Module 6: Modeling Utopias: The Ethics of Building Environments

In this module you will:

• think about the way your decisions about writing extend to publishing and friendship
• brainstorm a set of values which can drive your art-making practice and professional choices

Instructions:

• Here I want to argue that the values behind your decision making (design choices and professional choices) should be explicit and should include ethics in some way. To use an architectural analogy, the building extends into and creates the neighborhood. What’s your version of utopia and how is this small act of writing helping build the future you want to live in?
• Begin by watching three minutes of the video below about the work of Bjarke Ingels (from around minute 15:07-17:51 or so.)
• Then read
  • the article (Un)believable Utopias: 6 Forgotten Projects and Their Provocative Stories,
  • The Poetry Foundation’s “A Message to Our Community and Contributors”, then
  • Letter to the Poetry Foundation from Fellows + Programmatic Partners , then
  • Letter of Apology from a Ruth Lilly Fellow.
• Preparatory Poems : Last, compose a poem that somehow mixes your statement of values with your theme, or that reads like an instruction for living, or that is a love letter to a friend, mentor, or ancestor in your poetic community.

IN CLASS WRITING PROMPT: This is a prose reflection prompt. What is your philosophy of what a poem is or should do and how does that philosophy connect to how you live in the world? Try to be as specific as possible.