COOK FAMILY WRITING PROGRAM

Are you the kind of person who reads every textual explanation label in a museum? Are you a browser who waits for serendipitous discovery? Or a purist who wants a personal encounter with an object, artwork, or display unmediated by a museum’s interpretative materials? Or maybe you avoid museums as boring spaces that are “not for you.” And just who writes these texts anyway? As much as they are places for awestruck encounters with objects—be they historical, scientific, or artistic—museums are also contested spaces where insiders and audiences alike may understand the missions in different ways. In this class, we will explore how current writing in and about museums—in exhibitions, reviews, critiques, and open letters, among other media—reflects institutional reckonings with relevance, cultural restitution, and relationship-building in communities near and far. Along with these forms of public writing, we will read Lawrence Weschler’s book Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder, an extended meditation on truth and hoaxes in the wonderfully strange Museum of Jurassic Technology (a real place!), as a story about how museums are trying to contain cultural debates about whose perspectives shape the narratives in these spaces. Students will practice both informal and formal writing: discussion board posts, peer feedback on drafts, personal essay, textual analysis, and a research essay driven by student interests.

In this seminar we will read, discuss, and write about short stories. Many of the stories, as well as the organizational scheme, will be taken from an unusual anthology, Points of View, edited by James Moffett and Kenneth R. McElheny. In this anthology the stories are categorized according to the mode of narration used in the story. One section of the anthology contains “interior monologues,” in which we seem to be inside the main character’s head, overhearing his or her thoughts; another section contains “dramatic monologues,” in which we hear the narrator speaking aloud to another character; a third section contains “epistolary” stories (i.e., stories told in letters); a fourth contains stories that are made up of a series of diary entries; and so on. We will look at eleven different modes of narration in all -- and we will read two examples of most modes. As far as writing is concerned, students will learn some principles of composition and complete some brief writing exercises. The more substantial writing assignments will be two narratives and two academic essays. In the narratives students will try to tell a story using one of the modes of narration we have studied. In the academic essays, they will be asked to make a claim about one of the stories we have read and then support that claim with evidence. Each essay will be drafted, workshopped, and revised.

Language is one of the main ways we are perceived, categorized, and even assessed for opportunities. Ideas about what language “should be” shape how we are understood in classrooms, workplaces, media, and everyday interactions. These ideas influence whose knowledge is valued, whose voices are heard, and whose ways of speaking and writing are labeled “professional,” “intelligent,” or “correct.” Yet few people and institutions ever stop to ask why this is or how we might do things differently. This seminar takes those questions as its starting point! We’ll examine how language reflects and reproduces social hierarchies while also exploring strategies for resistance and change. We’ll focus on language as a social practice rather than a fixed object or set of rules. This focus will allow us to question dominant narratives about language, consider how institutions (including universities) uphold or challenge those narratives, and explore language diversity as a source of belonging, equity, access, and justice. As a first-year writing seminar, our course will focus on developing core academic skills such as framing questions, analyzing evidence, engaging with and synthesizing sources, writing for different audiences, and revising in response to feedback. Our readings will come from scholarly sources as well as popular non-fiction. Throughout our writing projects and class discussions, you’ll get to pursue your own curiosities and concerns about language and power.

In this seminar, we will explore the question of what is and what might be the relationship between human and nonhuman animals. To guide us in that exploration, we'll read, discuss, and write about stories, essays, and poems that dramatize the many ways in which we experience animals: as companions and as sources of food, in zoos and in nature, as objects of scientific study and as reflections of ourselves. The readings will offer us the opportunity to reflect on such questions as: Is it possible to know what an animal is thinking and feeling? Why are our pets so important to us? Are we justified in using animals for food and in laboratory experiments? Through class discussion and varied writing assignments, you'll articulate your answers to those and other questions to your colleagues in the seminar.

From viral podcasts to streaming documentaries, True Crime has become an increasingly popular genre of media in the 21st century. This course traces its evolution from 19th-century crime writing to modern investigative journalism, films, TV shows, podcasts, and online communities. We’ll explore how True Crime balances storytelling, ethics, and activism—sometimes sensationalizing crime, other times exposing flaws in the justice system. Through critical academic and pop cultural readings, we will examine the genre’s legal, ethical, and social ramifications, questioning why True Crime captivates audiences and how it impacts our understanding of justice.

The goal of this course is to develop your ability to write clearly, persuasively, and interestingly for a variety of audiences. Students will learn techniques for writing effective informative, reflective, persuasive, and research essays. These techniques include the effective use of specific details; methods of organizing ideas clearly; strategies for editing sentences for clarity and conciseness; and ways to give your writing a distinctive voice. Students will submit drafts and revisions of essays.