Joe Harris

Writing 20: Reflecting on Your Work in This Course

12/10/202012/10/2020 Joe HarrisLeave a comment

Image:Mise en abyme, https://pin.it/6pysHb5

I’d like you to think about your work in this course in two different ways.

1) Please point to something you learned how to do as a writer.

You should not feel that you need to come up with some sort of deep insight or major breakthrough. I’d simply like you to identify a particular thing you feel you can do better now as a writer now than you could at the start of the semester. And I’d like you to provide some evidence for this claim. I can see two ways you might do so:

By comparing a moment in an early draft of a piece to one in a later draft—that is, by pointing to something you did in revision, or
By noting something you were able to do in your second essay that you weren’t able to do, or didn’t know you should do, in your first.

2) Please point to something you learned about the nature of online communication.

Since about 1990 theorists have been arguing that the internet will transform how we write and communicate. This past year has been a crash test of that idea. Can you point to one or two things that have felt significantly different for you as a writer and student this semester? These don’t need to be positive differences, and I’m not asking you to evaluate this course. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts about how the environment for writing and learning has changed.

I don’t want you to worry that anything you write in this reflection could count against your grade for the course. So I’ve done three things:

I’ve made the deadline for this assignment Wednesday, December 23—which is the day after final grades are due.
I’ve already given you credit for this assignment. (Check Canvas: You should have 2 points under Writing 20.)
I ask you to email me your reflections through Guerilla Mail. This is a perfectly safe program that allows you to send anonymous emails. I’ve had students use it for years without a problem. Please just write your reflection in the text of the email message, and put “Writing 20: Reflections” in the subject line.

I look forward to reading your thoughts!

Second Essays: An Archive

12/01/202012/02/2020 Joe HarrisLeave a comment

Image by kropekk_pl from Pixabay

I’ve grouped the second essays people have posted according to the writer they’ve written about. My thinking is that if you wrote about, say, Ressler & Thompson, you might want to read and comment on (for W19) what other people had to say about them.

At the same time, though, I’d like to put in a plug for the essays listed under “Other Writers”. These are pieces written by people who pursued an angle in reading Odell that no one else did. Many of their essays are quite striking and original. You should read them!

Jason Lanier, Ten Reasons for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Now

Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener

Angel C, I’d Prefer Not to: An Ode to Jenny Odell’s Refusal
Brandon B, Bartleby, the Scrivener : Jenny Odell’s Interpretations Against My Own
Dale B, Economy and Mental Health: Discussing Jenny Odell’s Overview of “Bartleby”
Gianna S, Resistance Under Different Types of Capitalism
Nicole S, Basic Human Nature
Soren S, I’d Prefer Not To: Being Bullied by Capitalism
Spencer S, Creating an Environment of Negotiation
Tyler M, Working your Own Way: Jenny Odell’s Connection to Bartleby

Cali Ressler & Jodi Thompson, Why Work Sucks

Andrew P, Taking Advantage of Time
Hoda Q, Robots but Humans: Reading Jenny Odell Reading Ressler & Thompson
Stuart A, Changing the Way We Work: Reading Jenny Odell Reading Why Work Sucks

B. F. Skinner, Walden Two

Rebecca Solnit, A Paradise Built in Hell

Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and Walking

Cameron H, Walden’s Influence on Odell
Joshua G, Reflections on Walden Pond
Gwyneth C, The Combination of Voices: The Overlapping Views of Jenny Odell and Henry David Thoreau In “How to Do Nothing”

Other Writers

Writings 18 and 19: Essay Two

11/30/2020 Joe HarrisLeave a comment

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I’ve already asked you to post the final draft of your second essay to Medium by 4:00 pm on
Tuesday, October 20, and to email me the link to your piece. (Otherwise I won’t be able to read and grade it!) But you’re not quite done yet. There are two more things I’d like you to do.

The first is to make a brief post to this site that includes (a) the link to your piece on Medium, and (b) a brief description of, or “teaser” for, your essay, addressed to your classmates. This will count as Writing 18. It’s due by 4:00 pm on Thursday, December 3.
The second is to read a few of your classmates’ essays and to post a brief comment on at least three of them. You can do this in the comments section under their post on this site. These comments will count as Writing 19. They are due by 4:00 p,m on Tuesday, December 9.

My hope is that knowing about Writing 19 will shape your strategy for composing Writing 18. That is, you want to interest people in reading your essay. Here are some strategies for doing so.

The title of your post should be the title of your essay (which itself should be catchy and interesting).
Find a striking and relevant featured image. (If you have a good one, you might use it for both Medium and WordPress.)
Think about using two paragraphs to describe your essay. In one you might describe your project in writing—what you we’re trying to do in your piece and what it’s about. In the other you might include a really good quote from your essay.
Come up with a couple of good tags for your post that describe your perspective on Odell. So “Jenny Odell” or “attention economy” would not be especially inspired tags. But “James Hetfield” or “valuable dead time” or “what-it-is” might be.

I will post a list of Essay Two titles and links on Wednesday morning. This should help you determine who has written about a text that interests you. Even still, though, for Writing 19, browse around a little bit before you commit yourself to commenting on a piece. Try to find pieces that you can say something more in response to than just “Good job!” (although that would be appropriate at this point). See if you can make some connections of your own to what the authors are writing about.

