NATHANIEL WASHINGTON
WRITING PORTFOLIO
INTRODUCTION TO WRITING THEORY
September 2016
This course is the first requirement for the writing practices minor at The University of Denver.Â
In it we discussed the history of literacy and orality. We examined how literacy has evolved into something multimodal and multidimensional, how, in a sense, there's been a return back to orality with the rise of digital culture. The course culminated with a project on "classics," specifically focusing on what makes a classic and how/why they should be taught in schools.
CREATIVE WRITING: FICTION
September 2016
This was a fiction writing course focused specifically on short story writing. We read from primarily American writers. Composed a few short stories and numerous exercises intended to push our boundaries. Novels read for the class ranged in styles from magical realism, to experimental, to more traditional: Shirley Jackson, Jean Rhys, Mairead Case, Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez, and Lily K. Hoang.
TOPICS IN WRITING THEORY
January, 2017
This course was a continuation of the writing practices coursework. It focused primarily on digital literacy and its effect on fostering communities and movements. We examined the Black Lives Matter Movement and the affordances that different media enable. The course culminated with the formulation of "a movement" which we presented on different social media platforms.
CREATIVE WRITING: POETRY
January 2017
As a creative writing workshop course we mainly focused on generating and reviewing content. We reviewed poetics and read works by H.G., Yusef Komunyaka and Paul Celan. Much of the course focused on imagism and culminated in the compilation of a portfolio of works written during the course (see The Mirror is a Well).
WRITING CAPSTONE
March, 2017
(The course for which this portfolio was created) As the culmination of the writing practices minor much of this course is dedicated to examining the affordances of digital media and presenting a sampling of our own works in an online portfolio.