Final Class This Thursday

Here we are at the end, or rather nearly the end. On Thursday we'll do the course evaluations first, then we'll jump right into our final reading/presentation/critique of the semester. We'll start class in our customary room, 15b, then move up to G31. Your full edition of at least 20 copies is due at the start of the period, 3:15. We'll start the reading at 3:45. It's imperative that everyone get to class on time. Thanks.

Each student will have about 8-10 minutes to read/present. I wish it were longer, but we just don't have time. I'd love for the final session to be an active and real critique, rather than a mere celebration, but there's no reason why it can't be both.

If anyone could use some help with labor (other classmates to help fold, sew, etc.) or materials (long-reach stapler, anyone?), please post a note in the comment box below or send me an email message at csmith@corcoran.org.

Lastly, I urge everyone to do double-duty with proofreading. If you want me to look over your text, I'm happy to give it my copy-editing eyes.

With apologies to TS Eliot, let's end with a bang not a whimper.

Tomorrow's Open Class: Ideas Welcome

Jordan, We would be swiftly arrested and all the commuters would hate us and hate poetry or whatever we're reading at the megaphone. This is why it sounds like a great plan to me, just maybe not for this class. I don't want to do anything that some of the participants might resist absolutely. 

I posted something in the comments this morning, but I obviously didn't do it correctly. My idea is to compose and make a 16 page chapbook (standard format) in an extremely compressed time frame (edition 100). I think we could compose the texts, copy, fold, staple, cut, and number them in 60-75 minutes. This would leave us about 90 minutes to read them and distribute them to the unsuspecting publick at an outside place TBA (weather permitting).

Each participant could handwrite/draw/etc. on an 8.5 x 11 page, which shrinks down on the photocopier at 50% to the perfect 4.25 x 5.5 size. We could choose an idea or thread and go from there. This is the return of the democratic multiple. Remind me to tell you about the Oxford 1877 Caxton Celebration Bible.

I (we) welcome other ideas! Let's go. I'm going to post this as a regular blog post because I don't want it to vanish again. [And I tried to enter it into the comments section again and again messed it up.]

_______

The Final Stretch

Only three sessions left...

Tomorrow will be busy with final project presentations and other odds-n-ends. I'm starting to think that we should retool the plan for the second-to-last class on April 28. It makes more sense to have all the the final projects (an edition of at least 20) due at the same time, on the last day of class, May 5.

This change will "open" next week's class for a new plan that we'll discuss tomorrow.  Start thinking about
what we might do, especially outside of our classroom confines.

SIGN UP PLEASE: Liora, Mia, Caroline, Katie, Sara

Tomorrow is our first workshop day. I've yet to hear from the five students listed above. We have two open slots for tomorrow and three open slots for the following week, April 21.

Each student will have 10-15 minutes to explain and defend their project in the terms that we've been discussing all semester. How does your project illustrate or exemplify these issues? Imagine an intelligent person asking you, "But, why?" Each student needs to submit to me via email an excerpt of your proposed text. I also want to conduct a mini-crit  of your writing in the space of your allotted time. It will be a busy day. We also need to hear Liora and Sara's "Like Former" pieces.

Directly after class at 6:00, I'll be riding my bike up to 87 Florida for a reception. I think Jordan is also coming. I'm coming to represent "poetry" others are coming to represent "printmaking." Who else wants to come? Jordan and I are going to read for under 5 minutes each. I'm looking for one other writer. Who's game?

Send questions to me at csmith@corcoran.org

Project Workshop: First Set

So far, six students have signed up for the April 14 - April 28 sequence. We have space for one more, but not more than two. Ideally, we'll workshop the texts/ideas of eight students each of the next two weeks, but if we do seven and nine, that's OK.

Here's the census:

April 14-April 28:   Steven, Stephanie, Jane, Jordan, Camden, Kristin

April 21-May 5:  Amy, Christy, Lindsay, Ella, Diana

So ... unless I hear otherwise, the undeclared students will workshop on April 21 and present on May 5.
I apologize if someone sent me an email message or talked to me about other arrangements. Let me know if that's the case.

