine witches, femme fatales and prostitutes, considering representations of difficult women in literature, journalism, and film. The course is not for women only—for instance, our discussion of witchcraft and wizardry runs from Miller’s The Crucible through excerpts from Harry Potter. (FW) Brodie.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-11: Writing Seminar for First Years: Monsters Among Us (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. Beginning with the first gothic novel in 1764, the gothic has thrilled readers for centuries. Featuring a variety of foes, the gothic novel offers readers a way to explore their deepest fears, especially the fear that monsters (real and imaginary) lurk among us. In this seminar, we read a wide range of texts—from Mary Shelley’s classic gothic novel Frankenstein (1818) to Emil Ferris’s recently-published graphic novel My Favorite Thing is Monsters—in order to explore the notion of monstrosity and the persistence of monsters in our cultural imagination. Even in our scientific and rational age, we continue to be drawn to the monsters that haunt the pages of Twilight or darken the scenes of True Blood. Similarly, in journalism and pop culture the language of monstrosity is used to discuss criminals, terrorists, political figures, and more. What function do these monsters serve? Why do we continually resort to the monster in order to make sense of the world around us? While the topic of the course is monsters, the main focus is writing: our readings, class discussions, and assignments are all designed specifically to help you cultivate and refine your skills as a writer. (FW) Walle.

Winter 2019, WRIT 100-12: Writing Seminar for First-Years: Controversies in Children’s Literature (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. In this seminar, students engage with works written for children (some classic and some modern; some fiction and some nonfiction) and apply a critical lens to issues involving violent content, gender representation, racial stereotyping, religious objections, and historical accuracy. Instruction in research methods and proper use of information is also included. Students can expect a dynamic environment with a lot of small-group discussion and activities. (FW) Harrington.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-01: Writing Seminar for First Years: War Is Hell: Literary Depictions of the Second World War (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. General William T. Sherman famously told a crowd in Columbus, Ohio, in the year 1880 that, “There is many a boy here today who looks on war as all glory, but, boys, it is all hell.” In this seminar we read, discuss, and write about three famous novels by authors who agreed with Sherman but chose very different strategies to convey that message: The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer (1948), Joseph Heller’s dark comedy, Catch-22 (1961), and Thomas Keneally’s carefully researched Schindler’s List (1982). We compare these novels with oral histories collected from veterans and women who served on the home front to investigate what motivated support for the war effort, the different forms of suffering caused by the Second World War, its long-term psychological impact, and its role in causing social change in postwar America. We also compare the book version of Schindler’s List with the film directed by Steven Spielberg. (FW) Patch.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-02: Writing Seminar for First Years: Homeward Bound (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. “Home” is an enduring topic in literature, in part, because of its broad appeal and applicability. It can refer to both a physical structure as well as the emotional bonds that hold us together. Building on both of these meanings, homes become symbols for broader social configurations—the unit whose safeguarding represents the security of the nation. Moreover, imaginings of home, literary or otherwise, offer us a window through which to consider how normative and alternative families form. In this course, we explore varying, often contradicting, expressions of the domestic. We explore how “home” intersects with markers of identity, such as race, class, and gender. Possible topics and genres include: kinship, sexuality, alienation, homelessness, memory/nostalgia, the gothic, and horror/home invasion. In addition to non-fictional accounts and sources, possible texts include: The Garies and Their Friends (Webb), House of Mirth (Wharton), Home (Morrison), Fun Home (Bechdel), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Albee), and A Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry). (FW) Millan.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-03: Writing Seminar for First Years: The Absolutely True Story of Literary Memoir (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. Patricia Hampl says, “True memoir is an attempt to find not only a self but a world.” Over the course of the semester, we explore the diverse ways that memoir represents the interactions between self and world. What goes into this complicated act of interpreting “the truth,” particularly considering how “selves” exist in/are shaped by issues of gender, race, age, ethnicity, nationality, class, and culture? We analyze novels, short prose, graphic novels and poetry by writers using memoir/life-writing as a tool to construct and inhabit an identity. (FW) Miranda.