August 25

HIGHLIGHTS:
Senior Seminar: American Suburbs: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. “Suburbs" has long been a term of disparagement in American literature, despite--or perhaps because of-- the fact that so many Americans live in them. Such phrases as "white flight," "gated," "picket fences," "sprawl," and even our contemporary "smart growth" have overtones of exclusion, homogeneity, mediocrity, boredom, and racism. We will also examine the confluence of urban-suburban-exurban-rural elements in American literature, not just the suburbs in all their isolated splendor--or torpor. In this course we will look at representations of the suburbs in such authors as Ann Beattie, Sinclair Lewis, and John Updike; such movies as American Beauty, Crime and Punishment in the Suburbs, Far from Heaven, Happiness, The Swimmer, The Stepford Wives; such poets as David Bottoms, Marilyn Chin, Billy Collins,, James Dickey, Michael Harper, Robert Hayden, Andrew Hudgins, Randall Jarrell, Yusef Komunyakaa, Phyllis McGinley, and Charles Wright. We look forward to examining how "Suburbs" is represented in popular music and television, as well.

TEXTS:

Beattie, Ann. Falling in Place. 1980. New York: Vintage-Random, 1991. ISBN 067973192X.

Bottoms, David. Waltzing through the Endtime. Port Washington, OR: Copper Canyon, 2004. ISBN 1556592159.

Brooks, David. Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There. New York: Simon, 2001. ISBN 0684853787.

Jackson, Kenneth T. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States. New ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1987. ISBN 0195049837.

Occasional additional readings, listenings (tapes, CDs, etc.) and viewings (movies, TV, etc.), such as John Mellenkamp’s “Pink Houses,” Malvina Reynolds’s “Little Boxes,” Spike Lee’s Crooklyn, David Brooks’s On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (and Always Have) in the Future Tense, Michael Kinsley’s “Suburban Thrall,” Gary Ross’s Pleasantville, Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko, etc.

COURSE GRADING:
Response writing: Almost entirely online, ongoing, at least twice weekly, at a level that indicates your meaningful engagement with readings and ideas suggested (a) by your readings, (b) by my occasional study questions, (c) by class discussions, and (d) by classmates’ online response writings. ("Online" means in contexts available to me and all your classmates: [1] http://courses.kennesaw.edu and [2] http://www.nicenet.org/. You should alternate between WebCT and Nicenet in order to gain confidence with both, in case one or the other fail us. Do not duplicate your writings in one place from another.) Responses are graded twice—as of noon on March 1 and May 1—not to be graded as formal essays (spelling, grammar, etc.). Your week’s responses must be serious, conscientious, not written all in one day: A or F—nothing in between. Averaged together, response writings are worth 20% of your grade. (Also see notes on “Response Writing,” below.)

[Other graded assignments yet to be determined.—RWH, 11/13/04]

SCHEDULE OF IN-CLASS MEETINGS (Mondays only):

January 10 Our first class: introduction; definitions and discussion of the topic; movie clips; songs

January 17 MLK Day: No Classes

January 24 Have read Falling in Place

January 25 Spike Lee on KSU campus, 8pm

January 31 Have read Waltzing through the Endtime

February 7 Have read Bobos in Paradise

February 14 Have read Crabgrass Frontier; assigned items for next two weeks:

1. songs in MLA format,

2. Study Group songs as evidence of SG’s increasingly coherent argument about literary reps of suburbs,

3. useful info and suggestions in Crabgrass Frontier of myth and icon (see “iconic” materials in newspaper and Rolling Stone),

4. personal likes and dislikes of English Studies students/majors re: texts for analysis,

5. one movie not in syllabus highlight,

6. one poem by each poet (not Bottoms) in syllabus highlight,

7. one critical/scholarly article,

8. one TV episode (taped or DVD),

9. portfolios,

10. responses (at least 10 due by now, Feb 14),

11. group “contracts” consolidated into one for all classmates’ specific commitment to Study Groups

February 21

February 28

March 1 First grade for response writing through noon today

March 4 Last Day to Withdraw without Academic Penalty

March 5-11 KSU Spring break: No Classes

March 14

March 21

March 26-27 KSU Holiday: No Classes

March 28

April 4

April 11

April 18

April 25

May 1 Second grade for response writing through noon today

May 2 Final examination period, 6:30-8:30p

May 9 Final grades due

May 12 Graduation

Here are several ways we’ll establish and maintain an active learning community during this semester:

(a) Inform me immediately about your access to and skill with computer technology;

(b) Follow our evolving syllabus at my KSU web site (http://ksumail.kennesaw.edu/~rhill);

(c)Send a “Here I am” message to BOTH my e-mail addresses above, including your most accessible telephone number(s);

(d) Using the Class Key that I will announce the first night [CLASS KEY: 5ZZ542ZE99], join our class at http://www.nicenet.org;

(e) Using your WebCT number and PIN number, join our Web CT class at http://courses.kennesaw.edu/webct/public/home.pl?action=print_home;

(f) Spend at least fifteen minutes twice a week online, writing thoughtful responses to our readings/viewings, class discussions, classmates’ writings, etc., being sure all the while to maintain civil, respectful, considerate rhetoric in dealing with our co-workers in this important enterprise. (I will read everything but will intrude rarely.)

