ENGLISH 484: SEMINAR IN THEORY AND
CRITICISM:
IAN CURTIS AND JOY
DIVISION IN (HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL) CONTEXT
HHH 222, MW 1-2:50
pm, Fall 2011, UWEC
PROFESSOR BOB NOWLAN
Office: HHH 425 Office Phone Number:
(715) 836-4369
Office Hours: MW, 2:50-3:20 pm and
7:15-7:45 pm, as well as By Appointment
ranowlan
@uwec.edu
http://www.uwec.edu/ranowlan
COURSE EXPLANATION
I first encountered the music of Joy Division during
my freshman year as an undergraduate student, 1979-1980, at Wesleyan
University in Middletown, Connecticut. Right away, the band made
a powerful impact upon me. At the time I identified strongly with
punk music, from the likes of the Sex Pistols and the Clash.
Listening to Joy Division I heard the same freshness, urgency, and
intensity that attracted me to punk, yet also something that
transcended the immediacy and directness of punk, conveying, in
contrast, a richly resonant sense of both distance and precision, a
controlled fury emanating from a fiercely passionate yet also
agonizingly vulnerable exploration of emotional, psychological,
physical, and metaphysical extremes. I knew, if Joy Division
would come to tour and play in the United States, that I would do
whatever I possibly could to see them live. And I played their
music in my dorm room, for my friends, as well as on my radio show, at
our campus community radio station, WESU. I learned that they did
plan to come to the US shortly before I was shocked and saddened to
read a detailed account, in an independent music zine I subscribed and
contributed to at the time, of the life and death of Ian Curtis,
lyricist, vocalist, and frontman for Joy Division, starting and ending
with an account of his suicide on May 18, 1980, at the age of 23.
Ever since then I regularly listen to the music of Ian Curtis and Joy
Division; it continues to live on and travel with me throughout
my life, through every twist and turn I follow–and I continue to play
this music today for my friends and on my radio show, at Eau Claire’s
community radio station, WHYS.
I am far from alone. As indicated on the back
jacket of Paul Morley’s book, Joy
Division Piece by Piece Writing About Joy Division 1977-2007,
“Joy Division are the perennial cult post-punk band. Four young
men with weight on their shoulders, the drama and the tension of their
music remains unsurpassed.” Indeed, if anything, Joy Division is
more popular and widely respected today than in the band’s time: new
generations of music listeners–and new generations of
musicians–repeatedly, ever since the band’s end in 1980, discover Joy
Division, and discover for themselves meaning, value, and significance
in Joy Division’s music. Paul Morley, aptly described on the back
jacket of his book about Joy Division as “one of Britain’s foremost
cultural commentators for 30 years,” well demonstrates the kind of
obsessive interest Joy Division can elicit. Morley has frequently
written about Joy Division, again and again for now well over 30 years,
and Morley has continually found Joy Division stimulates his thinking
about–and his feeling in relation to–an ever widening array of deeply
substantial issues (especially questions and considerations of “the
ultimate,” interestingly enough, what critical theorist Mircea Eliade
famously argues represents the core concern of all religions, and,
implicitly as well, all spiritualities). At the same time, as
Morley more than once mentions, in Joy
Division Piece by Piece, it seems to him, in a strange yet
profound way, that ‘he has always been writing about Joy Division’.
Joy Division’s posthumous achievement is remarkable
(even as they did break through, winning critical as well as popular
recognition as a band of major importance, prior to Ian Curtis’
death). Joy Division: four working class lads from Salford and
Macclesfield, in Northwest England, all of whom taught themselves how
to play music from scratch, and who struggled to attract much of any
interest, let alone acclaim, in the years they moved from “Stiff
Kittens” to “Warsaw” to “Joy Division.” Only near the end of
their time together did it become possible for Ian Curtis, Peter Hook,
Bernard Sumner, and Steven Morris all to stop working full-time at
other jobs while also making and playing music. Joy Division only
recorded two studio albums, Unknown
Pleasures and Closer
(as well as multiple singles and a limited array of demos, unfinished
takes, and live performances). Although they gigged extensively,
Joy Division left, by early 21st century standards, a paucity of video
performances, as well as few live performances on radio, and few
interviews, through any venue. Yet, by the beginning of the 21st
century not only did serious writers begin to write steadily more and
more articles and books about Joy Division, and Ian Curtis, but also
three feature-length films have been made in which the band, and
especially Curtis, represent a principal focus: Twenty Four Hour Party People,
directed by Michael Winterbottom, released in 2002; Control, directed by Anton Corbijn,
released in 2007, an Ian Curtis biopic; and Joy Division, directed by Grant
Gee and released in 2007, a Joy Division biopic. Images of Joy
Division, and again especially of Ian Curtis, now enjoy iconic stature,
and continue to influence new trends in fashion and design.
Numerous, first, ‘alternative’ and then, second, ‘indie’ bands,
emerging from the early 1990s onward, frequently cite Joy Division,
and, often enough, in particular, Ian Curtis, as major influences on
their own music, and on their own ethos and aesthetics. Pitchfork retrospectively rates
both Unknown Pleasures and Closer as each a perfect 10 out of
a
possible 10. In Macclesfield, Ian Curtis’ hometown, the 30th
anniversary of his death sparked a summer-long festival of exhibitions,
tours, tribute compositions and performances, and workshops, lectures,
and symposia. Today, in Manchester, Peter Hook is re-using the
famous Factory name for musical and related kinds of artistic projects
(Factory Records was the independent label, led by the late Tony
Wilson, that played a huge role in Manchester music and culture from
the late 1970s through the mid 1990s, with Joy Division the first and
possibly still the most famous of the bands Factory
recorded). Hook and partners opened FAC 251 in 2010; he is
also reviving use of the Haçienda trademark (the most famous and
influential center of the mid 1980s to mid 1990s ‘Madchester’ club
scene, including the birthplace of acid house, was the Haçienda,
which closed in 1997, and which was demolished and replaced by
apartments in 2002). Hook also has toured across Britain, Western
Europe, and North America, playing the entirety, first, of Unknown Pleasures (2010) and then,
second, of Closer (2011),
with his latest band, Peter Hook and the Light. New Order, which
Hook, and fellow surviving Joy Division bandmembers Sumner and Morris
formed shortly after Curtis’ death (and who were joined eventually by
Gillian Gilbert), rarely ever played any Joy Division music.
Sumner and Morris sharply criticize Hook for his current actions.
