Nathan L.K. Bierma
Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Calvin College
Grand Rapids, Michigan
nbierma [at] calvin.edu
ENGL 101
Professor Bierma
Journal Entry Assignments
Unless otherwise noted, journal entries must be at least 300 words each.
1. Explain the statement "Letters began as pictures" (Bierma and Sacks). Use two letters of the alphabet as examples.
2. Summarize and elaborate on one of the items in the "Key Ideas" compilation in the reader.
3. Schultze says Christian communicators are to "echo God's reality." Explain this statement.
4. Choose two vivid phrases or sentences from Debbie Blue's sermon "Glory Doesn't Shine..." and explain why you chose them.
5. Write about something that happened this week in the dorms or dining hall.
6. Write about what you miss the most about summer, or look forward to the most about fall or winter.
7. Read an opinion article by David Brooks or Thomas Friedman in the New York Times (via free registration or LexisNexis), and support or refute it.
8. Choose two clever phrases from Anne Lamott and explain why you chose them.
9. Support or dispute this student’s response last semester to Rick Reilly’s article on Casey Martin:
"Let me take the other side. Sometimes you just have to meet standards. I could have a learning disability that would make it hard for me to be a college professor, but I still desire greatly to teach at the college level, so should the college make special arrangements for me? Sometimes if you have a disability you just have to accept that you can’t do some things."
10. Quote two key statements from Zinsser and elaborate on them.
11. Choose an editorial or opinion article from Chimes and support or dispute it.
12. Summarize and agree or disagree with this quote from Calvin Seerveld: "You cannot teach wisdom, I believe, but wisdom is contagious; you can catch it."
13. Write an entry about your name, similar to James Lileks’ “Jim vs. James” essay. (This is only if you are NOT writing about your name for your personal essay. If you are writing about your name for your paper, write an entry responding to Lileks’ thoughts about his own name.)
14. Summarize Mark Twain’s essay, “My First Literary Venture,” and describe Twain based on how he writes. If you could meet him, what would you like to ask him and talk about?
15. Choose one article from this index (at Professor Bierma’s weblog). Write one paragraph of summary and another paragraph of analysis.
16. Choose a book review from Books&Culture magazine's Book of the Week archive. Write 200 words on what the reviewer says the book is about and 150 words on whether you'd like to read it--you don’t actually have to--and why.
17. React to this quote:
Waiting is not a very popular attitude. In fact, most people consider waiting a waste of time. Perhaps this is because the culture in which we live is basically saying, "Get going! Do something! Show you are able to make a difference! Don't just sit there and wait!" For many people, waiting is an awful desert between where they are and where they want to go. And people do not like such a place. They want to get out of it by doing something.
In our particular historical situation, waiting is even more difficult because we are so fearful. One of the most pervasive emotions in the atmosphere around us is fear. People are afraid - afraid of inner feelings, afraid of other people, and also afraid of the future. And fearful people have a hard time waiting.
-Henri Nouwen
18. Listen to this interview (see fifth segment) with a scholar who has studied Abraham Lincoln's writing and oratory. (You can check out headphones from ITC to listen to the file.) Answer three of these questions (click ahead to these time-markers):
4:45: Why were there doubts about whether Lincoln could excel as a presidential orator?
6:30: What does it mean that Lincoln "wrote for the ear"?
7:45: What did Lincoln's speaking voice sound like? Why does White say this is surprising to many people?
13:00: How many campaign speeches did Abraham Lincoln make in his two campaigns for presidency? Why this number?
13:30: What kinds of stylistic differences does White say there were between the first inaugural and the second inaugural?
15:40: When did Lincoln first use a phrase similar to his famous "by the people, of the people, and for the people?"
16:25: How different from modern-day inaugurals does the second inaugural sound to you?
19:25: Why does White say Lincoln's speeches have endured?
19. Write two follow-up questions to one of Steve Rushin’s answers in the assigned interview. How do you suppose he might answer them?
