Class Schedule
Find our Draft Exchange here.
Embedded Files
Week of August 28
Day One: About the course, and think of this "what does the Space Race of the 1960s mean to you?" "How does it compare to what is going on now? What is at stake?" Let's compose a list in class with your reasons. I'll keep notes to share later. My presi for today.
Day Two: Before class for Day Two, Watch Kimball, W., dir. Man in Space, as well as NASA's, SpaceX's, Virgin Galactic's, and Blue Origin's videos, embedded below.
We will do some preliminary work in class . Sit with your Mission Team. Be sure you have ordered your copy of The Right Stuff. Here's the Spider Shop link.
Link to this on YouTube
Link to this on YouTube
Link to this on YouTube
Link to this on YouTube
Link to this on YouTube
Week of September 4
Day One: by class time, let's see what those Sputnik-launching Reds were up to! Comrades! Watch Klushantsev, dir. Road to the Stars. That link takes you to the YouTube page or you can see it below without an annoying commercial from the capitalist lackeys of Madison Avenue!
At the start of class, before discussing this longer film, we'll see what NASA is up to as well, today.
The film provides so many details that you may find yourself hard-pressed to answer, but: what one specific detail most "sticks with you"? How does that convey a bigger message?
I recall, for example, the heroic shot of the three Soviet space explorers returning in the speed boat, just after 36 minutes into the film, yet Klushantsev gives them no real individual personalities. That may say something about the USSR's program: it is not about heroic "Right Stuff" pilots but about a nation, a big socialist team working as one unit. Appropriate heroic music plays to reinforce the point.
Teacher's note: To write about this I need more evidence, but that's my hunch. And that level of attention to detail will be essential when you write for me. I have some counterevidence, about how we get to know one of the fathers of rocketry, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, at least as a visionary thwarted by a backward and religious Tsarist Russia (note the closeups of churches when he gets bad news). That deep characterization of one person may not, however, hurt my focus on those unnamed cosmonauts we see later.
In class, we'll gather by Mission Teams, with one of you in each team beginning a new draft in the Draft Exchange. On it, I want to see individual responses by each group member (include your names) that answers the question, "which one specific detail most 'sticks with you'? How does that convey a bigger message?"
Use my example above to guide you. If you have a time-code from the film, put it in as I've done.
We'll share with the whole class any that repeat among group members and between groups.
Day Two: Collaboration with your partners; prewriting about your ideas regarding heroism and public perceptions. See the trailers for The Right Stuff (1983) and (2020). As we did on day one, each team with collaborate on a single documentin the Draft Exchange. made up of four responses.
The question today: what is the biggest difference you find between the two trailers about the same topic? You can focus on visuals, language, sound but be specific. Don't cover all the differences. Pick one that most sticks with you and analyze why. Hint: I'm getting you ready for the Analysis Essay.
Link to this on YouTube
Link to this on YouTube
Revisions to this week's response due by Sunday, noon; extension for me being out of town Friday/Saturday: Review the writing rubric as you rewrite. Don't panic (yet). The rubric focuses on more formal work like the analysis essay. Right now for this shorter work you'll want to be clear, brief, and focused.
One other training wheel: no more than FIVE "is/are/was/were" in the revisions or you get a zero until they are exorcised. Take your advice from this page I wrote about how to avoid the problem. We don't expect you to write like professors, yet, but here's my piece on Neil Armstrong that tries to capture the excitement of the topic without much padding (five instances of "was" appear). Note too how my conclusion provides a "so what?" by moving from Moon missions to who fills potholes, today.
Week of September 11
Day One: Wolfe, The Right Stuff, Chs. 1-4. (Read Wolfe's short preface as well...it shows how he gathered all these stories. Do we trust him?)
As you read: Find a passage that you think expresses a bigger message about this entire section of the book, and be prepared during in-class writing to say why, finding connections to Wolfe's other ideas. Note: do not be the lazy-bones who picks one from the first few pages. Do that and get (gently) shamed when I grade you.
I will begin class taking you through one passage to show you close-reading techniques. I'll use a passage from the next chapters we read.
Want to know how to read for college v. high school? Though this guide from Purdue focuses on literary work, it's superb. You can avoid several traps (plot summary for a work I too have read, multiple times) so review the short guide here.
Day Two: The Right Stuff: Chs. 5-7 In-class preliminary work about heroism. Also check over two responses with my comments, to model what I consider strong work. These are shared with the authors' permissions.