As a result, Hook is now even further alienated from Sumner and Morris,
increasing the already considerable extent of estrangement that exists
today among these former New Order–and surviving Joy
Division–bandmates, but that’s another story.
I write the last because Joy Division and New Order
strike me, and indeed many others who have long followed both, as
ultimately far more discontinuous than continuous phenomena.
Central in explaining this discontinuity is Ian Curtis. All
members of Joy Division contributed enormously to the band’s collective
achievement, and the band would not exist without all of their
contributions. Likewise their manager, Rob Gretton, their
producer, Martin Hannett, their graphic designer, Peter Saville, and
their promoter, publicist, and mythmaker, Tony Wilson (to name just a
few of the other most prominent figures in the yet larger group that
truly made Joy Division what it was) all provided indispensable
contributions. But, to borrow words from the man himself, Ian
Curtis was–and is–the heart and soul of Joy Division. His lyrics,
his vocals, his sensibility, his style, and his presence set the
pace. And it is undoubtedly due to the tragic complex of multiple
difficult tensions he suffered, and his ultimate suicide, that the band
has achieved the kind of historic aura that it has.
Commonly, many identify the music of Joy Division,
and with understandable reason, certainly encouraged by Curtis’
suicide, as ‘depressing’, but this characterization vastly
oversimplifies both the music and Curtis’ life. Curtis, as
you shall learn, like so many of us in fact do, fused myriad
contradictions; as those who knew him best frequently attest, he often
acted like ‘just an ordinary bloke’ of his age coming from the place
and time in which he lived. He was friendly, considerate,
fun-loving, outgoing, and playful; he was rakish and laddish; he was
kind and generous; he was shy and sensitive; he was intense, ambitious,
driven, troubled, wild, and disturbed; he was obsessive, compulsive,
self-absorbed, and ego-centric; he was lonely and vulnerable; he was
loving and romantic; he was cold and distant; he was physically
exuberant and mentally voracious; and he was physically and mentally
ill. His lyrics and Joy Division’s music, moreover,
transcend the details of Ian Curtis’ own individual life–and death–even
if this connection marks one significant direction for making sense of
what these lyrics, and this music, can mean. Like the best music,
and the best lyrics, that of Ian Curtis and Joy Division invites,
encourages, and enables listeners to situate this music, and these
lyrics, in contexts far removed from any direct connection with the
life, or death, of those responsible for initially creating it, so that
listeners are able to make compelling sense and use of this music in
ways that its initial creators could never have dreamed. The
sheer fact that the music of Ian Curtis and Joy Division continues to
attract new fans and to exert significant impact on new listeners long
after Curtis’ death, and long after the end of Joy Division’s time
together as a band, underscores how far this music engages with
thoughts, feelings, convictions, ideals, perceptions, and sensations
that surpass and supersede the merely autobiographical.
But I’d like to add a further more personal response
to the characterization of Joy Division’s music as ‘depressing’ because
not only do many serious commentators on this music find it demands
this kind of personal openness and honesty, but also because I myself
do not find it ultimately depressing, in my own experience, as much as
I understand and respect that kind of response. Here’s how I
summed up this point at the time of the 30th anniversary of Curtis’
death:
Ian Curtis was a great lyricist and a powerful
singer and frontman; together with the rest of those involved in Joy
Division, he fearlessly explored intensities, extremities,
subliminalities, and liminalities that many others never would or
could, and his music, while often extremely dark and somber, is never
simply that–it is about seeking, struggling, reflecting, examining, and
opening one’s self up to sensation, perception, emotion, and
understanding that presses past familiar layers of protective mediation
toward not only intense vulnerability and emptiness but also intense
clarity and insight. Joy Division’s music fuses the intellectual
with the emotional with the spiritual with the somatic–in terms of
exploration and questing, in both passionate and dispassionate terms,
and in relation to a striving for and imposition of control meeting up
with the absolute limits and sheer impossibility of meaningfully
striving for and seeking to impose control– all with a seamlessness,
and a brilliance, rarely matched in popular rock music. Ian
Curtis himself was certainly a highly–and multiply–troubled, often
highly confused, and often highly difficult man, but he was also a
brilliantly intuitive, driven, committed, impassioned, thoughtful, and
serious lyricist and musician.
*
Twice in the recent past I taught English 484,
Seminar in Theory and Criticism, to focus, broadly, on “Critical
Studies in Contemporary Popular Music Cultures” (in the spring of 2008
and the fall of 2009) and, also, in the fall of 2008 I taught English
372, to focus, again broadly, on “Music, Protest, and
Resistance.” I enjoyed teaching all three classes immensely; the
students did great work, including many highly impressive final
projects, from which I learned much myself that I most definitely
continue to value. This time around I wanted to teach a different
kind of class in popular music as cultural studies, one focused more
narrowly on a particular musician and musical group, working with that
musician and that musical group as a point of departure, and a point of
return, in engaging a host of critical and theoretical, as well as
historical and cultural, issues. Given my long fascination with
Ian Curtis and Joy Division, the choice of musician and musical group
became obvious quite quickly.
Nonetheless, a focus on Ian Curtis and Joy Division
presents a major challenge. Striving to meet this challenge will
ultimately make this class a more rewarding experience for all of
us. Curtis and fellow members of Joy Division deliberately
eschewed overt reference to immediately topical issues in their
music. As a result, in this class we will investigate the often
complexly mediated ways that intelligent, sensitive popular music
productions reflect, respond to, draw upon, rework, transform, impact,
and influence larger social-historical conditions and relations.
Curtis maintained limited direct interest in the most immediate form
that ‘politics’ takes, for most people, and, the same with many
immediate cultural trends (in short, he would be the kind of fellow
student, if he were here, who would likely tell us that he finds what
most people think of as ‘politics’ of ‘little interest’, and he would
likewise evince little interest in current cultural fads he was not
directly ‘into’ himself) . He, and following his lead, the rest
of Joy Division as well, made music focused on phenomenological,
existential, mythical, spiritual, metaphysical, psychological,
aesthetic, fantastical, romantic, and dystopian dimensions of human
experience. Nevertheless, political and cultural forces did
affect Curtis and Joy Division, but those that exerted the greatest
impact are deeper and longer, encompassing dimensions of human
experience extending beyond merely what directly and uniquely pertained
to a life lived in Greater Manchester, England from 1956 through
1980. If politics is ultimately about relations of power–and if
culture is ultimately about creativity, productivity, expression,
communication, activity, and interactivity–then matters of politics and
culture consumed Curtis, even, often enough, overwhelming him, pulling
him to an extreme edge. Notoriously, Curtis derived the name ‘Joy
Division’ for his band from the name given by the Nazis to
concentration camp victims forced to serve as virtual sex slaves for
their captors. At times this association, and other oblique
references to Nazi Germany at gigs and in promotional materials, led
observers to imagine a connection between Joy Division, the band, and
Nazi-style ideology. But, aside from representing typical,
punk-style, critical appropriation and resignification of what a
dominant culture finds most frightening and disturbing, and which it
has worked the hardest to marginalize, even to repress, in choosing the
name ‘Joy Division’ Curtis identified himself, and his band, with the
victims, and with the humiliation and pain these victims suffered, as
well as with their desire to escape and their fear that escape is
impossible.
