Seminar Handbook

A Guide to Teaching Effective Seminars provides a sociolinguistic perspective on seminar conversations and arms college and university instructors with the necessary tools to create successful seminars.

"Alcibiades attempted to seduce Socrates, he wanted to make him, and in the most openly avowed way possible, into someone instrumental and subordinate to what? To the object of Alcibiades's desire – ágalma, the good object. I would go even further. How can we analysts fail to recognize what is involved? He says quite clearly: Socrates has the good object in his stomach. Here Socrates is nothing but the envelope in which the object of desire is found. It is in order to clearly emphasize that he is nothing but this envelope that Alcibiades tries to show that Socrates is desire's serf in his relations with Alcibiades, that Socrates is enslaved to Alcibiades by his desire. Although Alcibiades was aware that Socrates desired him, he wanted to see Socrates's desire manifest itself in a sign, in order to know that the other – the object, ágalma – was at his mercy. Now, it is precisely because he failed in this undertaking that Alcibiades disgraces himself, and makes of his confession something that is so affectively laden. The daemon of Αἰδώς (Aidós), Shame, about which I spoke to you before in this context, is what intervenes here. This is what is violated here. The most shocking secret is unveiled before everyone; the ultimate mainspring of desire, which in love relations must always be more or less dissimulated, is revealed – its aim is the fall of the Other, A, into the other, a." Jacques Lacan

There was once a bumper sticker that read, "Remember the good old days when air was clean and sex was dirty?" Indeed, some of us are old enough to remember not only those good old days, but even the days when Math was/un(!), not the ponderous THEOREM, PROOF, THEOREM, PROOF, . . . , but the whimsical, "I've got a good prob lem. " Why did the mood change? What misguided educational philoso phy transformed graduate mathematics from a passionate activity to a form of passive scholarship? In less sentimental terms, why have the graduate schools dropped the Problem Seminar? We therefore offer "A Problem Seminar" to those students who haven't enjoyed the fun and games of problem solving. CONTENTS Preface v Format I Problems 3 Estimation Theory 11 Generating Functions 17 Limits of Integrals 19 Expectations 21 Prime Factors 23 Category Arguments 25 Convexity 27 Hints 29 Solutions 41 FORMAT This book has three parts: first, the list of problems, briefly punctuated by some descriptive pages; second, a list of hints, which are merely meant as words to the (very) wise; and third, the (almost) complete solutions. Thus, the problems can be viewed on any of three levels: as somewhat difficult challenges (without the hints), as more routine problems (with the hints), or as a textbook on "how to solve it" (when the solutions are read). Of course it is our hope that the book can be enjoyed on any of these three levels.

The venture of reading this book will be exciting. The central message is that marriage is not made of perfect partners or perfect situations, but it is a universal profession perfected only by imperfect partners who deny their own comfort zone full of self, in order to be the best for the two within the enclosures of imperfect circumstances of marriage establishments. The aspirations driving you into companionship is the Search for a Perfect Marriage. Whether you newly ventured into it; thinking of it; experienced in it; giving up on it or feeling successful in it, this is the right book for you. You will encounter your circumstances and wonder how it came herein. It will capture your moments and leave you better than your initial self.

Revolutionary and innovative, Lacan's work lies at the epicenter of modern thought about otherness, subjectivity, sexual difference, and enjoyment.

Playwriting Seminars is "a treasure-trove of information, philosophy, and inspiration" (Theatre Journal), "an absolutely essential guide to all aspects of playwriting and a valuable whitewater raft trip down the rapids of Hollywood screenwriting" (Magellan), and "a terrific learning environment for writers" (WebCrawler Select). It was also a recommended resource for playwrights at New Dramatists (NYC). The Handbook's initial concepts came from the author's work with Lucasfilm and the BBC. It was originally developed for playwrights and screenwriters, but has since been used by writers of fiction and nonfiction books. This new edition covers all aspects of writing full-length plays with an expanded treatment of screenwriting for Hollywood and independent film as well as diagrams of key elements of dramatic structure. Playwriting techniques are explained with many examples from classic and contemporary plays performed today by America's regional theatres as well as on Broadway and Off-Broadway. The 392 page Handbook explains the interconnections between characters and plot and the importance of subtext to character development in the contemporary theatre (what characters don't tell us matters as much as what they say in dialogue). Key exercises are included for developing "voice" as a writer and for creating the essential dual plot structure that supports intriguing characters in today's theatre. Many professionals in theatre and film are quoted on key parts of the art and craft of playwriting and screenwriting to help explain effective techniques. Special sections of the Handbook focus on getting inspiration and avoiding writer's block, editing first drafts, professional script formats for theatre and film (including software), how to launch new scripts, putting together submission packages for theatres and competitions, how to write an effective script synopsis and writer's bio, working with directors, actors and agents, how to survive audience "talkbacks" following readings and workshop productions, methods to adjust your playwriting skills for screenwriting and television work, and options for making a living at the craft of dramatic writing.