Defining the term public

Based on your reading of Michael Warner’s essay, “Public and Private,” how would you define the term “pubic”? How is it different from or related to the term “private”? How might these definitions help you in your final essay for this class?

Weekly blog post from Zach and Jenn

We’ve been working really closely in class with the essay that we are currently working on, so we wanted to take the weekly post in a new direction. Now that the year is winding down, we though it would be a good time to reflect in both a general and specific matter on what we have been doing in this class.

What kinds of community service work did you do in before college? Did you work more closely with people, as we did during the community work portions of our time with project Angel Heart, or did you do work for the organization as we did with our oral history project?

If you did do community service work before college, has your opinion of what it means to volunteer changed? If yes, how so? If not, what is your opinion of what it means to volunteer, and contribute personally to the public good?

Finally, has this class inspired you to continue working in the community? Have you learned anything about volunteerism and working for the public good that has made you want to find or identify a cause or organization with whom you want to volunteer in the future? If so, how do you see your volunteerism grow and progress as time goes on? If you don’t believe you will continue to volunteer in the community, what measures do you think could be taken to help engage students in community work?

Reflecting on writing for Project Angel Heart

Now that you have completed your oral history narrative for Project Angel Heart, I’d like you to reflect about your experience writing for a non-profit organization. First, describe what you did for this project. What was it like writing for a non-profit organization? How did you collaborate with your partner? Then, reflect on the differences between writing for Project Angel Heart and performing other kinds of service. How did writing for the organization differ from preparing or delivering meals? What did you learn about writing, rhetoric, and/or research by completing this project?

Post from Jenna and Matt

As we are getting into the next assignment for this class, we want to know what the brainstorming process has looked like for each of you so far. This assignment is very open-ended, so we believe that writing about and discussing the process will help clarify things for everyone.

· What does “the public good” mean to you, and what aspect(s) are particularly interesting to you? How can you see this definition materializing in a paper?
· What ideas, if any, have you come up with for the focus of your paper? How did you come up with those ideas, and how are you narrowing them down into potential theses? What types of sources are you finding, and where/how are you finding them? How else do you plan to gather information (interviews, surveys, etc.)? What advice might you have for people who are struggling with making these decisions?
· If you are struggling to come up with ideas or sources, what questions do you have? What things seem to be standing in your way?

Don’t worry about answering all of the questions; just answer the ones you feel are particularly applicable to your writing process thus far. We encourage all of you to read and respond to one another’s posts – let’s work together to come up with some awesome paper topics!


Jenna: To me, the public good is anything which is done to benefit another. Particularly, it is seen as something done, usually by a group of people, to benefit another group of people, generally in a public and organized fashion. We have talked a lot recently about what motivates people to contribute to the public good. I am particularly interested in religion, so I want to write something about how religion (or lack thereof) contributes to this motivation. I am still pretty fuzzy on exactly what this will entail for my paper, but I think this is the general topic that I would like to pursue.
I have been finding sources through the tools shown to us in class on Wednesday. I have had the most luck by being patient and entering a variety of synonyms for the keywords in order to get slightly different but still applicable sources. I would also recommend that people don’t go into it with a set thesis, but rather search a general topic and allow the sources they find to help narrow their thesis. I am also considering using a survey (and possibly an interview or two) to support my paper, specifically to apply it to college students.

Matt: So far the focus of my paper is going to be the importance service learning in the classroom with a focus on biology. I will also look at how science teachers adapt their curriculum to effectively use service learning as a teaching tool. I have not done enough research at this point to formulate a thesis but I did find one source that works very well for my topic. The source was about service learning relating to AIDS/HIV in a biology classroom. In fact this is exactly the focus of my research so this should be a strong topic. I feel that the most difficult part of this paper for me is going to find 5 relevant sources what I can pull information from to put into my paper. Even though I found 1 great source, with such a specific topic, I think it will be difficult to find several more. If anyone is having difficulties with any specific part in the paper, it is important to seek help. If someone is having trouble with the research aspect, we now know that the library has great resources to assist with that problem. If someone is having trouble finding a topic, Professor Bateman is always willing to help. It’s crucial to deal with these problems early so you can focus on writing the paper.

Weekly Blog from Anya and Kathryn

Since our class is about illness and the rhetoric of illness, Anya and I were wondering if we could apply the thinking from our previous discussions to the current situation of the swine flu “epidemic.” As one of those modern day illnesses that cause chaos, it seems to represent how society deals with illness. Hopefully, all of you have heard about how the swine flu has spread throughout the world. It has hit Mexico the hardest, but cases have been seen in Europe and across the United States (and just yesterday hit Colorado). How does this type of disease reflect how people and society (government, media, etc.) deal with illness and disease? What are some possible metaphors that might stem from this “outbreak”? We have discussed metaphors for AIDS, cancer, and tuberculosis, but where does this swine flu fit into our discussion of illness?

