Welcome to Fall 2013 Freshman Inquiry Writing Seminar (FIQWS): Slang, Metaphor and Standard English

This is a painting of the mythic Tower of Babel, painted by Pietr Brueghel the Elder in the year 1563. This image is well-suited to the inquiry we will undertake in the class as we explore, through our writing, the variation of human language and how it effects us, culturally and cognitively.

For those of you who are not aware of the story of the Tower of Babel, it is an etiology, or a narrative that studies the causation of something, in other words, explains the origin of something. The tower of Babel is a story that is found in the Book of Genesis, and narrates a time in history after the great flood, when everyone spoke a single language. In the city of Shinar, the people resolved to build a tower, its tip touching heaven. God came down to see what they were building and scattered the people to all corners of the earth and confused their language. This narrative explains the variation of human languages today but posits the idea of a single origin of all language.

You can see a bit more about this story on Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_tower_of_babel

We will come back to reference this story of the Tower of Babel, as it is a popular image as used in writings that explain not only the variation of languages world-wide, but also the multilingualism that is an important part of United States history, and still influences our experience of US culture today.


As you continue to work on your homework and re-read "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," I would like to add two links that I found that may help with some background information:
lk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_letter_from_birmingham_jail_1963/

and
http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_birmingham_campaign.

The homework questions (just pick one to write on):

1. How does King structure his letter as a direct response to the characterization of the demonstrations he is organizing as "unwise and untimely?"

2. Pick a single paragraph and elaborate on the way that King summarizes what others (clergymen, white segregationists, white moderates, etc.) say and how he uses paraphrase or direct quotes to structure his response.

3. Pick two or more examples of a "return sentence," where King repeats a phrase or idea to refocus his argument, and to keep the thread of the message cohesive.

If there is something else that you notice in the letter, and would like to write about it for your homework assignment, please do. You might want to test out your idea and post a comment. Any questions or comments, ideas that need to be worked out can be posted here. Feedback is always helpful! I will be checking and can chime in as well.