Stuart Dybek to Read, Dec. 1

The Mary E. Rolling Reading Series 

with support from the Joseph L. Grucci Poetry Endowment,

the Pennsylvania Center for the Book, the University Libraries,

the Department of English, and the College of the Liberal Arts

presents:

Stuart Dybek

Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011

7:30 p.m.

Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library

Stuart Dybek is the author of three books of fiction: I Sailed With Magellan, The Coast of Chicago, and Childhood and Other Neighborhoods. His fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Poetry, Tin House, and have been widely anthologized, including in both Best American Fiction and Best American Poetry. Among Dybek’s numerous awards are a MacArthur Prize, the Rea Award, PEN/Malamud Prize, a Lannan Award, a Whiting Writers Award, several O. Henry Prizes, the Nelson Algren Prize, and fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Still Are Penn State

Although I have only attended Penn State for half a semester, I am starting to understand why this university is so important to all the past and future students that attended Penn State. One event that has shed negative light on Penn State is the Sandusky Scandal that has shaked the very foundation of what this univeristy stands for. As stated in an old proverb the actions of one individual cannot influence or be considered the actions of the many. Joe Paterno should not have been fired for the path that he chose to pursue in this matter, in fact he should be given credit for actually doing his job. Joe Paterno did not see the crimes that Sandusky was committing in the shower but instead, he was tipped off by a non-credible witness that these crimes were taking place. So as the head football coach of a team, Joe Paterno did what he was supposed to do and told his boss, the acting athletic director. The fault placed on Joe Paterno should instead be placed on the Athletic Director for not passing on this information to the President of the University. Yes, Joe Paterno could have done more instead of dsoing the bare minimum in order to keep his job and causing a scandal but quite frankly so can millions of other individuals in different areas of their lives, with me included. I also find it hard to believe that the assistant coach named Curly still has a active paying job at Penn State after wittnessing the crimes that Sandusky was committing and not going to the proper authorities. In my personal opinion he should be fired and brought up on charges for being a partner in a crime (even though he wasnt the one raping the children). I could understand if it was a player or volunteer staff member that happened to catch Sandusky in the act of committing these crimes and decided not to go to the proper authorities because, that individual would be scared for his/her future due to the repurcusions that might occur thanks to Sandusky past title amongst the program. This situation is different however. Curly was twenty-eight years old at the time. He should have acted like a adult, and not just any adult but one with a morally right concious and stopped him or told someone. I am also highly irrated on how the media in particular, Sportscenter, is portraying the football team in this endeavor. Whenever this scandal is mentioned, the only images that can be viewed are those of the football team, with hardly any of the images portraying Sandusky in a negative light. I understand that Sandusky was a defensive coordinator here at Penn State, but that was in the 1990s. None of the current players have even come in contact with Sandusky, so the media needs to leave the football team out of their reportings.  I will be glad when people in other communities stop asking me about this horrible event and instead look at the positive programs and other activities that Penn State partakes in.

So... What Were the Journal Prompts We Were Supposed to Do Again?

Remember, the blog journal entries add up to be one of your major writing assignments, worth 20% of your grade. I hope you are keeping up! If you've gotten behind, and are unsure of where you lost the thread, this should help:

Prompts

#1: Make your blog and talk about your strengths/weaknesses as a writer

#2: Palmer Museum Visit

#3: The Powers of Description

#4: Memoir first scene (not on blog)

#5: Suicide poem comparison (not on blog)

#6: This Penn State Life

#7: Kiss Me, Kate

#8: We Are…

#9 TBA

#10 TBA

Questions? Lemme know.

Journal Prompt #8: We Are...

DUE Tuesday, November 29th

In light of the recent, awful events that have befallen our campus and community, I am going to ask you to reflect on your own experience and the experience of some others, rendered in language here.

Please read the following pieces:

Notes from Inside a Burst Bubble: On the Ground in State College, PA, by Dave Housely

Growing Up Penn State, by Michael Weinreb

A Classroom Discussion on the Week's Events, by Lori Shontz

We are...?, by your teacher ;)


Please also watch this:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-november-10-2011/penn-state-riots?xrs=share_fb

and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OL8YjOUq6Oo


Now, respond in whatever way you need to to any or all of the above.