Anya: I don't think the swine flu can really be categorized in the same way as AIDS and cancer because swine flu is much more recent and very very different than those other two illnesses. I have heard swine flu be compared to bird flu and SARS and so people aren't really taking it seriously since those other two diseases weren't as big of a deal as they were made out to be. However, this outbreak is much closer to home than the other two were. It seems that swine flu is almost contained to the US and Mexico, although it is slowly spreading. People are talking more about not if but when it hits. This is an illness that needs to be handled very differently than AIDS or cancer. Neither of those diseases spread as quickly as this one does or are as contagious in the case of AIDS. The US has tried to treat the flu with a cautious hand with some states taking precautions or I guess reactions is a better word, to keep the flu from spreading even farther or quicker. I think since this disease is so new and is spreading so quickly there might not be time for it to have much of a metaphor. The only one that I could think of would it to be compared to cancer since it is metastizing so quickly. If the illness sticks around for awhile and mutates, maybe then people will come up with a metaphor for it but at this point, I don't think that's likely.

Kathryn: The swine flu seems to be characterized by mass precautions and hysteria. It was interesting that the disease seemed to come out of nowhere. Suddenly, there was an outbreak in Mexico. The fact that this disease is so new will likely lead to misinterpretations in how it is spread and what the symptoms are. Scientists are just now trying to refer to the disease with its scientific name, rather than “swine flu” because of the negative connotations that the media-linked name gives. Just from the name, people probably form their own ideas of what the disease is caused by and what its symptoms are. It could also have negative effects on whether people believe that they can catch the swine flu. If the disease is attributed to pigs and we think of pigs as being dirty, it is possible that certain people may believe that they cannot catch the disease because they are clean. The biggest problem with the disease seems to be how it is spread through the air. Because of this, I think that people will respond differently than they would to diseases like cancer and AIDS. They have limited resources to prevent it from spreading to them. This shows how people often deal with illness in a more hysterical manner in anticipation that they might get sick, not because they actually are sick.

Questions and challenges you're facing writing an oral history narrative

To start class today, please post any questions you have about the next phase of our oral history project. That is, I'd like to know what you think will be challenging for your as a writer as you move from transcribing the interview to writing the narrative profile of your interviewee's experience. What seems difficult right now? What questions do you have? What can I do to help you navigate this process?

Weekly Blog from Sean and Emily

Since almost everyone has conducted at least one of their interviews, Emily and I thought it would be beneficial to share with each other our experiences. How did the interview process go overall? What was your strategy/approach to conducting the interview? Did you rely on a structured process or a spontaneous one? What were the advantage/disadvantages of the way you conducted your interview? Was there anything you wish you could have done differently? Overall, did you enjoy this experience or not?

Sean: I enjoyed both my interviews a lot. I thought the people Matt and I interviewed live extremely interesting and enjoyable lives. Matt and I chose to take a more spontaneous approach to our interviews where we followed the topics that were brought up through our conversation. We used the question sheet as a guide and only referred to it when there was no direction to the current conversation. I think this worked out well because the interviewees felt like they were actually having a conversation as opposed to being asked just questions. This helped create rapport and made them feel more comfortable. There were a few questions that Matt and I thought of after the interview that we would have liked to have asked them, but overall I felt like we did a great job and got a lot of wonderful information.

Reflecting on the ACT-UP Oral History Project

As we begin class today, please tell the rest of us about the video clips you viewed and the transcript you read for today from the ACT-UP Oral History Project. Which ones did you view or read? What impression did these interviews and transcripts give you about ACT-UP’s history and its role in AIDS activism? What questions did it raise for you? What kind of information or knowledge about this history do these interviews make accessible to us? What did you learn about doing oral history from these sources?

Service-Learning Reflections

Please post your servive-learning reflections here as a comment. Thanks!

Weekly Blog from Kelsey and Cayla

Since we are in the midst of starting the interview for our oral history project, we would like to hear your thoughts on how it is going thus far.  Have there been any troubles contacting your interviewees, what were your first impressions, where are you meeting, are you apprehensive about anything, or any other concerns in general about this project.  Also, for anyone who has already completed an interview, could you offer advice? 

