Can youth orchestras fortify a city? What, if anything, does kids making music or art have to do with democratic practice? What happens when we press on the terms play and listen in the contexts of childhood and of neighborhood, city, or country? In this community-engaged course we will study, experiment with, and rethink writing—all in the context of local K-12 music education. Students will work with and learn from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra OrchKids program. With these co-teachers, alongside mentors from the Center for Social Concern, we will explore El Sistema pedagogy, the assets of City Schools, and systemic racism and inequity in Baltimore. We will study and write about visual, aural and written texts found in different habitats, including OrchKids classrooms; Sheridan Libraries; Baltimore Museum of Art; Baltimore Banner; and what we see and hear in our everyday lives. In conversation with work by James Baldwin, Danielle Allen, Ada Limón, Judah Adashi, Vesla Weaver, and Jonathon Heyward, students will write critical reflections, personal narrative, academic argument, op-eds, and more. Throughout, we will discuss and rehearse writing as an intellectual, social, and always emerging practice. No artistic background needed; all are welcome. Many thanks to the Center for Social Concern for their support of this course.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Brodsky, Anne-Elizabeth Murdy
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

In 1994, 12 Black women coined the term Reproductive Justice. Its tenets are 1) the right to have children; 2) the right not to have children; and 3) the right to parent children in safe and healthy environments, free from violence by individuals or the state. What does Reproductive Justice look like in Baltimore in 2024? In this community-based course, students will engage with The Bloom Collective, which supports Baltimore families before, during, and after pregnancy in pursuit of Reproductive Justice: creating holistic and transformative conditions for people to have access and full provision to make the best decisions for their lives. The course co-educator and director of the Bloom Collective, Tanay Lynn Harris will guide students in exploring the interconnectedness of Reproductive Justice throughout our everyday lives in Baltimore City and beyond. Students in this class will write autoethnographies, proposals, presentations, reflections, and more. This course will culminate with a community gathering that celebrates Black Maternal Health Week where students will have opportunities to listen to members of the Reproductive Justice community and present their research to an audience of their peers.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Wright, Lisa E.
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

In this process-based composition course, we will write in a variety of genres for a number of audiences while exploring what it means to move among and through the multiple literacies in our lives. We will read texts which examine the ways that our literacies shape our experience in the world and the ways that we are shaped by our language. We will examine these ideas in both U.S. and international contexts. In addition, we will explore scholarly works on writing theory as it applies to our own writing and language identities. Writing assignments will include literacy narratives, documented essays, reflections, and reading responses. We will engage in frequent peer review activities striving to become excellent readers of others' work.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Vinyard, Deirdre Will
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

What arguments about vaccination are circulating in the public sphere today? As public health officials and medical providers seek to encourage vaccination, what kinds of appeals are likely to succeed, and which are likely to fall flat—or even backfire? Why and how do discussions of vaccination evoke such strong feelings? In this course, we will collectively explore these questions, drawing on tools from the field of rhetoric. As you examine the audience, purpose, context, and style of texts concerning vaccination, you will derive strategies you can apply to your own writing, and practice communicating about science to diverse audiences.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Wilbanks, Rebecca
• Room: Gilman 217
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

Playing chess, writing novels, making art—as headlines remind us almost daily, whatever humans used to be good at, AI can now do better. To what extent can human labor and creativity be automated, and where will that leave us? How have people thought about these questions in the past and how are they thinking about them today? Why bother learning to write if text generators can do it for us? This course that asks us to imagine a world in which AI makes writing courses obsolete. Through writing assignments that involve producing argumentative essays, writing in different genres, and collaborating on group projects, students will develop skills in critical thinking and communicating in different genres. We will explore the effects of AI not just in theory but in practice: students will be required to use ChapGPT across all assignments.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Lewis, Alex
• Room: Maryland 201
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Who or what is entitled to rights? This question is increasingly pressing in debates about nonhumans, ranging from animals to corporations to AI to rivers and forests. We will explore ongoing debates about rights – including to have a voice, to have standing in court, to be considered a person, to be in some measure free – for nonhumans, as well as how these debates might relate to each other. Do rights mean the same thing across these debates? What is the significance of rights if understood to include many different kinds of nonhumans, and does a broader understanding of their scope destabilize human exceptionalism or reaffirm it? To what extent might a more expansive conception of rights engender equality, kinship, or perceived likeness across humans and nonhumans and, if so, with what implications? Writing will be at the heart of our class. Across a series of writing assignments, we will study and write in the genres that we discover within these debates, including scholarly arguments, personal reflection, legal definitions, and works of advocacy. Throughout the course, we will explore connections between having rights and writing.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: O'Connor, Marisa T
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

Who or what is entitled to rights? This question is increasingly pressing in debates about nonhumans, ranging from animals to corporations to AI to rivers and forests. We will explore ongoing debates about rights – including to have a voice, to have standing in court, to be considered a person, to be in some measure free – for nonhumans, as well as how these debates might relate to each other. Do rights mean the same thing across these debates? What is the significance of rights if understood to include many different kinds of nonhumans, and does a broader understanding of their scope destabilize human exceptionalism or reaffirm it? To what extent might a more expansive conception of rights engender equality, kinship, or perceived likeness across humans and nonhumans and, if so, with what implications? Writing will be at the heart of our class. Across a series of writing assignments, we will study and write in the genres that we discover within these debates, including scholarly arguments, personal reflection, legal definitions, and works of advocacy. Throughout the course, we will explore connections between having rights and writing.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: O'Connor, Marisa T
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

Animals are instructive. When we study animals, their biological makeups and creaturely habits, we do so with hopes of learning something about them. At the same time, such investigations often betray an interest in our human selves. The study of animals, in scientific and literary laboratories alike, quickly turns to acts of self-discovery: not what it means to be animal, exactly, but what it means to be human-animals. So what more could we learn by cultivating new strategies for listening and new languages for communicating with and about animals? Over the course of the semester, we will examine and respond to the rhetorical settings of works (premodern and modern, fictional and factual) in which animals are tasked with teaching lessons and testing the ethical obligations of their human audiences. We will approach composition as both a personal and a social project. We will concentrate on the personal aspects of writing--including expression, habit, transfer--as well as the social aspects of writing--including exploration, persuasion, and convention.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Russell, Arthur J
• Room: Gilman 277
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course invites art-curious students to rewrite the material histories of art objects and art museums. Working in collaboration with Dr. Laura Hartmann-Villalta’s Reintroduction to Writing, we will explore hidden narratives and overlooked traditions in art history, non-visual senses and experiences of art making, and the role of reinvention in art museums. Over the semester, we will examine and respond to a range of objects, performances, and writings that think through the public “use” of art. Course discussion and writing projects will pay special attention to questions of what it means to practice a socially engaged art and how to design a publicly engaged museum. We will approach writing as both a personal and a social project. We will concentrate on the personal aspects of writing--including expression, habit, transfer--as well as the social aspects of writing—including exploration, persuasion, and convention. This course is site specific. The Baltimore Museum of Art will serve as our archive and object of study. Students interested in this course should bring an attitude of collaborative exploration, experimentation, and curiosity about the BMA, its history and future.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Russell, Arthur J
• Room: Gilman 217
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

We all use the word ‘love,’ but a satisfactory, shared understanding of it is elusive. Philosophers, poets, musicians, and people in love have disagreed about its meaning for thousands of years. In this writing class, we will explore some of the many ways people have written and spoken about love. We will read and talk about sources such as Plato's "Symposium," contemporary works in the philosophy of love, and a variety of other sources, including academic research, historical and contemporary valentines, 'vinegar valentines,' music, marriage contracts, and much more. The writing you will do in this class includes an interpretive essay, an academic essay using multiple sources, and genres of your choosing, such as (perhaps) dating profiles, magazine covers (contemporary or historical), op-eds, album covers, or political pamphlets.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Koullas, Sandy Gillian
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

We all use the word ‘love,’ but a satisfactory, shared understanding of it is elusive. Philosophers, poets, musicians, and people in love have disagreed about its meaning for thousands of years. In this writing class, we will explore some of the many ways people have written and spoken about love. We will read and talk about sources such as Plato's "Symposium," contemporary works in the philosophy of love, and a variety of other sources, including academic research, historical and contemporary valentines, 'vinegar valentines,' music, marriage contracts, and much more. The writing you will do in this class includes an interpretive essay, an academic essay using multiple sources, and genres of your choosing, such as (perhaps) dating profiles, magazine covers (contemporary or historical), op-eds, album covers, or political pamphlets.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Koullas, Sandy Gillian
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

How might we write the stories of neighborhoods that no longer exist? In this community-engaged writing course, students will work closely with the Baltimore City Archives to uncover the stories of people who lived in neighborhoods demolished by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City between the 1930s and 1960s. We will examine documents that the Housing Authority generated while acquiring homes for demolition— photographs, appraisal forms, court affidavits, and more—to consider the way these forms of writing impacted the lives of Baltimoreans facing displacement. In the process students will learn strategies for reading mundane, bureaucratic, and even dehumanizing sources against the grain, to find glimpses of the vibrant lives and everyday struggles of ordinary Baltimoreans. Students will critically reflect on the range of texts that they encounter and generate in their own lives as they build an awareness of the many writing decisions and rhetorical strategies they already bring to our work in the classroom. Working in a variety of modes and genres, students will write for both academic and public audiences. The course culminates with a collaboration with local archives and museums: students will research and create texts for a public exhibit on the history of Baltimore neighborhoods that have been lost to urban renewal, gentrification, and other forms of displacement.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
• Room: Gilman 10
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

How might we write the stories of neighborhoods that no longer exist? In this community-engaged writing course, students will work closely with the Baltimore City Archives to uncover the stories of people who lived in neighborhoods demolished by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City between the 1930s and 1960s. We will examine documents that the Housing Authority generated while acquiring homes for demolition— photographs, appraisal forms, court affidavits, and more—to consider the way these forms of writing impacted the lives of Baltimoreans facing displacement. In the process students will learn strategies for reading mundane, bureaucratic, and even dehumanizing sources against the grain, to find glimpses of the vibrant lives and everyday struggles of ordinary Baltimoreans. Students will critically reflect on the range of texts that they encounter and generate in their own lives as they build an awareness of the many writing decisions and rhetorical strategies they already bring to our work in the classroom. Working in a variety of modes and genres, students will write for both academic and public audiences. The course culminates with a collaboration with local archives and museums: students will research and create texts for a public exhibit on the history of Baltimore neighborhoods that have been lost to urban renewal, gentrification, and other forms of displacement.

• Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
• Room: Gilman 10
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

In a 2012 interview with the New York Times, American critic M.H. Abrams was asked, “Why study literature?” Abrams answered, because “it enables you to live the lives of other people.” But how does a master of short stories open a window to his or her characters’ thoughts and feelings? How does the writer, as Abrams suggests, draw us into other lives? In this class, students will explore these questions through their own writings across different modes and styles. Writing projects will range from evaluating another critic’s interpretation of how a story brings its characters to life to writing your own autobiographical narrative. Our readings will feature the work of some of the masters of contemporary American short stories including Joyce Carol Oates, Gish Jen, Richard Ford, Denis Johnson, Jennifer Egan, ZZ Packer, James Salter, George Saunders, Lorrie Moore, Edward P. Jones, David Foster Wallace, and Lydia Davis.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Berger, Donald W
• Room: Maryland 109
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

In this first-year course, we'll examine and record how our thoughts, beliefs, and impressions of the world are informed by what we “see.” As in other writing-intensive courses, we’ll compose a variety of written works for a range of audiences, and we'll focus our time and attention on the creation and reception of art—including film, painting, sculpture, dance, performance art, architecture, and emerging artistic media. We'll read essays and criticism by Parul Sehgal, Maggie Nelson, Zadie Smith, Alain de Botton, and others to better understand how people critically, creatively, and analytically respond to art, artists, and artistic movements. The course will include visits to local art institutions and museums, reading and writing analysis and criticism, and performing research. Together, we'll attempt to test John Berger's claim that "the relation between what we see and what we know is never settled" while looking closely at and responding to images from the world of the fine arts, advertisement, social media, and AI.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Brown, Nate
• Room: Gilman 77
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

In the American imagination, the open road has been a mythical place of bliss, freedom, and self-discovery. But the experience of the road can change drastically based on one’s gender, sexuality, race, and place of origin. In this course, we’ll examine a diverse set of works that explore the long-standing American fascination with the open road. We’ll consider the road’s impact on America’s national identity, and we’ll discuss the emotions, desires, and life experiences that lead people to take to the road, and to get off it. At the heart of the course will be a series of writing assignments designed to help students examine the power and limits of this myth. Students will be asked to write in a variety of styles and genres, from op-eds to scholarly arguments, and from book reviews to rhetorical analyses. These writing assignments will help students reconsider what writing is, how to do it effectively and ethically, and how to become better at it.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Wexler, Anthony Charles
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

In the American imagination, the open road has been a mythical place of bliss, freedom, and self-discovery. But the experience of the road can change drastically based on one’s gender, sexuality, race, and place of origin. In this course, we’ll examine a diverse set of works that explore the long-standing American fascination with the open road. We’ll consider the road’s impact on America’s national identity, and we’ll discuss the emotions, desires, and life experiences that lead people to take to the road, and to get off it. At the heart of the course will be a series of writing assignments designed to help students examine the power and limits of this myth. Students will be asked to write in a variety of styles and genres, from op-eds to scholarly arguments, and from book reviews to rhetorical analyses. These writing assignments will help students reconsider what writing is, how to do it effectively and ethically, and how to become better at it.

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Wexler, Anthony Charles
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course explores visual arts and textual genres in collaboration with the Baltimore Museum of Art. Working in collaboration with Dr. Arthur Russell’s Reintro course, we will explore the role of reinvention in the museum space; hidden narratives and overlooked figures in art; personal connections and biases towards art; and, naturally, writing in multiple genres in and beyond the academic essay. “Visual/Textual Arts” will focus on the 2D visual arts (painting, photography, prints, some mixed media pieces) and not objects, such as ceramics or sculpture. As we delve into reinventing and reconsidering the museum space, students will collaborate course to remix the BMA catalogue using collage (and other) techniques. This iteration of the course will pay special attention to the winter/spring exhibition “Art/Work: Women Printmakers of the WPA.” Writing assignments keyed to this temporary exhibition will consider the intersection of visual culture, gender studies, politics, and 1930s history. Students interested in this course should bring an attitude of collaborative exploration, experimentation, and curiosity about the BMA, its history and future.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A
• Room: Gilman 77
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

In 1988, Baltimore’s first African-American mayor, Kurt Schmoke, declared Baltimore the “city that reads.” In this course, we’ll explore the ways that Baltimore has always been a city that writes, too. In partnership with Wide Angle Youth Media (https://www.wideanglemedia.org), an organization dedicated to “cultivating and amplifying the voices of Baltimore youth through the media arts,” we’ll study how writing fuels the work of the organization, interacts with the residents of Baltimore, and knits together social life in this great city. At the same time we will name, and cultivate, the many ways and reasons to write: to connect with loved ones and the wider world, learn new knowledge and skills, solve problems, and make things happen in the world. Students can expect to write both traditional academic essays and in other forms such as presentations, proposals, case studies, social media campaigns, and more. Many thanks to the Center for Social Concern for its support of our WAYM partnership.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Pavesich, Matthew
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

The past fifteen years have been marked by extraordinary levels of global social upheaval. Protesters have inundated streets around the world, from Cairo, Paris, Athens, and Guangzhou to Tehran, La Paz, Hong Kong, and Santiago. Across the United States—including right here in Baltimore—we have seen waves of anti-racist struggles, a surge of workers’ unrest, and the growth of youth-led environmental movements. Why are these protests happening now? Why do they seem to be happening everywhere? What role does writing play in shaping (and connecting) these struggles? In this course, we will explore social protests around the world through hands-on research activities, with an eye towards understanding the structure, process, and social impact of the various forms of writing in and around movements. Over the course of the semester, we will analyze and respond to academic texts, journalistic coverage, and first-hand accounts of these protests. Students will be asked to write in a variety of styles and genres—from social media posts and op-eds to protest signs and research memos. Through our exploration of global social conflicts, students will hone the skills needed to be effective, ethical, and agile writers.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Payne, Corey Robert
• Room: Greenhouse 113
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

The past fifteen years have been marked by extraordinary levels of global social upheaval. Protesters have inundated streets around the world, from Cairo, Paris, Athens, and Guangzhou to Tehran, La Paz, Hong Kong, and Santiago. Across the United States—including right here in Baltimore—we have seen waves of anti-racist struggles, a surge of workers’ unrest, and the growth of youth-led environmental movements. Why are these protests happening now? Why do they seem to be happening everywhere? What role does writing play in shaping (and connecting) these struggles? In this course, we will explore social protests around the world through hands-on research activities, with an eye towards understanding the structure, process, and social impact of the various forms of writing in and around movements. Over the course of the semester, we will analyze and respond to academic texts, journalistic coverage, and first-hand accounts of these protests. Students will be asked to write in a variety of styles and genres—from social media posts and op-eds to protest signs and research memos. Through our exploration of global social conflicts, students will hone the skills needed to be effective, ethical, and agile writers.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Payne, Corey Robert
• Room: Greenhouse 113
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

The past fifteen years have been marked by extraordinary levels of global social upheaval. Protesters have inundated streets around the world, from Cairo, Paris, Athens, and Guangzhou to Tehran, La Paz, Hong Kong, and Santiago. Across the United States—including right here in Baltimore—we have seen waves of anti-racist struggles, a surge of workers’ unrest, and the growth of youth-led environmental movements. Why are these protests happening now? Why do they seem to be happening everywhere? What role does writing play in shaping (and connecting) these struggles? In this course, we will explore social protests around the world through hands-on research activities, with an eye towards understanding the structure, process, and social impact of the various forms of writing in and around movements. Over the course of the semester, we will analyze and respond to academic texts, journalistic coverage, and first-hand accounts of these protests. Students will be asked to write in a variety of styles and genres—from social media posts and op-eds to protest signs and research memos. Through our exploration of global social conflicts, students will hone the skills needed to be effective, ethical, and agile writers.

• Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Payne, Corey Robert
• Room: Greenhouse 113
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Many of us have (at least) two selves: an analog or “real-life” self and a digital self. These doppelgangers can bear striking resemblance to our embodied selves—or not—and raise many questions around issues of representation, authenticity, and impersonation. So too, we leave digital traces of ourselves in the form of “data doubles,” extracted through clicks, scrolls, and other forms of tracked data. This double is frequently a target for manipulation and persuasion, but also can be a tool to enhance creativity and efficiency in our analog lives. In this course, we will investigate the concept of the digital doppelganger from three distinct perspectives, asking how our capacious digital identities are formed, changed, and controlled in commercial, political, and creative contexts. By crafting auto-ethnographies, policy briefs, and creative computational projects, students will develop critical thinking skills, learn to communicate with agility and precision across different genres, and reflect on how we create and know ourselves in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Schnitzler, Carly Elisabeth
• Room: Bloomberg 178
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

Many of us have (at least) two selves: an analog or “real-life” self and a digital self. These doppelgangers can bear striking resemblance to our embodied selves—or not—and raise many questions around issues of representation, authenticity, and impersonation. So too, we leave digital traces of ourselves in the form of “data doubles,” extracted through clicks, scrolls, and other forms of tracked data. This double is frequently a target for manipulation and persuasion, but also can be a tool to enhance creativity and efficiency in our analog lives. In this course, we will investigate the concept of the digital doppelganger from three distinct perspectives, asking how our capacious digital identities are formed, changed, and controlled in commercial, political, and creative contexts. By crafting auto-ethnographies, policy briefs, and creative computational projects, students will develop critical thinking skills, learn to communicate with agility and precision across different genres, and reflect on how we create and know ourselves in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Schnitzler, Carly Elisabeth
• Room: Bloomberg 178
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

