tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211Mon, 29 Jun 2026 07:55:26 +0000http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Unknown)Blogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-1674446251665226902Tue, 12 Jan 2016 19:00:00 +00002016-01-12T13:39:14.383-06:00 Here’s one answer, taken from Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory: An Introduction 25th Anniversary Edition. (Malden, UK: Blackwell Pub, 2008) (that's Eagleton on the left).  “ . . . by and large people term ‘literature’ writing which they think is good. . . . It is not that writing has to be ‘fine’ to be literary, but that it has to be of the kind that is judged http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2016/01/what-is-literature-eagletons-answer.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-9030679244182171695Thu, 07 Jan 2016 23:09:00 +00002016-01-12T15:23:03.046-06:001. Read: "Addicted to Distraction" by Tony Schwartz. Due: Before class, January 12. 2. Read Chapters 1 and 2 of Jane Eyre. Due: Before class, January 14.http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2016/01/reading-assignments.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-4781736119349312558Thu, 07 Jan 2016 23:06:00 +00002016-01-07T17:07:00.202-06:00 Original sin and expulsion from the Garden of Eden" by Giovanni  Are there any unforgivable sins in literature? Click here for an answer--two, actually--from today's New York Times.http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2016/01/unforgivable.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-8168570824175955621Thu, 07 Jan 2016 23:02:00 +00002016-01-07T17:02:30.155-06:00 Hum 2413:  Responding to Literature Instructor:  Dr. Steve Benton                                                     &http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2016/01/spring-2016-syllabus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-7078232748489964300Wed, 06 Jan 2016 23:06:00 +00002016-01-07T17:15:05.073-06:00 General Education Learning Outcomes: 1.  Communication: Students demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively in multiple contexts. 2.  Intellectual Skills: Students demonstrate the ability to comprehend and process concepts, to establish relationships within and among disciplines, and to interpret and evaluate information for knowledge-building and decision-making. 3. http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2016/01/university-policies-for-responding-to.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-2059318019228421498Thu, 24 Oct 2013 17:11:00 +00002013-10-24T13:05:57.993-05:00 How have men dealt with changing identity expectations associated with the growth of the service economy?http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/10/from-field-to-factory-to-help-desk.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-5621353770998819920Thu, 24 Oct 2013 16:55:00 +00002013-10-24T12:47:01.074-05:00 By Dillon Darnell It caught my eye walked by - dead set on forward motion threw a wrench in my engine and now I’m in this moment frozen in time... now unthawed by my young thoughts watch as I open my mind this picture taken had been in a place that isn’t safe on the refrigerator this magnet had in the pages of many statements bills, the mortgage payment, it sort of made it over http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-literary-response-to-mark-on-wall.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-4875613496876284631Thu, 24 Oct 2013 15:07:00 +00002013-10-24T13:05:57.994-05:00Click here and here to learn more.http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/10/white-flight-is-real-thing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-8732278362633882906Tue, 22 Oct 2013 15:42:00 +00002013-10-24T13:06:30.209-05:00 According to David Comer Kidd and Emanuele Castano of The New School for Social Research :  yes. Click here to get the New York Times's take on these findings. Here's a summary of Kidd and Castano's article “Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind” (published online October 3, 2013; in print:  18 October 2013: Vol 342 no 6156, pp. http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/10/literature-can-make-you-more.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-8641592735612945236Thu, 03 Oct 2013 17:30:00 +00002016-01-07T17:17:47.308-06:00 Submission Guidelines Unless I notify you otherwise, each major writing assignment in this class should be submitted in two forms: a) in e-mail form (pasted in to the body of an e-mail--not included as an attachment) sent to the  instructor’s e-mail address (sbenton@ecok.edu) before class on the due date; and b)  in hard-copy form—given to the instructor at the start of class. Any http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/10/submission-guidelines.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-6681345804986127334Thu, 26 Sep 2013 17:30:00 +00002013-10-01T10:54:36.959-05:00 http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-r2l-theme-song.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-2673571956559621071Wed, 04 Sep 2013 21:00:00 +00002013-09-05T13:53:19.151-05:00As I travel on this territorial, terrifying, tool of transportation I often wonder Does this sea of faces ever wave? Is that a person I see, or just a number? On some government census, will we ever come to our senses? Wake up! That wallet you just picked from his pocket belongs to a father That could be your dad struggling to provide before the city cuts off the water Now when you open up that http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/09/humble-bus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-6792052255379789181Tue, 03 Sep 2013 19:00:00 +00002013-09-05T11:54:46.095-05:00 At the beginning of class on Tuesday, September 3rd, students who read every word of the ideological analysis of "On this bus" (the homework assignment) were asked to take five minutes to comment on it.  Students who did not read every word of the homework assignment were asked to begin reading it.  