Hi all! With everything going on and all of the changes underway as Pitt goes virtual for the remainder of the semester, I thought it would be good to just focus on logistics for our first day back. Unlike the other discussion-based blog posts coming up, commenting on this post is optional, but I do encourage you to use this space to ask any questions that you might have. Your questions can be about our updated schedule, how our course will work, etc., but they can also be about what’s going on overall, i.e. lodging, food, travel, health, etc. Other than asking a question, you are also welcome to share helpful resources here or to answer each other’s questions. The point of this first discussion is to help each other out and share what we know. Chances are some one else has the same question that you do!

I uploaded the entire book under “Unit Three” on the assigned readings page, but you do not have to read all of it. You can pay attention to the parts that you find most interesting or that generate the most questions for you.

Discussion:

1. Post at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. This post can be brief (even a sentence!) and informal. It can be an observation you made while reading, a comment you’d make in class, a discussion question, etc.
2. Respond to at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. Like your post, this response can also be brief. Just respond to one of your classmate’s posts with a related thought, observation, question, answer, etc. Feel free to respond to someone else’s response to keep the conversation going!

Discussion:

1. Post at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. This post can be brief (even a sentence!) and informal. It can be an observation you made while reading, a comment you’d make in class, a discussion question, etc.
2. Respond to at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. Like your post, this response can also be brief. Just respond to one of your classmate’s posts with a related thought, observation, question, answer, etc. Feel free to respond to someone else’s response to keep the conversation going!

Discussion:

1. Post at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. This post can be brief (even a sentence!) and informal. It can be an observation you made while reading, a comment you’d make in class, a discussion question, etc.
2. Respond to at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. Like your post, this response can also be brief. Just respond to one of your classmate’s posts with a related thought, observation, question, answer, etc. Feel free to respond to someone else’s response to keep the conversation going!

Please post your additional source assignment here. As usual, you just need to give us either your additional source or an easy way to find it (ex. a link) and a brief description of why you chose it, how it connects to our assigned readings and/or the themes within them.

Discussion:

1. Post at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. This post can be brief (even a sentence!) and informal. It can be an observation you made while reading, a comment you’d make in class, a discussion question, etc.
2. Respond to at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. Like your post, this response can also be brief. Just respond to one of your classmate’s posts with a related thought, observation, question, answer, etc. Feel free to respond to someone else’s response to keep the conversation going!

Discussion:

1. Post at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. This post can be brief (even a sentence!) and informal. It can be an observation you made while reading, a comment you’d make in class, a discussion question, etc.
2. Respond to at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. Like your post, this response can also be brief. Just respond to one of your classmate’s posts with a related thought, observation, question, answer, etc. Feel free to respond to someone else’s response to keep the conversation going!

I’ve posted two links to some of Lavett Ballard’s artwork under “Unit Four” on the assigned readings page. You do not have to look at every single piece with the same level of focus and your post does not need to respond to all of them. Instead, your post can reference one piece (in that case, point us to which one it is by giving us the title) or it can respond to a recurring theme, pattern, idea, etc. that you see across multiple pieces.

Discussion:

1. Post at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. This post can be brief (even a sentence!) and informal. It can be an observation you made while reading, a comment you’d make in class, a discussion question, etc.
2. Respond to at least one comment, observation, or question on the reading. Like your post, this response can also be brief. Just respond to one of your classmate’s posts with a related thought, observation, question, answer, etc. Feel free to respond to someone else’s response to keep the conversation going!

Congratulations! We made it through the semester and it definitely hasn’t been an easy one. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I’ve felt honored to be able to sit in class with all of you this semester. You have all approached the material, questions, and ideas within this class with such openness and enthusiasm. Every single one of you made the class what it is and should feel proud of the work you’ve done. I’ve learned a lot from all of you and I’m thankful for the time, energy, and work you gave to this class. Beyond that, I’m humbled by the vulnerability you all trusted me with as well. Sharing personal stories in class or with an instructor can seem great, radical, etc., but it is also a lot of voluntary emotional labor. While sharing personal stories greatly contributed to our class environment this semester, I want to say that the credit for that goes totally to you all. I am the instructor, but, of course, only one person and it was the nineteen of you that made this class what it was. Even though the semester is over, know that I am still here for each of you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out!

For our final class discussion, please post a brief reflection about the course. The course description is below and looking back at it might help. You do not have to answer each of these questions, but here are some options to get you started: What did you think the course would be like on the first day? Did it turn out to be what you thought it would? Different? In what activities, assignments, or readings did you see us grappling with some of the questions listed in the course description? What activities, assignments, or readings did you find most helpful? Least helpful? What was your definition of composition at the beginning of the term? Is it different now? Do you have a few takeaways or lingering questions that the course generated for you? What are they? You are not required to, but feel free to comment on each other’s posts!

Course Description:

What do we take for granted about the function of particular forms of writing? Is a research article meant to deliver “legitimate” information? Is a profile meant to sketch an image of an individual figure? Is poetry meant to express emotions rather than forward an argument? Writers like Saidiya Hartman, June Jordan, and M. NourbeSe Philip have produced work that both articulates and troubles the boundaries of these questions. This course will focus on the ways in which Black essayists, poets, visual artists, and theorists of the late twentieth and twenty-first century radically collage compositional forms in order to imagine new forms of expression.  We will begin by looking at the formal collaging of Black artists working in the late twentieth century and trace these traditions to more recent work, such as Janelle Monáe’s “Dirty Computer” and Beyoncé’s “Lemonade.” While these texts may push against historical narratives in some moments, they are not ahistorical.  We will contextualize our course texts by thinking through the stakes of Black artistic expression in the United States given the struggles for recognition and liberation that emerge from the violent upheavals of the transatlantic slave trade. We will also consider our expectations of how particular forms do and should work as one of “course texts.” Students will compose reading responses throughout the semester that give them opportunities to make arguments about our readings and to practice their own formal experimentation. With the additional support of group workshop, students will develop a final project over the course of the semester that will include an artist’s statement on their own formal style.