How has the advent of digital networks influenced our culture, attitudes, and behaviors? How have these transformations affected our personal and civic lives, education, and professional endeavors? Increasingly growing digital sources and digital networks have profoundly changed every aspect of our lives. In this course, we will critically examine the influence of digital networks, analyzing online interactions, exploring digital cultures, and studying online communities. Students are encouraged to select a topic of personal and academic interest to investigate, such as digital literacy practices, AI in education, influencer culture, social support in online communities, algorithmic fairness, privacy and safety in digital spaces, or social activism like #BlackLivesMatter. Throughout this course, students will develop research skills and advance their writing proficiency in content, clarity, organization, and readability. This will be accomplished through readings, discussions, writing tasks, feedback, and reflections. Students will write various genres, including reading response, literacy narrative, research proposal, research-based argumentative essay, reflective journal, and presentation. By undertaking this course, students will cultivate critical thinking abilities, professional communication strategies, and lifelong learning skills necessary for success in both their academic pursuits and professional careers.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Cui, Wenqi
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

Can youth orchestras fortify a city? What, if anything, does kids making music or art have to do with democratic practice? What happens when we press on the terms play and listen in the contexts of childhood and of neighborhood, city, or country? In this community-engaged course we will study, experiment with, and rethink writing—all in the context of local K-12 music education. Students will work with and learn from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra OrchKids program. With these co-teachers, alongside mentors from the Center for Social Concern, we will explore El Sistema pedagogy, the assets of City Schools, and systemic racism and inequity in Baltimore. We will study and write about visual, aural and written texts found in different habitats, including OrchKids classrooms; Sheridan Libraries; Baltimore Museum of Art; Baltimore Banner; and what we see and hear in our everyday lives. In conversation with work by James Baldwin, Danielle Allen, Ada Limón, Judah Adashi, Vesla Weaver, and Jonathon Heyward, students will write critical reflections, personal narrative, academic argument, op-eds, and more. Throughout, we will discuss and rehearse writing as an intellectual, social, and always emerging practice. No artistic background needed; all are welcome. Many thanks to the Center for Social Concern for their support of this course.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Brodsky, Anne-Elizabeth Murdy
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

The story of the Tower of Babel is one of the most enduring tales from antiquity. It tells of humanity originally speaking a single, universal language, before an act of hubris leads to the confusion of tongues; at the same time, it contains several instances of wordplay, and represents an early attempt to understand the world through language. In this writing course, students will consider what happens when we play and experiment with writing and language in our own lives. We will look at what motivates people to invent or imagine new languages and forms of communication, whether as a new universal language, in the pursuit of social justice, or for pure entertainment. We will examine different forms of wordplay in a variety of rhetorical contexts, from classical literature to the latest advertisements. And we will consider the relationship between ludic writing and fields of study like mathematics and computer science, and how these can be combined to produce striking results. Students will produce in-class writing almost every day, and will also work towards three larger writing projects: a personal literacy narrative, a persuasive essay, and a collaborative class encyclopedia.

• Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Essam, Richard James Llewellyn
• Room: Gilman 217
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

In this course we will explore and write about what it means to be embodied beings in this world. We will examine concepts and conceptions of the human body through time and space, starting from Homeric epics and ending with contemporary literature. Some of the questions we will ask are: What are bodies made of, and how does the material world around us shape our understanding of the human body? How have human (and non-human) bodies been used as metaphors, models, and measures of other objects, including the world as a whole? The topic of the course will also help us think about writing as a human, and therefore embodied, activity that stretches inward from our fingertips to our very sense of self. By the end of the semester, you will learn to approach writing as a way of knowing and as a way of thinking, a versatile process that can take as many different forms as there are writers (and readers). You will write in a variety of genres and work with sources in different media, including audiovisual materials and museum objects. Your writing will include, but not be limited to, the following genres: academic essay, book review, Twitter thread, and response paper. You will also curate a virtual exhibition using objects from local museums that bear upon the subject of the course, as well as organize a roundtable discussion in which you present the exhibition, its scope and its goals.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Hull, Brittany Sabrina
• Room: Gilman 217
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

In this course we will explore and write about what it means to be embodied beings in this world. We will examine concepts and conceptions of the human body through time and space, starting from Homeric epics and ending with contemporary literature. Some of the questions we will ask are: What are bodies made of, and how does the material world around us shape our understanding of the human body? How have human (and non-human) bodies been used as metaphors, models, and measures of other objects, including the world as a whole? The topic of the course will also help us think about writing as a human, and therefore embodied, activity that stretches inward from our fingertips to our very sense of self. By the end of the semester, you will learn to approach writing as a way of knowing and as a way of thinking, a versatile process that can take as many different forms as there are writers (and readers). You will write in a variety of genres and work with sources in different media, including audiovisual materials and museum objects. Your writing will include, but not be limited to, the following genres: academic essay, book review, Twitter thread, and response paper. You will also curate a virtual exhibition using objects from local museums that bear upon the subject of the course, as well as organize a roundtable discussion in which you present the exhibition, its scope and its goals.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Hull, Brittany Sabrina
• Room: Gilman 217
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

Fake news and misinformation seem to be everywhere these days. And to make matters worse, humans seem to be pretty bad at detecting fake information, especially when fake news can look and sound like real news. This confusion has given rise to what some have called a post-truth politics: a world in which facts have become irrelevant. In such a world, the ability to persuade others and to identify when and how they are being persuaded have become vitally important skills. In this writing course, students will think about how a variety of sources—books, films, articles, tweets, etc.—persuade them to think and act in certain ways. Through a series of writing assignments, including a personal essay, film review, argumentative essay, and op-ed, students will reflect on the role that persuasion plays in their day-to-day lives, and how it can impact their understanding of truth. We will also engage in a peer-review activities to help us identify and harness the power of persuasion in our own writing.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Jagdale, Tanavi Shirish
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

There’s no question that much of our public discourse contains speech that can be regarded as false, worthless, and hateful. In these ways speech can produce real harm to individuals and society. Why then do we feel that it is important to protect speech to the maximum extent? That’s the large question we will address through a series of writing projects. We begin by reading John Stuart Mill’s canonical justification of free speech in his nineteenth century treatise On Liberty. You write a short essay that engages with Mill’s view that speech is essential to the pursuit of truth. We then read a sample of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence to get a sense of how the law defines the pivotal difference between speech and action. You’ll engage with some scholarly critics on the question of how the law defines “harm.” Finally, you are invited to research a contemporary free speech issue that interests you. Using online resources like the Free Speech Project and the Dangerous Speech Project you will map a particular controversy and produce a written report of your findings. Topics include hate speech, cancel culture, the regulation of online speech, and more.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Oppel, George
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

There’s no question that much of our public discourse contains speech that can be regarded as false, worthless, and hateful. In these ways speech can produce real harm to individuals and society. Why then do we feel that it is important to protect speech to the maximum extent? That’s the large question we will address through a series of writing projects. We begin by reading John Stuart Mill’s canonical justification of free speech in his nineteenth century treatise On Liberty. You write a short essay that engages with Mill’s view that speech is essential to the pursuit of truth. We then read a sample of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence to get a sense of how the law defines the pivotal difference between speech and action. You’ll engage with some scholarly critics on the question of how the law defines “harm.” Finally, you are invited to research a contemporary free speech issue that interests you. Using online resources like the Free Speech Project and the Dangerous Speech Project you will map a particular controversy and produce a written report of your findings. Topics include hate speech, cancel culture, the regulation of online speech, and more.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Oppel, George
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

The 21st century compels us to create and decode many rhetorical situations: social media posts, academic presentations, newspaper op-ed pieces, responses from artificial intelligence generators, performance feedback (in school and the workplace), strings of emojis, a recurring weekly meeting. We will explore our own personal literacies – verbal, visual, interpretive, non-verbal, digital – as well as analyzing the particular rhetorical competencies required to negotiate our lives at Hopkins and beyond its boundaries: what literacies do we bring with us into the classroom? Which ones do we need to develop? How do we begin to decode strange texts, whether they’re research papers, experimental novels, or a journal article from Nature? How do power and identify impact our ability to speak, listen, and act? How do we collaborate and interact in light of differences? We will complete a literacy narrative, an academic paper, and a Pechukucha presentation on your first year at Hopkins, which is a storytelling format in which the presenter shows 20 slides for 20 seconds of commentary each

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Egan, Caroline
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

What is scientific knowledge? Who creates it, controls it, and benefits from it? What does it mean to “decolonize” something? Math, science, and technology are commonly described as tools, yet these overlapping disciplines often operate as black boxes whose broad social applications are hidden and whose environmental consequences may be too diffuse to accurately predict. This writing class will consider these topics from a variety of rhetorical genres including podcasts, YouTube videos, and academic articles. In a series of writing exercises that range from brief weekly written responses, a traditional essay, and a rhetorical analysis in a medium of their choosing, students will be given the opportunity to respond to questions of how math, science, and technology influence their everyday world.

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Doherty, Nathanael Joseph
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

What is scientific knowledge? Who creates it, controls it, and benefits from it? What does it mean to “decolonize” something? Math, science, and technology are commonly described as tools, yet these overlapping disciplines often operate as black boxes whose broad social applications are hidden and whose environmental consequences may be too diffuse to accurately predict. This writing class will consider these topics from a variety of rhetorical genres including podcasts, YouTube videos, and academic articles. In a series of writing exercises that range from brief weekly written responses, a traditional essay, and a rhetorical analysis in a medium of their choosing, students will be given the opportunity to respond to questions of how math, science, and technology influence their everyday world.

