Essay Assignment #4: 

* RESEARCH on HIV/AIDS & CREATIVE ESSAY SMASH 

w/ three page paper on process

Timeline: 

• Nov. 15th: Two paragraph proposal due - explaining what you plan to research and how you intend to approach your creative essay smash (rap song? prose reading? poem? tv spot? monologue? etc.).

• Nov. 20th: Drafts of Essay Smash prose due - approximately 100 words (along with all research notes and both sources used); you must be prepared to discuss how you used your research to form your performative prose piece and how you plan to perform your piece. BRING 4 COPIES OF YOUR DRAFT TO CLASS!!! 

• THURSDAY, Nov. 30: Mandatory performance of your prose piece at the Essay Smash (you must be able to perform or read your piece WITHOUT looking at paper; you must have your piece memorized!).

• Dec. 11th: Final Papers due.

This paper assignment choice requires that you supplement your thoughts with a minimum of two published sources.  For the Essay Smash, you will be doing research on a particular sub-topic of your choice within one of the larger topics listed below: 

1. American teenage perceptions of HIV/AIDS and the consequences of those perceptions.

2. The effects of HIV/AIDS on American teenagers.

Your first step will be to write a proposal consisting of at least two full paragraphs. Your first paragraph should address what topic (and specific focus within that topic) you will be researching, as well as where you intend to look for information on your topic (what resources do you anticipate utilizing to do your research and why?). Your second paragraph should address how you intend to present your research at the Essay Smash. Will you write and perform a rap song? Or perform/sing another type of song? Will you write and read a poem? Will you do a fake live TV spot (or commercial)? A monologue (kind of like a one-person play, but very, very short)?

In other words, whatever larger topic you choose from above, you will then narrow down your topic even further, and do some research on it. So if, for example, you decide to research American teenage perception of HIV/AIDS and the consequences of those perceptions, you might then decide that you are specifically interested in young black teenage girls and what messages they are or are not receiving about HIV/AIDS through the media, the schools, and/or their own families and in their own communities. What are young black women learning (or not learning) about the HIV/AIDS virus? What misperceptions might they have? What myths or truths are circulating in the black community and making its way into the minds of young black women? And ultimately, what are the consequences to those young black women, ages 13-19 years of age? Your specific focus could be on any ethnic group (Latinos, Asians, American Indians, etc.) or any specific gender, sexual orientation, or focus on teenagers within any particular geographical area (in Chicago or in a certain state, for example). You could focus on groups that lie within a particular class or economic status: low income, homeless teens, or those who grow up within wealthy homes, for example. 

Once you've done your research and have answered questions about your particular focus within your larger chosen topic (SAVING ALL YOUR RESEARCH, NOTES, AND SOURCE MATERIALS), you will then create your first draft for the Essay Smash: ~ 100 words of a rap song, or a poem, or a monologue, or a fake TV spot, or whatever creative textual material you plan to deliver at the Essay Smash.

GUIDELINES FOR ESSAY SMASH: Whatever you do (and you could pretty much do anything you want), WORDS MUST COME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH. You could sign your prose, but words must still come out of your mouth. Your piece must be performative, it must reflect the research you have done, and your prose/song/poem (etc.) must demonstrate your understanding and knowledge of your topic. 

"On the Outskirts of Ignorance" a.k.a. "AIDS in Black America: I’m Liftin’ Your Skirts" by Hip Hop Artist, Reggie Legend, which we will be reading and discussing in class, is an EXCELLENT example of something that could be performed in this Essay Smash; it certainly meets all of the above criteria (except that this piece is approximately 500 words long, and your piece should only be around 100 words long). It is obvious, for example, from the narrative (poem/rap) that Legend has certainly done his research, as he quotes statistics, makes reference to government policies, etc. It is also obvious that he has a full understanding of his topic (and it is clear, without him having to tell us, what his topic is . . . who he is talking about and why).   

The Essay Smash is on Thursday, November 30th - (time TBD).  IF YOU CHOOSE THIS ASSIGNMENT, because you would be required to attend the Essay Smash, which is on a non-class day, you will be excused from class on Wednesday, November 29th. Furthermore, for those who choose this assignment, you will also be competing in the Essay Smash for a cash prize (last year, one of my students won first place in a similar essay contest, by the way, and won a cash prize). 

NOTE: If you cannot commit to being at the Essay Smash on Thursday, November 30th DO NOT choose this essay assignment! ALSO: If you do choose this topic and are NOT present at the Essay Smash to deliver your prose, you will then be required to write the full six page paper instead (as described below).

By December 11th, you will turn in to me a two page final assessment about the process of your research and how you used your research to translate that into a creative presentation (for the Essay Smash).