For Tuesday: Superman: American Alien, “Parrot” & “Owl” & The Two Mini-Comics In-Between

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: “Parrot” seems to allude to the fact that parrots can imitate human speech and ‘pretend’ to be something they’re not. While Clark Kent is literally pretending to be Bruce Wayne (Batman) in this comic, what other identities is he “parroting”? What does his one-night fling with Minerva teach him about finding his “true” self (or does he)?

Q2: The style of these two chapters is dramatically different from one another and from the pervious comics, as “Parrot” is bright and humorous, while Owl is angular, fuzzy, and tense. Why might Superman in particular be so adaptable to all these different stories and approaches? It might be harder, for example, to tell a Batman or Wonder Woman story this way.

Q3: In “Owl,” Clark Kent meets Superman’s arch-rival, Lex Luthor, and has a one-on-one interview with him (though of course Luthor doesn’t know who he really is). During this interview, Luthor tells him “People aren’t important. Not as a whole...That’s why you see people throughout history rising above the masses. Those are the changers. Those are the doers. You are not important. You’re not. I am.” How are we supposed to read this speech? Is it true? Is he helping Clark to understand/embrace his own identity? Could these words ever be expressed by a superhero? Or are they fundamentally a sociopath’s point of view?

Q4: In the short comic after “Parrot,” which is entitled “The Real Question,” the alien known as Mxyzpltlk breaks down the “fourth wall” and talks directly to the reader. Why are comics able to do this more effectively than a traditional novel? And what does he mean by the sentence, “We are gods. You are just puppets”?

Conference Sign Up Sheet (for next week!)

Below is the sign-up sheet for conferences next week, which is ALL we are doing next week. In the conference, I will not only give you back your paper, but will also give you the reading/questions for Superman: American Alien for NEXT Tuesday. If you haven't signed up for a conference, please let me know which of the open slots you can attend, or let me know another time you can come. 

CONFERENCE SIGN-UP SHEET FOR NEXT WEEK

TUESDAY

9:00 Jacob

9:10 David

9:20 Ramsey

9:30 Destiny

9:40 Kaitlyn

9:50 Lauren

10:00 Yareli

10:10 Julie

10:20 Prizma

10:30 Aubrey

10:40 Bethany

THURSDAY

9:00 Seth

9:10

9:20 Sujal

9:30 Abishek

9:40 Karsen

9:50

10:00 Nova

10:10

10:20

10:30

10:40 Cindy

For Thursday: Superman: American Alien, “Dove” and “Hawk”

 

,

NOTE: Read the first two stories/chapters of the book, "Dove" and "Hawk" for Wednesday's class. If you're confused about where to stop, you can stop reading where you see the full page of Clark on a boat with a with a bunch of women and champagne glasses.

Answer TWO of the following

Q1: Discuss how the art in one of the chapters helps to tell the story, and is also appropriate for that story. Why would this story be much different if we switched illustrations with the other story? Discuss at least one specific panel or page in your response.

Q2: What does Clark mean in “Dove” when he tells his father, “When you break something, you’re not just breaking the thing, you’re like...hurting everyone who made it the way it was”? Why might this also say something about Clark’s relationship to his powers and his mysterious identity as an “alien”?

Q3: Most modern heroes, and especially super heroes, tend to be more “gray” than “white,” and less “super” than “suspect.” How does “Hawk” discuss the thin line between being a hero and a villain for Clark? According to this story, what makes him a hero rather than a “monster”?

Q4: In-between the two chapters, there is a two-page illustration called “The Castaways.” How does it connect the two stories without “telling” us outright? Why can single picture do this even more powerfully than a paragraph or an entire story? 

Citing Sources Handout & Revised Calendar

 Class: If you missed class on Thursday, or just blocked all of last week out, here is the handout we went over in class about citing sources in your paper. Also, the revised course calendar for the next few weeks follows, which has us starting Superman: American Alien on Thursday, so be sure to buy the book from the bookstore if you haven't already (or get a digital copy on-line)! 

CITING SOURCES FOR PAPER #1

In Weinsten’s science-fiction story, “Openness,” the characters live in a world where everyone is surrounded by layers of information, which allow people to interact with people virtually, without speech or normal contact. One of the main characters, Katie, teaches senior citizens to use this new technology. However, as the story explains, “Her main challenge, she said, was getting older folks to understand the value of their layers. “Every class they ask me why we can’t just talk instead,” she shared as we lay in bed. Though Katie and I occasionally spoke, it was always accompanied by layers” (Beliot). This is interesting because…

INTRODUCE quotations/sources before you quote them. Give us context for the quote: who said it and where. Also set up the source—don’t assume we all know it. QUOTE AND CITE PROPERLY: use the page number from the handout OR the website title.  RESPOND TO THE QUOTE: Be sure to explain why you quoted this passage and/or what you think it adds to the conversation.

