1. EWRT 1B

2. Agenda
Presentation: Green Sheet; Syllabus; Website
Lecture: Identity and social expectation
Discussion: What is Identity? When do we "pass" as
someone different from ourselves?
In-class writing: How do we express our own
identities? How much do we reveal about
ourselves? How do we decide?

3. Adding the Class
• I can only take 32 students
• If you are on the waiting list, you can stay. I won’t
hand out add codes until Wednesday of next
week, and then, only if there is room.
• As we go over the syllabus, consider whether you
will stay in the class. If you want out, please let
me know, so I can offer your seat to another
student.
• If you are not on the waiting list, it is very unlikely
you will get into the class unless we have a mass
exodus after the syllabus!

4. The Green Sheet
• What you will find here – The Class Website
• How to sign up for an
– Course Requirements
account
• Assignments and values
• How to post your
• Participation homework.
– Required Materials
– Class Policies
• Plagiarism
• Conduct and Courtesy

5. Texts and Required Materials:
PRIMARY TEXTS
Available on the Website
• Chesnutt, Charles “The Passing of Grandison”
• Far, Sui Sin, “Leaves from the Mental Portfolio of an Eurasian”
• Hughes, Langston, “Passing,” (the poem), “Passing,” (short story), and
“Who’s Passing for Who.”
• Morrison, Toni, “Recitatif”
Available at the Bookstore
• Hwang, David Henry, M Butterfly
Available through Amazon and other book sellers
• Feinberg, Leslie, Stone Butch Blues
SECONDARY TEXTS
Available on the Website
• Assorted Journal Articles

6. Requirements:
• Active participation in class discussions and
regular attendance. You will earn real points for
your participation in activities.
• Keeping up-to-date on the assignments and
reading.
• Formal writing: Three out of class essays and two
in-class essays.
• A series of writing posts to the class website:
responses and QHQs.
• Terms tests, reading quizzes, and in-class
assignments.

7. Grading

8. Class Policies
• Essay Submission:
• All out of class essays are to be submitted to me
electronically before the class period in which they are
due. They must be submitted as an attachment in
Microsoft word. No other saved forms are acceptable. If
you do not have Microsoft word software available, leave
yourself time to save and send your work from a library
computer. Essays must also be in MLA format. I will read
and return essays in the order they are received, with
comments both in the text and in the margins. To see
comments and suggestions, go to “view” and click on
“mark-up.” You may revise from this electronic document.
Remember to accept or discard comments and remarks as
appropriate.

9. • Attendance:
• Attendance is a significant part of this course, and
success in this course depends on regular attendance
and active participation. Participation points will be part
of our daily activities. If you are not in class, you cannot
earn these points. You should save absences for
emergencies, work conflicts, weddings, jury duty, or any
other issues that might arise in your life.
•
• It is your responsibility to talk to me your absences or
other conflicts. Work done in class cannot be made up. If
you must be absent, please arrange with a classmate to
get assignments and notes. Also, please arrive on time,
as you will not be able to make up work completed
before you arrive, including quizzes.

10. • Tests:
– We will have several terms tests during the quarter. I
will offer one opportunity late in the quarter to retake
(or make-up) one of the first three terms tests.
• Late Work
– I do not accept late work. I do, however, extend an
opportunity to revise either essay #2 or #3 for a better
grade. If you miss an essay due date, you may submit
that essay when the revisions are due on the last day
of the term. This does disqualify you from revising
another essay.

11. Conduct, Courtesy, and Electronic Devices:
• In this class, we will regularly engage in the discussion of
topics that may stir passionate debates. Please speak freely
and candidly; however, while your thoughts and ideas are
important to me and to the dynamics of the class, you must
also respect others and their opinions. Courtesy will allow
each person to have the opportunity to express his or her
ideas in a comfortable environment.
• Courtesy includes but is not limited to politely listening to
others when they contribute to class discussions or while they
give presentations, not slamming the classroom door or
walking in front of classmates giving presentations if you do
arrive late, and maintaining a positive learning environment
for your fellow classmates. To help maintain a positive learning
environment, please focus on the work assigned, turn off all
cell phones and iPods before class, and do not text-message in
class. If your behavior becomes disruptive to the learning
environment of the class, you may be asked to leave and/or be
marked absent.

12. • Academic Dishonesty:
Plagiarism includes quoting or paraphrasing
material without documentation and copying
from other students or professionals. Intentional
plagiarism is a grave offense; the resulting
response will be distasteful. Depending upon the
severity, instances of plagiarism may result in a
failing grade for the paper or the course and
possible administrative action. All assignments
will be scanned and scrutinized for academic
dishonesty. Please refer to your handbook for
more information regarding plagiarism.

