CORE 112 – Control Freaks Writing Seminar II // Section 63556 // Spring 2015 // Tues & Thurs 12:30-1:50 // Taper 347 Instructor: K

Home , Being John Malkovich, Cemetry Gates

CORE 112 – Control Freaks Writing Seminar II // section 63556 // Spring 2015 // Tues & Thurs 12:30-1:50 // Taper 347 Instructor: K. Zimolzak // [email protected] // office hours: CAS 210, Tues 11:15-12:15

"The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse." ~Edmund Burke

“If you can't control your peanut butter, you can't expect to control your life.” ~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes

In this class, we will explore what it means to have or crave control, and what it means to relinquish control. Does power lie in action or in ideas? What do we seek to control? The obvious answers—our money, our bodies, our minds—give way to more sinister possibilities: if we control our self-image, and we control the way others see us, does that mean we can control others' thoughts? Moreover, who controls the media? Who controls the government? Can any one person or group of people gain incontestable control? Our course will explore characters who struggle with having too much or too little control, and who control themselves and others physically, mentally, and emotionally. In Brave New World, a classic tale of government control, Lenina and Bernard live in a society where "everyone belongs to everyone else" sexually. We will meet puppet-masters who gather influence by pulling at the strings of social interaction, like Cher in Clueless, and at the strings of literal puppets, like Craig in Being John Malkovich. Siblings Jack and Julie (The Cement Garden) wrestle with the incestuous implications of playing house, which they must do in order to control their futures after their parents have died. June (Tell the Wolves I’m Home) and Alison (Fun Home) use literal portraits to negotiate and manipulate their understandings of the past. With these texts, we will explore the benefits and detriments of control. We will examine the conflicts that arise when new regimes come to power. We will augment the readings listed with selected shorter works, secondary sources, and social/cultural critiques.

Required Texts Literary: Fun Home – Alison Bechdel, 2007 Tell the Wolves I’m Home – Carol Rifka Brunt, 2013 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley, 1932 (2006 reprint) The Cement Garden – Ian McEwan, 1994

Film: The Social Network – David Fincher, 2010 Clueless – Amy Heckerling, 1995 Being John Malkovich – Spike Jonze, 1999 Reference: Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook. 7th edition. Trimble, John, Writing with Style. 3rd edition. A college-level dictionary & thesaurus. Reputable ones are accessible at http://www.usc.edu/libraries/index.php#eresources

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CORE112 Course Objectives (In Which I Clearly Explain Our Course Goals) In CORE111, you worked at building academic writing skills: strengthening your critical thinking; analyzing texts via close readings; and expressing your thoughts clearly, persuasively, and originally. As in CORE111, we will use our first essays to focus on individual elements of writing, and synthesize these elements in a seminar paper. In CORE112, we will also build on writing skills as they pertain to larger conversations about literature’s social purpose(s). To achieve this end, we will examine short works of critical theory and other secondary texts to aid our engagement in—and close readings of —the primary texts. In short, if CORE111 was about your engagement with the text, CORE112 is about a cultural engagement with the text. This course is intensive: there’s a lot of writing and a lot of reading. My goal as an instructor is to help you shape your close reading observations into logical claims and polished academic prose. Your success requires hard work, commitment, and willingness to accept criticism. Additionally, your critical thinking skills will improve if you are an educated observer, or close reader, of your own thinking and writing processes: you should learn to direct your own writing, and grow accustomed to joining larger conversations about literature and ideas.

Required Work (a.k.a., The First Place You Should Look for Questions on Assignments) QUAC response papers: For our course, you will write ten 250-300 word reading responses, due via Dropbox no later than 8 p.m. the night before class (Monday); late submissions will not be counted. Your response should locate a short quote from the impending week’s reading, your understanding and analysis of the quote’s larger significance, and a brief comment on how this quote illuminates the course’s themes (hence QUAC). QUACs need not be stylistically formal, but they should be grammatically polished, and they will help us direct course content and assignment topics. QUACs will make up 15% of your grade.

Short Essays (A1-A2, 5-7 pages each): These assignments ask you to write arguments about our primary texts. You will incorporate, respond to, and engage with cultural contexts in traditional academic essays. Detailed assignment sheets will be distributed for each paper.

Annotated Bibliography & Literature Review (A3, 5-6 pages): This assignment asks you to locate, evaluate, and summarize secondary (or scholarly) sources using rigorous academic citation methods. We will have one session at the library in which you can conduct research and familiarize yourselves with the university’s collections.

Conference Paper & Oral Presentation (A4, 4-5 pages): Among the CORE112 objectives is honing oral presentation skills in addition to writing. To this end, A4 asks you to craft a paper for presentation in class—and possibly at the annual T.O. conference. A4 will include several sub-deadlines: crafting a proposal, writing an abstract, and ultimately presenting the work. You may either revise a previous essay from this class, or you may feel free to write on a newer text, but you must complete both the essay and presentation components.

Seminar Paper (A5, 8-10 pages): Your final essay will develop an original argument about any one of the course texts, and will support this argument with pertinent research. Your seminar paper will also include sub-deadlines: for example, the annotated bibliography. Choose and read your text early if you plan to write on a later course offering. This essay should demonstrate what you’ve learned about writing in a larger literary conversation.

