PASSPORT
English 250b Seductive American Nightmares

A Description of How Your Work Will Be Evaluated
ENGL 250b | #seductiveamericannightmares
Dr. William A. Nericcio | memo@sdsu.edu
Director, MALAS; Professor, English y CompLit

Professor Nericcio awaiting students in office hours, AL 273

Why visit me during 'office hours'? Why not? If only to experience the madness of my working studio space! {See opposite}. You are warmly invited to visit me in office hours at least once during the semester, if you can. At SDSU, it's easy to fall through the cracks, to feel that you are nothing but a Red ID# or some warm pile of sentient flesh filling a sad plastic seat. In order to convince you that the Professor teaching you is occasionally human, please make a point during the semester to take the time to introduce yourself in person. My office hours will be on Tuesday mornings, after class, from 11am to 1pm in AL 273--if you arrive and I am not there, look for me in the SDSU Press office, AL 283). If these hours are inconvenient, do not hesitate to email me for an appointment either at  memo@sdsu.edu or bnericci@mail.sdsu.edu

PASSPORT RULE 1

BOOKS_BOOKS_BOOKS

BUY THE BOOKS AND READ THEM--AND DON'T COME TO CLASS WITHOUT YOUR BOOK! Though we very much adore living in the 21st century, we will use ANALOG, printed books in this class.  Please do not come up and ask me if you can use a Kindle or your laptop or your Smartphone--see rules 3 and 4 below. 

PASSPORT RULE 2

When you enter this room for class you will have completed the reading that appears on the day-to-day class calendar!

Please note the word "finished" (not "started," not "skimmed," not "glanced," and most decidedly NOT "I read the Cliffs/Sparks/Shmoop Notes online!)

Coming to a university literature/film/cultural studies class without doing the reading is like a gardener trying to raise roses without getting her/his hands filthy with shit, a surgeon trying to operate without a scalpel, a fireman without her/his ax, a prostitute without, er, well, I better stop there. 

Do the readings. 

Do them twice if you can MAKE the time!  You ARE English and Comparative Literature majors and minors, right!?

Think twice about joining us if you have not finished the readings--the quality of our class depends upon your dedicated work and your relentless and independent curiosity. Without your periodic intellectual donations, the class is likely to evolve into a boring, even painful waste of time. 

PUT THE ELECTRIC

MONSTERS TO SLEEP!

Your laptop will be asleep IN YOUR BAGS during class--or, better yet, resting in your dorm room or apartment.

Have you noticed how anytime a student uses a laptop in a classroom there is a "cone of distraction" alongside and behind the student using a computer?

This is usually due to said student surfing the web via wi-fi perusing erotic delights or god knows what. I was recently at a cool (ok, it was slightly boring, I confess) lecture by a noted writer--as I tried to listen to her, in front of me, a diverted student (attending the lecture, no doubt, for extra-credit) was perusing sites like these (nsfw or school). So, laptops are GREAT for entering your notes AFTER class, but they will not be allowed in our Den of Seductive American Nightmares. If you have an issue with this, schedule a meeting with me during office hours the first week of class.

Your beloved magnificent iPhone, your cherished Galaxy, your fetishized Pixel, or even your primordial pager will be off, off, OFF during class meetings; if for some reason you are expecting an emergency call, set it on VIBRATE (for privacy, pleasure, or both!) and sit in the back near an exit after letting me know in advance before class that you are expecting an emergency phonecall. Cellphones KILL collective spaces of learning with their ill-timed, annoying clattering rings, bongs, squeaks, chirps, and themes.

Yes, the trauma of that delayed text, yes, the horror of that missed hook-up call, yes, the loss of the buzz of that random Tinder swipe will no doubt doom you to years and years on some psychoanalyst's couch, but we, the rest of us, will gain some silence, a kind of sanctuary without which ideas wither on the vine. We are NOT joking about this unthinkable edict! Don't end up like this former student from another Engl 250B I taught back in the day:

click to enlarge

PASSPORT RULE 5

Charlie-Delta_Thief

PLAGIARISM is for cads, thieves, and idiots who desire an "F" for the class. Plagiarism comes from the Latin word, "plagiarius" which means kidnapper, plunderer, or (get this!) thief--not a GOOD thing. In the university, plagiarism refers to the art and crime of presenting other people's work under your own signature, aka cutting and pasting copied crap from Wikipedia--definitely a BAD thing. While your professor is forbidden by CSU/SDSU code from tattooing the word LOSER on the foreheads of guilty students, he can promise that felonious students will be remanded to the state-authorized SDSU executioners.  Read THIS as well--SDSU is SERIOUS about this shit, so don't take any chances!  Rely on your own singular mind and imagination!

