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.
×
FYS: What is the Common Good? AS.001.100 (01)
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: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.001.158 (01)
FYS: Love, Anger, Fear, and Hope
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Koullas, Sandy Gillian
Krieger Laverty
Fall 2024
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.
×
FYS: Love, Anger, Fear, and Hope AS.001.158 (01)
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: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.001.200 (01)
FYS: Great Adaptations in the Animal Kingdom
M 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Moss, Cynthia F.; Russell, Arthur J
BLC 4040
Fall 2024
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.
×
FYS: Great Adaptations in the Animal Kingdom AS.001.200 (01)
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 4040
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (01)
Reintroduction to Writing: Why Poetry?
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Berger, Donald W
Shriver Hall 104
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Why Poetry? AS.004.101 (01)
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: 3/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (02)
Reintroduction to Writing: Imagination and Research
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Brodsky, Anne-Elizabeth Murdy
Gilman 377
Fall 2024
To imagine is to construct something that is not real—to play, create, hypothesize. To do research is to engage in, as Zora Neale Hurston put it, “formalized curiosity.” And to write is to think, learn, discover, and act. This course explores the nature of writing, imagination, and research in situ: here on campus, at the Baltimore Museum of Art next door, and in Sheridan Libraries Special Collections. Throughout, we’ll read closely and write broadly, for different audiences and purposes. Our sources will include visual, aural, and written texts. For example, we’ll study the Antioch mosaics and Simone Leigh’s Meredith at the BMA. We’ll read scholarship and public-facing work by Hopkins faculty in neuroscience, astronomy, sociology, classics, and beyond, and we’ll explore the Hinkes Collection of Scientific Discovery. Students will write reflections, literacy narratives, academic arguments, and op-ed essays, and more; you’ll also have the opportunity to participate in a student conference. (Please see Professor Koullas’ Creating the Academic Conference course.) As in all Reintro courses, students will work towards becoming agile writers who understand writing as a social habit, an intellectual practice, and a way to make things happen in the world.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Imagination and Research AS.004.101 (02)
To imagine is to construct something that is not real—to play, create, hypothesize. To do research is to engage in, as Zora Neale Hurston put it, “formalized curiosity.” And to write is to think, learn, discover, and act. This course explores the nature of writing, imagination, and research in situ: here on campus, at the Baltimore Museum of Art next door, and in Sheridan Libraries Special Collections. Throughout, we’ll read closely and write broadly, for different audiences and purposes. Our sources will include visual, aural, and written texts. For example, we’ll study the Antioch mosaics and Simone Leigh’s Meredith at the BMA. We’ll read scholarship and public-facing work by Hopkins faculty in neuroscience, astronomy, sociology, classics, and beyond, and we’ll explore the Hinkes Collection of Scientific Discovery. Students will write reflections, literacy narratives, academic arguments, and op-ed essays, and more; you’ll also have the opportunity to participate in a student conference. (Please see Professor Koullas’ Creating the Academic Conference course.) As in all Reintro courses, students will work towards becoming agile writers who understand writing as a social habit, an intellectual practice, and a way to make things happen in the world.
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Instructor: Brodsky, Anne-Elizabeth Murdy
Room: Gilman 377
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 1/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (03)
Reintroduction to Writing: Imagination and Research
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Brodsky, Anne-Elizabeth Murdy
Gilman 377
Fall 2024
To imagine is to construct something that is not real—to play, create, hypothesize. To do research is to engage in, as Zora Neale Hurston put it, “formalized curiosity.” And to write is to think, learn, discover, and act. This course explores the nature of writing, imagination, and research in situ: here on campus, at the Baltimore Museum of Art next door, and in Sheridan Libraries Special Collections. Throughout, we’ll read closely and write broadly, for different audiences and purposes. Our sources will include visual, aural, and written texts. For example, we’ll study the Antioch mosaics and Simone Leigh’s Meredith at the BMA. We’ll read scholarship and public-facing work by Hopkins faculty in neuroscience, astronomy, sociology, classics, and beyond, and we’ll explore the Hinkes Collection of Scientific Discovery. Students will write reflections, literacy narratives, academic arguments, and op-ed essays, and more; you’ll also have the opportunity to participate in a student conference. (Please see Professor Koullas’ Creating the Academic Conference course.) As in all Reintro courses, students will work towards becoming agile writers who understand writing as a social habit, an intellectual practice, and a way to make things happen in the world.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Imagination and Research AS.004.101 (03)
To imagine is to construct something that is not real—to play, create, hypothesize. To do research is to engage in, as Zora Neale Hurston put it, “formalized curiosity.” And to write is to think, learn, discover, and act. This course explores the nature of writing, imagination, and research in situ: here on campus, at the Baltimore Museum of Art next door, and in Sheridan Libraries Special Collections. Throughout, we’ll read closely and write broadly, for different audiences and purposes. Our sources will include visual, aural, and written texts. For example, we’ll study the Antioch mosaics and Simone Leigh’s Meredith at the BMA. We’ll read scholarship and public-facing work by Hopkins faculty in neuroscience, astronomy, sociology, classics, and beyond, and we’ll explore the Hinkes Collection of Scientific Discovery. Students will write reflections, literacy narratives, academic arguments, and op-ed essays, and more; you’ll also have the opportunity to participate in a student conference. (Please see Professor Koullas’ Creating the Academic Conference course.) As in all Reintro courses, students will work towards becoming agile writers who understand writing as a social habit, an intellectual practice, and a way to make things happen in the world.
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Brodsky, Anne-Elizabeth Murdy
Room: Gilman 377
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (04)
Reintroduction to Writing: Drugs in Society
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Devenot, Nese Lisa
Bloomberg 178
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Drugs in Society AS.004.101 (04)
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: 1/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (05)
Reintroduction to Writing: Drugs in Society
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Devenot, Nese Lisa
Bloomberg 178
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Drugs in Society AS.004.101 (05)
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: 1/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (06)
Reintroduction to Writing: Comics, History, Lives
TTh 6:00PM - 7:15PM
Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A
Gilman 219
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Comics, History, Lives AS.004.101 (06)
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: Gilman 219
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 10/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (07)
Reintroduction to Writing: Interrogating the Rhetorics of Belonging
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Hull, Brittany Sabrina
Hodson 303
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Interrogating the Rhetorics of Belonging AS.004.101 (07)
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: Hodson 303
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 7/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (08)
Reintroduction to Writing: Interrogating the Rhetorics of Belonging
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Hull, Brittany Sabrina
Hodson 216
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Interrogating the Rhetorics of Belonging AS.004.101 (08)
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: Hodson 216
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 2/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (09)
Reintroduction to Writing: The Cost of Free Speech?
MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Oppel, George
Gilman 400
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: The Cost of Free Speech? AS.004.101 (09)
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: 2/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (10)
Reintroduction to Writing: Lost Baltimore
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Fusilier, Lauren; Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
Krieger 308
Fall 2024
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.
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Reintroduction to Writing: Lost Baltimore AS.004.101 (10)
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: Fusilier, Lauren; Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
Room: Krieger 308
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 3/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (11)
Reintroduction to Writing: Lost Baltimore
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Ludden, Jason; Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
Latrobe 120
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Lost Baltimore AS.004.101 (11)
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: Ludden, Jason; Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
Room: Latrobe 120
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (12)
Reintroduction to Writing: Reproductive Justice in Baltimore
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Wright, Lisa E.
Gilman 77
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Reproductive Justice in Baltimore AS.004.101 (12)
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: Gilman 77
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 2/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (13)
Reintroduction to Writing: Sonic Storytelling
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Fusilier, Lauren
Gilman 119
Fall 2024
How does sound shape our experiences and influence our understanding of the world? This course explores the multifaceted impact of sound through storytelling, utilizing sources like the Baltimore Soundscape Project, the industrial echoes of Baltimore's past at the Museum of Industry, the creations of local musician Wendel Patrick, and the musical diversity of the Peabody Conservatory. Students will engage in multimodal writing projects to foster critical reflection on the interplay between language, power, and justice, while applying rhetorical strategies and genre conventions to communicate effectively with specific audiences. Throughout the course, students will develop iterative writing processes, enhance their critical thinking, and improve their skills in summarization, evidence-based argumentation, synthesis, and citation. Readings will span academic theory on sonic rhetoric, popular sources on social justice and accessibility issues, and scientific writings on sound phenomena, supporting students as they explore topics aligned with their personal and scholarly interests. The analytical and technical approaches to sound explored in this course will be particularly relevant for students in STEM fields, illustrating how strong communication skills can enhance their abilities in research documentation, technical writing, and presenting scientific findings.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Sonic Storytelling AS.004.101 (13)
How does sound shape our experiences and influence our understanding of the world? This course explores the multifaceted impact of sound through storytelling, utilizing sources like the Baltimore Soundscape Project, the industrial echoes of Baltimore's past at the Museum of Industry, the creations of local musician Wendel Patrick, and the musical diversity of the Peabody Conservatory. Students will engage in multimodal writing projects to foster critical reflection on the interplay between language, power, and justice, while applying rhetorical strategies and genre conventions to communicate effectively with specific audiences. Throughout the course, students will develop iterative writing processes, enhance their critical thinking, and improve their skills in summarization, evidence-based argumentation, synthesis, and citation. Readings will span academic theory on sonic rhetoric, popular sources on social justice and accessibility issues, and scientific writings on sound phenomena, supporting students as they explore topics aligned with their personal and scholarly interests. The analytical and technical approaches to sound explored in this course will be particularly relevant for students in STEM fields, illustrating how strong communication skills can enhance their abilities in research documentation, technical writing, and presenting scientific findings.
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Instructor: Fusilier, Lauren
Room: Gilman 119
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 7/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (14)
Reintroduction to Writing: Difficulty and Accessibility in Gaming and in Writing
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Oliver, Xavier A
Gilman 413
Fall 2024
In gaming and in writing, questions of difficulty tend to coincide with legitimate concerns about inaccessibility and ableism. In gaming journalism, where writing and gaming intersect, heated debates about accessibility arise amid steadily increasing demand for Souls-likes: difficult games modeled after the infamously challenging 2011 title Dark Souls. What is at stake in these linked questions of difficulty and accessibility? Could examining these games and their literary influences enable us to intervene into discussions about accessibility in gaming and in writing? Using the unique lenses offered by Dark Souls, the texts that inspired it, its copycats, and the debates that these texts have sparked, this course invites students to contribute to ongoing discourse about accessibility and ableism in both domains of experience. Students will write a visual or textual analysis of a fictional text, a reflective essay about an experience engaging with a challenging interactive media object and/or about challenges previously faced while writing, and a collaborative multimedia project (focused on accessibility to a broad audience of readers) whose medium and genre will be decided on amongst group members and with me. To familiarize ourselves with our subject, we will engage with curated selections from primary sources (Berserk and Claymore) whose subject-matter directly influenced the difficulty, tone, themes, and questions of accessibility found in the Souls-like genre. We will also engage with Souls-likes that span a variety of game genres, as well as blog posts, video essays, and academic articles in the domains of games studies and disability studies.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Difficulty and Accessibility in Gaming and in Writing AS.004.101 (14)
In gaming and in writing, questions of difficulty tend to coincide with legitimate concerns about inaccessibility and ableism. In gaming journalism, where writing and gaming intersect, heated debates about accessibility arise amid steadily increasing demand for Souls-likes: difficult games modeled after the infamously challenging 2011 title Dark Souls. What is at stake in these linked questions of difficulty and accessibility? Could examining these games and their literary influences enable us to intervene into discussions about accessibility in gaming and in writing? Using the unique lenses offered by Dark Souls, the texts that inspired it, its copycats, and the debates that these texts have sparked, this course invites students to contribute to ongoing discourse about accessibility and ableism in both domains of experience. Students will write a visual or textual analysis of a fictional text, a reflective essay about an experience engaging with a challenging interactive media object and/or about challenges previously faced while writing, and a collaborative multimedia project (focused on accessibility to a broad audience of readers) whose medium and genre will be decided on amongst group members and with me. To familiarize ourselves with our subject, we will engage with curated selections from primary sources (Berserk and Claymore) whose subject-matter directly influenced the difficulty, tone, themes, and questions of accessibility found in the Souls-like genre. We will also engage with Souls-likes that span a variety of game genres, as well as blog posts, video essays, and academic articles in the domains of games studies and disability studies.
Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Oliver, Xavier A
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 2/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (16)
Reintroduction to Writing: The Power of Persuasion and the Manufacturing of Truth
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Jagdale, Tanavi Shirish Shirish
Maryland 202
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: The Power of Persuasion and the Manufacturing of Truth AS.004.101 (16)
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 Shirish
Room: Maryland 202
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (19)
Reintroduction to Writing: Building the Train of Thought
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Heath, Austin Edward
Gilman 4
Fall 2024
A polished piece of writing often looks effortless, as though the ideas within it have sprung fully-formed out of the writer’s head. In truth, this is almost never the case; good writing involves an iterative process of building and rebuilding, of testing and discarding new ideas even as we write. How do we turn a loose constellation of facts, ideas, and speculation into fully-realized arguments and written works?
To do this, we will look at how we build a train of thought through writing. We will look at the ways we represent (and misrepresent) the concept of inspiration and the process of writing in our media; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Japanese zuihitsu, German zettelkästen, systems of marginalia, methods of argument and geometrical demonstration, and new systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we have ideas and organize our thoughts – about writing as a means of thinking, rather than something that happens once the thinking’s done.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Building the Train of Thought AS.004.101 (19)
A polished piece of writing often looks effortless, as though the ideas within it have sprung fully-formed out of the writer’s head. In truth, this is almost never the case; good writing involves an iterative process of building and rebuilding, of testing and discarding new ideas even as we write. How do we turn a loose constellation of facts, ideas, and speculation into fully-realized arguments and written works?
To do this, we will look at how we build a train of thought through writing. We will look at the ways we represent (and misrepresent) the concept of inspiration and the process of writing in our media; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Japanese zuihitsu, German zettelkästen, systems of marginalia, methods of argument and geometrical demonstration, and new systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we have ideas and organize our thoughts – about writing as a means of thinking, rather than something that happens once the thinking’s done.
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Heath, Austin Edward
Room: Gilman 4
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (20)
Reintroduction to Writing: The University and the World
MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Shallit, Jonah Forest Lubiw
Bloomberg 172
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: The University and the World AS.004.101 (20)
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: Shallit, Jonah Forest Lubiw
Room: Bloomberg 172
Status: Open
Seats Available: 1/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (21)
Reintroduction to Writing: Seeing & Believing
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Brown, Nate
Gilman 75
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Seeing & Believing AS.004.101 (21)
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: 2/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (22)
Reintroduction to Writing: The Rhetoric of Digital Networks
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Cui, Wenqi
Maryland 309
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: The Rhetoric of Digital Networks AS.004.101 (22)
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: Maryland 309
Status: Open
Seats Available: 6/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (24)
Reintroduction to Writing: Digital Doppelgangers
TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Schnitzler, Carly Elisabeth
Gilman 377
Fall 2024
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Digital Doppelgangers AS.004.101 (24)
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: 4/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (26)
Reintroduction to Writing: Building the Train of Thought
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Heath, Austin Edward
Bloomberg 278
Fall 2024
A polished piece of writing often looks effortless, as though the ideas within it have sprung fully-formed out of the writer’s head. In truth, this is almost never the case; good writing involves an iterative process of building and rebuilding, of testing and discarding new ideas even as we write. How do we turn a loose constellation of facts, ideas, and speculation into fully-realized arguments and written works?