20. Choose two words. Look up their etymologies and histories in the Oxford English Dictionary. Include the language the OED gives for each word's origin, and at least two historical quotations for each word as provided by the OED.
21. Choose two vivid words and two vivid phrases from one of the assigned descriptive essays (Thoreau, Ackerman, Dillard, and Montville), and explain why you chose them.
22. Go to Professor Bierma’s golf blog. Play one of the courses he describes and keep track of your club selection. Write a hole-by-hole roundup of your club selection, score, and number of putts on each hole. Post at least two of your hole descriptions at the Comments feature on the golf blog.
23. Choose any entry option from the above list that you haven’t done yet.
24. Why does Louis Menand call Maya Lin a “reluctant memorialist”?
25. Why does Anne Lamott keep index cards?
26. Choose a Cecil Adam column from this list, and summarize the question and answer. Write bibliographical references for at least two of Adams’ sources.
27. Choose an article from www.aldaily.com, and write one paragraph of summary and one paragraph of analysis.
28. Write a 700-word humor essay that summarizes, and then gives a humorous explanation for, one of these science articles in the New York Times. Include at least one example each of exaggeration, understatement, reverse, and funny words (label the first instance of each technique with an E, U, R, or F in parentheses).
29. Choose a television show, then answer two questions about it from the Romanowski appendix.
30. Nancy Franklin's TV reviews in the New Yorker are always well-written. Read this archived revew or her current column and summarize her commentary on one program. If you haven't seen the show, write why you would like to watch it (or not) based on her review. If you have seen the show, write whether you agree or disagree with her comments about it.
31. Read this, and support or dispute this statement: “The Web has made our awareness of the world more geographical, not less.”
32. Summarize and react to this article by Julia Keller in the Chicago Tribune on surprise endings (find it in Lexis-Nexis). "Cmon, 'Baby' -- let's do the twist" February 6, 2005.
33. "NYPD Blue" came to an end last season. National Public Radio re-aired its interview with a New York City homicide detective who was a consultant to the show. The interview brings up a fascinating ethical question: is it ethical to lie to a suspect while you're interrogating them, if you have reason to believe the suspect is guilty? Write one paragraph explaining the legal distinction for what a detective is allowed to lie about, according to the interview, and another paragraph explaining why you would or would not ever lie to a supect you were interrogating.
Listen to the segment at this link that goes from 4:10 seconds to 6:30.
34. Write a congregational prayer that begins and ends with one metaphor for Christ. Include prayers for your church (or dorm), denomination (or college), government leaders, the poor and sick, those in sorrow and despair, and the mission of the worldwide church.
35. Write an adaptation of a prayer in the Worship Sourcebook. Include the page number of the prayer you are adapting.
36. Choose a Vital Worship feature story and write one paragraph of summary and one paragraph of analysis.
37. See this article on the new seminary chapel. Why was the seminary chapel renovated? What was wrong with the old one? What does it mean that "the mosaic behind the cross 'gave souvenirs'"? Describe some of the differences between the old seminary chapel and the new one. Go to the chapel and describe what it's like to see it in person.
38. Choose one of the stylistic elements discussed in class lecture (based on the LaRocque reading). Explain it and then write a paragraph that includes three examples of it.
39. Reflect on something that happened to you this week--in class, in the dorms, or during leisure time.
40. What does this article say is the purpose of gorilla funerals? See this. How long does the author say they have been going on? What does the author say about the theology (or lack thereof) behind this practice?
41. What do you think writer Eric Bentley means when he says, "Ours is the age of substitutes: Instead of language we have jargon; instead of principles, slogans; and instead of genuine ideas, bright suggestions."
42. Choose something you’ve read this week, either for another class or for pleasure, and write one paragraph of summary and one paragraph of analysis.
43. Choose your favorite author you’ve read in this class this semester. Explain your choice, using at least two quotes from the author.
44. Reflect on the paper from English 101 that has been the most useful to you. Explain your writing process for this paper and why the assignment was the most useful to you.
45. Choose any entry option from the above list that you haven’t done yet.