SSOC 223 Women Writers: A Medley of Voices CRN 20317

Spring 2009 Tues. 2:00-5:15 E212

Kay Fowler

Syllabus URL http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwsp09syllabus.html

PDF Version for printing: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwsp09syllabus.pdf

"What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life?

The world would split open..." --Muriel Rukeyser

Faith Ringgold Tar Beach 1990

|Book Reports and Oral Presentations | Book Report List | Book Report List PDF

Class hour and room: Tues. 2-5:15 Room: E212 Office: School of Social and Human Services, Room E-222 Phone : 684-7565 (don't leave voicemail) Email: kfowler@ramapo.edu. Website: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/ Office hours: Tues. 12:30-1:30 pm; Wed. 4:30-5:30 pm. Other times by appointment.

Course Description: This is a 200 level women's studies course surveying the wide, deep and vibrant range of American Women's voices from pre-European contact to the present with attention to the context of feminist theory and feminist literary criticism. We are attempting to cover a very rich tradition in a single semester so the reading is substantial, although, I trust, not overwhelming. Still we will only be able to "taste" the many delicacies and take a quick nibble at some of the main courses. The material is wonderful and diverse, enjoyable and occasionally difficult. Readings will be explored and contextualized through a number of individual writing assignments, collaborative projects, presentations, WebCT resources and class discussions, activities and supplemental resources. For further details see the detailed course description at http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwcoursedescription.html

Course Objectives: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwcourseobjectives.html

Required Texts : PH: POETRY HANDOUT (provided first day), AL1: Hogeland, Lisa Maria and Mary Klages, Eds. Aunt Lute Anthology of U. S. Women Writers Vol. 1: 17th-19th C. 2004 AL2: Hogeland, Lisa Maria and Mary Klages, Eds. Aunt Lute Anthology of U. S. Women Writers Vol. 2: the 20th C. 2008. NOTE: YOU WILL BE GETTING BOTH VOLUMES OF AUNT LUTE. There will be some additional readings on WebCT6 and on the Web. Get your books early from the bookstore. Do not wait until they are due because the bookstore returns leftover books to the distributors shortly into the semester. You are responsible for all these readings. Note: For some weeks there will be assigned readings to be done by the entire class PLUS assigned readings specifically for each small group. You are to read the general readings and your group's reading. (Feel free, of course, to read any and all of the other groups' readings as you choose!) NOTE: ALL REQUIRED READINGS TO BE COMPLETED BEFORE CLASS!

Writing Assignments and Projects: Please label each assignment with the assignment name, your name, Women Writers, and the date. Quilt piece (Due Class 2) (group grade); Email Exchange (Due before class 3) (group grade); Interview (Due Class 6); Experiential Project 1 (See below) (Due: Class 7); Midterm Exam (in-class Class 8); Poem explication (Due class 9); Play Performance (Class 11) (group grade); Experiential Project 2 (See below) (Due: Class 11); Letter to Power (Due Class 13); Hacker "Lost Ladies" research (due Class 14) (group grade ); Book Report -- written 3-5 pages submitted the day you present and presented orally on day assigned for your book; Final Exam: Take-home : Due by Tues May 12.

Note: You are allowed ONE paper to come in one week late without penalty (in recognition of human emergencies). You may also revise any individual assignments for reconsideration of the grade. Any revised papers must be labeled Revised and must be received by Class 14. The final grade for a revised assignment will be an average of the original grade and the new grade.

Experiential Reports: Under the new Curriculum Enhancement Program (CEP) students are expected to do approximately 5 hours of experiential learning outside the class. This requirement will be satisfied for this class by completing (and submitting a write-up of the experience) two Experiential Projects from the linked list of Experiential Project options. Experiential Project #1 is due Class 7; Experiential Project #2 is due Class 11. Alternatively you can elect to do a service learning project related to the class. For options and guidelines see: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwsp08Experientialguide.html

Student Obligations and Course Policies: You are responsible to read these policies carefully and understand and observe them: Attendance; Class Participation; Class Decorum; The "Ouch" Rule, Academic Integrity; Collaborative Learning; Service Learning Option; Honors Option: Students with Special Needs For details see: http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwpolicies.html

