Course Descriptions
2015-2019
"✩" indicates Writing Minor Course
Fall 2015
First Year Seminar, FSEM 1111
First Year Seminar courses are required for all incoming students at the University of Denver. This First Year Seminar, or FSEM, was called “Reading Maps: Literature, Culture, and Cartography” and was taught by Dr. Geoff Stacks, a professor in the WRIT department at DU. Over the course of the quarter, we read a variety of philosophical, literary, and popular texts relating to cartography and explored the political and social implications of maps. We completed weekly exercises, short 2-3 page papers. We read excerpts from Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera, Andrea Barrett’s Servants of the Map, Jorge Luis Borges’ “On Exactitude in Science," Eavan Boland’s “In Which the Ancient History I Learn Is Not My Own,” J. Brian Harley’s “Maps, knowledge, and power,” Deborah Miranda’s “Indian Cartography,” Arthur Jay Klinghoffer’s The Power of Projections: How Maps Reflect Global Politics and History, Annette Kolodny’s The Lay of the Land, Michael Martone’s The Blue Guide to Indiana, Mark Monmonier’s How to Lie with Maps, Sharon Olds’s “Topography,” Laura Riding’s “The Map of Places,” and Lucia Perillo’s “The Oldest Map with the Name America.” Our final paper was 3-4 pages long and prompted us to analyze a map of our choice and put it in conversation with some of our course readings. The writing for this class can be found under the “Revision” category.
Spring 2016
Intro to Creative Writing, ENGL 1000 ✩
This class satisfied the Applied writing requirement for the Writing Minor and the “Major Electives” requirement for the English Major. It was taught by Brian Foley. The topic of this Creative Writing class is “The Possibility in Inadequacy: Embracing Today’s Postmodernity.” This class encouraged us to embrace the instability and inadequacy of language, learn about pastiche, paranoia, vicious cycles, the erosion of the sense of time, and deconstruct culturally accepted metanarratives. Our course readings included James Tate’s Selected Poems, Will Eno’s Middletown, Harmony Korine’s A Crackup at The Race Riots, Maggie Nelson’s Bluets, Mark Leidner’s Beauty was the Case that They Gave Me, Alice Notely’s Grave of Light, and Mathias Svalina’s Wastoid. In addition to this selection of texts, we analyzed other texts including Gregory Corso’s “Marriage,” Bernadette Mayer’s “How to Keep Going in Antarctica,” and selections from Sam Shepard, Tim Earley and Lyn Heijinian, and Emily Kendal Frey. In class, we participated in peer review, engaged in class discussions, watched and analyzed movies, and creatively responded to various writing prompts. We also analyzed music and film, completed regular reading responses and journal entries, and produced our own creative work. The final assignment was a portfolio that included a collection of poetry and writing over the course of the quarter. The writing for this class can be found under the “Applied” category.
Spring 2016
Writing and Research, WRIT 1133 ✩
All students at DU take a two writing classes in sequence, “Rhetoric and Academic Writing” and “Writing and Research.” This class, taken with Lauren Picard, was the second in the sequence and counted toward DU’s “Writing and Rhetoric” requirement. Over the course of this class, we learned rhetorical strategies using interpretive and qualitative methods. We used TED Talks, memoirs, podcasts, student essays, and books for inspiration while working on an an ongoing creative nonfiction project. Our course text was Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari. In addition to completing twenty reflections on various daily readings, we worked on several mini projects including an annotated bibliography, an MLA-style synthesis, a content analysis, and a qualitative methods assignment. Our final paper was a 3000+ word, 10+ source “interpretive constellation” essay directed toward popular readers written on a topic of our choice. The writing for this class can be found under the "Common Curriculum” category.
