The Final Exam! See below...

 If you missed class on Thursday, you'll need to know a few things:

1. Thursday was our LAST class. The rest of the semester (the next two weeks, though we only have one day next week) you can spend revising papers and/or working on your Final Exam paper.

2. The Final Exam paper is below. It's a simple paper, and if you were in class, you've already started it with your in-class writing. Make sure you get this in by the due date, since I'm doing this INSTEAD of a sit-down final. 

3. Repeat: there is NO Final Exam other than this assignment. You do not have to come to class for the Final Exam. This is it, but you must turn it in by December 1st (see below).

4. All revisions are due by December 1st as well. 

5. Let me know if you have any questions! The Final Exam assignment is below:

Paper #4: Final Exam

PROMPT: For your final paper, I want you to continue the conversation we had during our last class, when I asked you to respond to the question: “If someone was traveling to America from another country and asked you to recommend a specific activity or event that would help them ‘see’ America like an American, what would you recommend they do or see? What would teach them something about our country, such as who we are, how we think, experience life, and express our unique culture identity? Consider what they might not understand and would need explained to them, but at the same time, try to communicate your own experience and history with this event or activity.”

REQIUREMENTS: Expand your in-class response (or start a new one) and but remember to write to someone who isn’t American, and has never done or seen this event or activity. Think about what you would have to explain or translate for them. IN ADDITION, use at least ONE outside source that also explains and supports your idea about why this is an important illustration of American culture or beliefs. Quote this source in your paper and document it properly according to MLA format (or other, if you prefer).

ALSO: This response can be more informal than our previous papers, but you should still try to write with detail and interest, as well as cite properly. The paper can be as long or short as you want, so long as you fulfill the demands of the assignment and answer the question with sufficient detail to inform and persuade your reader.

DUE: The Final Exam paper is due no later than Thursday, December 1^st @ 5pm. Remember, this is your final grade for the course, so do your best work and turn it in on time!

For Thursday: Egan, Chapter 11, "What To Make Of All This"

 REMEMBER, we WILL have class on Thursday, and the Paper #3 assignment will be pushed back to Tuesday to give you more time. I want to spend one more day preparing for it, and discussing the very last chapter of Egan's book.

We'll do an in-class writing assignment when you arrive based on Chapter 11, which I also hope will help you with Paper #3. 

No class next Tuesday, since Paper #3 will be due then. After that, we're almost done with the class! Try to finish strong and turn in the paper, since no one can afford a zero this late in the game.

See you on Thursday! 

For Tuesday: Egan, Devoured, Chapter 8 "The Age of Stunt Foods" (see note)

NOTE: Remember, we have to cancel class on Thursday because of ECU's Interscholastic Meet, which will be taking over Horace Mann tomorrow morning. So take the extra time to start thinking about Paper #3, and of course reading Chapter 8 for next week. Don't forget to do the questions, since a few people seem to have forgotten about them! (hint, hint). 

Answer two of the following:

Q1: Since restaurants like McDonald's and Taco Bell are already world famous, and people will always go there, why do both places work so hard at "differentiating" (221)? Why are the 'stunt foods' necessary in the first place?

Q2: We might assume that creating a variation on the taco or the hamburger is as easy as adding some cheese dust, or using a different bun. But it's a surprisingly complex science that companies spend millions upon millions of dollars on. What makes it so difficult to "reinvent the taco," or to create a new variation on an old favorite? In other words, why is it so easy to mess up?

Q3: How does the "Food at Work" factor (in Chapter 2) also play into the innovation necessary at fast food restaurants? Since most Americans are now eating at their desks, how did fast food have to adapt to these new eating habits? What product seems to most directly reflect this? 

Q4: According to Chapter 8, what do stunt foods say about the American cultural psyche? Why would a culture that is always drinking water and going on Paleo diets be tempted by the lure of stunt foods? Shouldn't fast food restaurants even be out of business now? Why might they suggest that we're "at odds with ourselves"? 

For Tuesday: Egan, Devoured, Chapter 6: Diet Evangelism

NOTE: The Paper #3 assignment is in the post BELOW this one, in case you missed class on Thursday (or lost it)

ALSO: You can skip Chapter 5, "Secular Church," since it's less important to our paper assignment. Read if it you like, but I won't hold you accountable for it.

Answer two of the following for Chapter 6:

Q1: What does the word "proselytizing" mean? How does this relate to food and diets? Why can we talk about food (such as "Gluten is the new Satan") in almost Biblical, and apocalyptic, terms?