Grading http//:phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/wwgradingpolicy.html

COURSE CALENDAR

Class 1 Tues. Jan 20: Introduction and Women’s Voices: Collective Wisdom (traditional tales and teachings, sacred stories, oral histories)

In Class : Introduction to Web CT and course structure. Asking Questions and Posing Frameworks; Group Assignments and selections of texts for Student Presentations

Setting the Themes: All from PH: Anonymous (Shoshone) "Song of an Old Woman" (traditional) Nikki Giovanni (African Am.) "Ego-Tripping" (1973); Mary Mullinaux Lemon (European Am.) "all My Grandmothers Could Sing Most Died Young," (1992); Elmaz Abi-Nader (Lebanese Am.) "Preparing for Occupation" Lucille Clifton (African Am.) "Wishes for Sons" Joy Harjo (Creek/Muscogee) "I Give You Back," (1983); Luci Tapanhoso (Dine/Navajo) "Remember the Things They Told Us"

Collective Wisdom: from Harris, S. M. (Ed.). (1996). Women Writers to 1800. NY: Oxford

Handouts:

Group A: Zuni "How Women Learned Wisdom" 63-64.

Group B: Iroquois: "Sky Woman" 173-4.

Group C: Chinook: "The First Ship" 175-6.
Group D: Pawnee: The Ghost Bride and the Ghost Wife 197-199.

Group E: Choctaw: Skaté-ne, 173-4.

Group F: Zuni: Two Girls and the Dancers, 199-200.

SPECIAL EVENTS (may be used for Experiential project)

Wed. Jan. 28 3:00-4:30 P.M. Student Reading of Cherríe Moraga’s Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea under the direction of CA professor Peter Campbell with Q & A with the author.

Wed. Jan. 28, 2009 Berrie Center, Sharp Theater: 3:00-4:30pm

6:30 p.m. Berrie Center Sharp Theater (overflow in H129). 3rd DIVERSITY CONVOCATION: Cherríe Moraga. “The Tenacity of Hope: The Requirements of Social Change, from the Intimate to the Institutional.” For more information see http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~kfowler/rlsdiversity09.html

Class 2 Tues. Jan. 27 : Speaking Hands (sewing, weaving, cooking, gardening, hair dressing, art and music)

ALL READ:

From AL1: Lucy Larcum (European Am. Working Class) "Weaving" (1868) AL1 763-764.

From AL2: Adrienne Rich (Jewish American) “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers” (1951) AL2 605; Alice Walker (African Am.) "Everyday Use" (1973) AL2 957-962; Roberta Hill Whiteman (Oneida) "Star Quilt" (1984) AL2 1029; Cherríe Moraga, “La Guera” (1989) AL2 1189-1195.

From PH: Teresa Palimo Acosta (Chicana) "My Mother Pieced Quilts" PH; Abbey Lincoln (Aminata Moseka (African Am.) "I Am the Weaver" PH; Gina Valdez (Chicana) "My Mother Sews Blouses" PH.

On the Web: (View) Hmong Story cloth: http://www.uwrf.edu/library/exhibits/storycloth.html AND Faith Ringgold. Cotton Fields, Blackbirds and Quilting Bees, 1997: http://www.faithringgold.com/ringgold/d15.htm Elizabeth Keckley and the Mary Todd Lincoln Quilt: http://www.quilters-world.com/pages/features1.php?_id=3&subcat=In the quilting world

Assignment: Before class: Create a (paper) Quilt piece (use a 12x12 square piece of sturdy paper as provided in class. If for some reason you did not receive one, please come by my office during office hours and select one.) On your quilt paper tell visually a traditional story or piece of wisdom important in your family/culture. Think, for example, about some story that has been repeated many times in your family or in your faith community or at cultural gatherings or one that has been handed down in your family through generations. (As you illustrate this story on the quilt piece, you may use a word or two but the primary presentation should be visual). Sign it on the front visually only in some way. Sign it on the back with your written name and the date.

