Migration News

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the course. (Our first order of business is to come up with a cool name for me to call you all. "Migrants" is a bit off, and "Migrationnarrativeanalyzers" is a bit dumb. Extra credit to someone who can come up with a better tag.) I'll be putting announcements on this page having to do with course requirements, changes in these web pages, and other matters. Between this page and the main page, you should get a good sense of what's new and upcoming in the course. So I recommend checking out both those pages every time you visit the course web site--at least once a week.

12/19/01

Change of plans for Thursday's office hours: only 3:30-5....

12/18/01

Hey folks, our listserv is going to expire next week, so if you have any famous last words, now's the time to use them! Seriously, let me know if you'd like me to mail your projects back to you over the break, rather than wait till the New Year to pick them up at the English department office or till the beginning of the spring semester to pick them up from me at my office.

It's been a great semester, and you've been a great class. It was a pleasure and honor to teach and learn from you all. Enjoy the holidays and stay in touch!

12/12/01

My office hours for next week are M 9-1:30, 3-6; T 9-11:30, 3-6; W 9-12, 1-3:30; Th 9-11:30, 3-5. Those who want an extension on their final paper should contact me by Friday at the latest.

11/21/01

Hey folks, just wanted to let you know that I corrected the main page to reflect the reading assignments as I told you in class last Tuesday and realized in the process that the proposal for the critical essay is not due when you return from break, as I announced in class that day, but the following Tuesday. So see the new proposal page for details on this assignment, and enjoy the rest of the break!

10/30/01

Just wanted to let you know that I made explicit on the main page what's listed on the assignment sheet for the critical/comparative essay: a proposal is due the class after Thanksgiving Break. For a description of a proposal I'm having my undergrads write, click here. It lays out the general idea and goals of this genre of writing.

10/7/01

Hey folks, I've put copies of the Turner reading in an envelope outside my office door, so pick it up when you get a chance. My office hours this week are going to be seriously curtailed, as I'll be out of town from 2 pm Wednesday on and will be giving a lecture at the University of Rochester on Tuesday (I'll be driving back from Rochester, hopefully in time for class, that afternoon!). In fact, I'll only be available on M 12-1 and 2-4 and W 10-10:30. My apologies; I will, however, be in sporadic e-mail contact, so assuming no technical difficulties, let's communicate that way this coming week.

I've also revised several pages (including the basic listserv page, the in-class presentations page) and created two new pages (on the family migration narrative project and the final critical essay).

10/1/01

Hey folks, a technical glitch you should be aware of: my e-mail account has been having problems that I think are now cleared up, but the result is that I have not received any e-mail you sent to me personally or to the course listserv since last Thursday around 5 pm. So if you did try to send me something over e-mail between then and 10 am this morning, you'll likely get it bounced back to you with an error message appended to it. Can you forward that error message/original message to me personally at simon@fredonia.edu when you can? Thanks!

9/17-18/01

OK, folks, as we planned, we'll meet from 5-8 pm tomorrow and mush together the readings for the past two weeks. Please note that I added chapter two of Sollors's Beyond Ethnicity to the optional critical readings, as that's the chapter in which he makes explicit the connections between Puritan rhetoric and theology and multicultural American literature. Also please note the changes to the optional critical readings for future weeks. Finally, don't forget to sign up for a presentation date--guidelines and suggestions on presentations to come! See you tomorrow--bring caffeine!

Sonja, Kate, Chris, Robin, and Nic: come with the week of your presentation selected!

Two events you should be aware of: (1) on Thursday evening, 7:30 pm in the Williams Center, there will be a teach-in on the history, context, and repercussions of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon; (2) on Friday and Saturday there will be an interdisciplinary conference on "The Stakes of Global Studies," featuring scholars from around the continent and around the block. I will post further information as it becomes available....

9/13/01

Thanks, everyone, for your rapid responses to my questions. As I said on the listserv, let's NOT meet today and instead spend an extra half-hour in class next Tuesday. See the main page for changes to the reading schedule for the next couple of weeks, along with pagination updates on all optional critical readings. And see you all next Tuesday!

9/12/01

Hey folks, I have to cut my office hours short today: 2-3:45 pm, instead of 2-5. Sorry--meeting! To make up for it, I'll be in the office from 3-4 Thursday.

About our cancelled class and making it up, I was wondering if people could be free tomorrow, Thursday, at 5 pm, at our regular class location. Please email me or the list ASAP with your response to this idea. I'll let you know by noon tomorrow if we'll go ahead with our make-up class then, by email and by telephone and on here. So far, Angela Raimondo and Kate Child can make it--if we can get more than 2/3 of the group together, I'd recommend we go ahead and do it!

9/11/01

Class is cancelled and Fredonia is closed today.

9/4/01

All the links are up and running (sometimes in skeletal fashion) except the ones that describe and explain the written assignments in more detail. I'll put those up ASAP. Check here for details.

Please note the changes to the Schedule of Assignments from your syllabi--what's listed here supersedes what's printed there.

ENGL 514: Comparative Approaches to Literature, Fall 2001
Created: 9/4/01 9:01 pm
Last modified: 12/20/01 4:55 pm