Welcome to American Bridges and Borders!

Let’s start with a quick quiz: how many of you know what the motto of the United States is? . . . . . . . If any of you correctly said e pluribus unum then you’re the big winner (I’ll bring you in a cookie as a prize).  Next quiz question: how many of you can translate e pluribus unum? .  .  .  .  .  .  . If you said it’s Latin for “out of many, one,” then you’re definitely going to a “good college,” will drive a fancy car some day, vacation in exotic locales, and – in general – are set for life (you also get a second cookie).

Why are we talking about Latin, of all things, the first day of the school year in an English class?  Well, it’s because unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 2 years (or holed up in your parent’s basement playing “Fortnite”), you’ve no doubt heard about how divided we are as a country right now.  Writers from all across the political spectrum seem to be latching onto the theory that now – 2018 – is as divided as we’ve ever been as a country, and many are arguing that the polarization will only get worse.  If there’s ever been a time to test the motto that we are, in fact, “one country out of many” then this is the time to test that theory.  But is it true that we’re living in a divided country right now?  Aren’t there shared values that we can agree upon as Americans?   

In order to explore the last two questions above we’ll take a thematic approach to our work this year.  Rather than calling this course “313” (or the equally lame “323” second semester), we’ll call this course “American Bridges and Borders,” and our guiding questions for the year will be: “What are the literal and figurative bridges that unite us as Americans?  What the literal and figurative borders that divide us as Americans?” 

The description above might sound more like a social studies or political science course description, but the English classroom is the perfect place to explore these questions because the study of literature is the study of different voices and stories, and it’s in the study of voices and stories that we’ll explore the questions of what unites us and divides us as Americans.  In addition to literature, we’ll study current events and look for common threads across these events and the literature we’re studying.  There may be no more important time in our country’s history than today to become a better reader, writer, thinker, speaker and listener.  These are the core skills of an English class, and it’s my hope that you’ll also see that these are the core skills for being a thoughtful participant in our democracy.  Have fun exploring America’s “Bridges” and “Borders” this year!