English 1: T11BF/ TR2H – Writing Composition
Tanya Pollard
T,TH 11:00-12:15PM 3405 B
T,TH 02:15-03:30PM 2231 B
e-mail: Tpollard@brooklyn.cuny.edu
website: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/tpollard
Office: 3108 Boylan
phone: 718-951-5000 x6216
hours: TR 12:15-1:00, 3:30-4:15, and
by appointment
Week
Date
Reading
1
9-1
Introduction
9-3
Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father
9-8
1st essay due; Obama, Dreams from My Father
9-10
Revision workshop
9-15
Revised 1st essay due. Alfred Kazin, from A Walker in the City, pp. 30-34 (From
"On Belmont Avenue" to "solid")
http://books.google.com/books?id=2VeIfg9Q5DkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=alfr
ed+kazin+a+walker+in+the+city#v=onepage&q=&f=false
9-17
Gary Shteyngart, “Sixty-nine Cents,”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/03/070903fa_fact_shteyngart
Calvin Trillin, “Local Bounty: Grandfather knows best,”
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2003/01/20/030120fa_fact?currentPage=all
9-22
2nd essay due: what do you eat and why? Writing workshop.
9-24
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “Real Food,”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/03/070903fa_fact_adichie
Edwige Danticat, “Crabs,”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/09/080609fa_fact_danticat
9-29
no class (Monday conversion day)
10-1
Revised 2nd essay due; Gaye Tuchman & Harry G. Levine, “Safe Treyf: New
York Jews and Chinese Food,”
http://dragon.soc.qc.cuny.edu/Staff/levine/SAFE-TREYF.pdf
10-6
Peter Singer, “Vegetarianism,” http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/1995----02.htm
Laura Fraser, “Why I stopped being a vegetarian,”
http://archive.salon.com/travel/food/feature/2000/01/07/vegetarian/index.html
10-8
3rd essay due: What don’t you eat, and why? Writing workshop
10-13
Laura Fraser, “Why it's rude to diet in public,”
http://atomise.livejournal.com/79507.html#cutid1
Jeffrey Steingarten, “The Omnivore: Learning to eat everything”
http://www.slate.com/id/3152/
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10-15
revised 3rd essay due, David Sedaris, “Tasteless,”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/09/03/070903fa_fact_sedaris
10-20
John Schwenkler, “Food for Thought”
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2008/jun/30/00006/
10-22
4th essay due: Compare and contrast approaches to eating. Writing workshop.
10-27
Eric Schlosser, “Fast-Food Nation: The True Cost Of America's Diet,”
http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/rollingstone1.html
10-29
Revised 4th essay due, Taras Grescoe, “Sardine With Your Bagel?”,
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/opinion/09grescoe.html?pagewanted=1
Nicholas Kristof, “Food for the Soul,”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23kristof.html?scp=6&sq=food&st=
cse
10
11
12
13
14
15
11-3
Michael Pollan, “Unhappy Meals,”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?ref=books
11-5
5th essay due: What, if anything, shouldn’t we eat, and why? Writing workshop.
11-10
Michael Specter, “Big Foot,”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/25/080225fa_fact_specter
11-12
Revised 5th essay due
11-17
Elizabeth Kolbert, “Why are we so fat?”
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2009/07/20/090720crbo_books_kol
bert?currentPage=all
Eric Wilson, “When Is Thin Too Thin?,”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/21/fashion/21MODELS.html?pagewanted=1
11-19
6th essay due Writing workshop
11-24
Michael Pollan, “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch,”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Jody Rudoren, “On This Cooking Challenge, Reality Bites,”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/nyregion/long-island/03Rhome.html?fta=y
11-26
no class (Thanksgiving)
12-1
Revised 6th essay due
12-3
Calvin Trillin, “Speaking of Soup: The culinary approach to Spanish,”
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/09/05/050905fa_fact?currentPage=all
12-8
exam preparation
12-10
Overview, portfolios due
12-
Exit exam (10:30-12:30)
Course Description, Requirements, and Expectations:
Description: In this class, we will work to improve expository writing through reading, analyzing,
writing, and revising essays. We will write and revise six essays as well as various informal
assignments and, as part of a learning community with two other classes, we will also work on your
essays for these other classes. In order to find common ground for discussion and writing, we’ll
focus on a topic we all have in common: food
Attendance is required. If you miss more than three classes, you will fail the class: this is a
college-wide rule for this course. Lateness will count as a partial absence. If you miss class on a
date when an essay is due, you are still responsible for submitting the essay on time, either by e-mail
(followed with a hard copy) or through another student.
Texts: The only text you need to purchase for this class is Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference,
available at both the campus bookstore and Shakespeare & Co. You should already own Barack
Obama’s Dreams from My Father (from the Freshman Common Reading), and all other readings
are available on the internet. You can find them either by typing in the websites printed above, or
(more easily) by going to our class page on my website. Be sure to find and print them early to
avoid last-minute problems. You must bring a copy of the reading with you to class.
Participation: Learning is a collaborative process, and it is important that each of you engage fully
with the texts and with each other. To this end, I will expect you to participate actively in class
discussions, and your contributions will determine part of your final grade. In order to build a
classroom atmosphere of courtesy and concentration, please avoid behavior that is disrespectful and
interferes with others’ learning, including rudeness, talking while others are speaking, and ringing
from cell-phones, pagers, watches, etc.
Written work must be typed, with one-inch margins and a twelve-point standard font. You should
focus on building and supporting an argument, and writing clearly. Late papers will be marked
down for each day late; all assignments must be completed in order to pass the course. Any use of
others’ ideas must be fully acknowledged in footnotes; see me if you are unsure about what this
means. Plagiarism will result in failing the class and being reported to the Dean’s Office.
Coursework and grading:
essays and revisions
portfolio
participation and informal writing assignments
60% (10% each)
20%
20%