To do this, we will look at how we build a train of thought through writing. We will look at the ways we represent (and misrepresent) the concept of inspiration and the process of writing in our media; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Japanese zuihitsu, German zettelkästen, systems of marginalia, methods of argument and geometrical demonstration, and new systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we have ideas and organize our thoughts – about writing as a means of thinking, rather than something that happens once the thinking’s done.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Building the Train of Thought AS.004.101 (26)
A polished piece of writing often looks effortless, as though the ideas within it have sprung fully-formed out of the writer’s head. In truth, this is almost never the case; good writing involves an iterative process of building and rebuilding, of testing and discarding new ideas even as we write. How do we turn a loose constellation of facts, ideas, and speculation into fully-realized arguments and written works?
To do this, we will look at how we build a train of thought through writing. We will look at the ways we represent (and misrepresent) the concept of inspiration and the process of writing in our media; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Japanese zuihitsu, German zettelkästen, systems of marginalia, methods of argument and geometrical demonstration, and new systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we have ideas and organize our thoughts – about writing as a means of thinking, rather than something that happens once the thinking’s done.
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Heath, Austin Edward
Room: Bloomberg 278
Status: Open
Seats Available: 5/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (27)
Reintroduction to Writing: Sonic Storytelling
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Fusilier, Lauren
Gilman 119
Fall 2024
How does sound shape our experiences and influence our understanding of the world? This course explores the multifaceted impact of sound through storytelling, utilizing sources like the Baltimore Soundscape Project, the industrial echoes of Baltimore's past at the Museum of Industry, the creations of local musician Wendel Patrick, and the musical diversity of the Peabody Conservatory. Students will engage in multimodal writing projects to foster critical reflection on the interplay between language, power, and justice, while applying rhetorical strategies and genre conventions to communicate effectively with specific audiences. Throughout the course, students will develop iterative writing processes, enhance their critical thinking, and improve their skills in summarization, evidence-based argumentation, synthesis, and citation. Readings will span academic theory on sonic rhetoric, popular sources on social justice and accessibility issues, and scientific writings on sound phenomena, supporting students as they explore topics aligned with their personal and scholarly interests. The analytical and technical approaches to sound explored in this course will be particularly relevant for students in STEM fields, illustrating how strong communication skills can enhance their abilities in research documentation, technical writing, and presenting scientific findings.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Sonic Storytelling AS.004.101 (27)
How does sound shape our experiences and influence our understanding of the world? This course explores the multifaceted impact of sound through storytelling, utilizing sources like the Baltimore Soundscape Project, the industrial echoes of Baltimore's past at the Museum of Industry, the creations of local musician Wendel Patrick, and the musical diversity of the Peabody Conservatory. Students will engage in multimodal writing projects to foster critical reflection on the interplay between language, power, and justice, while applying rhetorical strategies and genre conventions to communicate effectively with specific audiences. Throughout the course, students will develop iterative writing processes, enhance their critical thinking, and improve their skills in summarization, evidence-based argumentation, synthesis, and citation. Readings will span academic theory on sonic rhetoric, popular sources on social justice and accessibility issues, and scientific writings on sound phenomena, supporting students as they explore topics aligned with their personal and scholarly interests. The analytical and technical approaches to sound explored in this course will be particularly relevant for students in STEM fields, illustrating how strong communication skills can enhance their abilities in research documentation, technical writing, and presenting scientific findings.
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Fusilier, Lauren
Room: Gilman 119
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 5/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (28)
Reintroduction to Writing: Smoking Technocracies and Privatized Democracies
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Ludden, Jason
Smokler Center 301
Fall 2024
A functioning democracy needs a thriving and engaged public sphere, experts to help find solutions to technical issues, and private spaces where people can exist outside of the control of the state. But what happens when experts take too much control and pass off opinions as facts? Or the state closes off the public spaces due to concerns of safety? And when private interests dictate policy? In this course, students will try and answer these questions after developing a rhetorical framework for analysis, write in varying genres that address different audiences, and learn how embodied knowledge, or personal experience, plays a role in academic and public writing. As a common starting point, we will examine how countries and communities are experiencing and grappling with the rise of mega-fires and the smoke that they produce. As we examine this discourse, students will create narratives, analyze images, and represent data for scholarly and public audiences. Students will then examine how their own discipline creates and sustains expertise and its relation to the public sphere. Students will have the opportunity to work in groups, conduct peer review, and redesign their work for other genres.
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Reintroduction to Writing: Smoking Technocracies and Privatized Democracies AS.004.101 (28)
A functioning democracy needs a thriving and engaged public sphere, experts to help find solutions to technical issues, and private spaces where people can exist outside of the control of the state. But what happens when experts take too much control and pass off opinions as facts? Or the state closes off the public spaces due to concerns of safety? And when private interests dictate policy? In this course, students will try and answer these questions after developing a rhetorical framework for analysis, write in varying genres that address different audiences, and learn how embodied knowledge, or personal experience, plays a role in academic and public writing. As a common starting point, we will examine how countries and communities are experiencing and grappling with the rise of mega-fires and the smoke that they produce. As we examine this discourse, students will create narratives, analyze images, and represent data for scholarly and public audiences. Students will then examine how their own discipline creates and sustains expertise and its relation to the public sphere. Students will have the opportunity to work in groups, conduct peer review, and redesign their work for other genres.
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Ludden, Jason
Room: Smokler Center 301
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 3/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (30)
Reintroduction to Writing: Playing With Words
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Essam, Richard James Llewellyn
Gilman 134
Fall 2024
Nearly everyone plays with the written word, from Dr. Seuss books as children to the latest Wordle puzzle as adults, and from ancient acrostics to the catchy phrases on posters we see around the JHU campus today. In this course, we will examine how writers play with words in order to communicate with diverse audiences. We will read about comically dysfunctional French classrooms, about Scrabble tournaments and pun competitions. We will enter an academic debate about how people in the ancient world first played with symbols to create writing and, eventually, our alphabet. And we will explore how writers in the modern world -- drawing especially on the rich resources here at Hopkins, both in MSEL Special Collections and elsewhere on campus -- continue to engage in wordplay in order to inform, persuade, or entertain their audiences. As in all other Reintro courses, students will hone their skills as agile writers by writing across a range of forms and genres, in both low- and high-stakes contexts: in addition to in-class writing almost every day, students will produce a personal narrative, an academic essay, and a ludic text in a genre and form of their own choosing.
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Reintroduction to Writing: Playing With Words AS.004.101 (30)
Nearly everyone plays with the written word, from Dr. Seuss books as children to the latest Wordle puzzle as adults, and from ancient acrostics to the catchy phrases on posters we see around the JHU campus today. In this course, we will examine how writers play with words in order to communicate with diverse audiences. We will read about comically dysfunctional French classrooms, about Scrabble tournaments and pun competitions. We will enter an academic debate about how people in the ancient world first played with symbols to create writing and, eventually, our alphabet. And we will explore how writers in the modern world -- drawing especially on the rich resources here at Hopkins, both in MSEL Special Collections and elsewhere on campus -- continue to engage in wordplay in order to inform, persuade, or entertain their audiences. As in all other Reintro courses, students will hone their skills as agile writers by writing across a range of forms and genres, in both low- and high-stakes contexts: in addition to in-class writing almost every day, students will produce a personal narrative, an academic essay, and a ludic text in a genre and form of their own choosing.
Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Essam, Richard James Llewellyn
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 2/14
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.231 (01)
Place-based Writing: Covering Baltimore – Writing News in Charm City
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Brown, Nate
Gilman 55
Fall 2024
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."
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Place-based Writing: Covering Baltimore – Writing News in Charm City AS.004.231 (01)
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: Gilman 55
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.241 (01)
Special Topics in Writing: Politics and Persuasion
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Oppel, George
Gilman 400
Fall 2024
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.
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Special Topics in Writing: Politics and Persuasion AS.004.241 (01)
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: 5/15
PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM, AGRI-ELECT
AS.004.341 (02)
Special Topics in Writing: The Mothers of Gynecology
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Wright, Lisa E.
Gilman 219
Fall 2024
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.
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Special Topics in Writing: The Mothers of Gynecology AS.004.341 (02)
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.
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.
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 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A
Room: Gilman 10
Status: Open
Seats Available: 5/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.351 (02)
Community Engaged Writing: Creating the Academic Conference
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Koullas, Sandy Gillian
Smokler Center 301
Fall 2024
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.
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Community Engaged Writing: Creating the Academic Conference AS.004.351 (02)
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: Smokler Center 301
Status: Open
Seats Available: 7/12
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.360.414 (01)
Humanities Research Lab: Composing the Commons
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Russell, Arthur J; Schnitzler, Carly Elisabeth
Shriver Hall 001
Fall 2024
The Commons is Hopkins’ newest arts and culture magazine, responding to the annual Common Question (in 2023-24: “What is repair?”). Our course will collaboratively design and produce an issue of The Commons over the course of the semester. Composing The Commons takes a hands-on, lab-based approach to writing technologies, media archeology, and accessibility studies. This writing methods course will examine print and digital media, explore physical and digital archives, and experiment with methods of intermedia composition and translation. Students will write a peer-reviewed article and create photo essays, short stories, poems, games, and print and digital ephemera. Our aim is to publish and translate a well-researched, well-considered magazine in both print and digital formats, for many publics.
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Humanities Research Lab: Composing the Commons AS.360.414 (01)
The Commons is Hopkins’ newest arts and culture magazine, responding to the annual Common Question (in 2023-24: “What is repair?”). Our course will collaboratively design and produce an issue of The Commons over the course of the semester. Composing The Commons takes a hands-on, lab-based approach to writing technologies, media archeology, and accessibility studies. This writing methods course will examine print and digital media, explore physical and digital archives, and experiment with methods of intermedia composition and translation. Students will write a peer-reviewed article and create photo essays, short stories, poems, games, and print and digital ephemera. Our aim is to publish and translate a well-researched, well-considered magazine in both print and digital formats, for many publics.
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Russell, Arthur J; Schnitzler, Carly Elisabeth
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Open
Seats Available: 5/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.101 (01)
Reintroduction to Writing: Building the Train of Thought
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Heath, Austin Edward
Gilman 413
Spring 2025
A polished piece of writing often looks effortless, as though the ideas within it have sprung fully-formed out of the writer’s head. In truth, this is almost never the case; good writing involves an iterative process of building and rebuilding, of testing and discarding new ideas even as we write. How do we turn a loose constellation of facts, ideas, and speculation into fully-realized arguments and written works? To do this, we will look at how we build a train of thought through writing. We will look at the ways we represent (and misrepresent) the concept of inspiration and the process of writing in our media; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Japanese zuihitsu, German zettelkästen, systems of marginalia, methods of argument and geometrical demonstration, and new systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we have ideas and organize our thoughts – about writing as a means of thinking, rather than something that happens once the thinking’s done.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Building the Train of Thought AS.004.101 (01)
A polished piece of writing often looks effortless, as though the ideas within it have sprung fully-formed out of the writer’s head. In truth, this is almost never the case; good writing involves an iterative process of building and rebuilding, of testing and discarding new ideas even as we write. How do we turn a loose constellation of facts, ideas, and speculation into fully-realized arguments and written works? To do this, we will look at how we build a train of thought through writing. We will look at the ways we represent (and misrepresent) the concept of inspiration and the process of writing in our media; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Japanese zuihitsu, German zettelkästen, systems of marginalia, methods of argument and geometrical demonstration, and new systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we have ideas and organize our thoughts – about writing as a means of thinking, rather than something that happens once the thinking’s done.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Heath, Austin Edward
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (02)
Reintroduction to Writing: Building the Train of Thought
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Heath, Austin Edward
Gilman 413
Spring 2025
A polished piece of writing often looks effortless, as though the ideas within it have sprung fully-formed out of the writer’s head. In truth, this is almost never the case; good writing involves an iterative process of building and rebuilding, of testing and discarding new ideas even as we write. How do we turn a loose constellation of facts, ideas, and speculation into fully-realized arguments and written works? To do this, we will look at how we build a train of thought through writing. We will look at the ways we represent (and misrepresent) the concept of inspiration and the process of writing in our media; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Japanese zuihitsu, German zettelkästen, systems of marginalia, methods of argument and geometrical demonstration, and new systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we have ideas and organize our thoughts – about writing as a means of thinking, rather than something that happens once the thinking’s done.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Building the Train of Thought AS.004.101 (02)
A polished piece of writing often looks effortless, as though the ideas within it have sprung fully-formed out of the writer’s head. In truth, this is almost never the case; good writing involves an iterative process of building and rebuilding, of testing and discarding new ideas even as we write. How do we turn a loose constellation of facts, ideas, and speculation into fully-realized arguments and written works? To do this, we will look at how we build a train of thought through writing. We will look at the ways we represent (and misrepresent) the concept of inspiration and the process of writing in our media; we will examine and reproduce English commonplaces, Japanese zuihitsu, German zettelkästen, systems of marginalia, methods of argument and geometrical demonstration, and new systems of personal knowledge management. Through critical discussion, practice, and implementation, students will think deeply about how we have ideas and organize our thoughts – about writing as a means of thinking, rather than something that happens once the thinking’s done.
Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Heath, Austin Edward
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (03)
Reintroduction to Writing: Exploring Multiple Literacies
MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Vinyard, Deirdre Will
Bloomberg 178
Spring 2025
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.
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Reintroduction to Writing: Exploring Multiple Literacies AS.004.101 (03)
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: Bloomberg 178
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 5/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (04)
Reintroduction to Writing: Sonic Storytelling
MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Fusilier, Lauren
Shriver Hall 001
Spring 2025
How does sound shape our experiences and influence our understanding of the world? This course explores the multifaceted impact of sound through storytelling, utilizing sources like the Baltimore Soundscape Project, the industrial echoes of Baltimore's past at the Museum of Industry, and the musical diversity of the Peabody Conservatory. Throughout the course, students will engage in multimodal writing projects to develop iterative writing processes, enhance their critical thinking, and improve their skills in summarization, evidence-based argumentation, synthesis, and citation. Readings will span academic theory on sonic rhetoric, popular sources on social justice and accessibility issues, and scientific writings on sound phenomena, supporting students as they explore topics aligned with their personal and scholarly interests. The analytical and technical approaches to sound explored in this course will be particularly relevant for students in STEM fields, illustrating how strong communication skills can enhance their abilities in research documentation, technical writing, and presenting scientific findings.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Sonic Storytelling AS.004.101 (04)
How does sound shape our experiences and influence our understanding of the world? This course explores the multifaceted impact of sound through storytelling, utilizing sources like the Baltimore Soundscape Project, the industrial echoes of Baltimore's past at the Museum of Industry, and the musical diversity of the Peabody Conservatory. Throughout the course, students will engage in multimodal writing projects to develop iterative writing processes, enhance their critical thinking, and improve their skills in summarization, evidence-based argumentation, synthesis, and citation. Readings will span academic theory on sonic rhetoric, popular sources on social justice and accessibility issues, and scientific writings on sound phenomena, supporting students as they explore topics aligned with their personal and scholarly interests. The analytical and technical approaches to sound explored in this course will be particularly relevant for students in STEM fields, illustrating how strong communication skills can enhance their abilities in research documentation, technical writing, and presenting scientific findings.
Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Fusilier, Lauren
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 1/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (05)
Reintroduction to Writing: Sonic Storytelling
MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Fusilier, Lauren
Shriver Hall 001
Spring 2025
How does sound shape our experiences and influence our understanding of the world? This course explores the multifaceted impact of sound through storytelling, utilizing sources like the Baltimore Soundscape Project, the industrial echoes of Baltimore's past at the Museum of Industry, and the musical diversity of the Peabody Conservatory. Throughout the course, students will engage in multimodal writing projects to develop iterative writing processes, enhance their critical thinking, and improve their skills in summarization, evidence-based argumentation, synthesis, and citation. Readings will span academic theory on sonic rhetoric, popular sources on social justice and accessibility issues, and scientific writings on sound phenomena, supporting students as they explore topics aligned with their personal and scholarly interests. The analytical and technical approaches to sound explored in this course will be particularly relevant for students in STEM fields, illustrating how strong communication skills can enhance their abilities in research documentation, technical writing, and presenting scientific findings.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Sonic Storytelling AS.004.101 (05)
How does sound shape our experiences and influence our understanding of the world? This course explores the multifaceted impact of sound through storytelling, utilizing sources like the Baltimore Soundscape Project, the industrial echoes of Baltimore's past at the Museum of Industry, and the musical diversity of the Peabody Conservatory. Throughout the course, students will engage in multimodal writing projects to develop iterative writing processes, enhance their critical thinking, and improve their skills in summarization, evidence-based argumentation, synthesis, and citation. Readings will span academic theory on sonic rhetoric, popular sources on social justice and accessibility issues, and scientific writings on sound phenomena, supporting students as they explore topics aligned with their personal and scholarly interests. The analytical and technical approaches to sound explored in this course will be particularly relevant for students in STEM fields, illustrating how strong communication skills can enhance their abilities in research documentation, technical writing, and presenting scientific findings.
Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Fusilier, Lauren
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (06)
Reintroduction to Writing: Nonhuman Rights
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
O'Connor, Marisa T
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2025
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Nonhuman Rights AS.004.101 (06)
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: Krieger Laverty
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (07)
Reintroduction to Writing: Nonhuman Rights
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
O'Connor, Marisa T
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2025
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Nonhuman Rights AS.004.101 (07)
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: Krieger Laverty
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (08)
Reintroduction to Writing: Riot/Uprising/Democracy
MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Lester, Quinn A
Gilman 413
Spring 2025
In Spring 2015 a young Black man from Baltimore named Freddie Gray died while in police custody. His death sparked days of mass protest, marching, property destruction, and clashes with police. While national media called these events a “riot”, local Baltimoreans still call this an “uprising” against discriminatory policing. Whichever label is used, this was not the first combination of political protest, property destruction, and violence in Baltimore’s history. In fact, such events have been continuous since 1812, as Baltimoreans have attacked politicians, police, and each other all often in the name of defending their “democracy” itself. By thinking about this history on the ten year anniversary of Freddie Gray’s death, students will explore their answers to fundamental questions about the relationship between violence and democracy in Baltimore: what is at stake in defining rioting as different from an uprising? Does the violence of rioting always make it undemocratic? Have white and Black Baltimoreans over time rioted differently or over similar causes? In finding their answers, students will practice through a variety of writing genres summarizing academic sources and joining an academic conversation, analyzing historical and contemporary images of rioting, and finally, produce their own art gallery for the Baltimore public at large to engage with these questions. Students will learn to use writing then not only as a way to make meaning from contentious and complicated events, but also to communicate the many different, competing, and radical ways Baltimore’s past continues to impact its present.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Riot/Uprising/Democracy AS.004.101 (08)
In Spring 2015 a young Black man from Baltimore named Freddie Gray died while in police custody. His death sparked days of mass protest, marching, property destruction, and clashes with police. While national media called these events a “riot”, local Baltimoreans still call this an “uprising” against discriminatory policing. Whichever label is used, this was not the first combination of political protest, property destruction, and violence in Baltimore’s history. In fact, such events have been continuous since 1812, as Baltimoreans have attacked politicians, police, and each other all often in the name of defending their “democracy” itself. By thinking about this history on the ten year anniversary of Freddie Gray’s death, students will explore their answers to fundamental questions about the relationship between violence and democracy in Baltimore: what is at stake in defining rioting as different from an uprising? Does the violence of rioting always make it undemocratic? Have white and Black Baltimoreans over time rioted differently or over similar causes? In finding their answers, students will practice through a variety of writing genres summarizing academic sources and joining an academic conversation, analyzing historical and contemporary images of rioting, and finally, produce their own art gallery for the Baltimore public at large to engage with these questions. Students will learn to use writing then not only as a way to make meaning from contentious and complicated events, but also to communicate the many different, competing, and radical ways Baltimore’s past continues to impact its present.
Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Lester, Quinn A
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 3/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (09)
Reintroduction to Writing:Truth-making and Persuasion
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Jagdale, Tanavi Shirish Shirish
Gilman 134
Spring 2025
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing:Truth-making and Persuasion AS.004.101 (09)
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 Shirish
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (10)
Reintroduction to Writing:Truth-making and Persuasion
MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Jagdale, Tanavi Shirish Shirish
Gilman 134
Spring 2025
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing:Truth-making and Persuasion AS.004.101 (10)
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 Shirish
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 1/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (11)
Reintroduction to Writing: Accessibility in Gaming and in Writing
MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Oliver, Xavier A
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2025
In gaming and in writing, questions of difficulty tend to coincide with legitimate concerns about inaccessibility and ableism. In gaming journalism, where writing and gaming intersect, debates about accessibility arise within a media landscape oriented around increasing demand for difficult games that take after the infamously challenging 2011 title Dark Souls. What is at stake in these linked questions of difficulty and accessibility, and to what extent might examining these games ourselves, and their literary influences, enable us to intervene into both discussions? Using the unique lenses offered by Dark Souls, the manga that inspired it (Kentaro Miura's Berserk), and the reputations that both have garnered for themselves, this course invites students to contribute to ongoing discourse about accessibility in gaming, while taking the opportunity to also reflect on and remedy obstacles and accessibility issues that they have previously encountered in the process of writing. Students will write a visual or textual analysis of a fictional text, a series of iterative blog posts chronicling an experience engaging with a challenging interactive media object, and a collaborative multimedia project whose genre and audience will be decided on amongst group members and with me.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Accessibility in Gaming and in Writing AS.004.101 (11)
In gaming and in writing, questions of difficulty tend to coincide with legitimate concerns about inaccessibility and ableism. In gaming journalism, where writing and gaming intersect, debates about accessibility arise within a media landscape oriented around increasing demand for difficult games that take after the infamously challenging 2011 title Dark Souls. What is at stake in these linked questions of difficulty and accessibility, and to what extent might examining these games ourselves, and their literary influences, enable us to intervene into both discussions? Using the unique lenses offered by Dark Souls, the manga that inspired it (Kentaro Miura's Berserk), and the reputations that both have garnered for themselves, this course invites students to contribute to ongoing discourse about accessibility in gaming, while taking the opportunity to also reflect on and remedy obstacles and accessibility issues that they have previously encountered in the process of writing. Students will write a visual or textual analysis of a fictional text, a series of iterative blog posts chronicling an experience engaging with a challenging interactive media object, and a collaborative multimedia project whose genre and audience will be decided on amongst group members and with me.
Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Oliver, Xavier A
Room: Krieger Laverty
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (12)
Reintroduction to Writing: Accessibility in Gaming and in Writing
MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Oliver, Xavier A
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2025
In gaming and in writing, questions of difficulty tend to coincide with legitimate concerns about inaccessibility and ableism. In gaming journalism, where writing and gaming intersect, debates about accessibility arise within a media landscape oriented around increasing demand for difficult games that take after the infamously challenging 2011 title Dark Souls. What is at stake in these linked questions of difficulty and accessibility, and to what extent might examining these games ourselves, and their literary influences, enable us to intervene into both discussions? Using the unique lenses offered by Dark Souls, the manga that inspired it (Kentaro Miura's Berserk), and the reputations that both have garnered for themselves, this course invites students to contribute to ongoing discourse about accessibility in gaming, while taking the opportunity to also reflect on and remedy obstacles and accessibility issues that they have previously encountered in the process of writing. Students will write a visual or textual analysis of a fictional text, a series of iterative blog posts chronicling an experience engaging with a challenging interactive media object, and a collaborative multimedia project whose genre and audience will be decided on amongst group members and with me.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Accessibility in Gaming and in Writing AS.004.101 (12)
In gaming and in writing, questions of difficulty tend to coincide with legitimate concerns about inaccessibility and ableism. In gaming journalism, where writing and gaming intersect, debates about accessibility arise within a media landscape oriented around increasing demand for difficult games that take after the infamously challenging 2011 title Dark Souls. What is at stake in these linked questions of difficulty and accessibility, and to what extent might examining these games ourselves, and their literary influences, enable us to intervene into both discussions? Using the unique lenses offered by Dark Souls, the manga that inspired it (Kentaro Miura's Berserk), and the reputations that both have garnered for themselves, this course invites students to contribute to ongoing discourse about accessibility in gaming, while taking the opportunity to also reflect on and remedy obstacles and accessibility issues that they have previously encountered in the process of writing. Students will write a visual or textual analysis of a fictional text, a series of iterative blog posts chronicling an experience engaging with a challenging interactive media object, and a collaborative multimedia project whose genre and audience will be decided on amongst group members and with me.
Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Oliver, Xavier A
Room: Krieger Laverty
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (13)
Reintroduction to Writing: Imagination & Research
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Brodsky, Anne-Elizabeth Murdy
Gilman 413
Spring 2025
To imagine is to construct something that is not real—to play, create, hypothesize. To do research is to engage in, as Zora Neale Hurston put it, “formalized curiosity.” And to write is to think, learn, discover, and act. This course explores the nature of writing, imagination, and research in situ: here on campus, at the Baltimore Museum of Art next door, and in Sheridan Libraries Special Collections. Throughout, we’ll read closely and write broadly, for different audiences and purposes. Our sources will include visual, aural, and written texts. For example, we’ll study the Antioch mosaics and Simone Leigh’s Meredith at the BMA. We’ll read scholarship and public-facing work by Hopkins faculty in neuroscience, astronomy, sociology, classics, and beyond, and we’ll explore the Hinkes Collection of Scientific Discovery. Students will write reflections, literacy narratives, academic arguments, and op-ed essays, and more. As in all Reintro courses, students will work towards becoming agile writers who understand writing as a social habit, an intellectual practice, and a way to make things happen in the world.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Imagination & Research AS.004.101 (13)
To imagine is to construct something that is not real—to play, create, hypothesize. To do research is to engage in, as Zora Neale Hurston put it, “formalized curiosity.” And to write is to think, learn, discover, and act. This course explores the nature of writing, imagination, and research in situ: here on campus, at the Baltimore Museum of Art next door, and in Sheridan Libraries Special Collections. Throughout, we’ll read closely and write broadly, for different audiences and purposes. Our sources will include visual, aural, and written texts. For example, we’ll study the Antioch mosaics and Simone Leigh’s Meredith at the BMA. We’ll read scholarship and public-facing work by Hopkins faculty in neuroscience, astronomy, sociology, classics, and beyond, and we’ll explore the Hinkes Collection of Scientific Discovery. Students will write reflections, literacy narratives, academic arguments, and op-ed essays, and more. As in all Reintro courses, students will work towards becoming agile writers who understand writing as a social habit, an intellectual practice, and a way to make things happen in the world.
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Instructor: Brodsky, Anne-Elizabeth Murdy
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (14)
Reintroduction to Writing: On the Road in America
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Wexler, Anthony Charles
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2025
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 “on the road” experience, 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 personal narratives 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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: On the Road in America AS.004.101 (14)
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 “on the road” experience, 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 personal narratives 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 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Wexler, Anthony Charles
Room: Krieger Laverty
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (15)
Reintroduction to Writing: On the Road in America
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Wexler, Anthony Charles
Gilman 413
Spring 2025
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 “on the road” experience, 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 personal narratives 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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: On the Road in America AS.004.101 (15)
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 “on the road” experience, 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 personal narratives 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 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Wexler, Anthony Charles
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (16)
Reintroduction to Writing: Forensics Between Fact & Fiction
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Grousdanidou, Antonia
Gilman 134
Spring 2025
From detective stories to procedural television shows and true crime podcasts, forensic description teaches us how to observe and describe ‘objectively’ to produce truth for entertainment. How does forensic thinking enhance our storytelling and inform our engagement with our everyday surroundings? Why are forensic techniques so fascinating and what are the social implications of our fascination with them? By investigating rhetorical uses of forensic description, we will critically reflect on how different kinds of writing can create truth and the assumption that forensic procedures necessarily yield justice. We will examine texts across popular culture, crime fiction, forensic science, criminology, philosophy, literary theory and the history of medicine. Using forensic tools and concepts, we will critically reflect on how fact-making and storytelling work in writing. Ever wanted to be a detective? Over the course of the semester, students will assemble a case file on themselves and try to solve the mystery of themselves as writers. Assignments will include a scholarly essay, personal narrative and a formal presentation that emphasizes visual storytelling. By connecting forensics with different genres and audiences, and through drafting, peer review and revision, students will develop their process and agility as thinkers and writers.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Forensics Between Fact & Fiction AS.004.101 (16)
From detective stories to procedural television shows and true crime podcasts, forensic description teaches us how to observe and describe ‘objectively’ to produce truth for entertainment. How does forensic thinking enhance our storytelling and inform our engagement with our everyday surroundings? Why are forensic techniques so fascinating and what are the social implications of our fascination with them? By investigating rhetorical uses of forensic description, we will critically reflect on how different kinds of writing can create truth and the assumption that forensic procedures necessarily yield justice. We will examine texts across popular culture, crime fiction, forensic science, criminology, philosophy, literary theory and the history of medicine. Using forensic tools and concepts, we will critically reflect on how fact-making and storytelling work in writing. Ever wanted to be a detective? Over the course of the semester, students will assemble a case file on themselves and try to solve the mystery of themselves as writers. Assignments will include a scholarly essay, personal narrative and a formal presentation that emphasizes visual storytelling. By connecting forensics with different genres and audiences, and through drafting, peer review and revision, students will develop their process and agility as thinkers and writers.