Other Major

GRADING INFORMATION

• 33%  Attendance, Quizzes, In-class "Panic-Inducing Challenges", In-class participation, In-class writing, cineTREKS, Office Hour visits, etc.
• 33%  Your Imagination Challenge (aka, the Essay)
• 33%  Final Examination
• 1%    Chutzpah!
  

QUIZZES, ATTENDANCE, and cineTREKS^©...

Coming to class for each seminar session is NOT optional--the whole point of this class is to work together, the idea being that we creatively and magicly convert our classroom into a chaotic, unpredictable, and exciting intellectual laboratory.

Missing class, you miss, as well, the whole point of the adventure. So please bypass no more than SIX classes during the semester--you are responsible for any work/notes you miss when you are absent and can PRESUME that what you missed that day was important! If you miss MORE than SIX classes during the term your grade will decay in an ugly way fast. EXAMPLES: your hard-earned A- will morph into a B-; your "gentleman's C" will appear on the webportal as a "D," etc. etc. Ditching this class too often will be as fun as a case of flesh-eating virus. 

During the semester, you can expect several In-class Panic-Inducing Challenges otherwise known as CHECK-YOU-DID-THE-READING QUIZZES. You can expect these miserable quizzes from time to time, the number of quizzes depending on how many of you are nostalgic for high school. In other words, if everyone acts like a talented university student, we will enjoy FEW if any quizzes during our semester.

Also to be expected? cineTREKS™!

What are cineTREKS™? These are extra-curricular activities--some on campus, others in the greater San Diego area that are related to our adventures in class. 

You might be wondering if you can receive any second chances in this class on the off-chance you miss a quiz, blow an assignment, or generally screwup altogether?

Luckily, your eccentric Professor is a recovering Catholic, and believes in the wonders of absolution--from time to time we will have out-of-class cineTREK^© assignments, aka EXTRA-CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES; these can be used to atone for an absence, for a missed quiz, or for some other class-impacting catastrophe you may experience during the term.

DIGITAL/VIRTUAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Our main social media site for this class, Facebook-based, is located here. If you are a member of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg’s mad hallucinatory experiment in digitized, self-mirroring, then you are expected to post class-related links, images, videos, articles, etc at least ONCE a month or 5 total for the whole semester. If you have not bought into Zuckerberg’s mad experiment and stay away from Facebook like the plague, you have a second choice--you can directly submit a posting to the #seductiveamericannightmares tumblr page--anonymous submissions are allowed here for those of your who don't want Edward Snowden peering in your digital window! 

You can also contribute to our own instagram hashtag, which goes by the catchy, if difficult to type, #seductiveamericannightmares. If Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram remain alien to your consciousness, you can send your suggested links/images/videos to me via email to memo@sdsu.edu; I don’t promise that I will post ALL of your materials but I will try, however, to see that some of them make their way to the fabulous internets. 

DO NOT CONFUSE YOUR EXTRA-CREDIT, cineTREKS™ with these FIVE postings!  What you are expected to share via social media are things you run across that relate to our class experiences--you do not HAVE TO WRITE a long essay with your postings... a couple of pointed, pithy, well-crafted sentences will do, enough to give me and your classmates a sense of a connection to ideas developed during the semester in our class.

ESSAY

You will be asked to write ONE 8-10 page essay (also know as THE SEDUCTIVE AMERICAN IMAGINATION CHALLENGE) during the course of the term. Please note that you will never be compelled to write about something you absolutely hate. Though I will provide you with a list of prompts, please feel free to see me at any time over the course of the semester during office hours to pitch/brainstorm essay ideas.

FINAL EXAMINATION

There will be a final In-class Imagination Challenge (aka, the FINAL EXAM) on the last regularly scheduled day of class: Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at 9:30 am in SSW 2501.  Your final is absolutely comprehensive; it assumes you have read all the books and screened all the movies that are part of our required work.

The Fine Print from the Suits @ SDSU and the CSU!

You will leave the class having mastered an understanding of American literary history from the Civil War to the present; you will be introduced to contemporary literary criticism, cultural studies, and critical theory—additionally you will master an understanding of the relationship between American history and American literature.