• Days/Times: TTh 6:00PM - 7:15PM
• Instructor: Doherty, Nathanael Joseph
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Fake news and misinformation seem to be everywhere these days. And to make matters worse, humans seem to be pretty bad at detecting fake information, especially when fake news can look and sound like real news. This confusion has given rise to what some have called a post-truth politics: a world in which facts have become irrelevant. In such a world, the ability to persuade others and to identify when and how they are being persuaded have become vitally important skills. In this writing course, students will think about how a variety of sources—books, films, articles, tweets, etc.—persuade them to think and act in certain ways. Through a series of writing assignments, including a personal essay, film review, argumentative essay, and op-ed, students will reflect on the role that persuasion plays in their day-to-day lives, and how it can impact their understanding of truth. We will also engage in a peer-review activities to help us identify and harness the power of persuasion in our own writing.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Jagdale, Tanavi Shirish
• Room: Gilman 217
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Americans have been obsessed with movies for as long the medium has existed. Last century, we went out to theaters five times per week and devoured movie star gossip in print. Movies showed us what was cool, how to dress, and even what to value. Today, smartphones and streaming platforms allow us to consume amateur and professional visual media everywhere. We also write about films more than ever before via social media, user review sites like Letterboxd, and shooting scripts for video content. What we write about films is often deeply personal, and always informed by time and context – by world events, politics, cultural changes, and other films. This writing class will explore how film provides occasions for writers and their readers to reflect on relevant cultural questions, on familiar or unfamiliar communities and places, and on art’s relation to personal and collective experiences. Students will practice writing about films through traditional or newspaper-style reviews, argument driven papers, autobiographical essays, philosophical interpretations, festival blurbs, press releases, and narrative podcasts. By experimenting with these various genres, students will develop the analytical and creative skills needed to write in a range of contexts and for communities and organizations beyond the Homewood campus.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Loker, Evan
• Room: Greenhouse 113
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Americans have been obsessed with movies for as long the medium has existed. Last century, we went out to theaters five times per week and devoured movie star gossip in print. Movies showed us what was cool, how to dress, and even what to value. Today, smartphones and streaming platforms allow us to consume amateur and professional visual media everywhere. We also write about films more than ever before via social media, user review sites like Letterboxd, and shooting scripts for video content. What we write about films is often deeply personal, and always informed by time and context – by world events, politics, cultural changes, and other films. This writing class will explore how film provides occasions for writers and their readers to reflect on relevant cultural questions, on familiar or unfamiliar communities and places, and on art’s relation to personal and collective experiences. Students will practice writing about films through traditional or newspaper-style reviews, argument driven papers, autobiographical essays, philosophical interpretations, festival blurbs, press releases, and narrative podcasts. By experimenting with these various genres, students will develop the analytical and creative skills needed to write in a range of contexts and for communities and organizations beyond the Homewood campus.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Loker, Evan
• Room: Greenhouse 113
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Americans have been obsessed with movies for as long the medium has existed. Last century, we went out to theaters five times per week and devoured movie star gossip in print. Movies showed us what was cool, how to dress, and even what to value. Today, smartphones and streaming platforms allow us to consume amateur and professional visual media everywhere. We also write about films more than ever before via social media, user review sites like Letterboxd, and shooting scripts for video content. What we write about films is often deeply personal, and always informed by time and context – by world events, politics, cultural changes, and other films. This writing class will explore how film provides occasions for writers and their readers to reflect on relevant cultural questions, on familiar or unfamiliar communities and places, and on art’s relation to personal and collective experiences. Students will practice writing about films through traditional or newspaper-style reviews, argument driven papers, autobiographical essays, philosophical interpretations, festival blurbs, press releases, and narrative podcasts. By experimenting with these various genres, students will develop the analytical and creative skills needed to write in a range of contexts and for communities and organizations beyond the Homewood campus.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Loker, Evan
• Room: Greenhouse 113
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Playing chess, writing novels, making art—as headlines remind us almost daily, whatever humans used to be good at, AI can now do better. To what extent can human labor and creativity be automated, and where will that leave us? How have people thought about these questions in the past and how are they thinking about them today? Why bother learning to write if text generators can do it for us? This course that asks us to imagine a world in which AI makes writing courses obsolete. Through writing assignments that involve producing argumentative essays, writing in different genres, and collaborating on group projects, students will develop skills in critical thinking and communicating in different genres. We will explore the effects of AI not just in theory but in practice: students will be required to use ChapGPT across all assignments.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Lewis, Alex
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Playing chess, writing novels, making art—as headlines remind us almost daily, whatever humans used to be good at, AI can now do better. To what extent can human labor and creativity be automated, and where will that leave us? How have people thought about these questions in the past and how are they thinking about them today? Why bother learning to write if text generators can do it for us? This course that asks us to imagine a world in which AI makes writing courses obsolete. Through writing assignments that involve producing argumentative essays, writing in different genres, and collaborating on group projects, students will develop skills in critical thinking and communicating in different genres. We will explore the effects of AI not just in theory but in practice: students will be required to use ChapGPT across all assignments.

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Lewis, Alex
• Room: Greenhouse 113
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

How has the advent of digital networks influenced our culture, attitudes, and behaviors? How have these transformations affected our personal and civic lives, education, and professional endeavors? Increasingly growing digital sources and digital networks have profoundly changed every aspect of our lives. In this course, we will critically examine the influence of digital networks, analyzing online interactions, exploring digital cultures, and studying online communities. Students are encouraged to select a topic of personal and academic interest to investigate, such as digital literacy practices, AI in education, influencer culture, social support in online communities, algorithmic fairness, privacy and safety in digital spaces, or social activism like #BlackLivesMatter. Throughout this course, students will develop research skills and advance their writing proficiency in content, clarity, organization, and readability. This will be accomplished through readings, discussions, writing tasks, feedback, and reflections. Students will write various genres, including reading response, literacy narrative, research proposal, research-based argumentative essay, reflective journal, and presentation. By undertaking this course, students will cultivate critical thinking abilities, professional communication strategies, and lifelong learning skills necessary for success in both their academic pursuits and professional careers.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Cui, Wenqi
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

Competing views about the dangers and potential benefits of drugs are ubiquitous. In the context of changing drug laws regarding psychedelic medicines, the legalization of cannabis, and “mandatory minimum” jail sentences, how can we gain insight into the cultural history of drugs in our society? This writing course will provide the opportunity for students to directly engage with recent debates over drug legislation by critically reflecting on the evolution of writing about drugs over the past 250 years. How does the cultural understanding of drugs change with shifts in rhetoric? How can we balance the need to protect society while still respecting individual freedoms and privacy? How can the latest scientific and sociological research help to guide legislative decisions? Our society’s understandings about drugs and their relationship to human consciousness have been—and continue to be—mediated by rhetoric and public discussions. By directly engaging in this evolving rhetoric through written and oral assignments, students will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of this complex and persistent topic. Students will explore this topic by writing in a variety of genres and persuasive strategies, including op-eds, policy memos, close textual and visual analyses, and reflections.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Devenot, Nese Lisa
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

Competing views about the dangers and potential benefits of drugs are ubiquitous. In the context of changing drug laws regarding psychedelic medicines, the legalization of cannabis, and “mandatory minimum” jail sentences, how can we gain insight into the cultural history of drugs in our society? This writing course will provide the opportunity for students to directly engage with recent debates over drug legislation by critically reflecting on the evolution of writing about drugs over the past 250 years. How does the cultural understanding of drugs change with shifts in rhetoric? How can we balance the need to protect society while still respecting individual freedoms and privacy? How can the latest scientific and sociological research help to guide legislative decisions? Our society’s understandings about drugs and their relationship to human consciousness have been—and continue to be—mediated by rhetoric and public discussions. By directly engaging in this evolving rhetoric through written and oral assignments, students will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of this complex and persistent topic. Students will explore this topic by writing in a variety of genres and persuasive strategies, including op-eds, policy memos, close textual and visual analyses, and reflections.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Devenot, Nese Lisa
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

In leaving home for college, we come to reevaluate the primary—and primal— relationships that define us, often for the first time. How do we understand and reconcile the shaping power of family—a power that can both fortify and confine us? What can family narratives teach us about the formation of individual identity, the acts of selection inherent to that process and, perhaps, the difference between living and telling? In this writing course, we will examine the facts, fables, and frontiers of family as constructed in literature, philosophical and public policy debates, political campaign ads, and more. We will write reflections, op-eds, academic essays, and literature reviews, always taking care to consider the tether between genre and audience. Throughout our work together, we will identify and practice the fundamental components of ethical analysis and research, and discuss and rehearse writing as an intellectual, relational, and recursive practice essential to and across all disciplines.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Watters, Aliza
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

The word “architecture” conjures images of built form. And yet the etymology or the root of the word itself can mean “conceptual structure.” Can there be a relationship, an interplay, between built form and conceptual structure? This first-year writing course invites you to a series of weekly experiments in understanding architecture (space) as a genre (text) in which the starting point for both acts of designing is the dreaded blank page. We will make two analytical moves. First, we will examine and analyze the ‘language of space’ to understand the elements of spatial thought. Second, we will shortlist from these elements a few to develop a personalized toolkit for our writing purposes. By drawing on architectural methods of ‘reading’ space, we as writers will ‘design’ texts in a peer community. These texts will take multiple forms for diverse audiences and might flourish to have afterlives of their own, i.e., a word map/constellation, ethnographic vignette, short visual story, and a reflective essay.

• Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Menezes, Benita Maria
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

"Current CDC data states, that Black women are “three to four times more likely to die during or after delivery than are white women.” In this first-year writing course, we will explore Black women’s historical and contemporary birth narratives to question how their history of enslavement, and medical racism continues to inform their birthing realities. Through course readings, discussions, and workshops we will question the varied ways the delegitimization of Black midwives, Black women’s community practices, and contemporary advocates for reproductive and birthing justice have impacted Black women’s care within and outside of medical institutions. Students will write in a range of genres including fact sheets, personal narrative,s and profile essays, which will allow students to follow a course of inquiry that will lead them to a point of interest to compose a traditional academic paper or a multimodal composition as their final project. Students will support their research questions by using credible sources such as narratives, scholarly articles, and reputed journalism. Potential texts include excerpts by Harriet Jacobs, Margaret Charles Smith, Assata Shakur, Tressie Cottom, Nikky Finney, Beyonce, and reproductive justice advocate, Loretta Ross. "

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Wright, Lisa E.
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

If you like libraries, old books, cursive handwriting, and crinkly papers; if you have ever wondered how information is preserved and knowledge is created; if you want to have a classroom experience that involves other physical spaces on campus; if you ever dressed up as Indiana Jones for Halloween—then this course is for you. In collaboration with the Sheridan Libraries, the Makerspace, and more, students engage with resources, materials, and locations that are often out-of-bounds for first-year students. For example, we will dive into the Women’s Suffrage Collection to uncover the historical context of suffrage postcards and other one-of-a-kind items that we examine up close. As we discuss archival absences and presences in another unit, students will write an acquisition proposal to pitch to Special Collections librarians, within the constraints of an imaginary budget, practicing both academic research and advocacy for a purchase(s) of their choice. We also explore campus history through a walking tour with Jacqueline O’Regan, Curator of Cultural Properties under the Sheridan Libraries, and examine our experience of these public spaces and their artworks in a reflective assignment. Throughout the semester, in and out of class, students will write in different genres for different audiences as they actively engage, keep track of, and invest in their own learning.

