581                  Directions for Writing About Nature

Post First Project on web and hand in polished hard copy in pocket folder with name on outside following instructions in the anthology. Paper projects must include two media. This requirement is usually met by inserting electronic files of pictures or photographs into your text and printing the result on a glossy paper with a color printer. [Electronic projects include print-out of the HTML code as well as text -- and Cd or diskette, etc. if the project is to be put on our web site]

¸     Begin commenting on the stories of others. You must respond to at least ten people in detail (at least six sentences), suggesting what they might add to make their story longer or their web site better, what other changes to make, etc. You get extra credit for every three people over the basic ten to whom you respond. This extra credit can be used to improve your class participation grade.

¸     Finish commenting on essays of others outside of class.

¸     Save comments on diskette for your portfolio.

¸     Review

1-3                   Course Description

            Project Instructions

18                            Portfolio

19                            Polished Writing Instructions

20                            Web Projects

21                            Web Site guidelines

22                            Undergraduate Writing Center

23-4                        Learning Skills Center

25-6     Grades Definition

29-30   ACITS short courses;

31- 4 HTML Quick Reference

35-61               "How to Create a Web-Enabled CD-ROM"

203-10             Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain; "

211                  Writing the Natural Way

212-3               Wild Mind

582-5               How to Post Your Writing

Feb 21 Waller Creek and the Environment

Journal Entries Due on both of the following: "Committed 'til Death"; Oliphant's "San Jacinto."

Next time we will be writing at Waller Creek: to prepare, see previous examples on web site.

176-86                   "Committed 'til Death"

466-8                      Oliphant, “San Jacinto”

Review

(161A  Jones, introduction)

(162B              Waller Creek)

162-9               Jones, Life on Waller Creek

170-5               Jones, "Anatomy of a Riot"

Feb 23 .Writing Nature at Waller Creek.

Meet at Waller Creek

[in case of rain meet under the eaves of the Alumni Center overlooking the creek]

 

¸     If you think you won’t know what to write about, check out what your predecessors have written on the web site.

¸     Write about whatever you see there. If you are feeling blocked, just start describing the details of the plants and animals and water and stones etc. in front of you.

¸     Look at what is in front of you from 2 points of view besides yours. In other words, say what you think two people very different from you – say Jones and Barney – would see.

¸     Cite from Jones and Barney.

 

469      Barney “On a Detail from Audubon”

470      Barney, “Mr. Bloomer's Birds” [describes Boat Tailed Grackles – the most common birds at Waller Creek]

Review:

161A               Jones, introduction,

162B               Waller Creek

162-9               Jones, Life on Waller Creek

170-5               Jones, "Anatomy of a Riot"

176-86             "Committed 'til Death"

466-8               Oliphant, “San Jacinto”

581                  Directions for Writing in Nature

 

Feb 26. Waller creek web site contributions and comments.

 

¸     Citations from Jones and Barney required.

¸     Save responses on diskette for portfolio.

¸     OLR Weekly Self Observation Due.

 

Review:

161A               Jones, introduction,

162B               Waller Creek

162-9               Jones, Life on Waller Creek

170-5               Jones, "Anatomy of a Riot"

176-86             "Committed 'til Death"

466-8               Oliphant, “San Jacinto”

469                  Barney “On a Detail from Audubon”

470                           Barney “Mr. Bloomer's Birds”

577-8               OLR

582-5               How to Post Your Writing

 

Feb 28 Fear of Nature.

 

ü     Journal Entries Due on two of the following "Hurt Hawks," "Vulture"; Harrigan "The Tiger is God"; Blake "The Tyger" vs. Blake “The Lamb.”

ü     To see Blake’s poems with his illustrations go to website:

ü     http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/E309K/blake.html

 

(412-413         Jeffers, introduction)

413-414           "Hurt Hawks"

415                  “Vulture"

444-450           Harrigan "The Tiger is God"

443                  Blake introduction

443A               Blake, “The Lamb” text only

443B               Blake, “The Tyger” text only

Blake "The Tyger" vs. Blake “The Lamb” multimedia: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/E309K/blake.html

 

Mar 2. Animals in Our Lives

 

¸     Journal Entry Due on Graves, “Blue and Other Dogs” and one of the following: Graves, “Meat” or Walker, “Am I Blue?”

 

Texas Nature Writing)

471-482           Graves, “Blue and Other Dogs”

483-486           Graves, “Meat,”

(487                 Introduction to Alice Walker)

488-491           Walker “Am I Blue?”

 

Mar 5 Texas Sense of Place I.

 

¸     OLR Weekly Self Observation Due.

¸     Journal Entries due on John Graves' Good-Bye to a River and his “Nineteen Cows”

 

(588                 Texas Nature Writing)

492-5               Graves, Good-Bye to a River

496-504           Graves, “Nineteen Cows”

577-8               OLR

 

Mar 7 Texas Sense of Place II.

 

¸     Journal Entries due on three of the following brief selections about different regions of Texas by George Sessions Perry; Katherine Anne Porter; Dorothy Scarborough; Loula Grace Erdman; Sidney Lanier; Elmer Kelton; Walt Whitman; and Benjamin Capps. From Don Graham’s Texas: A Literary Portrait.

 

588      Texas Nature Writing

505      George Sessions Perry on the Gabriel River

506-7   Katherine Anne Porter, on the blackland farming country

508      Dorothy Scarborough, from In the Land of Cotton

509      Loula Grace Erdman, on the high plains

510      Sidney Lanier, on the prairies

511      Elmer Kelton, from The Time it Never Rained

512      Walt Whitman on west Texas

513      Benjamin Capps on arrival of spring in west Texas

 

Mar 9. Texan Sense of Place III

 

¸     Revised Project due. Turn in to instructor a revised project in pocket folder with your name on the outside with

¸     [1] revised project

¸     [2] first project with instructor's original comments and

¸     [3] print-out of suggestions from other students.

