For Tuesday: Coates, “The Case for Reparations”

For Tuesday: Coates, “The Case for Reparations”

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Coates gives us a prominent naysayer early in the essay, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter, who says, “Too many men making too many babies they don’t want to take care of...Pull your pants up and buy a belt, because no one wants to see your underwear or the crack of your butt” (15). Why does Coates argue that simply acting ‘respectable’ and providing positive roles models for youth isn’t going to arrest or reverse the problem? What else is causing the poverty and disparity in many inner-city African-American neighborhoods?

Q2: What does Coates mean when he writes, “To proudly claim the veteran and disown the slaveowner is patriotism à la carte” (19)? Or, as he says at the end of the essay, “To celebrate freedom and democracy while forgetting America’s origins in a slavery economy is patriotism à la carte” (41)? How does this relate to the issue of reparations?

Q3: Many people would argue that the past is past: it’s ancient history, and we’ll never move forward if we become mired in old arguments and ideas. Yet Coates argues that “We cannot escape our history. All of our solutions to the great problems of health care, education, housing, and economic inequality are troubled by what must go unspoken” (46-47). How does he support this argument in his essay? Where to the ‘sins of the fathers’ haunt their children and grandchildren?

Q4: Critics of reparations would cite people like Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama, who are not only successful but have reached a standard of living greater than millions of white Americans. And yet, Coates says that “Barack and Michelle Obama have won. But they’ve won by being twice as good—and enduring twice as much” (15). Or, as he says later, “Some black people always will be twice as good. But they generally find white predation to be thrice as fast” (37). What does he mean by this? Is this simply a ‘sour grapes’ attitude? What evidence does he offer that many African-Americans (and other ethnic minorities) have to work twice as hard for the same rights and privileges as their white peers?

For Tuesday: Yoffe, “The College Rape Overcorrection” (pp.75-110)

For Tuesday: Yoffe, “The College Rape Overcorrection” (pp.75-110)

DEFINITIONS: Look up any words you don’t know, especially if they seem important to the essay—we’ll discuss some in class on Tuesday.

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: What does Yoffe mean when she writes, “At Ohio State University, two young people who want to engage in sexual congress might be well advised to first consult with the philosophy department and the law school” (100-101)? Why might the age of consensual relationships be on its last legs in college?

Q2: Yoffe has been widely criticized for this article and others like it, as her detractors have “denounced [her] for “victim blaming”...a student organization that had invited me decided my presence would make student victims “feel unsafe” (103). Is Yoffe critical of women who report rape on student campuses and/or blaming these same women for bringing the crime on themselves? Why or why not?

Q3: In a major study of rapes on college campuses, the conclusions determine that “young American college women are raped at a rate similar to women in Congo, where rape has been used as a weapon of war” (90). Is this a true, accurate statement? What might make us pause at such an assertion—and why do so many colleges take it at face value?

Q4: According to Yoffe, alcohol is the ‘elephant in the room’ in any discussion about the college rape epidemic—but it’s the last thing anyone talks about. Why is this? Why is the role of college drinking underplayed by college administrators, and why does Yoffe think alcohol—even more than serial rapists—are to blame for growing reports of sexual assault on campus?

For Next Week: Paper #1 Conferences In My Office

Remember that there is no class next week: instead, I want you to come to my office (HM 348) at a prearranged time to discuss your Paper #1 assignment (which I'll have graded and ready to return to you). If you miss your conference, it counts as TWO absences, so please show up OR contact me to schedule a new time. The sign up sheet is below, so if you missed class on Thursday, please e-mail me about one of the available times:

TUESDAY 13
9:30 Carli
:40 Danny
:50 Brenna

10:00 Anna
:10 Emily N.
:20 David 
:30 Ethan H.
:40 Steven
:50 Simrika

11:00 Kristin
:10 Megan 
:20 Danielle
:30 Nikki
:40 Ben
:50 Hayden

12:00 Michaela
:10 Mya
:20
:30 Kaitlin

1:00 Emily C.
:10 Jack
:20 Dava
:30 Qua'ry

2:00 Shambhavi
:20 Tiffany

WEDNESDAY 14
2:00 Cameron
:10 Colton

THURSDAY 15
10:00 Dustin
:40 Alexia
:50 Nathan

11:00 Ashley 
:10 Taylor
:20 Cody
:30 Lisa
:40 Brooke
:50 Rachel

12:00 Emily
:10 Pramila

12:30 to 2:30 is OPEN for those who haven't scheduled a confernece

For Thursday: Stanley, "Jackie's Goodbye" (pp.379-408)

Original Art from the National Journal issue with "Jackie's Goodbye"

REMEMBER: No class on Tuesday--just finish/turn in Paper #1 to my office. Then start reading and responding to the questions below...

For Thursday: Stanley, “Jackie’s Goodbye” (pp.379-408)

Definitions:

deplorable (379)

incredulous (380)

burgeoning (383)

sporadic (385)

tenuous (390)

extraneous (392)

cognition (395)

euthanasia (400)

panacea (403)

mandate (406)

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: Why is Alzheimer’s a relatively recent disease, one that we didn’t think a lot about 100 years ago? Related to this, why has so little been done to a disease that now affects around 5 millions people, “with more than 400,00 new cases each year—numbers that are expected to double by 2050”?

Q2: Why did Jim Crabtree call the triple-murder of his wife and mother by his father a “mercy killing”? Though she calls this “particularly chilling,” is Stanley at all sympathetic with his story? Why or why not?

