Day 1

English 101 Summer 2010 Day 1

1. What is your morning ritual?
   
   1. Why do you do things this way?
      
2. Fairbanks, Alaska.
3. Stonehenge, today.
   
   1. Traditional/"Primitive" v. Modern rituals
      
   2. What's missing from modern rituals?
      
4. What is the meaning of an experience?
   
   1. For example, First Day of Class or Summer Solstice?
      
      1. Polysemous.
         
      2. How does a culture stick together this way?
         
5. Rituals and Rites of Passage
   
   1. What is a ritual?
      
      1. Any regular activity done in a set pattern can be ritualistic.
         
         1. Other examples? Greeting friends, performance, dress, athletics, getting ready to go out, writing.
            
         2. How do rituals help?
            
   2. Why do we ritualize?--They are the glue. They bestow a common meaning on an experience.
      
      1. Tell us how to relate to and give meaning to experience.
         
      2. We all ritualize, some may not recognize it.
         
      3. Aid or guide life's transitions.
         
         1. What should a funeral do? For the family? For the friends? For the community?
            
         2. What about funerals you've attended? Were they effective or ineffective?
            
         3. What about different cultural traditions in funerals?
            
6. Rites of Passage
   
   1. Modern? 21ers/Driver's Licence/Teams/Graduations/Gangs/Religious/
      
7. Read Rituals and Rites of Passage.
   
8. Specifically, Rites of Passage
   
   1. growth of individuals and communities.
      
   2. Examples of traditional and modern rites or passage.
      
9. Review.
   
10. Photographs.
    
11. Syllabus.
    
12. For tomorrow: Create Your Own Ritual for the "First Day of Class"—it has to be "doable" at YVCC.
    
    1. Typed or Handwritten Ok. (Step Two, Three, Four on paper, Step Five on back?)
       
    2. If you need to bring props, bring props.
       

Buy To Kill a Mockingbird and A Writer's Reference.