麻豆影院

In 鈥楶oetic Table of the Elements,鈥� students of Danny Long combine art and science, old and new

Who could refrain, that had a periodic poem to write, and in that poem, courage to make an element known (apologies to Shakespeare).听

Students of Danny Long鈥檚 Radical Science Writing class (WRTG 3030) have the poem to write and the courage to make it happen, and the final project will be displayed on a giant Poetic Table of the Elements later this year in the 麻豆影院鈥檚 Norlin Library.听

Long鈥檚 students are getting a hands-on lesson in attention to detail with their latest project in which they compose, typeset and hand-print 118 poems for the elements of the Periodic Table.

The goal of the poem itself is to 鈥渢each a little kernel of information鈥� about each element, whether that be the etymology of its name, discovery or function. 鈥淢y students write about so many different things and yet never have we even talked about the periodic table as a form of writing, as a way of communicating science,鈥� Long explains, citing it as an 鈥渦ntapped resource.鈥澨�

With the help of Gregory Robl and Susan Guinn-Chipman of the Special Collections, Archives, and Preservation Department and Julia Seko of Scholarly Resource Development, students learned to handset and print the type using techniques that encourage 鈥渕indfulness,鈥� as one of Long's students, Sara Nebreda Perez, observed.听

鈥淪o much of what we do on campus anymore is intangible, and so maybe there鈥檚 something about just getting to sit down and create things by hand,鈥� Long says of this project, which requires the slow and deliberate setting of tiny metal letters鈥攗pside down and backwards鈥攊nto 鈥渇urniture鈥� that holds it in place to be printed.听

These poem cards will be mounted onto a 5 陆-foot-tall x 10-foot-wide听Poetic Table of the Elements听and displayed at the University Libraries with the help of Andrew Violet of the Administration Department, with additional copies going to Special Collections and the staff and students involved. There are also plans to sell one copy to another institution through Vamp and Tramp booksellers.听

Long, an instructor in the Program for Writing and Rhetoric at CU 麻豆影院, says he likes incorporating creative projects into his science-writing class and that students also respond well to his self-proclaimed 鈥渞adical鈥� syllabus. Past projects of his include children鈥檚 books to teach first graders math and science.听

Robl, who helps students set their type and print their poems, calls this project, which mixes science writing, poetry and traditional typesetting, 鈥減retty radical on many levels for instruction for undergraduates鈥� and, also, 鈥渏ust too cool.鈥澨�

Long says some unexpected benefits of this project were the in-depth discussions he had with his students about grammar and punctuation. Talking about everything from the rhetorical effects of different punctuation to sentence structure while 鈥渇ocusing in on a really small piece of writing鈥� was a productive way to look analytically at these mechanisms and 鈥済et a lot of punch out of it.鈥澨�

He calls the Poetic Table assignment a good metaphor for the 鈥渞adical鈥� course name. The term 鈥渞adical鈥� is 鈥渙ften used to describe something that鈥檚 extreme, but it also comes from the Latin word meaning 鈥榬oot,鈥欌�� Long says. In addition to describing something new and unusual, he notes, it also describes something old.听

He agrees that it鈥檚 an apt way of looking at his class, which examines 鈥渢he history of scientific communication and plays around with old forms of communication in slightly new ways.鈥� The Poetic Table combines an old example of scientific communication that鈥檚 been developing over several centuries with a contemporary poetic twist.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 been fun listening to the students explain to me why they wrote what they wrote.鈥� Long quips that 鈥渦sually it goes over my head because I鈥檓 not a scientist,鈥� but says the amount of research and effort the students put into their poems is 鈥渆ncouraging and inspiring.鈥