Class 3 Tues. Feb. 3: Women’s Voices in Conversation (letters, directed journals, dialogues, etc.)

ALL READ:

From AL2: Etel Adnan (Syrian/Lebanese/Greek Am.) “from Of Cities and Women (Letters to Fawwaz) (1993) AL2 540-547; Azza Basrudin (Malaysian Am. Muslim), Maddy Mohammed (Palestinian Am. Muslim) and Khanum Shaikh (Pakistani Am. Muslim) "Our Memories of Islam: Pakistani, Malaysian, and Palestinian Women (Re)imagine 'Muslim’ and (Re)define Faith" (2006) 129-159 on WebCT.

Groups Read:

Group A: Abigail Smith Adams and Mercy Otis Warren (1776+) 239-244 on WebCT. Group B: Lety Martinez Gonzalez (Chicana working class) and Patricia Zaratec (Chicana working class) "Two Letters Home" (1981, 1990) 141-155 on WebCT.

Group C: The Winthrop Women (1630s-1640s) (European Am.) 235-239 on WebCT.

Group D: Merle Woo, (Chinese/Korean Am.) "Letter to Ma," (1981) 531-8 on WebCT.

Group E: From AL1: Susan (Harriet Farley Donlevy) (European Am.) "Letters from Susan: Letter 2" (1804) AL1 298-301.

Group F: Christine Jorgensen: “A Personal Autobiography” (1967) AL2 566-567.

Assignment: Before class: Write and send an email directed to the members of your small group (copied to me). Put clearly in the subject line “WW Posting”. Talk in your email about what it is like to be a college student in 2009 -- what were your expectations, what is the biggest challenge you face, what are the things you feel have changed you in some profound way during your college experience, how has your race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality, political persuasions, religion etc. affected your experience or your analysis of it? Then write back to each writer in your group a thoughtful response to their first email. (In other words, if there are 5 people in your group, in all for this assignment you will be writing 5 emails – your own initial one and four responses). Label these response emails in the subject line “WW Posting response to (name).” You will be graded as a group so be conscientious on behalf of your group mates.

Class 4 Tues. Feb 10: Women’s Voices Whispering Secrets (personal records, diaries, private journals, writings for the self). In-Class: Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues.

ALL READ:

From AL1: Abigail Abbot Bailey (European Am.) "from The Memoirs of Mrs. Abigail Bailey (1815) AL1 135-139; 144-162; Amalia Sibrian (Mexican Californian) "A Spanish Girl's Journey from Monterey to Los Angeles" (1829?) AL1 594-6; Loreta Janeta Velasquez (Cuban Mexican Transgender) "from The Woman in Battle..." (1876) Chaps. 1, 3, 4: AL1 1074-1089.

From AL2: Kathleen Fraser, “This. notes. new year.” (1980) AL2 750-752.

on WebCT Mary Wright Cooper "From the Diary" (1769) 84-86 on WebCT.

Book Reports: Audre Lorde (African Am. Lesbian) The Cancer Journals (1980).

Class 5: Tues. Feb. 17: "The Truth About Her Life:" Autobiography, liberatory narratives, memoirs, testimony etc.

ALL READ:

From AL2: Winnifred Eaton (Onoto Watanna) (Chinese American) “from Me” (1915)

AL2 96-108; Nicolasa Mohr (Puerto Rican/Basque) “In Another Place in a Different Era” (1997) AL2 782-792.

GROUPS READ:

Group A: Harriet Jacobs (African Am.) from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861). AL1 529-534 and Michelle Cliff (Jamaican Am.) “Contagious Melancholia” (1993) AL2 983-986.

Group B: Anza Yesierska (Russian Polish Am.) "America and I" (1923) AL2 216-223.

Group C: Mary L. Day (European Am./blind) "from Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl" (1859) AL1 1005-1008 AND Helen Keller (European Am./blind) "Blind Leaders" (1913) AL2 144-152.

Group D: Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin) (Dakota/Sioux) "The School Days of an Indian Girl" (1900) AL2 119-129; and Luci Tapohonso (Dine/Navajo) “All the Colors of Sunset” (1994) AL2 1201-1205.

