what to do for this week's visitor! & what you should have completed on snow day! note Workshop 1 date!

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Preparation for this week, 24 Feb: we begin the class with an author visit, and then learn how to participate in Workshop 1, which will take place TUESDAY 10 MARCH! you will present either a paper or research poster: which decided by lottery in class!

Also note changes on the TAB: schedule & the addition of a new TAB: workshops: these are crucial additions so be sure you understand them. 

>>>SECTION TWO: ACCELERATING QUEERNESS 

Tuesday 24 February – Sisterhood’s Table of Parts <ENSZER VISITS>

·       READ: Enszer, Sisterhood: as much as you can. Read as individual poems, but also read as a long story: what is that story about? How do you know? What difference does it make to read many poems as well as single poems? Pay close attention to the book’s Table of Parts: what sort of poem is this too?

·       If for any reason you have been unable to secure a copy of the book for today’s assignment, then make a point of using the time you would have spent reading the book to find our what you can about the author, Julie Enszer, and reviews of the book, online. Bring that material into class too.

·       Bring questions for the author and interests to share!

·       CONSULT: Transgender Studies Quarterly: http://tsq.dukejournals.org.proxy-um.researchport.umd.edu/content/by/year  Look for the journal on the UMD Libs Research Port system: http://researchport.umd.edu/ : figure out how to learn about a journal and its history: Enszer may have pointers about how to do this….

[OPTIONAL READING NOW, BUT FOR USE LATER: Claire Ainsworth (2015). Sex redefined: The idea of two sexes is simplistic. Biologists now think there is a wider spectrum than that. Nature 518 (19 February 2015): 288-291. doi:10.1038/518288a.  http://www.nature.com/news/sex-redefined-1.16943?WT.mc_id=TWT_NatureNews  ]

Today we want to think of books and readings and publications as alive, as companioning their authors, editors, and makers: they are objects, gateways, bits of actual people, changing and connecting….

Enszer is faculty here at UMD, has a PhD in the WMST program in which she works now, and is a long time pioneer in transdisciplinary uses and promotions of creative writing as theory and activism. She will visit our class today to talk about her books. So bring your interests and questions, bouncing off what you have read and what you have been able to find out about her and her work online! She is another of several authors who will either visit class or who will be on campus for exciting events! Find her website online….

The second half of class we will go over what you will do for the first workshop, which will take place 10 March, in two weeks! We will have a lottery to see whether you will do a paper or poster, if you will collaborate, how to work with partners, and more! For more information and a handout go to the TAB: workshops.

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What you should have completed on our Snow Day!
Tuesday 17 February – Times and Places: what they say to each other   
• READ: finish Paoletti’s book, and read four more stories from Gay Propaganda.
• NEXT CLASS: learn about the Workshops coming up and logbooks; TAB: workshops

How do these two books open up our expectations for the “tangled community, entangled communities: lesbians and always more” that our course is about? What is entangled in these books? How do they tangle together, how are they worlds apart? What timelines do they make vivid? What places do they shift and alter? 

Be sure you have looked over the entire website carefully and explored links. 
Catch up on any reading or web work you have not yet done. 

Working with logbooks has altered and we will discuss that in class. Remember, changes to the schedule can always happen, so checking the website several times each week matters! 

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