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

What arguments about vaccination are circulating in the public sphere today? As public health officials and medical providers seek to encourage vaccination, what kinds of appeals are likely to succeed, and which are likely to fall flat—or even backfire? Why and how do discussions of vaccination evoke such strong feelings? In this course, we will collectively explore these questions, drawing on tools from the field of rhetoric. As you examine the audience, purpose, context, and style of texts concerning vaccination, you will derive strategies you can apply to your own writing, and practice communicating about science to diverse audiences.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Wilbanks, Rebecca
• Room: Gilman 217
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/13
• PosTag(s): n/a

As a product, it is rare for a piece of writing to resemble the often circuitous trail of thoughts which produced it. As a process, however, writing is an exercise in the nonlinear organization of a sea of facts and ideas. How do we turn what we think into arguments, narratives, and compositions that are accessible to others? In this class, we will focus on the structuring of thoughts and sentences - and sometimes even individual words - and how they can form a constellation of notes and ideas from which new texts emerge. We will look at the methods and genres scholars have used from across scientific and humanistic disciplines to represent their thought; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Chinese biji, Zettelkasten (card files), evidence boards, geometrical demonstration, private wikis, and other contemporary systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we explicate and organize our thoughts - both within these systems and beyond them into other written work.

• Days/Times: MWF 9:00AM - 9:50AM
• Instructor: Heath, Austin Edward
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

As a product, it is rare for a piece of writing to resemble the often circuitous trail of thoughts which produced it. As a process, however, writing is an exercise in the nonlinear organization of a sea of facts and ideas. How do we turn what we think into arguments, narratives, and compositions that are accessible to others? In this class, we will focus on the structuring of thoughts and sentences - and sometimes even individual words - and how they can form a constellation of notes and ideas from which new texts emerge. We will look at the methods and genres scholars have used from across scientific and humanistic disciplines to represent their thought; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Chinese biji, Zettelkasten (card files), evidence boards, geometrical demonstration, private wikis, and other contemporary systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we explicate and organize our thoughts - both within these systems and beyond them into other written work.

• Days/Times: MWF 11:00AM - 11:50AM
• Instructor: Heath, Austin Edward
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

As a product, it is rare for a piece of writing to resemble the often circuitous trail of thoughts which produced it. As a process, however, writing is an exercise in the nonlinear organization of a sea of facts and ideas. How do we turn what we think into arguments, narratives, and compositions that are accessible to others? In this class, we will focus on the structuring of thoughts and sentences - and sometimes even individual words - and how they can form a constellation of notes and ideas from which new texts emerge. We will look at the methods and genres scholars have used from across scientific and humanistic disciplines to represent their thought; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Chinese biji, Zettelkasten (card files), evidence boards, geometrical demonstration, private wikis, and other contemporary systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we explicate and organize our thoughts - both within these systems and beyond them into other written work.

• Days/Times: MWF 1:30PM - 2:20PM
• Instructor: Heath, Austin Edward
• Room: Greenhouse 113
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Jagdale, Tanavi Shirish
• Room: Gilman 217
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

How do we know what we know? Outside the classroom, we participate in all kinds of vital activities that engage us in precise and creative ways, like cooking, running, dancing, playing musical instruments, practicing sports, and writing, to name only a few habitual pursuits. Often, these habits of movement become so ingrained that we stop considering them as intellectual challenges, and indeed, it sometimes feels like we zone out when we’re really absorbed in them. But how is it that our bodies can perform complicated tasks even in the seeming absence of conscious thought?  To approach this mystery, this writing course tests the hypotheses of "embodied cognition," an interdisciplinary theory of mind that sees knowledge as inseparable from the body’s practical motions. Through a series of creative and formal writing assignments, we will reflect on our own, frequently non-linguistic experiences in the world, asking what it means to know things in and through our bodies, and how to put that unspoken yet fundamental knowledge into words. This Reintro encourages students to think critically about a broad, consequential topic of growing significance within the fields of cognitive and medical science and the humanities. Through assigned readings, collaborative discussion, and experiments in different genres of writing, students will develop a perspective and voice of their own, and hone the technical skills necessary to express their ideas in changeable forms and contexts.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Pehrson, Nora Jane
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Many of our favorite books have been adapted for the big screen, and some of these adaptations have been remarkably successful. But what happens when a written text is turned into a film? How does it change the way think about the original? And how can we tell if a film is a successful adaptation of the original text? This writing course will explore these questions by focusing on cinematic adaptations of popular Victorian narratives, including Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol and the Sherlock Holmes stories. Through a series of writing assignments, including an academic essay, a film review, and an op-ed, students will consider why we keep retelling new versions of old stories, and how the movement from text to film allows viewers to think about these stories in new ways. Students will work toward a final argumentative essay that synthesizes the texts and themes explored over the course of the semester. The writing assignments, combined with a series of in-class workshops and peer reviews, will encourage students to engage with audiences beyond the classroom and help them to become more agile writers. 

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Yoo, Jungmin
• Room: Gilman 134
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

"One of the most frequent statements about Baltimore is that it is a “city of neighborhoods.” Indeed, the city boasts more than 200 official neighborhoods with varying architectural styles, access to city services, and atmospheres. That the people who live in these areas often proudly represent them is testament to the enduring importance of curated, physical spaces at a time when so much seems to depend on digital space. This course encourages attention to our human-made surroundings—campus and dormitory buildings, public parks, transportation systems, etc.—by considering ways people have written and thought about the built environment and through our own investigations into Baltimore’s built environment. Our aim is not only to become more familiar with Baltimore and the effects of human design, but also to recognize the “presence” of the built environment in writing, to better appreciate how it serves as a basis of inquiry and a source of creativity for journalists, novelists, and scholars alike. Together, we will reflect on how the built environment can shape our writing practices beyond simply providing an occasion for description. The course includes a field trip in which students will collaboratively interpret local sites in real time. The final project provides an opportunity to concentrate on one aspect of the built environment of Baltimore or another location of interest."

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Loftis, Cameron Jalayer
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

How does love appear and disappear during times of war? This course explores how war places pressure on various forms of writing, and in turn, what possibilities love creates in these contexts. Each student will select a contemporary conflict to explore for the duration of this course, analyzing a range of war writing, from journalism and social science scholarship to memoirs and film. Through media analysis, critical reflection, epistolary reply, and film review, students will learn how to write themselves into new contexts and areas of knowledge. Students will critically reflect upon considerations of audience, representation and persuasion in their own writing and in the writing of others, ultimately developing writerly agility and critical thinking strategies through their explorations of love in the time of war.

• Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Falaris, Marios Marko
• Room: Gilman 413
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Many of Plato’s dialogues excoriate the so-called ‘sophists’—rhetoricians who teach the art of persuasion. Plato’s teacher, Socrates, was for this reason wary of the art of writing: for the written word can beguile and act to persuade without ensuring that there is ‘internal understanding’. (This, according to Socrates, is best verified in person.) However, Plato notoriously does not do as his teacher did: he writes. Nor does he express his own message against the sophists in a straightforward manner. Instead, he writes dialogues which are themselves rhetorical tours de force, filled with devices such as circumlocution, distancing, particular tones and tempos of speech, scenic atmospheres, interjected mythic stories, and more. There is drama injected as interlocutors storm off, insult Socrates, exclaim that he is impossible to converse with. Each dialogue is carefully crafted and honed so as to have persuasive effect upon the reader and each dialogue unfolds according to its own particular rhythm. Indeed, as many have observed, for Plato ‘truth’ is not something which exists outside the movement of the world, and it has a particular relation with the concept of ‘rhythm’. In this class we will examine the various ways that ‘rhythm’ plays a part of the Platonic dialogues—both in relation to what he wants to say and how he says it. Students will write in genres ranging from their own dialogues to letters to essays. Assignments will be structured so that students can discover a perspective of interest from which they can write a final academic paper analyzing why Plato finds the presence of the artist intolerable in his ideal Republic.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Kim, Jiyoung
• Room: Greenhouse 113
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

For years, “The American Dream” has been a part of the national discourse. Today, however, many American residents complain that the American dream is dead: that the values of democracy, economic opportunity, and personal freedom that are central to the Dream no longer hold. Yet, despite this conviction, the United States remains a popular destination for people seeking a better quality of life. This writing course will investigate this tension and interrogate various aspects of the American Dream—a process that will help students to better understand the connection between writing and dreaming. Over the course of the semester, students will produce three major writing assignments and multiple smaller weekly assignments. These essays will cover a range of genres, including personal narratives, reviews, academic essays, and more.

• Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Wellington, Shalima Z
• Room: Bloomberg 178
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

In this collaborative, community-based learning course, students will work directly with the staff and volunteers of the Station North Tool Library, Baltimore's decade-old tool-lending library. Together, we'll seek to learn more about libraries of things as we study Baltimore's housing ecosystem and related development and zoning policies. We'll also work to understand how libraries of things and makerspaces across the country aim to empower individuals to undertake building and maintenance projects of their own. Students will engage in qualitative research, perform interviews with and write profiles about various constituents and stakeholders at the SNTL, and seek to understand how community organizations like the Tool Library are founded, funded, and sustained over time.

• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Brown, Nate
• Room: Gilman 195
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 3/8
• PosTag(s): n/a

This course examines three broad types of writing students will encounter at and beyond Hopkins: narrative writing, analytical writing, and technical writing. Each has its own implications within the walls of JHU, from research papers to creative projects, but each will extend to the opportunities students pursue outside of academia. Above all, this course demystifies the idea that some writers just “have it” by decoding the processes that lead to great writing and building students’ confidence in written expression to carry forward into their studies and professional pursuits.

