The Free Minds Project
Spring 2012 Syllabus
Theme: Questions of Exclusion and Inclusion
“I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.”
—Groucho Marx (1890-1977), American comedian and actor
NOTE: All readings are due on the date listed. This syllabus is just an overview. Please consult the
individual subject syllabi for reading questions and unit descriptions. Each reading is labeled according
to where you will find it: “book,” “handout,” or “reader” (course reader).
NOTE: A reading journal entry is due each class period.
Date
Wednesday,
January 11
Monday,
January 19
Thursday,
January 19
Monday,
January 23
Subject
ALL FACULTY
Wednesday,
January 25
Monday,
January 30
LITERATURE
Wednesday,
February 1
LITERATURE
Monday,
February 6
Wednesday,
February 8
Monday,
February 13
Wednesday,
February 15
WRITING
Reading Assignment Due
 “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” Zora Neale
Hurston (handout)
MLK DAY — NO CLASS
LITERATURE
LITERATURE
LITERATURE
LITERATURE
HUMANITIES
BLANTON MUSEUM FIELD TRIP
(Camp Fire meets at the museum)
Close Readings
 “anyone lived in a pretty how town,” e. e.
cummings (handout)
 Selection from Brownsville, Oscar Casares (book)
Masculinity
 Selection from Brownsville
Object and Subject
Visit from Oscar Casares
 Selection from Brownsville
The African in American Literature
 Selection from The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
(book)
Learning How to Use Sources
 Selected articles (handouts)
Characterization
 Selection from The Bluest Eye
Symbolism
 Selection from The Bluest Eye
A Look at Identity Using Film and Speech: The Joy
Luck Club
 “Defining the Other,” Jorge Capetillo-Ponce
(reader)
 “Race, Video and Dialogue,” Howard Gadlin and
Jan Jung-Min Sunoo (reader)
 “Race Matters, Media Matters,” Chon Noriega
(reader)
 “High Context Cultures and Low Context Cultures,”
Lilia Melani (reader)
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Monday,
February 20
Wednesday,
February 22
HUMANITIES
The Joy Luck Club (cont’d)
HUMANITIES
Monday,
February 27
WRITING
Smoke Signals
 “Writing Like a White Guy,” Jaswinder Bolina
(reader)
 Interview with Sherman Alexie (reader)
Documenting and Incorporating Sources
 Read sample essays (handout)
 Selection from Easy Writer
COLLEGE FAIR
FIRST DRAFT OF ESSAY DUE
Smoke Signals (cont’d)
 “Smoke Signals: Native American Media
Misrepresentation,” N. Bird Runningwater (reader)
The Great Debaters
 “Wiley College’s Great Debaters,” Gail Bell (reader)
Wednesday,
February 29
Monday,
March 5
HUMANITIES
Wednesday,
March 7
Monday,
March 12
Wednesday,
March 14
Monday,
March 19
HUMANITIES
Wednesday,
March 21
HISTORY
Monday,
March 26
Wednesday,
March 28
WRITING
Monday,
April 2
HISTORY
Wednesday,
April 4
HISTORY
Monday,
April 9
HISTORY
Wednesday,
April 11
Monday,
April 16
HUMANITIES
SPRING BREAK — NO CLASS
SPRING BREAK — NO CLASS
HISTORY
HISTORY
WRITING
Challenging Traditional Authority: the Promise of
“the Pill”
 Selection from America and the Pill, Elaine Tyler
May (book)
SECOND DRAFT OF ESSAY DUE
Black Women, Feminism, and Origins of the Civil
Rights Movement
 Selection from At the Dark End of the Street,
Danielle McGuire (reader)
Workshop Essays
 Bring latest draft of essay to class
White Women, Feminism, and Origins of the
Modern Women’s Movement
 Selection from The World Split Open, Ruth Rosen
(reader)
“Third World” Poverty: Struggle for Survival in the
US-Mexico Borderlands
 Selection from By the Lake of Sleeping Children,
Luis Alberto Urrea (book)
The Quest for Economic Justice: Braceros, “Illegals,”
and Workers’ Rights
 Selection from No One Is Illegal, Justin Akers
Chacón and Mike Davis (reader)
Transgendered Humans: Struggling with
Transphobia and Heterosexism
 Selection from Whipping Girl, Julia Serano (reader)
CARNIVAL AH! – ACC RIO GRANDE CAMPUS
FINAL DRAFT OF ESSAY DUE
Introduce Portfolio Essay
 Read through the sample portfolio essays
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Wednesday,
April 18
Monday,
April 23
CREATIVE WRITING
Wednesday,
April 25
CREATIVE WRITING
Monday,
April 30
Wednesday,
May 2
Monday,
May 7
Wednesday,
May 9
WRITING
Monday,
May 14
Monday,
May 21
CREATIVE WRITING
CREATIVE WRITING
CREATIVE WRITING
CREATIVE WRITING
FIELD TRIP TO SEE NICK FLYNN
 Some Ether, Nick Flynn (book)
The Poet’s Job Description
 Selection from The Poetry Home Repair Manuel,
Ted Kooser (reader)
 Selection from The Seagull Reader (book)
How a Sentence Becomes Verse
 Selection from The Seagull Reader
PORTFOLIO ESSAY DRAFT 1 DUE
Workshop Portfolio Essay
 Bring latest draft of portfolio essay to class
Helping the Reader See
 Selection from The Seagull Reader
Poetry as Song
 Selection from The Seagull Reader
Writing Our Futures
 Selection from The Seagull Reader
FINAL DRAFT OF PORTFOLIO ESSAY DUE
PORTFOLIO CONFERENCES
GRADUATION
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