LOW-STAKES WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

Purpose: The purpose of these low-stakes writing assignments is to encourage you to engage more closely with the texts we are reading and sometimes with your own written work. It is not to see how well you can elaborate an argument or how persuasive you can be or the extent of your critical prowess. That is why they are called lowstakes. Technical details: 1. Typed in 12-point, double spaced font 2. At least 270 words long Evaluation: Because these assignments are low-stakes, they will be loosely graded. I will look to see that you met the very basic requirements for the assignment (e.g. did you actually quote Links and undertake some kind of reflection?). You will receive a minus (-), a check (), or a plus (+) for each assignment. Submission: While you should save your assignments in a word document for your records, you should not submit the word document. Please copy and paste the text into the body of an email that you send to lowstakes.joe@gmail.com. Emails sent to my umn address will not be considered as submitted. Email your piece by midnight of the day it is due to lowstakes.joe@gmail.com. And, in case you missed the bolded text above: no attachments please. The assignments: LOW-STAKES 1: Pick one of the epigraphs at the beginning of Links (Freud, Tournier or Blake). Describe in your own words what point it is making. Then show how the novel develops this point (or, conversely, how the epigraph helps us make sense of the novel). Be sure to actually quote the novel!

LOW-STAKES 2:
Describe your first day at the organization you are working at. What does the place look like? Who are your colleagues and what are they like? What do you actually do there? What are your expectations and what are you looking for.

LOW-STAKES 3:
On pg. 6 of Oscar Wao the narrator asks, What more sci-fi than the Santo Domingo? What more fantasy than the Antillies? The implicit answer to this question is Nothing. But in what way is the history of the Dominican Republic Sci-Fi or fantasy?

LOW-STAKES 4 :
The previous service-learning journal will function as the first section of your final paper/portfolio. This reflection will serve as the second section. Whereas the first described the setting and some of the work, this one should discuss the relations between your work and the literature you are reading. What kinds of obvious (direct or indirect) connections are? What kinds of connections should there be there? Keep in mind that not every possible relation is a direct relation and that some of the most fruitful encounters are indirect. The more specific you are here (i.e. citing details from your work and from texts) the easier your final portfolio will be.

LOW-STAKES 5:
If Beale Street Could Talk is written in the first-person. What are the strengths of this? What are the weaknesses?

LOW-STAKES 6:
The first service-learning journal will function as the first section of your final paper/portfolio: it describes what the place is like and what you do there. The second, a reflection on relations between your work and the literature you are reading, will be the second section of your final paper. This third low-stakes assignment asks you to go further and speculate. What kinds of relations can you imagine between literature and your public life?