For Tuesday: Garrison, etc. “The New American Slavery” (pp.63-89)

 

NOTE: If you don't have the book for whatever reason, here is a link to the article: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicagarrison/the-new-american-slavery-invited-to-the-us-foreign-workers-f?utm_term=.eo6zno7J#.mjEN8dEp

NO Definitions this time--though I might ask you about a few words in class, so read actively! :) 

QUESTIONS: answer 2 of the following

Q1: The article claims that in 2014, the Labor Department “found violations in 82 percent of the H-2 visa cases it investigated” (69). Additionally, the Mexican government has actively been trying to save its citizens from abuse, and “has repeatedly appealed to the United States to do more to protect guest workers” (82). If so many documented abuses are on record, why hasn’t anything changed? What seems to be the biggest stumbling block to reducing the number of H-2 violations?

Q2: One investigator found working conditions which included sleeping “four to a room in a filthy roadside motel, cooking on hot plates on the floor and unable to drink the tap water because the plumbing was defective and actually issued electric shocks” (88). If the working conditions are so deplorable, why do workers from Mexico, India, and elsewhere keep coming? Wouldn’t word of mouth eventually warn them to stay away?

Q3: Many of the claims of workers vs. employers devolve into a kind of ‘he said-she said’ argument, with the employers contradicting their employees’ complaints (or vice versa, if you side with the employers). When confronted with the employee’s complaints of draining water from crabs (to make them weight less), the employer countered, “they didn’t tell you that they patted their hand in the water bowl and dropped the water on the meat, did they?”” (81). From the article itself, is there any way to tell who to believe? Are both sides exaggerating? Or is it truly a one-sided abuse? What do the authors seem to believe?

Q4: This article involves a number of “conversations” that that are prevalent in our society right now. Immigration/migrant workers is one of them, but only one: what is another big conversation this essay introduces to the reader? How does this article help us understand why this conversation is so important to 21^st century Americans—and how much more needs to be said about it? 

Short Paper #1: Writing for the Blind

INTRO: For this short assignment, I want you to get practice thinking of the ‘real world’ in metaphorical terms. Since the goal of writing is to communicate ideas and experiences, metaphors help your readers see and feel what you do. If you want to help readers see why a conversation matters, a metaphor can make it both personal and tangible, especially if they have no experience with the idea or topic. For example, when Schulz writes, “Refrigerators will walk out of kitchens, unplugging themselves and toppling over,” she want you to see how supernatural an earthquake feels; appliances will literally walk out of a room, as if possessed by demonic spirits. She could have said “everything got tossed around,” but that isn’t as visceral as saying that they “walked out of kitchens” and “unplugged themselves.” Here, they come alive.

THE PROMPT: I want you to describe some activity, event, or experience in your life in terms of a controlling metaphor. The title of your paper should spell this out for us. Then, every sentence in your paper should help us see and feel this experience by developing the basic metaphor. As you write, ask yourself: how can I describe one experience in terms of another? Try to use your metaphor to ‘translate’ this experience for someone who has never done it, or doesn’t understand how you do it.

EXAMPLE: My topic would be, “Writing is driving in the dark.” I could then explain, “When you first start writing, it’s like driving down the road without lights—you can’t see a thing. But gradually, you get an idea and the lights come on. You can’t see too far up the road, just a few feet, but it’s enough to follow the road and make it to the next paragraph. The more you write, the more your eyes get adjusted to the darkness and more and more details pop out. Eventually, you start to recognize the landscape and know exactly where you are: you’re no longer writing in the dark, since you can see everything in the light. Then you can enjoy the drive.”