E-mail which of this week's responses to grade by Friday, noon; remember you can keep working on them up to that time. If I don't get an e-mail, I'll flip a coin and pick one randomly.
Week of September 18
Day One: Wolfe, The Right Stuff, Chs. 8-12. Collaborate on responses: Each group member should come to class ready with a passage from these chapters that sums up a bigger message about Wolfe's book.
Day Two: The Right Stuff, Chs. 13-epilogue. Each group member should come to class ready with a passage from these chapters that sums up a bigger message about Wolfe's book.
E-mail which of this week's responses to grade by Friday, noon; remember you can keep working on them up to that time. If I don't get an e-mail, I'll flip a coin and pick one randomly.
Week of September 25
Day One: Read Koren, Marina "America's New Vision of Astronauts" (if off campus, connect via VPN) and watch the Super Bowl commercial for the Inspiration 4 mission (see below). Here's a direct link to it at YouTube. We'll discuss diversity in modern space travel, building upon The Right Stuff, about who gets involved with human space travel. You'll write a Mission Team Response with each student in the group taking on one of these questions:
What is the claim of Koren's that strikes the group as most important? Why?
Get granular: does she repeat words or phrases? If so, how do they influence you, as her reader?
What connection exists between her ideas and those of the readings and short films so far? Why does that matter?
What are the long-term implications of her being correct, for space travel? And can you detect any writer's bias on her part?
Day Two: with all this in mind, come to class with each team member ready to discuss, with their partners, a Space Race Now Response. Teams will focus as follows:
Mercury: NASA
Gemini: SpaceX
Apollo: Other private industry
Artemis: China, India, Russia
E-mail which of this week's responses to grade by Friday, noon; remember you can keep working on them up to that time. If I don't get an e-mail, I'll flip a coin and pick one randomly.
Week of October 2
Day One: See First Man by start of class. Workshop on one scene from the film, for half of class. Here's your task. You'll be returning to this again when we read Hansen's book.
Day Two: Class trip to Virginia Museum of History & Culture to see "Apollo: We Went to the Moon."
Pickup (12:00 pm) and campus return drop-off (2:45 p.m.) will be at the Transportation Hub located outside of the ground floor of THC, lake side of Richmond Way
We will leave campus for a guided tour by a Museum Docent at noon, returning at 3pm. I'll take care of transportation. If you have classes you need to skip, I'd happily write to your professors to be sure they'll let you go. If you cannot, you will need to go to the museum on your own before the response is due Sunday.
Response: What did you see at the Museum exhibit that expands your understanding of what we have studied? Why did it expand your understanding? Be specific in supporting that with details from our films and reading. Minimum length: 600 words. To craft a good argument, I highly recommend this short guide from Dr. Outka in English. This exercise is great practice for you longer writing assignments in October and November.
I will be grading both responses from this week. You will have until Sunday night 8pm to make corrections/additions to Day One's work. You'll have until Thursday next week to revise the Day Two responses.
Week of October 9
Day One: Hansen, First Man, Preface, Prologue, Chs. 9-16. In-class workshop to deepen reading for academic work. You may keep working on this until Sunday, when I'm back in Richmond and will begin grading them. Writing Consultant to visit class.
Day Two: Work from home. I will be attending an academic conference in Baltimore this day. We won't meet for class, but you'll do this: By class time Mission Teams will post to the draft exchange what they have for the Day Two response about the Museum. You should then review your team members' responses and give them advice, using this template.
Week of October 16
Day One: Fall Break
Day Two: Hansen, First Man, Chs. 17-end. In-class responses should focus on what Hansen covers that Chazelle's film does not. Focus on the passage from Hansen. I think you'll find the final part of the book (the section called "Icon" really helpful here in understanding Neil's life and career after Apollo 11).
Also have a look at this short home movie (direct link to YouTube) of the NYC parade for the astronauts.
Why am I showing it? I think it captures a sense of how fleeting the optimism was after Apollo 11. The crude little film seems very sad now. My bias is showing: The nation has never, in my lifetime since, again been as united over an historical event that did not involve tragedy (such as the brief moment of unity after the 9/11 attacks).
Extended Deadline for Museum response: Thursday, midnight.
Caleb will hold some optional conferences if you need to redo your responses. I'll let you know when I grade them if you should see him. If you do and revise, I'll average the two grades.
Week of October 23
Day One: Melfi, dir. Hidden Figures See it BEFORE class. Click the "view online" link at the page. I then was directed to another page where I chose "English" and the play button. Then the film began.
