So here is what I put in my Canvas for today, the last day of classes at Northeastern University:
Week 14 Overview
To-Do Date: Apr 19 at 11:59pm
Overview
Welcome to Week 14. This semester, you learned a lot of things. Some of it I might even have taught you. Some of it your peers taught you. Some, you taught yourself. That is pretty much how life works.
Learning Objectives
What I hope you got from this class:
* We write alone, but we can’t only write alone.
* The world wants to tell you what to think, and sometimes that is a helpful shortcut, but when it isn’t helpful, you don’t have to let it.
* Writing can be hard, frustrating, and boring, but it doesn’t have to be.
* You are not always in control of your writing tasks (assignments, audiences, etc.) but you are in control of your writing process.
* Don’t write to make enemies or to change anyone’s entrenched ideas. Write to make allies.
* Write to make the world a better place. You might have to make yourself a better person first. The work is worth doing.
* Much of what you got through your education will prove useful. Reject anything that doesn’t help you repair the world.
* Who you are will always inform your writing, but you are in control of which bits to put in and which to leave out.
* We are firmly integrated in the material world, for better and for worse. We can try to make it more better and less worse.
* Thinking about the language you use, and being more intentional about choosing words and guiding metaphors, will improve your precision and persuasiveness.
* Also, ethos, pathos, logos and kairos, because those old Greek guys were hella smart.
*AND FINALLY, sometimes you just have to go into your back yard and spit.* But then put your mask back on.
*This is referencing David Huddle’s amazing essay, “Let’s Say You Wrote Badly This Morning.” 10/10. Highly recommend.
buildingapoem 