Assignments for Wednesday, Sept. 28, and Monday, Oct. 3

For Wednesday, Sept. 28:
1. Read and annotate The Color of Water, pp. 107-137.
2. Bring two questions to class about this reading and email them to me.
3. Write one typed page in response to the following prompt: Analyze the structure of McBride's memoir. You may choose a general feature (e.g., alternating narratives), chronological structure (flashbacks, jumping around in time, and so on), or some other organizing principle you have noticed. In your response, explain the rhetorical advantages or disadvantages of the structural aspect you've decided to write about.
4. Look at the independent reading assignment and choices posted to the right. You must tell me your selection by next Monday, Oct. 3.
5. See the assignment for Essay 1 (the narrative essay) posted to the right.

For Monday, Oct. 3:
1. Select your independent reading book.
2. Read and annotate The Color of Water, pp. 137-191.
3. Bring two questions to class about this reading and email them to me.
4. Write one typed page in response to the following prompt: Take an incident described by McBride, but write it in his mother's voice. You may write it as you think she would write it, so make whatever changes you think are appropriate.

Assignment for Monday, Sept. 27

1. Read and annotate The Color of Water, pp. 57-105.
2. Write one typed page in response to the following prompt: Write a brief narrative piece modeled on one of the three passages from Color of Water listed below. Your writing should strive to mimic McBride's writing (e.g., sentence structure, word choice, level of detail, and so on ) rather than the specific nature of the incident. That said, you may find it helpful to follow the general nature of the passage's incident as described below.

• p. 9 ("As a boy...race and identity she ignored"; a profile of someone you know well, probably with a distinctive personality) 
• pp. 34-36 ("The incident confirmed my fears...a knot of disbelief and tears"; a confrontation with someone that probably ended badly) 
• pp. 94-95 ("The question of race...began to fall apart"; activities with your family that you probably hated) 

3. Email to me AND bring to class two questions about this reading. (You will try to answer each other's questions during class.)

In addition, be sure to bring 50 Essays to class as you will read George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant." 

Lastly, stop by on Friday during tutorial to pick up your summer essays before the weekend. If you don't get them from  me, I will leave them with the substitute. 

For Tuesday, Sept. 20

1. Read pp. 1-55 of The Color of Water. 
2. Write one typed page in response to the following question: How would you describe McBride's narrative persona, and what strategies does he use to develop that persona? Check later in the weekend for a sample response that uses the De Quincey reading completed in Friday's class. Click here for that sample response.
3. Via email, submit two questions about The Color of Water to me. These should focus on aspects of McBride's writing choices.

In class, we will begin with an in-class reading of  Hughes's "Salvation," in 50 Essays, which we did not get to on Friday.

On a separate note, notice independent reading assignments and the vocabulary list posted to the right (under Syllabus and Assignments). Read about the independent reading assignment this weekend; maybe you can even decide on a book. The vocabulary list is where I will try to keep track of unfamiliar words that come up in class. If I miss any that you would like to see on this list, just email it to me. You will not be quizzed on these words, but it would be great to see them in your writing over the course of the year. The listed words link to their Merriam-Webster definitions.