REQUIREMENTS

• 1-2 pages double spaced (but must be a full page, not just a paragraph)
• Must be typed, since this is a slightly more formal assignment
• Title the paper with your controlling metaphor (“College is a fun-house mirror,” etc.)
• Describe an experience through a controlling metaphor; consider how every sentence can use some aspect of the metaphor to help us ‘see’ your experience
• DUE IN ONE WEEK: Thursday, August 31^st by 5pm [no class that day]

For Tuesday: Hammer, “My Nurses are Dead, and I Don’t Know if I’m Already Infected” (pp.127-152)

NOTE: if you don’t have the book yet, here’s a link to the article on-line: https://medium.com/matter/did-sierra-leones-hero-doctor-have-to-die-1c1de004941e

PART I: Definitions (define the following with a brief definition—enough to understand the passage in question): Imminent (127); meticulously (129); perilous (132); hemorrhagic (136); acquiesced (143); trepidation (144); paternalistic (150)

PART II: Questions (answer 2 of the 4 questions in sufficient detail to show that you’ve read the essay and understand that there is more than one easy answer)

Q1: In the aftermath of Khan’s death, friends say that Doctors Without Borders “was being very paternalistic” and that his death was ultimately “about color” (150). Why did Doctors Without Borders make the decision they did, and is there any evidence that race played a role in his death or treatment?

Q2: When the outbreak starts raging throughout the country, at least one doctor admitted, “We had no strategy, no laboratories, no observation centers. We were completely unprepared” (139). Why do you think they were taken by surprise, and how might it relate to our previous essay, “The Really Big One”?

Q3: Treating a disease or outbreak has as much to do with medicine as it does the culture itself. What difficulties did Khan face in the psychology/beliefs of the Africans he treated? How might this explain why diseases such as ebola flourish more in developing nations than in, say, America?

Q4: Do you think the writer, Joshua Hammer, views Khan more as a heroic or a tragic figure? Is the point of the article to show how much a man can accomplish even against impossible odds (heroic), or is it to show how good people are doomed in circumstances of ignorance and corruption (tragic)? How does he want us to think/feel when we finish reading the article?

For Tuesday: Schulz, “The Really Big One” (p.183)

PART I: Definitions (define the following terms as they are used in the essay):

seismology (183); logarithimic (185); epoch (186); eradication (190); seaflooreeze (192); unwittingly (193); nonchalance (194); inundation (196)

PART II: Questions (answer 2 of the 4 questions below in a short paragraph—3-4 sentences, at least, and with sufficient detail to show you’ve read the essay and understand why this question is significant)

1. What does Schulz mean when she writes, “On the face of it, earthquakes seem to present us with problems of space...But, covertly, they also present us with problems of time” (199)? Why might time be the most important factor of understanding and preparing for the “next big one”?

2. Schulz calls the Cascadia subjunction “one of the greatest scientific detective stories of our time” (189). Why is this? What was the mystery that it helped solved—and why was it so tricky to solve?

3. If the resulting devastation from the “next big one” is so catastrophic, why is there no plan to deal with it—or even to prepare for it—in the Pacific Northwest? What’s preventing cities and agencies from learning from Japan’s example?

4. Writing about science is difficult, since for non-scientists it can quickly become dry and confusing. How does Schulz try to liven up her subject and also make us connect with the material? Focus on a specific passage that does this for you.

Welcome to the Course!

Welcome to Dr. Grasso's blog for Comp I, sections 11 and 14: I will post daily assignments, paper assignments, and other links and announcements here, so check often (and bookmark the site). Remember, we're using this instead of Blackboard, so no need to consult Blackboard for these assignments. Remember also to buy the two books for class as soon as you can: Best American Magazine Writing 2016 and The Men Who Stare at Goats. We'll start reading and writing soon!

A little bit about the course: This is a first-semester writing course that strives to accomplish two goals: (a) show the connection between reading and writing, and (b) make writing part of a local or global conversation with other writers. Once you become knowledgeable about a given topic, you can then add to the conversation with your own writing, which extends this discussion into new avenues of thought (or connects to old ones). Writing should never be something done to fill up space or to sound ‘smart’; the goal of writing is to communicate to an audience that shares your concerns, but may have never considered the topic from your point of view. Writing—and publishing your writing—has never been easier or more accessible than it is now. With a potential audience of millions on the internet and elsewhere, the burden is on you to actually have something to say!

E-mail me with any questions at jgrasso@ecok.edu 

[Note: the posts below this one are from a previous semester--they are not future work for the course! ]