Essay Two

11/30/202011/30/2020 Joe HarrisLeave a comment

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NOTE: The directions for posting your final draft of Essay Two are exactly the same as for Essay One. I have simply changed deadlines so you have them handy. Good luck!

Please post the final version of your second essay to Medium.com. Send me the link for this piece by Tuesday, December 1, at 4:00 pm. Then post a link to and a description of your essay to this site by Thursday, December 3, at 4:00 pm. This second post will count as Writing 18.

I will post a list of all Essay 2s to this site, so you can get a quick sense of who has written about a text that interests you. As with Essay One, I’d like you to read at least three of your classmates’ pieces on Medium and post some comments on them on this WordPress site. This work is due by Tuesday, December 8, at 4:00 pm. It will count as as Writing 19.

You can post your essay to Medium as an “unlisted” piece—which means that only those people to whom you send the link for your essay will be able to access and read it. Or you can make your piece public—available to anyone who happens to stumble upon it. The choice is yours.

In either case, I will expect you to present your essay as professionally as you can. (You may want to consult my brief piece on Formatting on Medium.) Think of a good title. Find an interesting header image. Be sure to document the texts you cite and to provide captions for any photos or videos you use. Select relevant tags. Edit your prose for clarity and style. Make thoughtful use of the formatting options (bold, italics, BLQ) offered in Medium. Use paragraphing and white space to make your piece more attractive on the screen. Proofread.

I’ll use the form at the bottom of this page in assigning and explaining your grade. I will try to have grades back to you within a week.Your letter grade is not negotiable, but I am always willing to talk more with you about your writing.

Once you have posted your second essay, description (W18), and comments (W19), you will have completed almost all of your work for this class. Congrats! The only thing you will have left required to do is to submit anonymous comments on this course (Writing 20). But please remember that you also have the option of revising one of your final essays for a higher grade. This revision will be due on Tuesday, December 15. If you’d like, I’ll be happy to talk with you on Zoom about your plans for revising. You can contact me later this week to make an appointment.

Good luck! I look forward to reading your work!

Writing 17: Post-Workshop Memo

11/10/2020 Joe HarrisLeave a comment

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Important Note

The guidelines that follow are exactly the same as for your previous post-workshop memo (Writing 10). I have only adjusted the deadlines.

What’s important to remember, though, is that this will be your last chance to get feedback from me before you prepare the final, to-be-graded version of your Essay Two. And so I urge you to approach this assignment thoughtfully and to compose a detailed memo. Help me help you. You stand to gain from doing so.

Post-Workshop Memo

After your workshop, I would like you to email me a memo detailing your plans for moving from Draft 1 to Draft 2. The subject line for your email should be Post-Workshop Memo. Your text should include three sections:

1) Summary of Feedback

What feedback have you received to your writing so far? In your workshop? In written comments? From me? From other readers? Which parts of this feedback do you find most useful? Which do you have questions about?

2) Plans for Draft 2

Add

What do you plan to add to your current draft? Where will these additions go? Be as exact and detailed as you can. For instance, rather than saying, “I plan to add more from Odell”, point to the specific passages from Odell that you plan to add. Or rather than saying, “I’m going to give more details about this exeprience”, explain what details you plan to add.

Cut

What passages of your current draft do you plan to cut? Again, be specific. And bold. Don’t be content with bland paragraphs or sections. If something isn’t working, get rid of it.

Change

Which parts of your essay do you plan to rework for style, voice, and clarity? What issues in your prose do want to address?

3) Questions for Me

I will write a reply to your email. This will be my response to your first draft. What do you want to ask me before you prepare a version of your essay that will earn a letter grade?

My general rule is to write no more words in reply than you write to me in your memo. So the more detailed and specific your memo is, the more feedback you are likely to get from me in reply.

I must receive your Post-Workshop Memo by next Tuesday, November 17, at 4:00 pm. But I encourage you to send it to me earlier, so you can write with the memory of your workshop and your questions for me fresh in mind. I will try to respond to your memo as quickly as I can, so the sooner you are able to get it to me, the longer you’ll have to prepare your final draft. I will also be happy to talk more on Zoom with you about your essay after I’ve received your memo.

Deadlines

Tues, 11/17, 4:00 pm (or earlier): Email me your Post-Workshop Memo (Writing 17).
Tues, 12/01, 4:00 pm: Post the second and final draft of your essay to Medium.com. Email me the link.

Writing Workshop Groups for E2D1

11/09/202011/10/2020 Joe HarrisLeave a comment

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I have created shared folders on Google Drive for each of the workshop groups below. Here’s what you need to do:

Post the second draft of your first essay to your Group Folder by 4:00 pm, tomorrow, Tuesday, November 10. Remember to use this formula to name your document: “First-Name Last-Initial E2D1”. For example: “Joe H E2D1”.

Read and comment on the drafts posted by your three group members. The directions are exactly the same as for Writing 9: Commenting on E1D2.
Read and reflect on the comments your group members have made on your draft before your workshop.
Participate in your workshop. The guidelines for the workshop are the same as the last time, and are posted at Holding a Writing Workshop.

If you are in a Wednesday group, you need to post comments on your classmates’ drafts by 10:00 pm on Tuesday. If you are in Thursday group, you need to post by 10:00 pm on Wednesday. This is so authors have time to read over the comments on their drafts and think about them.