Debatists:
Here's a link to the European Union's report about the Russia-Georgia conflict.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Solve the World's Problems
Please post your "problem" here. We'll talk about them in class on Thursday and discuss ways to give them focus if necessary.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Keith Bradsher
For Tuesday, Nov. 10:
Read "Reptile Dreams" (Presence pp 471-477) and answer the following questions:
If you were a car, what kind would it be?
Would Clotaire Rapaille agree or disagree, and why?
Have fun.
P.S. I'm a 69 VW Bug. Powder blue. Rapaille would think I'm an insect in need of squashing.
Read "Reptile Dreams" (Presence pp 471-477) and answer the following questions:
If you were a car, what kind would it be?
Would Clotaire Rapaille agree or disagree, and why?
Have fun.
P.S. I'm a 69 VW Bug. Powder blue. Rapaille would think I'm an insect in need of squashing.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Georgia on your mind
For Thursday, Oct. 29:
Here are links to four stories about the EU report on the Russia-Georgia conflict:
Voice of America
Time Magazine
Russia Today
RIA/Novosti
Can you detect any bias in the stories? Cite an example.
Friday, October 23, 2009
David Sedaris
You've heard the warnings before: "Bundle up or you'll catch your death of cold." "Put that down before you poke out your eye."
For Tuesday, Oct. 27, read "Cyclops" by David Sedaris (the handout in the holder on my office door). On the blog, tell us two things: What is your favorite "warning" from the Sedaris piece, and what oddball warning do you remember hearing an adult tell a child.
My favorite is one my wife used to tell our children when they pouted: "If a cold wind blows, your face will freeze like that." They actually believed it until they were older.
For Tuesday, Oct. 27, read "Cyclops" by David Sedaris (the handout in the holder on my office door). On the blog, tell us two things: What is your favorite "warning" from the Sedaris piece, and what oddball warning do you remember hearing an adult tell a child.
My favorite is one my wife used to tell our children when they pouted: "If a cold wind blows, your face will freeze like that." They actually believed it until they were older.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Dave Barry (for Thursday, Oct. 22)
Please read Dave Barry's "Guys vs. Men" on page 405 in "Presence."
Come up with your own "Guy" invention.
Here's mine: A gun that shoots spices into meat. You'd use it before throwing a steak on the grill.
Nowadays, you can buy injectors, which are huge hypodermic needles that inject liquid into meats.
But a gun is so much cooler, so much more of a "Guy" thing.
Come up with your own "Guy" invention.
Here's mine: A gun that shoots spices into meat. You'd use it before throwing a steak on the grill.
Nowadays, you can buy injectors, which are huge hypodermic needles that inject liquid into meats.
But a gun is so much cooler, so much more of a "Guy" thing.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Those Crazy Canadians
Read Margaret Atwood's letter (Presence, pp 510-512) and respond this way:
Angrily rebut her argument. Act incensed. Get on your high horse and blast away at her.
P.S. It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with her yourself; I just want you to take up the opposite side. Have fun.
Your Letter
Due Thursday, Oct. 15:
Please post here the topic of your Letter to the Editor (Essay 3) and the publication to which you will send it.
The Letter is due on Oct. 22. You'll upload it as a Word document to Blackboard.
Please post here the topic of your Letter to the Editor (Essay 3) and the publication to which you will send it.
The Letter is due on Oct. 22. You'll upload it as a Word document to Blackboard.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
The New Fundamentalism
Read the Gregg Easterbrook piece on pages 343-346 of "Presence" and respond by writing whether you agree or disagree with the solution he mentions at the end -- "to teach the controversy." How do you think that strategy would work in a Lyndon State biology class?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Bobby Henderson's e-mail to the Kansas School Board is not exactly a letter to the editor, but it served a similar purpose. It drew attention to the School Board's assault on evolution and helped generate widespread derision. The board members eventually were voted out of office.
A visit to his Web site is eye-opening. Several years after he wrote the e-mail, he still gets hate mail.
After reading "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" (Presence, pg. 348), tell us about a particularly effective bit of satire that you've read, heard, or seen (on television perhaps). What made it effective?
This response is due on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Virginia Postrel
Atlanta was my home for 13 years, and it never grew on me. I lived 12 miles from my downtown office, and some days it took 45 minutes to get to work. The interstate highways drove me nuts. On the surface streets, you could never get from one place to another in a straight line. But we had malls -- five or six within 5 miles of me -- and Walmarts and Targets and Olive Gardens galore. The cookie-cutter life did not bother me; I hardly questioned it. Now I miss being five minutes away from a Home Depot, especially when I'm trying to replace the primer bulb on my string trimmer. Sigh.
