grrls with guts: a writing course

Final Project! February 6 at Jacome Plaza

2008-02-29T07:35:00.000-08:00

On February 6, 2008 the Kore Press Grrls Literary Activism Class took to the streets of downtown Tucson to spread hapiness to passerbys by handing out free cookies with messages written on them, valentines, and T-shirts with "peace and love" stenciled and spray painted. In part, this action was intended to counteract a anit-immigration activist spreading hateful messages during the lunch hour in Jacome Plaza. Read below about some of the community response.

Tucson Weekly Mention: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Currents/Content?oid=oid:106594

Rachel Villarreal from Voices Inc.:

Last week this guy, Alan Ward, from the Farmer's Market came by. You know how we saw the white banner in front of the anti-immigration guy, this was his statement. Apparently it worked and the anti guy was arrested b/c he got so out of control. He came by here wondering if the students who handed out the cookies wanted to come out again. He was really impressed with their activism and was hoping they could continue to be involved.

Teacher Kimi Eisele: Remember your "FREE HAPPINESS" act? Well, it worked.[...]your work got noticed.

You can read the writing and thinking these guerrilla grrls did throughout the 12 week class, including a sample artist statement (see Carrie's blog), by clicking on the class member blogs located on the right side of this page.

Assignments to Complete before 1/16/08 Class

2008-01-09T15:39:00.000-08:00

Blog Assignment due 1/14/08:

Refer to my Thursday, Jan 3 post. Scroll down to the last half of the post where I transcribed our in-class brainstorms about project ideas.

Please review these brainstorms and pick one statement that you would like to spend some time thinking about further. Use the statement that you choose as the title of your blog post.

Freewrite about this idea for 10 minutes. What do you like or dislike about this idea? What do you think the deeper implications of such an act would be.

Lastly, visit your peers blogs and see which ideas they have been thinking about. Make a comment on one other grrls blog.

Blog Assignment due before we meet on 1/16/08:

Reflect on the Henna class.

What did you chose to write on your body? What changes in the tattoo have you noticed in the last week? How have people reacted to your henna tattoo?

Visit your peers blogs and make a comment.

Winter Catch-Up

2008-01-03T13:24:00.000-08:00

Dear Grrls,

Please bring to our next class (1/9) the following: 1) a blueprint of your henna tattoo. Our henna artist guest speaker will be in attendance and we'll be working with henna for the bulk of class. Also bring 2) a list of three to five statements you would like to make in your final project. These statements can be things that make you angry or frustrated in the world or they can be things that make you happy and that you'd like to celebrate. We brainstormed a list of some of those ideas in our last class they include:

Humanity-everyone is the same to a degree--our connection to each other.
Double standard--expectations of boys
Less than 100 yrs. ago women never went to college. Education consisted of needlework, sewing, art, music.
Body Maps--1st assignment how everyone had a different story for the same part.
When people have problems with things but they don't do anything about it.
Against abstinence education
authority
ageism
celebrate swinging, bicycles, community, relationships, solitude.

We'll be reading our lists to each other at the end of class so please be prepared for that. Once you have more of an idea about WHAT you want to say we'll be moving on to discuss HOW you want to say it. We did some preliminary brainstorming of HOW we might like to say WHAT we have to say in our last class. Please complete BEFORE next class (1/9):

Please review these brainstorms and pick one statement that you would like to spend some time thinking about further. Use the statement that you choose as the title of your blog post.
Freewrite about this idea for 10 minutes. What do you like or dislike about this idea? What do you think the deeper implications of such an act would be.
Lastly, visit your peers blogs and see which ideas they have been thinking about. Make a comment on one other grrls blog.

Below please find the list of brainstorms, separated into thematic categories, we did in class last week. Please use them to complete the above assignment.

BROADCAST IDEAS

Have a TV in a public place playing our PSA over and over. It could be a PSA of anything we wanted.

Get a bullhorn and a car with a hole in the top.

Light projection onto a building

Footnote some existing text public places, our bodies.

Tour or scavenger hunt

PERFORMANCE IDEAS

Ourselves "placed" somewhere significant (or insignificant) words on us holding words

Have a public chalk talk where everyone could draw what they felt about the certain topic we had picked (What could we do with the drawings afterwards?)

