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The Worlds of Ntozake ShangeAND DIGITAL STORYTELLING

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AFEN3816: What to expect

by Kim Hall 0 Comments

Dear all, people had questions about the Spring course, so I wanted to say that its a bit of a work in progress. The last time I taught it we were working both with the International Center for Photography and The Schomburg Center.  This will be a quieter experience, but here’s what to expect: We hopefully will combine further investigations of Ntozake’s work with some collaborative work and your own creation of some sort of digital project.  Here’s what that looks like, pending further conversations with the Digital Humanities Center.

–the themes will be collaboration, improvisation, and archiving. Most of the works  (Shange’s and other peoples) we examine will be self-conscious about those qualities  (I don’t know if you can read it, but I have put in a screenshot of works we might be reading, Spell #7 is not on that list, but will probably be there).

–I expect that within the first month of classes you will have conceived of a digitally based project that you will work on throughout the semester.

— I hope we will work together on one project, which right now is looking like a published Zotero biblography on Shange & her impact.

–I hoping that we will have a workshop on choreographing a poem with +SLMDance company.

 

Proposed Book list for 2019

 

Scalar, Part 2_ & for colored girls

by Kim Hall 0 Comments

Cast of 2019 production of for colored girls . . .at The Public

Hello all,  Taylor showed us some wonderful ways to use Scalar, both in itself and along with other digital tools.  Those who attended probably realized that you forget how to use tools if you don’t use the regularly! In that spirit, I encourage/invite those of you with blogposts left to do at least one of them on Scalar, try tagging and using the widgets.  Although I realize that these will be experimental, if you are trying to be particularly bodacious, please feel free to put “this is an experiment” at the top.

One useful tip from Taylor: Think about combining analogue and digital content– perhaps use your own drawings, paintings or collages with annotations and other media.

Taylor shared her outline and the links from the session with us. You can find it here.  I put at the bottom of that outline a spreadsheet for you to let us know what you are thinking about doing for your final project and a way to contact each other so that you might  go to the DHC together or figure out problems.  If you have problem accessing the spreadsheet, you can do it here.

Blog Prompt (not required): Shange for the People!

by Kim Hall 0 Comments

Cover to June Jordan & her students’ collection

Some of the Barnard staff involved with the #ShangeMagic project have asked how they can be part of discussions of Shange’s works given that they don’t have access to the classes, etc. and have limited time during the day.  I’m hoping to compile a selection of some of Shange’s works for them to have (hopefully we will discuss them over a lunch during the spring). For copyright reasons, I don’t want to call it a Shange “reader,” but maybe it will be a  “Shange mixtape” in photocopies.

Next class-Archive visit/ blog audit_ UPDATE

by Kim Hall 0 Comments

Hello all,

On Thursday,  the class is meeting with Martha and Vani in the archives. To prepare, I would like you to do the following:

If you haven’t read (or didn’t absorb) the Cassius Adair/Lisa Nakamura essay, “The Digital Afterlives of This Bridge Called My Back: Woman of Color Feminism, Digital Labor, and Networked Pedagogy,” please read that carefully.

Read the Shange Collection Finding Aid (click on the link in the upper right) and request one item from the archives by noon on WEDNESDAY. (If you are eager, you can request up to 3).

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

–The “before 9am” for this week’s blogpost  is lifted, you can do an open post on any reading from the semester– or do your archive find.

–Speaking of archives, Professor Kimberly Springer’s Black Feminism Archives: An archive of 1970s black feminist organizing, is open for perusal and has lots of great materials for an archive find!

–I won’t have office hours this week, but PLEASE sign up for a quick appointment with me next week to discuss your final project. (The yellow slots on this spreadsheet are for my other class.)

— RE THE BLOG AUDIT:

Post-Zake visit (UPDATE)

by Kim Hall 0 Comments

Zakettes!

What a beautiful group!

I want to thank you all for bringing such wonderful energy and insightful questions to the events this week.  I was regretting that we really hadn’t had time to bond before Zake’s visit, but now we’ve had, I think, a transformative experience.  Re the blog: This is a “free” week. Which is to say, I’m not requiring one,  but you will want to write one 1). If you joined the class late  2).  to give yourself some wiggle room if you need to miss one later

Please choose a class presentation date!

by Kim Hall 0 Comments

I need you to fill out two polls, hopefully by Thursday at noon. 

1). Class presentation (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.:  This poll will help me schedule the class presentations. I need you to rank FIVE DIFFERENT options. I will take options off the poll as dates fill up, so it is in your interests to fill it out early. There will be 2-3 presentations per session. You can find the presentation instructions here.  The poll is also here (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..

Philosophical Underpinnings–from movement to breath?

by Kim Hall 0 Comments

Ntozake and Savannah Shange (PBS screenshot)

i can’t count the number of times i have viscerally wanted to attack deform n maim the language that i waz taught to hate myself in/ the language that perpetuates the notions that cause pain to every black child as he/she learns to speak of the world  & the “self”  (LLS 19).

in everything I have ever written & everything I hope to write/ i have made use of what Frantz Fanon called “combat breath” (LLS 19).

 In the interstices of language lie powerful secrets of the culture.
—Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born 

. . . a woman who can believe in herself, who is a fighter, and who continues to struggle to create a livable space around her, is demonstrating to her daughter that these possibilities exist

—Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born (247)

I wanted to tell you a bit about why we are reading Fanon and Rich today. (The readings are now linked to the appropriate week on the syllabus–and we will have presentations from Elizabeth and Anna Bella!)  Shange reads so widely that we could spend an entire semester reading her identified influences from Ngugi wa T’iongo and Edouard Glissant to  Judy Grahn and Jessica Hagedorn.  Fanon’s influence as you will see below, is pretty obvious in Shange’s thoughts about breath and

LAST CLASS!

by Kim Hall 0 Comments
BarnardTeaches_ClassPhoto-6

What a gorgeous bunch!

Our last class will be a working class in the Digital Classroom at Barnard. After discussing Yemi’s post, we will be making some final design decisions, uploading individual projects and hopefully reading some poetry out loud. Please remember that some of the design elements are due in time for class (see below). Also Sarah will return the cameras to ICP for us.

 

To prepare for class, please do the following

April 25: Class schedule

by Kim Hall 0 Comments

Dear class, tomorrow after we discuss Gabby’s post, we will again be working with the new Word Press theme. Sarah will reinforce some points covered last week and go over the slideshow plugin which a significant portion of you will need.   She’s also made a “tips”post for you.

Please note the Production schedule  in the upper right corner of the blog. Brad suggests that we/you start editing and uploading photos into WordPress  even if you don’t quite have your eventual layout/flow established, so I have listed that as a task for the day in addition to our production meetings, etc.

Production Schedule

by Kim Hall 0 Comments

The production schedule  is on a page in the upper right corner of the blog. Brad suggests that we/you start editing and uploading photos into WordPress  even if you don’t quite have your eventual layout/flow established, so I have listed that as a task for the day in addition to our production meetings, etc.

As you can tell, unexpected glitches happen; I will update the production schedule as needed.