What’s more, the powerful appeal of Joy Division’s
music long after Curtis’ death and the band’s end, as well as far away
from Manchester itself, demonstrate that making sense of Ian Curtis and
Joy Division ‘in historical and cultural context’ directs us to explore
widely, and to test out connections that superficially maintain little
to do with the specific place and time in which Ian Curtis spent his
life, and with the specific place and time in which Joy Division came
together to make their music. For this reason, readings in social
theory that range from the classic tradition through modernism to
post-modernism and beyond provide us with lenses, or frameworks, that
will better enable us to come to grips with the meaning, value, and
significance of Ian Curtis’ and Joy Division’s music (and even with the
life and death of both Curtis and his band) than concentrating solely
on studying unique peculiarities of British, especially English, and in
particular Greater Manchester, culture and politics from 1956 through
1980. We won’t ignore those latter kinds of contexts, yet we
won’t limit ourselves to working only with them, and we certainly won’t
uncritically privilege them over other possibilities.
In line with the last point, we do not need limit
ourselves to accepting interpretations and perspectives offered by
surviving contemporaries of Curtis, including his fellow Joy Division
bandmates; their interpretations and perspectives are hardly
necessarily automatically ‘truer’ or ‘more accurate’ than ours, when we
can argue compellingly in support of different takes. Often, in
fact, those closest to an individual or a group of people can be too
close, thereby missing what makes the creative work the former do
matter the most to those who never had and never will have any personal
connection with that individual or group. Besides, creating
music, like creating any kind of art, is not identical with
interpreting what it means–and, certainly, the meaning of any musical
composition, like any achieved work of art, is by no means necessarily
identical with what its ‘author intended’. We, as listeners,
recreate the work of art, in making sense of what it means, by
situating it in contexts that may well not be the same as those its
‘authors’ had in mind, or knew about. To recast this last point
in other (more theoretical) terms, the initial ‘writer’ (such as a
musician) of a ‘cultural text’ (such as a piece of music) ‘encodes’ it
so as to invite and encourage particular kinds of ‘decodings’–i.e.,
particular kinds of readings–by its ‘readers’ (in the case of music,
these readers are, of course, listeners), yet these readers may well
‘decode’ the text differently: ignoring, refusing, or contesting the
direction the writer suggests readers should follow in reading the text
that this writer has written. Furthermore, the writer of a
cultural text is often not fully conscious of what kinds or what
varieties of ‘encodings’ the writer is giving the text that the writer
writes; readers may well be in better positions to recognize these
encodings for what they are.
In addition, given that we will work with ‘Ian
Curtis and Joy Division’ as a point
of departure, and as a point of return, we will explore larger
critical and theoretical, as well as cultural and historical, issues
that will, periodically, take us a considerable distance from specific
details of Curtis’ and Joy Division’s life and times. We will
make use of Ian Curtis’ and Joy Division’s music as a lens, or a
framework, to explore critical and theoretical positions, concepts, and
arguments, as well as cultural and historical events, relations,
tendencies, and trends–in addition to doing the reverse, i.e.,
using theory and criticism, and historical and cultural texts, as
lenses, or frameworks, to make sense of Ian Curtis and Joy
Division. And, in considering ‘Ian Curtis and Joy Division in (Historical and Cultural) Context’,
we will keep in mind that the contexts within which we can, and should,
usefully situate ‘Ian Curtis and Joy Division’ include historical times
before Curtis was born as well as before the band formed, along with
historical times after Curtis’ death and after the band ended.
Likewise, we will keep in mind that the contexts within which we can,
and should, usefully situate ‘Ian Curtis and Joy Division’ include
cultures (along with subcultures and countercultures) outside of, and
even far away from, those located in Greater Manchester, England, from
1956 through 1980.
*
We will begin our work together, after an initial
period of introduction and orientation, with two weeks learning
about–and practicing working with–concepts for listening to and
analyzing (popular) music. This will give us a common conceptual
grounding and a common critical vocabulary, helping unite us a class,
rather than just accepting disparities people already bring with them
to our class concerning knowledge of or confidence about analyzing
(popular) music. In this kind of class, as in all music as
cultural studies classes I teach, you don’t need ever to have studied
music before, and you don’t need ever to have played music before, to
do well; if you bring that kind of experience with you all well and
good, but if you don’t it won’t hurt you. You all bring with you
other kinds of knowledge and experience that will prove equally
relevant and useful.
After class number five, we will turn directly to
focus on Ian Curtis and Joy Division. First, we will spend one
week screening and discussing the film Control (2007, Directed by Anton
Corbijn) and then we will spend a second week screening and discussing
the film Joy Division (2007,
Directed by Grant Gee). From that point we will proceed, over the
course of the next three weeks, to read and discuss selections, first,
from Mick Middles’ and Lindsay Reade’s Torn Apart: the Life of Ian Curtis and
then, second, from Paul Morley’s Joy
Division Piece by Piece Writing About Joy Division 1977-2007.
Next, again over the course of three weeks, we will draw connections
between, on the one hand, ‘Ian Curtis and Joy Division’, and, on the
other hand, select readings in social theory, from the classic
tradition through modernism to post-modernism and beyond. Then,
finally, we will spend four weeks engaged with students’ individual
final project presentations.
