Tuesday, January 31, 2017

WMST 621, Welcome to our class!

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WMST 621, Welcome to our class! I am looking forward to our work together this term. We have a great group of folks gathering for our course. This post repeats information I sent out on course mail last week.

Please NOTE: Our class will BEGIN on W 1 FEBRUARY. 

Why? Well, I just had thyroid surgery and there were complications: my left vocal cord is currently immobilized. This could be very temporary or not. I have started speech therapy to help everything heal up, to learn to speak, swallow, breathe in new ways.

I can still speak, but very softly and a bit breathy. You will need to listen carefully, and I will need to ask YOU to talk more! So be mentally prepared to talk in class please! Actually, I intended students to kind of run the show anyway, but now there are even more reasons for this!

I have also just acquired a voice amplifier and will be experimenting with using it. My voice gets softer and softer as time goes on and so the amplifier should be useful given the length of our class.

There are things for you to do BEFORE OUR FIRST CLASS: stuff to read and analyze yourself before we meet for the first time, and things to bring in for our first class. Please be ready to participate! 

I sent you by email two readings for our first meeting, and other instructions are here on our class website.

Bookmark our site now, and email me, Katie, at katking@umd.edu to communicate. Please become very VERY familiar with the website right away! And this means we are doing nothing on ELMS, so don't go there and don't use it to communicate with me.

Note that my previous message came to you on a courselist to be used only for my announcements to you. BE SURE YOU CHECK for messages from there several times a week and check this, our website as frequently. Assignments, weather issues, events, and more will be sent out from here and there. Please do not miss them: getting these is a requirement of the course.

Our first readings are: 


http://www.feministstudies.org/home.html  

• Lothian. 2016. "Choose not to warn." Feminist Studies 42/3: 1-14.
• King. 2016. "Microaggressions as Boundary Objects." Australian Feminist Studies 31/89: 276-282.


http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cafs20/current

Also notice for first meeting of class:

1) You will need to BRING in the art/design/making KIT you have assembled and share. We will talk about these then and compare what we think should be in them.
2) there are required websites to analyze and work with; just as important as texts
3) do listen to the Brené Brown podcast: http://www.onbeing.org/blog/courage-is-born-from-struggle-bren-brown/8601
4) Also checkout link: What Will The Theme Of Your Life Be In 2017? "A theme is a common motivational thread or pattern that runs through a life story. The three themes detailed below—communion, agency, and redemption—have all been linked to well-being." http://www.dailygood.org/story/1475/what-will-the-theme-of-your-life-be-in-2017-kira-m-newman/
5) Also checkout link: What is your Activist Superpower? From Everyday Feminism: http://everydayfeminism.com/2017/01/whats-your-activist-superpower/
6) Also checkout link: the IDEAS ON FIRE website: http://ideasonfire.net

See you soon! Katie

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