For the seven slated to present this Thursday, please send me an excerpt of your draft text (a pdf or .doc) by Thursday noon at the latest. I'll make photocopies to be ready for the start of class. Also be prepared to talk about format and other relevant matters. Send questions to me at csmith@corcoran.org.


 __________________________

Baltimore Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is going to be great! I've put five new websites on the online reading list (the top five). If you have an hour or so to spend reading and viewing these sites, it will enrich your experience at UMBC. If nothing else, watch the YouTube video and read Steve Clay's short essay. This is recommended, but not required.

LOGISTICS!

I am driving and currently have two available seats. Meet me at E St a few minutes before 3:00.
I'm leaving precisely at 3:00, and I won't wait for you if you're a few minutes late (sorry).
Amy June is driving, but I think her car is full. (Bring quarters for parking, Amy.)
Sara Winston has offered to drive, but would rather not if possible.
Who else might drive?
Who needs a ride?
I'm going to give $25 to each driver for fuel and parking. It might not cover it all, but should come close.


Write in the comment box to tell me what your plan is.
 If you want to ride in my car, send an email message to csmith@corcoran.org.

I've only heard from one student who can't make it.
Let me know via email ASAP if you can't or don't want to make the trip.
Lastly, once again, my cell phone number is 202.460.6864.

Directions to the special collections library on the UMBC campus are posted in a previous blogpost.

Ride Dispatch to UMBC

Who needs a ride to UMBC this Thursday?
Who has room to give someone a ride?

Respond in the comment box to this post or the post before....

Send questions & confusions to csmith@corcoran.org

Dick Higgins, Something Else Press, UMBC Special Collections Visit

Dear W2BR Students, 


Below you'll find the parking and directions to get to where we're going. Yes, it's a little bit confusing. I'll personally compensate the parking and fuel fees for the vehicles traveling up. Not a problem.

My Mazda MPV can take 3 other riders....

I've only had one student say she couldn't make it. Please let me know right away if you don't plan to make the trip. 

We need to sort it all out so nobody needing a ride is left without a ride. This might be a little tricky. I think the best plan is for the other drivers to make known who is planning to ride with them. People who need a ride should post in the comment section of this post. I'll be leaving from the D'town building at 3:00 promptly.

My cell phone number is 202.460.6864

I check my email way too frequently at csmith@corcoran.org 

LASTLY, If you want to see particular pieces in the Dick Higgins Intermedia collection at UMBC (check the website), let me know ASAP so I can ask Tom to have them ready for our visit.

REMEMBER: Georgetown Building Tomorrow, 3:15 Sharp, Room 310

We have 14 of the 16 submissions for "Like Former."
Waiting for the last two...
If you're not in it, you're not in it...

If you have bonefolders or sewing needles, please bring them.

Send questions to me at csmith@corcoran.org or leave them in the comment box here.

Like Former

I now agree, goodbye punctuation!

The title of our book will be "Like Former" or maybe "like former." The horses are out of the barn and onboard the ship that has begun to sail.

Submit a text (include image/graphic/non-typographical work/etc. if you like) that plays off the title or not. Try not to "illustrate" the title with your lit piece. Your spread is 8.5" high by 10" wide (include space for margins/gutter). We're going to trim the fore-edge by half an inch.
 
Ella (cover) and Liora (layout): please send me an email so we can coordinate.

Email me your submission no later than Tuesday midnight. Preferred formats include .doc, .docx, and .pdf.

If you have a question, please drop it in the comment section of this post so everyone can access it.

-- Casey


PS: Wonderful class on Thursday. Both Buck and Doug told me that they loved it.