Please read "In Praise of Chain Stores" (pp 681-685 in Presence) and answer the following question: Would the abundance of chain stores make you want to live in Chandler, Arizona? Cite a detail from Postrel's piece to support your answer.
Please read "In Praise of Chain Stores" (pp 681-685 in Presence) and answer the following question: Would the abundance of chain stores make you want to live in Chandler, Arizona? Cite a detail from Postrel's piece to support your answer.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes writes in "Theme for English B":
"I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem."
Compare his short piece to Zora Neale Hurston's "How it Feels to Be Colored Me."
How do Hughes and Hurston differ in their approaches to their own racial identity?
"I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem.
I went to school there, then Durham, then here
to this college on the hill above Harlem."
Compare his short piece to Zora Neale Hurston's "How it Feels to Be Colored Me."
How do Hughes and Hurston differ in their approaches to their own racial identity?
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Hit the Road, Jack
View 1051 Travels in a larger map
Please read K. Anthony Appiah's piece, "Learn Statistics. Go Abroad." It is on page 124 in "Presence," but you can also read it here in Slate.
List one of the reasons he gives for studying outside the United States. Then answer the following question: If you could spend a semester or a year at a foreign university, where would you go and why?
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Blixie
Read Tyina Steptoe's "Ode to Country Music from a Black Dixie Chick" in "Presence" and describe a situation in which you took on an identity that was at odds with what others expected of you.
For instance...
I am not a very good singer, but I get a rush from doing the vocals in "Rock Band."
Imagine me screaming the lyrics to "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World:
"It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride, everything, everything will be all right, everything everything will be all right, all right!"
Dude, where's my wheelchair and oxygen tank?
P.S. Can you find music by Blixie?
What do you think of it?
For instance...
I am not a very good singer, but I get a rush from doing the vocals in "Rock Band."
Imagine me screaming the lyrics to "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World:
"It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride, everything, everything will be all right, everything everything will be all right, all right!"
Dude, where's my wheelchair and oxygen tank?
P.S. Can you find music by Blixie?
What do you think of it?
Hornets' Nest Observation
9/17/09
Dan Williams
Ashley and Felicia are sitting at a table by a window in the area just outside the Hornets’ Nest snack bar. Ashley is wearing an orange hooded sweatshirt with the words “Paradise Beach” on the front. Felicia is wearing a thin yellow hoodie over a black T-shirt.
“It’s funny,” Ashley says. “We’re doing observations in another class, but we can’t draw conclusions.” Ashley says the students she observes for that other class have to be in the third grade or younger.
The sun shines through the window, warming everyone’s back. Across the room, three young men are watching SportCenter. The TV always seems to be tuned to ESPN, the sports network.
Four young women sit at the table next to Ashley and Felicia: Ellen, Katie, Mikaila, and Emily. Katie is eating a fruit cup filled with green and red grapes. She throws a grape at a male student sitting 20 feet away, saying she is trying to get a reaction out of him that she can write about for this observational assignment. Her throw misses. The reaction doesn’t come from her target, but from Damon, who is sitting in a booth nearby: “Yo, yo, yo, you gotta pick that up!” Katie ignores him, and the red grape sits on the floor next to the recycling bin, heating up in a square of sunshine.
Pete and Jack are in a booth next to Ashley and Felicia’s table. Pete is eating a breakfast sandwich made with sausage and egg – “Don’t forget the muffin,” he says – and he is drinking a Sobe beverage. Jack is drinking a chocolate low-fat milk.
Pete says, “Ooh, ooh, an interesting color to describe.” He appears to be talking about someone he sees outside.
Jack looks at the television, which is showing a commercial. “That looks good,” he says. “CC’s Pizza.”
Ethan, Jeremy, Ross, and Mikaila move to the couches in the TV area and start taking notes.
Pete’s computer is playing an Elton John song and he sings along: “’Benny, Benny, Benny and the Jets.’ I love this song.”
Jack: “Yeah, ‘Benny and the Jets.’ Sweet song.”
Over in the snack bar, Kristin and Katelyn are sitting in a booth. Katelyn is wearing a grey T and faded jeans. A cell phone peaks out of her front pants pocket. She is wearing two necklaces – one a simple chain with a heavy ring on it. Kristin is wearing faded jeans and a long-sleeved shirt over a white top over a blue T-shirt. A band holds her hair in place. An orange juice bottle sits on the table between them. It is not clear whom it belongs to.
The room next to the Hornets’ Nest had no smell, but the snack bar smells of something sweet and slightly burnt, like toast. It’s 10:40 a.m. and the staff is getting ready for the lunch rush. The guy at the sandwich station fills bottles with mustard and mayonnaise. A woman works behind him cleaning up the counters. Another woman sprays oil on large oven trays.
