twitter assignment

twitter assignment for golden gate park first-year seminar and making food, making media class:

1. if you have not yet joined twitter, join twitter.

2. create a profile. you are not required to use your real name in your profile but you certainly can.

3. make your profile public. if you already have a twitter account that is private and wish to keep it that way, create a new account for this class.

4. find and follow all members (students and professor) of our class.

5. if you're in golden gate park class, also follow @GoldenGatePark, @GleesonLibrary, @itweetUSF, and @usfca. if you're in making food, making media, also follow @USFSeedLibrary, @GleesonLibrary, @itweetUSF, and @usfca.

6. get into the habit of checking twitter at least once a day.

making food, making media (spring 2015)

ENVA 390: Making Food, Making Media

Education 307, Tues & Thurs 4:35 – 6:20 pm

Professor David Silver

Office/hours: Kalmanavitz 141, Tues & Thurs 2 – 3:30 pm and by appointment

Contact: dmsilver [ at ] usfca [ dot ] edu

Making Food, Making Media is an Environmental Studies special topics storytelling-production class focused on food and media. Through readings, viewings, and discussions, we will explore different meanings of food, the history and current landscape of televised cooking shows, and recent developments in just food systems. Through hands-on workshops, we will learn basic cooking and baking skills in St Cyprian’s kitchen and tend an organic veggie plot in the USF Garden. And throughout the semester, through crafts, media, and social media, we will create and share stories about sustainable agriculture, just food, and seasonal cooking.

 

Required Text

Novella Carpenter, Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer (Penguin Books, 2010).

All other readings will be made available for free – online, outside my office, or via Gleeson Library. Until notified otherwise, students are required to print out online readings and bring to class for discussion.

Course Schedule

Tuesday, 1/27: Introductions

Thursday, 1/29: “What I eat and drink in a day” homework assignment – presented and discussed in class.

Tuesday, 2/3: Read: Sandra Cate, “‘Breaking Bread with a Spread’ in a San Francisco County Jail,” Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies (Summer 2008), pp. 17-24.

Thursday, 2/5: Gardening workshop. Class meets in the USF Garden to plant our garden plot.

Tuesday, 2/10: Read: Kathleen Collins, “Julia Child and Revolution in the Kitchen,” from Watching What We Eat: The Evolution of Television Cooking Shows (Continuum, 2009): 71-100.

Thursday, 2/12: Demo Day 1

Tuesday, 2/17: Read: Michael Pollan, “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch,” New York Times Magazine (August 2, 2009); and Andrew Chan, “‘La grande bouffe’: Cooking Shows as Pornography,” Gastronomica (Fall 2003): pp. 47-53.

Thursday, 2/19: Cooking workshop I. Class meets in the kitchen at St Cyprian’s Church (at the corner of Turk & Lyon).

Tuesday, 2/24: Jane Kramer, “Good Greens: Vegetarian cookbooks for carnivores,” The New Yorker (April 14, 2014): pp. 79-83; and Christine Byrne, “27 Diagrams That Make Cooking So Much Easier,” BuzzFeed (January 17, 2015).

Thursday, 2/26: Recipe workshop.

Tuesday, 3/3: Read: Emily Matchar, “Cupcake Feminists, Hipster Jam Canners, and ‘Femivores’: The Rise of the DIY Food Culture,” from Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity (Simon & Schuster, 2013): pp. 95-119.

Thursday, 3/5: Demo Day 2

Tuesday: 3/10: Read: Novella Carpenter, “Turkey,” from Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer (Penguin Books, 2010): pp. 1-98.

Thursday, 3/12: Baking workshop. Guest baker: Samantha Blackburn, head baker at Angelina's Café, San Francisco. Class meets at St Cyprian’s kitchen.

SPRING BREAK (March 16-20)

Tuesday, 3/24: Read: Novella Carpenter, “Rabbit,” from Farm City, pp. 99-184

Thursday, 3/26: Seed Library workshop. Guests: Debbie Benrubi and Carol Spector, Gleeson Library. Class meets at the USF Seed Library inside Gleeson.

Tuesday, 3/31: Read: Novella Carpenter, “Pig,” from Farm City, pp. 185-269.

Thursday, 4/2: Demo Day 3

Tuesday, 4/7: Read: Rebecca Solnit, “Revolutionary Plots: Urban agriculture is producing a lot more than food,” Orion Magazine (July/August 2012); and watch: Ron Finley, “A guerilla gardener in South Central LA,” TED Talk (February 2013).

Thursday, 4/9: Homesteading workshop. Guest: Melinda Stone, Media Studies, Environmental Studies, Film, and Urban Ag, USF.