Since Cayla and I are partners for this project, we decided to combine our ideas about this blog.  We got in contact with both of our interviewees via phone after only having to leave one message.  Both of our volunteers were very friendly and seemed willing and excited to meet with us.  They both offered their homes as a place to meet, and we set up our interviews for next week.  We were surprised to find out what busy lives both of our interviewees lead.  Just from trying to schedule time to meet, we learned that not only do they both volunteer countless at Project Angel Heart, but they both hold time-consuming jobs and are leaders in other organizations as well. 

We are not really nervous about the interview, and we are hoping to get some good stories for the paper.  The only issue we are somewhat anxious about is uncovering some personal, emotional story and being unsure of how to respond.  We would like to take a more creative approach to writing these oral histories.  However, because both of us being science majors, we are not entirely confident we can pull this off.  Regardless, we are excited to start this project, as it is a different form of research from what we are used to.  We get to do the research ourselves, rather than interpreting and writing about someone else’s research.  Moreover, our papers have more meaning than just a grade, they will actually benefit PAH.  

Weekly Blog from Leah and Kelly

So this week we've been focusing on our first major papers, so we thought it would be appropriate to blog about our experiences with that. Some people have been very frustrated with the process; others may have had an easy time writing this paper. We were wondering what each of your personal experiences were with this paper. Was it hard to pick a primary source? Find secondary sources? How was the writing process in general for you? Was it easy to make each source complement each other, or was it difficult to write a coherent paper? Overall, did you enjoy this paper, or was it an awful experience?

Leah: I went into the paper with an open mind, excited to get to write about “Moulin Rouge.” But the overall process turned out to be much more difficult and time consuming than I had expected. I found some great secondary sources, and used Sontag, but I had a lot of trouble connecting each idea I wanted to write about to each other. I got very frustrated when my paper didn’t make sense or fall into place itself like my papers usually do. I had to spend a great deal of time editing and revising my thesis to make everything make sense. I think now I have a better idea of what my paper should focus on, but at first I didn’t even know what my argument was supposed to be. I think the outcome of my paper will be successful and well-written, but the process was much more difficult and frustrating than previous papers I’ve had to write.

Kelly: For my primary source, I used patient accounts that I found on a Fibromyalgia website. This proved to be a little more difficult than using a text by one author I think, because I had to synthesize them all into one argument. I also had difficulty finding a secondary source, but ended up finding several studies that included patient interviews, and those worked. I had a hard time starting this paper, and choosing a topic and argument was difficult for me, but after I got going it became much easier. Now I just have to finish the actual writing part, which is my least favorite part. But it shouldn’t be too hard as I have a good outline for my argument and enough evidence to support it.

Reflecting on Paula Treichler and the signifying of AIDS

Given Paula Treichler’s discussion in today’s reading, how was (and perhaps still is) AIDS an epidemic of signification? Why must we, as she argues, democratically determine what AIDS signifies?

After you reflect on these two questions, I’d like you to pose a question about the reading that you think will help generate an interesting class discussion.

Weekly Blog From MaryKate and Stephanie

As Sontag’s work has comprised the majority of our readings thus far, Stephanie and I thought that continuing her discussion of the metaphors that surround certain illnesses would be appropriate.

While we have talked a lot in class about the metaphors of the illnesses Sontag wrote of (TB, Cancer, and AIDS) and acknowledged the metaphors surrounding those certain diseases are less relevant in today’s society (Sontag, did, after all, write the last essay a couple decades ago…)we have not really discussed the diseases or conditions that have replaced them. In her book Sontag wrote, “It seems that societies need to have one illness which becomes identified with evil, and attaches blame to its ‘victims,’ but it is hard to be obsessed with more than one” (104). She also cited other diseases for examples of that “need”, including the plague, tuberculosis, and syphilis. Every disease Sontag discussed in her two essays was the “disease of the day” in its period of time. At the time she wrote her two essays, the plague, tuberculosis and syphilis were definitely not the illnesses of the day, and Cancer and AIDS had replaced them. At the time, her point seemed sufficiently valid. Now that neither Cancer nor AIDS is that disease, however, and a lack of epidemic characterizes the world, Stephanie and I were wondering if you agree with Sontag in her assertion of a constant presence of a stigmatized disease, and if you do, what you think the illness that carries the most stigmatism in our time is. In order to get the discussion going, we also answered that question with our own opinions.