As you can undoubtedly well imagine, I am excited
about this class, even as I find it daunting, at the same time, to
recognize that this is likely the first time a university class focused
on this topic has ever been taught, anywhere. I aim to make use
of my interest, my background, my knowledge, and my experience to make
the class all the more interesting for you, even while declaring right
here and now that I think of myself as one with a great deal yet to
learn, including about the focus of our class and including from
you. This past summer I spent three weeks in Manchester and
Greater Manchester, attending the 2011 Manchester International
Festival (music, art, and culture) as well as doing research on ‘Ian
Curtis and Joy Division in (Historical and Cultural) Context’. I
spent extended periods of time in Manchester and Greater Manchester
twice before this summer as well (including attending the 2009
Manchester International Festival). I aim to make use of what I
have picked up as a result of these travels, and the experiences I
gained in Manchester and Greater Manchester, to benefit this
class. And I am currently in early stages of planning a
prospective future book, tentatively titled ‘Ian Curtis and Joy
Division in (Theoretical and Critical) Context’. We shall see
what happens with that. Working as a professor at UWEC does
not leave much time or energy left over to work on writing and
publishing a book, especially one as original and ambitious as this
would need to be What’s more, I already must satisfy a contract
to write a book titled Directory of
World Cinema: Scotland before focusing too much on any other
book. Yet, if you become interested in the focus of this class,
and are able and willing to do so, I will welcome you working with me,
in the future, on ‘Ian Curtis and Joy Division in (Theoretical and
Critical) Context’ as a book project.
TEXTS
The following are required:
1. Middles, Mick and Lindsay Reade. Torn Apart: the Life of Ian Curtis.
Omnibus Press: 2006, 2007, 2009. ISBN#: 978-1-84722-508-0.
2. Morley, Paul. Joy Division: Piece by Piece: Writing
About Joy Division 1977-2007. Plexus: 2008. ISBN#:
978-0-85965-404-3.
3. Joy Division. Heart and Soul 4 CD
Compilation with 80 Page Booklet Included, Box Set. London
Records, 1997. Original ASIN#: 3894 29040-2. Re-released in
the US by Rhino/WEA, 2001. ASIN#: B00005MKHQ.
4. Machin, David. Analysing Popular Music: Image, Sound, Text.
Sage, 2010. ISBN#: 978-1-84860-023-2.
5. Negus, Keith. Popular Music in Theory: an Introduction.
Wesleyan, 1996. ISBN#: 0-7456-1318-7.
6. Farganis, James, ed. Readings in Social
Theory: The Classic Tradition to Post-Modernism. 6th
Edition. McGraw-Hill,
2010. ISBN#: 978-0-07-811155-6.
All of these are available for you to purchase at
the UWEC Bookstore. You may purchase them elsewhere, as you wish, as
long as you do acquire them in time to use for class; these days many
students find many required texts for their classes through on-line
booksellers. In fact, you may well be able to obtain all of these
required texts at lower prices, often considerably lower, from the
latter kinds of sources. All six are readily available through
that means from multiple different vendors. Used copies are OK,
and in the case of Torn Apart,
if you obtain a copy of the first or second instead of the third
edition that will be all right, as the authors only made small
additions with the second and then the third editions to what they put
together for the first edition. For Heart and Soul, please do buy this
box set and not just make use of MP3 (or similar) versions of the songs
on this album; we will be working with the booklet contained as part of
this box set, and I also want you obtain a physical copy of Joy
Division music, which I think is only appropriate given the intense
concentration we will be dedicating toward analyzing it over the course
of the semester.
I will supply additional written texts, in the form
of photocopied handouts, or on Desire2Learn and the W (the
Student-Faculty Shared) Drive. I will also supply copies of the
visual and audio-visual texts–along with the additional audio texts–we
will make use of from time to time as well.
SCHEDULE
W 9/7: Introduction and Orientation.
M 9/12: Concepts for Listening to and Analyzing (Popular) Music, 1
Read
for Class, M 9/12: Selections, Daniel J. Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music: The Science
of a Human Obsession, Chapters 1-2 (What is Music? From
Pitch to Timbre, and Foot Tapping: Discerning Rhythm, Loudness, and
Harmony), 13-82 [Available on D2L and via the W, the Student-Faculty
Shared, Drive].
W 9/14: Concepts for Listening to and Analyzing (Popular) Music, 2
Read
for Class, W 9/14: David Machin, Analysing Popular Music: Image, Sound, Text,
Chapter 1, “Discourses of Popular Music,” 13-31, and Chapter 4,
“Analysing Lyrics: Values, Participants, Agency,” 77-97.
* Initial Short
Analytical Paper Assigned, W 9/14 *
M 9/19: Concepts for Listening to and Analyzing (Popular) Music, 3
Read
for Class, M 9/19: Machin, Analysing
Popular Music, Chapter 5, “Semiotic Resources in Sound: Pitch,
Melody, and Phrasing” and Chapter 6, “Sound Qualities: Arrangement and
Rhythm,” 98-132, as well as “Conclusion,” 211-214.
W 9/21: Concepts for Listening to and Analyzing (Popular) Music, 4
Read
for Class, W 9/21: Keith Negus, Popular Music in Theory: an Introduction:
From Chapter 1, “Audiences,” 13-35; Chapter 3, “Mediations,” 66-98; and
From Chapter 5, “Histories,” 136-153 and 160-163.
* Initial Short
Analytical Paper Due, F 9/23, by 4 pm, in my English Department
mailbox, HHH 405 *
M 9/26: Screening, Control.
W 9/28: Discussion of Control and
Related Issues.
Read
for Class, W 9/28: Selected Reviews and Related Readings, To Be
Announced.
*
W 9/28, Assignment: proposal of two possible issues/sets of issues you
might like to focus on for your final project, in any two of the
fourteen areas I identify as possible contexts to work with, for this
final project (see syllabus subsection “Final Project” in syllabus
section “Specific Requirements for the Course Grade”). *
M 10/3: Screening, Joy Division.
*
M 10/3, Due: proposal of two possible issues/sets of issues you might
like to focus on for your final project, in any two of the fourteen
areas I identify as possible contexts to work with, for this final
project (see syllabus subsection “Final Project” in syllabus section
“Specific Requirements for the Course Grade”).*
W 10/5: Discussion of Joy Division
and Related Issues.
Read
for Class, W 10/5: From Heart
and Soul Box Set Booklet: Paul Morley, “Listen to the Silence”;
Jean-Pierre Turmel,”Ich und Blindheit”; and Jon Savage, “‘Good Evening,
We’re Joy Division,” plus Possible Additional Readings, To Be Announced.
M 10/10: Discussion, Mick Middles and Lindsay Reade, Torn Apart: the Life of Ian Curtis,
1.
Read
for Class, M 10/10: Chapter 1, “Memories of a Child’s Past,”
1-12; Chapter 3, “I Remember When We Were Young,” 22-33; Chapter 4,
“Here Are the Young Men,” 34-55; Chapter 5, “Leaders of Men,” 56-72;
and Chapter 7, “This the Way, Step Inside,” 87-101.