(g) Meeting only once a week, we simply must be together in class unless a genuine emergency prevents (usually medical).

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

(a) As English Studies students, to analyze the suburbs as seen through the eyes of literary, as well as some attention to the sociology and history of the American suburbs;

(b) To examine how such art affects us aesthetically, how it stirs and directs our emotions and intellect at once, how artists employ tradition and innovation, and how they have responded to the cultural framework within which their works have been created;

(c) To analyze how literary critics think about and explain their theories and practices;

(d) To sharpen and strengthen skills in critical thinking, reading, writing, and speaking through class discussion and writing assignments in various modes;

(e) To develop and encourage independent thinking and group participation;

(f) To experience pleasure in the literary acts of studying a variety of texts and exchanging ideas and information with other members of a literary community.

EVALUATION PROCEDURES: Your final grade will be determined according to the following formula:

(a) Average of two grades on response writings—10% (A or F, graded at midterm and at end of course)

(b) Online Career Portfolio—10% (A or F, graded at midterm and at end of course)

(c) Midterm essay test on WebCT—20%

(d) Oral presentations of Essay Projects—10%

(e) Documented Seminar Essay—40%

(f) Final essay exam—10%

ATTENDANCE POLICY:

Because this is an upper-division class, I consider attendance a matter of student responsibility. However, my experience has been that students who miss more than one week’s worth of classes (that would be only ONE class, this term) generally find themselves unable to participate or to perform at acceptable levels. The assumption in all upper-division English classes, for me, is that students want to be here and thus will be here.

In my opinion, persistent tardiness and/or leaving class early is the equivalent of an absence.

If you are absent, I expect you to communicate with me as soon as possible—in person, by telephone, or in writing—about any work that you miss. Students should not miss class on a regular basis with no explanation and expect, at the end of the course, to receive special consideration of any kind.

CLASSROOM DECORUM:
Turn off all electronic communication devices—cell phones, beepers, etc.—before entering the classroom. These devices are inappropriate in the classroom setting. All students are expected to focus their attention on the class activity throughout the scheduled meeting time: it’s only 165 minutes a week.

RESPONSE WRITING:

Response writings will not be graded for grammar, spelling, mechanics, etc., but for their regular, conscientious contribution to our ongoing class discussion. Unless otherwise instructed, you should post these responses to Nicenet or WebCT for classmates’ edification and delight. Spend at least fifteen minutes twice a week online, writing thoughtful responses to our readings/viewings, class discussions, classmates’ writings, etc., being sure all the while to maintain civil, respectful, considerate rhetoric in dealing with our co-workers in this important enterprise. (I will read everything but will intrude rarely.) Do NOT duplicate responses, but you must have roughly equal numbers of responses at each site.

[I must say that it grieves me to have to lay out such prescriptive, quantitative details. Writing these responses should become second nature, proceeding from your active engagement in this conversation of scholars. When and if you think of this assignment as a task to be completed only with numerical exactitude, you have already limited the way you can be drawn into genuine exchanges with your classmates and—to speak somewhat abstractly—with ideas. Engagement is really the key—honest engagement, which will inevitably produce more than the minimum of “assignments met.” As students of yourselves as well as of subject matter, you ought to feel some obligation to think about how and why you think the way you do. Playing on the relatively safe testing-ground of academia, you’ll gain much more strength and subtlety by entering the game without the impediment of legalistic numbers-counting.—RWH, 10/17/03]

Formal writing assignments, however, must demonstrate a serious effort to deal with writing problems that have been pointed out in earlier written work. In addition to my comments on your papers and in class lectures, I will be glad to work with you during office hours to facilitate your improvement as a writer. You can also work with the Writing Center (located on the second floor of the Humanities Building: 770-423-6380) on those elements of the writing process that give you trouble.

EXPECTATIONS:

I expect students to take their work seriously, to come to class prepared and willing to participate, and to treat peers and their ideas with respect.

Response writings serve several functions in this class. They can be the basis for class discussion when they are written at the beginning of class; they can guide your preparation for the following class when they are written during or at the end of the period. Those responses written at the end can also indicate to me material that needs further explanation or development at the next meeting. I expect you always to use those writing assignments to develop your ideas and to improve and strengthen your writing abilities. I see these papers serving you as an ongoing dialogue with yourself about issues raised in the course objectives and evolving ideas that will emerge in our class discussions.

All writing and discussion in this course will be formulated with the course objectives (stated above) in mind; that is, I expect you to consider the works we study in the context of the issues of 21^st-century life and aesthetics. In addition, you need to be aware that such works often reflect realities of the contemporary world in rather graphic ways. If such depictions are troubling to you, you need to raise those concerns with me at the beginning of the semester. In some cases, this course might not be the right course for students with such reservations.

I expect students to read well, think well, write well, and speak well as members of this ENGL 4620 community. And enjoy the ride.—RWH, 11/13/04

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Return to R.W. Hill's KSU Home Page
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[This page was created November 12, 2004; last revised, February 14, 2005.--RWH]