Group E: Monica Itoi Sone (Japanese American) “from Nisei Daughter” (1953) AL2 481-491 and Carolyn Lei-Lanilau “The Inner Life of Lani Moo” (1997) AL2 988-993.

Group F: Lely Hayslip (Vietnamese Am.) "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places," (1989) AL2 1107-1131.

Book Reports: Carolyn Chute, (Working Class Euro. Am.) The Beans of Egypt Maine (1986); Joan Didion (European American), The Year of Magical Thinking (2005); Mary Crow Dog (Lakota Sioux) Lakota Woman (1990); Leslie Feinberg (European Jewish Transgender) Stone Butch Blues (1993); Vivian Gornick (European Jewish American), Fierce Attachments (1987); Jeanne Houston and James D. Houston (Japanese Nisei Amer.), Farewell to Manzunar (1973); Sue Monk Kidd (European American), The Secret Life of Bees (2002); M. Elaine Mar (Chinese American), Paper Daughter (1999); Esmerelda Santiago (Puerto Rican American), AL1most a Woman (1998) ; Sapphire (African American), Push (1996); Sara Suleri (Pakistani American), Meatless Days (1987); Suzie King Taylor (African American), A Black Woman's Civil War Memoir (1902).

Class 6 Tues. Feb. 24: Women’s Voices Filtered; Muffled; Transmitted (court records, "confessions," anthropological accounts, etc., symbols).

ALL READ:

From AL1: Sojourner Truth (African Am.) "Speech" (1851) AL1 337-8; Nishimura Ekiu v. United States (Japanese Am.) (1891-2) AL1 1350-1351; Lilac Chen (Chinese Am.) "Lilac Chen" (1973) AL1 1359-1362.

From PH: Janice Mirikitani (Japanese Am.) "Suicide Note" (1987) PH; S.N. (South Asian) "Revisionist History" 2006 PH.

On WebCT: New York Widows: Petition (1731) p. 252 On WebCT; Belinda Royall, (18th C. African Working Class Am.) "Petition of an African Slave" (1787) pp. 253-4 On WebCT; AND Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1845) “Petition for a Ten Hour Workday”, 148-156 On WebCT.

GROUPS READ:

Group A: Mary Read (European Am. Transgender) "The Life of Mary Read" (1724) AL1 98-102;

Group B: Tituba (Native Am./African Am.) "The Examination of Tituba" (1692) AL1 79-87;

Group C: Lillian Hellman (European Am.) “from Scoundrel Time” (1976) AL2 358-366;

Group D: Lee Yow Chun and Chun Ho (Chinese Am.) "Rescued Chinese Prostitutes Testify at the Industrial Commission." (1901) 377-383 on WebCT;

Group E: Catherine Ogee Wyan Akwut Okwa (Ojibwa) "Confessions of The Woman of the Blue-Robed Cloud, the Prophetess of Chegoimegon" AL1 324-327.

Group F: Marjuo Xiong, (Laotian Am.), "Vue Vang's Life Story as told to her daughter Marjuo Xiong," (1993) on WebCT.

Assignment: Interview a woman or girl who is over 65 or under 12 or one whose first language is not English (and is not your first language). Work up several questions in advance to ask; you will be adding others as the interview unfolds. Focus on what your interviewee thinks is most important to share about herself and her life. Then write up the interview (using a pseudonym for your subject or just initials). Include a brief introduction describing the person you chose to interview, the interview questions and the interview process. (Approximately 2-4 pages in length). Bring to class and be prepared to share it.

Book Reports: Faran Ahmedi (with Tamin Ansay). (Afghan American). The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky. (2005); Ella Cara Deloria (Anpetu Waste Win -- Beautiful Day Woman) (Yankton Dakota) Waterlily (1944); Ruthanee Lum McCunn. (Chinese. Am.) Thousand Pieces of Gold (1981).

Class 7 Tues. Mar. 3: Women’s Voices Telling Stories (short stories, novels)

ALL READ:

From A21: Maxine Hong Kingston “No Name Woman” (1975) AL2 838-845.

