notes from a class january 16

(This is a model for how you might post your notes from class.)

Today in my American Literature class, my teacher asked whether Paul Simon's album Graceland qualifies as American literature.  I had seen a video about the album (which you can see below) so I knew a little about the album and Simon's creative process.  He traveled to South Africa to collaborate with the artists who made one of his favorite mix tapes.  Simon thought it was important to play their music with them in their home community because it would be more authentic.

That may sound weird, because it took a lot of time and money, and Simon's record company told him that they could hire musicians right where Simon lived in New York.

But Simon knew something that the record company executives didn't.  You could have the same instruments, playing the same notes, but if it was different musicians in a different city-- this may sound obvious now-- it wouldn't be the same.

Chefs and foodies may recognize the idea: terroir.  You can taste the environment in things like tea, maple syrup, hot peppers, and coffee. 

There was even more of an invisible force in Simon's music; in the video, one of the guitarists described music as being close to religion in the sense that it brings people together and promotes healing.

This was all pretty interesting, but at first I couldn't tell whether that made it American literature.

To answer that question, I worked with some people at my table to define those terms.  We started at the end: What is literature?

We defined it as written work (fiction and nonfiction books, movie/play scripts, poems, etc.) that has lasting artistic value.  We agreed that it was easy to tell whether a work was written-- there are either words on a page or there aren't-- but we also talked