Spring
Quarter, 2007
Instructor:
Lindsay Kelley lindsay.e.kelley@gmail.com
Syllabus
online: http://people.ucsc.edu/~lkelley/classes/writing/spring07
Class
meetings: MW 5:00-6:45PM
Hum
& Soc Sci 250
Office
Hours: Monday 3-4:30, McHenry Library 493A (see map) Also available by appointment
before class Wednesday or after class Monday or Wednesday
Course
Description: This course will provide students with an opportunity to explore
intersections between industrial food production, cooking, activism, and
art-making, stressing that using language well is important to any meaningful
inquiry into and analysis of cultural production. Students will keep journals
and write formal essays that explore questions such as: How do writers and
artists understand what we eat and where food comes from in societies in which
industrial agriculture dominates food production? How are food activists and
writers generating discourse and controversy about issues as diverse as
obesity, transgenic crops, and animal rights? How do we write about food, as
critics, historians, growers, preparers, and eaters? We will read cookbooks,
manifestos, critical reviews, and more theoretical pieces about food and
culture. Among the artists and writers we will consider are Christine Chin, Isa
Chandra Moskowitz, the Critical Art Ensemble, the Tissue Culture and Art
Project, Michael Pollan, and Hervé This.
Required Texts:
1.
Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace (2nd Edition) by
Joseph M. Williams
2.
Course Packet, available at Literary Guillotine:
www.literaryguillotine.com/ 204 Locust Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. I strongly
recommend calling ahead and if necessary, ordering the course packet. You can
also buy it over the phone and they'll hold it for you.
3.
A cookbook of your own choosing (Choose a cookbook that is at
least 100 pages long, so you have enough to write about. Its theme, content,
publishing date, etc., are entirely up to you! Try the Science &
Engineering Library, Bookshop Santa Cruz, Logos or Chefworks downtown.)
Assignments:
Description Length Due
Date
"Writer's
History" 2
pages 4/9
Write
about your history with writing, answering some of the questions on the
assignment prompt in an effort to flesh out your involvement with words and
language.
"The
Cookbook" 3-5
pages D1: 4/11 D2: 4/18
Answer
some questions about your cookbook. Who is it written for? What are its
politics? How does it write food and eating?
"A
Meal" 3-5
pages D1: 4/23 D2: 5/2
Write
about a specific meal, teasing out its politics, tastes, and pleasures a la
Michael Pollan
"WikiWriting"
3-5
pages D1: 4/16 D2: 4/23
Reflect
on your experiences as a Wikipedia contributer this quarter. What was it like
to write collectively? What did you learn? Will you continue to contribute to
Wikipedia? Why or why not? Page length does not include summary of
edits/contributions.
"Choose
a site" 5-7
pages Topic: 4/14
Bibliography: 4/21
D1: 4/30 D2: 5/6
A
research paper situating food in one of the following spaces (or a different
one of your own choice): "Food & Art," "Food &
Restaurants," "Food & Ethics."
Format
your assignments per the following specifications:
Font: Times New Roman 12 point
(or Times is fine)
Margins:
1 inch (double check!)
Spacing:
double
Citations:
MLA style (consult any MLA reference text)
Header:
include last name and page number in the upper right hand corner of each stapled page
Front
page heading: Include first and last name, the course name, my name, and the
date
Responsibilities
to the course:
·
Attendance
is mandatory. Although it is possible to miss up to two class meetings and still pass the
class, this strategy is not recommended. I encourage you to attend every class
meeting, and save any excused absences for genuine emergencies. The most
important parts of this class happen during our class meetings, so it is
imperative that you attend class. I will take attendance until I know your names
and faces, and then I will check off absences without calling your name. More
than three absences is grounds for immediate dismissal from the class and a
"no-pass" grade.
·
All
work must be completed and turned in to me in order to receive credit for the
course. If one
assignment or one iteration (draft, prospectus, bibliography) of an assignment
is not turned in, you will not pass the course. The due dates on the syllabus
are very important. Due dates for drafts are extremely important; without a draft, you
will not be able to revise your work for your final paper. If you need one or
two extra days to put finishing touches on your final drafts, and you have spoken to me ahead of
time, that will most likely be fine with me. Keep in mind that the schedule is
designed to help you, and if you do not keep to this schedule, you will fall behind. I do
not give incompletes unless arrangements for completing the work are made well
in advance of the end of the quarter. I will not initiate such arrangements.
·
We
will meet in conferences twice during the quarter. These meetings are important for
both of us; often I will have a draft to return to you at the meeting. These
meetings will happen outside of class, and it is imperative that you attend the
meeting and be on time.
·
Things
you will need for this class: a good English language dictionary, the texts listed
above (packet, Williams, cookbook), a blue book for in class essays, and $$ for
copying (you will be bringing multiple copies of your drafts to class to
distribute in your writing group). You must have access to a computer, the
internet, and a printer for this class. I will also be using e-mail to
communicate with you, so please be sure your e-mail account is in order if you
have not already done so.
Week 1:
April 4 Writing
About Food
W: Introductions, Lecture:
"Recipe Art"
Acquire your cookbook. Have it in hand ASAP (next Monday
at the latest), and e-mail me the title and author(s).
Decide on your wikipedia entry. (See handout for help choosing
something.) E-mail me with your article title and username by the end of next
week.
Hand out E1 and writer's history assignments.
Week 2:
April 9, 11 Taste
M: Due: Writer's
History
W: Due: Draft of Essay 1,
"The Cookbook"; Wikipedia e-mail
Week 3:
April 16, 18 Industrial
Eating
M: Individual
Conferences 1: return drafts, hand out E2 assignment
W: Due: Essay 1,
"The Cookbook"
Week 4:
April 23, 25 Vegetarianisms
M: Due:
Draft of Essay 2, "A Meal"
W: Kris Weller guest
lecture; return drafts
Week 5:
April 30, May 2 The Writer & the
Restaurant
M: In class essay
tips
W: Due: Essay 2,
"A Meal"
Week 6:
May 7, 9 La
France!
M: In class essay 1
W: Individual Conferences 2, handout essays 3 & 4
assignments
May 10,
12-1:45 pm, I'll be giving a lecture in Donna Haraway's class. Kresge 327.
Please come! (not required!)
Week 7:
May 14, 16 Foraging
M: Due: Topic for
Essay 4, "Choose a Site"
W: Due: Draft of Essay
3, "WikiWriting"
Week 8:
May 21, 23 Bio-art,
Activism, and Food
M: Due:
Bibliography for Essay 4, "Choose a Site"
W: Due: Essay 3,
"WikiWriting"
Week 9:
May 30 Science
of Food: Artificial Meat and Molecular Gastronomy
M: NO CLASS
W: Due: Draft of Essay 4,
"Choose a Site"
Week 10:
June 4, 6 Food
in Fiction
M: TBD
W: Due: Portfolio,
including Essay 4, "Choose a Site"
*** we
could alternately have the portfolio due during exam week, giving you more time
to write. We'll decide in class. ***