Creative Nonfiction
Crafting the Essay
Crafting the Essay is a writing course that teaches the fundamentals of writing a basic essay. Sounds boring, right? Nope... It's definitely FAR from boring. Unlike how you're taught to write in school, this course focuses on personal essays that can be humorous such as David Sedaris's stuff. Almost everthing you think is questioned and you're constantly learning something new and being forced to think about your writing in a new light. This is known as a "pre-requisite" for Lit and the Arts// Pop-Culture, which you have to take for the light at the end of the tunnel, FICTION. Fortunately, it's not too bad. You do lots of reading and author analysis, but if you have a talented teacher (i.e Eric Song, SAR 2006, Tim Ross, CAR 2006, Ross Markonish, LAN 2003-2006, Angela Balcita, JHU 2006) the class can be a great way to start off the summer.
CtE at JHU 06.1
Wendeth:
Crafting the Essay really surprised me. I went into the class thinking that it would be about five paragraph themes and thesis papers. We studied four different essays: Memoir, Personal Essay, Place Essay, and Lyric Essay. Angela (Big Momma) all had us create pen names which ended up pretty funny. There were a lot of different hand-outs, from really boring essays by deMontaigne, to medical memoirs. Angela was really supportive of everybody. This class really changed my viewpoint on writing, and now I really can't stop. Everybody says JHU is strict, and it kind of is, but if you're looking at a writing course and Crafting the Essay is one of them, I'd recommend JHU, just for the experience.
Rachel: This was my first year here, and I didn't know what classes to take- science, math, writing, and so on. But my dad suggested "Crafting the Essay" because later on in your life (if you haven't already), you must take the SAT, which asks you to write an essay. So I took the course. I, as others had thought, felt that it was going to be really and truly boring, with the instuctors blaring out facts after facts for two hours. Well, it was the complete opposite. Dona, our instuctor, had our class do some really cool things, and the information was presented in a interesting and interactive way. One day, we picked an object (teddy bear, magnifying glass, metallic spring, paper clip) and according to what we picked, we got set into groups and made a chart with markers and drew pictures. Then we got to present them- which was fun! Our Crafting the Essay also got picked to taped by CNN- an experience of a lifetime! (And as a bonus, we had absolutely NO homework! :) )We had to write essays, but it was A LOT of fun, because we got to talk, share our ideas, and have a lot of fun during the whole thing...we even got a copy of everyone's essays in the end! That was really nice, because now I look back and look at what everyone wrote. Anyways- I HIGHLY reccommend Crafting the Essay- It'a an awesome course that everyone should take! ==