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-04: Writing Seminar for First Years: Faith, Doubt and Identity (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. In this seminar, we explore the topic of belief and how it shapes a person’s selfhood. How does being a part of a religious community, or a variety of religious communities, shape one’s identity? How does identity change with the adoption of either belief, skepticism, or another culture? We ask these questions primarily through the genres of novels and short stories, examining lives of faith and doubt in several religious contexts. Students also create a personal digital story in their final assignment that builds on ideas of the seminar. Authors studied include Paul Kalanithi, Marilynne Robinson, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ian McEwan, and Orhan Pamuk. (FW) Gertz.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-05: Writing Seminar for First Years: Race, Memory, Nation (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. This seminar explores our collective national consciousness in relation to ideas of race. We examine archival texts, as well as 20th- and 21st-century fiction, poetry, and film. Authors and artists considered throughout the term include James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Claudia Rankine, Steven Spielberg, and Quentin Tarantino. Multiple writing assignments deal with Washington and Lee’s legacy regarding slavery, integration, and civil rights. As we interact with a wide variety of mediums, emphasis is placed on critical reading and writing (and rewriting), as well as on research skills. In addition to traditional scholarly writing, an option exists for students to produce a creative project responding to the ideas of the seminar. (FW) Wilson.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-06: Writing Seminar for First Years: Civil Rights and the Press (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. This seminar explores the news media’s role in the Civil Rights Movement of the South in the 1950s and ‘60s. Using the Pulitzer Prize winning history The Race Beat as guide, the course initiates students into college-level expectations for writing, reading, and classroom discussion. Combining the professor’s interests in American press history and experience in newspapers and magazines for 25 years, we cover both academic and journalistic styles of writing. (FW) Cumming.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-07: Writing Seminar for First Years: Writing in Public (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. Fifty years ago, getting your writing into print could be tough. Now, anyone with a keyboard and an internet connection can publish their thoughts. But how do you get people to read what you’ve written? And what makes good public writing? How do you make your opinions about pop culture or politics or animal cruelty interesting and persuasive? How do you join the public conversation, instead of screaming into the internet void? This class investigates public writing on topics as varied as Kim Kardashian, Black Lives Matter, September 11, and Internet trolls. We examine ways authors use evidence and analysis to build persuasive arguments and learn strategies for identifying and engaging with public audiences. We also produce public writing in response to the essays we read and learn the skills for setting up, maintaining and promoting blogs and websites. (FW) Bufkin.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-08: Writing Seminar for First Years: Other Worlds (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. This course focuses on fiction and poetry about borders and boundary states. Many readings come from the edges of literary genre: serious fiction with dystopian elements, poetry based on fairy tales, and more. The core skill you hone is critical writing, but you also try other modes and media, including creative writing and digital storytelling. (FW) Wheeler.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-09: Writing Seminar for First Years: Aspects of Elizabeth (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) is among history’s most fascinating figures. She ruled a small island, beset by threats both external and internal, during a period of tremendous political, religious and cultural change. Her 45-year reign saw the conspiracies and eventual execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, the consolidation of the Church of England, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and the flowering of English culture in such figures as Shakespeare, Donne, and Marlowe. We learn about both the public and private Elizabeth by focusing on four distinct topics: her own poetry, letters and speeches; the portraits of her as princess and queen; her controversial personal and political relationship with Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex; and films about Elizabeth. The primary texts of the course are each other’s essays; we learn about our topic by reading what other students have written, while focusing most of our class time on improving our writing skills. (FW) Dobin.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-10: Writing Seminar for First Years: Don’t “I” Me: Privilege, Otherness, and Writing Good (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. In this seminar, we examine “One of these things is not like the others” (a.k.a. impostor) syndrome and its effect on the human quest to feel good enough. Our reading and writing explores the complexities of and correspondence between inferiority and otherness based on factors such as color, gender, privilege and language. We dig into works from, among others, James Baldwin, Peggy McIntosh, Claudia Rankine, Tucker Carlson and Isabel Allende. (FW) Fuentes.