Syllabus - Obsidian Publish

# 🗝 Creative Writing Capstone — Spring 2026 **Professor:** Sarah Gambito **Email:** [email protected] **Office Hours:** [By Zoom](https://calendly.com/sarahgambito) **Location:** Lowenstein 602 **Class Day/Time:** Tuesdays/Fridays, 11:30 am - 12:45 pm --- >*I go where I love and where I am loved, into the snow; I go to the things I love with no thought of duty or pity; I go where I belong, inexorably...* > > ~ H.D., The Flowering of the Rod ## 📜 Course Description This Capstone course is the exit requirement for English Majors concentrating in Creative Writing. In this course, students will create portfolios that comprise their creative, scholarly and extracurricular work during their four years at Fordham. In addition, students will work collaboratively to put together a public exhibition of a literary community project. The Capstone will introduce our graduating students to the realities of the writer's life, which necessarily involves not just individual work but also affiliation, cooperation, and community. ## ✨ Why Take This Class? - Cultivate a generous classroom community dedicated to fostering your creative vision. - Write voluminously to achieve your best work. - Manage your ongoing development through regular self-assessment & reflection opportunities - Embrace core values of Confidence, Vulnerability & Truth and grow as a writer and thinker. - Create 3 Odyssey plans to strategize your life post-Fordham - Make your mark on the larger literary community by working collaboratively on a Boss Level project. - Craft a compelling website portfolio that will encompass your creative and professional work and help pave the way for your life post-Fordham. ## Course Media | Title | Type | Author | Publisher | Year | Notes | | ------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | ------------------------- | ------------------------- | ---- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life | Required | Bill Burnett & Dave Evans | Knopf | 2020 | | | Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World | Required | Anne-Laure Le Cunff | Penguin Random House | 2024 | | | Citizen Illegal | Required | Jose Olivarez | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2008 | Reid Book! Pick up your FREE copy from the English Dept office. | | 📖 Course Database | Required | Various | | | | | How to Do Nothing | *Your Choice* | Jenny Odell | Penguin Random House | 2020 | | | Make Your Art No Matter What: Moving Beyond Creative Hurdles | *Your Choice* | Beth Pickens | Chronicle Books | 2021 | | | The Creative Act: A Way of Being | *Your Choice* | Rick Rubin | Penguin | 2023 | | | Meditation for Mortals | *Your Choice* | Oliver Burkeman | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 2024 | | ## Schedule *This schedule is subject to change based on the flow of our conversation in class.* | Date | Lesson | Assignments Due | Link | | | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | | January 13, 2026 | Opening Circle | - Review & bookmark Syllabus: https://www.notion.so/Creative-Writing-Capstone-1716badc71c3804d8481cfc3caa62efa?pvs=21 - Sign up for https://discord.gg/ABtyrm5AmX - Purchase Designing Your Life and one Your Choice book. You can pick up a free copy of the Reid book in the English Department Office. | [[capstone-opening-circle]] | | | January 16, 2026 | Ritual & Lineage | - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_jNJZIlABbOrvbg6bpsE9sWmWmN86f8b/view - Write down your https://www.notion.so/1716badc71c3817598c3c3a4a72d7074?pvs=21 https://www.fordhamenglish.com/reid https://www.fordhamenglish.com/cw-concentration | [[capstone-ritual-lineage]] | | | January 20, 2026 | Advice from Fellow Travelers via Zoom | - Read Designing Your Life (Introduction - Building a Compass) - Read about https://www.fordham.edu/fordham-stories/campus-and-city-life/travel-opportunities-research-spark-auction-house-career-/ - Read about https://jesscozziwrites.com/about/ - Home Group Leaders: Devise Boss Level Project Idea Pitch | [[capstone-advice-from-fellow-travelers-via-zoom]] | | | January 23, 2026 | You as Protagonist & Boss Level Project Decision | - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc9wu5PbJsfsatiAQeTnHB8LFWP_Cwvcptc6DSG0VraxIORQw/viewform https://sarahgambito.as.me/?appointmentType=35143299 - Read Designing Your Life (Prototyping - Designing Your Dream Job) - Literary Lineage: Write a 200 - 300 word piece where you claim your literary lineage. Celebrate and gather strength from where you come from and for whom you serve. - Home Group Leaders: Devise Boss Level Project Idea Pitch | [[capstone-you-as-protagonist-boss-level-project-decision]] | | | January 27, 2026 | Salon + Boss Level Project Management | - Read Designing Your Life (Choosing Happiness - Building a Team) - You as Protagonist (A Personal Myth): Write a 200 - 300 piece on the truest, most beautiful version of your life story. How will you live in deep time? What will you offer the next seven generations? | [[capstone-salon-boss-level-project-management]] | | | January 30, 2026 | Manifestation + Boss Level Project Management | - Read Designing Your Life (Conclusion) - Purchase Your Choice Book - Boss Level Project (On Todoist, enter in 5 pieces of Advice for Juniors and 5 Questions for Alums - Boss