W 10/12: Discussion, Torn Apart: the
Life of Ian Curtis, 2.
Read
for Class, W 10/12: Chapter 8, “Isolation,” 102-111; Chapter 9,
“Monochrome,” 112-123; Chapter 10, “Unknown Pleasures,” 124-35; Chapter
12, “Taking Different Roads,” 151-159; and Chapter 14, “Atmosphere,”
172-181.
* First
Reading/Listening/Viewing Interpretation and Reflection Paper Assigned,
W 10/12 *
M 10/17: Discussion, Torn Apart: the
Life of Ian Curtis, 3.
Read for
Class, M 10/17: Chapter 17, “Closer,” 208-217; Chapter 18, “The
Present is Well Out of Hand,” 218-229; Chapter 20, “Watching the Reel
As it Comes to a Close,” 243-257; Chapter 21, “When All’s Said
and Done,” 258-266; “Postscript: Ian Curtis Day, May 18, 2005,"
267-270; and “Afterword 2009, The Icon Who is Larger than Life,”
271-282.
W 10/19: Discussion, Paul Morley, Joy
Division Piece by Piece Writing About Joy Division 1977-2007, 1.
Read
for Class, W 10/19: II, 12-21; III, 22-34; XII, 74; XIII, 75-78;
XXIV, 108-110; XXV, 111-112; and XXVI, 113-115.
M 10/24: Discussion, Joy Division
Piece by Piece Writing About Joy Division 1977-2007, 2.
Read
for Class, M 10/24: XXIX, 122-144; XXXI, 150-158; XXXIV,
162-174; XLV, 228; XLVI, 229; and XLVII, 230.
W 10/26: Discussion, Joy Division
Piece by Piece Writing About Joy Division 1977-2007, 3.
Read
for Class, W 10/26: LIII, 255-269; LIV, 270-273; LVII, 303-308;
LIX, 309-310; LXIII, 336-344; LXIV, 345-359; and LXV, 360-367.
* First
Reading/Listening/Viewing Interpretation and Reflection Paper Due, F
10/28, by 4 pm, in my English Department mailbox, HHH 405 *
M 10/31: Discussion, James Farganis, ed., Readings in Social Theory: The Classic
Tradition to Post-Modernism, 1.
Read
for Class, M 10/31: “Introduction: The Classic Tradition to
Post-Modernism: an Overview,” 1-25; “Introduction: Émile
Durkheim: Anomie and Social Integration,” 51-54; “From Émile
Durkheim: Egoistic Suicide and Anomic Suicide,” 54-63; “Introduction:
Georg Simmel: Dialectic of Individual and Society,” 111-113; and “From
Georg Simmel: The Stranger,” 122-125.
W 11/2: Discussion, Readings in
Social Theory: The Classic Tradition to Post-Modernism, 2.
Read for Class, W 11/2: “Introduction: George Herbert
Mead: The Emergent Self,” 127-128; “From George Herbert Mead: Mind,
Self, and Society,” 128-37; “Introduction: Symbolic Interaction,”
297-299; and “From Herbert Blumer: Society as Symbolic Interaction,”
300-307.
M 11/7: Discussion, Readings in
Social Theory: The Classic Tradition to Post-Modernism, 3.
Read for Class, M 11/7: “From Arlie Hochschild: Exploring
the Managed Heart,” 316-328; “Introduction: Sex, Gender, Queer
Theory, and Race,” 385-389; and “From Candace West and Don H.
Zimmerman: Doing Gender,” 410-419.
W 11/9: Discussion, Readings in
Social Theory: The Classic Tradition to Post-Modernism, 4.
Read
for Class, W 11/9: “Introduction: Phenomenological Sociology
and Ethnomethodology,” 257-258; “From Peter Berger: the Sacred Canopy,”
275-287; “Introduction: Functionalism,” 157-159; and “From Robert K.
Merton: Manifest and Latent Functions,” 176-192.
* Second
Reading/Listening/Viewing Interpretation and Reflection Paper Assigned,
W 11/9 *
M 11/14: Discussion, Readings in
Social Theory: The Classic Tradition to Post-Modernism, 5.
Read for Class, M 11/14: “Introduction: Max Weber: The
Iron Cage,” 73-77; “From Max Weber: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit
of Capitalism,” 77-81; “Introduction: Conflict Theory,” 193-195; “From
C. Wright Mills: The Structure of Power in America,” 203-212;
“Introduction: Post-Modernism,” 357-358; and “From Michel Foucault: the
Carcereal,” 358-368.
W 11/16: Discussion, Readings in
Social Theory: The Classic Tradition to Post-Modernism, 6.
Read
for Class, W 11/16: “Introduction: Karl Marx: Alienation, Class
Struggle, and Class Consciousness,” 29-31; “From Karl Marx and
Frederick Engels: The Manifesto of the Communist Party,” 31-43;
“Introduction: Global Society: Two Perspectives,” 441-442; “From Ulrich
Beck: The Terrorist Threat: World Risk Society Revisited,” 442-449; and
“From Joseph E. Stiglitz: Globalism’s Discontents,” 450-455.
* Second
Reading/Listening/Viewing Interpretation and Reflection Paper Due, F
11/18, by 4 pm, in my English Department mailbox, HHH 405 *
M 11/21, W 11/23, M 11/28, W 11/30, M 12/5, W 12/7, M 12/12, and W
12/14: Presentations, Final Projects.
R 12/21: Final Project Due, by 12
noon, in my English Department Mailbox, HHH 405.
*
PERIODIC LISTENING ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE MADE
FROM HEART
AND SOUL,
TO BE ANNOUNCED *
** THIS SCHEDULE
IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE **
*** THERE IS NO
FINAL EXAMINATION IN THIS CLASS ***
ORGANIZATION AND CONDUCT OF CLASS
SESSIONS
As a 400 level seminar, we will engage with course
material by way of collective discussion, following a variety of
formats, including, prospectively, a number of creative
activities. And it is important, because this is a 400 level
seminar, that we aim to hear from everyone on a regular basis, not just
when working in small groups. I do not plan to present, let alone
lecture, all that often, at any considerable length, as that’s not what
an advanced undergraduate level seminar is all about. But I will
direct the course of our discussion at all times. In addition,
our class meets for one hour and fifty minutes twice a week because we
are focused on music, and we need the time to listen to music in class;
we will listen to a significant amount of music in just about every
class period we meet (as well as watch films, music videos, and
assorted video clips, from time to time as well). Over the last
four weeks we meet, you will be each presenting excerpts of work
in progress on your individual final projects and the rest of the class
will offer you critiques to help you as you develop, revise, and refine
your work on those same projects.
