It’s Not Easy Being GreenThe Dark American WoodsAlthough our means of interaction have increased drastically, often making information and communication available instantaneously, the quality and scope of that interaction is being challenged. Since when did saying ‘I love you’ become simply ‘ILY’ typed into a digital screen? What are the consequences of being addicted to the availability of a cellular phone or email? When we socialize online, how does the fact that we can edit our own profiles impact our sense of identity? We are caught in the classic dichotomy of quantity verses quality, and are living within a culture that is redefining the ideas of personal contact and Proxemics, while promoting abstraction as a viable means of correspondence. This course will explore the ways in which our basic human communication is being altered by the onslaught of technology and new media devices such as the internet (Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, dating sites, blogs, etc.), cell phones, and PDA’s. It will also take a look at the discrepancies between our “real life” personalities and our online identities and avatars, as well as how these differences can color our senses of self and our insecurities.Nature and EcologyBooks and the Real WorldDevelop Your Own Critical VoiceHumor: Mirth to the AbsurdCreative Problem Solving and Decision Making 2011: Where Do Ideas Come From?Potential Booklist:Pink, Daniel. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the FutureMichalko, Michael. Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative ThinkingAmericans on Planet Earth: Where Are We Going?Develop Your Own Critical VoiceCreative Problem Solving and Decision Making 2011: Where Do Ideas Come From?Potential Booklist:Pink, Daniel. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the FutureMichalko, Michael. Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative ThinkingAmericans on Planet Earth: Where Are We Going?Faith and ProtestMusic, Lyrics & LanguageMusicophilia, Oliver SacksMyths of the Vampire: Cultural Reinventions of BloodsuckersHumor: Mirth to the AbsurdThe Dramatic in English LiteratureAt War with Ourselves: Literature of Psychological ChallengeFaith and ProtestMusic, Lyrics & LanguageMusicophilia, Oliver SacksThe Dramatic in English LiteratureThe View from the MarginsMyths of the Vampire: Cultural Reinventions of BloodsuckersRemixes and Flows: Literature, Our Good Selves, and Everything ElseRemixes and Flows: Literature, Our Good Selves, and Everything ElseThe Idea of America: Examining Versions of the American DreamCorrespondenceHuman Potential and the BrainNon-fictionFiction“America,” by Allen Ginsberg“Leda and the Swan,” by William Butler Yeats“The Well Rising,” William Stafford“First Praise,” William Carlos WilliamsHuman Potential and the BrainNon-fictionFiction“America,” by Allen Ginsberg“Leda and the Swan,” by William Butler Yeats“The Well Rising,” William Stafford“First Praise,” William Carlos WilliamsSocial Upheaval and Ibsen’s LegacyEating in America: A Historical ViewSocial Upheaval and Ibsen’s LegacySPRING 2011 BARUCH ENGLISH DEPARTMENT THEMES2100/2100T/2150/2150TAs of October 14, 2010ENG 2100 DG13ATowns, Saundra Engagement The course aims to introduce student writers to the conventions of academic writing and to develop those critical reading and thinking skills that will be called for in academic, civic, and professional life. Primary attention is given to writing as a process, from formulating a thesis, to outlining, drafting, and revision, to writing the research paper. Essays by both contemporary and "classic" writers will be read and analyzed as they speak to both rhetorical and cultural issues of concern.ENG 2100 DG24ADonovan, Thom Writing as Civic and Social Mediation The following course will attempt to teach students to write with rhetoric effectiveness and critical rigor through the study of ways that writing and art mediate our civic and social responsibility. The first part of the class will be devoted to studying the essay as a literary form; the second to writing and art practices concerned with land use and ecological responsibility; the last to media literacy and ecology. Core texts include writings by Martin Luther King Jr., Jonathan Swift, Michel de Montaigne, George Orwell, Karl Marx, William Cronon, Stephen Collis, Henry David Thoreau, Agnes Denes, Robert Smithson, Amy Balkin, The Yes Men, Roland Barthes, and The Situationist International. Students will be expected to write two shorter papers and one longer one, participate in class discussion and writing exercise, fulfill regular homework assignments, and provide one oral presentation throughout the semester. ENG 2100 JM13ATowns, SaundraEngagement The course aims to introduce student writers to the conventions of academic writing and to develop those critical reading and thinking skills that will be called for in academic, civic, and professional life. Primary attention is given to writing as a process, from formulating a thesis, to outlining, drafting, and revision, to writing the research paper. Essays by both contemporary and "classic" writers will be read and analyzed as they speak to both rhetorical and cultural issues of concern.ENG 2100 JM13BMascarenhas, KiranIt’s Not Easy Being GreenNature is in. You can see concern for nature everywhere, from President Obama’s campaign promise to create “green jobs” to the changing aesthetics of potato chip packages, from bright yellow plastic to brown plastic (that looks biodegradable). What feels like a current American mood, however, has been a cause of anxiety, speculation and ineffectual reparative action for human beings for centuries. In this course, we will examine some of the discourses around environmentalism. We will see what novelists, poets, politicians and advertising agents have to say about the environment. The discourses around environmentalism will hopefully provide us with a rich source of material to think, read and write about. This is primarily a composition course, and so our aim will be to take all this green stuff and put it down as clearly as possible, in black and white. The primary purpose of this course will be to enhance students’ writing skills and rhetorical sophistication, particularly with regard to argumentative prose. The goal is to prepare students not only for success in academic writing but also for effective participation in and critical understanding of the public and professional