Assignments on your Radar

1.  Send your final project proposal to me via email on or before next Wednesday, March 30. The proposal doesn't have to follow any set format, but make sure you give as full a picture as possible of what precisely you plan (you can think of it through the lens of the fictive "content/form" split, if that helps you). Your project need not be a chapbook, but it must be a multiple in at least an edition of 20. More on this later.

2. The following week you have your second essay due on any subject having to do with the ideas and materials we've discussed in the post 1900 period. More on this later, also.

Workshop/Presentation Pairings

Sign up (in the comment section) to be in one of two groups:


April 14 & April 28
          or
April 21 & May5

The first date in the pair is the workshop date, the second is the presentation date.

Send questions to me at csmith@corcoran.org

Class Anthology

As promised, next week's class will take place in the Georgetown building, room 310. Please be there promptly at 3:15, (earlier is better if you can swing it). It will be primarily a "building" class, what Aaron Cohick calls "the hand-mechanical": collating, folding, sewing, and trimming. We'll also have demos led by A+B students.If we have time left, and I really hope we do, we can read and discuss some of the work.

The writing and the design work will, of necessity, be completed prior to next week's class.
We need to determine a number of different things in class today: "theme", edition, format, layout, type, materials, etc.

REMEMBER, NEXT WEEK, MARCH 31, GEORGETOWN 310

We're Back!

Hi Everyone! Welcome back. Class today promises to be busy, fun, and thought-provoking. Please arrive promptly at 3:15, ready to start. At around 5:00 we're expecting a guest or maybe two. At 6:00 everyone is encouraged to come upstairs to the opening reception of "Petty Thieves," co-curated by our classmate Jordan.

As for the reading in "Mimeo Mimeo," concentrate on the final piece, Richard Price's "Cat-Scanning the Little Magazine." Of all the wonderful pieces, his is the most idea-driven. It ties together many of the preceding chronicles. The piece on Billy Griffiths is also great, as is the Raworth interview.

Type up a page of response for class (check the syllabus in Week to Week in the pdf drop). This document can take any form (brief paragraphs, focused free writing, poem, list, etc.), but should be a genuine response to the ideas and narratives in MM.

PS: I'll make some photocopy packets of the Price essay and leave them on the desk outside of my office.

March 10 Class Might End Early

Class might end a few minutes before 6:00 because I need to hustle up to College Park for a poetry/performance. It will be like this: Chalkboards. I'm driving. If there's room in my car, you can pile in (if you sign a liability waiver... not kidding, the nature of the beast).

March 3, Update

I'm thrilled that we had perfect attendance last week at the LC. Direct and material experience with the objects that we're studying is crucial to understanding their social, political, aesthetic, etc dimensions. The sense of touch--the haptic sense--is often overlooked when it comes to the apprehension of literature. We tend to think of what I'll call "the literary experience" as happening only through the eyes and ears. What is the role of touch? I"m not talking about the kind of nostalgic response people often have about "curling up with a book" but something on a deeper level. Let's talk about this in class today.

Now for some news. I've written up a new blueprint for our remaining sessions. It is not exhaustive, this blog will continue to the "voice of authority" when it comes to directions and reading assignments and other such matters. I'll distribute paper copies of this in class this afternoon. I'm also dropping a pdf file on to the drop site; it's called Week by Week.

Unfortunately, I have to renege on my plan to bus up to the NY Chapbook Festival. It turns out that I want to hear a lecture tomorrow (March 4) at the Library of Congress: Mark Samuels Lasner on late Victorian book collecting. Let me know if you're interested in attending; it promises to be wonderful. If anyone does go up to NY for the chapbook festival, they can substitute a short review of the event for the Mimeo Mimeo review due on March 24. See me for details.