Fall 2016
Theories of Writing, WRIT 2000 ✩
Theories of Writing was taught by Dr. Kara Taczak, also known as Dr. KT. It satisfied the “WRIT 2000” requirement for the Writing Practices minor. In this class, we read various theories of writing and wrote our own “Theory” at various points throughout the quarter. We juggled questions including: What is writing? Where did it come from? How did it develop across different cultures? How do writers develop? What are different types of writing, different situations for writing, different tools and practices – and how do these interconnect? We read Walter J. Ong’s Orality and Literacy, Joan Didion’s The White Album, and Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning in a Networked Culture by Henry Jenkins, Joshua Green, and Sam Ford. Over the course of the quarter, we posted on a personal blog several times a week, reflected on various in-class prompts, and responded to our peers’ posts. For our final project, we read and compared a “classic” novel and a modern novel. We wrote a convincing proposal to a school board of our choice to include the adapted, modern book into a class curriculum. We also created a class flyer/poster advertising the proposed class. In addition, we wrote a reflection about our writing journey and a final “Theory” of writing after finishing the class. The writing for this class can be found under the “Theory” category.
If you would like to visit my ePortfolio for Theories of Writing, click here.
Winter 2017
20th Century American Fiction, ENGL 3711
This class was taught by Charlotte Quinney and counted toward the “America Literature Survey” for the English Major. We deconstructed the mythological American West and the western frontier tropes of expansionism, progress, civilization, and futurity. Our in-class lectures included information about dime novelists, ethnologists, Indian painters, theatrical performances, Wild West Shows, folktales, nascent cinematic technologies, and World’s Fairs. We examined how twentieth-century short stories, drama, novels, and film engaged with historical discourse on the West and explored representation of western landscapes and subjects. We read a range of novels with revisionist, postmodern, speculative, irreverent, apocalyptic, and hybridized themes, including Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, Ghost Town by Robert Coover, and The Bird is Gone: A Manifesto by Stephen Graham Jones. To supplement course themes, we watched Dead Man, directed by Jim Jarmusch and starring Johnny Depp. I also watched El Topo, an Acid Western film, as a focus for my group presentation. We also read selected pieces from Frank Norris, Stewart Edward White, Stephen Tatum, Salwa Karoui-Ellounelli, Richard Matheson, Laird Barron, and Richard Rodriquez. Over the course of the quarter, we completed two 4-5 page analytical essays (focusing on one book per essay), a substantial revision of one of our essays, a research presentation, and a final project that synthesized class readings and themes in a creative and critical way. The writing for this class can be found under the “Major” category.
Winter 2017
Topics in Writing Theory, WRIT 2500 ✩
I took this class with Pauline Reid to satisfy the “Theory, History, and Research” requirement for the Writing Minor. We answered questions including: Why do we write media -- and why does this question matter? How can past media (writing, print, film, visual technologies) and their intellectual responses shape how we might invent, experience, and express media of the future? How might writing new media both “imagine” new communities and dismantle past social orders? Over the course of the class, we connected intellectual histories of writing media to future developments in media technology. We also investigated the Black Lives Matter movement through spoken witnessing, instant video, musical performance, flash mobs, “black twitter,” talk radio, and cable news. We read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates and various selections from Plato, McLuhan, Johnson-Eilola, Benjamin, Leonard, and Anderson among others. We also watched Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin and Lana & Lilly Wachowski’s The Matrix. In addition to this project, which was collaboratively written, we also wrote two individual essays. The writing for this class can be found under the “Theory” category.