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Course Logistics & Policies (In Which I Clearly Explain My Expectations of You) Class Sessions: Each class session gives you a chance to discuss your ideas with others, to display your writing skills, and to polish them based on peer feedback. Learning, like writing, is an ongoing and interactive process, and I expect you to take responsibility for your own education (e.g. asking a classmate for notes if you miss class). Turn off all electronics and leave them off the entire class, including break: this includes phones, tablets, robot dogs, Google glasses, zombie reanimators, and computers. Remember: a desk is not a bed. Refrain from disruptive behavior. Wait your turn to speak, use courteous and sensitive language, and be respectful of others’ opinions. Don’t insult me with lazy work ethics. In short, don’t be a jerk. Violating more than two of these rules will negatively affect your course grade. Attendance & Participation: Come to each class and tutorial having completed all work and readings for the day. Be engaged in class discussions, and be respectful of your classmates and their opinions. Arrive on time and prepared with the pertinent assignments at hand. Essay Deadlines: Essays are due in .doc or .docx format (no .pdf files will be accepted) via Dropbox. Late essays will be marked down and will receive no written comments. In very rare extenuating circumstances, I will grant an extension that has been requested well in advance (at least four days). Due dates will be distributed with detailed assignment sheets. Formatting Assignments: Type your work in 12-point Times New Roman ONLY, double- spaced, with 1-inch margins and page numbers on each page. Be sure that you’ve met the page length requirements. Type this information on the upper left of your essay’s first page: [Your Name] [Instructor’s Name… in this case, K. Zimolzak] CORE112 [assignment due date] [assignment #] [title, centered (and no, the assignment number is not an acceptable title)] Tutorials: Six times this semester, we will meet for one-on-one tutorials. These intensive sessions are crucial learning opportunities, are unique to the T.O. pedagogy, and provide you a regular venue to explore and develop ideas in an individual setting. You will sign up for a recurring half-hour time-slot at the start of the semester. Tutorial attendance is mandatory. Missed tutorials count as an absence and cannot be rescheduled. If you show up late, aren’t prepared, or your phone goes off, you cannot extend your time. Bring all necessary texts and supporting documents, and two copies of any required writing (one for you to read from, and one for me to write comments for you). Be ready to direct the session. Have materials in hand before you enter the office: tutorials go quickly, so use your time wisely and prudently. Thematic Option Conference: On the evenings of April 14 & 15, T.O. hosts an academic conference to which you are encouraged to submit proposals. This year’s theme is “The Past as Prologue.” If accepted, you will present on one of these evenings. In addition, you must attend at least two panels on at least one evening of the conference (which will count as part of your attendance grade). This conference provides the opportunity for you to present your own research and to encounter your peers' original ideas. We will also hold an in-class mini- conference: you will each present 7-8 minutes (3-4 pages) of work to your peers, and you should anticipate any questions that I or your classmates might ask.

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Communication: Check your school email account daily for important information about scheduling, sign-ups, or class assignments. I check my email regularly, so you should expect a response from me within 24 hours. We will use email primarily to coordinate logistics, not to discuss the content or structure of your essays; that work is best reserved for tutorial sessions. Do not email me attachments unless I request them. Academic Integrity: USC’s plagiarism policy can be found in SCampus. The University defines plagiarism broadly as submission of someone else’s work as one’s own, whether paraphrased or copied verbatim; improper acknowledgment of sources; submission of material that another person has edited or revised to result in substantive changes in content or style; unauthorized collaboration on any assignment. Submitting a paper previously written for another course (e.g. CORE111) is not plagiarism, but it is dishonest. In other words, “If you must write prose and poems / The words you use should be your own / Don’t plagiarize or ‘take on loan’” (The Smiths, “Cemetry Gates,” 22-24). See? Citation isn’t difficult. Academic Accommodations: Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability [this may include PTSD/trigger concerns] is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776. Grading: The course grade breakdown is roughly as follows: Essays (60%): A1 & A2: short essays (10% each) A3: annotated bibliography & literature review (10%) A4: conference paper & oral presentation (15%) A5: seminar paper & presentation (15%) Attendance & Participation (40%): class attendance and participation (includes conference attendance: 10%) tutorial attendance and preparation (15%) QUAC responses (15%) My grading method is holistic, which is to say that I don’t use some indecipherably complex rubric, or assign points to each required component of an essay. Rather, I look for growth from one assignment to the next, such that your final grade will reflect a semester’s worth of work and progress. Do not let individual letter grades shift your focus away from what really matters: namely, to become a more thoughtful and original thinker and writer. More importantly, grades do not represent your individual worth; everyone contributes something valuable to our classroom community, and it is futile to measure yourself against your peers by thinking of yourself as a “good” or “bad” letter grade. If you take responsibility for your hard work, you will very likely be satisfied with your final grade. Zimolzak // CORE 112 // Spring 2015 // 5

Course Schedule (a.k.a. The First Place I’ll Point You If You Ever Claim Not to Know Something Was Due)