Writing 2: Seeing In Common (2024SP)

Steve Dickison: sdickison@cca.edu tel 510-301-3876

Class Meets: Monday & Thursday, Jan 18–May 2, 9:40–11:00 am, P2—80 Carolina
Office Hours: after class by request

For some people, to dream is to step outside of reality, relinquish the practical meaning of life. For others, however, there is no meaning to life unless informed by dreams, the place we go in search of songs, cures, inspiration, and even solutions to practical problems that befuddle and elude us in the daytime, but which are laid out in all their possibilities in the realm of dream. […] not as mere oneiric experience, but as a discipline related to our formation, to our cosmovision, to the traditions of different people who approach dreams as a path toward learning, self-knowledge, and awareness of life, and the application of that knowledge in our interaction with the world and other people. —Ailton Krenak, “Of Dreams and the Earth,” Ideas to Postpone the End of the World, 2020

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Writing 2 continues the work begun in Writing 1 on strengthening students' ability to write, read and discuss at the college level, with emphasis on literary and visual analysis, and research and argumentation skills. The course will revolve around a specific theme selected by the instructor.

SECTION DESCRIPTION (edited from what’s posted at CCA portal):

The notion of “seeing in common” takes social life as a crucial basis for how we encounter our mutual present, our distinctive and overlapping histories, and our collectively imagined futures. As creative persons who find ourselves together in shared space and time, imagining, experimenting, and making new work, we come to shape our plural forms of life alongside and with the help of friends and strangers. With materials common to us all, we'll work at voicing and fielding questions, navigating common concerns over our hard-to-grasp world, and finding ways to recognize and realize our beneficial interdependence. Student writing, putting shared resources into play, will move toward a final project devoted to each student's focused area of study.

Required reading. Every student must have a copy of the one required book. This work can be found in local bookstores, or can be ordered directly from the publisher. Please avoid ordering from giant conglomerates that put all creative work at risk. Bring the book to class when we’re working with it; the publisher’s E-book option is fine.

1) adrienne maree brown, Grievers (AK Press, Black Dawn Series, 2021) $15 paperback or $7.50 e-book available: https://www.akpress.org/grievers.html
+ Other required readings will be provided as print-outs, pdf, or web resources

Please note: Some of the works that we read or otherwise share in this class may contain challenging and potentially troubling material: depictions of acts of violence or self-harm, language that may be offensive, overtly sexual language, etc. Everyone is asked to consider these works as part of our collective study, and to help create an atmosphere of mutual respect and sensitivity.