WORKS CITED PAGE: List all your sources in alphabetical order (only one for this paper, but others will have multiple sources)

Weinstein, Alexander. “Openness.” Beloit Fiction Journal. 28 Nov. 2019. https://www.beloit.edu/live/news/1024-openness

 

REVISED COURSE CALENDAR FOR NEXT WEEK-FALL BREAK

T 16                      Intro: Superman & Comics/ Paper #1 due

R 18                      Superman: American Alien, “Dove,” “Hawk”

 

T 23                      Paper #1 Conferences

R 25                      Paper #1 Conferences

 

T 30                      Superman: American Alien, “Parrot” & “Owl”

 

OCTOBER

R 2                        Writing Workshop #5

 

T 7                         Superman: American Alien, “Eagle,” “Angel” & “Valkyrie”

 

R 9                        FALL BREAK

 

Paper #1 assignment: Welcome From the Future!

NOTE: The questions and reading for Tuesday's class are in the post BELOW this one. 

English 1213

Paper #1: Welcome From the Future!

GUIDING QUOTE: “She taught senior citizens how to successfully navigate their layers. She’s helped a retired doctor upload images of his grandchildren so strangers could congratulate him, and assisted a ninety-three-year-old widow in sharing her mourning with the world. Her main challenge, she said, was getting older folks to understand the value of their layers. “Every class they ask me why we can’t just talk instead.” (Weinstein, “Openness”)

PROMPT: Since we’re now in the “future,” even though it looks like the present to us, it’s a good time to ask the question: do you think people are generally happier, more adapted, more prepared, or simply more satisfied with their lives than they were 25 years ago (circa 2000)? Have advances in technology, communication, travel, entertainment, and education put us on the road to a better, brighter tomorrow? Would ECU students of 2000 be envious of the Class of 2029’s reality?

Answer this question by looking at 1-2 things you have today that ECU students didn’t have in the year 2000 (or not in the same way as we do today). Have these things increased our happiness, our understanding (of society, of each other), and/or our education? Can we do without them today? Should we? Imagine you’re talking to someone from the year 2000 who doesn’t have or use these things, and try to explain why they’re important to you, and what they do for you on a daily basis. Can you justify these changes, or do you feel you need to apologize for them? Would you get rid of them…or would you be excited to share them with the Class of 2004? You might also think about whether college is easier or harder today thanks to our ‘future’ advances?

REQUIREMENTS:

• Answer the prompt with examples from 1-2 modern ‘marvels’
• Don’t talk generally—make this a personal essay. Talk about how you use and experience these innovations.
• Write to a student from the year 2000. Imagine what they didn’t have and might not know about our ‘future.’ Try to explain the normal things that are not normal to them.
• Quote from at least ONE of the essays/stories in class to help support your ideas/discussion. We’ll talk about how to incorporate quotations into your paper.
• DUE Tuesday, September 16^th by 5pm 

For Tuesday: Bailey, "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" (story)

LINK TO STORY: https://www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/i-was-a-teenage-werewolf/

Answer TWO of the following:

NOTE: Q1 and Q2 below is different than the one I gave you in class, since it refers to a story we didn't end up reading. I apologize for this oversight! The new Q1 now makes a lot more sense, and I tried to make Q2 more clarified as well. 

Q1: What does the Narrator meant when they write, "It was a pleasure to be afraid" (290)? How does fear "unite" the community, and why do they take a certain comfort in knowing that something evil is "out there," hunting them, watching them at every minute? Related to this, what might this say about our own love of horror movies and True Crime shows and podcasts? 

Q2: Why is the story called "I Was a Teenager Werewolf," when the narrator isn't a first-person narrator? Is there a reason we never learn the Narrator's name or even gender? And why might the title include "Was" instead of "Is"? Could that also be significant? 

Q3: The narrator claims that the anonymity of the werewolf gave them a certain power in their community. As he/she explains, “if we were both sovereign and slave to our terror, our teachers and parents were slaves alone. As long as no one knew who the teenage werewolf was, it could be any one of us” (296). Why does this give them power over their teachers and parents? How does this bond the teenagers together as a group?

Q4: The ending of the this story is surprising and a bit shocking: why do you think Bailey ends the story with all the adults being eaten/murdered? Is the point of the story to say “teenagers are evil and can’t be trusted”? Or does he have another intention? Why make every teenager a werewolf and every adult a victim?