Monday, January 30, 2017

Welcome to our Class Message from Katie

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Senior Seminar WMST 488K, Welcome to our class! I am looking forward to our work together this term. We have a great group of folks gathering for our course.

Please NOTE: WE WILL NOT MEET THE FIRST WEEK OF THE SEMESTER! Our class will begin on Th 2 FEBRUARY. 

Why? Well, I just had thyroid surgery and there were complications: my left vocal cord is currently immobilized. This could be very temporary or not. I have started speech therapy this week to help everything heal up, to learn to speak, swallow, breathe in new ways.

If it doesn't get miraculously better before we meet (and this is actually a possibility – the nerve could spontaneously regenerate), even so I can still speak, but very softly and a bit breathy. You will need to listen carefully, and I will need to ask YOU to talk more!

So be mentally prepared to talk in class please! I have also just acquired a voice amplifier and will be experimenting with using it. My voice gets softer and softer as time goes on and so the amplifier should be useful given the length of our class.

There are things for you to do this first week however, even though we are not meeting: stuff to read and analyze yourself before we meet for the first time, and things to bring in for our first class. Please be ready to participate! 

I SENT AN EMAIL WITH THE reading for our first time together, and other instructions are on our class website (scroll down to previous post).

Bookmark our site now, and email me, Katie, at katking@umd.edu to communicate. Please become very VERY familiar with this website right away! And this means we are doing nothing on ELMS, so don't go there and don't use it to communicate with me. 

Note that the email message came to you on a courselist to be used only for my announcements to you. BE SURE YOU CHECK for messages from here several times a week. Assignments, weather issues, events, and more will be sent out from here. Please do not miss them: getting these is a requirement of the course.

The attachment to that email message is:

• Lothian. 2016. "Choose not to warn." Feminist Studies 42/3: 1-14.



and notice you should immediately download two free items right away:

• Marcus. 2015. Self-Care for Activists. Mocana. ASIN BO18W816FW  Free on Amazon: https://smile.amazon.com/Self-Care-Activists-Clearing-Yourself-Working-ebook/dp/B018W8I6FW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1485365527&sr=1-1&keywords=self+care+for+activists
• Svedmark. 2016. Becoming Together and Apart: technoemotions and other posthuman entanglements. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Informatics. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå Centre for Gender Studies (UCGS). Download Free here: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-120195

NOTE especially: 

1) You will need to bring in the art/design/making KIT you will assemble and share next week. We will talk about these then and compare what we think should be in them.
2) there are required websites to analyze and work with; just as important as texts
3) do listen to the Brené Brown podcast: http://www.onbeing.org/blog/courage-is-born-from-struggle-bren-brown/8601 (and see post below)
4) Also checkout link: What Will The Theme Of Your Life Be In 2017? "A theme is a common motivational thread or pattern that runs through a life story. The three themes detailed below—communion, agency, and redemption—have all been linked to well-being." http://www.dailygood.org/story/1475/what-will-the-theme-of-your-life-be-in-2017-kira-m-newman/
5) Also checkout link: What is your Activist Superpower? From Everyday Feminism: http://everydayfeminism.com/2017/01/whats-your-activist-superpower/
6) Also checkout link: Holding tension.... it's tricky! http://www.couragerenewal.org/democracyguide/v15/  



See you soon! Katie

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