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-11: Writing Seminar for First Years: Misfits, Rebels, and Outcasts (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. The title of this section leaves out a lot. If extended, it might include strangers, visionaries, fanatics, criminals, prophets, artists, lovers, freaks, and monsters. We read stories and plays, as well as view films, about individuals challenging the status quo, either directly or indirectly, deliberately or inadvertently. We consider, among other things, what happens to the individual in the process, and what happens to the status quo. (FW) Oliver.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-12: Writing Seminar for First Years: A Whole New World (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. In this age of global travel, economics, and politics, people can go almost anywhere and find similar technology and consumer goods, experiencing a new place as a comfortable and in some ways familiar variation on home. At other times visitors and newcomers really have discovered a whole new world. In this section, students study novels, movies, and other accounts of cultural encounters between people who have been in the same place but experienced very different worlds. Works may include James Welch’s Fools Crow about white men first meeting the Blackfeet Indians in Montana, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart about the English first coming to Nigeria, and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road about the breakdown of shared culture in a post-apocalyptic world. We also think about how such encounters are depicted in popular culture, from Disney movies to advertisements to music videos. We compare these fictional encounters with international experiences, issues, and conflicts today. (FW) Smout.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-13: Writing Seminar for First Years: Superheroes (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. In this section, students analyze the evolution of the character type from Superman’s first appearance in 1938 Action Comics to contemporary superheroes in 21st-century short stories, poetry, films, and graphic novels. (FW) Gavaler.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-14: Writing Seminar for First Years: Business Writing Essentials (3). Prerequisite: First-year standing. Concentrated work in composition. All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process. All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. From emails to pitch books, writing remains a foundation of modern business communication. This section offers students the essential theories, skills, strategies, and tactics to become effective written communicators in modern business settings. Students taking this course develop written work purposefully designed to engage readers within a business context with well-researched information and well-founded arguments. Students analyze, discuss, and produce various forms of professional documentation as they develop their abilities to ethically and effectively write. Projects involve chirographic, print, digital, verbal, and non-verbal forms of business writing. (FW) Lind.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-15:  Writing Seminar for First Years:  Shut Up and Play:  Black Athletes and Activism (3).  Prerequisite:  First-year standing.  Concentrated work in composition.  All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process.  All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style.  Jessie Owens—a legendary African American participant in the 1936 Olympics—told Tommie Smith and John Carlos, two black Olympic sprinters who held a protest during the 1968 games, that “the black fist is a meaningless symbol…The only time the black fist has significance is when there’s money inside.”  In this seminar, we ponder Owens’s observation by looking at black athletes and activism between 1968 and 2018.  We examine case studies that focus on Smith & Carlos, Curt Flood, Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe, Michael Jordan, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Colin Kapaernick, and LeBron James.  As we study these different athletes, we stress critical reading and writing, research skills, revision, and historical awareness.  Students write blogs, essays, and a traditional scholarly article.  In addition, students have the option to produce a podcast.  (FW) Hill.

Fall 2018, WRIT 100-16: Writing Seminar for First Years: Modern French Theater and Film (3). Prerequisite:  First-year standing.  Concentrated work in composition.  All students write at least four revised essays in addition to completing several exercises emphasizing writing as a process.  All sections stress active reading, argumentation, the appropriate presentation of evidence, various methods of critical analysis, and clarity of style. An incursion into some of the most representative dramatic and cinematographic works in modern and contemporary France. Thematically, the readings and films focus on representations of love, romance, and the couple. Some of the playwrights studied include Eugene Ionesco, Yasmina Reza, and Erik Emmanuel Schmidt. Films by Francois Truffaut and Claude Lelouche, among others, form the cinema component of the course. (HL) Radulescu.