Reading & Questions for Bourdain, Ch.5 "How to Drink Vodka" and Ch.6 "Something Very Special"

Read Chapters 5 & 6 (you can skip Chapter 4, unless you really want to read it), and answer 2 of the following questions. Be sure to respond to the blog video beneath this post if you haven't--and not everyone has yet! :)

Q1: Expecting a bleak, depressed wasteland in Russia, what Tony finds is quite different--and much better than he expected. However, he does write that "One thing you get plenty of in Russia, no matter what your economic circumstances, is irony" (89). What does he mean by this? (be sure to look up "irony" if you're not sure what it means--it's a good word to know!).

Q2: At the Russkaya restaurant, Tony learns that the waitress is angry with him. Not for leaving a bad tip or being disruptive, but for not drinking enough vodka! In fact, she demands that they drink much more before he leaves, leaving him incredibly drunk by the end of the chapter. In Russia, it is a faux pas not to drink enough at dinner (look up "faux pas" if you don't know that, too!). How do Russian faux pas differ from Moroccan ones? What would get you kicked out of a restaurant in Morocco? Are they the same basic rules, just expressed through different cultures? Or does each culture truly see food, and hospitality, differently? 

Q3: At one point in the "Something Very Special" chapter, Tony gets in a fight with his television producer, who accuses him of "being difficult." Why does he feel that American TV culture is fundamentally at odds with the 'old world' sensibility of Morocco? 

Q4: One of the things Tony discovers in Morocco is expressed in the very last sentence of the chapter, which reads: "The universe was large all right, but no larger, it appeared, than the world wide world ahead of me" (127). What do you think he means by this, and what did he find there that made him see the world differently, even if only for a minute? In other words, what was so special about this culture for him? 

Writing Workshop #5: The Art of Food

This video serves as a kind of introduction to our next book, A Cook's Tour, which we'll start discussing next week. Be sure to do the questions in the post BELOW this one for next week (and read the chapters specified in the post). 

For now, watch this short video and respond to the question as a comment, and please put your name somewhere in the comment so I can give you credit! :) And make sure you WATCH the video--don't just try to answer the question using other people's comments (I think some of you are misunderstanding the prompt--so be careful!)

Reading & Questions for Bourdain, A Cook's Tour: Introduction, Chapters 1 & 3

NOTE: Remember that Thursday classes meet this week (October 22nd), though this is not due then. We'll introduce the book and some ideas related to it, though the questions below are due next week. Be sure to get the book and start reading, since your next two papers will be drawn from it! 

Read "Introduction," "Chapter 1: Where Food Comes From" and "Chapter 3: The Burn." (you don't have to read Chapter 2, but if you're interested, feel free--you can use it in your paper if you want. But I'm only requiring the three chapters above for now). 

Answer 2 of the following:

Q1: How does the "Last Meal Game" inspire Tony to go on his grand food adventure? What is he looking for or hoping to find? Do his ambitions seem realistic--or ridiculous?

Q2: Upon witnessing the brutal death of a pig for his supper, Bourdain notes how the locals respond to the bloodbath. As he writes, "Imagine your Aunt Minnie brining you a plate of cookies as you sat in front of the TV, a string of human molars strung casually, like pearls, around her neck" (22). Does he condemn the local Portuguese for taking such joy in the spectacle? Or does he learn to appreciate, in some degree, why they do this? Since this is a disturbing chapter, what does he want us to take away from this display?

Q3: One thing he says over and over in this book is "the things missing from the average American dining experience" (28). What are we lacking that other countries seem to enjoy or appreciate? How is our relationship with food and eating lacking? What does he think we've forgotten about food?

Q4: At the end of Chapter 3, Tony is filled with shame as he writes, "Suddenly, this is not fun anymore. I'm ashamed. How could I come to this city, to this country, filled with enthusiasm for something so...so...meaningless as flavor, texture, cuisine?" (63). What causes him to feel this way, and why is he continually ashamed of filming a TV show as he travels across the globe? What's wrong with being a culinary tourist, in his mind? 

Video on Finding Sources for Paper #2

 NOTE: Be sure to look through the post below this one, since it's a handout on finding sources that I gave to my Tuesday classes. The video goes more in depth, but this is the basic information. If you're not sure how to start the paper, the video also gives you a few ideas about writing a "so what?" conversation paper.

ALSO: Toward the end of the video, I try to show you a few slides from a powerpoint, but for some reason, they don't show up. However, you can follow what I'm saying without the images. Sorry! 

Handout for Finding Sources for Paper #2!

For those of you who missed Tuesday's class, or who have class on Thursday (since that's cancelled by Fall Break), here's the handout I gave the class about finding secondary sources for Paper #2. I'm going to post a video tonight to go along with this handout, but this is the basic information. Let me know if you have any questions, but do watch the video first because it will take you through the entire process.

FINDING LEGITIMATE SOURCES FOR PAPER #2

Q: What’s a legitimate source?

A: Something that has an author, and/or is from an authoritative source. Look for sources that come from accredited journals, magazines, websites, or other organizations. Wikipedia itself isn’t a good source since anyone can edit the articles and you can’t trace the actual author. Likewise, some dude’s website isn’t a great source since we don’t know what makes his ideas authoritative, or well-researched, or even credible.