Tuesday, 4/14: Read: Selections from Sally K. Fairfax, Louise Nelson Dyble, Greig Tor Guthey, Lauren Gwin, Monica Moore, and Jennifer Sokolove, California Cuisine and Just Food (MIT Press, 2012).

Thursday, 4/16: Cooking workshop II. Class meets at St Cyprian’s kitchen.

Tuesday, 4/21: Read: Burkhard Bilger, “Nature’s Spoils: The underground food movement ferments revolution,” The New Yorker (November 22, 2010): pp. 104-115; and Adrien Schless-Meier, “This urban farmer is growing jobs in her community: Doria Robinson is transforming an empty lot in North Richmond, California,” Civil Eats (January 19, 2015).

Thursday, 4/23: Demo Day 4

Tuesday, 4/28: Watch: Agnès Varda, The Gleaners and I (2000): 82 mins; and read: Dianne Jacob, “The Fine Art of Feeding the Hungry,” Gastronomica (Fall 2003): pp. 14-20.

Thursday, 4/30: Professional workshop: Getting serious about your work. Guest: Vivian Truong, founder, Fiber Florist.

Tuesday, 5/5: Read: Fallen Fruit, “Take Back the Fruit: Public Space and Community Activism,” from Food, edited by John Knechtel, pp. 94-103; and Kim Severson, “Neighbor, Can You Spare A Plum?” New York Times, June 10, 2009.

Thursday, 5/7: aeiou workshop

Tuesday, 5/12: Field trip to be determined.

Thursday, 5/14: Demo Day 5

Please note: Although our class time runs from 4:35 – 6:20 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you are highly encouraged to attend the free community dinners on the first Thursday of each month (February 2; March 5; and April 2) at 6 pm.

There is no final exam in this class.

Grading

15%  Homework, in-class assignments, and quizzes
10%  Class participation

15%  Demo Day 1

15%  Demo Day 2

15%  Demo Day 3

15%  Demo Day 4

15%  Demo Day 5

Attendance Policy

Missing class, or attending class unprepared, will significantly affect your final grade. If you do miss class, contact a classmate to find out what we discussed in class and ask to borrow her or his notes. Then, do the same with a second classmate. After doing this, if you still have questions about missed material, visit me during office hours or email me.

Rules

1. No late work accepted.

2. In class, during workshops, and on field trips, no drinking out of non-reusable containers.

golden gate park (spring 2015)

MS 195: Golden Gate Park (First-Year Seminar)

Tuesdays & Thursdays 9:55–11:40 am, Kalmanovitz 167

Professor David Silver

Office/hours: Kalmanovitz 141, Tuesdays & Thursdays 2–3:30 pm & by appointment

Contact: dmsilver [ at ] usfca [ dot ] edu

Golden Gate Park is a First-Year Seminar that explores the history, built environment, mixed uses, and popular narratives of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Through readings, class discussions, and library workshops, students will develop a broad and keen understanding of the park; through field trips and park walks, students will gain valuable on-site experience in and with the park. An accelerated writing seminar, Golden Gate Park fulfills USF’s Core A2 requirement.

Learning Outcomes

In this class, students will learn:

1. How to read, analyze, and summarize multiple texts of varying lengths and complexities; 
2. How to develop interesting research questions based on extensive research and individual interests; 
3. How to use both library and online tools to find relevant material from a range of sources and disciplines; 
4. How to write, edit, revise, and polish clear and compelling essays that, when necessary, keep with the conventions of academic writing; and 
5. How some sand dunes called the Outside Lands became Golden Gate Park.

 

Required Text

You are required to purchase a map of Golden Gate Park. The map, which costs between $2-3, can be found at the gift shops of the De Young Museum and the Botanical Garden.

All readings will be made available for free – online, outside my office, or via Gleeson Library. Until notified otherwise, students are required to print out readings, which can be done inexpensively at Gleeson Library.

Course Schedule

Cluster 1: Golden Gate Park and its many uses

Tuesday, 1/27: Introductions

Thursday, 1/29: Read: Gary Kamiya’s “The Park,” from Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco (Bloomsbury, 2013): pp. 202-207.

Tuesday, 2/3: Field trip to Golden Gate Park

Thursday, 2/5: Read: Terence Young, “Romantic Golden Gate Park,” from Building San Francisco’s Parks, 1850-1930 (John Hopkins University Press, 2004): pp. 70-97.

Tuesday, 2/10: Prior to class, listen/read/walk with: Marina McDougall, Alison Sant, Richard Johnson, and Kirstin Bach, “An Unnatural History of Golden Gate Park,” a 7-part guided podcast (Studio for Urban Projects, 2008): http://www.anunnaturalhistory.net/podcast.xml

Thursday, 2/12: Read: Philip J. Dreyfus, “Greening the City,” from Our Better Nature: Environment and the Making of San Francisco (University of Oklahoma Press, 2008): pp. 67-100.