500-1000 words

Essay #4: Exploring an Issue in the Arts

5-7 pages

Draft workshop: 12/6

Final Draft: 12/8

We have spent this semester cozied up with the question of What is Art? We have analyzed visual rhetoric for its artistic and persuasive effects. We have written our own creative works. We have engaged other writers/artists in print and on stage. We have walked around a dying garden in the freezing cold. (I loved that!) We have considered our Penn State community and searched for ways to define and redefine it within an artistic context. Now, it’s time to Go Big (before we go home), and engage this realm of the arts at both a broader and deeper level.

An essay that explores an issue doesn't so much formulate an argument (an essay that advocates one particular position) as it explores a topic in depth by examining multiple perspectives about it.

Invention:

For our last major assignment, you will write an essay where you explore an issue relevant to the arts at any level—local, national or even global. Some possible topics to explore:

At Penn State:

*The history of the Penn State theater program

*Creative Writing at Penn State (current? Past?)

*The Penn State Arboretum

*The Hemingway Letters Project

*Julia Kasdorf (faculty poet) whose newest book is called Poetry in America

In Pennsylvania:

                *Andy Warhol Museum (in Pittsburg)

                *Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

                *Central PA Festival of the Arts (aka, Arts Fest)

                *Falling Water (Frank Lloyd Wright house in PA)

National:

                *National Endowment for the Arts

                *Alexander McQueen’s couture legacy

                *Lady Gaga (sure, why not?)

                *National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo.org)

These are just a fraction of the possibilities open to you! Where can you look for more? Why not start with the very first blog response that you wrote for class, in which you wrote about something you consider to be in the category of art. What was it? Think about your trip to the Palmer Museum. Was there a painting there that really spoke to you? Who was that artist? Did you attend Sharon Old’s poetry reading or John Edgar Wideman’s fiction reading? Did you go to Dave Housely’s reading? He’s an editor, remember. Are you interested in the history of independent literary magazines like Barrelhouse? I bet he’d talk to you about it if you asked him.

Yes, you can go to Google or Wikipedia for ideas, too. I want you to find something you are thoroughly interested in, puzzled by, entranced with and write about it so that an audience will better understand and appreciate it.

Audience:

So who is your audience? Who needs to understand more about NaNoWriMo? Maybe your best friend from high school who has always talked about how she wanted to write a sci-fi/fantasy series. Who needs to know more about the Andy Warhol museum? Maybe your parents who are coming for a visit and have asked you to find something artistic and worthwhile to do outside of Penn State.  The point is, think carefully about how to connect your topic to an audience who will benefit from learning more about it. This could mean thinking about people in your life who will argue the value of, say, Lady Gaga’s music, and figuring out how you might persuade them to think differently.

Research:

Exploring an issue will lead you to do more than just sit alone and think and write. You will be joining an active and ongoing conversation about a topic you care about, and will be honing your research skills (something that will help you in lots of ways, academic and non-academic, in your life).

To that end, your essay must include at least three (3) outside sources in MLA format to support your findings. Failure to have at least three (3) outside sources will cost you a letter grade for each missing source. 