Accommodations:  If you are a student with a disability and are in need of accommodations for this class, please contact Student Ability Success Center at (619) 594-6473 as soon as possible.  Please know accommodations are not retroactive, and I cannot provide accommodations based upon disability until I have received an accommodation letter from Student Ability Success Center.

Student Privacy and Intellectual Property: The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) mandates the protection of student information, including contact information, grades, and graded assignments. I will use our custom webpage to communicate with you, and I will not post grades or leave graded assignments in public places. Students will be notified at the time of an assignment if copies of student work will be retained beyond the end of the semester or used as examples for future students or the wider public. Students maintain intellectual property rights to work products they create as part of this course unless they are formally notified otherwise.

Religious observances: According to the University Policy File, students should notify the instructors of affected courses of planned absences for religious observances by the end of the second week of classes.

Academic Honesty:  The University adheres to a strict policy prohibiting cheating and plagiarism. Examples of academic dishonesty include but are not limited to:

●      copying, in part or in whole, from another's test or other examination;

●      obtaining copies of a test, an examination, or other course material
without the permission of the instructor;

●      collaborating with another or others in work to be presented without the permission of the instructor;

●      falsifying records, laboratory work, or other course data;

●      submitting work previously presented in another course, if contrary to the rules of the course;

●      altering or interfering with grading procedures;

●      assisting another student in any of the above;

●      using sources verbatim or paraphrasing without giving proper attribution (this can include phrases, sentences, paragraphs and/or pages of work);

●      copying and pasting work from an online or offline source directly and calling it your own;

●      using information you find from an online or offline source without giving the author credit;

●      replacing words or phrases from another source and inserting your own words or phrases.

The California State University system requires instructors to report all instances of academic misconduct to the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities. Academic dishonesty will result in disciplinary review by the University and may lead to probation, suspension, or expulsion.  Instructors may also, at their discretion, penalize student grades on any assignment or assessment discovered to have been produced in an academically dishonest manner.

Resources for students:  A complete list of all academic support services--including the Writing Center and  Math Learning Center--is available on the Student Affairs’ Academic Success website. Counseling and Psychological Services (619-594-5220) offers confidential counseling services by licensed therapists; you can Live Chat with a counselor at http://go.sdsu.edu/student_affairs/cps/therapist-consultation.aspx between 4:00pm and 10:00pm, or call San Diego Access and Crisis 24-hour Hotline at (888) 724-7240.

Classroom Conduct Standards:  SDSU students are expected to abide by the terms of the Student Conduct Code in classrooms and other instructional settings.  Prohibited conduct includes:

●      Willful, material and substantial disruption or obstruction of a University-related activity, or any on-campus activity.

●      Participating in an activity that substantially and materially disrupts the normal operations of the University, or infringes on the rights of members of the University community.

●      Unauthorized recording, dissemination, or publication (including on websites or social media) of lectures or other course materials.

●      Conduct that threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person within or related to the University community, including

1. physical abuse, threats, intimidation, or harassment.
2. sexual misconduct.

Violation of these standards will result in referral to appropriate campus authorities.

Medical-related absences: Students are instructed to contact their professor/instructor/coach in the event they need to miss class, etc. due to an illness, injury or emergency.  All decisions about the impact of an absence, as well as any arrangements for making up work, rest with the instructors.  Student Health Services (SHS) does not provide medical excuses for short-term absences due to illness or injury. When a medical-related absence persists beyond five days, SHS will work with students to provide appropriate documentation. When a student is hospitalized or has a serious, ongoing illness or injury, SHS will, at the student's request and with the student’s consent, communicate with the student’s instructors via the Vice President for Student Affairs and may communicate with the student’s Assistant Dean and/or the Student Ability Success Center. 

Student Learning Outcomes, English 250B: American Literature After the Civil War

Content knowledge: English and Comparative Literature majors will be exposed to and demonstrate a broad knowledge of major and minor authors, major texts and contexts and defining intellectual issues of American literature, enriched by familiarity with the same in other European and/ or non-European literature and/ or cinematic traditions.

Analysis: Literature majors will hone their skills in analysis, interpretation and research.

Writing: Literature majors will write with clarity, creativity, and persuasiveness.

Cultural Significance: Literature majors develop and demonstrate an awareness of the significance of literature and of literary form, and of the role they play in the larger culture by being conversant in debates concerning literature's values as a creative endeavor. In addition, Literature majors will come to understand the role of literature as historical artifact--a sort of talisman or DNA that carries within it the collective memories of the American body politic.

Student Learning Outcomes Focused on Writing, English 250B