Interpretive dance with words

Use the odeum at the Poetry Center to have a performance we choreograph and write a script for

ALTERATION IDEAS

Shirts

Banners or signs to hold up in public

change/add advertisements

zines

installation of altered or super intellectual barbies/beauty heads as in "what are they really thinking?:

Do something extreme with women's fashion over the ages like magnify it ridiculous corsets, high heels, etc. fashion show.

Footnote architectural wonders of Tucson or phallic spots in Tucson

words on household objects

stickers

use our henna tattoos to make a point

shopgiving (leave our books altered books, chapbook in Borders and Barnes and Noble)

OTHER IDEAS

Maybe a quilt of some kind of similar or opposing ideas or thoughts or opinions on a certain topic to show our humanity.

Distribute poems written on postcards in a big box bookstore.

Cookies with our writing.

Take our henna ideas writing symbols and draw them on flags and hang them up.

Get a bunch of leaves and typewrite on them without ribbon--let the chlorophyll bleed through and then blow them them all over the city.

Love notes for all.

Get lots of grrls in one place and have them read words/text aloud to say "no more silent girls."

Comments about public spaces/or lack of for youth...downtown and elsewhere

Commemorative plaques

Photoproject images of our hennaed bodies or of henna ceremony as it is happening to speak of ritual process and product afterwards

Keep video blog or photo blog of henna as it disappears

What to do if you missed 12/12 class

2007-12-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

We spent the day discussing the phrase "body of knowledge." If you missed class, please write a blog response exploring three of the following questions:

What associations do you have with the phrase “body of knowledge?”
Who determines what you read in school? How or why are these decisions made?
How is what you read in school different than what you read at home?
Brainstorm a list of authors you have read in school? Do you notice any patterns about how/why they may have been selected?
Who/what determines the value of a work of literature?
What modes of writing seem more valued in our society than others?

Our art project for the day was altering texts. We read excerpts from Jenny Boully’s The Body
Homework was to create the text that Boully’s words footnote. In class we created an "erasure" using old romance novels. Visit this site for some good examples of erasure.

I recommend that you complete one of the projects listed above at home and return with them to class the next time we meet. You can get materials from Renee after class or stopping by the Poetry Center.

Blog Assignment for 11/28-12/5

2007-11-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

Answer the following questions in your blog post:

When do you use your voice?
How do you use your voice?
Silence. What is it? How is it useful? Not useful?

Your blog assignment for 11/21-11/28

2007-11-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

Find a "text" (piece of music, fashion, written work, a dance, a TV show, a museum exhibit, etc, etc, etc.) that somehow relates to the themes we've been discussing in class. Describe this "text" and then reflect on it. What do you think about it? Why is it a significant part of our culture?

Writing Exercise from 11/21/07 Class

2007-11-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

In my body when a sweet potato sits in the folds of a dress I go to the Super; so many have been with the rough ended dirt and roots that have settled. Fish nets full of women's legs, full of women's fish. All my groceries, fruit filled with underhold. Smell the cilantro green shine. Go to fancy super no longer growing blood and all the vegetables saddled in their boxes coated and capped in foam or plastic in a number of lusty mouthed chemicals which is why I approached this kettle blindly.

Today's Class Meets at...

2007-11-28T08:36:00.001-08:00

1013 S. Tyndall (north of 22nd, 1 block east of Euclid, south of Armory Park neighborhood)Here are directions:http://maps.yahoo.com/dd?taddr=1013%2BS%2BTyndall%2BAve&tcsz=Tucson,%2BAZ%2B85719-6637&country=us You should wear clothes comfortable enough for you to bang a drum!Also bring something to write with...notebook/pen.

Our Next Class November 21, 2007

2007-11-20T12:20:00.001-08:00

620 E. 19th Street, Suite 150Near 19th and Euclid in long warehouse/storage shed-like facility. Look for suite 150.More info and a map is here:http://www.thedanceloft.com/location.htm

Blog posts you should have so far

2007-11-16T19:49:00.000-08:00

1. Body Maps writing based on the "Body Map of My Life" by Bridget Booher which is in the handout that you got in class 10/31/07. (It accompanied all the "You Are Here" maps and excerpts from "This Bridge Called My Back.")

2. I Am What I Am writing based on the poem "I Am What I Am" by Rosario Morales which can be found in the handout that you got in class 10/31/07. It was a part of "This Bridge Called My Back" handout.

