{"id":1457,"date":"2018-12-05T23:04:24","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T23:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-the-words\/?page_id=1457"},"modified":"2024-08-05T21:08:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-05T21:08:55","slug":"fantastic-fall-capstones","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/the-words-december-2018\/fantastic-fall-capstones\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantastic Fall Capstones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Harrington \u201919<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Capstone<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a senior English major completing their capstone must deliver constant heaving sighs. The capstone is designed to be a culmination of each student\u2019s academic career, and generally takes the form of a semester-long independent project with consistent workshopping and advice from classmates and a professor. This semester, the department was lucky to have Professor Marlon James and Professor Wang Ping offering creative writing capstone opportunities, and Professor James Dawes instructing the literature capstone class.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor James\u2019 creative writing capstone is an exercise in ambition titled \u201cFifteen Weeks to the Novel.\u201d He aims to instruct students in writing 50,000 words or more over the course of the semester. Professor James expected students to begin the \u201cAdvanced Writers Workshop\u201d with a story idea and summary so that all of class time \u201cwill be spent reading and writing.\u201d Ultimately, the intention of the creative writing capstone is to \u201cpresent new and revised work, critique and encourage, and more than anything else work towards that moment where all that\u2019s left to write is THE END.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor Wang\u2019s \u201cProse Poems and Chapbooks\u201d is a mixed class with two capstone students. The workshop class is designed to \u201cfocus on the play and risk of language and consciousness through the form and content of prose poetry,\u201d with an end goal of producing a manuscript for a 15-25 page chapbook as well as a physical book. Professor Wang says \u201ceveryone is writing beautifully and powerfully,\u201d and believes that renowned poet <\/span>Gary Snyder\u2019s October visit<\/span><\/a> \u201cpushed them to a higher level.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the literature capstone, there are three main goals: \u201cto provide students with the opportunity to develop an original research project that reflects their deepest aesthetic interests and ethical commitments,\u201d \u201cto provide instruction in advanced methods of research by studying influential critical approaches from the early twentieth century to the present,\u201d and \u201cto train students to become advocates of their research agenda.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"FoR,<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mari Riffle \u201919 is completing her capstone in literature this semester with a project that examines the \u201cevolution of heroes in fantasy fiction over time.\u201d To do so, Riffle looks at four novels: J. R. R. Tolkien\u2019s 1954 <\/span>The Fellowship of the Ring<\/span><\/i>, Diana Wynne Jones\u2019s 1986 <\/span>Howl\u2019s Moving Castle<\/span><\/i>, N. K. Jemisin\u2019s 2010 <\/span>The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms<\/span><\/i>, and Sarah Rees Brennan\u2019s 2017 <\/span>In Other Lands<\/span><\/i>. Based on Tolkien\u2019s fantasy legacy, Riffle establishes the \u201cTolkienian heroic model,\u201d and holds the protagonists of each of her case studies up to this mold. \u201cInterestingly,\u201d she says. \u201cThe one trait that never changes is that the hero comes from obscurity.\u201d Though fantasy heroes have consistently come from any<\/span>where<\/span><\/i>, Riffle says the trends are changing to allow heroes to also be any<\/span>one<\/span><\/i>, regardless of race, gender, or sexuality. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riffle said that the large amount of feedback each student received in the class helped her concretize her ideas and solidify what she wanted to say. From the get-go, she said, Professor Dawes wanted to establish the class as a cohort of colleagues; a mission that was ultimately met with success. Riffle says that her classmates have \u201cbecome colleagues and friends,\u201d and that she \u201creally respects and values critiques given to [her] by classmates.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To hear about the rest of the capstone projects and support the ambitious, capable students completing them, be sure to attend the capstone presentations on Tuesday, December 11 and Wednesday, December 12 from 4:45-6:30 PM in Library Room 309. <\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Harrington \u201919 It is a truth universally acknowledged that a senior English major completing their capstone must deliver constant heaving sighs. The capstone is designed to be a culmination of each student\u2019s academic career, and generally takes the form of a semester-long independent project with consistent workshopping and advice from classmates and a professor. […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":0,"parent":1447,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1457","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7629,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1457\/revisions\/7629"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}