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<p class=MsoNormal><st1:date Month="8" Day="8" Year="2007"><font size=2
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:11.0pt'>August 8, 2007</span></font></st1:date><font
size=2><span style='font-size:11.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>TO:<span style='mso-tab-count:2'> </span>ELWR
Instructors<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>FROM:<span style='mso-tab-count:1'> </span><span style='mso-tab-count:
1'> </span>John Briggs<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>RE:<span style='mso-tab-count:2'> </span>This
Year’s CHASS Themes Reading: <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span
style='font-style:italic;mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>A Perfect Union</span></i><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>We have all received a copy
of <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic;
mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>A Perfect Union</span></i>, a highly readable
history of Dolly Madison by UCR’s own Catherine Allgor.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>We have been told that all incoming freshman
will receive a copy this summer, and that the author will participate in
several orientation meetings for CHASS students this fall.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>The book is also being required in the fall
CHASS Connect program -- in the designated courses of that program, which are
outside of ELWR and English 1ABC.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I have heard that English
instructors are wondering what is to be done with the book.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>First, I hope you will join me in
congratulating the college office for selecting a challenging and important
text for freshmen to read before they arrive on campus.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>The idea, as you know, is to start
early.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>The campus is not waiting until
late September to encourage our new students to read challenging works and to
begin discussing them with each other.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>In focusing on one important book, CHASS is also restoring a venerable
tradition in higher education: inviting and indeed requiring students to read
and discuss a work that is or should be held in common because its importance
transcends disciplinary boundaries. <span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>I am
tempted to add that part of that importance, in the case of <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic;mso-bidi-font-style:
normal'>A Perfect Union</span></i>, has to do with what Samuel Johnson called
the particularly compelling nature of biography, especially a biography about a
somewhat obscure figure who earns the reader’s admiration within a social
and political biography of an emergent United States.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'>It does no harm to her subject that the author writes with a
resourceful historical imagination. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>So what is to be done with <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic;mso-bidi-font-style:
normal'>A Perfect Union</span></i> in the teaching of composition this year?<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Nothing, if we so choose.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>But as members of the college we would do
well to favor it with our time and read it.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>
</span>In our own classes it might come in handy, from time to time, as a way
of introducing or commenting upon some of our own readings and writing
assignments – not as an assigned text but as part of the
institution’s (we hope rising) intellectual expectations for our entering
students.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Some instructors might wish to
go farther and incorporate passages or study questions in the program’s
syllabus, not to replace but to augment our the program’s readings and
assignments.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
11.0pt'><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Our ELWR courses remain
writing courses.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>They are not
surveys.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>They are not literature or
history courses.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>But they cannot be
strong writing courses without substantial and extensive readings in and across
the disciplines.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Our goal is as always
to teach academic writing with the best aids available. <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>As always, we should follow our program’s
curriculum. <span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Please use <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-style:italic;mso-bidi-font-style:
normal'>A Perfect Union</span></i> as that curriculum’s complement if and
when you think it appropriate.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=4 color="#993366" face=Arial><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#993366;mso-no-proof:yes'>Laurie
Petty<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;mso-no-proof:yes'>English Department - 040<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;mso-no-proof:yes'>HMNSS 1102<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:Street><st1:address><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-no-proof:yes'>900 University Avenue</span></font></st1:address></st1:Street><span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place><st1:PlaceType><st1:place><st1:PlaceType><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-no-proof:
yes'>University</span></font></st1:PlaceType></st1:PlaceType><span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'> of </span><st1:PlaceName><st1:PlaceName><span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'>California</span></st1:PlaceName></st1:place></st1:PlaceName></st1:place><span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'> – </span><st1:City><st1:place><st1:City><st1:place><span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'>Riverside</span></st1:place></st1:City></st1:place></st1:City><span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:City><st1:place><st1:place><st1:City><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;mso-no-proof:yes'>Riverside</span></font></st1:City><span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'>, </span><st1:State><span style='mso-no-proof:yes'>CA</span></st1:State><span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'> </span><st1:PostalCode><span style='mso-no-proof:
yes'>92521-0323</span></st1:place></st1:City></st1:PostalCode></st1:place><span
style='mso-no-proof:yes'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;mso-no-proof:yes'>(951) 827-1384<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;mso-no-proof:yes'>(951) 827-3967 FAX<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt;mso-no-proof:yes'><a href="mailto:laurie.petty@ucr.edu">laurie.petty@ucr.edu</a></span><o:p></o:p></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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