Level Project (On your Todoist Home Group Task: Begin Brainstorming Home Group Blooming Together Creative Writing/Literary Activity) | [[capstone-manifestation-boss-level-project-management]] | | | February 03, 2026 | Your Choice Book, Boss Level + Workshop Prep | - Read Your Choice Book - Boss Level Project - Read https://www.notion.so/dfc36d2a02314c6195002a154fb28523?pvs=21 - Read https://www.notion.so/805a3d66a10342d087893995040cfbec?pvs=21 - Event Response, Your Choice Event Due on Blackboard | [[capstone-your-choice-book-boss-level-workshop-prep]] | | | February 06, 2026 | Designing Your Life + Odyssey Plans | - Read Your Choice Book - Boss Level Project - Read https://www.notion.so/3943e514ff7f460d8c56cc115676bc2d?pvs=21 | [[capstone-designing-your-life-odyssey-plans]] | | | February 10, 2026 | Dream Job + Odyssey Plans | - Read Your Choice Book - Boss Level Project Work - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Be9mNWK_YqI98pgZ_kTx0hspy-fNXKXTTWU8jbXyIDU/edit?usp=sharing - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2EO3aXTWwg - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZifQbSr29qjNCNcSBgWAbw8L2jebj77v2Sjf7ZFeOXg/edit?usp=sharing | [[capstone-dream-job-odyssey-plans]] | | | February 13, 2026 | Classes on a Monday Schedule | — | [[capstone-classes-on-a-monday-schedule]] | | | February 20, 2026 | Life Design Prototyping | - Read Your Choice Book - Brainstorm List of 50 - 100 Life Design Interviews - Boss Level Project Work - Take 1st Prototyping Actions toward your Odyssey Plans | [[capstone-life-design-prototyping]] | | | February 24, 2026 | Life Design Prototyping Continued | - Boss Level Project - Read Your Choice Book - Optional: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-psychology-of-success-guy-raz/id1087147821?i=1000684000903 | [[capstone-life-design-prototyping-continued]] | | | February 27, 2026 | BLOOMING TOGETHER: A CELEBRATION | — | [[capstone-blooming-together-a-celebration]] | | | March 03, 2026 | Boss Level Project & Websites | - Read through https://docs.google.com/document/d/1coLupWFy_-L2NAFB_iAw1m_FBomS_DL1UzOpsgVjnpM/edit?usp=sharing - Read https://www.squarespace.com/blog/create-a-student-website-that-gets-noticed - Read through https://www.squarespace.com/blog/tag/students - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeLvvQVGt4KcUhQW4by7bajubaQ0ojsipZoMTjAvoWHV1oQnA/viewform?usp=preview - Boss Level Project Due by this Date | [[capstone-boss-level-project-websites]] | | | March 06, 2026 | Water Grounding + Your Choice Book Discovery | - Water Grounding: What is feeding you, inspiring you right now? Prepare to share your thoughts - Begin work on your portfolio website | [[capstone-water-grounding-your-choice-book-discovery]] | | | March 17, 2026 | Your Choice Book Showcase | - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w3cXcJtm-Yd5WQBmjWY3Uamulkesbei05nz4kIwxbBQ/edit?gid=0#gid=0 - Finish Your Choice Book - https://www.notion.so/Logistics-2b5da1c0d5d9465eaf913287d2a394de?pvs=21 | [[capstone-your-choice-book-showcase]] | | | March 20, 2026 | Workshop | - Read https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JZcojfTMQeFXV9AVTI0NPBZL_lpOTCYQ/view?usp=sharing and https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Zag1ZETbit2swojZlRK5w2nUya4lnUNJf2PgBbYRiyM/edit?usp=sharing | [[capstone-workshop-17]] | | | March 24, 2026 | Workshop | — | [[capstone-workshop-18]] | | | March 27, 2026 | Workshop | - Read Lose Your Mother | [[capstone-workshop-19]] | | | April 07, 2026 | Workshop | - Read Lose Your Mother | [[capstone-workshop-20]] | | | April 10, 2026 | Workshop | - Work on https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWnC68rk_xp2W5uy1AOu9a3flMcUAIQe9msCuYRjM4Im04_Q/viewform - Read Lose Your Mother | [[capstone-workshop-21]] | | | April 14, 2026 | Workshop | - Wildcard Projects are Due on https://discord.gg/r7Sh5PCmfD - Leadership Projects are Due - Work on https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWnC68rk_xp2W5uy1AOu9a3flMcUAIQe9msCuYRjM4Im04_Q/viewform - Read Lose Your Mother | [[capstone-workshop-22]] | | | April 17, 2026 | Workshop | - Read Lose Your Mother - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1relH9S3spLNYrym2ajCTuDjmL695MUkbMRuT37q-vPs/edit?usp=sharing - Work on https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWnC68rk_xp2W5uy1AOu9a3flMcUAIQe9msCuYRjM4Im04_Q/viewform | [[capstone-workshop-23]] | | | April 21, 2026 | Workshop | - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWnC68rk_xp2W5uy1AOu9a3flMcUAIQe9msCuYRjM4Im04_Q/viewform - Read Lose Your Mother | [[capstone-workshop-24]] | | | April 24, 2026 | Workshop | Meditation on Reid Book | - Finish reading Lose Your Mother | [[capstone-workshop-meditation-on-reid-book]] | | April 28, 2026 | Closing Circle | — | [[capstone-closing-circle]] | | ## Home Groups & Workshop Dates | Name | Home Group & Workshop Date | | ---- | -------------------------- | | | | ## Important Logistics: ## [[1. Policies]] ## [[2. Class Community]] ## [[3. Grading]] ## [[4. Advanced Labor (Improving Your Contracted Grade)]] ## [[5. Assignments]] ## [[6. Workshop]] --- <!-- NOTES: - Syllabus auto-updates when CourseConfig changes - All lesson links connect to files in xLesson Library - Set `publish: true` to include in site builds *Last updated: 2025-11-12*