Category: Identity

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Special Languages

Think about the languages you speak –not just the kinds of big languages that get printed on the spines of dictionaries (English, Arabic, Spanish, and so on) but the languages that your smaller communities have built and use to, in Baldwin’s terms, “describe and thus control” their realities.

Many of these authors discuss the ways languages create and define group identities by inclusion and exclusion. How have you observed this in your own life? Think about the groups you belong to: what “secret languages” do you use? Choose one word or phrase that a groups you belong to uses that people outside of that group do not use and/or understand. In what ways does this word or phrase operate? Use at least one of our readings as an analytical framework or point of reference.

Write about this word or phrase in an essay of 750-1000 words. For your first submitted draft, you submit this essay via Turn It In on our Blackboard page. (See my email if you are confused.) Your final draft will be published as a blog post on this site.

First Draft due Saturday, 10/2, 11:59 pm

Final Draft due Sunday, 10/10, 11:59 pm

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In Which I Fangirl Out Over Natalie Diaz

Read this and watch the videos before you read the essays, is my advice. I’m not forcing a comment on this one — though commenting makes class more fun for everyone! — but I think you will get more out of the essays if you do this part.

Natalie Diaz. What’s not to love?

She’s a poet. She’s a warrior for language preservation. She’s a basketball star. She has the coolest insta, full of pictures of Mojave land and cool cocktails and thoughts about poetry I don’t see other places. Like this one, for instance:

…which I can’t get to embed properly. Here’s a link:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Natalie Diaz (@ndinn)

This week, we are looking at two short essays of hers about language. But boy howdy, is her poetry also worth your time. I’m a particular fan of:

“Abecedarian Requiring Further Examination of Anglikan Seraphym Subjugation of a Wild Indian Rezervation”

“As A Consequence of My Brother Stealing All The Lightbulbs”

“I Watch Her Eat The Apple”

“They Don’t Love You Like I Love You”

“These Hands, If Not God’s”

…I could go on. You don’t have to read any of those poems. But you should! She’s spectacular, and she is also still alive and writing! Get your life.

Here are a couple of videos to watch before class.

This video was made by the MacArthur Foundation, after Diaz won the award popularly known as the Genius Grant.

…And here’s me carrying on about her:

Now go read those essays!

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Losing Farther, Losing Faster.

Click here to read Natalie Diaz’s essay “Losing Farther, Losing Faster.”

https://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2014/03/natalie-diaz-losing-farther-losing-faster-reading-elizabeth-bishops-one-art-while-trying-to-save-my-.html

Please also read the Elizabeth Bishop poem she is writing back to, “One Art”

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47536/one-art

After you read this essay, post a reply using the “terms and ideas” model. Watch the Terms and Ideas” video and read more about that model here.

A reminder on the form:

  1. Read the article (or essay or poem) first. Take note of things you need to look up. Look them up. Check that you are using a definition that makes sense.
  2. Mark sections of the text that introduce interesting ideas. This is much easier to do if you are reading on paper! If you are reading on-screen, write notes in a notebook. I know, it’s easier not to, but you will really, really wish you had done this when it is time to write a paper on this topic. Plus it makes you smarter.
  3. In you reply, list at least 3 terms you looked up. This can mean just looking a word up in the dictionary — such as “tabernacle,” in the James Baldwin — or looking up a broader concept — such as “Congo Square” in wikipedia or similar. (Yes, wikipedia is fine for this purpose.)
  4. PROVIDE A SOURCE FOR YOUR DEFINITION. If you copy it word for word — which is fine for this assignment — PUT IT IN QUOTATION MARKS. You don’t need to use full MLA format for this assignment, though you are welcome to. A URL in parentheses or a link is fine. But get in the habit of giving credit to your sources.
  5. Next, write 1-3 paragraphs about an idea in the text you think is worth further examination.
  6. After making your reply, return to the post and comment on 2-3 of your classmates’ replies. You may learn something! There are a lot of smart people around here.

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“If What I Mean Is Hummingbird”

Click here to read Natalie Diaz’s essay “If What I Mean Is Hummingbird, If What I Mean Is Fall Into My Mouth”

After you read this essay, post a reply using the “terms and ideas” model. Watch the Terms and Ideas” video and read more about that model here.

A reminder on the form:

  1. Read the article (or essay or poem) first. Take note of things you need to look up. Look them up. Check that you are using a definition that makes sense.
  2. Mark sections of the text that introduce interesting ideas. This is much easier to do if you are reading on paper! If you are reading on-screen, write notes in a notebook. I know, it’s easier not to, but you will really, really wish you had done this when it is time to write a paper on this topic. Plus it makes you smarter.
  3. In you reply, list at least 3 terms you looked up. This can mean just looking a word up in the dictionary — such as “tabernacle,” in the James Baldwin — or looking up a broader concept — such as “Congo Square” in wikipedia or similar. (Yes, wikipedia is fine for this purpose.)
  4. PROVIDE A SOURCE FOR YOUR DEFINITION. If you copy it word for word — which is fine for this assignment — PUT IT IN QUOTATION MARKS. You don’t need to use full MLA format for this assignment, though you are welcome to. A URL in parentheses or a link is fine. But get in the habit of giving credit to your sources.
  5. Next, write 1-3 paragraphs about an idea in the text you think is worth further examination.
  6. After making your reply, return to the post and comment on 2-3 of your classmates’ replies. You may learn something! There are a lot of smart people around here.