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Grousdanidou, Antonia
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (17)
Reintroduction to Writing: Forensics Between Fact & Fiction
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Grousdanidou, Antonia
Gilman 134
Spring 2025
From detective stories to procedural television shows and true crime podcasts, forensic description teaches us how to observe and describe ‘objectively’ to produce truth for entertainment. How does forensic thinking enhance our storytelling and inform our engagement with our everyday surroundings? Why are forensic techniques so fascinating and what are the social implications of our fascination with them? By investigating rhetorical uses of forensic description, we will critically reflect on how different kinds of writing can create truth and the assumption that forensic procedures necessarily yield justice. We will examine texts across popular culture, crime fiction, forensic science, criminology, philosophy, literary theory and the history of medicine. Using forensic tools and concepts, we will critically reflect on how fact-making and storytelling work in writing. Ever wanted to be a detective? Over the course of the semester, students will assemble a case file on themselves and try to solve the mystery of themselves as writers. Assignments will include a scholarly essay, personal narrative and a formal presentation that emphasizes visual storytelling. By connecting forensics with different genres and audiences, and through drafting, peer review and revision, students will develop their process and agility as thinkers and writers.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Forensics Between Fact & Fiction AS.004.101 (17)
From detective stories to procedural television shows and true crime podcasts, forensic description teaches us how to observe and describe ‘objectively’ to produce truth for entertainment. How does forensic thinking enhance our storytelling and inform our engagement with our everyday surroundings? Why are forensic techniques so fascinating and what are the social implications of our fascination with them? By investigating rhetorical uses of forensic description, we will critically reflect on how different kinds of writing can create truth and the assumption that forensic procedures necessarily yield justice. We will examine texts across popular culture, crime fiction, forensic science, criminology, philosophy, literary theory and the history of medicine. Using forensic tools and concepts, we will critically reflect on how fact-making and storytelling work in writing. Ever wanted to be a detective? Over the course of the semester, students will assemble a case file on themselves and try to solve the mystery of themselves as writers. Assignments will include a scholarly essay, personal narrative and a formal presentation that emphasizes visual storytelling. By connecting forensics with different genres and audiences, and through drafting, peer review and revision, students will develop their process and agility as thinkers and writers.
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Grousdanidou, Antonia
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (18)
Reintroduction to Writing: Forensics Between Fact & Fiction
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Grousdanidou, Antonia
Maryland 202
Spring 2025
From detective stories to procedural television shows and true crime podcasts, forensic description teaches us how to observe and describe ‘objectively’ to produce truth for entertainment. How does forensic thinking enhance our storytelling and inform our engagement with our everyday surroundings? Why are forensic techniques so fascinating and what are the social implications of our fascination with them? By investigating rhetorical uses of forensic description, we will critically reflect on how different kinds of writing can create truth and the assumption that forensic procedures necessarily yield justice. We will examine texts across popular culture, crime fiction, forensic science, criminology, philosophy, literary theory and the history of medicine. Using forensic tools and concepts, we will critically reflect on how fact-making and storytelling work in writing. Ever wanted to be a detective? Over the course of the semester, students will assemble a case file on themselves and try to solve the mystery of themselves as writers. Assignments will include a scholarly essay, personal narrative and a formal presentation that emphasizes visual storytelling. By connecting forensics with different genres and audiences, and through drafting, peer review and revision, students will develop their process and agility as thinkers and writers.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Forensics Between Fact & Fiction AS.004.101 (18)
From detective stories to procedural television shows and true crime podcasts, forensic description teaches us how to observe and describe ‘objectively’ to produce truth for entertainment. How does forensic thinking enhance our storytelling and inform our engagement with our everyday surroundings? Why are forensic techniques so fascinating and what are the social implications of our fascination with them? By investigating rhetorical uses of forensic description, we will critically reflect on how different kinds of writing can create truth and the assumption that forensic procedures necessarily yield justice. We will examine texts across popular culture, crime fiction, forensic science, criminology, philosophy, literary theory and the history of medicine. Using forensic tools and concepts, we will critically reflect on how fact-making and storytelling work in writing. Ever wanted to be a detective? Over the course of the semester, students will assemble a case file on themselves and try to solve the mystery of themselves as writers. Assignments will include a scholarly essay, personal narrative and a formal presentation that emphasizes visual storytelling. By connecting forensics with different genres and audiences, and through drafting, peer review and revision, students will develop their process and agility as thinkers and writers.
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Instructor: Grousdanidou, Antonia
Room: Maryland 202
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (19)
Reintroduction to Writing: Making. Art. Matter.
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Russell, Arthur J
Shriver Hall 001
Spring 2025
This course invites art-curious students to rewrite the material histories of art objects and art museums. 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 “matter” of art. Course discussion and writing projects will pay special attention to questions of what it means to make and practice a socially engaged art. 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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Making. Art. Matter. AS.004.101 (19)
This course invites art-curious students to rewrite the material histories of art objects and art museums. 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 “matter” of art. Course discussion and writing projects will pay special attention to questions of what it means to make and practice a socially engaged art. 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.
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Russell, Arthur J
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (20)
Reintroduction to Writing: Making. Art. Matter.
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Russell, Arthur J
Shriver Hall 001
Spring 2025
This course invites art-curious students to rewrite the material histories of art objects and art museums. 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 “matter” of art. Course discussion and writing projects will pay special attention to questions of what it means to make and practice a socially engaged art. 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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Making. Art. Matter. AS.004.101 (20)
This course invites art-curious students to rewrite the material histories of art objects and art museums. 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 “matter” of art. Course discussion and writing projects will pay special attention to questions of what it means to make and practice a socially engaged art. 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.
Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Russell, Arthur J
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 1/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (21)
Reintroduction to Writing: Dogs, Plants, Fungi, and the Anthropocene
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Menezes, Benita Maria
Croft Hall G02
Spring 2025
This course invites you to analyze form in writing, genre and narrative style. Defined as the geological age in which human activity is the dominant influence on the environment, the Anthropocene is the age of climate change. Cyborgs in the popular imagination are human-like machines. This course takes a step back. We meander through forests, homes, labs, and stock markets. Delving deep into human and non-human entanglements we introduce another category of cyborgs i.e., dogs, plants, pharmaceuticals, data, and fungi, into our viewfinder. We analyze ideas from the environmental humanities to creatively open out our durable ideas of climate change as a human-centric phenomenon and cyborgs as human-like machines. Following anthropologists, gardeners and filmmakers we read ethnographic stories, fiction, and film. We will ask, What dogs, plants and fungi teach us about the Anthropocene? How might we rethink climate change by expanding our ideas of the Anthropocene and cyborgs? Our tools will be writing, crafting, drawing and in-class dog meetups. You do not need prior training, just a willingness to co-learn new skills. We develop three genres- ethnographic narrative, memoir, and advocacy writing. Geared towards different audiences these genres enable us to develop a toolkit for writing in and beyond the classroom. Are you ready?
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Reintroduction to Writing: Dogs, Plants, Fungi, and the Anthropocene AS.004.101 (21)
This course invites you to analyze form in writing, genre and narrative style. Defined as the geological age in which human activity is the dominant influence on the environment, the Anthropocene is the age of climate change. Cyborgs in the popular imagination are human-like machines. This course takes a step back. We meander through forests, homes, labs, and stock markets. Delving deep into human and non-human entanglements we introduce another category of cyborgs i.e., dogs, plants, pharmaceuticals, data, and fungi, into our viewfinder. We analyze ideas from the environmental humanities to creatively open out our durable ideas of climate change as a human-centric phenomenon and cyborgs as human-like machines. Following anthropologists, gardeners and filmmakers we read ethnographic stories, fiction, and film. We will ask, What dogs, plants and fungi teach us about the Anthropocene? How might we rethink climate change by expanding our ideas of the Anthropocene and cyborgs? Our tools will be writing, crafting, drawing and in-class dog meetups. You do not need prior training, just a willingness to co-learn new skills. We develop three genres- ethnographic narrative, memoir, and advocacy writing. Geared towards different audiences these genres enable us to develop a toolkit for writing in and beyond the classroom. Are you ready?
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Menezes, Benita Maria
Room: Croft Hall G02
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 1/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (22)
Reintroduction to Writing: Rhetorics of Belonging
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Hull, Brittany Sabrina
Gilman 134
Spring 2025
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.
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Reintroduction to Writing: Rhetorics of Belonging AS.004.101 (22)
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 134
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 1/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (23)
Reintroduction to Writing: Digital Doppelgangers
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Schnitzler, Carly Elisabeth
Shriver Hall 001
Spring 2025
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.
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Reintroduction to Writing: Digital Doppelgangers AS.004.101 (23)
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 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Schnitzler, Carly Elisabeth
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (24)
Reintroduction to Writing: On Mindfulness A
TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Schnitzler, Carly Elisabeth
Gilman 413
Spring 2025
“I think, therefore I am,” said philosopher René Descartes. Writing is an embodied activity connecting us to ourselves and our own minds as much as it connects us to others. Because writing is a body-mind activity, cultivating and strengthening this link is crucial for our success as writers—this is the goal of the course.
Course projects center three core mindfulness themes: time, attention, and practice. We will write research-based essays, craft creative portfolios, and, in the last project, deploy what we’ve learned and try out a mindfulness practice of your choice. We will also develop a regular mindfulness practice together. Each day, class will begin with a guided meditation and journaling exercise. The meditations may range from the Ignatian Examen to a sound bath to a craft to guided writing prompts.
Dr. Hartmann-Villalta and Dr. Schnitzler’s sections are linked and taught in tandem; students will exchange writing and have similar discussions across both sections. The sections will collaborate on a semester-long reflective craft project. This course is for you if you are: looking to examine how you use your time; game to try new things; don’t mind silence; and ready to strengthen your mind and writing.
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Reintroduction to Writing: On Mindfulness A AS.004.101 (24)
“I think, therefore I am,” said philosopher René Descartes. Writing is an embodied activity connecting us to ourselves and our own minds as much as it connects us to others. Because writing is a body-mind activity, cultivating and strengthening this link is crucial for our success as writers—this is the goal of the course.
Course projects center three core mindfulness themes: time, attention, and practice. We will write research-based essays, craft creative portfolios, and, in the last project, deploy what we’ve learned and try out a mindfulness practice of your choice. We will also develop a regular mindfulness practice together. Each day, class will begin with a guided meditation and journaling exercise. The meditations may range from the Ignatian Examen to a sound bath to a craft to guided writing prompts.
Dr. Hartmann-Villalta and Dr. Schnitzler’s sections are linked and taught in tandem; students will exchange writing and have similar discussions across both sections. The sections will collaborate on a semester-long reflective craft project. This course is for you if you are: looking to examine how you use your time; game to try new things; don’t mind silence; and ready to strengthen your mind and writing.
Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Schnitzler, Carly Elisabeth
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (25)
Reintroduction to Writing: Higher Education, Learning, and You
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Egan, Caroline
Shriver Hall 001
Spring 2025
What does it mean to be “educated” and how does college – in particular, Johns Hopkins – aid (or undermine) that endeavor? Through a variety of readings and composition projects, this course will explore education, learning, and what it means to you. We’ll investigate own personal literacies – verbal, visual, interpretive, non-verbal, digital – as well as analyze 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 presentation on your first year at Hopkins.
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Reintroduction to Writing: Higher Education, Learning, and You AS.004.101 (25)
What does it mean to be “educated” and how does college – in particular, Johns Hopkins – aid (or undermine) that endeavor? Through a variety of readings and composition projects, this course will explore education, learning, and what it means to you. We’ll investigate own personal literacies – verbal, visual, interpretive, non-verbal, digital – as well as analyze 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 presentation on your first year at Hopkins.
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Instructor: Egan, Caroline
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 3/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (26)
Reintroduction to Writing: Why Poetry?
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Berger, Donald W
Bloomberg 172
Spring 2025
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.
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Reintroduction to Writing: Why Poetry? AS.004.101 (26)
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: Bloomberg 172
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (27)
Reintroduction to Writing: In Search of Home
TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Pérez Marsilla, Francisco
Shriver Hall 001
Spring 2025
What do we mean by home? Why is it so hard to leave home? And why do we miss home so much when we are away? These questions will be familiar to many first-year college students who have recently left home, but the experience of homesickness has a much longer history. Over 300 years ago, a nineteen-year-old medical student named Johannes Homer coined the term nostalgia to describe the experience of homesickness. In so doing, he gave a name to an experience of longing that so many people, across time and place, have experienced. In this writing course, we will explore the experience of leaving home, and the nostalgia it can generate, through a variety of writing assignments. Through a personal essay we will reflect on the experience of leaving home for college. And we will visit the University Archives to learn more about how students from previous generations navigated the same experience. Then, we will turn our attention to a broad range of readings on nostalgia in order to write a speech on the concept for an academic audience. A final multimedia project will showcase our evolving understanding of nostalgia, and the powerful role it can play in our lives.
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Reintroduction to Writing: In Search of Home AS.004.101 (27)
What do we mean by home? Why is it so hard to leave home? And why do we miss home so much when we are away? These questions will be familiar to many first-year college students who have recently left home, but the experience of homesickness has a much longer history. Over 300 years ago, a nineteen-year-old medical student named Johannes Homer coined the term nostalgia to describe the experience of homesickness. In so doing, he gave a name to an experience of longing that so many people, across time and place, have experienced. In this writing course, we will explore the experience of leaving home, and the nostalgia it can generate, through a variety of writing assignments. Through a personal essay we will reflect on the experience of leaving home for college. And we will visit the University Archives to learn more about how students from previous generations navigated the same experience. Then, we will turn our attention to a broad range of readings on nostalgia in order to write a speech on the concept for an academic audience. A final multimedia project will showcase our evolving understanding of nostalgia, and the powerful role it can play in our lives.
Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Pérez Marsilla, Francisco
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (28)
Reintroduction to Writing: The Cost of Free Speech?
MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Oppel, George
Maryland 202
Spring 2025
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.
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Reintroduction to Writing: The Cost of Free Speech? AS.004.101 (28)
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 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Oppel, George
Room: Maryland 202
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 2/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (29)
Reintroduction to Writing: Habitats Built and Rebuilt
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Ludden, Jason
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2025
"Habitats are, in a very general sense, places where organisms live and thrive. But they are more than a simple list of biotic and abiotic factors: they are composed of relationships and networks, of histories and practices, and are created, recreated, and destroyed by their inhabitants. In this class we will explore habitats and their construction. We will examine how language constrains spaces, and how spaces compose language. To understand habitats better, students will examine: what role experts take in the conservation and protection of habitats? what role the public plays in determining the value and sustainability of habitats? and how someone’s, or something’s, embodied knowledge can inform debates over habitat management? In this course, students will try and answer these questions after developing a rhetorical framework for analysis, write in varying genres that address different audiences, and learn how embodied knowledge, or personal experience, plays a role in academic and public writing. As a common starting point, we will examine how the habitat of Hopkins has been created and maintained by various structures and practices. We will then look at the work of anthropologists and ecologists who study and examine the interplay between people, non-human actors, and more-than-human actors. Students will then examine how their own discipline creates and sustains habitats, as well as critique a habitat of their own choosing.
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Reintroduction to Writing: Habitats Built and Rebuilt AS.004.101 (29)
"Habitats are, in a very general sense, places where organisms live and thrive. But they are more than a simple list of biotic and abiotic factors: they are composed of relationships and networks, of histories and practices, and are created, recreated, and destroyed by their inhabitants. In this class we will explore habitats and their construction. We will examine how language constrains spaces, and how spaces compose language. To understand habitats better, students will examine: what role experts take in the conservation and protection of habitats? what role the public plays in determining the value and sustainability of habitats? and how someone’s, or something’s, embodied knowledge can inform debates over habitat management? In this course, students will try and answer these questions after developing a rhetorical framework for analysis, write in varying genres that address different audiences, and learn how embodied knowledge, or personal experience, plays a role in academic and public writing. As a common starting point, we will examine how the habitat of Hopkins has been created and maintained by various structures and practices. We will then look at the work of anthropologists and ecologists who study and examine the interplay between people, non-human actors, and more-than-human actors. Students will then examine how their own discipline creates and sustains habitats, as well as critique a habitat of their own choosing.
