Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Writing 122 focuses on the study and practice of writing and rhetoric as inquiry− that is, students will use writing and rhetorical concepts such as purpose, audience, and context to pose and investigate problems that are meaningful in their lives and communities, explore open questions, and/or examine complex tensions. This is first and foremost a composition course and we will be doing a significant amount of writing and reading throughout the entire quarter. The theme for this particular course is animals; what is the definition of that generalized term and how do human beings daily make use of it? Where do animals and humans mix and co-exist and what are the consequences of that mixing? To help find out we’ll be reading Scott Carrier’s essay collection Running after antelope, a book that features the author as intimate subject and authority. Much of Carrier’s work has a somewhat comical bent to it, although we will discuss how much of this humor might actually be masking more serious issues/perspectives, especially with regards to his goal of running down a pronghorn antelope.