First Year Seminar 1111: With and Without Nature
University of Denver
Fall 2013
"...to say 'nature writing' is to say 'water swimming.' We are nature, too, and the recent descension of this discipline into an academic genre is troubling, the evident distance between writer and subject rather too convenient." -- Jim Harrison
“[Nature] inspires a painfully limited set of responses in ‘nature writers’ - reverence, awe, piety, mystical oneness.”
–Joyce Carol Oates
Instructor: Brad Benz, PhD
Office: 380K Anderson Academic Commons
Email: bradley.benz@du.edu
Office Phone: 303.871.7608 (please use email)
Mtg Time: MW 12-1:50
Mtg Place: Sturm Hall 210
Office Hrs: MW 11:30-12, T 11-12, & by appt.
T EXTS AND M ATERIALS
 Anderson, Lorraine, et al, eds. Literature and the Environment. NY: Longman, 2012.
 Galvin, James. The Meadow . NY: Holt and Co., 1992.
 Wright, Richard. Uncle Tom’s Children . NY: Harper Perennial Classics, 1991.
 Library Reserve and Online Materials
 Blackboard.du.edu
 Wordpress.com blog
C OURSE D ESCRIPTION
Jim Harrison famously states that “to say ‘nature writing’ is to say water swimming.” His point? Humans are nature, too. Using sustainability and interconnectedness as organizing principles, this course explores the natural world, asking students to examine humanity’s position with, against, and without nature. To that end, students will read as eco-critics and write as green rhetors. The substantial reading list will include at least two books as well as numerous short stories, poems, essays, and films.
Students will also conduct regular field trips by selecting and studying a local outdoor green space, one they will visit regularly, researching the site in an active, hands-on manner, and recording their observations and findings in a lengthy writing project – a multimedia site journal they will publish on their wordpress.com blog. This site journal will ask students to study their site from a number of perspectives, including ones they may not already be familiar with (for example, historical, eco-feminist, and scientific).
L EARNING G OALS
 Discover what it means to be an active member of an intellectual community by meeting rigorous academic expectations through critical reading, discussion, research, and/or writing.
 Practice newly acquired skills in an active learning environment where writing, performing, laboratory experiments, quantitative analyses, or other forms of experiential and/or creative activities will shape the goals and activities of the seminar.
W ORK
 Reading (and more Reading)
The readings will be the backbone of the course and will form the basis of most class sessions. They are exciting, challenging, provocative, and ultimately worthwhile; rereading is strongly recommended. I expect preparation.
 Reading Quizzes
Quizzes will cover reading comprehension and will account for nearly a third of your final grade. There will be numerous unannounced quizzes throughout the semester. Quizzes cannot be made up, but you may drop your lowest quiz score at the end of the quarter.
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 Site Journal
By the end of the first week of school, you should choose an outdoor site that you will observe and study many times over the term. The location of the site is up to you (up in the mountains, a spot on the South Platte or in Wash Park, a favorite campsite or hiking trail), but it should be a place that you can get to easily and often. That is, don’t choose a site that will be inaccessible because of snow or distance. Once you’ve chosen your site, you should plan on going there six to eight times over the course of the term (the “field trips” for the class). When you’re there, pull out your journal and fill its pages with your thoughts, analyses, and ruminations (Galvin is a good model here). Or just hang out, observe closely, and come home and write about the site, the (changing) surroundings, the flora and fauna, the wildlife, the sounds, the smell, the feel, or whatever’s on your mind.
You are required to take many pictures, ones that capture your site, and you’re encouraged to sketch, draw, and make short videos. You should formalize your journal by typing up the best entries, weaving in your photos, drawings, and videos, and publishing them on your wordpress.com blog. Expect to share your draft blog entries with your colleagues for feedback. In the last weeks of the class, you’ll synthesize and condense your best entries, photos, and mementos, and assemble them into a cohesive, organic final product. I expect the equivalent of 10-12 double spaced pages of polished prose (not counting photos, videos, drawings, and artifacts).
