Honors Intermediate Composition 2989
Nick Chuha was probably the most unique professor I've had at UC. I wasn't expecting a younger guy in a band t-shirt with several ear piercings and arm tattoos to be my Intermediate Composition professor, but he was awesome. Instead of some generic novel, Nick chose to have us watch American Horror Story Season I. Although this isn't a TV show I would normally voluntarily watch, it surprised me. When you first begin the season, it's overwhelming to put it plainly. Eventually, I became emotionally invested in the show and couldn't watch one episode at a time. We used the show in our writings for class because we discussed the portrayal of fear in the media in our public literacy analysis. In my paper, I talked about specific events that occurred within the program and how it made me feel and why I think it made me feel that way. Why have we been conditioned in certain ways to perceive things as scary? Where do we learn what to fear?
“Public discourse is language shared by society as a whole. Public discourse also includes all the myths, legends, stories, and slogans through which society shapes us and by which we shape society. It includes the ways we talk about and understand the world—from public conversations about politics and education to casual chatter about sports or music. Public discourse takes all kinds of forms: magazines, newspapers, talk shows on radio and television, books, the Internet, political speeches and debates, advertising, sermons in churches and on street corners, and demonstrations. When you understand, question, manipulate, or simply participate in public discourse, you are practicing public literacy”
Take television for example. You have an individual understanding of what kind of things are acceptable to be included in a television program. There are many contexts of television program, and each has its own unique set of conventions. Local news shows, national news shows, political opinion shows, children's cartoons, soap operas, daytime talk shows, sitcoms, hour-long dramas, reality programs, broadcast station programs, cable station programs, premium cable programs, documentary series, etc. all have unique contexts. You expect, for example, moral lessons (like the value of sharing) on cartoons, or mature subject matter in late-night dramas, or the possibility of graphic language, violence, and nudity on premium cable.
I enjoyed this course and loved how dynamic it was. I did not feel limited when choosing the subject matter for my papers because of how the assignments were laid out. I'm sad to say this was the last English class I could take!
“Public discourse is language shared by society as a whole. Public discourse also includes all the myths, legends, stories, and slogans through which society shapes us and by which we shape society. It includes the ways we talk about and understand the world—from public conversations about politics and education to casual chatter about sports or music. Public discourse takes all kinds of forms: magazines, newspapers, talk shows on radio and television, books, the Internet, political speeches and debates, advertising, sermons in churches and on street corners, and demonstrations. When you understand, question, manipulate, or simply participate in public discourse, you are practicing public literacy”
Take television for example. You have an individual understanding of what kind of things are acceptable to be included in a television program. There are many contexts of television program, and each has its own unique set of conventions. Local news shows, national news shows, political opinion shows, children's cartoons, soap operas, daytime talk shows, sitcoms, hour-long dramas, reality programs, broadcast station programs, cable station programs, premium cable programs, documentary series, etc. all have unique contexts. You expect, for example, moral lessons (like the value of sharing) on cartoons, or mature subject matter in late-night dramas, or the possibility of graphic language, violence, and nudity on premium cable.
I enjoyed this course and loved how dynamic it was. I did not feel limited when choosing the subject matter for my papers because of how the assignments were laid out. I'm sad to say this was the last English class I could take!