Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Discussing "The Laramie Project"

Directions: In small groups, I would like you to respond to the following question and together draft a response that you will post to our blog. Take about 20 or so minutes to discuss this question and respond to it. Then, you will present your response to the rest of class, and we will use your thoughts as a way to open up a conversation about the film, its rhetoric, and research questions you might pursue in our first assignment.

Group #1: Logie, Reggie & Rachel: In our course blog about the background readings to The Laramie Project, many students commented on the impact of not portraying Matthew Shepard in the play and later the film. As a group discuss why you think Kaufman made this choice. How did it enhance his purpose? How did it impact the piece? Identify three scenes that you think were enhanced by Shepard’s absence and explain how it enhanced the film’s main point.

Group #2: Tracey, Theron & Jon: In terms of its creative methodology, The Laramie Project draws on extensive interviews—a qualitative research strategy—which raises the ethical question of how fairly the film represents the people of Laramie. As Don Shewey writes, “On opening night in Denver, it was impossible not to be aware of the enormous responsibility that the actors felt to do justice to the people who had entrusted them with their stories and their innermost feelings” (68). In your group, discuss how the film portrays the different groups of people that comprise this town. How fair, authentic, or compassionate is this representation? Identify one scene that you think does justice to the residents of Laramie and one that you think might not and explain why you picked these scenes.

Group #3: Hayley, Michelle & Kathleen: In “Argument as Emergence, Rhetoric as Love,” Jim Corder suggests that “we are always standing somewhere in our narrative when we speak to other or to ourselves” (17). As a group, discuss Corder’s ideas about how the narrative of our lives influence the emergence of our identities as arguments and how rhetoric ought to function in our communication with each other, especially when we disagree strongly with each other. How does The Laramie Project dramatize the clash of different narratives about homosexuality with a small Western town? What role does love—or perhaps more precisely, forgiveness—play within the film’s argument about the murder of Matthew Shepard and what we as a community—or a nation—should do in response to it?

Group #4: Sarah, Heather & Christine: One of the arguments that Amy Tigner makes in her essay about The Laramie Project is that as Kaufman and the Teutonic Theater Project shaped the interview transcripts into a play, they ended up conforming to conventions of Western American myth. In what ways is this film Western? Despite its appeal to a national audience, how does it shed light on life in a small university town in the rural West? How does this sense of region relate to our national identity?

Group #5: Shelby & Alex: In terms of rhetorical appeals, it probably goes without saying that the predominant appeal of The Laramie Project is pathos. As a group, remind each other what an appeal to pathos is and discuss how this kind of appeal works to help persuade an audience of an argument. Identify three scenes that you think demonstrates different, but particularly effective appeals to pathos and explain precisely what kind of emotional state the film cultivates within the viewer. How does this emotional appeal support the film’s main claim?

Monday, March 29, 2010

Your Initial Response to “The Laramie Project”

Before we discuss the film, I’d like you to take a moment and reflect on your response to it. As you do so, I’d like you to identify the scene or character that you think is the most significant, or the one that had the most significant impact on you as a viewer. Describe this moment in the film or this character and explain why it impacted you. In your mind, how does it relate to the overall point of the film? Who else (think about audience here) do you think would find this scene important or should pay attention to this character?

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Responding to “Argument as Emergence, Rhetoric as Love”

Before class on Monday, I would like to you reflect on Jim Corder’s essay, “Argument as Emergence, Rhetoric as Love.” First, in your own words summarize the main point of this article. What is Corder’s main claim? How does he define the term “argument”? How does he explain his definition? What makes his definition unique or interesting? Second, identify a quotation from the essay that you think is significant. Why do you think it is significant? How it relates to main point of this essay?

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Reading Response: Background to "The Laramie Project"

Reflect on the two articles assigned for today’s class (Moises Kaufman's "Into the West," and Don Shewey's "Town in Mirror"). What struck you as interesting, significant, or even disturbing from the reading? Cite a quotation from either article that represents what caught your attention and explain why you responded the way you did to it. Conclude your comment with a question or two that you might pose about the reading or about the film that you’d like to think further about as we begin viewing it.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Welcome to WRIT 1133! Post your interview of your classmate here as a comment.

For your first blog post, please introduce the classmate you interviewed to the rest of us. Write a 250-350 profile that captures who he or she is, what he or she likes to do outside of class, and their experiences as a writer (and how they feel about writing). Pay particular attention to where he or she is from and the places that are important to them. Why are these places significant? How have they shaped the person you interviewed? What’s one striking memory he or she has about this place?

Whatever issues you focus on, take care with this short piece, for it is our first impression of you as a writer, as well as the first impression of the person you interviewed. Have fun with this piece—make it interesting! Use quotes, brief stories, and any other vivid details you can discover to enrich your profile of this person.

For example, if I were to interview myself and post the result, I might write something like:

Place matters to Professor Geoffrey Bateman, which is why his current research is so important to him.

"I think the different regions of our country shape us in important ways," he says. “As a teacher and scholar, I'm interested in studying the literature, rhetoric, and cultural history of places, especially the North American West."

Having grown up near Portland, Oregon, his interest in the West has evolved since childhood. He grew up exploring everything from the majestic Columbia River Gorge to the misty Oregon coast; he hiked parts of the Pacific Crest Trail and hung out in the quirky urban spaces of Portland and Seattle.

These experiences may help explain his current research on the queer frontier, which explores the sexual imaginary of the North American West near the end of the 19th century.

"It's a particularly rich period for sexuality studies,” he observes. "Sexual identity was not nearly as cut and dried as it became in the mid to late 20th century. And when you consider how race and gender influence our understanding of sexuality, you see an explosion of fascinating accounts—both literary and historical—that reframes our public understanding of desire.”

But his interests don’t lie solely in the past. Professor Bateman believes strongly that historical research must speak to contemporary issues, especially those that are politically charged.

“Literature and history offers us a way to rethink current problems, and for me, I think the most rewarding I can do historically is to show others how texts from the past allow us to re-imagine our lives today.”

Such engagement means that in his first-year writing courses, he tries to find meaningful ways for students to practice their writing. Ideally, he wants them to connect abstract rhetorical concepts and research methodologies with ideas and problems outside our university context.

“Ultimately,” he says, “I want students to feel confident that what they’re learning in my classroom not only prepares them for the rest of their time at DU, but also starts them on a much larger journey of being an engaged citizen for the rest of their lives.”