13. Syllabus
• The syllabus is a tentative schedule of agenda.
• It may be revised during the quarter.
• Use it to determine how to prepare for class.
Homework due
before the next
Current class  
Assignment
What we will
do in class
 

14. The Quarter Plan on the Syllabus
• Sections are identified by color
– Essay 1 is turquoise
– Essay 2 is orange
– Essay 3 is blue
– Essay 4 is lavender
– Essay 5 is gray
• Exams and paper due dates are written in red
• Holidays are marked in green

15. Website:
• Our class website is http://palmoreenglish.wordpress.com. In order to do the
homework, you must establish an account. To make your own FREE Word
Press account, go to wordpress.com and click on the large, orange button that
says, “Get started here.” The system will walk you through a series of steps
that will allow you to set up your own user-friendly Word Press blog, sign up
for just a user name, or sign in with your Facebook account. Make sure you
sign in with YOUR Word Press username before you post on our class page so
you get credit for your work.
• If you prefer not to use your own name, you may use a pseudonym. Please
email me your username if it is significantly different from your real name.
• If you cannot establish your website and username, please come to my office
hours as soon as possible, and I will help you with the process. Much of our
work will take place online, so establishing this connection is mandatory.

16. On the Website
• Writing Assignments
• Reading Assignments
• The Green Sheet
• The Syllabus (The Daily Plan)
• Writing Tips
• Helpful Links
• Your Daily Homework Assignment (which is where you
post your homework.)

17. Posting Homework
• On the front page of the website, you will find
the homework post after each class.
• Below that post on the right, are the words
“Leave a comment.”
• Click there and a comment box will open. Post
your homework in the comment box and click
“Post Comment.”

18. Is this class too What are we going
hard? How to read?
many essays?
Is this class
History 10?

19. What is Identity?

20. IDENTITY: A person’s mental representation of who
he or she is.
Components of identity include a sense of personal continuity
and of uniqueness from other people. In addition to carving
out a personal identity based on the need for uniqueness,
people also acquire a social identity based on their
membership in various groups—familial, ethnic, occupational,
and others. These group identities, in addition to satisfying the
need for affiliation, help people define themselves in the eyes
of both others and themselves.

21. Identity
• What is it?
– Write down both a dictionary type definition and what it means to
you personally.
• Next, reflect on your culture and the dimensions of that culture that
contribute to your identity. Take two minutes and jot down some
notes to yourself.
– Where in your life does your culture emerge?
– How do you see yourself within your culture?
– How does your family manifest culture?
– What would you tell others about your culture?

22. More ideas about defining cultural
identity?
• Music
• Food
• Faith, religion
• Values
• Language
• Family structure

23. How do these qualifiers figure into
identity?
• Education
• Race
• Gender
• Sexual Orientation
• Social Class

24. Nitza Hidalgo’s “three levels of
culture”
– The Concrete: This is the most visible and tangible level of
culture. These aspects of culture are often those that provide
the focus for multicultural "festivals" or "celebrations.”
– The Behavioral: This level of culture clarifies how we define our
social roles, the language(s) we speak, and our approaches to
nonverbal communication.
– The Symbolic: This level of culture includes our values and
beliefs.

25. Let’s consider how we define ourselves within Hidalgo’s “levels.”
Which aspects of identity go into which category?
– the Concrete: This is the most visible and tangible level of
culture. These aspects of culture are often those that provide
the focus for multicultural "festivals" or "celebrations."
– the Behavioral: This level of culture clarifies how we define our
social roles, the language(s) we speak, and our approaches to
nonverbal communication.
– the Symbolic: This level of culture includes our values and
beliefs.

26. How Do We Want to be Seen?
–Are we the concrete? The
behavioral?
–Or the Symbolic?

27. How do we see others?
– When you meet somebody, which of those items
(under any of the categories) do you use to
understand them culturally?
– Is your attempt to understand others culturally
consistent with how you want to be viewed and
understood?
– What forces in our society might contribute to our
simplification of the culture of others, even though we
don't want to be defined simplistically ourselves?

28. Course Theme: Passing
• Historically, passing has been defined in terms of racial passing. It refers to a
deception that allows a person to take advantage of certain roles or opportunities
from which he or she might be barred in the absence of this posed identity. The
most common racial passer, of course, was the African American who lacked those
characteristics typical of his race. These mixed race people had physical
appearances that allowed them to be perceived and treated as if they where white.
But passing is not limited to African Americans assuming white roles in society; it is
not even limited to a racial basis. People pass in a variety of ways and for a variety
of reasons—from African Americans who pass for white, to Jews who pass as
Gentiles, to gays who pass for straight, for women who pass for men—and the
opposite of all of these. Reverse passing, though less prevalent, also exists in
multiple forms.
• How does our judgment of people lead to the desire or need to “pass”?

29. In-Class Writing
• How do we express our own
identities?
• How much do we reveal about
ourselves and when do we do so?
• How do we decide?
• What does society expect from us in
terms of revealing who we are?

30. Homework
• Establish: Your Webpage or Username
• Explore: The class webpage
• Post:#1 Finish in-class writing and post it.
• Post #2: Write a paragraph or two describing a time when you
were unfairly judged on concrete identity characteristics.
• OR Write a paragraph or two describing a time when you
passed as someone or something you were not. The passing
can be either purposeful or inadvertent.