Jake Marmer to host Baraka SloPo mini-course (starting 5/6/19)
“SloPo” is, as you know, the nickname ModPo’ers have given to our “off season”—which describes anything that happens in the always-open ModPo site other than during the 10 weeks each autumn (early September—mid-November) when we move through the course all together.
Our 2019 SloPo season of offerings continues now with a mini-course convened by beloved ModPo TA Jake Marmer. It will begin on May 6 and end on May 27
“Beautiful has nothing to do with it, but it is,” wrote Amiri Baraka about his jazz icon, John Coltrane. That same sort of gritty, complex, lyrical, streetwise beauty is central Baraka’s own ground-breaking work, which we will collectively explore in the upcoming SloPo course. A central figure in the Beat movement and co-founder of the Black Arts collective, Baraka (aka Leroi Jones) was a poet, writer, dramatist, music critic, and political activist. His electrifying performances gained him comparisons to James Brown. We’ll close-read Baraka’s poems, watch/listen to live recordings, and will even check out some of his illuminating jazz criticism. Having undergone through a number of intense personal transformations, Baraka had his share of controversy, and some of his poetry his poetry reflects that. Together, we’ll find ways to encounter Baraka’s work in all of its complexities.
If you would like to receive email updates about Jake’s course, please drop us a line at modpo@writing.upenn.edu using your preferred email address. To see Jake’s introductory post about Baraka and the course, visit this thread in the SloPo discussion forum.
A reminder: ModPo updates and upcoming schedules are always posted here: modpo.org
Another reminder: you are welcome to visit us at the Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk in Philadelphia, any time. We love showing ModPo people around the actual house that ModPo calls home.