3. A response to the reading packet you received 11/07/07 which included the essays "Our Barbies, Ourselves," and "Behind the Formaldehyde Curtian."

4. Post all the in-class writing you've done so far: your "Barbie or Beauty Head" poem/prose piece, your anatomy piece using the word list you developed in class, the writing you did on the first day of class in your accordion book. If you have time, write a new piece splicing together your I am what I am piece with your word list. Use the word list to make interesting/weird metaphors. Don't worry so much about "making sense."

Don't forget to make comments on your classmate's blogs!!

I am what I am not; just a little

2007-11-13T18:57:00.000-08:00

I am not a race car driver or an idiot. I am not a weapon or a waste can. I am not a fig or any other dried piece of fruit. I don't rot on command. I don't live outside of the work week. I don't walk my dogs enough or change the oil on time. I still haven't filed my taxes. (Shhhh....). I don't spell well. I don't speak up. Enough. I am not a nice guy. I am a girl. A lady. A ma'am. I sleep too much. I am a find. A fine set of binoculars. I am the one who blew out all her birthday candles. I am the one who gets her wish. Swishing in her dishes, I am not the one who does them. This year.

Where did you get that?: Body Map

2007-11-06T21:03:00.001-08:00

Bump on the back of the head. It could be a scar of sorts from a fungal infection I had as a child. The only part I remember is the doctor saying she would have to cut the lump off if the cream didn't clear it up. Or, I might have gotten it falling on the ice rink or out of my bunk bed?

Teeth. Crooked on the close-up. Braces, retainer, splint. Templar mandibular joint disorder. The lean-way-back.

Purple gash or line in the palm of my hand. Playing volleyball? Running away from a boy who wanted to kiss me? Either way, my shoes were untied.

Small semi-circle on left thigh. Glue gun. No question about it.

Big mole, I won't tell you where. But it is hairless, hears not, and reminds me of Marilyn. Yes! Her.

Black big-toe. And many of the small ones. Pop-top toenails. Running injury? What did I drop on my foot?

Inside/Outside/From/On/Beyond the Body: A Writing Course for Grrls with Guts

2007-10-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

Taught by Renee Angle and Kimi Eisele

This course will review basic literary concepts and help cultivate literary-based self-expression that focuses on the body as a primary site of knowledge, creativity, and subversion. Its aim is to help girls develop their own personal agenda for social change and use creative, language-driven actions as a way to publicly voice their presence, ideas, and opinions.
Through guided activities and readings, we will explore the ways girls’/women’s bodies have been seen and interpreted by others, how we view and inhabit our own bodies, and how we can present the truth of who we are both to ourselves and beyond our own skin. By playing with dolls, scientific drawings/models, movement, maps, drums, henna and temporary tattoos, and altered books we will create new ways of discussing, representing, being in, and projecting our bodies to both ourselves and others.
The class is divided into three sections. 1) The Body Map, 2) The Bridge, and 3) The Body Politic.

BLOGGING:
In addition to in-class exercises and reading, you will be asked to keep a blog. Blogs will allow you to explore your thoughts on the assigned readings, class activities, or ideas for their final project. It is intended to be a journal of sorts, a record of your time exploring these issues in this community. More than that, we can consider the Internet and blogs to be another type of “body” that your words, pictures, graphics, and ideas help to shape. Thinking about what you put in a private journal versus what you put on a published and public website changes the nature of both your own and your peers’ writing. The ease in which you can revise and alter your words and thoughts online also affects this body of information. Our hope is that blogging will help us all materialize, examine, and negotiate complex relationships between the public and the private, the inner and the outer body.

The logistics:
Set up a blog on blogspot.com.
If you already have a blog, set up a separate one for this class and link to your other blog.
Write 350 words per week. Writing suggestions based on in-class discussion, upcoming classes, and reading material will be offered. You are also invited to write about encounters/ideas/objects from outside of class that relate to the course.
Provide links on your blog to everyone in class.
Visit someone else’s blog once a week, read their entry and post a comment.
You should post a comment on a new blog every week.
Comments should remain constructive and respectful.

NOTE: This syllabus is a suggested road map. Our route subject to change based on where you all decide you want to go!