 Blackboard Forum Posts
Using Blackboard, students will complete five forum posts (100 - 150 words each), which will address the assigned readings, films, and other materials from the course. Your posts should respond to the initial prompt as well as the conversation taking place in the forum.
Your audience will be your classmates, and I will assess your posts on their relevance, thoughtfulness, timeliness, and polish. Late forum posts will be accepted for 50% credit.
Exams 
There will be two in-class exams, which will consist of passage identifications, short answer, and longer essay questions.
C OURSE P OLICIES
 Attendance:
Fundamental to your success in the class, you should plan on attending every class period having completed the day's work. Each student is allowed two absences: no questions asked; no apologies necessary. Each additional absence lowers your final grade a half a letter grade (20 points): thus, absence three turns you’re A into an A-, absence four your A- into a B+, and so on. Similarly, showing up halfway through the class or leaving halfway through counts as a full absence, not a half attendance. Habitual tardiness will hurt your final grade.
 Grades
You must complete the second exam and site journal to pass the course. Your final grade will be calculated as follows. To decipher your grade, divide your total points by 400.
Quizzes 130
Exam 1
Exam 2
70
70
Site Journal (including draft deadlines and readaround participation) 80
Blackboard Forums (5@10)
*Note: Attendance policy overrides your final points.
50
400*
B+
Grading Scale
352-359 C+ 312-319 D+ 272-279
A
A-
376-400 B
360-375 B-
332-351 C
320-331 C-
292-311 D
280-291 D-
252-271 F
240-251
0-239
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 Expectations and Participation: Since we come from different backgrounds, participation is best measured in qualitative – not quantitative – measures. So let’s try and create an environment where everyone contributes equally and respectfully. I expect you to follow these guidelines in online environments as well.
 Laptop Policy: Bring your laptop to every class, as we will regularly use them.
However, be prepared to have them closed during class time when instructed.
 Cell Phones and Other Electronic Devices: You have plenty of time to use your cell phones and Ipods outside of class. So please turn them off and put them away when
 you enter the class. The first time your cell phone rings, hums, vibrates, rattles, beeps, ringtones, texts, or whatever, you’ll bring snacks (cookies or brownies, etc.) for your colleagues to the next class period. The second time your phone goes off, you’ll order pizza for everyone (both a meat and a vegetarian pie). The third time, the class will meet at a fine dining establishment – your treat.
 Blackboard.du.edu: The class will use Blackboard, an online course management system, in a number of ways. The FSEM 1111 page will contain electronic copies of the syllabus and schedule as well as the major assignments, handouts, and other materials.
I will also use the gradebook function.
Plagiarism and the Honor Code: I follow the Council of Writing Program
Administrators definition of plagiarism, which states, “In an instructional setting,
 plagiarism occurs when a writer deliberately uses someone else’s language, ideas, or other original (not common-knowledge) material without acknowledging its source.” For more information about this definition, go to http://wpacouncil.org/node/9 .
DU’s Honor Code also maintains that all members of the university must use the work of others in good faith. Students who have plagiarized an assignment will receive an F on that assignment, and the instructor will inform the FSEM coordinator and the Office of
Community and Citizenship Standards. As a result of these communications, further action may be taken. Any subsequent documented acts of plagiarism may be subject to more severe actions, including suspension or dismissal from the university. For more information, go to http://www.du.edu/ccs/honorcode.html
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University Writing Center: As a DU student, you are able to visit the University
Writing Center to consult one-on-one with a trained staff member on any writing assignment, at any stage of the project. To schedule an appointment, log in to “My
Web” at http://myweb.du.edu
, select “Student and Financial Aid” tab, and click on the
“Writing and Research Center” menu. You can also call (303) 871-7456.

