UWB Conversation Entry Exercise

Conversation entries are your way of conversing with the writers, artists, critics and scholars that we are reading/viewing/listening for our class. For our class, we will post publicly (in discussion boards) so that you can read alongside each other and build knowledge collectively in conversation. If there is more than one reading assigned, you do not have to write a separate entry for each reading, but I expect that you will be comprehensive rather than focusing only on one reading (or some of the reading). What this means is that if we have readings spanning two days from two different books, I expect your conversation entry to address both books. For the sake of this particular Conversation Entry, the reading to cover would be the reading assigned for the previous Thursday and for this Tuesday. Please respond to the following questions in response to the reading (with a minimum of 300 words for this total Conversation Entry). Please include a word count at the end of your post.

1) Note any words or phrases that are unfamiliar to you or that are used in a special sense. List them below and choose one to generate a Hundreds on what this new word or phrase brings to you in your lexicon/vocabulary. For a good example of this, look up an entry in Counter-Desecration: A Glossary for Writing Within the Anthropocene (edited by Linda Russo, Marthe Reed, Allison Adelle Hedge Coke). The library has an online copy you can access (Links to an external site.) (or I do recommend it as a useful book to have on hand as a creative reference):

a.

b.

Hundreds:

2) Note two specific concepts that stand out to you as noteworthy in some way and why. This can be something totally new to you or something that you had never thought about in exactly this way (e.g. seeing it through a new lens). List them below and choose one to generate a Hundreds on what this new concept brings to the field of your thinking.

a.

b.

Hundreds:

3) Choose one line or sentence that you think speaks to the heart of this reading OR choose one line or sentence that you find really generative for you in your writing and thinking and write this sentence below. Then, write an additional line in response – could be a counterpoint, a line to keep digging below the surface, a line excavating the structure.

Line from reading:

Your line:

4) Using one of the concepts above, create a question you can ask the rest of the class about the concept. Using “how,” “why,” or “in what ways” as your beginning will elicit detailed responses instead of simple answers. Please make the question specific to a question of writing content or craft.

5) What item (or items) did you find confusing, puzzling or perplexing in the reading for class? Note the item and be sure to ask for a clarification.

6) Based on your answers to Questions 2 and 3, what questions are you interested in posing to thewriter(s), artist(s), critic(s) and scholar(s) of this work? Because we will have Quenton Baker and Paul Hlava Ceballos visiting, please post questions for them (not the other authors). How is this related to your own writing?