Box Logic: an addendum to Eric’s Balls

This isn’t really an addendum, isn’t even remotely related to my earlier post, or if it is, only in terms of the way language sometimes thematically links, even if in some cases, or rather in my case, I’d rather it didn’t but can’t resist the urge to play with the fact that it does.

Anyway, box logic smacks of mystory.  Everything smacks of mystory, which perhaps is indicative of how foundational texts function in our minds.  George Maciunas says, “[T]here was no need for art.  We had merely to learn to take an ‘art attitude’ […] towards everyday phenomena”(Writing New Media 117).  This is the kind of attitude I’d like to foster in my comp class.

I’ve pretty much decided that I’m going to take a creative nonfiction approach to my class (assuming that’s legal) using much of the theory of invention found in mystory though adapting it entirely to my own inclination, which (conveniently :)) provides a means for me to meet comp expectations as stated on the department website. 

So far I’m thinking it’s going to look something like this:

Discussions on defining nonfiction

Nonfiction ethics, exploring the idea of truth (exercises in the manipulation of text/truth via tone, chronology, context etc)

Discussion on Janet Lounsberry’s 4 characteristics of nonfiction (though I’ll qualify number four)

First Assignment: Personal Narrative (Absolute freedom of choice on this one.)

Discussion of visual rhetoric

Second Assignment: Visual version of first assignment (The pupose of this is to push the students to think in terms of images, both abstract and concrete.)

Third Assignment:  Concrete Essay (Take one image from the visual essay and do research.  This will be broken up to include an annotated bibliography.  Students will be encouraged to look for the interesting fragments and facts.)

Discussion: Box Logic/Mystory-ish ideas

Fourth Assignment: Merge essay, the concrete I. 

 The text I’m planning on using (at this moment in time) is Best American Essays mainly so we can talk about craft and so students can see the spectrum of possibilities.

We’ll cover research, citation (both web and paper), evaluating websites, electronic composition (though I’m torn between websites and wikis), visual texts (lightly), and hopefully have some fun.