After this writing assignment was collected, Dr. Benton informed students that if they http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/09/ideological-analysis-on-shallow-hal-bus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-2308869847755028992Sat, 31 Aug 2013 20:40:00 +00002013-09-03T12:11:43.405-05:00 wow it is strange to think a poem so short is praised by all a pleasant surprise --Christian Capraro http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/08/literary-response-to-on-this-bus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-7099060528484158686Thu, 29 Aug 2013 18:45:00 +00002013-09-05T11:55:41.191-05:00At the beginning of class on Thursday, August 29th, students who did the homework assignment (read the Aesthetic Analysis) took 5 minutes to summarize it and comment on its characteristics.  Students who did not do the homework assignment were asked to explain why and then to begin reading it. After these responses were collected, the class was separated into five groups.  Dr. Bentonhttp://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/08/aesthetic-analysis-and-literary-response.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-5745300422386100792Thu, 29 Aug 2013 17:40:00 +00002013-08-29T12:40:00.586-05:00 Masaccio, Brancacci Chapel, 1426 Genesis 3:7 New Living Translation (2007) At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves. GOD’S WORD Translation (1995) Then their eyes were opened, and they both realized that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made clothes for themselves. http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-this-bus-literary-response-to-other.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-8099508711819452696Thu, 29 Aug 2013 17:35:00 +00002013-08-29T12:51:18.671-05:00"In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough. http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2010/08/in-station-of-metro-slide-show.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-7620866329453503541Thu, 29 Aug 2013 17:30:00 +00002013-08-29T12:30:01.907-05:00Behold: the closing scene to Star Wars (1977) directed by George Lucas .  And then watch this clip from Triumph of the Will (1935), a Nazi propaganda film directed by Leni Riefenstahl.    Anything look familiar? Just to reinforce the point, check out this mash-up of the two clips. Why film the triumph of Luke Skywalker in a way that calls to mind the triumph of that other http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/08/stars-wars-responds-to-triumph-of-will.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-402651777678882609Tue, 27 Aug 2013 18:45:00 +00002013-08-29T11:00:54.484-05:00 "Reading the Newspaper" (1980) by Fyodor Bronnikov Tuesday's class started off with an opportunity for students to earn up to five points on their final grade by writing press releases for class over the course of the semester. Dr. Benton handed out an example of a press release and explained that these press releases will be posted on the course website (where you're reading this!). http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/08/five-responses-and-three-pigs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-7547234123431829851Tue, 27 Aug 2013 17:30:00 +00002013-08-27T14:16:19.779-05:00 At the beginning of Thursday's class, Dr. Benton distributed copies of the responses that students had written to the poem "On This Bus" by Ric Masten, which they had been given on the first day of class. After marking their favorite responses, students commented on the qualities embodied in those responses.  Some of the answers included:  "short and sweet," "unique," "honest," "http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2013/08/what-are-we-in-responding-to-literature.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-8772388412354141819Thu, 22 Aug 2013 18:45:00 +00002013-08-23T10:18:15.200-05:00 Here’s one answer, taken from Terry Eagleton's How to Read a Poem. (Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2007).  "... critics tend to assume, like almost everyone else on the planet, that the imagination is an unequivocally positive faculty, which is far from the case." (23) "If only I could know what it was like to be you, I would cease to be so brutal to you, or come to your aid whenhttp://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2010/08/does-literature-make-readers-more.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-5665395915550599419Fri, 03 Sep 2010 16:55:00 +00002013-09-03T11:03:04.770-05:00 http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2010/09/star-wars-cinematic-response-to-other.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-7263902482155089775Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:20:00 +00002013-09-03T11:01:09.524-05:00I. stark naked on the bus everyone’s clothes at my feet I felt like a god II. stark naked on the bus our sweaty uniforms our scratchy bed I felt like god then the band director opened the door III. we’re all nekkid under our clothes he told the exiting passengers and the scowling driver directing him to the officer holding out the blanket for him. IV. my god, my god why hast thou put me on a http://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2010/09/six-ways-of-looking-back-at-on-this-bus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-5983131179404043519Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:15:00 +00002013-09-03T10:59:00.557-05:00we choose our seats cover our asses plot our first impressions secure our self-protections and damn it just occurred to me everyone in this class is a freakin’ poser except mehttp://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2010/09/first-day-poet-by-jim-benton.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1176458313324481211.post-7024410071498230209Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:50:00 +00002013-09-03T10:58:27.816-05:00Dancing Naked on the Bus: Ya Gotta Love It             I love it when Ric Masten socks me and every other reader right in the kisser with the notion that we are all stark naked.  Period.  Well, not exactly -- he doesn’t use periods.  Or capital letters or sesquipedalianisms.   “That’s all?” we ask,  “That’s thehttp://bentonseculit.blogspot.com/2010/08/personal-essay-response-to-on-this-bus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Unknown)14