From Web: Mary Wilkins Freeman (European Am.) "The Revolt of Mother" (1891) http://home.comcast.net/~mewf_short_stories/RevoltOfMother.htm;

GROUPS READ:

Group A: Tillie Olsen (Jewish Am.) "I Stand Here Ironing" (1956) AL2 427-433.

Group B: Fradel Schtok (Yiddish Galician Am.) "The Veil" (1919) AL2 277-279.

Group C: Jumpha Lahiri. (20th C. South Asian/Indian Am.) "A Temporary Matter (1998) AL2 1376-1387.

Group D: Leslie Marmon Silko (20th C. Laguna) "Private Property" (1983) AL2 1079-1085.

Group E: Edwige Danticat (Haitian Am.) “Nineteen Thirty-Seven” (1995) AL2 1394-1401.

Group F: Gish Jen (Chinese Am.) "Who’s Irish" (1998) AL2 1255-1262.

Assignment: Experiential Report # 1 due.

Book Reports:

Short Story Collections: Chitra Divakaruni (Indo-Am.), Arranged Marriage (1995); Jumpha Lahiri (Indo-Am.), Unaccustomed Earth (2008); Frances Khirallah Noble (Arab American), The Situe Stories (2002). Novels: Diana Abu-Jaber (20th C. Jordanian Am.) Arabian Jazz (1993); Sandra Cisneros (Chicana) Caramelo (2008); Edwige Danticat (Haitian American) Breath, Eyes and Memory (1994); Harriet Doerr (European Am.) Stones for Ibarra. (1985); Louise Erdrich (French Ojibwe / German American/Chippewa) Tracks (1988); Zora Neale Hurston (African Am.) Their Eyes Were Watching God (1936); Bette Bao Lord (Chinese Am.) Spring Moon. (1981); Toni Morrison (African Am.) The Bluest Eye (1990); Farnoosh Moshir (Iranian Am.) Against Gravity (2006); Marilynn Robinson. (European Am.). Gilead (2004); Lisa See (Chinese Am.) Snowflower and the Secret Fan (2005); Helen Maria Viramontes (Chicana) Under the Feet of Jesus (1995).

Class 8 Tues. Mar. 10: Women’s Voices Reaching, Teaching and Preaching (spiritual narratives, educational treatises, sermons, children’s books)

MIDTERM -- IN CLASS 2-3; regular class will resume at 3:10 p.m. (after a brief break)

ALL READ:

From AL1: Margaret Fuller (European Am.) "Educate Men and Women as Souls" (1855) AL1 430-1; Francis Ellen Watkins Harper (African Am.) "An Appeal to My Countryman" (1893) AL1 799-801.

From AL2: Margaret Sanger (European American) “The Prevention of Conception” “To Comrades and Friends” “Why the Woman Rebel?” (1914) AL2 138-141; Jovita Idar (Chicana) “We Should Work” (1991) AL2 208-9; Audre Lorde (African Am. Lesbian) "The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action" (1977) AL2 710-712.

From PH: Debra Swallow, (Oglala) "Keep A Dime," (1984) PH.

From WebCT: Cherokee Women (Cherokee) "Cherokee Women Address Their Nation"(1817); 177-178 on WebCT.

GROUPS READ:

Group A: Emma Goldman (Russian Jewish Am.) "Was My Life Worth Living?" (1934) AL2 43-50;

Group B: Judith Sargent Murray (European Am.) "On the Equality of the Sexes" (1790) AL1 162-169;

Group C: Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell (European Am.) "from The Laws of Life with Special Reference to Physical Education of Girls" 1852 AL1 706-717;

Group D: Michelle Sharif (Arab Am.) "Global Sisterhood: Where Do We Fit In?" 151-159 on WebCT;

Group E: Gloria Anzaldua , (Chicana Lesbian) "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" (1987) AL2 883-891.

Group F: Mitsuye Yamada (Japanese Am.) "Invisibility is an Unnatural Disaster" (1970) AL1 535-539.