PART ONE: The Body Map
Girls will locate themselves, map their own bodies, and explore the idea of the “gaze” to deepen their understanding of literary activism.

Week 1: Overview
Introductions, class norms, project goals, blogging.
Visual discussion on “the body” as site of personal, literary, and political activism. How do we define the body? Where does my body belong (subculture discussion)? What are the larger “bodies” we belong to? How do I make a difference with my “body”?
Examples of literary activism and art/writing using the body.
Assignment:
1) Read Bridget Booher’s “Body Map of My Life.” Plot 5 markings/places on your own body and write about them (you may mimic Booher’s style or do your own).
2) Read excerpts from Moraga & Anzaldua’s This Bridge Called My Back
3) Set-up blog and post entry.

Week 2: Personal Geographies
Discuss readings
View body map examples from Katherine Harmon’s You Are Here (book of maps)
Activity: Body maps & writing
Assignment:
1) Excerpts from Dana Levin’s In the Surgical Theatre
2) “The Lesson” from Toni Cade Bombara’s Gorilla, My Love,
3) Joan Didion Essay on Barbie Dolls
4) Marge Piercy’s “Barbie Doll.”
5) Blog post

Class 3: Scrutiny and the Gaze
Visit to UA med school to see cadavers (ooooh, cool!)
Alternative: View scientific diagrams/models of the body and examples of dolls in class
Discuss: medical theatre, the “gaze,” the “seen” vs. the “unseen” body, dolls, What do dolls, past and present, tell us about how we are viewed?
Writing exercise: Anatomy, dolls, comparing & contrasting
Assignment:
1) Emily Dickinson
2) Anne Waldman
3) Walt Whitman’s “I Sing the Body Electric”
4) “Poet at the Dance: In Conversation with Rita Dove” on Poets.org
5) Blog post

PART TWO: THE BRIDGE
Students will link the inner and outer body and voice through activities that challenge them to move beyond the personal “I” and into a public space.

Week 4: Writing from the Body
Activity: Words & movement exercises with Kimi (modern dance as embodied expression); exercises are designed to reveal connections between writing brain and body brain…accessing memory and writing material through movement and generating movement from words
Assignment:
1) Blog post

Week 5: How Loud Can We Be?
Activity: Taiko drumming class with visiting artists Karen or Rome of Odaiko Sonora
Dropping into the body: weight; Where do our voices come from? How loud can we be?
Assignment:
1) Hanna Weiner
2) Article from “Bomb” on blood footprints

Week 6: Writing on the Body
Review discussions from previous classes about the gaze and scrutiny. Now, what do we want to project?
Writing exercise.
Activity: Visit from henna artist; write on the body with Henna and/or temporary tattoos
Assignment:
1) Jenny Boully’s The Body
2) Wikipedia entry on Romance Novel
3) Excerpts from The Body Project
4) Blog post

PART THREE: The Body Politic
Students will consider the term “alteration”/the prefix “re” (as in revision, re-map, return, rewrite) to consider how they might alter their own inner/outer bodies, their body of knowledge and the larger body politic in positive ways. Through their final projects, they will demonstrate a subversion of or a revision of their own ideas and/or of societal constructs of the “body” and the “feminine.”

Week 7: Altering the Body
Discussion: the literary cannon as “a body of knowledge.” Who do we read and why?
Activity: Creating altered texts
Choice of erasure of dime store romance novels and/or creating the text for which Boully’s footnotes are intended.
Visiting artist: Lisa Bowden, Alice? Another book artist?

Assignment:
1) Elizabeth Bishop’s North and South and Geography III
2) Reggio Tutta: A Guide to the City by the Childen (maps by children in Italian city of Reggio Emilia
3) Blog post

Week 8: The Body Politic
Activity: Return to body maps
Discuss: What is the “Body Politic”? How do we use the idea of “body” (our own or others) to make statements about ourselves and the world? Who is our audience?

Weeks 9-12: Beyond the Body
Final Project Preparation

Girls will choose project concepts to develop and complete by end of course.

Project ideas:
1) Performance
a. Site specific movement
b. Vocalization
c. Music
d. Interventionist actions

2) Broadcast
a. Radio PSAs
b. Voices

3) Alteration
a. Clothes
b. Books
c. Advertisements/ “Sub”-vertisements
d. The body

Final ACT: TBA