¸     [4] follow suggestions in Polished Writing Instructions II: Revising the Essay

¸     Journal Entries Due on "Cedar Cutter" and one of the following: Bedicheck, "The Wing of the Swallow"; Graves, 'Texas Hill Country"; "Carved in Stone."

 

(588                 Texas Nature Writing)

(214-5             Philosopher's Rock, Barton Springs)

(216                 Jones, on Dobie, Bedichek, and Web)

(217-8             Local Writing)

(219                 Bedicheck, introduction)

220-2              Bedicheck, "The Wing of the Swallow"

223-30             "Cedar Cutter";

231-48             Graves, "Texas Hill Country"

249-52             "Carved in Stone"

589-92             Polished Writing Instructions II: Revising the Essay

 

Mar 19 British Sense of Place I

 

¸     OLR Midterm Due

¸     Fill In, Tear Out, and Turn in separate midsemester evaluation of course,

¸     Journal Entry Due on Wordsworth's "Michael" comparing it to "Cedar Cutter": how are these two accounts of old men who are close to nature similar and different?

 

577-8               OLR Midterm

344-5               Midsemester Evaluation

256-61                   Wordsworth, ‘Michael” compare to "Cedar Cutter": how are these two accounts of old men who are close to nature similar and different?

 

Mar 21 British Sense of Place II

 

Journal Entry Due on Dobie, A Texan in England and Hopkins, Binsey Poplars, [G156-7] : how are the English and the Texan views of nature similar and different?

 

156-158           (Hopkins, introduction)

253                  Hopkins: Binsey Poplars, [G156-7];

(262                 Dobie, Introduction)

268-79             Dobie, “A Texan in England” "

 

Mar 23.J. Frank Dobie.

Meet at Dobie's house, 702 E. Dean Keeton St. (now the Michener Center for Writers). Opposite the law school.

 

¸     At Dobie’s house we will see the memorabilia.

¸     And midsemester brainstorming results will be distributed and discussed.

¸     Then we will go on to the statue of the mustangs in front of the Texas Memorial Museum, cited by Dobie.

¸     then to the statues in front of the Alumni Center.

¸     At the Center you will make journal entries about what you have seen, incorporating at least one quote from Dobie’s The Mustangs and one from his The Longhorns .

¸     Must have at least one quote from Dobie’s The Mustangs and one from his The Longhorns in your journal to start .

 

280-297           Dobie, "The Longhorns" [relate to statue of Longhorn at Alumni Center]

298-337                Dobie, "The Mustangs" [relate to statue at Texas Memorial Museum]

Review

588                  Texas Nature Writing

214-5               Philosopher's Rock, Barton Springs

216                  Jones, on Dobie, Bedichek, and Web

217-8               Local Writing

262-67             Dobie introduction;

170-5               Jones, "Anatomy of a Riot" (on Dobie etc.)

268-279           Dobie, "A Texan in England"

581                  Directions for Writing in Nature

 

Mar 26 Biology Ponds: Fish, Reptiles, and the Sympathetic Imagination.

Meet at Biology Ponds north of the Tower

 

¸     Journal at ponds incorporating 1 citation from Darwin, 339-43, and one from the following: Harrigan's "Swamp Thing"; Barney's "On Greer Island a Copperhead Lies Slain"; Bump, "Stevens and Lawrence"; " D. H. Lawrence, Reptile and Fish poems.

¸     OLR Weekly Self Observation Due

 

339-43             Darwin

Review

85                    The Sympathetic Imagination"

86-103             Bump, "Stevens and Lawrence"

(104-8             introductions: Stevens, Lawrence)

109-124           D. H. Lawrence, Reptile and Fish poems

460-465A        Harrigan “Swamp Thing”

465B               Barney “On Greer Island”

577-8               OLR               

581                  Directions for Writing in Nature

 

Mar 28 Dobie and Biology Ponds web contributions.

 

¸     Incorporate the two Dobie quotes in Dobie contribution

¸     For Biology Ponds contributions remember 1 citation from Darwin, and one from the following: Harrigan's "Swamp Thing"; Barney's "On Greer Island a Copperhead Lies Slain"; Bump, "Stevens and Lawrence"; " D. H. Lawrence, Reptile and Fish poems.

¸     Save responses on diskette

 

Review

86-103             Bump, "Stevens and Lawrence"

(104-8             introductions: Stevens, Lawrence)

109-124           D. H. Lawrence, Reptile and Fish poems.

339-43             Darwin

460-465A        Harrigan's "Swamp Thing"

465B               Barney's "On Greer Island a Copperhead Lies Slain"

582-5               How to Post Your Writing

 

Mar 30 Unity Consciousness

ü     Up till now in the course we have often focused on various details we have seen in nature. That approach is sometimes called stofftrieb. Now we will turn more consciously to formtrieb: the idea of unity in the variety. We will consider how each medium communicates the idea of the whole which has no truly isolated or entirely individual parts, only local symptoms or manifestations. This idea has been variously described as a web of mutual interdependency, or a special harmonious unity, balance, or equilibrium achieved in an ecosystem not by leveling the forces of diversity but by promoting them.

Either Do Journal Entries on two of the following: Bump, "Dualism"; Burch, "Vocabularies of Nature"; Alan Watts," The World is Your Body"; Browning, “Two in the Campagna” Hopkins, ‘Pied Beauty”