Book Reports: Lousie DeSalvo (European American with disability) Breathless (1997); Helen Keller, (European Am. with disability), The Story of My Life (1903); Maria Elinor Lucas (Chicana with disability), Forged Under the Sun/Forjada Bajo el Sol: the Life of Maria Elena Lucas; Wilma Mankiller (Cherokee with disability), A Chief and Her People (1993) .

Special Event (May be used for experiential project)

Wed. Mar. 11, 6: 30-7: 30 H129: Houda Abadi: Empowering transformation: Relations

within Jewish and Muslim communities Women’s Herstory Speaker Houda Abadi, is

Director of Unity Programs for Abraham’s Vision in New York, a non-profit organization

facilitating dialogue between Jewish and Muslim youth internationally.

Tues. Mar. 17: NO CLASS. ENJOY SPRING BREAK!

Class 9 Tues. Mar. 24: Women Making Poetry

Reminder: Poetry is much easier to understand -- and much more effective -- if read aloud -- and read more than once. Take your time and savor these poems. Don’t rush them.

ALL READ:

You pick -- to read and be ready to discuss -- one dozen (that’s 12!) poems from the following list and/or from any of the poems on the Poetry Handout not yet covered in class. Feel free to explore others liberally.

From AL1: Anne Bradstreet (European Am.) "Here Follow Upon the Burning of Our House" (1666) AL1 33-34; Phillis Wheatley (African Am.) Selections AL1 170-173; Emily Dickinson (European Am.) Poetry selections AL1 841-853; Sophie Jewett (European Am.) Poems AL1 1298-1300.

From AL2: Angelina Weld Grimke (African American) “The Black Finger” (1923) and “Mona Lisa” (1927) AL2 141-142; Marianne Moore (European Am.) “Marriage” (1924) AL2 237-244; Edna St. Vincent Millay (European Am.) Xli (I, being born a woman ...” (1923); Dirge Without Music (1928) AL2 291-2; Dorothy Parker (European Am.) “The Far-Sighted Muse” (1922) AL2 297; May Sarton (European Am. Lesbian) "In Time Like Air" (1958) 433-434; Margaret Walker (African Am.) “For My People” (1942) pp. 450-451; Gwendolyn Brooks (African Am.) “A Bronxville Mother ...” (1966) AL2 471-474; Hisaye Yamamoto (Japanese Am.) “Et Ego in America” (1941) AL2 506; Denise Levertov (European Jewish Am.) "O Taste and See" (1964) AL2 531; Maxine Kumin (European Jewish Am.) "Purgatory" (1965) AL2 550; Nellie Wong (Chinese Am.) “Dreams in Harrison Railroad Park” (1977) AL2 722-3; Nikki Giovanni (African Am.) “Nikki-Rosa” (1968) AL2 909-10; Linda Hogan (Chickasaw) “The Truth is” (1925) AL2 1031-2; Wendy Rose (Hopi/Miwok/Scots) "Three Thousand Dollar Death Song" (1975) AL2 1073-1074; Silvia Gurbelo (Cuban American) “Janis Joplin” (European Am.) (1993) AL2 1242-3; Lois Ann Yamanaka (20th C. Japanese Hawaiian Am.) "Tita: Boyfriend" (1993) AL2 1354-1356.

Assignment: Do a careful and full explication of one poem chosen from the poetry handout or from the assigned poems above. You may not select a poem which we have already examined in class. Make use of the very clear and helpful guide to explicating a poem at http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/poetry-explication.html

Class 10 Tues. Mar. 31: Women Weaving Visions (utopias, fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction)

ALL READ:

From AL2: Ursula K. Leguin (European Am.) "Ether, OR" (1995) AL2 574-591 ; Octavia Butler (African American) "Bloodchild" (1984) AL2 1013-1026.

From WebCT: Annie Denton Cridge, (European Am.) "Man’s Rights or How Would You Like it?"(1870) 317-336 on WebCT.

GROUPS READ – (All from AL2):

Group A: May Miller (African American) "Stragglers in the Dust" (1930) AL2 323-330.

Group B: Linda Faigao-Hall (Filipino Am.) "The FeMale Heart (Pusong Babae" (2000) AL2 1040-1065.

