Monthly Archives: September 2021

Challenge: Power

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https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/09/27/nyregion/r-kelly-trial-news/r-kelly-is-going-to-prison-why-did-it-take-so-long

“R. Kelly is going to prison. Why did it take so long?”

Although R. Kelly has been a known predator toward women, especially young girls, for decades, he is only now being forced to face any repercussions for his actions. These circumstances inevitably beg the question as to why it took decades for Kelly’s actions to send him to prison. This article attempts to answer that question, offering Kelly’s blackmail and intimidation efforts, financial settlements, and his network of supporters as explanations. Ultimately, the various reasonings outlined in this article accumulate into an abuse of power, as Kelly wielded his wealth and celebrity status as weapons against the women and girls he exploited.

Project Proposal (Due 10/15 @12pm)

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Please submit one completed proposal form per group by 12:00 pm (noon) on Friday, October 15th.

Note: You may email me your responses directly as a Word document (not a Google Doc or a PDF, but a Word Document), but I encourage you to post your project check-ins to the class site.* Doing so facilitates the feedback loop and also allows you to get a sense of how other groups are tackling similar or related issues.

What

  1. Describe the form you intend your final project to take:
    • Notes:
      • Your description of your proposed project form should be more extensive than what you’ve already communicated in the paragraph you sent me on Monday.
      • Your description should include details about how you envision your project in terms of medium, form, and genre, but also in terms of organization, duration, size, material, featured content, accessibility, location, etc..
      • If my feedback to your group’s paragraph included questions about your form, please make sure your responses address the questions I posed.

Who

  1. Describe your ideal audience/reader(s) for your project in terms of number, demographic, interest, background knowledge, and other relevant demographics.
    • Notes:
      • Your audience should not be me and/or our specific class.
      • Our class may be included in your audience, and we should be able to generally appreciate the project even if we are not included in the intended audience. However, we should not be the intended audience.
      • A big part of this project is creating something that has formal and content integrity in and of itself. If your project only makes sense in the context of our class, then you need to work on developing the project further.
      • It is okay for your ideal audience to include or be specifically directed at the BC community in some way. However you must be more specific in your description of the audience than simply saying “BC community” or “Boston community.”
  2. Identify two primary outcomes you hope your project will produce for your intended audience.

Why

  1. At this point, how do you imagine that your proposed project will incorporate the 10 required project elements?
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
    • 4
    • 5
    • 6
    • 7
    • 8
    • 9
    • 10

WHERE & HOW

  1. What kinds of administrative permissions or resources might you need to acquire to accomplish this project? (i.e. space reservations, flyer permission, etc.)
  2. What supplies and/or materials will your group need in order to create this project?
  3. What programs and/or technologies will your group need in order to create this project?
  4. What skills and/or technical know-how will your group need in order to create this project?
  5. Reflecting on your responses to 1-3: Please organize your lists of necessary supplies, technology, and skills into two columns. Column A – Items/Skills You have or have access to and Column B – Items/Skills you neither have nor know how to access.
  6. Please break the project down into 8-12 detailed and actionable steps or tasks.
  7. Indicate which group members will take the lead on each of the above 8-12 steps.
  8. Using the information from 6&7, please provide a timeline (or production calendar) for your project completion.

QUESTIONS

Include at least two questions you have about either your project in particular and/or about the project assignment in general:

1.

2.

Project Proposal!

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Our group is largely interested in working with and on artistic media. We considered a collection of poems, or (possibly multimedia) journal entries that display our reflections on an assortment of readings and media. These (such as the Kara Walker pieces, “Tradition: A Perilous Age in A Black Girl’s Life”, “Sex Trafficking Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl in the USA”) would center around Black artistic expression as well as its reception by a variety of audiences (how race, socioeconomic status, etc. affect the reception of expressive art maybe)

We were also interested in double consciousness, as it relates to the production of these artistic/literary pieces (i.e. the struggle between authentic, meaningful expression and good audience/academic reception, sales, censorship, etc.) We think a project like this would work best in the context of a college-level class, as some of the discussion would be nurtured and enhanced by a level of prior knowledge. However, we want to make sure the content of our project is accessible to anybody because of the themes of historic re-appropriation/interpretation of Black art and literature into academic settings. 

Group Project Ideas/Thoughts

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Group 6: Jennie, Zulmary, Francine, Joe L.

For the final project, the majority of the group is thinking to do some type of video project. We were talking through a script/ talk show of some sort that would incorporate interviews taken between us and other students (not sure of the specifics yet). During the interview we would talk about racial violence and class differences in today’s society,with reference to the book The Garies and Their Friends, to compare how it was like being black living in philly in the 19th CE because of racism. In addition, in terms of movement and constraint, we could also talk about the constraint that black people (and lower income), feel about living in areas where they are the minority. We want to use aspects of today and the occurrences of being black in America today, how the promote or constraint us in terms if systematic racism, to see what has continued and what has slowed down/progressed in today’s day and age.

Email Final Project Preferences by 9/18 @4pm

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Email me by this Saturday, September 18th at 4:00 pm if you have any preferences about the final project that might influence which group I assign folks.  

In general, I’m wondering if you have any particular interest in working (or not working) with a particular text, theme, and/or medium.   