Next week, March 10,  your first paper is due at the start of class. It does not have to involve primary research; that's only one option (and a difficult one under a short time frame). It would be perfectly fine to do a close "Sherlock Holmes" type  of reading/examination of one particular text object. It is possible to conduct such research with digital facsimiles, but be aware of the inevitable information loss that will occur (see my first note above). You might also find a topic in the secondary reading you want to explore further. See me if you have questions. The earlier the better. I'm expecting the papers to present ideas not merely rehearse facts. Your paper should have some kind of argumentative edge to it; it shouldn't be a chronicle or a hagiography. We're going to talk more about this in class today.

First Paper Due Next Week, March 3

The first of two extended essays is due at the start of class next week. The topic of this paper is up to you as long as it addresses issues pertaining to historical broadsides and chapbooks before 1900. I've uploaded five articles to the "pdf drop" section of the blog (above the links to the right) that might serve as a starting place. On J-Stor I pulled down 993 articles from the search term "chapbooks." You might want to browse through some of these.

Anyone struggling to find a topic should send me an email message. We'll be able to shape it appropriately. Undergraduates should write about five full double-spaced pages; graduates about eight. The single most important tip for a successful paper is to make sure it is genuinely arguable. Could an intelligent person disagree with your conclusions? If the answer is yes, that's a very good sign. Remember to give your paper a lively title, and remember to carefully revise and proofread it. I have a low tolerance for casual errors in upper-level electives.

If you have any questions, small or large, send me a message at csmith@corcoran.org.

Today at the Library of Congress

REMEMBER: 2:45 at New York Ave entrance for those taking the Metro together (recommended for anybody who hasn't been to the Library of Congress before). 3:15-3:20 outside the west and main entrance to the Jefferson Building of the LC. 3:30 outside the Rosenwald Room (LJ239).

This is going to be a fabulous afternoon. Remember to take notes and to ask good questions. You've all done a good deal of reading about historical broadsides and chapbooks. Bring that knowledge out into the open.

Class today will conclude around 5:00 pm, at which time you're free to go. But for those who want to continue the discussion, we'll move to a nearby coffee shop or restaurant. Everyone is welcome.

Class Next Week at the Library of Congress

This is a mandatory class. In many respects, it's one of our most important sessions of the semester. If you know that you are unable to attend, please inform me immediately. For those of you who have never been to the LC before, it's really confusing. You will need a guide. I will be that guide. For those students who know how to get to the Rare Books and Special Collections Department (LJ 239), assemble outside of the Rosenwald Room no later than 3:30.

For those of you who are new to the LC, or just want to go along with the group, we will be leaving this building from the NY Ave entrance at 2:45 promptly. We will walk north on 17th to the Farragut West Metro (Blue/Orange Lines), and take it to the Capitol South Metro. From there we will walk up to the west entrance of the Jefferson Building (the oldest one) on the corner of Independence and 1st SE. Students on bikes or coming from other places can meet the Metro-riders at the tables outside of the entrance. We will go in together. Remember to leave your contraband at home because we will have to go through metal detectors and all of that fun.

My mobile phone number is 202.460.6864.

The Curator of Rare Books, Mark Dimunation, will be showing a selection of rare and  valuable chapbooks, broadsides, and other printed ephemera. Just reading about this material, as we've done so far this semester, doesn't give anywhere near the full experience of the materiality of these items. Mark will finish around 5:00 pm. At that time you are free to do as you please. Some of us will be gathering at a local coffeeshop or pub to continue the discussion.

Remember that your first paper is due the following week, March 3.

CHAPBOOK FESTIVAL NYC

Save the date! March 4, 2011. I'll be taking an early-morning bus to NYC for the 3rd annual Chapbook Festival. All students in this class are welcome to come along. Time permitting, we might also make a trip over to Chelsea to visit Printed Matter.

Chapbook Festival
Printed Matter 

More on this later.

