Read this calendar as a list of due dates. This calendar will change to suit the specific needs and desires of the class. The online calendar will always be the most up-to-date.
Note on weekly themes: I provide a theme for each week to organize the course. However, themes are not restricted to their designated week(s). I intend for them carry across our reading and thinking throughout the full term, forward and backward in our reflections.
Reminder about trigger warnings: We will be studying texts on a weekly basis, in every class throughout the term, that might contain triggers for certain audiences. A trigger is a graphic representation of a subject matter that could spur a mental health crisis for a reader or viewer. Reactions to personal experiences are nothing to be ashamed of, and our class learning community will be kind to one another as we grapple with this material together. Common triggers include representations of rape, violence, abuse, addiction, suicide, discrimination, or victim-blaming of any kind. If you have questions about specific texts or about triggers, email kleuner@scu.edu to set up a time to talk.
For SCU undergrad academic calendar, see https://www.scu.edu/media/offices/registrar/important-forms-/14253-SCU-UG-2019-20_CLD_WEB.pdf
Week 1
- Texts: Syllabus, selection from In This Place Not Of It, It’s Criminal (film, stream online), Pedagogy of the Oppressed
- Keywords: women, writing, prison, learning community, collaboration
- Project underway: warming up, community building
M 9/23: No classroom meeting. Work on your own. Follow instructions below:
Reading: the syllabus, “My Words are Brain and Bone Marrow” in Women, Writing, and Prison (WWP, uploaded to Camino Files). Follow directions on this blog post: https://blogs.scu.edu/leunereng68fall2019/2019/09/14/monday-9-25-class/.
W 9/25: No classroom meeting. Work on your own. Follow instructions below:
Read “Introduction: A Battalion of Survivors” (15-24) in Inside This Place, Not Of It (ITPNOI, in Camino Files); Watch film It’s Criminal https://santaclarau.kanopy.com/video/its-criminal. You will need your SCU login username and password to sign into Kanopy and watch the film. Follow directions on this blog post: https://blogs.scu.edu/leunereng68fall2019/2019/09/14/wednesdays-class/
F 9/27 : Meet in our classroom, Graham Hall 163, at our regular class time.
Read: Pedagogy of the Oppressed chapter 3, focusing on dialogue and the dialectical (Freire). Be prepared to discuss It’s Criminal and Wednesday’s reading, as well.
Week 2 –
- Texts: Are Prisons Obsolete(Angela Davis); Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Paolo Freire)
- Keywords and idea: dialogue, oppression, prison reform, prison abolition, slavery, prison industrial complex
- Projects underway: mapping project, letter writing
M 9/30 –
Read and/or review: Pedagogy of the Oppressed chapter 3, focusing on dialogue and the dialectical (Freire); Are Prisons Obsolete chapter 1; https://writeaprisoner.com/why-writeaprisoner
In-class: introduce mapping project and resources to begin research; introduce letter project
W 10/2 –
Read Are Prisons Obsolete chapters 2, 4; In class: introduce term-long mapping project
Due: Come to class having selected a woman to write to based on a selected reading from tenacious. There are 2 issues of this zine uploaded in Camino Files.
F 10/4 –
Read Are Prisons Obsolete ch. 5 pages. 84-104; “Sestina: Reflections on Writing” (Doing Time, on Camino); Reading Quiz #1
Week 3 –
- Texts: Inside This Place Not Of It; and readings on race
- Keywords and ideas: whiteness, white privilege, race, racism, assault, motherhood in prison, intersectionality
- Projects underway: Mapping project, letter writing
M 10/7 – Meet in Special Collections, not in our classroom
Read: “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” (Peggy McIntosh); “Sheri Dwight” (ITPNOI)
Due: Bring a draft of your letter to class to give to your feedback partner.
W 10/9 –
Read: So You Want to Talk About Race chs. 2-3 (in Camino Files under Oluo “What is racism?” and “What if I talk about race wrong?”); “Taisie Baldwin” (ITPNOI 163-174);
Due: Feedback on letter due back to author and bring all concerns to me.
F 10/11-
So You Want to Talk About Race chs. 4-5 “Intersectionality” and “Check my privilege”; “Maria Taylor” (ITPNOI 57-71); Due, bring to class your letter, a blank envelope, and postage. We will address and mail our letters together.
Week 4 –
- Texts: Selections from ITPNOI and Women, Writing, and Prison
- Keywords and ideas: Trans and queer folk in prison, writing and identity
- Projects underway: American Prison Writing Archive (APWA) transcription; mapping project
M 10/14
“Charlie Morningstar” (ITPNOI 187-202); Context reading: “Transforming Carceral Logics: 10 Reasons to Dismantle the Prison Industrial Complex through Queer/Trans Analysis and Action” (235-254) in Captive Genders (in Camino Files under Lamble_carcerallogic.pdf“); Scheffler “…to speak in one’s own voice: The Power of Women’s Prison Writing” (ch. 16 WWP);
In-class: Introduce APWA transcription project, due end of Week 5
W 10/16
“This Ain’t No Holiday Inn, Griffin” (Dionna Griffin, ch 3 in WWP); “The Girl Behind the Smile” (Judith Clark, ch 5 in WWP); Guest speaker visit with Lori Stone of the Northern California Innocence Project (10:30 – 11ish); Practice transcription for APWA due in class to resolve questions
F 10/18:
“My Voice through a Deadbolt Door” (Crista Decker, ch 7 in WWP); Bring your practice APWA transcriptions to class. We will have the Reading Leader presentation and discussion of Judith Clark’s piece “The Girl behind the Smile” so please prepare that, as well.