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Ludden, Jason
Room: Krieger Laverty
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 1/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (30)
Reintroduction to Writing: Habitats Built and Rebuilt
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Ludden, Jason
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2025
"Habitats are, in a very general sense, places where organisms live and thrive. But they are more than a simple list of biotic and abiotic factors: they are composed of relationships and networks, of histories and practices, and are created, recreated, and destroyed by their inhabitants. In this class we will explore habitats and their construction. We will examine how language constrains spaces, and how spaces compose language. To understand habitats better, students will examine: what role experts take in the conservation and protection of habitats? what role the public plays in determining the value and sustainability of habitats? and how someone’s, or something’s, embodied knowledge can inform debates over habitat management? In this course, students will try and answer these questions after developing a rhetorical framework for analysis, write in varying genres that address different audiences, and learn how embodied knowledge, or personal experience, plays a role in academic and public writing. As a common starting point, we will examine how the habitat of Hopkins has been created and maintained by various structures and practices. We will then look at the work of anthropologists and ecologists who study and examine the interplay between people, non-human actors, and more-than-human actors. Students will then examine how their own discipline creates and sustains habitats, as well as critique a habitat of their own choosing.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Habitats Built and Rebuilt AS.004.101 (30)
"Habitats are, in a very general sense, places where organisms live and thrive. But they are more than a simple list of biotic and abiotic factors: they are composed of relationships and networks, of histories and practices, and are created, recreated, and destroyed by their inhabitants. In this class we will explore habitats and their construction. We will examine how language constrains spaces, and how spaces compose language. To understand habitats better, students will examine: what role experts take in the conservation and protection of habitats? what role the public plays in determining the value and sustainability of habitats? and how someone’s, or something’s, embodied knowledge can inform debates over habitat management? In this course, students will try and answer these questions after developing a rhetorical framework for analysis, write in varying genres that address different audiences, and learn how embodied knowledge, or personal experience, plays a role in academic and public writing. As a common starting point, we will examine how the habitat of Hopkins has been created and maintained by various structures and practices. We will then look at the work of anthropologists and ecologists who study and examine the interplay between people, non-human actors, and more-than-human actors. Students will then examine how their own discipline creates and sustains habitats, as well as critique a habitat of their own choosing.
Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Ludden, Jason
Room: Krieger Laverty
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 9/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (31)
Reintroduction to Writing: The University and the World
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Shallit, Jonah Forest Lubiw
Hodson 216
Spring 2025
Universities hold a place like no other in American public discourse—they are mythologized in sunny campus novels, lambasted in fiery political speeches, and their value for money is calculated down to the last penny of expected future earnings. In this class, students will write and engage in a range of compositional practices, from academic argument to journalism to personal narrative, in order to explore the question: just what is a university for, anyway? Universities often pride themselves as engines of truth, social mobility, and civic engagement, while to their critics universities can be financially exploitative sites of elitism, radicalism, or inequity. Students will explore these contrasts by writing across a range of genres, analyzing the philosophy, economics, and rhetoric of higher education. Students will gain the tools to engage different audiences through their writing by reflecting on their own experiences and adding their own voices to significant public conversations. Special attention will be paid to Johns Hopkins University itself and its deep and sometimes fractious relationship to the city of Baltimore. Writing about universities offers a chance to acclimate to a range of compositional practices, develop your own skills, and reflect upon the university with a new and broadened perspective.
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Reintroduction to Writing: The University and the World AS.004.101 (31)
Universities hold a place like no other in American public discourse—they are mythologized in sunny campus novels, lambasted in fiery political speeches, and their value for money is calculated down to the last penny of expected future earnings. In this class, students will write and engage in a range of compositional practices, from academic argument to journalism to personal narrative, in order to explore the question: just what is a university for, anyway? Universities often pride themselves as engines of truth, social mobility, and civic engagement, while to their critics universities can be financially exploitative sites of elitism, radicalism, or inequity. Students will explore these contrasts by writing across a range of genres, analyzing the philosophy, economics, and rhetoric of higher education. Students will gain the tools to engage different audiences through their writing by reflecting on their own experiences and adding their own voices to significant public conversations. Special attention will be paid to Johns Hopkins University itself and its deep and sometimes fractious relationship to the city of Baltimore. Writing about universities offers a chance to acclimate to a range of compositional practices, develop your own skills, and reflect upon the university with a new and broadened perspective.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Shallit, Jonah Forest Lubiw
Room: Hodson 216
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 4/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (32)
Reintroduction to Writing: Words with Friends
MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Houser, Julia
Gilman 313
Spring 2025
Michel de Montaigne famously accounted for the success of an especially significant friendship in his life with the poignant but not particularly explanatory, “because it was he, because it was I.” He felt that “this was the only way it could be expressed.” As challenging as it is to articulate the unique set of affinities and tensions, the shared personal history, the specific level of comfort and trust that make any given friendship what it is, in this course that is exactly what we will aspire to do: to put our friendships into words. Indeed, the central question to which we will return throughout the semester will hinge on the connection between friendship and expression--namely, what is the relationship between the project of becoming a better writer and the project of becoming a better friend? Through a New Yorker style profile of a friend, students will consider how attentive observation and careful description might serve to clarify and deepen their affection for their subjects; in a research essay, students will reflect on the notion of friendship between nations, on the conditions that motivate such alliances, and the genres of writing that formalize them; in a series of letters to a classmate, students will ponder a wide array of questions about friendship and communication; and then these same pairs of correspondents will join forces for a final collaborative assignment in which they explore what it means to think and write as friends.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Words with Friends AS.004.101 (32)
Michel de Montaigne famously accounted for the success of an especially significant friendship in his life with the poignant but not particularly explanatory, “because it was he, because it was I.” He felt that “this was the only way it could be expressed.” As challenging as it is to articulate the unique set of affinities and tensions, the shared personal history, the specific level of comfort and trust that make any given friendship what it is, in this course that is exactly what we will aspire to do: to put our friendships into words. Indeed, the central question to which we will return throughout the semester will hinge on the connection between friendship and expression--namely, what is the relationship between the project of becoming a better writer and the project of becoming a better friend? Through a New Yorker style profile of a friend, students will consider how attentive observation and careful description might serve to clarify and deepen their affection for their subjects; in a research essay, students will reflect on the notion of friendship between nations, on the conditions that motivate such alliances, and the genres of writing that formalize them; in a series of letters to a classmate, students will ponder a wide array of questions about friendship and communication; and then these same pairs of correspondents will join forces for a final collaborative assignment in which they explore what it means to think and write as friends.
Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Houser, Julia
Room: Gilman 313
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (33)
Reintroduction to Writing: Is this Art? Criticism in the Age of Content
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Joshi, Kunal
Shriver Hall 001
Spring 2025
What is art? One can be reasonably certain that one is in the presence of ‘Art’ when confronted, say, by a Chopin nocturne, an Impressionist painting, or an episode of The Wire. But we find that our certainties quickly leave us in the face of, say, a YouTube video, an episode of The Simpsons, or a comic book. Are memes art? What about AI-generated images? In a world where ‘art’ is increasingly being replaced by 'content', this course aims to explore the provocation: can responding to art be a creative act akin to producing art? Over the course of the semester, students will engage regularly with works of art, both virtually and in person (via field trips to museums around Baltimore). Students will learn to write about art in variety of genres and styles over the course of the semester: starting with descriptions, moving on to reflections about in the form of journal entries, as well as more formal responses to academic texts. Finally, at the heart of the course will be an art object/event 'in the wild' (a piece of live music, a play, a puppetry show at one of Baltimore's many theaters, and so on), which the students will research and review, reflecting on a work of art that they could only experience in person, in this place and time.
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Reintroduction to Writing: Is this Art? Criticism in the Age of Content AS.004.101 (33)
What is art? One can be reasonably certain that one is in the presence of ‘Art’ when confronted, say, by a Chopin nocturne, an Impressionist painting, or an episode of The Wire. But we find that our certainties quickly leave us in the face of, say, a YouTube video, an episode of The Simpsons, or a comic book. Are memes art? What about AI-generated images? In a world where ‘art’ is increasingly being replaced by 'content', this course aims to explore the provocation: can responding to art be a creative act akin to producing art? Over the course of the semester, students will engage regularly with works of art, both virtually and in person (via field trips to museums around Baltimore). Students will learn to write about art in variety of genres and styles over the course of the semester: starting with descriptions, moving on to reflections about in the form of journal entries, as well as more formal responses to academic texts. Finally, at the heart of the course will be an art object/event 'in the wild' (a piece of live music, a play, a puppetry show at one of Baltimore's many theaters, and so on), which the students will research and review, reflecting on a work of art that they could only experience in person, in this place and time.
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Joshi, Kunal
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (34)
Reintroduction to Writing: On Mindfulness B
TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2025
"“I think, therefore I am,” said philosopher René Descartes. Writing is an embodied activity connecting us to ourselves and our own minds as much as it connects us to others. Because writing is a body-mind activity, cultivating and strengthening this link is crucial for our success as writers—this is the goal of the course. Course projects center three core mindfulness themes: time, attention, and practice. We will write research-based essays, craft creative portfolios, and, in the last project, deploy what we’ve learned and try out a mindfulness practice of your choice. We will also develop a regular mindfulness practice together. Each day, class will begin with a guided meditation and journaling exercise. The meditations may range from the Ignatian Examen to a sound bath to a craft to guided writing prompts. Dr. Hartmann-Villalta and Dr. Schnitzler’s sections are linked and taught in tandem; students will exchange writing and have similar discussions across both sections. The sections will collaborate on a semester-long reflective craft project.
This course is for you if you are: looking to examine how you use your time; game to try new things; don’t mind silence; and ready to strengthen your mind and writing.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: On Mindfulness B AS.004.101 (34)
"“I think, therefore I am,” said philosopher René Descartes. Writing is an embodied activity connecting us to ourselves and our own minds as much as it connects us to others. Because writing is a body-mind activity, cultivating and strengthening this link is crucial for our success as writers—this is the goal of the course. Course projects center three core mindfulness themes: time, attention, and practice. We will write research-based essays, craft creative portfolios, and, in the last project, deploy what we’ve learned and try out a mindfulness practice of your choice. We will also develop a regular mindfulness practice together. Each day, class will begin with a guided meditation and journaling exercise. The meditations may range from the Ignatian Examen to a sound bath to a craft to guided writing prompts. Dr. Hartmann-Villalta and Dr. Schnitzler’s sections are linked and taught in tandem; students will exchange writing and have similar discussions across both sections. The sections will collaborate on a semester-long reflective craft project.
This course is for you if you are: looking to examine how you use your time; game to try new things; don’t mind silence; and ready to strengthen your mind and writing.
Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A
Room: Krieger Laverty
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (35)
Reintroduction to Writing: Black Midwives Post-Slavery
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Wright, Lisa E.
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2025
Connecting to Black lay midwives became increasingly difficult in the mid-1900s. The 1918 Alabama state law required Black lay midwives to pass an examination and register with the State Board of Health to continue practicing. In 1976, Alabama passed a law to end Black lay midwives' ability to practice and prevented them from filing for new licenses. Those who had licenses could practice until their county board of health revoked their license, and then they were as Onnie Lee Logan writes “throwed out.” In this writing class, students will write to explore the history of Black midwives in America including their rise in the 1970s. Potential readings may include excerpts by Margaret Charles Smith, Onnie Lee Logan, and Valerie Lee. Students will build a portfolio of writing that will include writing for themselves, social media, community, and/or scholarly audiences. The final project will allow students to follow a course of inquiry to a point of interest to compose a public-facing writing.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Black Midwives Post-Slavery AS.004.101 (35)
Connecting to Black lay midwives became increasingly difficult in the mid-1900s. The 1918 Alabama state law required Black lay midwives to pass an examination and register with the State Board of Health to continue practicing. In 1976, Alabama passed a law to end Black lay midwives' ability to practice and prevented them from filing for new licenses. Those who had licenses could practice until their county board of health revoked their license, and then they were as Onnie Lee Logan writes “throwed out.” In this writing class, students will write to explore the history of Black midwives in America including their rise in the 1970s. Potential readings may include excerpts by Margaret Charles Smith, Onnie Lee Logan, and Valerie Lee. Students will build a portfolio of writing that will include writing for themselves, social media, community, and/or scholarly audiences. The final project will allow students to follow a course of inquiry to a point of interest to compose a public-facing writing.
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Instructor: Wright, Lisa E.
Room: Krieger Laverty
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 9/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (36)
Reintroduction to Writing: Debates in Climate Policy
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Karthik, Manasi
Gilman 413
Spring 2025
The climate crisis fundamentally alters the pursuit of economic development for countries in the global south. This course will introduce students to policy debates in the field of sustainable development. Through structured, seminar-style discussions students will learn to think critically and write persuasively about the defining challenges of our time. Students will engage with questions about the role of international financial institutions, global climate governance, and green industrial policy. These subjects will offer students the opportunity to challenge and develop the skills of analytical writing, persuasive argumentation, and evidence-based reasoning. This course will require students to craft compelling essays, policy briefs, and position papers. No prior knowledge is required for this course. However, this course will be of most value to students interested in the social sciences, international relations, economics, public policy, and related fields.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Debates in Climate Policy AS.004.101 (36)
The climate crisis fundamentally alters the pursuit of economic development for countries in the global south. This course will introduce students to policy debates in the field of sustainable development. Through structured, seminar-style discussions students will learn to think critically and write persuasively about the defining challenges of our time. Students will engage with questions about the role of international financial institutions, global climate governance, and green industrial policy. These subjects will offer students the opportunity to challenge and develop the skills of analytical writing, persuasive argumentation, and evidence-based reasoning. This course will require students to craft compelling essays, policy briefs, and position papers. No prior knowledge is required for this course. However, this course will be of most value to students interested in the social sciences, international relations, economics, public policy, and related fields.
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Karthik, Manasi
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 1/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (37)
Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film
TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Cram, Mitchell Allan
Gilman 413
Spring 2025
What is Hollywood’s—and our—fascination with robbery? Challenging assumptions about criminality, justice and injustice, the heist (or ‘caper’) film makes theft into a subversive art form, a creative collaboration between a team of experts trying to pull off something extraordinary. We will study the history of this highly flexible genre to consider: Who are the bad guys? What is robbery? Why do we root for these characters, and why do we find it so enjoyable to watch them fail? These are some of the questions we will explore in “Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film,” a first-year writing course that asks us to think about how popular genres like the “caper” function as both escapist fantasy and social commentary. Through writing assignments that include argumentative essays, film reviews, and a creative project, students will also develop skills in critical thinking and communicating in different genres as they examine the history and conventions of the heist film. At the end of the semester, students will use their knowledge of the genre to plan their own heist narrative: a creative research project that uses our university campus as the setting for a daring robbery.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film AS.004.101 (37)
What is Hollywood’s—and our—fascination with robbery? Challenging assumptions about criminality, justice and injustice, the heist (or ‘caper’) film makes theft into a subversive art form, a creative collaboration between a team of experts trying to pull off something extraordinary. We will study the history of this highly flexible genre to consider: Who are the bad guys? What is robbery? Why do we root for these characters, and why do we find it so enjoyable to watch them fail? These are some of the questions we will explore in “Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film,” a first-year writing course that asks us to think about how popular genres like the “caper” function as both escapist fantasy and social commentary. Through writing assignments that include argumentative essays, film reviews, and a creative project, students will also develop skills in critical thinking and communicating in different genres as they examine the history and conventions of the heist film. At the end of the semester, students will use their knowledge of the genre to plan their own heist narrative: a creative research project that uses our university campus as the setting for a daring robbery.
Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Cram, Mitchell Allan
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (38)
Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Cram, Mitchell Allan
Gilman 134
Spring 2025
What is Hollywood’s—and our—fascination with robbery? Challenging assumptions about criminality, justice and injustice, the heist (or ‘caper’) film makes theft into a subversive art form, a creative collaboration between a team of experts trying to pull off something extraordinary. We will study the history of this highly flexible genre to consider: Who are the bad guys? What is robbery? Why do we root for these characters, and why do we find it so enjoyable to watch them fail? These are some of the questions we will explore in “Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film,” a first-year writing course that asks us to think about how popular genres like the “caper” function as both escapist fantasy and social commentary. Through writing assignments that include argumentative essays, film reviews, and a creative project, students will also develop skills in critical thinking and communicating in different genres as they examine the history and conventions of the heist film. At the end of the semester, students will use their knowledge of the genre to plan their own heist narrative: a creative research project that uses our university campus as the setting for a daring robbery.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film AS.004.101 (38)
What is Hollywood’s—and our—fascination with robbery? Challenging assumptions about criminality, justice and injustice, the heist (or ‘caper’) film makes theft into a subversive art form, a creative collaboration between a team of experts trying to pull off something extraordinary. We will study the history of this highly flexible genre to consider: Who are the bad guys? What is robbery? Why do we root for these characters, and why do we find it so enjoyable to watch them fail? These are some of the questions we will explore in “Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film,” a first-year writing course that asks us to think about how popular genres like the “caper” function as both escapist fantasy and social commentary. Through writing assignments that include argumentative essays, film reviews, and a creative project, students will also develop skills in critical thinking and communicating in different genres as they examine the history and conventions of the heist film. At the end of the semester, students will use their knowledge of the genre to plan their own heist narrative: a creative research project that uses our university campus as the setting for a daring robbery.
Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Cram, Mitchell Allan
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 1/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (39)
Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film
TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Cram, Mitchell Allan
Gilman 134
Spring 2025
What is Hollywood’s—and our—fascination with robbery? Challenging assumptions about criminality, justice and injustice, the heist (or ‘caper’) film makes theft into a subversive art form, a creative collaboration between a team of experts trying to pull off something extraordinary. We will study the history of this highly flexible genre to consider: Who are the bad guys? What is robbery? Why do we root for these characters, and why do we find it so enjoyable to watch them fail? These are some of the questions we will explore in “Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film,” a first-year writing course that asks us to think about how popular genres like the “caper” function as both escapist fantasy and social commentary. Through writing assignments that include argumentative essays, film reviews, and a creative project, students will also develop skills in critical thinking and communicating in different genres as they examine the history and conventions of the heist film. At the end of the semester, students will use their knowledge of the genre to plan their own heist narrative: a creative research project that uses our university campus as the setting for a daring robbery.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film AS.004.101 (39)
What is Hollywood’s—and our—fascination with robbery? Challenging assumptions about criminality, justice and injustice, the heist (or ‘caper’) film makes theft into a subversive art form, a creative collaboration between a team of experts trying to pull off something extraordinary. We will study the history of this highly flexible genre to consider: Who are the bad guys? What is robbery? Why do we root for these characters, and why do we find it so enjoyable to watch them fail? These are some of the questions we will explore in “Reintroduction to Writing: The Heist Film,” a first-year writing course that asks us to think about how popular genres like the “caper” function as both escapist fantasy and social commentary. Through writing assignments that include argumentative essays, film reviews, and a creative project, students will also develop skills in critical thinking and communicating in different genres as they examine the history and conventions of the heist film. At the end of the semester, students will use their knowledge of the genre to plan their own heist narrative: a creative research project that uses our university campus as the setting for a daring robbery.
Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Cram, Mitchell Allan
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (40)
Reintroduction to Writing: Troubling the "Hopkins Bubble"
TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
Smokler Center 213
Spring 2025
Undergraduates at Hopkins often bemoan what they call the “Hopkins Bubble”—an invisible boundary that separates life on campus from the “real” world. Such sentiments, however, run counter to Hopkins’ mission to produce “knowledge for the world” and its appeals for students to think of Baltimore as an “extension of campus.” Through critical reading and personal reflection, students will probe their experiences of campus life and Baltimore. They will employ writing as a process of inquiry, which enables them to engage in the thoughts and work of others. Students will analyze and respond to a variety of texts: from public signage, social media posts, and other messages that they encounter on a daily basis, to formal publications and scholarly arguments. Students will practice writing in these diverse genres as they interrogate the boundaries between the Homewood campus and Baltimore city. Through writing, students will investigate an aspect of the historical, economic, and political relationships between Baltimore and Hopkins that might contribute to or call into question the notion of a Hopkins Bubble. We will also consider the ways that practice of writing itself asks us to think critically about how we imagine, enact, and engage with community, and therefore informs our work to trouble the Hopkins Bubble.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Troubling the "Hopkins Bubble" AS.004.101 (40)
Undergraduates at Hopkins often bemoan what they call the “Hopkins Bubble”—an invisible boundary that separates life on campus from the “real” world. Such sentiments, however, run counter to Hopkins’ mission to produce “knowledge for the world” and its appeals for students to think of Baltimore as an “extension of campus.” Through critical reading and personal reflection, students will probe their experiences of campus life and Baltimore. They will employ writing as a process of inquiry, which enables them to engage in the thoughts and work of others. Students will analyze and respond to a variety of texts: from public signage, social media posts, and other messages that they encounter on a daily basis, to formal publications and scholarly arguments. Students will practice writing in these diverse genres as they interrogate the boundaries between the Homewood campus and Baltimore city. Through writing, students will investigate an aspect of the historical, economic, and political relationships between Baltimore and Hopkins that might contribute to or call into question the notion of a Hopkins Bubble. We will also consider the ways that practice of writing itself asks us to think critically about how we imagine, enact, and engage with community, and therefore informs our work to trouble the Hopkins Bubble.
Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
Instructor: Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
Room: Smokler Center 213
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 11/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (41)
Reintroduction to Writing: Queens on Screens
TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Lekan, Neah
Gilman 277
Spring 2025
To live in the 21st century is, somewhat ironically, to live at the height of queenship. There are precious few monarchs remaining in the world, and as of 14 January 2024, not one is a woman. Yet, queens remain all around us, especially on our screens. And like the queens regnant of a prior age, our contemporary queens are unapologetically confident and audacious performers of power and gender. In this Reintroduction to Writing course, we shall explore the portrayals of queens throughout cinema history. At the heart of the course will be a series of writing assignments in diverse and distinct genres, ranging from advocacy writing to film reviews to scripts for visual essays. And just like our gender-bending screen queens, we shall stretch convention and bend genre in our writing. These assignments will challenge students to reimagine themselves and their potential as writers and compositors in the contemporary media landscape.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Queens on Screens AS.004.101 (41)
To live in the 21st century is, somewhat ironically, to live at the height of queenship. There are precious few monarchs remaining in the world, and as of 14 January 2024, not one is a woman. Yet, queens remain all around us, especially on our screens. And like the queens regnant of a prior age, our contemporary queens are unapologetically confident and audacious performers of power and gender. In this Reintroduction to Writing course, we shall explore the portrayals of queens throughout cinema history. At the heart of the course will be a series of writing assignments in diverse and distinct genres, ranging from advocacy writing to film reviews to scripts for visual essays. And just like our gender-bending screen queens, we shall stretch convention and bend genre in our writing. These assignments will challenge students to reimagine themselves and their potential as writers and compositors in the contemporary media landscape.
Days/Times: TTh 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Lekan, Neah
Room: Gilman 277
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 4/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (42)
Reintroduction to Writing: Drugs in Society
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Devenot, Nese Lisa
Gilman 134
Spring 2025
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 seminar 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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Drugs in Society AS.004.101 (42)
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 seminar 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 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Devenot, Nese Lisa
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (43)
Reintroduction to Writing: Writing the American Family
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Wohlscheid, Pat
Spring 2025
The family is an unavoidable topic in American social life. Families can be a source of joy and stability, but can also cause a great deal of pain and harm. Since the 1950s, the white heterosexual family has served as the model for American cultural and economic life. However, in the 21st century, the nuclear family has been challenged from many sides, raising many questions. How is the family constructed in terms of race, gender, and class? Is the family necessarily an oppressive form? What is the future of the family in our own time? In this course, we will examine a variety of texts to think through how writers of various backgrounds use different genres to depict, praise, and critique the family. To that end, the course will focus on a series of writing assignments, including personal narrative, rhetorical analysis, and a public-facing essay, with each assignment designed to allow students to rethink writing, like the family itself, as a social form and develop their work for different audiences.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Writing the American Family AS.004.101 (43)
The family is an unavoidable topic in American social life. Families can be a source of joy and stability, but can also cause a great deal of pain and harm. Since the 1950s, the white heterosexual family has served as the model for American cultural and economic life. However, in the 21st century, the nuclear family has been challenged from many sides, raising many questions. How is the family constructed in terms of race, gender, and class? Is the family necessarily an oppressive form? What is the future of the family in our own time? In this course, we will examine a variety of texts to think through how writers of various backgrounds use different genres to depict, praise, and critique the family. To that end, the course will focus on a series of writing assignments, including personal narrative, rhetorical analysis, and a public-facing essay, with each assignment designed to allow students to rethink writing, like the family itself, as a social form and develop their work for different audiences.
Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Wohlscheid, Pat
Room:
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 14/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (44)
Reintroduction to Writing: Riot/Uprising/Democracy
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Lester, Quinn A
Spring 2025
In Spring 2015 a young Black man from Baltimore named Freddie Gray died while in police custody. His death sparked days of mass protest, marching, property destruction, and clashes with police. While national media called these events a “riot”, local Baltimoreans still call this an “uprising” against discriminatory policing. Whichever label is used, this was not the first combination of political protest, property destruction, and violence in Baltimore’s history. In fact, such events have been continuous since 1812, as Baltimoreans have attacked politicians, police, and each other all often in the name of defending their “democracy” itself. By thinking about this history on the ten year anniversary of Freddie Gray’s death, students will explore their answers to fundamental questions about the relationship between violence and democracy in Baltimore: what is at stake in defining rioting as different from an uprising? Does the violence of rioting always make it undemocratic? Have white and Black Baltimoreans over time rioted differently or over similar causes? In finding their answers, students will practice through a variety of writing genres summarizing academic sources and joining an academic conversation, analyzing historical and contemporary images of rioting, and finally, produce their own art gallery for the Baltimore public at large to engage with these questions. Students will learn to use writing then not only as a way to make meaning from contentious and complicated events, but also to communicate the many different, competing, and radical ways Baltimore’s past continues to impact its present.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Riot/Uprising/Democracy AS.004.101 (44)
In Spring 2015 a young Black man from Baltimore named Freddie Gray died while in police custody. His death sparked days of mass protest, marching, property destruction, and clashes with police. While national media called these events a “riot”, local Baltimoreans still call this an “uprising” against discriminatory policing. Whichever label is used, this was not the first combination of political protest, property destruction, and violence in Baltimore’s history. In fact, such events have been continuous since 1812, as Baltimoreans have attacked politicians, police, and each other all often in the name of defending their “democracy” itself. By thinking about this history on the ten year anniversary of Freddie Gray’s death, students will explore their answers to fundamental questions about the relationship between violence and democracy in Baltimore: what is at stake in defining rioting as different from an uprising? Does the violence of rioting always make it undemocratic? Have white and Black Baltimoreans over time rioted differently or over similar causes? In finding their answers, students will practice through a variety of writing genres summarizing academic sources and joining an academic conversation, analyzing historical and contemporary images of rioting, and finally, produce their own art gallery for the Baltimore public at large to engage with these questions. Students will learn to use writing then not only as a way to make meaning from contentious and complicated events, but also to communicate the many different, competing, and radical ways Baltimore’s past continues to impact its present.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Lester, Quinn A
Room:
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 11/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (45)
Reintroduction to Writing: Riot/Uprising/Democracy
MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Lester, Quinn A
Gilman 413
Spring 2025
In Spring 2015 a young Black man from Baltimore named Freddie Gray died while in police custody. His death sparked days of mass protest, marching, property destruction, and clashes with police. While national media called these events a “riot”, local Baltimoreans still call this an “uprising” against discriminatory policing. Whichever label is used, this was not the first combination of political protest, property destruction, and violence in Baltimore’s history. In fact, such events have been continuous since 1812, as Baltimoreans have attacked politicians, police, and each other all often in the name of defending their “democracy” itself. By thinking about this history on the ten year anniversary of Freddie Gray’s death, students will explore their answers to fundamental questions about the relationship between violence and democracy in Baltimore: what is at stake in defining rioting as different from an uprising? Does the violence of rioting always make it undemocratic? Have white and Black Baltimoreans over time rioted differently or over similar causes? In finding their answers, students will practice through a variety of writing genres summarizing academic sources and joining an academic conversation, analyzing historical and contemporary images of rioting, and finally, produce their own art gallery for the Baltimore public at large to engage with these questions. Students will learn to use writing then not only as a way to make meaning from contentious and complicated events, but also to communicate the many different, competing, and radical ways Baltimore’s past continues to impact its present.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Riot/Uprising/Democracy AS.004.101 (45)
In Spring 2015 a young Black man from Baltimore named Freddie Gray died while in police custody. His death sparked days of mass protest, marching, property destruction, and clashes with police. While national media called these events a “riot”, local Baltimoreans still call this an “uprising” against discriminatory policing. Whichever label is used, this was not the first combination of political protest, property destruction, and violence in Baltimore’s history. In fact, such events have been continuous since 1812, as Baltimoreans have attacked politicians, police, and each other all often in the name of defending their “democracy” itself. By thinking about this history on the ten year anniversary of Freddie Gray’s death, students will explore their answers to fundamental questions about the relationship between violence and democracy in Baltimore: what is at stake in defining rioting as different from an uprising? Does the violence of rioting always make it undemocratic? Have white and Black Baltimoreans over time rioted differently or over similar causes? In finding their answers, students will practice through a variety of writing genres summarizing academic sources and joining an academic conversation, analyzing historical and contemporary images of rioting, and finally, produce their own art gallery for the Baltimore public at large to engage with these questions. Students will learn to use writing then not only as a way to make meaning from contentious and complicated events, but also to communicate the many different, competing, and radical ways Baltimore’s past continues to impact its present.
Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Lester, Quinn A
Room: Gilman 413
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 8/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (46)
Reintroduction to Writing: Vaccine Rhetorics
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Wilbanks, Rebecca
Smokler Center 213
Spring 2025
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 draw on tools from the field of rhetoric to collectively explore these questions. We will discuss research on health communication and the cultural contexts of vaccine hesitancy, and recent debates over the role of misinformation. Students will contribute to this ongoing conversation via their own analysis of a vaccine-related text—which could be anything from a meme to a political speech. In addition to building familiarity with academic research and writing practices, students will practice communicating health information and scientific research to diverse audiences.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Vaccine Rhetorics AS.004.101 (46)
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 draw on tools from the field of rhetoric to collectively explore these questions. We will discuss research on health communication and the cultural contexts of vaccine hesitancy, and recent debates over the role of misinformation. Students will contribute to this ongoing conversation via their own analysis of a vaccine-related text—which could be anything from a meme to a political speech. In addition to building familiarity with academic research and writing practices, students will practice communicating health information and scientific research to diverse audiences.
Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Wilbanks, Rebecca
Room: Smokler Center 213
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (47)
Reintroduction to Writing: Playing with Words
TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Essam, Richard James Llewellyn
Spring 2025
As young children, we delight in puns, rhymes, and nonsense words, yet most suppress this tendency as adults, associating such wordplay with a lack of seriousness and maturity. The purpose of this course is to rejuvenate our writing practice with a sense of play and fun. We'll read children's literature like Dr. Seuss and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; ponder ancient texts like Sumerian rap battles and biblical acrostics; learn about Scrabble tournaments and pun competitions; and examine the role of puns and other play in rhetorical thought, from Aristotle to traditional treatments of tropes and figures. Along the way, we'll answer serious questions about how and why we use language, the relationship between form and content in a written text, and how wordplay — and a playful approach to rhetoric more generally — can heighten our ability to communicate across genres and forms and with diverse audiences. As in all other Reintro courses, students will hone their skills as agile and resilient writers by writing in both low- and high-stakes contexts: in addition to in-class writing almost every day, students will produce a personal narrative, an academic book review, and a ludic text in a genre and form of their own choosing.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Playing with Words AS.004.101 (47)
As young children, we delight in puns, rhymes, and nonsense words, yet most suppress this tendency as adults, associating such wordplay with a lack of seriousness and maturity. The purpose of this course is to rejuvenate our writing practice with a sense of play and fun. We'll read children's literature like Dr. Seuss and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; ponder ancient texts like Sumerian rap battles and biblical acrostics; learn about Scrabble tournaments and pun competitions; and examine the role of puns and other play in rhetorical thought, from Aristotle to traditional treatments of tropes and figures. Along the way, we'll answer serious questions about how and why we use language, the relationship between form and content in a written text, and how wordplay — and a playful approach to rhetoric more generally — can heighten our ability to communicate across genres and forms and with diverse audiences. As in all other Reintro courses, students will hone their skills as agile and resilient writers by writing in both low- and high-stakes contexts: in addition to in-class writing almost every day, students will produce a personal narrative, an academic book review, and a ludic text in a genre and form of their own choosing.
Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
Instructor: Essam, Richard James Llewellyn
Room:
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (48)
Reintroduction to Writing: What is Love?
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Koullas, Sandy Gillian
Krieger Laverty
Spring 2025
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.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: What is Love? AS.004.101 (48)
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: Krieger Laverty
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (49)
Reintroduction to Writing: Future Shock
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Benson, Schuler
Shriver Hall 001
Spring 2025
In FUTURE_SHOCK, students tackle the tortures of invention in academic writing by analyzing how writers in the past invented entire futures, not out of thin air, but based on what they saw in the present. This course positions writing as a means of using and reusing the texts we encounter around us and the experiences in which we find them as sources of creativity. In class we’ll draw inspiration from future-focused genres like cyberpunk media and industrial music, and we’ll get tips from unlikely sources like mail art, graffiti, computer hacking, and more. In individual semester projects, students will write manifestos, reviews, genre analyses, an argumentative essay, and more as they develop a low-stakes, personal interest into a topic fit for an academic research project. Students will support their individual development by collaborating in small crews to learn rhetorical awareness, genre familiarity, and research techniques by observing and entering online communities like Reddit, Twitch, and Discord. Additionally, three non-academic experts will visit the class to discuss how they excel in the worlds of videography, beat-making/sampling, and web design by using and reusing the same writing and research skills we’ll be working with in class.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Future Shock AS.004.101 (49)
In FUTURE_SHOCK, students tackle the tortures of invention in academic writing by analyzing how writers in the past invented entire futures, not out of thin air, but based on what they saw in the present. This course positions writing as a means of using and reusing the texts we encounter around us and the experiences in which we find them as sources of creativity. In class we’ll draw inspiration from future-focused genres like cyberpunk media and industrial music, and we’ll get tips from unlikely sources like mail art, graffiti, computer hacking, and more. In individual semester projects, students will write manifestos, reviews, genre analyses, an argumentative essay, and more as they develop a low-stakes, personal interest into a topic fit for an academic research project. Students will support their individual development by collaborating in small crews to learn rhetorical awareness, genre familiarity, and research techniques by observing and entering online communities like Reddit, Twitch, and Discord. Additionally, three non-academic experts will visit the class to discuss how they excel in the worlds of videography, beat-making/sampling, and web design by using and reusing the same writing and research skills we’ll be working with in class.
Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Benson, Schuler
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (50)
Reintroduction to Writing: Future Shock
MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Benson, Schuler
Shriver Hall 001
Spring 2025
In FUTURE_SHOCK, students tackle the tortures of invention in academic writing by analyzing how writers in the past invented entire futures, not out of thin air, but based on what they saw in the present. This course positions writing as a means of using and reusing the texts we encounter around us and the experiences in which we find them as sources of creativity. In class we’ll draw inspiration from future-focused genres like cyberpunk media and industrial music, and we’ll get tips from unlikely sources like mail art, graffiti, computer hacking, and more. In individual semester projects, students will write manifestos, reviews, genre analyses, an argumentative essay, and more as they develop a low-stakes, personal interest into a topic fit for an academic research project. Students will support their individual development by collaborating in small crews to learn rhetorical awareness, genre familiarity, and research techniques by observing and entering online communities like Reddit, Twitch, and Discord. Additionally, three non-academic experts will visit the class to discuss how they excel in the worlds of videography, beat-making/sampling, and web design by using and reusing the same writing and research skills we’ll be working with in class.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Future Shock AS.004.101 (50)
In FUTURE_SHOCK, students tackle the tortures of invention in academic writing by analyzing how writers in the past invented entire futures, not out of thin air, but based on what they saw in the present. This course positions writing as a means of using and reusing the texts we encounter around us and the experiences in which we find them as sources of creativity. In class we’ll draw inspiration from future-focused genres like cyberpunk media and industrial music, and we’ll get tips from unlikely sources like mail art, graffiti, computer hacking, and more. In individual semester projects, students will write manifestos, reviews, genre analyses, an argumentative essay, and more as they develop a low-stakes, personal interest into a topic fit for an academic research project. Students will support their individual development by collaborating in small crews to learn rhetorical awareness, genre familiarity, and research techniques by observing and entering online communities like Reddit, Twitch, and Discord. Additionally, three non-academic experts will visit the class to discuss how they excel in the worlds of videography, beat-making/sampling, and web design by using and reusing the same writing and research skills we’ll be working with in class.
Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
Instructor: Benson, Schuler
Room: Shriver Hall 001
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 5/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (51)
Reintroduction to Writing: Future Shock
MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Benson, Schuler
Gilman 134
Spring 2025
In FUTURE_SHOCK, students tackle the tortures of invention in academic writing by analyzing how writers in the past invented entire futures, not out of thin air, but based on what they saw in the present. This course positions writing as a means of using and reusing the texts we encounter around us and the experiences in which we find them as sources of creativity. In class we’ll draw inspiration from future-focused genres like cyberpunk media and industrial music, and we’ll get tips from unlikely sources like mail art, graffiti, computer hacking, and more. In individual semester projects, students will write manifestos, reviews, genre analyses, an argumentative essay, and more as they develop a low-stakes, personal interest into a topic fit for an academic research project. Students will support their individual development by collaborating in small crews to learn rhetorical awareness, genre familiarity, and research techniques by observing and entering online communities like Reddit, Twitch, and Discord. Additionally, three non-academic experts will visit the class to discuss how they excel in the worlds of videography, beat-making/sampling, and web design by using and reusing the same writing and research skills we’ll be working with in class.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: Future Shock AS.004.101 (51)
In FUTURE_SHOCK, students tackle the tortures of invention in academic writing by analyzing how writers in the past invented entire futures, not out of thin air, but based on what they saw in the present. This course positions writing as a means of using and reusing the texts we encounter around us and the experiences in which we find them as sources of creativity. In class we’ll draw inspiration from future-focused genres like cyberpunk media and industrial music, and we’ll get tips from unlikely sources like mail art, graffiti, computer hacking, and more. In individual semester projects, students will write manifestos, reviews, genre analyses, an argumentative essay, and more as they develop a low-stakes, personal interest into a topic fit for an academic research project. Students will support their individual development by collaborating in small crews to learn rhetorical awareness, genre familiarity, and research techniques by observing and entering online communities like Reddit, Twitch, and Discord. Additionally, three non-academic experts will visit the class to discuss how they excel in the worlds of videography, beat-making/sampling, and web design by using and reusing the same writing and research skills we’ll be working with in class.
Days/Times: MW 4:30PM - 5:45PM
Instructor: Benson, Schuler
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 1/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.101 (52)
Reintroduction to Writing: The Rhetoric of Digital Networks
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Cui, Wenqi
Gilman 134
Spring 2025
In today's digital age, the communication of information across various fields—including public health, medicine, STEM, engineering, social sciences, and the humanities—is increasingly mediated by digital platforms and networks such as social media, websites, mobile apps, and interactive tools. This course introduces students to the principles and practices of digital rhetoric, exploring how these principles shape both communication and writing across a wide range of contexts, from health and medicine to technology, science, culture, and society. Throughout the course, students will develop critical thinking, writing skills, and digital literacy to analyze and produce digital content that is credible, accessible, effective, and responsive to diverse audiences. These objectives will be achieved through readings, discussions, weekly short writing tasks, and three major writing assignments—a critical analysis, the creation of a digital message, and a research paper on a chosen topic—allowing students to apply digital rhetoric across a variety of professional and public contexts.
×
Reintroduction to Writing: The Rhetoric of Digital Networks AS.004.101 (52)
In today's digital age, the communication of information across various fields—including public health, medicine, STEM, engineering, social sciences, and the humanities—is increasingly mediated by digital platforms and networks such as social media, websites, mobile apps, and interactive tools. This course introduces students to the principles and practices of digital rhetoric, exploring how these principles shape both communication and writing across a wide range of contexts, from health and medicine to technology, science, culture, and society. Throughout the course, students will develop critical thinking, writing skills, and digital literacy to analyze and produce digital content that is credible, accessible, effective, and responsive to diverse audiences. These objectives will be achieved through readings, discussions, weekly short writing tasks, and three major writing assignments—a critical analysis, the creation of a digital message, and a research paper on a chosen topic—allowing students to apply digital rhetoric across a variety of professional and public contexts.
Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Cui, Wenqi
Room: Gilman 134
Status: Reserved Open
Seats Available: 5/15
PosTag(s): ENVS-MAJOR
AS.004.211 (01)
On Genre: Writing Lives in Medicine
Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Mostwin, Jacek Lech; Wilbanks, Rebecca
Bloomberg 172
Spring 2025
Medicine involves encounters with unruly bodies, treatments that can be both hopeful and brutal, and the specter of mortality, in a context of complex bureaucratic and technological systems. Healthcare providers, patients, and their loved ones turn to writing to make sense of and communicate their experiences. This writing course, co-taught by faculty in the School of Medicine and the University Writing Program, takes as its subject matter the resulting texts, which form part of the meta-genre of life writing. Together, we will read—and watch—narratives by patients and providers. We will learn from physicians and rhetoricians about the significance of writing in medicine, from therapeutic tool to call for change. Students will analyze and produce life writing of their own, via a reflective journal, a review of a life writing text, and a narrative of an encounter with medicine that draws on their own experience or research into someone else’s story. In the process, students will examine the culture of medicine and reflect on the experiences and values that shape their own relationship to health, illness, and treatment. No prior writing experience required! All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
×
On Genre: Writing Lives in Medicine AS.004.211 (01)
Medicine involves encounters with unruly bodies, treatments that can be both hopeful and brutal, and the specter of mortality, in a context of complex bureaucratic and technological systems. Healthcare providers, patients, and their loved ones turn to writing to make sense of and communicate their experiences. This writing course, co-taught by faculty in the School of Medicine and the University Writing Program, takes as its subject matter the resulting texts, which form part of the meta-genre of life writing. Together, we will read—and watch—narratives by patients and providers. We will learn from physicians and rhetoricians about the significance of writing in medicine, from therapeutic tool to call for change. Students will analyze and produce life writing of their own, via a reflective journal, a review of a life writing text, and a narrative of an encounter with medicine that draws on their own experience or research into someone else’s story. In the process, students will examine the culture of medicine and reflect on the experiences and values that shape their own relationship to health, illness, and treatment. No prior writing experience required! All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
Days/Times: Th 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Mostwin, Jacek Lech; Wilbanks, Rebecca
Room: Bloomberg 172
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.221 (01)
Writing Methods: Research with the Zombie Apocalypse
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A
Maryland 104
Spring 2025
In this interdisciplinary course focused on academic research and argument, everyone in the class will be surviving the zombie apocalypse together: What does your chosen academic discipline bring to our survival? How can this field of study contribute to innovation or ultimately building a new world? What kinds of collegial practices (aka teamwork) are necessary? Although the zombie apocalypse is our collective topic for discussion and an animating metaphor for the course, students will not conduct research about zombies. Rather, we will use the tropes of zombie apocalypse to pose research questions about real-life disasters, whether natural or man-made. For example, a political science major may research military responses to disaster (survival), or a dance major may investigate how dance performance is used to process collective trauma in post-genocide societies (the new world). Conducting individual research, students will write in academic research genres, from proposal to research paper to poster presentation. Everyone comfortable with gory zombies, including all first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above, are welcome.
×
Writing Methods: Research with the Zombie Apocalypse AS.004.221 (01)
In this interdisciplinary course focused on academic research and argument, everyone in the class will be surviving the zombie apocalypse together: What does your chosen academic discipline bring to our survival? How can this field of study contribute to innovation or ultimately building a new world? What kinds of collegial practices (aka teamwork) are necessary? Although the zombie apocalypse is our collective topic for discussion and an animating metaphor for the course, students will not conduct research about zombies. Rather, we will use the tropes of zombie apocalypse to pose research questions about real-life disasters, whether natural or man-made. For example, a political science major may research military responses to disaster (survival), or a dance major may investigate how dance performance is used to process collective trauma in post-genocide societies (the new world). Conducting individual research, students will write in academic research genres, from proposal to research paper to poster presentation. Everyone comfortable with gory zombies, including all first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above, are welcome.
