The End

For you last post, please watch the video above and write a short narrative (one to two paragraphs) in the style of the video that tells the story of our Creative Writing and Popular Culture class--from those early days in August till the nuclear winter that is late November in Iowa City.

Response and Translation

This week we're going to do the same thing as last week, but in reverse.

We'll begin with Ben's link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZfZiBRFM5w

and somehow see if we can find our way back to mine (the last person to post on the wall must try to return to my original 'Beyonce Devastation' video somehow). I want to see if we can create a different chain entirely.

Try not to repeat any of the connections or themes that came up in this first thread.

Translation and Response

Let's try something a little different this week. I'm going to post a video below. I'd like the first person to comment on this blog to watch it, and then post a different link as their reply. This new link must in some way respond to the ideas or attitudes present in the first video. (You can interpret this however you like, but I want the connection to be clear.)

I would then like the next person to watch this new video, and post a video response to that, etc... until everyone has contributed and we have a chain of links, each of which responds in some way to the previous contribution.

No repeats please.

Here's mine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb9eL3ejXmE

"User-Generated Literature"

Take a look at this article, titled 'Do Writers Need Paper?'

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2010/10/books-electronic-publishing/

I'm interested to hear what you think about the article in general, and also to hear your thoughts about this class blog. Do you consider it a learning environment? Is it a clearly defined environment? Has it been useful? What has been gained or lost by conducting these discussions in such a forum? Do you think we could abandon class altogether, and meet only in this virtual space? When you offer your comments, do you feel freer than when you are in class, or more confined? Why/how?

Gagagaga

Like the popular television show, Glee, many of us are "goo-goo for Gaga." Recently, writers, thinkers, poets and critics have been interested in Lady Gaga and what she represents in American culture.

Please read the following essay by the poet Joyelle McSweeney about Lady Gaga's "blasphemy." 

In your comment for this week, address McSweeney's definition of blasphemy in relation to Lady Gaga in teh context of how we've been discussing poetry. Is poetry blasphemous? Are the poems we discussed and/or wrote in class blasphemous? If so, what makes them that way?

Also, considering how we've been discussing poetry, please discuss whether McSweeney's essay is itself "poetic" or "blasphemous."

"lighght"

For this week I would like you all to read the article by following the link below:

"You Call That Poetry?"

The article discusses poet Aram Saroyan's infamous poem, "lighght."

After reading the article, I would like you to post a comment discussing whether or not you think "lighght" is a poem? In your response, consider our conversation this past week in class. Ask yourself what are the criteria for something to be called "a poem?"  Why do you think this poem caused so much controversy? Was the uproar the poem caused appropriate?

Contemporary Poetry?

Hello all,

My name is Steve.  I'll be teaching your Creative Writing and Popular Culture class for the next two weeks.  We're going to be talking about poetry. For next class, I'd like you to follow the following three links and listen to the following sound clips.  These are three contemporary poets (that is, poets alive and writing today) performing poems they've written:

Lisa Jarnot, "Moo is Om Backwards"

Rod Smith, "Ted's Head"

Alice Notley, "Woman With Antlers"

After listening, decide which one of these poets most challenges your understanding of what poetry is or should be. Then, post a comment and tell me why.

See you next Monday!

"Epic" versus "Awesome"

What are your thoughts and impressions, having read The Golden Compass, upon watching this trailer? Has any transformation occurred in the translation from book to film?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj61Q5KPues

Please don't watch it until you've finished reading the novel.

Genre

This week, instead of writing a comment on my link, I'd like each of you to post a link to a video, site or page which you think engages with the idea of genre in a creative way.

Here's mine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA

500 Years of Women's Portraits

Take a look at this short clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDIoN-_Hxs

& perhaps think back to our first in-class exercise where we tried to place poetic extracts in chronological order of composition. If these portraits were scrambled in the same way, would we have an equally difficult time locating the 'modern', and defining it against the 'old-fashioned' or the simply 'old'? Remember that each of these pieces is modern to its own time. I'm interested what you think about the idea of historical 'trajectory' or 'narrative' - can you trace a narrative here?

Next week we'll be talking about 'the audience' versus 'the consumer', so it might be a good idea to think about those ideas too.

It's great to see some of you responding to your fellow students' postings.

"Experts" and Authority

Take a look at this link:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-18-2010/conservative-libertarian

We're talking about information versus wisdom next week in class. What are your thoughts about this clip, specifically with respect to those two ideas?

Narrative, Meta-Narrative, and Form

Take a look at these two links:

http://www.angelfire.com/art2/antwerplettuce/hamlet.html

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA

I've paired these two creations together because it seems to me that they have a lot in common. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on either or both of them, or any connection you might perceive between the two.

Sheena Iyengar: The Art of Choosing

What do you think of this?

http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing.html

I'm interested in how (or whether) you think this attitude shapes or defines our understanding of the arts. I have my own ideas about it, but I'll wait until there are a few comments on the wall here before chipping in.