In class we work on this response.
Analysis Essay Preliminary Draft due by start of class
Day Two: Space Race Now Responses. This set of responses should focus on stories about women & space, today.
E-mail which of this week's responses to grade by Friday, noon; remember you can keep working on them up to that time. If I don't get an e-mail, I'll flip a coin and pick one randomly.
Week of October 30
Day One: Space Race Now Responses. This set of responses should focus on stories about women & space, today.
Also by start of class, Analysis Essay Draft Two due by start of class. You must sign up here to see Caleb for a draft review.
Day Two: Howard, R. dir., Apollo 13. See it BEFORE class. also "One Giant Leap to Nowhere" & Wolfe, T. (connect to this article via VPN if off campus, because of rights issues).
In class, group work on the film.
E-mail which of this week's responses to grade by Friday, noon; remember you can keep working on them up to that time. Note: You may not pick the Space Race Now response if you picked it for last week. If I don't get an e-mail, I'll flip a coin and pick one randomly.
Week of November 6
Day One: Think hard about what question you'd like to know more about, something that interests you for the final project. Research Proposal Workshop with Dr. Marcia Whitehead, Humanities Librarian, Boatwright Library . NOTE: class meets in Seminar Room 2, Boatwright Library, 1st Floor.
Day Two: Loeb, Extraterrestrial, chs. 1-7. Consider these questions before class:
What are the strongest arguments you see thus far, concerning Oumuamua's strangeness? And what is the best evidence that Loeb presents to defend those arguments? Your group will present your arguments. Keep in mind something Loeb says early on, that "A scientist must go where the evidence leads" (5).
This week's response will be graded next week. On Day One next week, we'll continue the work.
Week of November 13
Day One: Loeb, Extraterrestrial, chs. 8-end. I am not sure if Loeb has reacted, but new research tends to refute his hypothesis. Read that short piece from Science as well.
Question for the second part of our response begun last week: If Loeb is correct, and find artifacts from another civilization, what impact might this have on space travel by us, even in our own solar system? Interstellar travel by humans is not possible with any technology we now possess. Even robotic probes will take tens of thousands of years to reach another star. Use evidence from his book to support your point.
Final version of Analysis Essay due, by start of class.
Day Two: Space Race Now Responses
Week of November 20
Day One: Gravity See it BEFORE class.
Class Notes & Question: The physics of this film are, frankly, silly. It's a piece of entertainment, however, a drama about two characters. I suppose it could have been shot on a small boat trying to reach shore in a hurricane. Like First Man, the film version anyhow, it's a film about an astronaut who lost a child and who then loses a friend.
So let's look today not at what the film adds to our knowledge of space travel but of what gets people to see space-travel movies. Identify what you consider to be the most "Hollywood" moment in the film. Tell us why, in detail and with time-codes. We'll screen a few.
Pick either the Gravity response or last week's Space Race Now response for me to grade, before you leave town.
Day Two: Thanksgiving Break
Week of November 27
Day One: Draft of Research Proposal due, by start of class.
Gibson, W. & Sterling, B. "Red Star, Winter Orbit." Qs to consider for class: I want one document from each group but a repsonse from EACH of you in that document. Put your name there.
Mercury: How does this story (set in a future that never happened) predict things we are doing today? Cite examples.
Gemini: Which technology changes did Gibson & Sterling fail to predict? (see the ads in the PDF file for hints as to what technology looked like then) . One note: Though the Internet as we know it did not yet exist (Gibson is credited with imagining it, in fact) they did understand how a global information network might work, when the mutineers want to use it to get their story out.
Apollo: Korolev cannot go back to Earth, and he leads the mutiny. How is this a story about rebellion in service of something greater?
Artemis: I end on an optimistic note about space (that's Bruce Sterling's touch). How do you feel about space travel, now?
Day Two: Final Space Race Now Responses.
E-mail which of this week's responses to grade by Friday, noon; remember you can keep working on them up to that time. If I don't get an e-mail, I'll flip a coin and pick one randomly.
Week of December 4
Caleb will hold some one-on-one meetings if you want extra feedback
Day One: Final workshop to go over Research Proposals with partners.
Day Two: Final workshop to go over Research Proposals with partners.
Revisions of Research Proposal Due in Draft Exchange Folder The Witching Hour (EST) Monday, December 11.
Before my time, but let's see which of you can figure out the joke first...e-mail me. There will be a reward.
Google Sites
Report abuse