• Days/Times: MTThF 9:30AM - 11:00AM
• Instructor: Budenz, Jake Aaron
• Room: Gilman 217
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 15/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

In this academic writing course, students will analyze and evaluate sources about enslaved Black midwives, nurses, and Black women whose medical practices and bodies were deemed inferior and flawed yet provided foundational knowledge for white practitioners in the mid-1800s. Over the course, students will practice critical reading and writing through summarizing, analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing ideas to increase their agency as writers and researchers. This course aims to enable students to write not simply what they know but as a means of inquiry.

• Days/Times: TWTh 9:00AM - 11:30AM
• Instructor: Wright, Lisa E.
• Room: Gilman 381
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 15/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

What is “the common good”? How do individuals consider this idea, this question, and how are societies led, or misled, by its pursuit? Together, we will explore sources from a range of perspectives: What does Aristotle’s theory of the common good teach us? Or the Federalist Papers, the design of Baltimore’s public transportation system, meritocracy in higher education, the perniciousness of pandemics, proliferation of nuclear weapons, restorative justice, or intimate love? Drawing from film, journal articles, literature, and other sources—authors/creators include Rachel Carson, James Baldwin, Bong Joon-ho, Jhumpa Lahiri, Michael Sandel, and more—this First-Year Seminar is as much about how we ask and interrogate challenging, timeless questions as it is about the answers themselves. Engaging our material and each other, we will work together to hone the habits of scholarly inquiry essential to this practice: reading, writing, talking. The seminar will culminate in a final, collaborative research project that seeks to map, and manifest, versions of the common good.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Watters, Aliza
• Room: Greenhouse 113
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

In this First-Year Seminar, we will examine the roles of love, fear, anger, and hope in our lives. We’ll ask questions about their value, danger, and appropriateness or inappropriateness in our lives at both the individual level and the level of political life. Some examples of questions we’ll consider are these: Should we love those who have wronged us? Is enjoying a horror movie morally problematic? How is fear used in political rhetoric and how should we respond to it? Is anger acceptable, or perhaps even necessary, in protest? Is love necessary for meaningful social change? When and how is hope justifiable and useful? We’ll also draw connections between these emotions and engage with related concepts such as forgiveness and trust. While our engagement with these concepts will be primarily through philosophy, we will also consider works of art and think about the value of portraying and evoking these emotions through various forms of art. Students can expect to read philosophical texts, journalism, occasional fiction and poetry, and to watch at least one horror film, among the sources for the course. Possible authors include Berit Brogaard, Noël Carroll, Myisha Cherry, Raja Halwani, Stephen King, Adrienne Martin, Martha Nussbaum, Edgar Allan Poe, Jason Stanley, and Desmond Tutu. We will take at least one field trip to a location in Baltimore during the semester. Students will emerge from this course with a more nuanced understanding of these powerful and often controversial emotions, and the ability to talk about them in an academic and public context.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Koullas, Sandy Gillian
• Room: Krieger Laverty
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

Animals have evolved a vast array of sensory systems that support a rich repertoire of natural behaviors. Some animals live in dark environments and use tactile, chemical, electrical and auditory sensors that allow them to operate in the absence of light. Other animals rely heavily on vision and take advantage of colors that humans cannot see. In this First-Year Seminar, we will explore extraordinary adaptations of sensory systems in animals that live on land and under water. Our focus will be on sensory systems that guide navigation and foraging behaviors in species as diverse as star-nosed moles, weakly electric fish, honeybees, and echolocating bats. As we delve into understanding the extraordinary sensory systems of selected species, we will also consider how these animals have inspired literary and visual artists. We aim to introduce students to a rich interdisciplinary experience that opens their eyes to new areas of inquiry as they take advantage of local resources, such as the National Aquarium, Baltimore Zoo, Wyman Park, Peabody Institute, and Baltimore Museum of Art.

• Days/Times: M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Moss, Cynthia F.; Russell, Arthur J
• Room: BLC 5015
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/12
• PosTag(s): n/a

In a 2012 New York Times interview critic Steven Greenblatt referred to literature as “the most astonishing technological means that human beings have created, and now practiced for thousands of years, to capture experience.” In contrast, focusing on his own specific literary practice, W.H. Auden famously said “poetry makes nothing happen.” So which one has it right? In this class we’ll focus on whether poetry serves any purpose in society, and if so what, and why. As a means of helping answer this question we’ll also consider whether there’s such a thing as a poetry community, and who belongs to it, as well as how the enjoyment of poetry through close reading might help us decide whether poetry has any bearing on people’s lives. We’ll attend and review a poetry reading, interview local poets, look at books and magazines where poetry appears, engage with critics, write short essays that help fellow readers appreciate poems we find striking, and in the process gain a deeper and richer understanding of what this art form is all about. Members of the class must be able to attend one local live poetry reading outside of class.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Berger, Donald W
• Room: Shriver Hall 104
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Reintroduction to Writing, JHU’s first-year writing course, steps beyond the writing skills necessary to get to college: our shared project is to help you learn how to write for the rest of your life. We approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging practice. In this course, we will rethink writing in ways that will help you throughout college, your professional career, personal life, and civic responsibilities in a democracy. Toward that end, this course teaches you to become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. You will read and write academic texts; rhetorically analyze a wide variety of sources, including for the conventions of diverse genres; and write across genres, developing skill and precision in your writing, as well as fluency across contexts, audiences, and media. Classes are capped at 15 students and often involve discussion, workshops, and conferences. Our courses engage with many topics and disciplines; consider carefully which course will most interest you. Reintroduction to Writing is intended for first-year students, though it is available to others by special permission.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Brodsky, Anne-Elizabeth Murdy
• Room: Gilman 377
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

"Reintroduction to Writing, JHU’s first-year writing course, steps beyond the writing skills necessary to get to college: our shared project is to help you learn how to write for the rest of your life. We approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging practice. In this course, we will rethink writing in ways that will help you throughout college, your professional career, personal life, and civic responsibilities in a democracy. Toward that end, this course teaches you to become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. You will read and write academic texts; rhetorically analyze a wide variety of sources, including for the conventions of diverse genres; and write across genres, developing skill and precision in your writing, as well as fluency across contexts, audiences, and media. Classes are capped at 15 students and often involve discussion, workshops, and conferences. Our courses engage with many topics and disciplines; consider carefully which course will most interest you. Reintroduction to Writing is intended for first-year students, though it is available to others by special permission."

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Brodsky, Anne-Elizabeth Murdy
• Room: Gilman 377
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Competing views about the dangers and potential benefits of drugs are ubiquitous. In the context of changing drug laws regarding psychedelic medicines, the legalization of cannabis, and “mandatory minimum” jail sentences, how can we gain insight into the cultural history of drugs in our society? This writing course will provide the opportunity for students to directly engage with recent debates over drug legislation by critically reflecting on the evolution of writing about drugs over the past 250 years. How does the cultural understanding of drugs change with shifts in rhetoric? How can we balance the need to protect society while still respecting individual freedoms and privacy? How can the latest scientific and sociological research help to guide legislative decisions? Our society’s understandings about drugs and their relationship to human consciousness have been—and continue to be—mediated by rhetoric and public discussions. By directly engaging in this evolving rhetoric through written and oral assignments, students will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of this complex and persistent topic. Students will explore this topic by writing in a variety of genres and persuasive strategies, including op-eds, policy memos, close textual and visual analyses, and reflections.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Devenot, Nese Lisa
• Room: Bloomberg 178
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Competing views about the dangers and potential benefits of drugs are ubiquitous. In the context of changing drug laws regarding psychedelic medicines, the legalization of cannabis, and “mandatory minimum” jail sentences, how can we gain insight into the cultural history of drugs in our society? This writing course will provide the opportunity for students to directly engage with recent debates over drug legislation by critically reflecting on the evolution of writing about drugs over the past 250 years. How does the cultural understanding of drugs change with shifts in rhetoric? How can we balance the need to protect society while still respecting individual freedoms and privacy? How can the latest scientific and sociological research help to guide legislative decisions? Our society’s understandings about drugs and their relationship to human consciousness have been—and continue to be—mediated by rhetoric and public discussions. By directly engaging in this evolving rhetoric through written and oral assignments, students will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of this complex and persistent topic. Students will explore this topic by writing in a variety of genres and persuasive strategies, including op-eds, policy memos, close textual and visual analyses, and reflections.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Devenot, Nese Lisa
• Room: Bloomberg 178
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Ever wonder about the choices made in creating the panels, characters, and text bubbles in comics? In this course, you'll study, create, and write about comics as a way to examine audience, text, and message – revealing some of the magic of comics. We'll read The 9/11 Report in two different forms, for example, and discuss translating the 900+ page government report into a comic for popular consumption. We’ll learn about women creators, like Jackie Ormes, the first African-American woman cartoonist. We'll read the now-classic graphic memoir Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and analyze the advantages of telling the history of the Iranian Revolution from the point of view of a child. And more! In addition to writing in various genres, students will curate an online exhibition of their top comics for display at the end of the semester. This course is for you if: you care about how history is communicated to the public; you wonder about the interplay between text and image; you like to doodle; you want to see your story in comics. No drawing skills necessary. Although we will create comics as part of assignments, you will not be assessed on your art talent or abilities.

