He has no chin

You can see a scan of an illustration of Paul Slide in the first edition here, courtesy of the Harvard library.

Errata for the bootleg edition of Sweet Cicely that you all have:

p. 37: But I wouldn't hear 110 such talk

p. 48: The young feller that gin the lecture, and his sister, wus left orphans and poor; and she was a good deal the oldest, and she set her eyes by him.

p. 177: ah I will they not pass away

p. 182: "No," say she, "I hain't." "No," says he, "I hain't."

p. 220: No, sir! fellers must come free and spontaneous ? , or not at all.

SA #4: Sweet Cicely

UPDATE: Due Tuesday, August 12 (not Thursday as originally scheduled).

1. The Bechdel/Wallace test for a film or other work contains the following criteria:

1. It has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man.

Samantha seems to be trying to achieve something like this the following passage from Sweet Cicely:

And then, thinks’es I as I sot down, we will have a good, quiet visit, and talk some about other wimmen. (No runnin’ ’em: I’d scorn, it, and so would she.)

But I thought I’d love to talk it over with her, about what good housekeepers Tirzah Ann and Maggie wuz. And I wanted to hear what she thought about the babe, and if she could say in cander that she ever see a little girl equal her in graces of mind and body.

And I wanted to hear all about her aunt Mary and her aunt Melissa (on her father’s side). I knew she had had letter from ’em. And I wanted to hear how she that was Jane Smith wuz, that lived neighbor to her aunt Mary’s oldest daughter, and how that oldest daughter wuz, who wus s’posed to be a runnin’ down. And I wanted to hear about Susan Ann Grimshaw, who had married her aunt Melissy’s youngest son. There wus lots of news that I felt fairly sufferin’ for, and lots of news that I felt like disseminatin’ to her.

But, if you’ll believe it, just as I had begun to inquire, and take comfort, she branched right off, a lady-like branch, and a courteous one, but still a branch, and begun to talk about “what should she do – what could she do – for the boy.”

a)Why does Samantha give such a long list of things she wants to talk about?

b)How does Cicely’s insistence on talking about the boy change the way we understand her political motives?

2. What is Josiah’s Plan? Why does he think it is foolproof? Why does it fail?

3. How does God take care of Sweet Cicely’s boy? What was your reaction to that solution?

Upcoming presentations

Updated:

Thursday, 07/24: Wendy, Melissa

Tuesday, 07/29: Don, Tim, Si

Thursday, 07/31: Wesley, Adam, Dave, Jeffrey

Tuesday, 08/05: Nick, Rohit, Khang, Matt

Thursday, 08/07: Don

Tuesday, 08/12: Khang, Adam

The AFSCME strike: points of view

Remember, everyone, the strike doesn't begin until Monday! Blog posts are still due.

If you are following the news, you know that UC has received a court order to suspend the strike. UC has also emailed its employeees to inform them that "Staff who do not report to work and are not authorized to be absent may be subject to disciplinary action."

You can see UC's press release here.

The union argues that the strike is still legal because advance notice was given, and is planning to carry on with the strike. Yesterday the union uploaded the ten-minute video below, entitled "Facing Poverty at UC."



Here are some related news articles:

-"Union plans to strike despite judge-ordered injunction" (Daily Cal)

-UC workers to strike despite judge's order (San Francisco Chronicle)

UC Human Resources has a number of documents pertaining to the strike, including the full text (.pdf) of yesterday's court order, located here.

Some questions:

-What kinds of arguments and persuasive tactics does each side use?

-How does each side communicate with the public?

-How is each side represented in the articles above?

-Consider the following statement by UC: "UC is offering $6.8 million in salary increases with an option to reopen wage negotiations once the State budget is passed." (source) Now consider how the same offer is represented by a newspaper article: "UC's latest offer to service care workers increases minimum hourly rates from $10.28 to $11.50 to $12 depending upon the location." What impressions do these figures give? What's the difference between representing workers' wages as a lump sum and as an hourly wage?

Sommers article

Hello everyone,

You may have noticed on your syllabus that you need to get hold of an article by Nancy Sommers. Seeing as how you already have a lot of work to do this weekend, I've decided to postpone the reading of this article, so please have it read by Thursday, July 10.

Here is the full citation:

Sommers, Nancy. “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers.” College Composition and Communication 31:4 (December 1980) 378-88.

To find a journal article, search for the journal title in Pathfinder.

Welcome

Welcome to the course blog for English N1B/03, "Funny and/or Offensive: Reading the American Archive." The objects of this blog are as follows:

-To keep everybody posted on what people are researching

-To exchange ideas that you may not have had a chance to bring up in class

-To keep you in the habit of articulating your thoughts in writing for others to read.


When posting or commenting on this blog, please remember a few things.

First, this blog can be seen (and Googled) by anyone, and you may not want "anyone" (i.e. future employers) to read what you wrote for your summer English class. Respect people's internet anonymity, including your own, by not mentioning surnames, or by using (appropriate) pseudonyms.

Second, reading on a screen is hard on the eyes, so use plenty of white space. The return key is your friend. This may mean writing shorter paragraphs than you would in a paper, or adding white space at a logical place in the middle of a paragraph.

Finally, remember to treat everyone with professional courtesy.