Week 9

                                                       

        The groves were God's first temples.  ~William Cullen Bryant, "A Forest Hymn"

Good day, beautiful people.  Hope you had a restful, productive, fun, energizing holiday weekend.  This is the last class before the final, and the last week to write and submit work.   If you are behind, now is the time to get busy.  Below is a discussion of the next assignment and its description.  Before we begin we will review last week's work and a few grammar exercises as well.  If you want to present your paper– "I Believe"–please drop it in the student drive.
 

Read the two short stories presented in class and put together a piece that builds on the topic or theme one or both of these stories take up.  Both are by O'Henry, a much loved short story writer of the twentieth century.  One story is called "The Last Leaf"  http://www.online-literature.com/donne/1303/

and the other is called "The Gift of the Magi" http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html.  

Each story explores themes of love and sacrifice and art, et al,  and each is tied to the season.  Let either one be a spur to an essay that explores the story and the season upon us now in some way.  You may write about the power of illusion, of giving, of Christmas . . . as you see it represented in the story and in your life.  Provide some reference to the story of your choice,  integrate it into the essay you write, and include one quotation or several to illustrate.

Week 8

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else. –Joseph Campbell
 

Good day to you all. I hope you had a nice weekend.  To all of you in Monday night's class,  I have many essays to return ( very good ones).  Those who are in the Wednesday and Thursday classes, as discussed, we will not be meeting this week.  This week's assignment is described below, and due in class when you return week 9.

Essay #7:  In 350-500 words address address an idea that you hold as an article of faith or philosophical belief, using narrative or descriptive examples to support and flesh out the basis of that belief.  I have several examples to give you from a book collection called This I Believe II:  The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, but more can be found at thisibelieve.org.  The site supports a public forum on personal belief, and opportunity to upload your essay for publication.  It also allows you to explore topics and examples going all the way back to the 1950's, when the project itself first began. 

 The guidelines for writing the essay are much like those we have been following in class, keeping to 350-500 words in a voice that is personal and original.  The following URL within the site describes in detail what the editors want in terms of style and development:   http://thisibelieve.org/guidelines/.   You may summarize and quote from any one of the published essays as a lead-in to your piece, or structure the piece as a response to any of the examples, though neither summary nor response is a required element of the essay.  The topic you address should reflect your particular experience and corresponding beliefs or concerns–whether of religion, money, virtue, vice, growing up, growing old, love, death, sickness, health, the meaning of life, the nature of existence, the human condition, the fate of life on this planet, etcetera.  Your statement of belief should be articulated in a sentence or two.

Joy to you all at Thanksgiving.

Week 7

Good day to you all.  First let me remind you that next week we will not meet in class.  However, an essay assignment will be posted week 8 on the website (fall0020.blogspot.com), so be sure to read the page and complete the work. 

 Today I will return last week's hypothetical essays and review them with you.  As Thanksgiving, a feast day, is around the corner I think it appropriate we write something about food culture in America and around the world or in whichever geographical area  you feel most grounded.  In this way we can review the use of summary and direct quotation too, for I ask that you integrate into the essay you write today two or more quotations from one or more of the pieces you will read as background, each referenced below, "Six Rules For Eating Wisely," "Michael Pollan Answers Readers’ Questions," and the excerpt from Thich Nhat Han's Happiness.  The first two are by one of America's best known food writer's, a professor of journalism at UC Berkeley, and the third by a well-known Buddhist monk/author.

In Michael Pollan's article "Six Rules For Eating Wisely" (http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/six-rules-for-eating-wisely/) he instructs Americans on ways to improve their eating habits.  Early on, he says we all once knew how to eat well but that something has been lost in our culture.  "Culture in this case," he writes, "is just a fancy way of saying 'your mom'."  What has replaced Mom?  A billion dollar food industry now teaches us what to eat, not necessarily to our benefit or that of the environment.  His six rules include the following.  Number one, eat real food, not "food products," which he defines as manufactured foods.  He follows with the next five rules and reminds us at last that "how [we] eat is as important as what [we] eat," and to  "savor" our food and the company in which we eat it.