• Days/Times: TTh 6:00PM - 7:15PM
• Instructor: Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A
• Room: Bloomberg 178
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

The phrase "a seat at the table" is often used to describe an instance where someone is included in an opportunity that has the potential to lead them to some form of success. The symbolism of pulling up a chair to a table represents a sense of belonging and inclusion that wasn’t extended previously for one reason or another. What happens when you get “a seat” that you’ve pursued for a long time? This course asks you to engage with feelings of inclusion/exclusion by drawing from your own experiences of negotiating and fighting for your seat. One way to think about this is to consider how your potential major (or careers relating to your potential major) relate to your body and how you are expected to exist in these spaces. In these moments of expectation, what are you willing to give? What is an acceptable cost (changing how you dress, talk, think, etc.) for your success? How can you fight to protect yourself and be successful? Is it possible to do both? Students can expect to explore these important questions via scaffolded writing activities which support the major assignments: rhetorical analysis essay, literature review, and research-based argument essay.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Hull, Brittany Sabrina
• Room: Gilman 219
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

The phrase "a seat at the table" is often used to describe an instance where someone is included in an opportunity that has the potential to lead them to some form of success. The symbolism of pulling up a chair to a table represents a sense of belonging and inclusion that wasn’t extended previously for one reason or another. What happens when you get “a seat” that you’ve pursued for a long time? This course asks you to engage with feelings of inclusion/exclusion by drawing from your own experiences of negotiating and fighting for your seat. One way to think about this is to consider how your potential major (or careers relating to your potential major) relate to your body and how you are expected to exist in these spaces. In these moments of expectation, what are you willing to give? What is an acceptable cost (changing how you dress, talk, think, etc.) for your success? How can you fight to protect yourself and be successful? Is it possible to do both? Students can expect to explore these important questions via scaffolded writing activities which support the major assignments: rhetorical analysis essay, literature review, and research-based argument essay.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Hull, Brittany Sabrina
• Room: Gilman 219
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

There’s no question that much of our public discourse contains speech that can be regarded as false, worthless, and hateful. In these ways speech can produce real harm to individuals and society. Why then do we intuitively feel that it is important to protect speech to the maximum extent? That’s the large question we will address through a series of writing projects. We begin by reading John Stuart Mill’s canonical justification of free speech in his nineteenth century treatise On Liberty. You write a short piece that engages with Mill’s view that speech is essential to the pursuit of truth. We then shift focus to the law, to get a sense of how the law defines the pivotal difference between speech and action. You’ll write an argumentative essay that enters a conversation about how we should respond to hateful speech. For the final assignment you are invited to research a contemporary free speech issue that interests you. Using online resources like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), you will map a particular controversy and produce a written report of your findings, including the option to publicly intervene in the controversy by writing a letter or an opinion piece.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Oppel, George
• Room: Gilman 400
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

How might we write the stories of neighborhoods that no longer exist? In this community-engaged writing course, students will work closely with the Baltimore City Archives to uncover the stories of people who lived in neighborhoods demolished by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City between the 1930s and 1960s. We will examine documents that the Housing Authority generated while acquiring homes for demolition— photographs, appraisal forms, court affidavits, and more—to consider the way these forms of writing impacted the lives of Baltimoreans facing displacement. In the process students will learn strategies for reading mundane, bureaucratic, and even dehumanizing sources against the grain, to find glimpses of the vibrant lives and everyday struggles of ordinary Baltimoreans. Students will critically reflect on the range of texts that they encounter and generate in their own lives as they build an awareness of the many writing decisions and rhetorical strategies they already bring to our work in the classroom. Working in a variety of modes and genres, students will write for both academic and public audiences. The course culminates with a collaboration with local archives and museums: students will research and create texts for a public exhibit on the history of Baltimore neighborhoods that have been lost to urban renewal, gentrification, and other forms of displacement.

• Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
• Room:  
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

How might we write the stories of neighborhoods that no longer exist? In this community-engaged writing course, students will work closely with the Baltimore City Archives to uncover the stories of people who lived in neighborhoods demolished by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City between the 1930s and 1960s. We will examine documents that the Housing Authority generated while acquiring homes for demolition— photographs, appraisal forms, court affidavits, and more—to consider the way these forms of writing impacted the lives of Baltimoreans facing displacement. In the process students will learn strategies for reading mundane, bureaucratic, and even dehumanizing sources against the grain, to find glimpses of the vibrant lives and everyday struggles of ordinary Baltimoreans. Students will critically reflect on the range of texts that they encounter and generate in their own lives as they build an awareness of the many writing decisions and rhetorical strategies they already bring to our work in the classroom. Working in a variety of modes and genres, students will write for both academic and public audiences. The course culminates with a collaboration with local archives and museums: students will research and create texts for a public exhibit on the history of Baltimore neighborhoods that have been lost to urban renewal, gentrification, and other forms of displacement.

• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
• Room: Smokler Center 213
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

In 1994, 12 Black women coined the term Reproductive Justice. Its tenets are 1) the right to have children; 2) the right not to have children; and 3) the right to parent children in safe and healthy environments, free from violence by individuals or the state. What does Reproductive Justice look like in Baltimore in 2024? In this community-based course, students will engage with The Bloom Collective, which supports Baltimore families before, during, and after pregnancy in pursuit of Reproductive Justice: creating holistic and transformative conditions for people to have access and full provision to make the best decisions for their lives. The course co-educator and director of the Bloom Collective, Tanay Lynn Harris will guide students in exploring the interconnectedness of Reproductive Justice throughout our everyday lives in Baltimore City and beyond. Students in this class will write autoethnographies, proposals, presentations, reflections, and more. This course will culminate with a community gathering that celebrates Black Maternal Health Week where students will have opportunities to listen to members of the Reproductive Justice community and present their research to an audience of their peers.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Wright, Lisa E.
• Room: Smokler Center 301
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Reintroduction to Writing, JHU’s first-year writing course, steps beyond the writing skills necessary to get to college: our shared project is to help you learn how to write for the rest of your life. We approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging practice. In this course, we will rethink writing in ways that will help you throughout college, your professional career, personal life, and civic responsibilities in a democracy. Toward that end, this course teaches you to become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. You will read and write academic texts; rhetorically analyze a wide variety of sources, including for the conventions of diverse genres; and write across genres, developing skill and precision in your writing, as well as fluency across contexts, audiences, and media. Classes are capped at 15 students and often involve discussion, workshops, and conferences. Our courses engage with many topics and disciplines; consider carefully which course will most interest you. Reintroduction to Writing is intended for first-year students, though it is available to others by special permission.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Staff
• Room: Gilman 119
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Reintroduction to Writing, JHU’s first-year writing course, steps beyond the writing skills necessary to get to college: our shared project is to help you learn how to write for the rest of your life. We approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging practice. In this course, we will rethink writing in ways that will help you throughout college, your professional career, personal life, and civic responsibilities in a democracy. Toward that end, this course teaches you to become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. You will read and write academic texts; rhetorically analyze a wide variety of sources, including for the conventions of diverse genres; and write across genres, developing skill and precision in your writing, as well as fluency across contexts, audiences, and media. Classes are capped at 15 students and often involve discussion, workshops, and conferences. Our courses engage with many topics and disciplines; consider carefully which course will most interest you. Reintroduction to Writing is intended for first-year students, though it is available to others by special permission.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Staff
• Room: Gilman 75
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Reintroduction to Writing, JHU’s first-year writing course, steps beyond the writing skills necessary to get to college: our shared project is to help you learn how to write for the rest of your life. We approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging practice. In this course, we will rethink writing in ways that will help you throughout college, your professional career, personal life, and civic responsibilities in a democracy. Toward that end, this course teaches you to become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. You will read and write academic texts; rhetorically analyze a wide variety of sources, including for the conventions of diverse genres; and write across genres, developing skill and precision in your writing, as well as fluency across contexts, audiences, and media. Classes are capped at 15 students and often involve discussion, workshops, and conferences. Our courses engage with many topics and disciplines; consider carefully which course will most interest you. Reintroduction to Writing is intended for first-year students, though it is available to others by special permission.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Staff
• Room: Maryland 217
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Reintroduction to Writing, JHU’s first-year writing course, steps beyond the writing skills necessary to get to college: our shared project is to help you learn how to write for the rest of your life. We approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging practice. In this course, we will rethink writing in ways that will help you throughout college, your professional career, personal life, and civic responsibilities in a democracy. Toward that end, this course teaches you to become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. You will read and write academic texts; rhetorically analyze a wide variety of sources, including for the conventions of diverse genres; and write across genres, developing skill and precision in your writing, as well as fluency across contexts, audiences, and media. Classes are capped at 15 students and often involve discussion, workshops, and conferences. Our courses engage with many topics and disciplines; consider carefully which course will most interest you. Reintroduction to Writing is intended for first-year students, though it is available to others by special permission.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Staff
• Room: Maryland 202
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Reintroduction to Writing, JHU’s first-year writing course, steps beyond the writing skills necessary to get to college: our shared project is to help you learn how to write for the rest of your life. We approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging practice. In this course, we will rethink writing in ways that will help you throughout college, your professional career, personal life, and civic responsibilities in a democracy. Toward that end, this course teaches you to become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. You will read and write academic texts; rhetorically analyze a wide variety of sources, including for the conventions of diverse genres; and write across genres, developing skill and precision in your writing, as well as fluency across contexts, audiences, and media. Classes are capped at 15 students and often involve discussion, workshops, and conferences. Our courses engage with many topics and disciplines; consider carefully which course will most interest you. Reintroduction to Writing is intended for first-year students, though it is available to others by special permission.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Staff
• Room: Bloomberg 178
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Reintroduction to Writing, JHU’s first-year writing course, steps beyond the writing skills necessary to get to college: our shared project is to help you learn how to write for the rest of your life. We approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging practice. In this course, we will rethink writing in ways that will help you throughout college, your professional career, personal life, and civic responsibilities in a democracy. Toward that end, this course teaches you to become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. You will read and write academic texts; rhetorically analyze a wide variety of sources, including for the conventions of diverse genres; and write across genres, developing skill and precision in your writing, as well as fluency across contexts, audiences, and media. Classes are capped at 15 students and often involve discussion, workshops, and conferences. Our courses engage with many topics and disciplines; consider carefully which course will most interest you. Reintroduction to Writing is intended for first-year students, though it is available to others by special permission.