Stephanie: I believe that the most stigmatized disease of today is not necessarily a single disease but a group of disorders. I think that genetic disorders are some of the most stigmatized diseases both because of the cause and because of the ethics behind some of the treatments and testing. The Human Genome Project was finished in 2000 so access to human genes has never been higher. This allows for more understanding of the cause of genetic disorders but also leads to the idea that the disorder is brought on by an error in the very code that makes a person who they are. There are so many ethical questions surrounding the practice of looking at a person’s genome for disorders and what action to take if a disorder is found. I think that the prevalence of genetic disorders will continue to increase as scientists spend more time exploring the human genome and that the issue will grow in the future.

MaryKate: Though I am far from educated on the nature of disorders, diseases, and genetic conditions and the stigmas certain ones may carry, I feel that, just from observation, there is not an illness today that possesses the same magnitude of negative metaphor as Sontag pointed out with TB, Cancer, and AIDs. While elements of negative perceptions of illnesses certainly still exist as remnants of the early, rather ignorant views on Cancer and AIDs, I do not think one illness has replaced them in society as a whole. Genetic disorders can be seen as a flaw in the core of a human, but I don’t believe that is a view widely held. Nor do I believe that diseases such as diabetes carry a society-wide stigma. There are undeniably, however, lingering stigmas that exist for several illnesses. Yet, in comparison to the diseases Sontag presented, none qualify as the “metaphorically burdened illness” of the day.

Using terministic screens to analyze Rent

After viewing the scenes from Rent, I’d like you to draw upon our discussion of Kenneth Burke’s “Terministic Screens” to analyze how the film represents the experiences of people living with AIDS.

First, reflect on the representation of the support group through the terministic screen of someone like Mark (the character with the video camera). What do you see in this scene if you view it through the lens of sickness? Or, as an outsider or as someone who doesn’t have AIDS observing a group of people who do?

Then, imagine yourself viewing this scene as one of the support group members. How does the terminology of survival or even “living with” change what you observe in these scenes? How does either of these screens reflect, select, and/or deflect the reality or AIDS?

Sources for first paper

As we start class today, take five minutes and tell the rest of us what book you found in the library over the weekend. What’s the title and who’s the author? Who published this book? Do you think it’s a scholarly source, or is it from a more popular press? Why did you check this book out?

Also, give us a quick update on what you think you’ll write your first paper about. What do you think your primary text will be? If you haven’t found one yet, what texts are you thinking about writing about? Or, what illness or issue are you interested in pursuing for this assignment?

Susan Sontag’s "AIDS and Its Metaphors"

In pairs, I would like you summarize the main claim of AIDS and Its Metaphors in your own words. What do you think its central argument is? Then review one section of this essay and summarize its main point. Which (brief) passage do you think conveys this point? Last, I’d like you to explain how this section of the essay relates to the claim of the entire essay.

Here are the pairs I would like you to work in and the section I’d like you to focus on:
Section 1 (pp. 93-104): Zach Welch & Emily Major; Section 2 (pp. 104-112): Jenn Vernick & Cayla Jewett; Section 3 (112-125): Matt Ritz & Kelsey Jensen; Section 4 (125-131): Jenna Pettinger & Leah Goldsher; Section 5 (pp. 132-148): Kathryn Palma & Kelly Goheen; Section 6 (pp. 148-159): Anya Morin & Stephanie Franquemont; Section 7 (pp. 159-168): Sean McNiff & MaryKate DeGraw.

HIV/AIDS, Service-Learning and Civic Engagement

Each time I teach WRIT 1733 as a service-learning course, I like to invite you, the students, to reflect on your previous experiences with both volunteering and the issue we’re focusing on in this section—HIV/AIDS and illness. To enhance your experience and the writing community that we’re beginning to form, I think we owe it to each other to understand our perspectives on both these issues.

Let me start by asking you about when you first became aware of what HIV or AIDS was. As I grow older, I’ve realized that those of us who came of age in the late 1980s and early 1990s had a very different experience with this epidemic than people of your generation. For example, I can remember reading newspaper accounts as a teenager about this disease, accounts that were full of fear about catching it from casual contact (a handshake or eating off the same dish) or through kissing. There was a lot of misunderstanding and fear in those years about this disease and a number of marginalized groups (like gay and bisexual men, immigrants, people of color, and homeless people) were stigmatized because mainstream Americans blamed them for the spread of HIV.

I also I grew up terrified that sex was dangerous and that it would probably kill you. In college, my friends and I campaigned endlessly to educate our peers about safer-sex and other ways of preventing the spread of HIV. For me, community service has always been closely tied to the panic many of us felt in the earlier years of the AIDS epidemic, an epidemic that devastated many communities within our country, prompting them into action as a means to survive.

