Thursday Active-Writing Assignment #3

For this assignment, you’re going to call someone you know and ask them about something they cook: Who taught them to do it? When did they start making it? How did they found about it? Why do they do it the way they do it? Etc.

Several of you have already written about and/or talked about in class someone you know — a parent or grandparent — who has interesting eating habits or recipes. You don’t have to choose that person. It can be anyone, but I’d rather it be a non-roommate/fellow student. And no emailing/texting! Call this person on the phone (or ask them about it in person).

Next, write at least a longish paragraph or two about what you found out from this person. ID the person, the recipe, etc. Let me know if you have any questions.

Reading Response #3

Your response to the reading below should be in your Journal doc by 5pm CT on Monday, September 18.

For your journal entry this week, you will experiment with writing a headnote, which is simply an introduction to a recipe. While headnotes often focus on the history of a dish or some practical matter related to the execution of the recipe, many writers use the headnote space to write a miniature personal essay. I would define some of the reading you’ve done as an essay-as-expanded-headnote (the excerpt from Kim Sunée’s Trail of Crumbs, for example). And some of the food memories and experiences you’ve written about in your journal could become headnotes for recipes. For your third reading assignment, I’d like you to read this packet of headnotes and this slightly personal thing about eggs.

What do you think? If you are a recipe user, do you like personal headnotes or do you prefer a more practical introduction? Could you think of your first story assignment as a headnote?

Journal #3

In at least a few paragraphs, write about your ideal sandwich. Maybe you’ve had this sandwich. Maybe you haven’t. If you have had this sandwich or some version of it, where were you? If you haven’t had it, where would you go to get it or the stuff to make it yourself? Where can you picture yourself eating this sandwich?

Thursday Active-Writing Assignment #2

  1. Take a pen and notebook and head outside.
  2. For 15 minutes, make a list of everything you see, smell, feel, touch, taste, hear. The list can just be words and phrases, but try to be as specific as possible. Try to change your perspective by walking around or getting down on the ground, or looking up. You get the idea.
  3. Take your list to your computer and add it to your Journal doc on Google Drive.
  4. Look over your list and pick three things to which you can attach some memory involving food. Write a longish paragraph about each of these memories.
  5. That is all.

Reading Response #2

Your response to the readings below should be in your Journal doc by 5pm CT on Monday, September 11.

For your first story assignment (which we will talk about in detail during class on Tuesday, September 5), you will use food (or drink) as a vehicle to explore personal history. This week, you will read a bunch of stories that do this in different ways.

Please read:

It’s a good chunk of reading, so don’t wait till the last minute. In your Journal doc, tell me which one of these is/are your favorite(s) and why. What does your favorite story do that the others don’t? Did you not like one or more of these? If so, tell me why.

Journal #2

On Tuesday, you wrote about oranges without using many/most of the words one would normally need to write about oranges. You’ve read or will read by Monday a couple of pieces of writing, one very orange-centric and the other only loosely connected to oranges. For your first journal entry, I’d like for you to write about a memory involving oranges. (For our purposes, “orange” can mean any of the orange, sweet, tangy fruits related to oranges: clementines, tangerines, etc.) Your journal entry can be a very orange-centric memory or it can be something more oblique (like The Most Human Sound reading). There is no wrong approach. Some of you already took this approach last Tuesday. If you’d like to explore that same memory, just take a different approach. Aim for at least 500 words. And remember, your journal entries don’t have to be fully formed, polished things. The purpose of doing them is to get you started writing. So it’s okay to have gaps, stops/starts, TKTKs.

Due by the beginning of class on Tuesday.

Thursday Active-Writing #1

It’s week one and I’m already cheating. Technically, this active-writing assignment is really three active-writing assignments, but I’m choosing to call it one active-writing assignment with three parts.

Part 1: Write about your first food memory (or an early food memory).

Part 2: Write about a memorable food journey you take (or have taken). What do I mean by “journey?” Whatever you want it to mean.

Part 3: Write about your saddest meal. Interpret “sad” however you’d like.

Aim for at least a longish paragraph on each. Your entry should be written in your Journal doc on Google Drive by 10am on Friday, September 1.

Reading Response: Week #1

Your response to the two readings below should be in your Journal doc by 5pm CT on Monday, September 4.

Read this excerpt from John McPhee’s book, Oranges. What works? What doesn’t? Do you want to keep reading this book? Why? Why or why not? What’s your favorite sentence in the excerpt? Write at least a couple of paragraphs of thoughts in your Journal doc.

Also read Rosanne Cash’s The Most Human Sound, which was published in the Oxford American. In your class journal, tell me what you think about it and then be prepared to discuss it in class on Tuesday. What do you think? How do oranges operate in this essay? Can we call this “food writing?” Either way, do you like this essay? Why? What works? What doesn’t? Write at least a couple of paragraphs of thoughts in your Journal doc.

Journal #1

In your journal doc, make a list of at least five foods about which you have strong feelings. The feelings can be good, bad, mixed, complicated. And for the purposes of this assignment, “food” can mean anything—a single food (eg, Red Delicious Apple), a category of food (eg, beans or chocolate), a dish type (eg, burger or salad), or a brand (eg, Amy’s frozen burritos). “Food” can even mean “drink” or “candy” or basically anything else that you can digest.

Once you have your list, pick one of those things and write about it for 5-10 minutes.

Due: Before class starts on Tuesday, August 29.