HOMEWORK

Read Annie Dillard's "The Chase" at
http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/dmsokol/101/assigned-readings/files/annie_dillard_the_chase2.pdf

Print out and bring the essay to class for discussion & in-class questions.

HOMEWORK

Print out, read, and bring the following essay to class for discussion:
"Shipping Out" by David Foster Wallace
http://harpers.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/HarpersMagazine-1996-01-0007859.pdf

I will be supplying questions in class for you to discuss AND write on, so be prepared!

Essay #1 Guidelines

*Peer-Editing: September 24

** Due Date: October 1

Instructions:

You are to write a personal narrative essay which should be a non-fictional story relating to your life. While the essay does not require resolution (i.e. a tidy ending), the story should reflect some sort of change that has taken place - however subtle or prominent.

In addition, what you recount should reflect a certain measure of self-awareness; it's not just in recounting action, but also in how you recount the action that indicates you have thoughts on what happened.

Important: Individualize your details. The story you're telling is personal, and therefore should attempt to fully reflect the uniqueness of your experience; the experience itself might be common, but the details and certain aspects might/should be brought into highly-individualized focus.

And the story can be anywhere from uplifting to depressing. I'm just after solid writing.

Big rule: No prom, graduation, or birth stories, please. I have read plenty of these stories in many years, and traditionally they all follow the same pattern with a neat beginning, middle, and end. To use the horrible cliche: think outside the box!

The basics:

The paper must be 4 complete pages (minimum) in length. Anything less, and I will drop a letter grade.

Typed, double-spaced, standard margins; number all pages.

Name, date, English 101 and a TITLE must appear on your title page.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ON HIGH

Gang-

The edition of The Little Seagull Handbook that we should all have is the SECOND edition.
(There's a little "2e" on the front cover, if memory serves me right.)

So, if you've gotten the book already from the bookstore and got the 1st edition, exchange it immediately for the 2nd edition.

-JL