Kiss Me Kate

I must confess that I dreaded the idea of waking up and spending a beautiful saturday afternoon watching a play but after viewing the play I must say that it was a worthwhile experience. I have had the enjoyment of viewing four plays plus, being apart of three and I must say that I was highly impressed with the production that this cast was able to put on. I wqas impressed by not only the way that actors preformed and acted out their lines, but also by the way some of the main actors did not break character when they stumbled at a line here or there. The lighting was also very exotic in the way it was able to create a specific atmosphere and ambiance for the audience, specifically during the musical number "Its too damn hot". Compared to other generes in the theater industry, I highly enjoy the musical-theater genere because of the amount of energy that is involved in pulling this specific style off. This was evident in the many countless dance moves that the actors had to preform. The way that the male actors were able to preform their ballet techniques and moves were flawless and I also was intrigued by the countless facial expressions that they were able to apply in every move that they preformed. My favorite musical that I just so happened to be apart of would have to be "Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street, which tells the tale about how the people of New York City are starting to lose faith in the spirit of Christmas so Santa Claus comes to the city to try and in still the values of Christmas in the city. However, things go terribly wrong when Chris Kringle is arressted for being an imposter (even though he is the real Santa Claus). In the end a little convinces the jury that he is the real Santa Klaus. This is my favorite musical because , to me the propt settings were excellent and I had a delightful time learning the musical numbers that accompanied the production. This production of Kiss me Kate blew my favorite musical out of the water mainly for two reasons. First, I believe that the production did an excellent job of outlining the story of Taming of the Shrew and blending key elements from that production into the main storyline of this play. Finally, I was set back by the way that the band was able to play under the stage in a secluded area so that they would not take away from the play itself. I have not had the pleasure of viewing the play Taming of the Shrew, but I have read the story line, and I feel that this production did make me feel a deeper admiration for the story of Taming of the Shrew, mainly because they were able to add modern-day humor into the story that is applicable for the audiences of today. In the end, I had a delightful experince and look forward to viewing more productions in the future

Essay #3: What is Art?

3-5 pages, double-spaced

Draft workshop: Thursday, 11/10

Final Draft Due: Tuesday, 11/15

For this assignment, you will need to use/tweak the criteria you have been inventing all semester for what makes something art and apply it to a thing, place, person, event or phenomenon at Penn State.

It would be easy to argue that something housed at the Palmer Museum can be defined as art. But I want you to go beyond the obvious. Think about the structures (buildings, monuments, statues), the public spaces (gardens, malls, alcoves), groups, individuals, meals, sounds you encounter in our community. (For the purposes of this assignment, you may go beyond campus and into State College itself)…the possibilities are endless.

You may also go a bit larger and choose to re-define Penn State itself as a thriving artistic community, with the express intention of refuting the NPR podcast that defined us as a “Party School.” If you choose to do this, you must use examples from that podcast in your essay.

You have been working on the first step—creating criteria—since the first week of class. You will need to explicitly state them in your thesis statement. Then, you will need to show how X thing/person/event fits the criteria you put forth for category Y/art.

An example:

The image of David slaying Goliath at the Palmer Museum (x term) is an example of art because it references historical and cultural figures and arouses strong emotions in the viewer. (two possible criterion that make up art/category Y.)

For this essay, you may choose between two possible audiences:

1        1. Parents who are coming to visit campus with the idea of sending their kids here.

2        2. Incoming freshmen like yourself who will want to get to know their campus.

Think about genre. What will be the best way to reach your audience?  Orientation brochure? Article or open-letter in the Collegian? Your choice of genre will dictate many things, including your tone.

Whatever genre you choose, though, think about what your audience might assume about art and about Penn State. Think about what they might already know. Think about what they care about and value. Have they heard the podcast? Do you need to address that? Being able to answer these questions will help you choose the best, most persuasive appeals in your writing. 

Journal Prompt #7: Kiss Me, Kate!

For your seventh journal, please reflect on the experience of seeing the stage production of Kiss Me, Kate!


NOTE: THOSE OF YOU WHO MISSED THIS PERFORMANCE MUST WATCH THE MOVIE VERSION http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045963/. I WILL TRY TO PUT A VERSION ON COURSE RESERVE, BUT YOU CAN ALSO FIND IT VIA NETFLIX OR OTHER MEANS. YOU HAVE UNTIL THE END OF THE COURSE TO DO SO.

***

Have you ever been to a live theater performance before? If so, how did this compare? If not, was it what you expected it to be?

What do you think about the musical-theater genre? What are some of your favorite musicals? (on stage or on television.) How did this measure up?

Have you read or seen Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew? If so, did that increase your appreciation of the plot? If not, did you feel like the show did enough to integrate it seamlessly?

What were your favorite parts of this experience?

Please answer the following questions in 500-1000 words.

Due by Tuesday, November 8th at 5pm.