Teacher’s Bibliography
“At Home: Art in Context: Commonplace Books.” Yale Center for British Art. Accessed May 28, 2023. https://britishart.yale.edu/exhibitions-programs/home-art-context-commonplace-books. Digital example of a Commonplace Book.
Bernard, Emily, Christopher Layne Benjamin Schwarz, Sierra Crane Murdoch, and Nancy Lemann. “[Essay] People like Me: Emily Bernard: Harper’s Magazine.” Harper’s Magazine, November 19, 2018. https://harpers.org/archive/2018/12/people-like-me-race-vermont-tennessee/. Important discussion of being Black in today’s Northeastern and Southeastern United States in a clear narrative essay form.
Collins, Billy. “Contrapuntal Poetry Guide: How to Write Contrapuntal Poems – 2023.” MasterClass. Accessed May 29, 2023, https://www.masterclass.com/articles/contrapuntal-poetry-guide. Video guide for how to write contrapuntal poetry by Billy Collins.
“Chanoyu, the Japanese Art of Tea.” Shambhala, December 7, 2022. https://shambhala.org/about/contemplative-arts/chanoyu-the-japanese-art-of-tea/. Brief description of the spirit and practice of tea ceremony.
“Create a Digital Commonplace Book.” The New York Times, February 10, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/technology/personaltech/make-digital-commonplace-book.html. A how to create a digital Commonplace Book.
Dreier, Katherine S. “Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.).” Yale University Library. Accessed April 26, 2023. https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/32209443. Charter for Black Mountain College, an interdisciplinary arts-based curriculum taught by artists.
Hayes, Terrance. American sonnets for my past and future assassin. New York: Penguin Books, 2018. These contemporary American sonnets of rage and love take the fourteen rhyming lines of to a new level of intricate poetry building. His work captures the breadth of possibilities for working within formal lyrical constraints.
Jess, Tyehimba. Olio. Seattle: Wave Books, 2016. Example of an opus incorporating narrative forms from every narrative genre from epistle to song. This is a poem which documents and teaches us how to read a history of Black musicians by bringing lyrics to life. It is both a work of redemptive research and a dramatic script for the stage.
Locke, Charley. “Commonplace Books Are like a Diary without the Risk of Annoying Yourself.” The New York Times, March 22, 2022. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/magazine/commonplace-books-recommendation.html. Advice on how to draft a Commonplace Book.
Moten, Fred. Black and Blur. Durham: Duke University Press, 2017. Groundbreaking philosophical discussion of Black aesthetics to base writing prompts on.
“Not Reading in Early Modern England.” Yale University Library. Accessed March 18, 2023. https://onlineexhibits.library.yale.edu/s/not-reading/page/commonplace-book. More examples of Commonplace Books.
Miles, Tiya. “To Find the History of African American Women, Look to Their Handiwork.” The Atlantic, June 8, 2021. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/06/history-african-american-women-their-handiwork/619082/. Excellent example of research-based writing with ideas for hands on learning in the form of empowering slogan writing on bags and backpacks.
Scatterfield, Stephen. “Radio.” Whetstone Magazine. Accessed June 4, 2023. https://whetstone2.squarespace.com/radio. Stephen Scatterfield’s Netflix series, where he tells his family history through cooking and recipe,s gives a sense for a straightforward and engaging research formula. These stories document important lost history and nourish the audience.
Slattery, Brian. “Bill Lowe Keeps the Renaissance Alive.” New Haven Independent, June 14, 2023. https://www.newhavenindependent.org/article/bill_lowe_signifyin_natives. Discussion of Bill Lowe’s multimedia jazz performance at Beinecke Rare Book Library celebrating Jean Toomer’s Cane. Lowe’s ensemble demonstrates dynamic performance possibilities blending text, music, and film.
Stone, Rachel. “The Trump-Era Boom in Erasure Poetry.” The New Republic, July 5, 2023. https://newrepublic.com/article/145396/trump-era-boom-erasure-poetry. Article pointing towards the relevance of erasure poetry.
“Taking Note: Nathaniel Mackey’s Long Song.” Duke Today, April 16, 2015. https://today.duke.edu/showcase/mmedia/features/taking-note/nathaniel-mackey/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CSong%20of%20the%20Andoumboulou%E2%80%9D%20takes,recur%2C%20with%20varia. Interpretation of how deep academic anthropological study is the basis for excellence in poetry and cultural storytelling as song.
Student Bibliography
“Billie Holiday - ‘Strange Fruit’ Live 1959 [Reelin’ in the Years Archives].” YouTube, February 22, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DGY9HvChXk. Performance of ‘Strange Fruit’ by Billie Holiday, a haunting example of Black aesthetics, a description of lynchings in the United States described by Fred Moten in Black and Blur. This song properly manifests the deep tragic truth of Black Americans as the legacy suffering from racism and white supremacy.
“Emory Douglas: Art and Revolution: Moma.” The Museum of Modern Art. Accessed July 5, 2023. https://www.moma.org/calendar/groups/71. Emory Douglas’ populist poster art from the Black Panther Party tells the story of politically active artists whose iconic style inspires and teaches Black activists from generation to generation. His graphic design has a clear template for students to follow with their own political path. Word and image in these works show the power of editing and looking closely at language communicating in the world of visual art.
Hayes, Terrance. American sonnets for my past and future assassin. New York: Penguin Books, 2018. These contemporary American sonnets of rage and love take the fourteen rhyming lines of to a new level of intricate poetry building. His work captures the breadth of possibilities for working within formal lyrical constraints.
Herbert, George. 100 poems. Cambridge University Press 2021. Includes classic shape poems from the seventeenth century which blend sophisticated poetic content with carefully architected typography.
Jess, Tyehimba. Olio. Seattle: Wave Books, 2016. Example of an opus incorporating narrative forms from every narrative genre from epistle to song. This is a poem which documents and teaches us how to read a history of Black musicians by bringing lyrics to life. It is both a work of redemptive research and a dramatic script for the stage.
Rankine, Claudia. Citizen. Minneapolis. Graywolf. 2014. Examples of research on racism communicated without apology. Claudia Rankine’s short narratives come from interviews she set up with professional, successful, Black citizens discussing incidents of everyday discrimination from police officers and therapists, for example, which they face because of the color of their skin. The tone is eerily accurate as well heartbreaking. Citizen demonstrates naturally research-based writing is amenable, accessible, and revolutionary when presented as a manuscript in lyrical prose form.
Sharif, Solmaz. Look. Minneapolis. Graywolf. 2019. Narratives take the form of imaginary redacted letters from a wife to her husband, a political prisoner demonstrating the cruelty of censorship. Solmaz Sharif explores the cruelty of an authoritarian regime and fascism. Lifted from the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, this book demonstrates the ironies in the language of war. It shows how controlling language controls our relationships, our ability to survive adversity.
Scatterfield, Stephen. “Radio.” Whetstone Magazine. Accessed June 4, 2023. https://whetstone2.squarespace.com/radio. Stephen Scatterfield’s Netflix series where he tells his family history through cooking and recipes gives a sense for a straightforward and engaging research formula. These stories document important lost history and nourish the audience.
Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass: The First (1855) Edition. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Penguin Books, 2005. Classic American queer verse celebrating diversity in sutra inspired nineteenth-century language.