For many writers, musicians, and artists the creative act takes root in a wound. This wound regularly varies in size, cause, diagnosis, and treatment. It can be vast in scope or long-lasting in its impact, such as a grave historical injustice visited on one’s ancestors. Or, the wound can be much more immediate to the writer — her or his grappling with the loss of a loved one, navigating past romantic ills, or experiencing physical or mental illness to list a few. In our English 100 course, Writing as Metamorphosis, we will encounter a variety of texts, songs, works of visual art, and films that address and very often strive to redress wounds of both historical and psychological interests. Along the way, we’ll consider the ways in which history and memory are in conversation with the present: how they intersect, mirror, and contrast one another on and beyond the page. We’ll explore questions of agency and complicity in writing and storytelling. This course will be a fusion of self-directed learning and deep communal integration whereby as writers we will strive towards empowering one other both critically and kindly. The end-goal for us is to cultivate a new (or renewed) sense of purpose in our writing. Our course includes a final project (but neither a final exam nor mid-term!) and quizzes will be given on occasion. Our designation as an English course means we will learn and build onto iterative composition strategies and revision practices. There to help us will be a number of investigation pieces, reflections, and group activities (often of a creative nature) that are designed to enliven our readings, discussions, and lectures. In addition to our final project, we will undertake two formal papers. Lastly, we will carve out time throughout semester for exploring and developing constructive methods to enrich our writing skills and reading comprehension through student-led creative writing workshops using our very own work as a means for analysis and discussion. Course texts will be made accessible to you digitally via Laulima and/or Google Drive.