Welcome to ENGW 1302: Rhetoric and Composition II (Honors). This website will function as the online headquarters for our class this semester. Each week, I will post an update to the website with details about coming week, deadline reminders, links to helpful resources, etc… I plan to use SEU’s Blackboard site to record your grades, but otherwise, everything related to this course will be posted here. If you ever wonder what’s due on a particular date, or what you need to read before you come to class, you can check this website for the answer. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, you can email me or stop by my office (211 Premont Hall) during my office hours (M/W 1:00–3:00, F 8:00–10:00).
A bit about me: I started at St. Edward’s in the fall, and I love it here. Before I moved to Austin, I was a doctoral student at Iowa State University, where I taught classes in the English Department and worked as the instructional technology coordinator for ISU’s communication-across-the-curriculum program. I study the relationship between rhetoric and technology, and I love experimenting with new technologies in the classroom and in my personal life. I’m married to a brilliant freelance writer and we have two daughters. During the holiday break, I drove 3,200 miles (it’s a long story), so I’m happy to be back on campus and starting a new semester.
I am excited to get to you know all of you and work with you this semester as we explore the principles of rhetoric and composition through the lens of documentary studies. We’re going to get started on our first assignment on Friday, so before you come to class, please print out and read “Doing Documentary Work,” by Robert Coles (linked on the Readings page). In addition, please review the policy document and the rest of the class website and come to class ready to ask any questions you might have.
Finally, a quick note about this website. Throughout the semester, I’ll be asking you to respond to posts on this website. To help you get comfortable with that process, please add a comment to this post. In your comment, tell me a little bit about yourself and then answer these questions: (1) What is your favorite documentary film? (2) Why? Before you post, a couple of warnings: (1) Your classmates will see what you write, so don’t include anything intended just for me. (2) This website is public, so we will stick to using first names only. Also, the software that powers this site screens comments from new commenters, so please be sure to use the same email address every time you respond to a post.
I’m Monica, and I am an environmental science and policy major. I haven’t seen too many documentaries, but my favorite is “Planet Earth”. This is mainly because I love animals and their interactions with each other. I think “Planet Earth” has a really sweet way of showing this, and I love to see all the natural beauty of the world, which the documentary also shows.
Hi, my name is Todd Seabrook. I am from Memphis, TN and I am a computer science major. My favorite documentary is Frontline: digital_nation because it looks at our lives in the digital world and the effects that it has on us as individuals and on society itself. This is a very important documentary to me because I am dealing with technology everyday and hope to one day have a career in developing new technologies.
I’m a graphic design major, and I usually hate documentaries. But the Vanguard group on Current TV really fascinates me because I think it’s the closest thing to real journalism that most people experience anymore. My favorite thing that they’ve done is Fully Automatic America – it’s a look into really gun-centered areas of the United States, and the people that live there. It triggered (a ha ha) some of the same thoughts I had while watching the film we saw today in class.
I’m majoring in Secondary English Education. For anyone that does not know what that means (I’m often asked to explain what exactly that will enable me to do), I’m working on becoming a certified English teacher from middle to high school. Personally, I’d prefer to teach the latter of the two. As for my favorite documentary, it would have to be, without a doubt, A Touch of Greatness, which is about one man’s life as a teacher, and his impact on his students. It is amazing how Albert Cullum’s same basic techniques worked year after year, no matter the age of his students. Those who are aspiring to become teachers, or even those who have been teaching for some time now, can learn a lot from Cullum as far as engaging and connecting with their students go. Every time I even hear or see the the title “A Touch of Greatness”, I get giddy and excited about eventually becoming a teacher.
I’m from New Mexico and I’m an English lit major, but I’m also pre-med. So I guess that will eventually make me a Bio minor as well. My favorite documentary that I can think of at the moment is called Smile Pinki, which follows a young girl who has facial deformities, specifically, cleft lip. I really love this documentary because it really illustrates a lot of what the community service organization that I work for does and I love the inspiring story.
Hello, I’m Rebeca Murguia, from El Paso, Texas, and I am majoring in International Business. My favorite documentary is Louie Psihoyos’s, The Cove. The documentary primarily unveils the slaughtering of dolphins and whales in Taijii, Japan in order for local communities to sell the meat and because they consider dolphins as “pests”. It goes into depth as to why this is harming the community in various ways and their efforts to stop the massacre. Although it is a very graphic documentary due to the videos of the killings of dolphins, it is a documentary that everyone should watch at least once because many people across the world are unaware of the issue.
I’m from Houston and I haven’t decided on a major. I play on the St. Ed’s soccer team. My favorite documentary is Hubble 3D which has recently been released and delves into life on board the international space station and the makeup of the universe. There is a lot of really great footage of shuttle launches and the third dimension brings to light the quality of the images from the Hubble space telescope.
Hello, my name is Rossi Civello and I am from Dallas, Texas. I am a Psychology major and I plan on minoring in either Art or Creative Writing. I love to draw/paint, but I also love to write poetry and short stories. Determining which area I choose to minor in is going to be a tough one, but hopefully I can somehow do both. My favorite documentary film is Born Into Brothels directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman. In this film, a group of children who live in the Brothels are given a camera and are asked to take pictures of their everyday lives. This is by far my favorite documentary film because it not only gives an insight of the children’s harsh lives in the brothels, but you get to experience the growth of the children’s photography as they mature into artistic and talented photographer’s.
My name is Brittany and I am from Kingwood, Texas. I’m majoring in English Writing/Rhetoric and my favorite documentary is “Beneath the Veil.” It is a an award-winning documentary that follows the story of an Islamic woman and her unjust death by the Taliban. I really like how this documentary presents its information and the atrocities that are taking place over in the Middle-East.
Hey Dr. Warnick,
My favorite documentary is called “The Great Match”. Its all about these three different ethnic groups and how they planned to watching the 2002 FIFA World Cup final. Each of these groups lives in the extremely remote places, the first in middle of the Amazon rainforest, the second in the Sahara Desert, and the final group lives in the Mongolian Plans. Hope you end up watching it.
Kelsey
Hi, I’m Lily. I haven’t declared a major yet. I love to write. I’m a vegan. I’m thinking about going to school for acupuncture after I get my B.A. (in something!) from St. Ed’s. I work (way too much) at the Nordstrom coffee bar at Barton Creek Mall. I’m a bit terrified about this class, to be honest. I have no documentary experience and am more than a little apprehensive about my competence–or lack thereof–in regards to cameras and film-making and whatnot. I’ve done a lot of theatre. My favorite documentary is called “O.T.: Our Town.” It’s about a poor school in Compton that puts on a play for the first time in twenty years. It’s a really cool story.
Hey everyone my name is Preston Hall and I’m majoring in graphic design. I would love to become an art director for advertisements in the future. Probably one of my favorite documentaries is The September Issue. It’s a documentary that focuses on the making of the september issue of vogue. I have a strong passion for fashion and the documentary exposes a world I hope to be a part of some day.