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Hartmann-Villalta, Laura A
Room: Maryland 104
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.221 (02)
Writing Methods: Experiments in Public Writing
MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Pavesich, Matthew
Krieger 304
Spring 2025
If you are interested in writing for public audiences and creatively circulating knowledge beyond the boundaries of campus, this class is for you. We will draw on the methods of the public humanities to learn how to convey to public audiences complex problems and enduring questions in your areas of academic interest—whether that’s philosophy, history, literature, art, or medicine, science, engineering, or math. Together, we will explore the many ways that the humanities provide us with the tools for living in a complex world, interacting in our communities, and informing and influencing the public. Through case studies, guest lectures, and direct public engagement, we will explore how to tell important cultural stories, present persuasive and meaningful knowledge, and make visible the multiple histories of our society. The primary work of this course will be a series of inventive and analytical writing projects that build towards a prototype of your own public project on a subject and in a form of your choice. All ideas are welcome: podcasts, films, op-eds, social media campaigns, zines, digital projects, and more. This class is your chance to take intriguing, sticky ideas from the academic work you care about most and transform them into something that could change the world. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
×
Writing Methods: Experiments in Public Writing AS.004.221 (02)
If you are interested in writing for public audiences and creatively circulating knowledge beyond the boundaries of campus, this class is for you. We will draw on the methods of the public humanities to learn how to convey to public audiences complex problems and enduring questions in your areas of academic interest—whether that’s philosophy, history, literature, art, or medicine, science, engineering, or math. Together, we will explore the many ways that the humanities provide us with the tools for living in a complex world, interacting in our communities, and informing and influencing the public. Through case studies, guest lectures, and direct public engagement, we will explore how to tell important cultural stories, present persuasive and meaningful knowledge, and make visible the multiple histories of our society. The primary work of this course will be a series of inventive and analytical writing projects that build towards a prototype of your own public project on a subject and in a form of your choice. All ideas are welcome: podcasts, films, op-eds, social media campaigns, zines, digital projects, and more. This class is your chance to take intriguing, sticky ideas from the academic work you care about most and transform them into something that could change the world. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Pavesich, Matthew
Room: Krieger 304
Status: Open
Seats Available: 3/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.221 (03)
Writing Methods: Rhetorics of Professionalism
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Hull, Brittany Sabrina
Gilman 313
Spring 2025
According to the Oxford Dictionary, professional is defined as “a person engaged or qualified in a profession.” In this advanced speaking and writing course, students will engage in a semester-long research project to examine definitions of professionalism across a variety of disciplines and contexts. Students will research to question, what goes into creating standards, and what-and who -- do they serve? For instance, when a 17-year-old at Banana Republic is asked to remove her box braids to avoid “looking urban;” or a trans employee is fired for violating a nebulous dress code; are these examples of larger issues of dominant cultural biases concerning the concept of “professionalism” in the workplace? Through course readings, library sources, and primary research, this course questions if employers and institutions establish specific standards that draw a line between those who are a “good fit” and those who are not. Students will compose a research proposal/presentation, creative genre modes assignment, and final presentation with visual aids to interrogate questions like: How does the dominant culture define professionalism? How do those definitions change depending on discipline and context? How do concepts of professionalism influence/affect intersectionality? All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
×
Writing Methods: Rhetorics of Professionalism AS.004.221 (03)
According to the Oxford Dictionary, professional is defined as “a person engaged or qualified in a profession.” In this advanced speaking and writing course, students will engage in a semester-long research project to examine definitions of professionalism across a variety of disciplines and contexts. Students will research to question, what goes into creating standards, and what-and who -- do they serve? For instance, when a 17-year-old at Banana Republic is asked to remove her box braids to avoid “looking urban;” or a trans employee is fired for violating a nebulous dress code; are these examples of larger issues of dominant cultural biases concerning the concept of “professionalism” in the workplace? Through course readings, library sources, and primary research, this course questions if employers and institutions establish specific standards that draw a line between those who are a “good fit” and those who are not. Students will compose a research proposal/presentation, creative genre modes assignment, and final presentation with visual aids to interrogate questions like: How does the dominant culture define professionalism? How do those definitions change depending on discipline and context? How do concepts of professionalism influence/affect intersectionality? All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Instructor: Hull, Brittany Sabrina
Room: Gilman 313
Status: Open
Seats Available: 4/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.241 (01)
Special Topics in Writing: Writing About Sports
TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Oppel, George
Spring 2025
Noam Chomsky once remarked that sport’s primary function is to “deflect people’s attention from things that matter.” But most people love sport! Even Chomsky admitted to being impressed by the “extensive knowledge that people have of sport … and their self-confidence in discussing it.” Indeed, sport matters because of its central place in our culture: something so many people play, watch, and discuss ceaselessly. And it matters because it produces so much high-caliber writing. How does sport inspire such productive discourse? When people write about sport, are they really writing about something else? We tackle these questions by both reading and writing. You will begin by writing your own personal narrative about sport; in the next project, you will enter a controversy about sport from a selection of topics the class will decide collectively. Finally, you will direct your own research and choice of genre—perhaps sports-reporting here at Hopkins; a profile of an athlete; a photo essay; or an analysis of how a particular form of media has brought a sport to life. Overall, you will develop your ability to write with knowledge, self-confidence, and agility about sport and the things that matter beyond sport. Guest speakers include Baltimore Banner Ravens reporter. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
×
Special Topics in Writing: Writing About Sports AS.004.241 (01)
Noam Chomsky once remarked that sport’s primary function is to “deflect people’s attention from things that matter.” But most people love sport! Even Chomsky admitted to being impressed by the “extensive knowledge that people have of sport … and their self-confidence in discussing it.” Indeed, sport matters because of its central place in our culture: something so many people play, watch, and discuss ceaselessly. And it matters because it produces so much high-caliber writing. How does sport inspire such productive discourse? When people write about sport, are they really writing about something else? We tackle these questions by both reading and writing. You will begin by writing your own personal narrative about sport; in the next project, you will enter a controversy about sport from a selection of topics the class will decide collectively. Finally, you will direct your own research and choice of genre—perhaps sports-reporting here at Hopkins; a profile of an athlete; a photo essay; or an analysis of how a particular form of media has brought a sport to life. Overall, you will develop your ability to write with knowledge, self-confidence, and agility about sport and the things that matter beyond sport. Guest speakers include Baltimore Banner Ravens reporter. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
Instructor: Oppel, George
Room:
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): n/a
AS.004.321 (01)
Writing Methods: Research in Medical Humanities
M 4:30PM - 7:00PM
Cui, Wenqi
Gilman 277
Spring 2025
This course focuses on research methods within the medical humanities, guiding students in using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches to conduct research on topics of their interest. Through exploring areas such as narrative inquiry into patient experiences, discourse analysis of doctor-patient communication, studies on how visual and performing arts affect perceptions of health and illness, and mixed-methods research on community health programs, students will learn to apply these methods to investigate the human aspects of healthcare. Emphasizing both research skills and ethical understanding, the course prepares students to undertake meaningful research that contributes to medical practice and patient care from a humanities perspective. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
×
Writing Methods: Research in Medical Humanities AS.004.321 (01)
This course focuses on research methods within the medical humanities, guiding students in using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches to conduct research on topics of their interest. Through exploring areas such as narrative inquiry into patient experiences, discourse analysis of doctor-patient communication, studies on how visual and performing arts affect perceptions of health and illness, and mixed-methods research on community health programs, students will learn to apply these methods to investigate the human aspects of healthcare. Emphasizing both research skills and ethical understanding, the course prepares students to undertake meaningful research that contributes to medical practice and patient care from a humanities perspective. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
Days/Times: M 4:30PM - 7:00PM
Instructor: Cui, Wenqi
Room: Gilman 277
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/15
PosTag(s): MSCH-HUM
AS.004.351 (01)
Community Engaged Writing: Build, Borrow, Repair at the Tool Library
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Brown, Nate
Krieger 307
Spring 2025
In this community-based learning course, we will collaborate 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 circular economies, libraries of things, tool use and maintenance, makerspaces, community nonprofit culture, and ethical storytelling practices. Students will engage in qualitative research both about and in service of the SNTL and will write in a variety of relevant genres (policy proposals, ethnography, process essays, opinion pieces, etc.). Over the course of the term, we'll collaborate with the leadership of the SNTL to more fully understand its role in the lives of Baltimore builders, homeowners, hobbyists, artisans, activists, and more. We'll also learn how to safely and effectively use a variety of excellent power tools. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
×
Community Engaged Writing: Build, Borrow, Repair at the Tool Library AS.004.351 (01)
In this community-based learning course, we will collaborate 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 circular economies, libraries of things, tool use and maintenance, makerspaces, community nonprofit culture, and ethical storytelling practices. Students will engage in qualitative research both about and in service of the SNTL and will write in a variety of relevant genres (policy proposals, ethnography, process essays, opinion pieces, etc.). Over the course of the term, we'll collaborate with the leadership of the SNTL to more fully understand its role in the lives of Baltimore builders, homeowners, hobbyists, artisans, activists, and more. We'll also learn how to safely and effectively use a variety of excellent power tools. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Brown, Nate
Room: Krieger 307
Status: Waitlist Only
Seats Available: 0/12
PosTag(s): CSC-CE, MSCH-HUM
AS.004.351 (02)
Community-Engaged Writing: Neighborhood Stories
W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
Spring 2025
In this class, we will collaborate with the Peale Museum— Baltimore’s community museum—to plan, curate, and host an exhibition. In this partnership we will engage with many modes of writing, including analyzing audience and user experiences; using social media to increase engagement; and creating proposals for immersive events that might connect the past neighborhood struggles to present day community concerns. This course will build on the work of students who participated in Reintro to Writing: Lost Baltimore in Spring-Fall 2024, who researched and wrote about life in a West Baltimore neighborhood that was demolished between 1930s and 1970s. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome. The class is open to all students who have taken any Reintro, but previous participants in the Lost Baltimore Reintro are especially encouraged to enroll.
In this class, we will collaborate with the Peale Museum— Baltimore’s community museum—to plan, curate, and host an exhibition. In this partnership we will engage with many modes of writing, including analyzing audience and user experiences; using social media to increase engagement; and creating proposals for immersive events that might connect the past neighborhood struggles to present day community concerns. This course will build on the work of students who participated in Reintro to Writing: Lost Baltimore in Spring-Fall 2024, who researched and wrote about life in a West Baltimore neighborhood that was demolished between 1930s and 1970s. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome. The class is open to all students who have taken any Reintro, but previous participants in the Lost Baltimore Reintro are especially encouraged to enroll.
Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Speller, Mo Elsmere Longley
Room:
Status: Open
Seats Available: 9/12
PosTag(s): CSC-CE, MSCH-HUM
AS.004.351 (03)
Community-Engaged Writing: Drugs and Harm Reduction in Baltimore City
T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Devenot, Nese Lisa
Gilman 77
Spring 2025
This course offers a community-engaged approach to writing and public health, focusing on harm reduction strategies related to drug use in Baltimore City. Developed in collaboration with a local harm reduction nonprofit, students will explore the intersections of public health, policy, and community outreach, with an emphasis on addressing substance use beyond alcohol. Through critical reflections, interviews, social media campaigns, and community needs assessments, and other communication projects, students will engage with harm reduction principles and learn to translate them into educational tools for both the broader Baltimore community and the campus population. Working with the university’s Office of Health Promotion and Well-Being, students will develop educational materials on harm reduction for dissemination through social media, blog posts, and in-person events. The course invites students to explore innovative approaches to harm reduction education, integrating emerging trends in substance availability and evolving motivations for use. Students will contribute to local harm reduction efforts by supporting the work of the nonprofit partner in Baltimore City, while also developing strategies to engage the campus community. Through experiential learning, students will examine how writing can drive meaningful change and influence public health outcomes. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
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Community-Engaged Writing: Drugs and Harm Reduction in Baltimore City AS.004.351 (03)
This course offers a community-engaged approach to writing and public health, focusing on harm reduction strategies related to drug use in Baltimore City. Developed in collaboration with a local harm reduction nonprofit, students will explore the intersections of public health, policy, and community outreach, with an emphasis on addressing substance use beyond alcohol. Through critical reflections, interviews, social media campaigns, and community needs assessments, and other communication projects, students will engage with harm reduction principles and learn to translate them into educational tools for both the broader Baltimore community and the campus population. Working with the university’s Office of Health Promotion and Well-Being, students will develop educational materials on harm reduction for dissemination through social media, blog posts, and in-person events. The course invites students to explore innovative approaches to harm reduction education, integrating emerging trends in substance availability and evolving motivations for use. Students will contribute to local harm reduction efforts by supporting the work of the nonprofit partner in Baltimore City, while also developing strategies to engage the campus community. Through experiential learning, students will examine how writing can drive meaningful change and influence public health outcomes. All first-year students who have taken Reintro and all students at the sophomore level or above are welcome.
Days/Times: T 1:30PM - 4:00PM
Instructor: Devenot, Nese Lisa
Room: Gilman 77
Status: Open
Seats Available: 3/12
PosTag(s): CSC-CE, MSCH-HUM
AS.360.406 (01)
Experiential Research Lab: Transnational Birthing Justice - Ghana
TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
Wright, Lisa E.
Gilman 17
Spring 2025
Transnational Birthing Justice - Ghana I is a place-based writing-intensive Experiential Research Lab. Students will write to reflect on and respond to literary fiction, nonfiction writing, and scholarly articles on historical and contemporary Black women’s birthing experiences throughout the African diaspora, particularly in West Africa. Students will research the intersections between Ghana’s colonial history, culture, environment, local government, education system, policies, and maternal and reproductive health. To prepare to travel to Ghana students will curate public-facing writing to amplify Ghana’s maternal and reproductive health challenges. While in Ghana students will partner with international-based public health agencies, The University of Ghana School of Public Health, and Accra-based partners, to utilize their writing, research, and public health skills to develop a framework to address maternal health challenges in Ghana. Students will engage with Ghanaian practitioners focusing on community health to participate in a Hopkins-sponsored community health screening and maternal health kit giveaway to support local individuals. Students will visit three cities, Accra, Kumasi, Cape Coast, and sites like Kakum Rain Forest, and Elmina Slave Dungeon. Students will build a portfolio of writing that will include writing for themselves, social media, community, and scholarly audiences. This class will be co-taught with Tanay Lynn Harris, the co-founder and director of Bloom Collective. By permission only. Application required; email [email protected]. Commitment to AS.360.407 in Summer 2025 required.
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Experiential Research Lab: Transnational Birthing Justice - Ghana AS.360.406 (01)
Transnational Birthing Justice - Ghana I is a place-based writing-intensive Experiential Research Lab. Students will write to reflect on and respond to literary fiction, nonfiction writing, and scholarly articles on historical and contemporary Black women’s birthing experiences throughout the African diaspora, particularly in West Africa. Students will research the intersections between Ghana’s colonial history, culture, environment, local government, education system, policies, and maternal and reproductive health. To prepare to travel to Ghana students will curate public-facing writing to amplify Ghana’s maternal and reproductive health challenges. While in Ghana students will partner with international-based public health agencies, The University of Ghana School of Public Health, and Accra-based partners, to utilize their writing, research, and public health skills to develop a framework to address maternal health challenges in Ghana. Students will engage with Ghanaian practitioners focusing on community health to participate in a Hopkins-sponsored community health screening and maternal health kit giveaway to support local individuals. Students will visit three cities, Accra, Kumasi, Cape Coast, and sites like Kakum Rain Forest, and Elmina Slave Dungeon. Students will build a portfolio of writing that will include writing for themselves, social media, community, and scholarly audiences. This class will be co-taught with Tanay Lynn Harris, the co-founder and director of Bloom Collective. By permission only. Application required; email [email protected]. Commitment to AS.360.407 in Summer 2025 required.