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Staff
• Room: Gilman 77
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Reintroduction to Writing, JHU’s first-year writing course, steps beyond the writing skills necessary to get to college: our shared project is to help you learn how to write for the rest of your life. We approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging practice. In this course, we will rethink writing in ways that will help you throughout college, your professional career, personal life, and civic responsibilities in a democracy. Toward that end, this course teaches you to become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. You will read and write academic texts; rhetorically analyze a wide variety of sources, including for the conventions of diverse genres; and write across genres, developing skill and precision in your writing, as well as fluency across contexts, audiences, and media. Classes are capped at 15 students and often involve discussion, workshops, and conferences. Our courses engage with many topics and disciplines; consider carefully which course will most interest you. Reintroduction to Writing is intended for first-year students, though it is available to others by special permission.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Staff
• Room: Gilman 217
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Reintroduction to Writing, JHU’s first-year writing course, steps beyond the writing skills necessary to get to college: our shared project is to help you learn how to write for the rest of your life. We approach writing as an adaptable process of inquiry and action, as deeply informed by reading, and as reflective, embodied, and always emerging practice. In this course, we will rethink writing in ways that will help you throughout college, your professional career, personal life, and civic responsibilities in a democracy. Toward that end, this course teaches you to become an agile, curious, creative, and resilient writer. You will read and write academic texts; rhetorically analyze a wide variety of sources, including for the conventions of diverse genres; and write across genres, developing skill and precision in your writing, as well as fluency across contexts, audiences, and media. Classes are capped at 15 students and often involve discussion, workshops, and conferences. Our courses engage with many topics and disciplines; consider carefully which course will most interest you. Reintroduction to Writing is intended for first-year students, though it is available to others by special permission.

• Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Staff
• Room: Bloomberg 172
• Status: Reserved Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

In this first-year course, we'll examine and record how our thoughts, beliefs, and impressions of the world are informed by what we “see.” As in other writing-intensive courses, we’ll compose a variety of written works for a range of audiences, and we'll focus our time and attention on the creation and reception of art—including film, painting, sculpture, dance, performance art, architecture, and emerging artistic media. We'll read essays and criticism by Parul Sehgal, Maggie Nelson, Zadie Smith, Alain de Botton, and others to better understand how people critically, creatively, and analytically respond to art, artists, and artistic movements. The course will include visits to local art institutions and museums, reading and writing analysis and criticism, and performing research. Together, we'll attempt to test John Berger's claim that "the relation between what we see and what we know is never settled" while looking closely at and responding to images from the world of the fine arts, advertisement, social media, and AI.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Brown, Nate
• Room: Gilman 75
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 13/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

How has the advent of digital networks influenced our culture, attitudes, and behaviors? How have these transformations affected our personal and civic lives, education, and professional endeavors? Increasingly growing digital sources and digital networks have profoundly changed every aspect of our lives. In this course, we will critically examine the influence of digital networks, analyzing online interactions, exploring digital cultures, and studying online communities. Students are encouraged to select a topic of personal and academic interest to investigate, such as digital literacy practices, AI in education, influencer culture, social support in online communities, algorithmic fairness, privacy and safety in digital spaces, or social activism like #BlackLivesMatter. Throughout this course, students will develop research skills and advance their writing proficiency in content, clarity, organization, and readability. This will be accomplished through readings, discussions, writing tasks, feedback, and reflections. Students will write various genres, including reading response, literacy narrative, research paper, reflective journal, and presentation. By undertaking this course, students will cultivate critical thinking abilities, professional communication strategies, and lifelong learning skills necessary for success in both their academic pursuits and professional careers.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Cui, Wenqi
• Room: Bloomberg 172
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

How has the advent of digital networks influenced our culture, attitudes, and behaviors? How have these transformations affected our personal and civic lives, education, and professional endeavors? Increasingly growing digital sources and digital networks have profoundly changed every aspect of our lives. In this course, we will critically examine the influence of digital networks, analyzing online interactions, exploring digital cultures, and studying online communities. Students are encouraged to select a topic of personal and academic interest to investigate, such as digital literacy practices, AI in education, influencer culture, social support in online communities, algorithmic fairness, privacy and safety in digital spaces, or social activism like #BlackLivesMatter. Throughout this course, students will develop research skills and advance their writing proficiency in content, clarity, organization, and readability. This will be accomplished through readings, discussions, writing tasks, feedback, and reflections. Students will write various genres, including reading response, literacy narrative, research paper, reflective journal, and presentation. By undertaking this course, students will cultivate critical thinking abilities, professional communication strategies, and lifelong learning skills necessary for success in both their academic pursuits and professional careers.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Cui, Wenqi
• Room: Bloomberg 172
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

Many of us have (at least) two selves: an analog or “real-life” self and a digital self. These doppelgangers can bear striking resemblance to our embodied selves—or not—and raise many questions around issues of representation, authenticity, and impersonation. So too, we leave digital traces of ourselves in the form of “data doubles,” extracted through clicks, scrolls, and other forms of tracked data. This double is frequently a target for manipulation and persuasion, but also can be a tool to enhance creativity and efficiency in our analog lives. In this course, we will investigate the concept of the digital doppelganger from three distinct perspectives, asking how our capacious digital identities are formed, changed, and controlled in commercial, political, and creative contexts. By crafting auto-ethnographies, policy briefs, and creative computational projects, students will develop critical thinking skills, learn to communicate with agility and precision across different genres, and reflect on how we create and know ourselves in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

• Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
• Instructor: Schnitzler, Carly Elisabeth
• Room: Gilman 377
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/14
• PosTag(s): n/a

From legacy media outlets like the Baltimore Sun to new, nonprofit ventures like the Baltimore Banner, Baltimore's media landscape is rich and diverse. In this course, we'll study the media landscape in and around Baltimore City and ask essential questions about the nature of how the city and its people are depicted in news stories, features, interviews, reviews, and more. We'll read and write a variety of genres of reportage and gain practice in writing according to contemporary journalistic best practices and standards, assessing both the practical and theoretical considerations of "making the news."

• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Brown, Nate
• Room: Krieger 180
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 13/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

Rhetoric, or the art of persuasion, is the beating heart of political life. In this election year, we will listen to rational arguments presented in good faith, but we will also be exposed to deceptive forms of persuasion that attempt to mislead us through misinformation and other techniques of propaganda. Democratic citizens today need to utilize persuasive techniques to advance their political goals. But they also need to be alert to the perils of certain forms of persuasion that may even threaten democracy itself. This course will help you develop the civic capacity to meet these demands. We begin by studying some classic and contemporary political speeches and being attentive to the rhetorical techniques they utilize. You will then write and present your own short political speech. Next, we turn to the way in which persuasion is deployed on social media today. Is it possible for a consensus to emerge from all the competing voices, or does social media pose a genuine threat to democracy? You write an argumentative essay that addresses this question. Finally, you will design and produce a persuasive piece of political writing – which may incorporate visual components -- targeted to a specific audience on a topic of your choice.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Oppel, George
• Room: Gilman 400
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/15
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, AGRI-ELECT

A one-credit course orienting potential writing center tutors to the history, theory, and practice of tutoring writing. This course is for undergraduates who have applied to work as Writing Center tutors. Permission required.

• Days/Times: W 5:00PM - 6:50PM
• Instructor: Vinyard, Deirdre Will
• Room: Gilman 75
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 19/19
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

Deirdre Cooper Owens argues that the experimental and pioneering work performed on enslaved Black women such as Anarcha, Betsy, and Lucy, by Dr. James Marion Sims, who is known as the father of gynecology, has been overshadowed in America’s understanding of American gynecology. In this writing intensive course, we will explore the role of Black enslaved women in the formation of the field of American gynecology. We will examine the writing about enslaved Black midwives, nurses, and Black women whose medical practices and bodies were deemed inferior and flawed yet provided foundational knowledge for white practitioners in the mid-1800s. Potential readings include Deirdre Cooper Owens’ Medical Bondage: Race Gender and the Origins of American Gynecology, Deborah Gray Whites’ Ar’nt I a Woman?, and Marie Jenkins Schwartz’s Birthing a Slave: Motherhood and Medicine in the Antebellum South. Throughout the term, students will conduct their own research and write to combine these conversations with contemporary discussions surrounding Black maternal health, Black midwives, birthing justice, and reproductive justice more broadly. This course will culminate with an academic conference where students will present their research to an audience of their peers. All undergraduates at sophomore level and above are welcome.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Wright, Lisa E.
• Room: Smokler Center 301
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/19
• PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM

In partnership with the non-profit organization Jewtina y Co, this course explores the intersectional identity of Latin and Jewish life through academic, public, and reflective writing. This is a community-engaged course, though our community will be national and international: Jewtina y Co. works towards building a world in which the global Jewish and Latin communities work together to interrupt inequities and celebrate their multicultural histories. Rooted in anti-oppressive theory, Jewtina y Co. is on a mission to nurture Latin-Jewish community, identity, leadership and resiliency and our course priorities will mirror these values. In addition to learning about the history and culture of Latin-Jews through readings, guest speakers, and excursions, the course’s main work is our collaboration with Jewtina y Co., whose Executive Director will brief the class with real-world writing requests to meet the organization's needs. This course is for you if: you want to learn more about the difficulties of holding space for intersectional identity; you want your writing to make a difference outside of the classroom; you want to build your leadership and collaboration skills; you're curious to learn more about the Latin identity or the Jewish identity; you like interdisciplinary classes that challenge you. No prior knowledge of Judaism, Spanish language, or personal Jewish or Latinx background expected or necessary.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A
• Room: Bloomberg 172
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 15/15
• PosTag(s): n/a

An important and exciting platform for academic writing is the academic conference, and in this writing class, we will explore and practice all that goes into creating one. As a class, we will collaboratively conceptualize, plan, publicize, and host a conference around a broad theme with wide appeal in the humanities. We will analyze and write in genres such as the call for papers, the abstract, the conference schedule, the presentation, and commentary. We will collectively make decisions about aspects of the conference such as themes, keynote speakers, conference format and venue, and invitees. The conference will be held near the end of the semester, where each student in the class will present a paper, and perform other tasks associated with hosting a conference. After the conference, we will spend class time reflecting on the process and potentially curating a selection of papers to be published as conference proceedings on a public-facing website. This course offers students an opportunity for experiential learning and professional development in the academy, with an emphasis on humanistic disciplines. All students at the sophomore level and above are welcome.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Koullas, Sandy Gillian
• Room: Gilman 75
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/15
• PosTag(s): n/a