Mark Your Calendars

Some Important Dates*

February 24: Visit to LC for historical chapbooks (details following)

March 3: First paper due: “Broadside/Chapbook tradition from before 1900”

April 7: Visit to UMBC for Dick Higgins, Something Else Press Archive

April 21: Second paper due: “Broadside/Chapbook tradition since 1900”

April 28: Final Projects/Presentations (Part one)

May 6: Final Project/Presentations (Part two)

*Subject to change

Crawhall Broadsides

Assignment for February 17: Historical Broadsides

For next week’s class, write, design, and construct a broadside along the lines of those collected in Charles Hindley’s Curiosities of Street Literature. Spend some time browsing through Hindley’s selection. Your broadside will have essentially three units from top down: 1) Title/Image, 2) Text, 3) Colophon. To unify the design of the broadsides, only use images from the publications of Joseph Crawhall in the title/image or header portion of your broadside. Three Crawhall titles have been added to the online reading list on the blog. You can base your own drawings on Crawhall’s designs (curiously, he called them sculptures), or you can appropriate them directly via screen-grabs (essentially clip-art). Yes, you can cut, splice, mash-up, whatever you want to call it. The text will be the most fun and probably the most difficult to write. You can also cut, splice, mash-up texts from the broadsides we’ve been studying, but you can also write your own text of your own choosing (and it doesn’t have to be fake-antique).We will cut and paste these much in the same manner we made our chapbooks last class period, and we’ll print them on light card-stock (11x17) in an edition of 20 on the Xerox machine. Anyone wishing to make a historical broadside in a different manner, screen or letterpress for example, is free to do so, but remember that you’ll need to make an edition of 20.

Questions: csmith@corcoran.org

Assignment for February 10

Great class yesterday! Here's what to do for next week:

READING
All texts are on the list to the right under the short-title assignation I've given them for this blog (their bibliographically correct titles can generally be found on title pages). The fake covers for the gooblebook texts are infuriating; try to look past this. Their are other glitches, too. Be sure to click on the "spread view" and "thumbnail" options. You are encouraged to read beyond the limits defined below. Many of the excerpts are taken from prefaces and introductions; keep this in mind. Also take a look at some of websites about historical broadsides and chapbooks: National Library of Scotland, V&A, South Carolina, Lilly Library.

Elizabethan Ballads and Broadsides (v - xxxi)

Halliwell (browse) note: enjoy the long s in this one

Curiosities... (browse)

On Some Somerset Chapbooks (entire piece) note: this one is hard to find, keep scrolling about 2/3rds the way through. Look at the table of contents page, it's in the 2nd volume.

Catnach (v - xlii)

Chapbooks of the 18th Century (browse)


WRITING
Write a list of ten things you learned from this week's reading. Type them up on a single sheet of paper and bring the sheet to class. Simple as that. Write ten miniature paragraphs. Each of your ten might be two or three sentences (some of them might be a single sentence, that's OK).

QUESTIONS
csmith@corcoran.org

PS: Only 1 of 16 students has signed up to follow this blog. I highly recommend following.

first assignment

This blog is obviously under construction...

The class seems to be off to a great start. The first session was atypical in that I did most of the talking.

Your assignment for this Thursday (and I apologize for getting this to you on Sunday) is to bring to class the pages necessary to make a 16 page Xerox chapbook.

The starting point, which isn't the same as the theme or subject, of your chapbook should be your engagement with the idea of "the everyday." I'm leaving this intentionally vague in order to encourage a variety of approaches not bound by genre or other formal expectations or requirements.

To make a dummy, take two sheets of blank letter-size paper and fold them twice to make a 16 page booklet that measures 5.5 inches on one side and 4.25 inches on the other. Staple it on the spine and slice the edges that are closed open. Allowing for margins, combine text and image (the ratio is up to you) in a sequence of pages. Depending if you use the inside and back covers, you will have 13-16 pages ready to paste into the Xerox-ready form. The text can be typed or handwritten. They will all be stapled, not stiched. One other important thing: They will be ungraded. Remember to include a colophon of some sort: your name and the date (and other bibliographic data to your liking).

Send email messages to me at csmith@corcoran.org or look for me in my office during the school week if you have questions or if you want to show me a draft.