Winter 2017
Creative Writing - Poetry, ENGL 2002 ✩
This class satisfied the Applied writing requirement for the Writing Minor and the “Major Electives” requirement for the English Major. This class was taught by Jennifer Foerster. We explored how the art of language could challenge, deepen, and expand our ways of knowing. We also studied and practiced a range of poetry forms, techniques, and elements of craft while focusing primarily on modern and post-modern poetry in the Euro-American traditions. Our course readings included Trilogy by H.D., Look by Solmaz Sharif, The Emperor of Water Clocks by Yusef Komuunyaaka, Selected Poems and Prose of Paul Celan by Paul Celan, and Language Arts by Cedar Sigo. In addition to books, we read Richard Hugo’s “The Triggering Town,” and various other in-class poems. We also wrote and shared original poetry in during class through various prompts and peer reviews and completed a Poetry Glossary, an analysis of a poem we appreciated, an argumentative response to an Article on the Poetry Foundation website, and an essay about why and how poetry matters in today’s world. Classes consisted of in-class discussions about weekly readings and assigned texts as well as writing and sharing original poetry through prompts and peer reviews. In addition to various workshopped poems, we completed quizzes and written exercises. At the end of the quarter, we compiled a poetry portfolio with a collection of original pieces written over the course of the class. The writing for this class can be found under the “Applied” category.
Spring 2017
People, Places, & Landscapes, GEOG 1410
This class was taught by Helen Hazen, and T.A. Jenni Clark. It counted toward the “Scientific Inquiry: Society” requirement for DU’s Common Curriculum. During the class, we learned an overview of the themes, approaches, and sub-disciplines of geography including population, urban, economic, and political geography. We learned about geographic approaches and techniques in comprehending current global events and the importance of space and place. Our class text was Human Geography: A Short Introduction by J.R. Short. In addition to one 4-6 page “position" paper, we completed two exams, ten reading quizzes, in-class map quizzes, questions, and activities, and a writing-based field trip assignment. We covered The writing for this class can be found under the “Common Curriculum” category.
Winter 2018
Composition Theory, ENGL 3818 ✩
This class was taught by Dr. Kara Taczak, or Dr. KT. It counted as a “Theory, History, and Research” class for the Writing Minor and as a Rhetoric/Theory class for the English Major. We explored the field of composition studies within the larger frame of rhetoric and composition. We also examined how writing is taught and understood in the classroom and discussed how people compose and comprehend composing practices. Throughout the class, we learned about the history of composition studies and put it into conversation with our own personal writing histories. Additionally, we kept a journal where we completed daily in-class and out-of-class activities. Twitter also played an integral role in our class. We tweeted “Summary Tweets” for each reading and composed various other tweets throughout the week that related to writing and composition. We were encouraged to work with the genre conventions of the platform, so Gifs and Memes were common. For every class tweet, we used the hashtag #comptheory2018. We used Naming What We Know: Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies by Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle to anchor our research and exploration. In addition, throughout the quarter, we worked on several large assignments, including a flyer directed toward a freshman audience, an infographic directed toward a college audience, and a traditional academic research paper. At the end of the quarter, we compiled a digital portfolio to showcase our writing and to exemplify our understanding of Composition Theory. The writing for this class can be found under the “Theory” category.
If you would like to visit my Twitter Account for the class, click here. If you would like to visit my Composition Theory ePortfolio, click here.
Winter 2018
Yoga in History and Practice, RLGS 2114
This class satisfied the "Analytical Inquiry: Society" requirement for DU’s Common Curriculum. It was taught by Dr. Aaron Ullrey through the Religious Studies Department. In this class, we differentiated traditional Indian and South Asian yoga practices with modern postural yoga. For this class, we wrote a five page paper on a topic of our choice, and then revised and added to the original paper for our second formal paper assignment. Each of these papers incorporated class readings and outside research through the DU Digital Library. In addition to the writing assignments, we also took a Midterm and a Final Exam over the course concepts. Our course readings included Sir James Mallinson and Mark Singleton’s Roots of Yoga, Barbara Stoler-Miller’s Yoga: Discipline of Freedom: The Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patañjali, Mark Singleton’s Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice, and David Gordon White’s The “Yoga Sutra of Patañjali”: A Biography. The writing for this class can be found under the “Common Curriculum” category.