Reading Quiz #2; Transcription draft 1 due for peer review. Bring a PRINTED copy of your full transcription to class. We will workshop these in class.
Week 5 –
- Texts: A Little Piece of Light (Donna Hylton)
- Keywords and ideas: memoir, cycles of abuse, women and systemic oppression
- Projects underway: APWA, mapping
M 10/21:
A Little Piece of Light chapters 1-4
Due: Bring a PRINTED draft of your APWA transcription to class (must be printed). We will do a peer-review workshop. Also, Quiz #2 in class, on material we have discussed.
W 10/23:
A Little Piece of Light chapters 5-10 (~65 pgs). Deliver marked-up peer review of APWA transcription to your parter in class. There will be time in class to discuss questions and, if needed, email the APWA admin with our concerns.
F 10/25:
A Little Piece of Light to end (~50 pages). We will go over how to submit your APWA transcription in the website interface. **Do not submit your transcription to APWA before it has been peer-reviewed!**
Due: Submit APWA transcription through the APWA interface by midnight on Saturday 10/26.
Week 6 –
- Texts: WWP continued
- Keywords and ideas: writing, performance, and empowerment
- Projects underway: Mapping
M 10/28:
WWP ch 17 “Writing is My Way of Sledghammering These Walls”; WWP ch 18 “She bore the Lyrical Name of Velmarine Szabo”; ch. 19 “You Just Threatened My Life” WWP
T 10/29, 12-1pm: Talk by Exoneree Karla Baday, 12-1pm, SCU Law School, Charney Hall, Panelli Court Room 102. To learn more about Karla’s exoneration, see https://www.facebook.com/norcalinnocence/photos/a.128275203882732/2198826040160961/?type=1&theater
W 10/30:
“Incorporeal Transformations: Audience and Women Writing in Prison” ch 11 in WWP; ch 21 “I am Antarctica”
Reading quiz #3
***TH 10/31, group viewing of “This Ain’t Your Mother’s Theater Company” – The Medea Project’s “Birthright?” https://vimeo.com/ondemand/medeaproject, in Library Viewing Production Room B (1st floor of the library, left of the Help Desk), at 4pm. I will provide Halloween candy and popcorn (Hooray)! Or watch it on your own. Be sure to take notes, as we will discuss this in class on Friday.
F 11/1:
In class discussion of “This Ain’t Your Mother’s Theater Company” – The Medea Project’s “Birthright?” https://vimeo.com/ondemand/medeaproject.
Week 7 –
- Texts: Orange in the New Black (OITNB)
- Keywords, ideas: privilege, white privilege, compare OitNB to A Little Piece of Light, multimodality
- Project underway: Mapping
M 11/4:
OitNB read to ch.4 (to page 71)
W 11/6
OitNB read to page 100
F 11/8
OitNB read to page 150 ;
Due by class, half of your descriptive essay about your place on the map. To estimate half, try for the equivalent of 3 pages of content that describes your place.
Week 8 –
- Texts: Orange in the New Black
- Keywords, ideas: prison family; story telling; recidivism; compare to A Little Piece of Light; multimodality
- Project underway: Mapping, Dialogical Reflection Essay
M 11/11
OitNB read to pg. 200
W 11/13
OitNB read to page 250;
Due: Full draft of your Google Doc essay due for peer review. This include multi-media elements as well as text. We will begin peer-review during class.
Th. 11/14, 4-5:30pm — EVENT: Stories of Surviving Wrongful Conviction, in the St. Clare Room, 3rd Floor, Library Learning Commons. I will be there – join me. https://www.scu.edu/library/news/calendar/#!view/event/event_id/110032.
F 11/15:
OitNB finish the book and final reading leader; Reading Quiz #4 Quiz postponed to following Monday
Week 9 –
Project underway: Mapping, Dialogical Reflection Essay
M 11/18: Quiz #4; workshop for map essay; reading TBD
Due: Peer review of map essay is due back to the author by class time.
W 11/20: workshop for map
F 11/22: workshop for map
Due: Mapping Project Complete by midnight
Week 10
11/25-29 HOLIDAY, NO CLASS. Learning objective: Take a break.
Week 11
- Texts: the one you’re writing
- Keywords and ideas: reflection, review, rereading, introspection, looking outward
- Project underway: Dialogical Reflection Essay
M 12/2; Reading Quiz #5 cancelled quiz; Full class workshop on dialogical reflection essays
W 12/4: Full class workshop on dialogical reflection essays
F 12/6 – Last Class / workshop on dialogical reflection essays
Exam Week 12/9 – 13. There is no exam in this class.
Dialogical Reflection Essays are due on or before our Final Exam date
Friday, 12/13 at 9:10am