UWEC
MISSION AND GOALS OF THE BACCALAUREATE
The following is the official mission statement of
the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a mission which includes us
all, and which each of us helps realize, bringing to bear our own
distinct talents, abilities, knowledges, skills, backgrounds, and
experiences:
We foster in
one another creativity, critical
insight, empathy, and intellectual courage, the hallmarks of a
transformative liberal education and the foundation for active
citizenship and lifelong inquiry.
This is a mission to aspire to meet, and each of you has a vitally
important role to play in helping us do so.
The following, in addition, are the five most
important, official goals all
UWEC undergraduate courses are designed to help you meet, and this
class aims to help you, in
particular, with goals number two and three:
1.) Knowledge of Human Culture and the Natural World
2.) Creative and Critical Thinking
3.) Effective Communication
4.) Individual and Social Responsibility
5.) Respect for Diversity Among People
These goals require your striving
to meet them. Striving means learning actively and deliberately,
completing assignments in a thorough and timely fashion, participating
in class discussion, and making connections between what we do while
meeting in class and what you do when engaged outside of the classroom.
GENERAL
EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS
I expect students in this course to strive to become
sincerely interested in learning about the subject matter of this
course, and to be consistently intellectually serious as well as
academically diligent in your pursuit of this learning. I expect
students to strive to bring actively and extensively to bear insights
you gain through your engagement with the texts and topics addressed as
part of this course, and I expect you to strive at the same time to
relate these texts and topics as closely and as fully as possible to
subjects of genuine interest and concern in your own lives, past and
present. And I expect you to let me know right away when and if
you have any questions or problems about any aspect of how you are
doing in and with the course, so that I can do whatever I possibly can
to help answer these questions and solve these problems. In
addition, you need to be ready to engage seriously, thoughtfully, and
respectfully–at all times–with positions that you don’t necessarily
agree with, and even with ones that you may find troubling. After
all, great works of art–including many great works of music–are
often created with the deliberate aim of disturbing, even shocking many
people who will encounter these. Often the intent is to provoke
strong response, as well as thought–and action–that goes beyond what
has become familiar, conventional, commonsensical, and, especially,
merely “safe.” The music of Joy Division, and the life and death
of Ian Cutis, certainly raise multiple challenging, and indeed
disturbing, issues; we will deal with these forthrightly, but in a
thoughtful, sensitive, and compassionate manner. You are capable
of dealing with these kinds of issues in an intellectually serious,
mature adult manner–and I will expect you to do so.
SPECIFIC
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COURSE GRADE
General Standards for Evaluation of
Student Work
In evaluating all work done for this class, I will
take account of how carefully, seriously, intelligently,
enthusiastically, and imaginatively students engage with the concepts,
issues, positions, and arguments addressed in the class and represented
by the texts we read, the music to which we listen, the films we
screen, by me, and by each other. I will also take account of how
carefully, seriously, intelligently, enthusiastically, and
imaginatively students engage with class activities, projects, and
assignments.
Attendance
This course cannot contribute effectively to
students' learning if students do not attend class. What happens
in class is indispensable. Therefore, the following attendance
policy will apply:
1.) Students may miss a maximum of three
classes without needing to provide an official excuse, although
students should always let me know,
preferably beforehand, if and when you are not going to be able to
attend a class, just as the same as you would for a shift at a
paid job, because we will count on everyone in the work we will be
doing together this semester.
2.) If you need to miss more than three classes
total over the course of the semester you should seek to arrange an officially authorized absence,
through the Dean of Students’ Office. Otherwise you will lose
one full letter grade, off your final grade, starting with your fourth
absence from class. If you need to miss more than three
classes, please contact me, as well as the Dean of Students’ Office, as
soon as possible, so we can work together to make arrangements to help
you make up what you miss.
3.) Students are
expected to arrive for class on time and to stay through the very end
of class. If you don’t do so, you won’t be counted as
attending class. In addition, you need to be awake, alert, and
attentive while in class; this means you can’t expect to sleep or rest
in class. Again, if you do so, this will count as an absence from
class. And the same is true of doing other school work in class
or attending to other–personal–matters irrelevant to what we are
focusing on at that point in time in class. You should avoid
text-messaging, or web-searching, or facebooking, or playing games on
your cell phone–just to mention a few common temptations–while we are
working together in class. If you repeatedly do any
of these things you will suffer a loss of one to two full letter grades
(depending on the severity of the issue) for learning and contribution
during each period of the semester where this becomes a problem.
Since you are all mature, responsible adults, I respect, if you choose
to ignore this warning, that you also choose to accept the
consequences. In other words, I won’t repeatedly warn you not to
do any of these things; instead I will just note what you are doing,
and adjust your grades accordingly. I know that cell phones–and
other electronic devices, especially providing access to the internet
and the world wide web–present plenty of temptation, and most of us are
used to being plugged in and connected all the time, but you can and
will concentrate better, learn more, and contribute more and better if
you set these devices aside and put them away while we are working
together in class, unless you are using these devices as part of work
on class activities or projects. If I can do so, you can too.
4.) IT IS VERY IMPORTANT IN THIS CLASS THAT
YOU COME TO CLASS HAVING DONE THE READING REQUIRED OF YOU PRIOR TO
CLASS. The quality of your own learning, and that of the rest of
your classmates depends upon you taking this seriously and carrying it
out conscientiously.
Initial Short Analytical Paper
To give you an early chance to work with concepts
for listening to and analyzing (popular) music, you will analyze a
single recording of a single performance of a single Joy Division song
from Heart and Soul,
describing as precisely as you can what you hear over the course of the
song and offering an interpretation of what it might mean. I will
encourage you to situate the song in whatever contexts make sense to
you in seeking to interpret it, while making use of concepts from
readings by Daniel J. Levitin, David Machin, and Keith Negus. I
will also encourage you to seek creative ways to describe sounds, as
well as sequences and combinations of sounds, you hear, drawing upon
your strengths as English majors or minors, who may or may not
otherwise know anything about music theory. This early paper
will, in addition, give me the chance to give you some initial
feedback, including on how you are doing grade-wise. I will give
you a more precise explanation of what I would like you to do with the
specific assignment itself, but you should note well that I will ask
you to reflect on the music beyond the lyrics with this assignment, and
to do so as you are best able. This is not meant as a
particularly difficult assignment, by any means, and I hope that you
will find it enjoyable as well as otherwise rewarding to pursue. Your
grade on this initial short paper will be worth 10% of the
overall course grade. And although I will not mandate a
page or word target or limit, as a very rough guide you may think of
this as an approximately 6-8 double-space page (or an approximately
1500 to 2000 word) average-length paper.