These are just a few of my own personal impressions about this particular disease. I’d be curious to read more of yours. When did you first learn about HIV/AIDS? What did you (or do you) associate with this illness? What questions do you have about it?

On a related note, I’d also be curious to read more about your experience with volunteerism, service-learning or other forms of civic engagement. What kinds of activities have you participated in that prepares you for our work with Project Angel Heart? What do you hope to gain from this part of our course?

Analyzing Susan Sontag’s “Illness as Metaphor”

To begin class today, I’d like you to pick one of the quotes below to respond to. First, explain what you think the quotation means—Why is it significant? Then, explain how you think it relates to the main claim of this essay—How does it support or elaborate on Sontag’s central argument?

▪ “Above all, [the metaphor of TB] was a way of affirming the value of being more conscious, more complex psychologically. Health becomes banal, even vulgar” (26).

▪ “In the nineteenth century, the notion that the disease fits the patient’s character, as the punishment fits the sinner, was replaced by the notion that it expresses character. It is a product of will” (43).

▪ “Nothing is more punitive than to give a disease a meaning—that meaning being invariably a moralistic one. Any important disease whose causality is murky, and for which treatment is ineffectual, tends to be awash in significance” (58).

▪ “To describe a phenomenon as a cancer is an incitement to violence. The use of cancer in political discourse encourages fatalism and justifies ‘severe’ measures—as well as strongly reinforcing the widespread notion that the disease is necessarily fatal. While disease metaphors are never innocent, it could be argued that the cancer metaphor is a worst case: implicitly genocidal” (83).

Questions to consider for class on Wednesday

As your read Susan Sontag’s essay “Illness as Metaphor,” consider the following questions as you prepare for class:

• In the introduction to this essay, Susan Sontag writes, “It is toward an elucidation of those metaphors, and a liberation from them, that I dedicate this inquiry.” What kind of knowledge about illness does Sontag’s inquiry reflect and create? What kind of liberation does is offer us? Do you think this liberation can be achieved through text alone?

• How does thinking of illness—either TB or cancer—as a metaphor do harm? (Either for people living with such diseases or for those who are not?) Can you imagine ways in which such metaphors might not be harmful? How could such thinking empower people living with an illness or enhance our understanding of it?

• Which passage from the essay do you think is the most significant? Or the most provocative? Or the most interesting? Why?

Feel free to leave an initial impression here before class. Or, come prepared to discuss when we meet on Wednesday.

Welcome to WRIT 1733! Post interviews of your classmates here as a comment.

For your first blog post, please introduce the person you interviewed to the rest of class. Write a 250-350 profile that captures who he or she is, where he or she is from, and what he or she likes to do. You might tell us more about this person’s experiences as a writer or his or her interest in service-learning.

Whatever issues you focus on, take care with this short piece, for it is our first impression of you as a writer, as well as the first impression of the person you interviewed. Have fun with this piece—make it interesting! Use quotes, brief stories, and any other vivid details you can discover to enrich your mini-profile.

For example, if I were to interview myself and post the result, I might write something like:

Place matters to Professor Geoffrey Bateman, which is why his current research is so important to him. "I think the different regions of our country shape us in important ways," he says. “As a teacher and scholar, I'm interested in studying the literature and cultural history of places, especially the American West."

Having grown up near Portland, Oregon, his interest in the West has evolved since childhood. He grew up exploring everything from the majestic Columbia River Gorge to the misty Oregon coast; he hiked parts of the Pacific Crest Trail and hung out in the quirky urban spaces of Portland and Seattle.

These experiences may help explain his current research on the queer frontier. His dissertation explores the cultural representations of sexuality in the American West near the end of the 19th century.

"It's a particularly rich period for sexuality studies,” he observes. "Sexual identity was not nearly as cut and dried as it became in the mid to late 20th century. And when you consider how racialized identities and gender norms factor into this understanding, you have an explosion of fascinating accounts—both literary and historical.”

But his interests don’t lie solely in the past. Professor Bateman believes strongly that historical research must speak to contemporary issues, especially those that are politically charged.

“Literature and history offers us a way to rethink current problems, and for me, I think the most rewarding I can do historically is to show others how texts from the past allow us to re-imagine our lives today.”

Such engagement means that in his first-year writing courses, he tries to find meaningful ways for students to practice their writing. Ideally, he wants them to connect abstract rhetorical concepts and research methodologies with ideas and problems outside our university context.

“Ultimately,” he says, “I want students to feel confident that what they’re learning in my classroom not only prepares them for the rest of their time at DU, but also starts them on a much larger journey of being an engaged citizen for the rest of their lives.”