Final portfolio DRAFT VERSION

Writing has been the primary means of presenting your research this semester, and the portfolio is an opportunity (for both you and I) to see your production assembled, providing us a shared space to look for patterns in your work, and assess your writing at this time. It is a chance for you to consider your writing as an integral part of your discipline, of your practice, of your output, and of your work. Integrated Studies is a writing-based course, developed to support you as an artist who writes.

During the semester you have been investigating sites ranging from physical locations (parks, offices, libraries, schools, a bus tunnel, and City Hall) to more conceptual spaces (Calvino’s text “Invisble Cities” and your own proposed charrette spaces). For the final writing exploration of this semester, you’ll be investigating your own body of writings as sites of inquiry.

By the time the portfolio is submitted, you will have had exposure to a broad range of writing opportunities (journal sketches, revised drafts, self-reflective essays, proposal/charrette briefs, presentations, revisions, synthesis of resources, and blog entries, among others). Is your writing moving in directions that are helpful to you as an artist? In what ways can you improve upon this process?


For your portfolio (and this list in consistent within all the Integrated Studies courses), please include the following elements:

1. A compilation/portfolio of all your writings from the semester-- this should include EVERYTHING* you have written (a chronological list of your submitted works is included at the bottom of this page, but this packet may also include any notes, research, or mix tapes you have found relevant in your process). All works (wherever possible) should be three-hole punched and submitted in a three-ring binder, labeled with your name and the course title.

2. From these works, you will select and foreground three (3) pieces of your writing from this semester which will be the basis of a self-reflective writing introducing the portfolio (see #3 below). These three papers should be clearly separated from the other works in your binder. They may be any three pieces you’ve written (they could be three distinct works, multiple revisions of a single work, or a combination of these things).

3. An introduction/self-reflective piece introducing your portfolio. For length, consider a writing at least two pages, although you may want to explore this writing; I'll read as much as you write (it takes me awhile, but yes, really), and it's a great opportunity to really unpack your work this semester and take some time with your output. What worked? What sucked? Ideally, this paper will include your responses to both the coursework and your own writings. What role does writing fulfill in your studio practice? How are you taking steps to develop your work? What direction would you like the writing aspect of the course take in the future? Are you seeing your writing process grow? What are your hopes for writing in the coming semester, or coming years at Cornish?

In conversation Monday, we looked deeply at a synthesis paper from one of Kim's earlier classes, considering ways of responding to works from other students. This exercise was designed to complement the experience of receiving feedback from Kim's group (prior to Thanksgiving), and pave the way for your own critical assessment of your writing process, while laying groundwork in peer responses for future papers.

In this self-reflective, introductory (to the portfolio) writing please also describe your process of selecting three pieces from the semester. Why are they vital to you now? What links the works together? Is your process of research the same from one piece to the next? Are there common elements in the writings? How are these writings exemplary of your progress this semester?

All works for this writing portfolio are due Monday, December 10, 2007.

Everything* should include--if you choose-- a fair selection of your notes or preliminary writings. You don't need to extract or copy all of the pages from your journal, but if there are specific writings or notes or diagrams you've taken that have helped you go to someplace new in your writing, then yes, by all means, include them here.

List of writings (the basis of the portfolio):

Synthesis

So I've amended the calendar (link to the right) with the information below, but it seems helpful to clarify some of what I'm asking you to do in class today as well as over the break:

Today (Monday, 11/19) Kim's class will be joining us with the intention of having them mentor you through a process of writing analysis. Using a paper from one of Kim's prior classes (and I'll be providing you with a copy of this) as a model, they have been working to develop methods for offering feedback and creating a reflexive writing practice. My hope is that they will be sharing this process with you, allowing you to synthesize their practice with your own.

To support this work, I'm asking you to do a couple of things for Monday, 11/26:

First, read through the paper from Kim's class (entitled "Synthesis Paper, or How the Theory of Derive, Conversations with Imaginary Friends and Shouting in the Park Got Me a New Old Pair of Shoes") and make notes on it (literally, mark it up-- use it, amend it, question it, edit it). We'll begin next class by going through this together and seeing what trends emerge. How does the writer lead you to a topic? How are different sources integrated into the text?