Q2: How has the 'conversation' about dieting changed over the centuries, especially from the 1800s to the present? What 'science' has been proven wrong, and what new innovations/discoveries might be equally unsound? Related to this, why might it be useful to know the history of dieting to understand the present state of losing weight (and its future)?

Q3: Why might it be easier for diet fads and theories to take root today than say, 50 years ago? And similarly, why is it even harder to today to establish which ones are based in sound scientific fact and which ones are nonsense? Consider that "in 2014 alone, the FDA recalled seven faulty weight-loss products, issued over thirty public notifications and other warning letters, and even sent some people to jail for peddling illegal diet products" (173).

Q4: Quoting Harry Balzer, an expert on food and diet trends, Egan writes, "Food is fashion...we wear our food like we wear our clothes" (184). What do you think this means practically? How can we 'wear' food, and how can it inform and perform our identity? 

Paper #3 Assignment: New and Improved for a Limited Time!

 

English 1113

Paper #3: New and Improved for a Limited Time!

INTRO: One of the most important questions about food, and the one we rarely ask ourselves, is “Why do we think about what we think about when we think about food?” (Egan 9). In other words, what makes us eat what we eat on a daily basis, and why do we often make such bad decisions? Did we ask for these bad decisions, or are we simply buying the every shiny new food product that comes down the line? What could we learn about ourselves from examining the new products that food companies (and restaurants) introduce each year to meet the insatiable demand of their hungry customers? Because after all, this is what we want, right?  

PROMPT: For this paper, I want you to choose a relatively NEW food product that has shown up in grocery stores or on the menu of your favorite fast food restaurant. It should be something that wasn’t available in exactly this form a few years ago, and preferably should have the word “New” or “New and Improved” or “Now With Added…” somewhere on the box or the advertisement. It should also boast some kind of health or wellness claim somewhere, too. Your paper should start a CONVERSATON about this product, discussing some of all of the following:

• Why do you think this product exists? Who asked for it? Or who is it targeted toward? Would YOU eat it? Why or why not?
• What category from Egan’s book helps explain this product? Is it “Food at Work” related? A product of “Having It Our Way”? Do we see an example of “Selling Absence” at work? Is it part of “Diet Evangelism?” Or is a proud member of “The Age of Stunt Foods?” Be sure to quote and use Egan to explain this.
• What does it say about our culture? Why is this product uniquely American?
• What do we need to know about this food that we might not know? What does the name and packaging hide from us? What’s actually IN the food?

RESEARCH: Make sure you’re incorporating not only Egan’s book, but find an additional 2-3 sources that can help you talk about the product. These could be the company or restaurant’s website, articles about this food, about food products, health and wellness, the dangers of what we’re eating, how food products are made, what’s in the food, etc. Make sure you actually TEACH us something about this product and where it comes from. If we leave the paper knowing as much as we started, you haven’t written a useful conversation paper.

REQUIREMENTS

• Should be 3-4 pages double space (at least)
• Double Space and Word Process, please!
• At least 2-3 sources
• Include a Works Cited page at the end with all your sources listed (and you must use all sources in your paper as QUOTES)
• DUE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10^th by 5pm [no class that day]

 

 

For Thursday: Egan, Devoured, Chapter 4 (see below)

 REMEMBER, no questions this time, though please read Chapter 4 of Devoured. We'll do an in-class response to something in this chapter in class, and I'll also give you (and discuss) your Paper #3 assignment. 

Remember, too, we're getting close to the end of the semester, so try to reduce absences and turn in as much work as possible. Every missed response over 2 will hurt your grade, and every absence over 4 does the same. You can also revise papers for a higher grade at any time before the end of the semester.

See you on Thursday! 

For Tuesday: Chapters 2-3, "Food at Work," and "Having It Out Way"

 Answer two of the following for Tuesday's class:

Q1: How has the workplace changed the eating mores of the average American? What eating choices have become hardwired into our food psyche? Why do you think this change occurred so rapidly--within a few years (since most mores take decades or more to become established?).

Q2: Even more than the workplace, technology has changed the way we eat and the way we think about food (and meals). What technology does Egan claim is the most revolutionary in changing our eating habits? Do you feel it's had the same impact on your own--or your family's?

Q3: Why do you think fast-food adopted the "Be Your Way" slogans and began selling a message along with their food? In other words, why did Burger King, McDonald's, etc., try to sell us a philosophy as well as a burger? 

Q4: What is "fast casual," and why has this trend exploded in recent years all across the American fast food landscape? Why does it specially appeal to the American cultural psyche, in ways that it doesn't appeal to people in other countries?