You can view the other more recent piece at the same site under "Articles" or at the following URL:  http://michaelpollan.com/articles-archive/michael-pollan-answers-readers-questions/

     

Contemplating our food for a few seconds before eating and eating in mindfulness can bring us much happiness.  In our practice centers, we use the Five Contemplations as a way of reminding ourselves where our food comes from and its purpose.

      The first contemplation is being aware that our food comes directly from the earth and the sky.   It is a gift of the earth and the sky, and also of the people who prepared it.  The second contemplation is about being worthy of the food we eat.  The way to be worthy of our food is to eat mindfully—to be aware of its presence and thankful for having it.  We cannot allow ourselves to get lost in our worries, fears, or anger over the past or the future.  We are there for the food because the food is there for us; it is only fair.  Eat in mindfulness, and you will be worthy of the earth and the sky.

     The third contemplation is about becoming aware of our negative tendencies and not allowing them to carry us away.  We need to learn how to eat in moderation, to eat the right amount of food.  The bowl that is used by a monk or a nun is referred to as the "instrument of appropriate measure."  It is very important not to overeat.  If you eat slowly and chew very carefully, you will get plenty of of nutrition.  The right amount of food is the amount that helps us to stay healthy.

     The fourth contemplation is about the quality of our food.  We are determined to ingest only food that has no toxins for our body and our consciousness, food that keeps us healthy and nourishes our compassion.  This is mindful eating.  The Buddha said that if you eat in such a way that compassion is destroyed in you, it is like eating the flesh of your children.  So practice eating in such a way that you can keep compassion alive in you.

    The fifth contemplation is being aware that we receive food in order to realize something.  Our lives should have meaning and that meaning is to help people suffer less, and help them to touch the joys of life.  When we have compassion in our hearts and know that we are able to help a person suffer less, life begins to have more meaning.  This is very important food for us and can bring us a lot of joy.  A single person is capable of helping many living beings.  And it is something we can do anywhere.

                                        —Thich Nhat Hanh, Happiness

Essay #6:  In 350 words or more (and three paragraphs or more) discuss what it means to eat well and wisely, using the readings assigned and your own food culture and traditions to develop your claims and support.   Your own dietary habits and holiday traditions may form the foundation of the essay and serve as a seasonal tie to the subject matter.  You must use at least two direct quotations,  one from each background reading.  Choose the passages that speak to your sense of what it means to eat well, and allow them to illustrate your food habits or holiday traditions.
 

Week 6

Welcome back to class.  Hope you had a good weekend,  Today we'll finish some practice work and get to the essay work I assigned last week, and for which I set aside time today to complete.



Here I have reposted the essay assignment that will be due at the end of class today:

Essay 5:  In 350-500 words you are to explore a hypothetical scenario, that is, one that  never actually existed, in terms of its effects, past, present, and future.  You will find yourself using the subjunctive and conditional verb forms as well as others to express time and effect. You might imagine that you or someone else had been born under or into circumstances other than existed; for example, a different place and/or historical era, a different family, a different body (or species), or that you or another had done something differently.  Describe what childhood was actually like, and what might  have been); what the present might be like (as opposed to what is actually happening); and what you imagine happening in the future.   Title the essay.  Proofread it to make sure you have a clear central idea and adequate support.  Edit your sentences for clarity of expression and grammatical correctness.      You might start in this way:  Had I been born an only child, instead of being born the fifth child  of six, I might have got more attention than I did.  I might have been spoiled!  My parents, particularly my mother, had little time and attention to spare, afterall . . . Or:  If I were given the chance to rewrite some chapter in my life, or to relive some moment now  resigned to the past, what revisions would I make, or what insight would I bring to the moment now?   What lessons are there in wondering, what if . . . ?