FINAL WEEK

This Monday we will have our final class at my home, where we can eat and spend some “quality time.” We will meet in the parking lot of the Tranquada Student Center at 6:20 to carpool over there. If you can’t leave that early, join us at the regular time. I have emailed the address to you just in case.

We will eat; talk about our final Reflection Essay assignment; review (and or assemble) our website; and complete course evaluations.

Here are the specifics for the final course website:

Each of you is now a “Contributor” to the final project site. (If not, confirm the invitation and finalize the process.) This will let you compose a “New Post” but not “Publish” it. The post must first be approved by me. We will use this system to pass on your content to me for posting to the appropriate page of the website.

To do that, write up your content for the final website.  You can then create a “New Post.”  You don’t have to do one post for each individual write-up; you can just do one but specify which subpage it goes to.

To pass on audio clips and photographs it will be best for you to send them as attachments via email.  Specify where the audio clip goes.  The photo will be for the bio section.

Each of you will write up selections from your interview(s) as we determined in class.  For those who were not there, the goal is to see your interview represented in about 4-5 places.  There are three ways to write up a selection:

1. Using 75-250 words, write a brief statement integrating quotes (similarly to the Todd Moye book) which addresses the topic/theme of the subpage.  You should use the subject’s first and last name for the first mention, and then his last name for subsequent mentions.  You should use PAST TENSE where appropriate. OR
2. In addition to the 75-250 words, conclude with a block quote from the interview.  In this case the block quote further amplifies what is discussed in your writing. OR
3. In addition to the 75-250 words, add an audio clip which further illustrates what you wrote about.  In this case you own writing also sets-up the audio clip.

Everyone will write up a brief biography for the “Bio” page.  It should have their name, birth year and place, where they are from, their branch of service, and years of service.  There can also be other info they would want shared.  Then put the bibliographic citation of the interview (Interview by Tomás Summers Sandoval, October 12, 2011, Claremont, CA.)

You should each write up a bio of yourself.  This should have your name, hometown, major and college, and year of graduation.

That should cover it.  Our goal is to get as much of this done by class time as is possible.

Back from the break!

We meet in the IT computer classroom tonight. The ITS building at Pomona is right next to our own classroom building. When you enter from the courtyard side you turn to the left at the reception desk and go all the way down the hallway.

Bring some drafts of some of the writing you are preparing. We’ll discuss it and also review what we will do technologically to finalize and post it.

See you tonight!

Week 12

We’ll read and discuss to short digital readings on Monday. They help us round out some of the issues inspired by our research, namely “memory.” Both are provided to you in the password-protected page (“DR”) of our blog. If you do not remember the password send me an email.

Your other task for this week is to listen (re-listen?) to an interview and identify themes or topical arenas we can use to organize our website presentation. We will finalize these on Monday, giving us a clear path to follow for the last few weeks.

Be healthy and be good.

Week 11

You have two assignments for Monday, November 14th.  First, you should finish reading the book Gods Go Begging by Alfredo Véa.  Second, you are to write a blog post relating to the book, a 500-700 word review.  You can structure this assignment however you like, although I would encourage you to examine and analyze a central theme of the text.  In our discussions, we can think about how we represent that theme in our own analysis of an oral history.

We will discuss the book in class, as well as watch/listen to two media sources providing us a richer sense of the context shaping veteran’s return home.

I will begin forwarding veteran contact information to you in the days ahead.  In the meantime, establish contact with your partner and work out available times for next week and the week after.

Week 09/10

We will not meet on Monday night, October 31st. I hope you have a happy Halloween.

On Monday, November 7th we will meet to discuss our next reading assignment, the novel Gods Go Begging by Alfredo Véa. The book is a powerful and engaging story of a Chicano lawyer in San Francisco grappling with the memories of Vietnam when a case surprisingly collapses the distance between the past and present.

This week we will read the first seven chapters of the book. You do not have a writing/blogging assignment on the reading until we are done reading the book (on November 14th).

