Remember: No Class Tomorrow

We've finished with the instruction part of the course, so there's no need to meet on Tuesday.  However, I will be here until around 1:00, so stop by at my office during class time (or after) if you have questions about revision, the Paper #4 assignment, or your current grade.  Otherwise, work on your satire paper (Paper #4) for next Tuesday's class.  Enjoy the break!  

For Thursday: Schlosser, Why McDonald's Fries Taste So Good (pp.558-568)

No questions this time: I want to do some in-class writing and satire practice based on this essay.  So be sure to read it for Thursday's class!  This is our last essay for class, so try to end on a good note and get credit for this last assignment.  

Remember the satire assignment is a few posts down, so make sure you're thinking about finding an article to respond to.  You can even respond to this essay if you like (and our class tomorrow will give you some ideas about it).  

For Tuesday: Carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid? (633-641)

Reading/Discussion Questions for

Carr’s Is Google Making Us Stupid (633-641)

Answer TWO of the following…

1. Why does Carr begin and end his essay with the science-fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey?  How does this film become a kind of metaphor for the ideas in his essay? 

2. What does Carr mean when he writes, “as we use what the sociologist Daniel Bell has called our “intellectual technologies”…we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies” (637)?  How have our ways of thinking, and indeed, even our metaphors, changed as a result of these technologies?  Consider also how previous technologies have changed our thinking, according to the essay. 

3. This is also an essay about ethics, and Carr claims that “The Net’s intellectual ethic remains obscure” (638).  If the internet is a philosophy or a religion—and Google is its “high church”—what is the doctrine or creed of this religion/philosophy?  Is it one that is ethically sound?  Is it one that we—or you—should believe in? 

4. Write a short, one-paragraph satire developing the same idea as Carr's essay.  How can you make us see his general concern/thesis through humor and irony?  What is it he's really worried about?  

Paper #4 Assignment: Satirically Speaking

For your final paper assignment, I want you to write your own satire on some real-world issue straight from the headlines.  To help you do this, I want you to actually find an article from a newspaper, magazine, or on-line to read and respond to satirically.  You can use anything from ECU’s The Journal, an essay from The Writer’s Presence, or even  an article from your Facebook feed.  However, you must include the article with your assignment so I can see your original inspiration Try to find something you actually care about, since this will inspire you to poke fun at it and make the reader see the real issue behind it. 

Your satire can take many forms, since there’s no single way to write satire.  However, here are a few ways that work particularly well:

·         An Onion-style newspaper article or editorial (as we read in class)

·         A short skit between 2 or more people

·         A television commercial (written out, of course)

·         A satirical movie review (it can be funny to treat some actual issues as if they’re a movie—like writing a satirical movie review of a college class, etc.)

ALSO: I want everyone to share their satire in class so we can try to guess what you’re really trying to say.  That means you have to (gasp) read your satire to the class.  If you really, really faint at the prospect of reading aloud, I can read it for you, or in extreme cases I can have you read it to me in my office.  However, this is part of the assignment and you cannot get full credit if you skip class this day.  There will be a prize for best satirical paper in each class (prize to be announced in class—and it’s better than extra credit). 

REQUIREMENTS

·         At least 2-3 pages, double spaced

·         Must include the original article that inspired it

·         Should follow the rules and structure of satire that we discussed in class (though you can interpret this fairly loosely)

·         Must come to class to read your satire to the class to get full credit

·         DUE IN-CLASS ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2^nd (no late papers accepted)

No Class on Thursday and Links to VIdeos

REMEMBER, no class on Thursday since the Oklahoma Literary Arts Festival will be taking place on the 3rd floor for most of the day, and they will be borrowing our room for the day as well.  

ALSO, if you missed class, or if you simply want to re-watch part of the video for research purposes, I've posted the two videos I showed both Comp class today (the 9:30 class watched "The Independent Woman," and the 12:30 class watched "The Man of the House"--both are linked below). Each is about 50 minutes long.  

The Independent Woman: http://video.pbs.org/video/2160358437/
The Man of the House: http://video.pbs.org/video/2163770656/

Remember Paper #3 is due next Thursday (not this Thursday).  Review the post beneath this one for details. Otherwise, see you net Tuesday!  

Paper #3: Gender 101 (due Thursday, November 13th by 5pm)

Paper #3: Gender 101

For this paper, I want you to research the hidden curriculum of “Gender 101” in your society.  How do we learn to be boys and girls—and men and women—by watching movies, playing with toys, participating in sports, and engaging in other social rituals/activities?  Remember that these rules are rarely stated outright, but must be learned to play the “game” correctly.  Even children quickly become aware of the rules, and learn to mimic their cultural role models.  Those who don’t are often ostracized or made to feel abnormal in some fashion. 

Our essays from the past two weeks have helped us see how gender influences behavior (smiling), clothing (corsets), toys (Barbie) and sports (throwing like a boy/girl).  Now I want you to add to this conversation and help us see the “Gender 101” rules in some activity/aspect of your society.  Remember, these don’t have to be negative: you can find something that challenges traditional stereotypes as well.  However, the rules are typically of a “follow this, not that” variety.  See what you can find! 

Choose ONE of the following categories to investigate:

• Entertainment: any film, TV show, book, or video game that showcases gender in a positive/negative way. 
• Sports: any sport that seems to define how men/women should act, or a sport that is designed to exclude a specific sex.
• Careers: similar to sports, any career that guides male/female behavior or excludes a specific sex.
• Toys: any toy that seems to have certain gender ideas either built into the product itself, OR in the way that it is marketed to children (for ex: Legos aren’t exclusively male or female—they’re just bricks—but they are marketed very differently to boys and girls). 

RESEARCH (4 sources required for a 2^nd draft paper)

• You must use at least 2 essays from class as part of your conversation
• You should use at least 1 outside academic article accessed through EBSCO or found elsewhere, but it must have an author or be from an authoritative organization (National Geographic, etc.) 
• You can use at least 1 film, show, or commercial in your paper, as long as you quote and discuss it as a significant part of your paper.  Don’t simply say, “there’s a commercial that shows girls playing with pink Legos.”  Analyze the commercial and bring it into your conversation—what does it say, show, and explain to its audience? 
• All sources must be quoted in some fashion (as part of your conversation) and documented according to MLA guidelines with a Works Cited page.

DUE Thursday, November 13^th by 5pm 

For Thursday: Pollitt and Fallows' essays

Reading/Discussion Questions for

Pollitt’s Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls (555-557) and

Fallows’ “Throwing Like a Girl” (400-406)

Answer TWO of the following...

1.         At the end of the essay, Pollitt writes, “Feminsits are often accused of imposing their “agenda” on children.  Isn’t that what adults always do, consciously or unconsciously?” (524).  What does she mean by this?  How is she defending the role of ‘feminism’ in the education of children? 

2.         Why do you think people are concerned about the gender (as opposed to the biological sex) of a child?  What does gender say about boys and girls (and men and women) that is so important to the “status quo”?  Why do we get uncomfortable when the rules are broken (or blurred)? 

3.         How does Fallows introduce a ‘naysayer’ into his argument, and where might he act like a naysayer in the essay himself?  Why is this effective in both instances? 

4.         Why is throwing a baseball “a perfectly natural action…but not at all innate” (403)?  How does this relate to performances of gender itself, and why might “throwing like a girl” be related to gender, even if either sex can do it?