Tuesday, 2/17: In-class writing workshop.

Thursday, 2/19: Paper 1 due in class.

Cluster 2: California Midwinter International Exposition

Tuesday, 2/24: Read: James R. Smith, “California Midwinter International Exposition – 1894,” from San Francisco’s Lost Landmarks (Word Dancer Press, 2005): pp. 111-126; and Mae Silver, “1894 Midwinter Fair: Women artists, an appreciation,” FoundSF (March 17, 1994): http://bit.ly/1EscQKv

Thursday, 2/26: Library workshop with Gleeson librarians Joe Garity, Sherise Kimura, and Carol Spector.

Tuesday, 3/3: Read: Barbara Berglund, “The Days of Old, the Days of Gold, the Days of ‘49”: Identity, History, and Memory at the California Midwinter International Exposition, 1894,” The Public Historian (Fall 2003): pp. 25-49.

Thursday, 3/5: Read: Kendall H. Brown, “Rashômon: The multiple histories of the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park," Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes (April-June 1998): pp 93-119.

Tuesday: 3/10: Field trip (with Shawn Calhoun, Gleeson Library) to Music Concourse and the Japanese Tea Garden.

Thursday, 3/12: Paper 2 due in class.

SPRING BREAK (March 16-20)

Cluster 3: Playland Pop-Up

Tuesday, 3/24: Read: Selections from James R. Smith, San Francisco’s Playland at the Beach: The early years (Craven Street Books, 2010).

Thursday, 3/26: Read: Selections from James R. Smith, San Francisco’s Playland at the Beach: The golden years (Craven Street Books, 2013).

Tuesday, 3/31: Field trip to the de Young Museum.

Thursday, 4/2: Guests: Marjorie Schwarzer, administrative director of USF's graduate museum studies program, and Glori Simmons, director of USF's Thacher Gallery.

Tuesday, 4/7: Pop-up workshop. Class meets in Thacher Gallery.

Thursday, 4/9: Guest: Anne-Marie Deitering, Franklin A. McEdward Professor for Undergraduate Learning Initiatives, Oregon State University. From 12-1 pm: Playland Pop-Up in USF's Thacher Gallery.

Cluster 4: The Park and You

Tuesday, 4/14: Read: Gary Kamiya’s “If you were a Bird,” from Cool Gray City of Love: 49 Views of San Francisco (Bloomsbury, 2013): pp. 312-317; and selected readings/media about the Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park.

Thursday, 4/16: Read: Selected readings on The Diggers. Guest: Morgan Fitzgibbons, Environmental Studies, USF and member of the Wigg Party. Class meets at the panhandle.

Tuesday, 4/21: Read: Class-sourced readings about Soup Kitchens in Golden Gate Park during the 1906 Earthquake and Victory Gardens during WWI and WWII.

Thursday, 4/23: NO CLASS. Instead, we meet that evening at Off the Grid http://offthegridsf.com, at Stanyan and Waller, for dinner.

Tuesday, 4/28: Read: Jacqueline Hoefer, “Ruth Asawa: A Working Life,” in The Sculpture of Ruth Asawa: Contours in the Air, edited by Daniell Cornell, pp. 10-29.

Thursday, 4/30: Read: Josh Sides, “The Unspoken Sexuality of Golden Gate Park,” in Erotic City: Sexual Revolutions and the Making of Modern San Francisco, pp. 123-140.

Tuesday, 5/5: Student Presentations in the Park

Thursday, 5/7: Student Presentations in the Park (continued)

Tuesday, 5/12: Class party in the park

Thursday, 5/14: Final Project due in class

There is no final exam in this class.

Grading

10%   Homework, in-class assignments, and quizzes

10%   Class/field trip participation

20%   Paper 1

20%   Paper 2

20%   Playland Pop-Up Project

20%   The Park and You Project

Attendance Policy

Missing class, or attending class unprepared, will significantly affect your final grade. If you do miss class, contact a classmate to find out what we discussed in class and ask to borrow her or his notes. Then, do the same with a second classmate. After doing this, if you still have questions about missed material, visit me during office hours or email me.

Academic Integrity

Plagiarism is using another person’s words and/or ideas without giving appropriate credit.  Plagiarism is a serious violation of academic honor and personal integrity and can result in failing an assignment, being removed from this course, or even being asked to leave USF.

Rules

1. No late work accepted. 
2. In class and on field trips, no drinking out of non-reusable containers.

black mountain college in color

when we think of black mountain college, we think in black and white.

we think they taught in black and white,

learned in black and white,

worked in black and white,

and ate in black in white.

last spring, during a research visit to the western regional archives, i found the photographs of nell goldsmith. nell was a student at black mountain college from 1942-44. she studied architecture with larry kocher, drawing with josef albers, and weaving with anni albers. and in her spare time, she took photographs. color photographs.

