The Virtual Peace Garden

This schedule will be updated regularly--loosely sketched out for now, more and more detailed class plans developed as each class period approaches and the class progresses. Feel free to add your suggestions / requests to a class period.

8/28 Week 1.
Introduction to the course.
Introduction to each other.
What does 9/11 "mean"? How can we "rhetoricians" contribute to this discussion / debate?
See expanded daily schedule.

9/4 Week 2.
Complete McLUhan and Fiore's WPGV and postings before class.
Discuss content and form in class.
Practice an particular form of the anti-essay in class.
See expanded daily schedule.

9/11 Week 3.
Reflect on the significance of this class being held on this day. Mere coincidence?
Read Baudrillard's The Spirit of Terrorism and find out what others (besides Kellner) have said about this book. Share these secondary sources via VPG; also consider contributing other questions, reflections, and generally using the site to help you with your comprehension of this text.
Try out another kind of anti-essay.

9/ 18 Week 4.
Read Douglas Kellner's essay:
Baudrillard, Globalization and Terrorism. html. You might also try to squeeze in "Baudrillard: A New McLuhan?" (html) or (pdf).
Also read Donna Haraway, "Cyborg Manifesto" in The Haraway Reader.
We can assign primary readers for each essay--these are long, complicated pieces.

9 / 25 Week 5.
Online class--Kevin will be out of town. Please increase your blog posting and commenting this week.

Explore other responses to 9/11, to war and peace in the Global Village. Possibilities include:
To Mend the World:Women Reflect on 9/11. Ed. Marjorie Agosin and Betty Jean Craige. [I own a copy that I will lend out.]
Drucilla Cornell, "Derrida: The Gift of the Future." short version. also in pdf from differences (or me).
Slavoj Zizek, Welcome to the Desert of the Real [I own a copy that I will lend out.]
Henry Giroux, The University in Chains (esp. the Introduction). Get a jump on this book--we will do more with it later.

10/2 Week 6.
Schedule a 1-on-1 conference early this week (Monday or Tuesday)--we can go over a draft of your project.
In class: a full-class workshop / response to your project (ideally with some revisions made since our conference).
Audio essay.
Video essay.
Print-based collage essay--a la WPGV.
Literature review + prospectus for longer academic article (even MA paper).

Turn in a "finished" project ASAP after this class.

10/9 Week 7.
Electronic Monuments Part I
Brooks and Anfinson, "Exploring Post-Critical Composition: MEmorials for Afghanistan and The Lost Boys of Sudan*"

10/16 Week 8.
EM: Part II
Walker, Joyce. "Narratives in the database: Memorializing September 11th online." Computers and Composition 24.2 (2007): 121-153.
Critical and Post-critical traditions and methods revisited.
Second Life visited.

10/23 Week 9
EM: Part III
Haraway, Donna: "Modest Witness." A sample theory prosthetic.
MEmorial updates.

10/30 Week 10
EM: Part IV
Theory reports: what scholars / texts are you drawing on to help you imagine your MEmorial?

11/6 Week 11; 11/7-8 is GPACW in Ames, IA.
No class this week.
Work on MEmorial proposal assignment.
Six of us going to GPACW.

11/13 Week 12
Proposal due; informal presentation to class so you can get immediate feedback.
Possible reading TBA.

11/20 Week 13
Share Drafts, Workshop MEmorials.
Possible reading TBA.

11/27 Week 14 Thanksgiving Break
Please continue to post updates, entries, reading notes, thinking notes, to the VPG between week 13 and week 15 so we can give each other feedback, support each other's efforts.

12/4 Week 15
Peer review of MEmorials.
Read Barry Mauer's "MEMorial for Lost Data" proposal.
Brainstorm / map a collaborative article, built around MEmorials, your reflections, and next weeks readings.

12/11 Week 16
Focus on reflection: what kind of education does a MEmorial encourage / support? Bounce your experiences off of the following readings:

Henry Giroux, The University in Chains (especially the introduction). -- Is the MEmorial any kind of decent escape plan?

Cushman, Ellen. “Opinion: The Public Intellectual, Service Learning, and Activist Research.” College English 61.3 (1999): 328-36. Available through the NDSU Library > Electronic Journals > Ebsco > NCTE. The NCTE page does not have a good search engine; you need to simply click through the site to find Volume 61.3 (1999) and Cushman's essay (PDF file). -- Is the MEmorial Activist Research?

We can assign primary readers based on interest.

12/18 Week 17
Showing off MEmorials.
Building the collaborative essay (this becomes the final exam).
Celebrating. Private of public party? A little Second Life dancing?