Q3: When talking about Alzeheimer’s we typically talk about the victims, but in Stanley’s essay she talks about another set of victims—the patient’s family/caregivers. How does Alzeheimer’s afflict everyone related to the disease, and in some cases, prove just as deadly to those not afflicted with it?

Q4: Though not all of us will get Alzheimer’s or have to care for anyone who does, why is this still an important essay for us to read? What weaknesses of modern American life does this reveal? What are our cultural “blind spots” both as individuals and as a nation? What does Stanley want us to see/recognize about ourselves in this piece? 

For Tuesday: Van Meter, “Follow Me” (pp.363-376)

Link to the Vogue article: http://www.vogue.com/865148/kate-upton-model-social-media/

DEFINITIONS:

counterintuitive (366)

synergy (367)

überthin (or über itself) (367)

jargon (371)

cheeky (372)

scrutiny (372)

voyeuristic (373)

palpably (373)

outliers (375)

bodacious (376)

QUESTIONS: Answer TWO of the following...

Q1: Van Meter writes, “There’s no such thing as living in the moment anymore. Thanks to social media, every event, from the Super Bowl to the State of the Union, from the Olympics to your best friend’s wedding, now happens in real time and “real” time” (373). What does he mean by using real time once in quotes and once without? What are the two kinds of “real” he’s referring to, and why might our constant need to document life create a “real” inside the real?

Q2: Why do modeling agencies now demand that models have Twitter and Instagram accounts? Why do models now have to be more than models, but actual brands, tweeting and revealing their lives?

Q3: Discussing her presence on social media, Kate Upton said, “People think I am an expert on social media, but I am still trying to figure it out, too. How much do you want to put yourself out there?...Well, I am out there. There’s no turning back for me” (368). How do you think she means this statement? Does she feel she’s gone “too far”? What consequences might there be for a model who becomes too successful and too visible on social media?  How might this relate to Amanda Hess’ article?

Q4: The Chinese supermodel Liu Wen explains that “Chinese people have a word. We say, Not you happy—you have to make everyone happy. To share the happy. That is very important” (370). How might this statement represent not only the modeling/advertising world, but also the internet in general? How can a single person’s social media be about making “everyone happy”? 

Paper #1: The Virtual Conversation due Tuesday, September 6th by 5pm

There’s no such thing as living in the moment anymore. Thanks to social media, every event, from the Super Bowl to the State of the Union, from the Olympics to your best friend’s wedding, now happens in real time and “real” time” (Van Meter, “Follow Me”)

For this paper, I want you to respond (writing is a response, remember?) to the conversation started by our three writers: Hess, Lewinsky, and Van Meter. This is a conversation about the brave new world of the internet, and how we ‘play’ our lives on it—for better or for worse. The virtual world is a paradox, since we know it’s fake and can be easily manipulated, and yet, we spend more and more time on it, to the exclusion of real life and real moments. So is the internet real and are the abuses of the internet real crimes creating real monsters and real victims?

Your paper should develop one of the following questions by introducing the conversation and giving your ideas/responses:

• Does the Internet encourage the idea that life is a video game where you create a persona, collect followers, and destroy your opponents?
• Is the Internet rigged for men and biased against women?
• Does the Internet merely shine a new light on an old problem: we enjoy the pain of others?

Note that you can disagree with any of the above questions and spend your response arguing against it. However, whether you agree or disagree with the writers, you must QUOTE from at least TWO of the essays in question for support. Use them to respond to, support your ideas, or simply to bring people up to speed with the conversation. We’ll discuss how to integrate quotations into papers according to MLA format in our next class. Remember, the goal of this paper is to respond to a conversation: tell people what it is, who’s engaging in it, and how you contribute to the discussion. It’s as simple as that.

REQUIREMENTS:

• At least 3-4 pages double spaced
• Integrates quotations from at least 2 of the essays in class
• Cites quotations according to MLA guidelines with a Works Cited page
• Typed with an attempt at proofreading
• Due TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6th BY 5pm

For Thursday: Lewinsky, “Shame and Survival” (pp.133-148)

LINK TO THE ARTICLE: http://www.vanityfair.com/style/society/2014/06/monica-lewinsky-humiliation-culture 

DEFINITIONS:

Schadenfreude (135)

Notoriety (136)

Indemnification (137)

Resuscitated (139)

Narcissistic (140)

Surreptitiously (142)

Imbroglios (142)

Derision (143)

Obliquely (143)

Pundit (145)  

Bonus: Prufrockian (139)

QUESTIONS: Answer TWO of the following…

Q1: Far from simply calling out men for misogyny in this essay, Lewinsky also singles out the cruel indifference of other women. What charges does she level at her fellow women, and why does she feel that women—even women known as feminists—were so eager to throw her under the bus?

Q2: How does Lewinksy’s essay directly respond, in some sense, to Amanda Hess’? Though Hess is talking about on-line stalking and Lewinsky is discussing a pre-internet scandal, how are the two related? In other words, how might one essay help us understand the other?

Q3: Why does Lewinsky’s name keep coming up in the “national conversation?” What does she represent for both political parties, and why does she characterize this continuing attention as “abuse”?

Q4; According to Lewinksy, quoting the historian Nicolaus Mills, we have entered a “culture of humiliation.” What caused this? Did new technology, like the internet, create this? Or was it already here, and factors of modern life have merely intensified it? How does her story exemplify this “culture of humiliation”?