| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introductions Course Overview |  Didion, Joan. "Why I Write." In Joan Didion: Essays and Conversations. Edited by Ellen G. Friedman. New York, NY: Distributed by Persea Books, 1984, pp. 5-10. ISBN: 9780865380356. (Note: This essay is also frequently anthologized.)Holt, "The Nature and Purpose of Education." |
| 2 | Voice and Sensibility Audience Analogy and Argument | Lee, Chang-Rae. "Coming Home Again." In The Norton Reader. 11th ed. Edited by Linda Petersen, and John Brereton. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co., 2003. ISBN: 9780393978872. Baitz, Jon Robin. "Eat, Memory; American Dreams." New York Times Magazine, May 29, 2005, section 6, 55-56. Kothari, Geeta. "If You Are What You Eat, The What Am I?" In Best American Essays of 2000. Edited by Alan Lightman. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, pp. 91-100. ISBN: 9780618035809. |
| 3 | Food and Memory, Family and Culture What Makes Good Writing? | Gray, Francine Du Plessix. "Starving Children." The New Yorker, October 16, 1995, 51. Kummer. "Good-bye Cryovac." The Atlantic Monthly 294, no. 3 (October 2004): 197 (6 pages). |
| 4 | Share Journals "Starving Children": The Meaning and Value of Shared Meals Elements of the Essay | Fisher, M. F. K. "Garum," "A Pigges Pettie Toes," and "Fifty Million Snails." In Serve It Forth. New York, NY: North Point Press/Farrar, Straus, 1954, 1989, and 2002, pp. 33-39, 72-75, and 40-46. ISBN: 9780865473690. Dillard, Annie. "The Deer at Providencia." In An Annie Dillard Reader. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1995, pp. 115-19. ISBN: 9780060926601. |
| 5 | Discuss Fisher and Dillard What is an Essay? Ideas for Essay 1? | |
| 6 | Workshop Essay 1 | |
| 7 | Writing Clinic re: Essay 1 Bourdain and Bilger: Cooking As a Profession | Bourdain, Anthony. "A Day in the Life." In Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. New York, NY: Ecco/Harper Perennial, 2001, pp. 181-203. ISBN: 9780060934910. Bilger, Burkhard. "The Egg Men." The New Yorker, September 5, 2005, 111-119. |
| 8 | Introduce Research Project Watch Julia Child Episode and Discuss | Gopnik, Adam. "What's Cooking?" The New Yorker, September 4, 2000, 82-86. Acocella, Joan. "Food Processor." The New Yorker, August 19, and 26, 2002, 162-168. |
| 9 | The Book Review As an Essay Gopnik and Acocella: Food and History | Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2002, pp. 1-131, part 1: Introduction-chapter 5. ISBN: 9780060938451. |
| 10 | Discuss Fast Food Nation, Part 1 | ———. Fast Food Nation. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2002, pp. 134-288, part 2: chapter 6-Afterword. ISBN: 9780060938451. |
| 11 | Discuss Fast Food Nation, Part 2 | Gladwell, Malcolm. "Java Man." The New Yorker, July 30, 2001, 76-80. |
| 12 | Share Proposals and Refine Them "Java Man": Food As Science and Symbol | Berry, Wendell. "The Pleasures of Eating." In What Are People For? New York, NY: North Point Press/Farrar Strauss, 1990, pp. 145-152. ISBN: 9780865474376. Pollan, Michael. "Cruising on the Ark of Taste." In Best American Science Writing 2004. New York, NY: Ecco/Harper Perennial, 2004, pp. 201-206. ISBN: 9780060726409. Berry, Wendell. "A Good Farmer of the Old School." In Home Economics. New York, NY: North Point Press/Farrar Strauss, 1987. ISBN: 9780865472754. Bowe, John. "Nobodies." In The New Yorker, April 21, and 28, 2003, 106-133. |
| 13 | Discuss Readings: Solutions To the Fast Food Culture? The Economics of Our Food Supply | |
| 14 | Work on Ideas for Essay 2 | |
| 15 | Workshop Essay 2 in Small Groups | |
| 16 | Writing Clinic: Issues from Essay 2 | |
| 17 | Library Visit | |
| 18 | Meetings re: Essay 3 | |
| 19 | Workshop Essay 3 in Small Groups | |
| 20 | Writing Clinic: Issues from Essay 3 Alice's Restaurant | |
| 21 | Meetings re: Essay 3 As needed | |
| 22 | Writing Clinic As Needed | |
| 23 | Edit and Polish Essay 2 Re-revisions | |
| 24 | Oral Presentations | |
| 25 | Oral Presentations (cont.) | |
| 26 | Evaluations |
Courses:
Expository Writing - Food for Thought: Writing and Reading about Food and Culture >> Content Detail
Table of Contents
Study Materials
Readings
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Required Materials
One book is required for this class. It is:
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2002. ISBN: 9780060938451.
I also recommend:
Hacker, Diana, ed. A Pocket Style Manual. Boston, MA: Bedford Books, 1999. ISBN: 9780312406844.
It is concise and contains most of the important elements of several citation styles.
I also strongly urge you to purchase a good college dictionary if you do not already own one. By that I mean, not a pocket dictionary. Do not imagine that access to on-line dictionaries is an adequate substitute: it's not! If English is not your first language, you will need at least two good dictionaries.
Readings by Session