Group C: Lorraine Vivian Hansberry (African Am.) "The Drinking Gourd" (1960) AL2 613-642.

Group D: Alice Gerstenberg (German Am.) "Overtones" (1915) AL2 199-207.

Group E: Diane Glancy (Cherokee/German/English Am.) "The Woman Who Was a Red Deer Dressed for the Deer Dance" (1998) AL2 862-869.

Group F: Susan Glaspell (European Am.) "Trifles" (1916) AL2 109-118.

Assignment: Read the play assigned for your group. You will then select a scene or two from the play. The performance by your group should be about 30 min. in length. Draft a summary of the key info about the play which you will be sharing with your group in class. In class you will consolidate your drafts into a concise but effective summary of the key points and then work with your group in class on how you might produce (stage, cast, etc.) the play so that you can collect/prepare over the coming week whatever you need to bring with you on Apr. 7. Feel free to bring props and/or wear costumes although this is not required. The group as a whole should come to a decision about this. Rehearse (quietly) in your groups the scene you will present on Apr. 7.

Book Reports: Octavia Butler (African Am.), Dawn (1997); Charlotte Perkins Gilman (European American), Herland (1915); Ursula K. LeGuin, (European Am.), Left Hand of Darkness (1969); Marge Piercy (European Am. Jewish), Woman on the Edge of Time (1993); Amy Thomson (European Am.), The Color of Distance (1995)

Class 11 Tues. Apr. 7: Women’s Voices Dramatizing (plays, monologues, films)

ALL READ:

Dolores Prida (Cuban American) "Beautiful Senoritas" (1994) AL2 921-940.

In-Class: Play Performances of your group’s play. Each group should report out on their summary info and then actually perform the 30 min. selection they have chosen from the play for the rest of the class. You will be graded as a group, so help each other out.

Assignment: Experiential Report # 2 due.

Special Event: (May be used for an experiential project):

Wed. Apr. 8, 6: 30-7: 30 H129: Sylvia Bofil: Approaching Latin theater through a

playwriting and director’s perspective. Schomburg Fellow, CA Spring 2009. Sylvia Bofil,

Professor, Theater, University of Puerto Rico is playwright and director of Inside Out (a site specific play at Ramapo), OH Natura, and Windows and many others.

Class 12 Tues. Apr. 14: NO CLASS. STUDENTS WORK ON PROJECTS

Class 13 Tues. Apr. 21: Women’s Voices Speaking Truth to Power (speeches, essays, public letters, newspaper articles, documentaries, etc.)

ALL READ

From AL1: Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention "Declaration of Sentiments", (1848) AL1 703-706.

From AL2: Maria Luisa Garza (Chicano) “The Intelligent Woman” (1920) AL2 234-235; Janice Mirikitani “Breaking Silence” (1987) AL2 896-898; and Suheir Hammad (Jordanian Am.) “broken and beirut” (1996) AL2 1408-1409.

From WebCT: Mary ("Molly") Brant (Canienga/Mohawk) "Letters of Molly Brant to Judge Daniel Claus" (1778-9) 279-281 on WebCT.

GROUPS READ:

Group A: Maria W. Stewart, (African Am.) "Lecture Delivered at the Franklin Hall , Boston, Sep. 21, 1832" (1832) AL1 408-414; Ida Baker Wells-Barnett, (African Am.) "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases" (1892) AL1 1304-1319; Anne Spencer “White Things” (1923) AL2 180-181; Nina Simone (African Am.) “Mississippi Goddam” (1963) AL2 673-677.
Group B: Elizabeth Cady Stanton (European Am.) "The Solitude of Self" (1892) AL1 565-571; Victoria Woodhull (European Am.) "from The Truth Shall Make You Free" AL1 1026-1036.

Group C: Helen Campbell (European Am.) "From Prisoners of Poverty" (1847) AL1 1036-1041 and Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Jane Cochran) "from Ten Days in a Mad-House" (1887-1888) AL1 1320-1334.

