I think that my writing style improved tremendously with this class. Not only did the professor help me take risks in my own writing, but I better understood how to connect with an audience through my words. The classroom portion of this class, besides the writing, was very worthwhile, as we reviewed the real writing skills of various authors that I then transformed into something I could use in my assignments.

My writing improved more here than in any other English class I've taken. Professor Kipen provides the readings (which are usually short), so there's no need to buy any books. Each class usually starts with a discussion of the text with the professor taking note of who speaks. The discussions usually involve students reading lines that stood out to them, followed by Professor Kipen expanding on each and giving insight/context to the writing. I don't know exactly how participation is weighted in the final grade, but you don't need to talk in every discussion to get a good grade. Each day ends with a short writing prompt where you are given about 5 minutes to write 2-3 sentences to the best of your ability. Everybody shares their sentences out loud, and Professor Kipen gives great, friendly advice on how to improve. There are three larger writing assignments throughout the quarter, including the final.

Kipen's one of those professors that you either click with or you don't, and as someone who did click with him I loved the class. He adores writing and writers and it absolutely shows. He's a super chill guy with a good sense of humor and I'd gladly take another class with him.

Content-wise, we focused on the federal writers project, which was part of the New Deal in the Great Depression. When he told us that at the beginning of the quarter, I legitimately thought about dropping the class because it sounded so boring. Thankfully it was way more interesting than I expected. Tons of really talented and well-known writers contributed to the project so we got to read Zora Neale Hurston and John Steinbeck and Ralph Ellison and Marjory Stoneman-Douglas and people like that, but tons of less well-known but equally talented writers like Kenneth Rexroth and Anzia Yezierska and Jerre Mangione are on the syllabus too. There's no textbook or reader to buy; he just sends pdfs and photos of the essays you're reading each week.

We had a small in class writing exercise in class most days. We got about 5 minutes to write 2 sentences and then he'd read through everyone's and do mini critique/reviews in class. There are three papers, the first was just keeping a journal for three weeks and picking three pages to kind of refine to be a little bit better writing and turn in. The second is a 4-5 page guide to your hometown, which sounds dry but you're encouraged to go into the history and people and life of the town rather than just making like a tourist guide to attractions. The third is 5-7 pages of biographical criticism about any author from the syllabus-- basically going over their writing in the context of their life and the writing scene they occupied. For all of them there's a lot of wiggle room to write about whatever you want; he'd rather have a piece of great writing that's not super connected to the actual assignment than a boring paper that adheres strictly to the prompt.

The biggest struggle people had with him was his clarity about what he wanted (more specifically his lack thereof). If you're the type of person who needs a very clear rubric for an essay, this class will be rough for you. The best way I can describe it is he's operating on vibes more than specific goals. If he says write a guide to your town and you ask how many locations you should describe, he won't have a number for you. You could write in depth about the town square the whole time or you could do an overview of tons and tons of different places, as long as you write something interesting and do it well he'll like it. He just wants to read good writing. You're not going to get a checklist of things to include, because he doesn't have a checklist of things he's looking for. If you can vibe with him and go with the flow you'll do well, if you're spinning your wheels looking for specifics you won't.

I went through a pretty rough time in my personal life during the quarter and fell behind on the papers, and he was super supportive and great about reaching out and being accommodating. Of the three papers, I only turned in the first one on time, but still ended up doing really well in the class because of how helpful and kind he was to me.

This was a great class, and if you need Writing 1 credit this is a fun and painless way to get it.

I really liked this class. I've never had an English teacher who seemed to actually enjoy reading and writing as much as Prof Kipen did. I honestly don't like writing at all, (in past English classes I would just BS my way through an essay) but his passion for the subject made me care about writing well, and my hard work was always rewarded. The class is kind of difficult because he expects a lot from you as a student, but you don't really have any hard assignments other than the three major essays. We also didn't have to spend any money on textbooks, which was a plus. My biggest area of criticism would be that the syllabus was not as clear as I'd have wanted it to be, and so there were times where I felt a little behind.

As someone who thinks they're very good at writing, I got an A- in this class. Granted I didn't spend enough time on my essays but I guess if you REALLY try you can get an A, otherwise u might get anywhere from B to A-. So be preapred.

Professor Kipen was one of the most passionate teachers I have ever had. He actually cares so much about writing and is so knowledgable on writers and different works. Like someone else on here said, he cares so much that he made me want to try hard on my essays. He definitely can be hard on you, but he's just trying to improve you as a writer. Class just included 3 essays that weren't too terrible. Pretty light for a Writing II.

I HIGHLY recommend taking this class with Professor Kipen. He is by far the best professor I've ever had. He has a good sense of humor and he really encourages you to be creative and take risks in your writing and he made me fall more in love with creative writing.

Prof. Kipen is very helpful if you ask for it, but otherwise, he can be very confusing. He is a pretty average grader... I wrote a pretty mediocre paper and got a B. He has you read some boring passages from the WPA guide to California that he tells you about in the first lecture, but if you skim, you get the gist of whats going on. Professor Kipen can also be a little disorganized and forgetful, so if you schedule a time to get help from him, remind him before the appointment. Overall a nice guy, lectures a little disorganized but not a bad teacher at all. Would recommend the class if you're a creative writer and you don't need much assistance.

LOVED!! (took online through zoom fall 2021)
No tests, quizzes, or textbooks.
3 papers: 1 page of diary entries, 5 pages about your home town (midterm), 7 pages about an author you read during the quarter (final).
Participation is VERY important! It's a small class of about 25.
Heres how a typical class would go: a few (usually lengthy) readings are assigned and you have to bring one quote from any of them to talk about. Usually you want to personally connect with it and share why you connect with it or you just point out the metaphor/simile/personification and why it heightens the reading overall. He expects you to read all of them but it's very easy to skim until you find one quote without anyone knowing. After about 30 minutes of discussing quotes, he switches to a writing assignment for the rest of class. It's super easy usually just 1 or two sentences about a prompt he gives you. Everyone reads their writing while he critiques it and then class is over.
Kipen is SUPER nice and understanding, if you are funny with him he will be funny right back! The key to passing his class is taking in his critiques and growing as a writer (which will surprisingly happen naturally.) I would take another class with him in a heartbeat!

One thing to know is that every class he assigns small prompts that you have 5-10 minutes to write and e-mail to him. Then he reads them out loud and criticizes them in front of everyone (he also asks the students to criticize). Initially I dreaded going to class because of that but at the end of the quarter I felt comfortable with other people judging my work.