Reading/Listening/Viewing
Interpretation and Reflection Papers
Each of these two papers will offer you an
opportunity to engage with ideas we have just been working with, from
readings, from listening to music, and from viewing films and video
clips. Paper one will ask you to engage with ideas from the
movies Control and Joy Division as well as from
readings in Torn Apart and Joy Division Piece by Piece Writing About
Joy Division 1977-2007 (among other sources). Paper two
will ask you to engage with ideas from Readings in Social Theory.
I will ask you questions that will require you to draw directly upon
(including directly cite) and to directly grapple with positions,
concepts, and arguments articulated in readings, listenings, and
viewings. The more precisely and effectively you are able to do
so, the better you will do on these papers. I will provide you specific
directions in the assignments I give you for each of these
papers. I estimate, as a rough average, you should aim here for
approximately 8 to 10 double-spaced typed pages (or approximately 2000
to 2500 words) in length for each reading/listening/viewing
interpretation and reflection paper. The grade in response
to these papers will be worth 12.5% of the overall course grade in each
case, for a combined total worth 25% of the overall course grade.
Participation and Contribution
As a discussion-intensive class, this one depends on
your participation. By raising questions, testing and trying out
ideas, taking risks and making mistakes, you learn a great deal–and
help others learn a great deal as well. You learn through talking, not
just talk to show what you have learned. At the same time,
however, talking which pulls us off on far-fetched tangents, which
remains disconnected from and disengaged with the reading and the rest
of the class, or which effectively silences others, is negative
participation. In other words, quality participation is key,
although a certain quantity is definitely necessary in order to enable
quality. Quality class participation does not, however, involve merely
asking questions of me and responding to my questions; quality class
participation requires you to work to advance a serious discussion with
your peers about the texts we are addressing, and about the issues
these texts raise for our consideration. And please, as this is a
400 level senior seminar, even if you are shy about speaking in front
of a whole class–and I can understand, sympathize, and respect reasons
why this might be–try to do your best to talk, even as part of the
whole class, now and then; start slowly and work your way up.
Keep in mind that what you have to say matters, and that everyone
struggles to articulate ideas in conversation about serious and
substantial topics as precisely as we might ideally like, but we all do
in fact gain a great deal from taking a stab at it, and speaking forth
even when we are confused and unclear. We can help each other in
all the more precisely formulating what we each aim to say; all you
need to do is give us something, in discussion, to work with, to build
upon, develop, and refine. If you do so, that’s a highly positive
contribution. You will receive two participation and contribution
grades, each corresponding roughly to one-half of the semester, with each worth 12.5% of the overall course
grade, for a combined total worth 25% of the
overall course grade.
In evaluating participation and contribution I will
take into account the following factors: quality and consistency of
engagement in class with the texts and topics we are focusing on;
quality and consistency of constructive and respectful engagement with
positions represented by the texts and topics we are addressing, by me,
and by your fellow classmates; quality and consistency of preparation
for class and for assignments, activities, and projects; quality and
consistency of contribution toward your own learning and that of others
(outside as well as inside of class); quality and consistency of class
attendance, including avoiding becoming repeatedly distracted or
distracting; and quality and consistency of your demonstration in your
papers and in your final project that you are engaging seriously and
thoughtfully with what we are doing together as a class.
Final Project
Each student will present her or his work
researching and critically analyzing an important issue or set of
issues raised in a specific (historical and cultural) context within
which it makes ready sense to situate ‘Ian Curtis and Joy
Division’. In other words you will draw connections between ‘Ian
Curtis and Joy Division’ and the issue, or issues, you choose to focus
on, using the former to illuminate the latter and vice-versa. The
following are contexts in which students can focus their final
projects: 1.) Ian Curtis’ interest in, as well as Joy Division’s
lyrical and musical resonance with, dark romantic, (post)modernist, and
avant-garde literature and art, especially dystopian, and especially
with pronounced iconoclastic, miserablist, and/or shock elements; 2.)
The turbulent economics and politics of 1970s England and Britain,
including the resonance of this turbulence within English and British
popular culture, and including the wide array of specific social
conflicts connected with and feeding into this turbulence; 3.)
Transformations in the English and British workplace economy (and of
the English and British working class) from the mid-1960s through the
advent of Thatcherism at the end of the 1970s and into the early 1980s,
including a decline of traditional industries, traditional union
strength, and the post-WWII social democratic consensus combined with a
rise of the service sector, neo-liberalism, and a new emphasis on
individualism and entrepreneurialism, 4.) Key developments, and key
evolutionary trends, in English, and British, popular, youth, and
consumer cultures, since the late 1950s through the early 1980s; 5.)
From pre-punk to punk to post-punk (music and culture) in England and
Britain, especially in Greater Manchester; 6.) The challenges of
becoming part of a popular rock band, and the pressures, temptations,
excesses, and disorientations entailed, including dealing with media,
publicity, and critical as well as popular attention and acclaim–at the
time Joy Division was a band (1977-1980) and both before and since; 7.)
Manchester and Greater Manchester history and culture; 8.)
Epilepsy, depression, and other, related forms of mental and physical
illness; 9.) Ian Curtis’ pronounced interest in death, oblivion,
destruction, isolation, loneliness, emptiness, nothingness, suicide,
and so on; 10.) Changing and complicated kinds of gender and
sexual identities and relations, especially for working class and lower
middle class males from Northern England, growing up in the 1960s and
the 1970s; 11.) Changing conceptions of English, and of British,
national identity, proliferation of contesting forms of ‘being’ English
and British, and post-imperial relations between race and nation in
England and Britain; 12.) From Joy Division to New Order; 13.) Ian
Curtis’ and Joy Division’s influence and impact upon subsequent
musicians and subsequent musical scenes and styles; 14.) The legacy
of–as well as the developing and enduring mystique surrounding–Joy
Division, and Ian Curtis in particular; 15.) Resonances of Ian
Curtis’ and Joy Division’s music with matters of economic, political,
social, or cultural import today–and tomorrow.
