Life in a Flash: Sociological Imagination

The Sociological Imagination places the personal in its social context. In this writing course, students will create flash non-fiction stories that link their biography to broader history. We will read short texts that explore a variety of approaches to creatively explore the interplay of the micro and macro and focus on the range of craft elements these authors use. Students will write short (300-800 word) pieces that we will workshop together in class. In each class students will discuss published stories, generate new stories based on specific prompts, share their own stories, provide feedback to others, and revise their work based on this feedback. The final product will be a portfolio of finished stories from which students will choose 2-3 to share in a public reading for the Middlebury community.