Department of English

To Community House Residents:

The audience will be Community House students with an upper limit of twelve, and will be held on Wednesdays from 6:00-9:00. The course will be offered in the Master's Apt, 284 Ward, and a light supper will precede each class session.

The focus of the course is *American* cities, with an emphasis on Philadelphia. The content of this course is consistent with the House theme this year of "City and Community," and will expose students to a study of the City as a rich, cultural resource, even as they grapple with understanding the City's problems and how they can make a contribution to solve these problems through civic participation, community service, and volunteerism. Although not about community service, this course will provide valuable and critically needed balance to the service agenda.

The course will combine some primary and secondary readings in the history of cities/Philadelphia; 19th and 20thc literary texts that have the city as subject/theme (work by Whitman, Dreiser, Wharton, James, Eliot, Bellow, Wright for a few examples); paintings and photographs (e.g., work by the Ashcan group, Riis and Paul Strand, Edward Hopper, Red Grooms); and walking tours of Philadelphia. Requirements will likely include several short papers; an edited journal; and an oral report.

As an English 016 course, it will satisfy degree requirements in each of the four undergraduate schools in different ways. Here is a quick run down:

College: DISTRIBUTION course for Arts and Letters (not General Requirement) Engineering: Humanities Wharton: Language, Arts, and Culture Nursing: Arts and Letters

NOTE that this is NOT a "Writing About" course and will therefore NOT satisfy anyone's Writing Requirement.

Please check with your own School advisors if you have any further questions regarding how an English 016 course will satisfy requirements.

Now, here's what it will take to get a seat in this course:

1. Write a brief, one paragraph statement on: "Why I want to take this course" 2. Submit this statement via email to: Dr. Peter Conn 3. Submission deadline: Monday, 11/8

You will be notified by Friday 11/12 if you have been selected for this course. If selected, WE WILL MANAGE YOUR ENROLLMENT INTO THIS COURSE. You will NOT have to worry about pre-registering for it.