  • For example: If you would really like to do a project that works with  music let me know, and I will try to match you up with folks who are also hoping to do something with music. 
  • Or, for example: If you know that you hate to do any kind of acting or performing, let me know and I will try not to put you with the three folks who definitely want to stage Zora Neale Hurston’s short play in the quad.   

I encourage you to look at the list of previous projects (at the bottom of the assignment description page).  Looking at the list (along with the assignment objectives and guidelines) should give you a sense of just how creative your group can get with this project. 

Keep in Mind:  Expressing interest in working (or not working) with a particular text, theme, and/or medium is just so I can try to put you in a group with similarly interested folks.   Your group may ultimately decide to go in another direction. 

 If you would like to express preferences of any sort, please make sure you email me by this Saturday, September 18th at 4:00 pm.  

  • You may list as many preferences as you prefer, but if you list more than two preferences, please rank them in order of most important to least important.  
  • If you do not have any preferences, you do not need to contact me. 

Week 2 Updates

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Hi All, 
This post (like the class email I just sent) contains several updates and important information. Please read carefully.

Overview

  • Important Date(s)
  • Readings for Next Week
  • Schedule of Assignments Changes
  • Signing Up for Panel Paper Presentations
  • Office Hours

Important Date(s):

Saturday, September 9th at 4:00 pm 

  •   Deadline to email me your top two priorities for the Panel Paper assignments [See Line H]

Readings for Next Week: 

Next week, we will put the two slave narratives pieces in conversation with contemporary artists’ reflections and / or revisioning of slavery and slave narratives. 

A)  If you have not finished the Jacobs and Brown readings, you should do so.

B)  You should read, watch, and view the various texts listed on the syllabus under “Neo Slave Narratives”

C)  Because there are a bunch of little texts for Kara Walker, the link on the schedule of assignment page takes you to a post on the site dedicated specifically to the Kara Walker related texts.   The Ailey video and the two poems (one by Shockley and the other by White) have links directly to the text.

D) Realistically, we won’t talk about all of these texts on Tuesday.  However the hope is that we will start discussing the two poems on Tuesday.  I then suggest looking at the Kara Walker selections.  Ailey’s Revelations is the longest piece, and I am pretty sure we will not discuss it on Tuesday.

Schedule of Assignment Changes

E) FYI, We will begin discussing The Garies and Their Friends the following week (which is a change.  We were supposed to start it next Thursday, but I pushed it back).  

F) Since, I pushed the Webb novel back, I also pushed back the deadline for Panel A presenters back to our last class on  Webb.

Signing up for Panel Presentations

G)  We need to assign folks to specific panels, so that Panel A folks have enough time to get going.  

H)  Please email me your two main priorities for panel assignments by this Saturday, September 11th at 4pm  (note: priorities could be your top two preferred panels, but they could also be your two least preferred panels, or your most preferred and least preferred, or whatever the two things you want me to keep in mind).

I) On the schedule of assignments, the panels are listed as “Panel A” “Panel B”;  the central text for each panelist’s paper will be the main text for that week on the syllabus.  If you’re confused, you can check the “Panel Assignments” page. You can find it on the drop down menu and as a link on the assignment description page. 

J)  If I do not receive your priorities, I will assign you to a panel.

K) I will post panel assignments by Monday morning on 9/13.  

L) Panel assignments will be considered final by the end of class on Tuesday, 9/14.

​Office Hours

M) I will hold some virtual office hours tomorrow, Friday, September 10th between 4-6pm.  ​Zoom Link: (See Class Email)

N) If you wish to reserve an office hour slot, please email me prior to 2:00 pm tomorrow. Note: If no one signs up for the second half (5-6pm) before 2pm, I will cancel the second half. ​​

P)  Next Week Office Hours will be both virtual and in-person.  The in-person office hours will be by appointment only. 

  • Virtual
    • Wed 4:30 -6:00 pm
  • In-Person: 
    • Tues:  12:00 – 12:45 pm  (by appointment only; appointments must be confirmed by 10:00 am that Tuesday.)
    • Thurs:  3:00 – 4:00 pm  (by appointment only; appointments must be confirmed by 10:00 am that Thursday.)

Q) All virtual office hours this semester will use the same Zoom link, which you can access in the email version of this update sent on Thursday 9/9/21.

Best,
AC

Kara Walker

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Note: All Kara Walker texts at “Kara Walker.” art21.org. < https://art21.org/artist/kara-walker/ > Accessed 9/9/2021.

  • WATCH CLIPS:
    • “Sending Out a Signal” (9:23 );
    • “Starting Out” (4:31);
    • “Kara Walker in ‘Stories'” (12:14);
    • “Season 2 of ‘Art in the Twentieth Century’ Trailer” (7:45).
  • Videos can be found at “Kara Walker.” art21.org. To locate, scroll down to the video carousel (may need to use the arrows on the upper left hand corner of the carousel to access all four clips). Web. < https://art21.org/artist/kara-walker/ > Accessed 9/9/2021.
  • READ INTERVIEWS:
    • “Projecting Fictions: ‘Insurrection! Our Tools Were Rudimentary, Yet We Pressed On'”
    • “The Melodrama of Gone with the Wind.”
  • Interviews can be found at “Kara Walker.” art21.org. To locate scroll down below the video carousel and below the yellow banner of site categories. Web. < https://art21.org/artist/kara-walker/ > Accessed 9/9/2021.