Second, extending from the assistance you receive today (11/19), develop a NEW draft of your experience with Volunteer Park. This new draft should *do* two things: First, it should attempt to bring in/discuss/analyze some of the feedback you got from Kim's class, and second, it should attempt to synthesize some (or most) of the readings we've done on parks (from the Course Reader and in-class).

As I wrote on the calendar post:

The suggestions from Kim's class will be utilized in the next version, due Monday 11/26. For this version (keeping in mind that we will continue to work with this paper), please also consider the writings from the Course Reader II, and look for ways to synthesize your views with the views of Pierce Lewis, J.B. Jackson, Nicholson Baker, Alain de Botton and Francis Ponge (On Water was a hand-out in class). For example, how does your view of the urban park differ from Jackson's? How do you describe water distinct from Ponge, and what are those distinctions?

If you have any questions on the writing process we're adopting here (and it's a progression from the descriptions/experiences you've written thus far), please, please write them as comments on this post, and I'll respond to them as quickly as I can. The act of synthesizing new works into a text (drawing on different viewpoints, arguments, and topics)-- into your text-- is a crucial element in your work as a writer, and my hope is that we will be discussing the opportunities and difficulties frequently and deeply.

Go team.

Volunteer Park

Please post all of your suggestions, research, and links as comments to this post.

We will be leaving Kerry Hall for Volunteer Park at 1:30 pm on Friday.

Course reader and this week (Marc's class)

First off, Happy Veteran's Day to everyone checking in today. It was nice to sleep in and wake up to the Ellen Degeneres show this morning. The Chris Brown performance was awesome. Here's some Youtube of Ellen dancing to Chris, from an earlier appearance--

Okay, to work:
For this Wednesday, please come prepared with the Course Reader II (again, this one is available from Perfect Copy, located at the intersection of John and Broadway). They are doing an initial run of 13, so if you're #14+ that day, you may have to wait. If you would like to call ahead, their number is here

and for class, I'd like to discuss these first two articles--

Tosches, Nick. “Review of Gately’s Café”. The Nick Tosches Reader. New York: Da Capo Press, 2000, pp. 44-45. I can't believe they forgot this in the reader

and

De Botton, Alain. Excerpts from The Architecture of Happiness. New York: Pantheon Books, 2006.

also, skipping around a bit, please read this for Friday as well

Baker, Nicholson. Excerpt from The Mezzanine. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1990.

(the excerpt from de Botton is a bit of a departure from our current research into the "nature" of parks, but it provides a few frames that should be helpful as we move towards other spaces; the Tosches is waaay outside of our work, but his approach to writing on music/spaces seems really interesting to pursue)

Also, it may be helpful to look at the writings in relation to the field work we did last week at REI, Cascade People's Center, and the Federal Courthouse (links to REI and the CPC are located on the right), and discuss the writings/descriptions in the book we received from the GSA.

And, let's think about ways to conclude our readings/discussions of Calvino's Invisible Cities. What can we take from this work as we move forward?

Lastly (and yes, this post is gettin' real long), we'll discuss our field work for this coming Friday and next Monday. Go team.

New post

Okay, so I'm still a bit under the weather (my weekend included something like twenty hours in bed watching South Park episodes and sleeping), but I've gone back and updated the calendar with the events/timeline we discussed on Friday. To recap,

Each week for the rest of the semester will, for the most part, follow the same format:

Mondays will be discussion days in the classroom, looking at (in parallel ways) the readings and our field work from the previous week. What are the links you're noticing, and in what ways can those links be made visible in your writings? This week for example, we'll look at Calvino and Ponge (again), in the context of our time spent in Cal Anderson and Tashkent Parks.

Wednesdays will most likely be field work of some sort, providing the framework for that week's writings. This week, we'll meet at MCC, then out to some nearby greenspaces.

Fridays (and keep in mind this is all a pretty delicate balancing act) will most likely be spent both in the field AND the classroom. It's a long enough span for us to discuss some texts, be outside the classroom, and look at developing your works as writers! Although this week we meet at MCC, then go to the Federal Courthouse, meeting with the GSA representative at 2pm.

The calendar is your friend.