 Students with Disabilities: If you have a documented disability that will impact your performance in this class, please inform me during the first two weeks of the course and provide documentation from DU’s Disability Services Program. I will make every reasonable accommodation for you so that you are able to succeed in this course. For more information, go to http://www.du.edu/disability/dsp/index.htm
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Out of Class Assistance: If you want to talk about the course or anything else, please visit during my office hours; if they’re inconvenient, talk to me after class and we can arrange an appointment. Please contact me via email outside of class.
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FSEM: With and Without Nature, Schedule, Fall 2013
Prof. Benz
 Warning: highly volatile, schedule subject to change at a moment's notice!
 Complete the work for the day it's listed.
 All readings are in Literature and the Environment unless otherwise noted.
 BB = Blackboard
 Wk 1
M 9/9
 Intro and Course Overviews
 Syllabus and Policies
 What is Nature? (Discoveries Week Definition = Forum #1)
 Read: Galvin’s The Meadow p. 1-113
W 9/11
 Finish screening The Birds
 Read: Finish Galvin's The Meadow
 Due: Forum #2
 Create Wordpress.com blog
 Wk 2
M 9/16
 Read: Positions on Eco-criticism (online): Variations by Cook , Dean , Glotfelty , Scheese ,
Slovic, and Tag
 Screening: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 
 Forum #3 (complete in-class, after viewing Occurrence ) 
W 9/18
 Due: Site Journal #1 for Readaround
 Read: Standing Bear’s “Nature”; Owens’ “The American Indian Wilderness”
 Screening: Into the Wild
 Wk 3
M 9/23
 Read: Wright's "Big Boy Leaves Home"
 Screening: Into the Wild
W 9/25
 Read: Wright “Down by the Riverside”
 Screening: Into the Wild
 Wk 4
M 9/30
 Finish Screening: Into the Wild
 Exam #1 Review
W 10/2
 Exam #1
 Wk 5
M 10/7
 Due: Site Journal #2
 Read: Muir’s “A Wind-Storm in the Forest”; Thoreau's "Higher Laws"
W 10/9
 Screening: The Wilderness Idea
 Read: Leopold's "Thinking Like a Mountain"; London’s “To Build a Fire”
 Due: Forum #4
 Wk 6
M 10/14
 Read: Lopez’s “Apologia”; Kerouac’s “Alone on a Mountaintop”
 Screening: Grizzly Man
W 10/16
 Read: Erdrich’s “Line of Credit”
 Screening: Grizzly Man
 Due: Site Journal #3
 Wk 7
M 10/21
 Read: Darwin’s Origin of Species : Ch. 14 “Recapitulation and Conclusion” (online)
 Due: Forum #5
 Screening: Evolution: Darwin’s Dangerous Idea (PBS series)
W 10/23
 Read: Wilson’s “Denial and Its Risks”; Whitman “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” (BB)
 Wk 8
M 10/28
 Read: Steingraber “The Whole Fracking Enchilada” (BB); Carson’s “Of Man and the Stream of Time”
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 Screening: Gasland
T 10/29, 6-8:30pm
 Dinner with with DU Chancellor Robert Coombe in Gottesfeld Room
 Be sure to RSVP to the email invite
W 10/30
 Screening: Gasland
 Read: Orr’s “Reflections on Water and Oil”
 Read: TBA on Fracking in Colorado and the Front Range
 Wk 9
M 11/4
 Due: Site Journal #4
 Pollan’s “Why Bother?”; Jensen’s “Forget Shorter Showers”
W 11/6
 Read: Abbey’s “Eco-Defense” (BB); Read: Williams’ “Clan of One Breasted Women”
F 11/8
 Screening: Lord of the Rings (excerpt)
 Due by 5pm: Complete, revised Site Journal, with completed self-evaluation
 Wk 10
M 11/11
 Read: Weisman’s “The World Without Us” (excerpt in BB)
 Course Evals
 Exam #2 Review
W 11/13
 Exam #2
Final Exam Meeting: TBA
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