An intensive, accelerated course satisfying concurrently the requirements of the UC Entry Level Writing Requirement and the first half of Reading and Composition. Readings will include imaginative, expository and argumentative texts representative of the range of those encountered in the undergraduate curriculum and will feature authors from diverse social and cultural backgrounds and perspectives. Instruction in writing a range of discourse forms and in the revision of papers.

Welcome to College Writing R1A! This is an accelerated 6-unit course that fulfills the Subject A and the first half of the Reading and Composition requirements. Our subject for this course has been sparked by recent events: in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, it appears that young people have been disproportionately negatively affected. Rates of depression and anxiety seem to be soaring. This semester we will be exploring these questions (and other questions hopefully raised by you): what are the factors that place young people at risk? What does “resilience” look like? And what do young people need from society and its institutions in order to thrive? Our inquiry will begin with readings from authors who have asked these questions in different genres. Jason Reynolds’s award-winning spoken word novel Long Way Down takes a searing close up look at the calamitous effects of gun violence on a young teen who has lost his brother. The recent novel The Marrow Thieves, by Cherie Dimaline, transports us to a fictional world in the future, when society has collapsed, and the natural world is in crisis. A small band of people has taken to hiding for their own protection, including a young teen and his companions. They are being hunted, for reasons we will discover. Finally, Ruthanne Lum McCunn’s acclaimed historical novel Thousand Pieces of Gold immerses us into the true 19th-century story of a young girl who is kidnapped from her home in China, trafficked to the US, and taken to a mining camp in Idaho, where she wins her independence and makes her own life. We will have the remarkable opportunity to speak with the author herself about her book, as she has generously agreed to visit our class. In our work this semester, our class will undertake something new. We will be participating in a larger campus initiative---the UC Berkeley Undergraduate Discovery Experience. This is its exciting core idea: “Developing the capacity to inquire, discover, and create is the core purpose of an undergraduate education.” Our work this fall will center on these endeavors: Inquire. Discover. Create. You will write at least 40 pages over the course of the semester, in various forms--in-class writing, creative pieces, short one-page pieces and longer essays of 4-6 pages, culminating at the end of the semester in a polished portfolio of your written work. We will be guided by what the university says here: “The aim of 1A is to improve the student's ability to write clearly, effectively, and accurately about subjects of intellectual complexity, on the assumption that such writing - and the kinds of thinking that make such writing possible - is both a practical necessity for college students and a significant step in the life of the mind generally. Reading and composition requirements are not general education hurdles, but introductions to the life of the mind, to university discourse, and to the life of an educated citizen and human being.” I hope that in this class you will discover and strengthen your own voice as a writer. My goal is to help you develop as a critical and analytical reader, and a clear and expressive writer with a strong, engaged, confident and individual voice. I hope this will be an exciting journey for all of us, and I look forward to our work together! Required texts: Jason Reynolds, Long Way Down (*not* the graphic novel version) Ruthanne Lum McCunn, Thousand Pieces of Gold Cherie Dimaline, The Marrow Thieves

Open to students who have not fulfilled the Entry Level Writing Requirement.

Requisites

• Only open to students who have not completed the ELWR.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills