Dear class,

I hope you enjoyed reading the excerpt from Frederick Douglass’ autobiography.  I chose this text for a variety of reasons, some of which being: 1) it provides a provocative juxtaposition to the text we read last week (the freewriting excerpt from a book entitled Writing Without Teachers — Frederick Douglass literally had no substantive teaching), and 2) it brings out concretely the enormous historical importance attributed to the practice of reading and writing.

Just a few things to keep in mind as our class progresses:

• Reading or writing, for Douglass, in some way fulfills our ability to think; these were the practices whereby he was allowed to step out of his “mental darkness.”
• Reading the words (thoughts) of others allowed Douglass to articulate his own thoughts.  In a very real sense, “your” voice as a writer is never solely or simply “yours.”
• Following from the above, learning to write, for Douglass, literally meant learning to write like somebody else (the main example being the copying of his young master’s handwriting and style).
• Lastly, keep in mind the various ways in which freedom (or self-expression) and oppression can become entangled.

Please try to keep these various elements in mind as our course progresses.  As I mentioned in class, we will discuss the Walter Ong reading (found under the Readings tab) on Thursday, 2/6, and you’ll also receive a short piece of homework to complete for next week.

Okay, all for now.  See you Thursday!