Winter 2018
Lit of Utopia/Dystopia, ENGL 2850
I took this class with Dr. Billy Stratton to satisfy one of my upper level English elective course requirements. Our class was heavily based on discussion and interpretation of Dystopian Literature from a diverse range of historical and international perspectives. We explored tensions between knowledge and power, freedom and oppression, technology and humanity, and totalitarianism and democracy. Our writing assignments included 2-3 page “Close Reading” and “Scene Analysis” essays, a Take Home Midterm (three, 2-page essays, each on a different course novel), and a 6-7 page Final Research Essay. Over the course of the quarter we read several novels including Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s V for Vendetta, and Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. We also read selected pieces from Arendt, De Mettrie, Dostoevsky, Ellul, Foucault, Hoffer, Plato, and Steiner. The writing for this class can be found under the “Analysis” category.
Spring 2018
Literary Criticism: 20th Century, ENGL 3822
This class counted toward the “Rhetoric/Literary Theory” requirement for the English Major. It was taught by Adam Rovner and T.A. Sasha Strelitz. Throughout the class, we examined several influential approaches to literary criticism from the twentieth century including Formalism, Structuralism, and Narratology. Through lectures, discussion, and exercises, we learned how to apply critical approaches to literary texts. Our course critical text was Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics by Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan and our primary literary text was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. In addition, we read literature from Paley, Tolstoy, Bishop, Conan Doyle, Gogol, Poe, Hammett, Fleming, and Yeats. In conjunction with literary texts, we read theory from Shklovsky, Eikhenbaum, Mukarovsky, Jakobson, Saussure, Lotman, Piatagorsky, Todorov, Barthe, Genette, and de Man. Our midterm included a short essay in which we close-read and applied course concepts to a provided poem. For our final, we wrote a 10-15 page formal paper which analyzed Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie using theoretical approaches from one or more schools of criticism. The writing for this class can be found under the “Major” category.
Fall 2018
Communication in Popular Culture, COMN 1600
This class was taught by Sarah Gonzalez Noveiri through the Communication Studies Department. It satisfied the "Scientific Inquiry: Society" requirement for DU’s Common Curriculum and the “Communication Contexts Courses" for my Communication Studies minor. The class examined the relationship between popular culture and communication through various conceptual and theoretical perspectives. We used a critical lens to examine music, movies, texts, advertisements, clothing, and other forms of popular culture. In addition, we discussed how popular culture production and consumption work in the context of globalization. We read Brian L. Ott & Robert L. Mack’s Critical Media Studies: An Introduction as well as selected readings, including David Kamerer’s “Media Literacy,” David Garzian’s “Risky Business” from Mix it Up, Henry A. Giroux’s “Racism and the Aesthetic of Hyper-Real Violence: Pulp Fiction and other visual tragedies,” Young’s “Throwing Like a Girl,” and Hannabach’s “Bodies on Display: Queer Biopolitics in Popular Culture,” among others. This class included a group class facilitation and a final project presentation. Our writing included a Popular Culture Artifact Project, a Media Analysis, and a Final Project. The final project was meant to combine our personal popular culture interests with relevant communication theories. The writing for this class can be found under the “Analysis” category.
Spring 2019
Writing Design & Circulation, WRIT 3500 ✩
This class was taught by Dr. Richard Colby. It fulfilled the “Capstone” requirement for the Writing Practices Minor. In this class, we learned theories and practices for selecting, arranging, and circulating/publishing written work. We created mock websites to learn about editing and design and analyzed previous students’ completed ePortfolios. Over the course of the quarter, we completed several modules, including Introductions, Design, Curation, Circulation, Analysis, Content, and Review. In each of these modules, we wrote about ourselves, curated all of our writing from college, created a writing infographic, developed a Writing Ecosystem Map, wrote a Rhetorical Genre Analysis, and reflected on past writing assignments. We also produced a substantive revision of a previous assignments. In addition, we participated in peer reviews, small group presentations, and individual instructor meetings. The culminating project for this class is this ePortfolio, which synthesizes and presents various Writing pieces from the Writing minor and beyond. Writing from this class can be found under the “Revision” and “Analysis” folders and under the “Infographic" tab.