Group D: Caroline Wells Healey Dale “from the U. S. Law & Some Thoughts on Human Rights” (1867) AL1 722-730 and Eleanor Roosevelt (European Am .) "A Challenge to American Sportsmanship"; (1943); “Freedom: Promise or Fact”; (1943) The Atomic Bomb (1945) AL2 181-186.

Group E: Chrystos (Menonimee) “No Public Safety” (1980) AL2 979-980; Joy Harjo (Muscogee) “For Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, Whose Spirit is Present Here and in the Dappled Stars (1960) AL2 1160-1161; Leanne Howe (Choctaw) “Choctalking on other Realities” (2005) AL2 1162-1172.

Group F: Radicallesbians “The Woman Identified Woman” (1970) AL2 688-691 and Alix Olson (European Am. lesbian) “Dear Mr. President” (2001) AL2 1410-1412;

Assignment: Construct a letter to a political official (congressperson, senator, president, governor). Choose a topic (a social issue, political position, a human rights cause) that is deeply important to you and construct an argument presenting your position. Be sure that your opinion is supported by concrete facts, examples, and documented information (where appropriate). Be thoughtful about what other positions might be held and how they should be anticipated and addressed. Post the letter on WebCT for other class members to read and consider. (I hope you will plan to actually send the letter when you have completed it a well as turning in my copy.) Be bold and courageous. Remember, as Audre Lorde says, "Your silence will not protect you."

Book Reports: Demetria Martinez (Chicana Am.) Mother Tongue (1994); Elizabeth Cady Stanton (European American) Eighty Years and More: Reminiscences 1815-1897 (1898; 1993) ; Anna Lee Walters (Pawnee/Otoe-Missouria) Ghost Singer (1988); Diane Wilson (European Am.) An Unreasonable Woman (2005).

Special Events (May be used for experiential projects):

Wed. Apr. 22, 6: 30-7: 30 H129; Eva Dolgin, Forging Identity, Crafting Selfhood and

the Spirit of LGBTQ. Sponsored by PRIDE. Eva Dolgin a social worker and activist, works as

an advocate/therapist and LGBTQ Coordinator at Victims Assistance Services in Westchester

County. She facilitates two LGBTQ youth programs: TRUST, for high school students, and Queer Spirit Camp for young adults.

Class 14 Tues. Apr. 28 Last Class: In Praise of Women (tributes and accounts of sheroes, heroes; exploration of sisterhood; celebrating womanhood).

ALL READ:

From AL1: Anne Bradstreet (European Am.) "In Honour of That High and Mighty Princess" (1650) AL1 26-29; Emma Lazarus (European Jewish) "The New Colossus" AL1 1170.

From PH: Mary Tallmountain , (Athabaskan) "Matmiya," (1984) 144 (on grandmother) PH.

From AL2: Amy Lowell (European Am.) “The Sisters” (1925) AL2 65-69; Paula Gunn Allen (Laguna Pueblo/Sioux/Lebanese) “The One Who Skins Cats” AL2 808-812; Ina Cumpiano (Puerto Rican) “Yo, La Malinche” (1994-2000). AL2 856-862; **Marilyn Hacker (European Am.) "Ballad of Ladies Lost and Found: For Julia Alvarez" (1985) AL2 892-894**; Judith Ortiz Cofer (20th C. Puerto Rican Working Class) "The Latin Deli"(1993) AL2 1179-1180; Mohja Kahf (Syrian American) “The Marvellous Women” (1998) 1374-1375.

All Read:

Group Assignment: Each group will be assigned a section of Marilyn Hacker’s "Ballad of Ladies..." (1985) AL2 892-894 You are to work together as a group prior to class to identify and prepare a brief report on each of the women alluded to in your section. You can use internet, library databases, queries of people who might suggest ideas -- but you must be sure that your identification is ultimately well defended, verified by more than one source and properly documented.

Group A: Hacker Stanzas 1&2;

Group B: Hacker Stanza 3;

Group C: Hacker Stanzas 4&5;

Group D: Hacker Stanza 6;

Group E: Hacker Stanza 7;

Group F: Hacker Stanzas 8&9.

You will receive a group grade for this assignment -- so help each other out!

Final Exam Takehome Due by Tues. May 12

Hmong Story Cloth