No more than three students may work on a final
project in any one of the preceding fifteen contexts I have just
identified, but these are all sufficiently broadly articulated so that
each one allows you plenty of room to explore many possible kinds of
narrowly specific interests. Of course, for your final project,
you will not attempt to ‘cover’ any one of these broad contexts; not by
any means (that would be absolutely impossible in the time we have
together). You need instead to find a narrowly specific issue, or
set of closely related, narrowly specific issues, which fit within one
of these fifteen contexts, and work on that as the focus of your final
project. I will help you narrow to reach an appropriate
focus. Students will determine the focus of their final projects
in consultation with me; you will need to gain my approval for your
focus. And we will start on this process–of finding a
provisional, working focus, for everyone–early in the semester.
Students will present work on final projects, in
process, through a series of stages in the last four weeks of classes,
allowing for useful feedback and constructive criticism from me and the
rest of the class. In short, we will all work together to help
each other make these the best they can be. You are welcome to
incorporate audio, visual, audio-visual, and/or performative components
into this work as you are able and interested–and as you think would
help make it all the more effective and compelling–although, no matter
what you do, each final project should include a significant, formal,
written component.
I will expect, as you develop your final project,
that you will make use of readings for class and discussions in class,
as well as films screened in class and music listened to in and for
class. What you ultimately focus on may well, in fact, be prompted by
these readings, discussions, screenings, and listenings.
You certainly can change your focus multiple times
over the course of working on your final project; in fact I expect you
will do so. Don’t worry about that; welcome it as a useful stage
in the process. I will be happy to work with you throughout the
process of working on this project, outside as well as inside of class,
and in fact I encourage you to seek my assistance as you proceed,
including multiple times.
I will provide further information, instructions,
suggestions, and recommendations concerning the final project as the
semester proceeds. Your grade on the final project will be worth 40% of the
overall course grade. Yet once more, although I will not
mandate a page or word target or limit, as a very rough guide you may
think of this as an approximately 15-18 page double-space (or 3750 to
4500 word) average-length paper. You will turn in the final
version of your final project during final exams week.
I will take into account not only the quality of
what you achieve with this final version but also how well you have
worked on your project, including to develop and improve it, especially
in response to feedback, suggestions, recommendations, and constructive
criticism from me and your classmates, in determining your grade for
your final project.
General Formatting Requirement: Papers
All papers should be typed, double-space, on
standard white letter-sized (8" X 11") typewriter, computer printer, or
photographic paper. You may use any standard font you wish but
your print size must remain between 10 and 12 points. Pages
should be numbered, and your name should be at the top of the first
page. The pages of your paper must be stapled together and you
are responsible for doing so; I do not bring staplers to class.
You are also responsible for proofreading your paper before you turn it
in; if you catch any typographical errors, you should neatly cross
these out and write your corrections on top of these with a pen.
I will expect you, furthermore, to observe the rules and conventions of
Standard Written English to the best of your ability in writing these
papers, including MLA format for citation and documentation of sources
outside of those read for–and discussed in–class.
Late Papers
Late papers will lose credit unless you have made
arrangements ahead of the time with me to turn in these papers late due
to a serious personal or family problem. Alternately, if you
provide a reasonable explanation why you are late shortly after the
paper is due, you won’t suffer any grade penalty. It is best to
talk with me directly about this, and to make sure to do so within a
week’s time of the due date at the absolute latest. I do
understand that at times real problems come up for all of us, no matter
what we might intend or prefer.
Plagiarism and Academic Honesty
Plagiarism, cheating, and other forms of academic
dishonesty are serious offenses. They not only undermine the goal
of learning but also are exploitative of the work of others.
Deliberate dishonesty in written work as part of this course will
result in a failing grade. In addition, plagiarism may result in
further disciplinary action on the part of the University
administration, ultimately including expulsion from the
University. Also, if you directly echo someone else’s thoughts as
articulated in the course of class discussion you should add the last
name, followed by the letters CD (for class discussion), followed by
the date, in a parenthetical citation right after the end of the
sentence, viz: (Nowlan, CD, 9/26/11).
CONFERENCES/EXTRA
HELP
I encourage you to meet with me in conference during
office hours or at another mutually convenient time to discuss any
issue of interest or concern related to what we are doing in this
course. Learning that takes place in conferences can be equally
as important, and at times even more important, than what takes place
in class. Please do not hesitate to meet with me during office
hours or to ask for an appointment at any time you think this might be
helpful; making myself available for conferences with you outside of
class is part of my responsibility as your teacher. Moreover, I
always sincerely do welcome getting to know and work with my students
outside as well as inside of class. I am ready to do whatever I
can to help you in your understanding of issues addressed in
discussions, readings, listenings, and screenings, as well as to help
you in your writing for and participation in this class. I want
to make sure that I do all that I can to help you succeed in this class
and I want to help you, as far as I can, to gain as much out of it as
possible through your participation in and work for it. You may also
feel free to write me via e-mail, and to call me–or leave a message for
me on the answering machine–at my office. Keep in mind “my office
hours” are for you, so please
do not worry about “disturbing” me in coming to talk with me; these are
times I have set aside to work with
students; that is their purpose. I am only designating a
total of two regular hours
for this purpose this semester because I don’t want to waste a lot of
time holding regular office
hours if students are not taking advantage of these specific
hours. At the same time, however, not scheduling that many regular office hours means I can be
more flexible in arranging to meet with you at other times–which I will
gladly do. But you need to let me know that you would like to
meet with me, and not assume that this is a big deal of any kind; I
think it’s great when students want to meet, talk, and work on matters
related to a class I am teaching. I am pleased whenever you do
so.
I will request that each student meet with me in
conference to discuss and plan work toward her or his final project–at
least once, although I strongly recommend meeting with me multiple
times. In the past, students have found it most helpful, and
reassuring, doing so for 400 level seminar final projects in classes
I’ve taught focused on topics in music and culture. I want you
all to succeed, and I want to work with you to make this happen.
* Any student who
has a disability and is in need of classroom accommodations, please
contact both the instructor and the Services for Students with
Disabilities Office, Old Library 2136; for more information on the
services the latter office provides you, check out their webpage: http://www.uwec.edu/ssd/index.htm
*
CONCLUSION
In the interest of accountability–me to you–I am
here providing you a weblink to: 1) my autobiographical profile: http://www.uwec.edu/ranowlan/PROFILE_.htm.
You are also welcome
to look me up 2.) on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1755562371
[If you are
interested in becoming facebook friends, feel free to contact me about
that]. I encourage you to check these sites out; it is useful for
you to know who your teacher is, what he’s about, and where he’s coming
from–and I like to be open, honest, and forthright with you about all
of that. I look forward to a great semester working together with
you!