____________________

The Next Interview
Each of the teams will be given their next interviewee in the week ahead. Once you have the contact information, you should contact your interviewee to set up a time. In the meantime, you should meet with your partner and discuss the following:

• What worked well in your first interview?
• What could have been better?
• How will you apply what you have each learned?
• How will you work together to keep the conversation going?
• How will you create room for each of you to take the lead?

Week 07/08

We return from the break next Monday to begin our discussion of the role of the oral historian after the interview. In particular, we will start thinking about how we (as historians) will take analytical responsibility for presenting the past while integrating the oral histories we have recorded into accessible narratives.

To guide our discussion we have our reading assignment, the prologue and first chapter of the book Freedom Flyers by J. Todd Moye. Following the prompt described on the Schedule, you are responsible for writing Reading Post 5 before our discussion.

The set of issues we are about to confront are varied. They involve the ethics of the interview process, including the responsibility we have to our narrators’ stories. They also involve finding a balance between representation and interpretation. Inherently, we are also confronting the specter of memory, both individual and collective.

In 1982, the U.S. collective memory of the war was forever rewritten by the opening of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The following video from the mid-1980s is dated but, importantly, communicates some of the significance of that event.

Week 06

This is will be something of an off-week in terms of reading and our typical class format.  By Monday, about half or so will have conducted their first interview with the others scheduled in the ensuing days, so this will be a time for us to debrief, share, and build new knowledge from experience.

Whether or not you have completed that first interview, you have a Reflection Post to write.  The Schedule tells you to “write Reflection Post 2 telling us the story of your first oral history interview.  Do not use the subject’s name but please do share your own experience (thoughts, feelings, practice), including the before, during, and after.”  No matter where you are in that stage you should be working on this reflection exercise.

As a tool for learning, reflection is vitally important.  It isn’t just about exploring your feelings (fears, concerns, hopes) incited by the oral interview process, but it is also a space for you to make the vital connections between our course content, our interview process, and our class process of learning through discussion.  In other words, this reflection process is the first place where your book, oral interview, and seminar will be in dialogue with one another.

We will build our own collective knowledge via these reflections and other sources in our class meeting on Monday.  We will also chart out how we “finish” an interview for final preservation.

See you then!

Week 05

This week we will have a special class at Rose Hills Theater where we will welcome filmmaker John J. Valadez to campus. Beginning at 7:00, we will screen his award-winning documentary “The Longoria Affair” for the campus community. Following the film we will ave a chance to have a Q & A with Mr. Valadez.

For more information on the film, visit the website.

Week 04

We have another special guest this week, Mr. Walter Mendoza. Walter immigrated from Nicaragua when he was 11, and came of age in Los Angeles of the 1960s. He attended and graduated from Salesian High School, an all-boys Catholic School. He came from a family who, in his words, “always served.” And so, a couple of years out of high school–believing he would be drafted anyway–he enlisted in the U.S. Army. As part of his service, he went to Vietnam.

He’ll join us for the first hour of class for a Q&A session and to tell some stories from his experiences. Feel free to prepare any questions for him in advance.

After our guest, we’ll have a seminar discussion on the readings, the remainder of the book Vietnam Veteranos. As described on the Schedule you also have a “Reading Post” to prepare in advance of our discussion.

Have a great week!

Week 03

We’ll have a special guest join us for class on Monday–Luis Castellanos, a Readjustment Counselor from the San Bernardino Vet Center. In addition to being a professional working with veteran’s counseling needs, Mr. Castellanos is also a veteran himself. He’ll join us for the first hour of class for a Q&A session. Feel free to prepare any questions for him.

After our guest, we’ll have a seminar discussion on the readings, chapters 1-4 in the book Vietnam Veteranos. We’ll finish our class by going through the “Advice and Reminders” handout from last time.

Have a great week and we’ll see you soon…In the meantime, here is a clip from the documentary “As Long As I Remember: American Veteranos” (by Laura Varela).