Q: So where do I find legitimate sources besides a random Google search? 

1. Click on the “library” tab at the bottom of the ECU home page (go to the very bottom).
2. On the library page, you’ll see EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS) and a search bar. This gives you access to thousands of journals that will all lead to legitimate sources. Search for something here. For example, I searched for “drive-in movie theaters.” Click on “full-text” to make sure you get the entire article.
3. A variety of articles come up, and I’m interested in this one: “The Rise, The Fall, and the New Rise of Drive-in Theaters.” If you click on this, you get the full article (which you can listen to, as well as read!) and a variety of options to save, print, or even cite the article.
4. Read the article and see if it adds to your conversation: what new information does it tell you about your topic? Does it provide a naysayer perspective? Or do you agree with it? Find a passage you can quote in your paper so you can respond to the author’s ideas.
5. Click on “cite” and scroll down to MLA; cut and paste this for your Works Cited page (if you want to use it, that is).

Q: How do I integrate an article into my paper as part of the conversation?

A: Remember that you should introduce the article (author + title) and then respond to it, the way you would in a normal conversation when someone speaks: you listen and then respond.

EX: In Alisa Chang and Ari Shapiro’s article entitled, “The Rise, the Fall, and the New Rise of Drive-In Theatres,” Shapiro explains that a drive-in theatre “wasn't just appealing because it was cheap. Drive-in movies also felt more casual than the traditional theater experience” (Chang, Shapiro). This is important because with the drastic decline of drive-in theaters across the US, we’re losing that communal experience of watching movies outdoors, with your car packed full of your entire family (even your dog!) and not worrying about being too loud or having a kid snoring in the back seat.

Q: So what should my Works Cited page look like?

A: Remember, EBSCO tells you exactly how to cite the article. Then, simply cut and paste alphabetically (by author) into your Works Cited page like so…

WORKS CITED

Ailsa Chang, and Ari Shapiro. “The Rise, The Fall And The New Rise Of Drive-In Movie

Theaters.” All Things Considered (NPR), July 2020. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=n5h&AN=6XN2020072706&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Jarvis, Brooke. “Paper Tiger.” The Best American Travel Writing 2019. Boston:

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.

Writing Workshop #4: "Sneider, Cursed Fields" (pp.278-291)

 Be sure to read "Cursed Fields" for next week and to help you with the Paper #2 assignment (posted below). I realize that only Tuesday classes will have class next week (because of Fall Break), so that's kind of a bummer. However, Tuesday classes will still meet, and we'll catch up with Thursday classes the following week. 

The video below talks about a very important component of your Paper #2--the "Naysayer." Be sure you know what that is, because I'll be looking for it in your paper. :) 

Also, don't forget to respond to the question in the video as a comment below. 

 

Paper #2: Circles of Interest: due in 2 weeks!

Not only is our planet surprisingly poorly understood, but we’re also less adept than we might guess at gathering these threads of local knowledge and experience scattered across the globe and frayed by borders, language, and economics, and weaving them into our collective understanding of the human experience. Our understanding of life on this planet is still mainly projected from narrow, elite concerns” (MacGregor 166).

For your Paper #2 assignment, I want you to focus on the idea of our ‘circles of interest,’ which often exclude issues that have wide-reaching consequences (like Siberia or Chernobyl), or seem small and local, but are part of the legacy of history (Australia, Haiti). So for this assignment, I want you to write about a local or regional issue which is somehow endangered. This should be something well-known to your family, town, etc., but someone outside the town, or state, or country would know nothing about (and might not care to). Some issues off the top of my head are: the teacher shortage in Oklahoma, tribal rights, the loss of indigenous languages, the loss of regional hospitals in  Oklahoma, the marketability of college degrees (in Oklahoma and elsewhere), access to healthcare for college students (or twenty-somethings), the loss of cultural traditions (Halloween, etc.), music education (or the lack thereof) in schools, and so forth. But you can write about anything that you feel is important.

To write this paper, you’ll have to explain the “so what?” or “why does this matter?” factor to your audience, who you should assume know nothing, or almost nothing, about this issue. How does it affect you and your region? What are the consequences of its ‘extinction?’ How might this issue be connected to larger cultural and historical forces? And how does it represent a larger conversation which does matter to everyone in your audience?

To help you do this, you MUST connect your issue with one (or more) of the essays from class, using it to help introduce your topic. Show how the essay explains that we should widen our circles of interest, and how issues such as culture, history, and the environment affect us all, no matter where we live. Additionally, you must find 3-4 SECONDARY SOURCES that help you discuss your personal issue. These can be journal articles (I’ll show you how to find those), website articles, books or chapters in books, shows, videos, and podcasts.

REQUIREMENTS

• At least 4-5 pages, double spaced
• Has to ask and answer the “so what?” question
• Must use at least one of the 4 essays in this unit as context
• Must use 3-4 sources for support (quote, discuss each one)
• Due Tuesday, October 20^th for Tuesday classes; Thursday October 22^nd for Thursday classes