(this photo and all the color photos that follow come from the nell goldsmith heyns collection at the western regional archives. i have archived a portion of the collection as a flickr set.)

through nell's lens, we get a whole new take on the college. we see the blues of lake eden and the beiges of the farm.

through nell's lens, we see black mountain college during the war years, when nearly all male students joined the war and the student population became almost entirely female.

with war-time restrictions on building materials and the studies building largely finished, the college shifted focus from building to farming. the farm was run by farmer ross penley, evangelized by college treasurer/math professor ted dreier, and managed by woodworking professor/BMC MVP molly gregory. in nell goldsmith's photo below, we see molly gregory (right) - in color! - with student patricia "patsy" lynch.

during the war years, the farm's student farmers were almost entirely female. i have been studying the farm for the last few years and i've always been struck by this unique stage of the farm's history. during the war, the farm was incredibly productive, supplying the college with seasonal vegetables, all of their dairy (milk and butter), and occasional beef, pork, and poultry.

i used to think of the war-time farm and its student farmers in black and white, like this

and this

now, through nell's lens, i see some of them -- including, below, jane "slats" slater (BMC student, 1940-45), patsy lynch (BMC student, 1942-48), and mary brett daniels (BMC student 1943-45) -- in color.

final project / final reflection

final project / reflection for intro to media studies

1. as we have been working towards in the last few days, select an app, a web site, or a platform that you love, love to hate, are bewildered by, can't be without, or can't stop thinking about.

either:

2a. write a 2-page typed reflection about it. be sure to include at least one terrifyingly interesting reading about your selection and one connection to another once-new media technologies discussed in class this semester.

or

2b. create a project about it. make sure your project includes some form of dimensionality (discussed in class). group projects highly encouraged. be imaginative!

3. on monday, december 1, bring your paper, your project, or a part of your project to class. during class you will give and receive feedback from others.

4. incorporate at least one piece of feedback into your project.

5. bring your paper or project to class on wednesday, december 3. somewhere on your paper or project, acknowledge the source of your feedback. be ready to discuss.

keep in mind: wednesday, december 3rd is the last day of class for intro to media studies. this class has no final exam. GOOD LUCK.

media fast homework assignment

media fast homework assignment for intro to media studies

1. sometime between monday, november 17, and sunday, november 23, stop using all modern media. you can read books and magazines and newspapers and comics, but stop using media that is electronic or digital. no iphones, no facebook, no text. no tablets, laptops, desktops, TVs, record players, or radios. no CD players, digital cameras, or tape recorders. stop using media that runs on a power cord or batteries. mark the time your media fast begins.

2. continue your fast for as long as possible - the longer, the better.

3. when your absence from media becomes dangerous, impossible, or unbearable, return to them. note which device you broke your fast with and record the time.

4. calculate how long your media fast lasted.

5. take some time -- a few hours, a day -- to reflect upon what just happened.

6. in one page -- and no more -- share your findings. make sure your name is on the page and bring it to class on monday, november 24.

tip: think about the timing of your media fast and strategize accordingly.

popular music exhibit project

Popular music exhibit project for Intro to Media Studies

1. For your next project, you will design a pop-up exhibit devoted to popular music.

2. Your topic can be your favorite band, your all-time favorite song or album, your favorite genre, or something else ("3 metal bands I can't live without!"). Your approach can be objective (what makes the band great) or subjective (what makes the band great to you).

3. Your exhibit can feature digital stuff (screens, MP3s, video, digital photos) but it must also include tangible stuff (an album review from an old issue of Rolling Stone, a ticket stub of that concert that changed your life, a t-shirt, you name it). Put another way, your exhibit can be comprised of entirely tangible stuff or be a mixture of tangible and digital but it can't be entirely digital. A open laptop blaring a song and streaming a video does not make an exhibit.

4. Your exhibit must contain at least three interesting artifacts. We've been discussing artifacts in class for a while so think hard and creatively about what you use. This is the portion of the exhibit that will make or break your project.

5. The exhibit should be cohesive. Your artifacts should speak to one another and they should follow a similar style or pattern. The pieces of your exhibit should be put together smartly and with thought.

6. The exhibit should tell anyone looking at it something about its designer (you). In other words, use the exhibit to share something about yourself.

7. For ideas and inspiration, take a look at the flickr set "the classroom as museum" from when I assigned this project three years ago.

8. Exhibit due in class on Friday, October 31. No late work accepted.

moving image of students and faculty on the farm truck at black mountain college

photograph by helen post, circa 1936-37. animation by brent brafford, NCSU libraries.

(Image from Helen P. Modley Collection, Black Mountain College Collection, Western Regional Archives, Asheville, North Carolina.)