Back in the TV area, Ethan seems to be asleep. His head is tilted back in his chair. His sunglasses are on, but from the side it is clear his eyes are closed. Without opening them, he reaches to scratch his cheek.
Students start gathering their things at the end of the class period. Ethan takes his glasses off and rubs his face.. Then he stands up and leaves with his classmates.
Dan Williams
Ashley and Felicia are sitting at a table by a window in the area just outside the Hornets’ Nest snack bar. Ashley is wearing an orange hooded sweatshirt with the words “Paradise Beach” on the front. Felicia is wearing a thin yellow hoodie over a black T-shirt.
“It’s funny,” Ashley says. “We’re doing observations in another class, but we can’t draw conclusions.” Ashley says the students she observes for that other class have to be in the third grade or younger.
The sun shines through the window, warming everyone’s back. Across the room, three young men are watching SportCenter. The TV always seems to be tuned to ESPN, the sports network.
Four young women sit at the table next to Ashley and Felicia: Ellen, Katie, Mikaila, and Emily. Katie is eating a fruit cup filled with green and red grapes. She throws a grape at a male student sitting 20 feet away, saying she is trying to get a reaction out of him that she can write about for this observational assignment. Her throw misses. The reaction doesn’t come from her target, but from Damon, who is sitting in a booth nearby: “Yo, yo, yo, you gotta pick that up!” Katie ignores him, and the red grape sits on the floor next to the recycling bin, heating up in a square of sunshine.
Pete and Jack are in a booth next to Ashley and Felicia’s table. Pete is eating a breakfast sandwich made with sausage and egg – “Don’t forget the muffin,” he says – and he is drinking a Sobe beverage. Jack is drinking a chocolate low-fat milk.
Pete says, “Ooh, ooh, an interesting color to describe.” He appears to be talking about someone he sees outside.
Jack looks at the television, which is showing a commercial. “That looks good,” he says. “CC’s Pizza.”
Ethan, Jeremy, Ross, and Mikaila move to the couches in the TV area and start taking notes.
Pete’s computer is playing an Elton John song and he sings along: “’Benny, Benny, Benny and the Jets.’ I love this song.”
Jack: “Yeah, ‘Benny and the Jets.’ Sweet song.”
Over in the snack bar, Kristin and Katelyn are sitting in a booth. Katelyn is wearing a grey T and faded jeans. A cell phone peaks out of her front pants pocket. She is wearing two necklaces – one a simple chain with a heavy ring on it. Kristin is wearing faded jeans and a long-sleeved shirt over a white top over a blue T-shirt. A band holds her hair in place. An orange juice bottle sits on the table between them. It is not clear whom it belongs to.
The room next to the Hornets’ Nest had no smell, but the snack bar smells of something sweet and slightly burnt, like toast. It’s 10:40 a.m. and the staff is getting ready for the lunch rush. The guy at the sandwich station fills bottles with mustard and mayonnaise. A woman works behind him cleaning up the counters. Another woman sprays oil on large oven trays.
Back in the TV area, Ethan seems to be asleep. His head is tilted back in his chair. His sunglasses are on, but from the side it is clear his eyes are closed. Without opening them, he reaches to scratch his cheek.
Students start gathering their things at the end of the class period. Ethan takes his glasses off and rubs his face.. Then he stands up and leaves with his classmates.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Zora Neale Hurston
My favorite passage in "How It Feels to Be Colored Me" is this:
"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me." What strikes me is the tone. Many victims of oppression dwell on the pain they feel. Here, Hurston turns the tables. She practically feels sorry for the people doing the discriminating. How refreshing.
What is your favorite passage from the piece, and why?
"Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It's beyond me." What strikes me is the tone. Many victims of oppression dwell on the pain they feel. Here, Hurston turns the tables. She practically feels sorry for the people doing the discriminating. How refreshing.
What is your favorite passage from the piece, and why?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Lynda Barry
In "Common Scents," Lynda Barry writes about the different smells at friends' houses.
Describe your favorite place to visit because of its smell.
Mine is Chutters in Littleton. Gourmet malted milk balls. Mmmm.
Describe your favorite place to visit because of its smell.
Mine is Chutters in Littleton. Gourmet malted milk balls. Mmmm.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Error-catching Honor Roll
Mikaila, Sept. 3 -- I can't recall the error -- but I remember grousing about it.
Class Act
I had to tilt the camera to fit everyone within the image.
Counterclockwise from the right:
Katelyn, Kristin, Shayne, Katie, Mikaila, Ashley, Emily, Damon, Jeremy, Ethan, Ross, Felicia, Matt, Brett, Pete, Justin, Jack.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Displaced? Me?
The theme of our first essay is displacement -- how different (or not) college life is compared to your pre-college days. Read Alice Walker's "The Place Where I Was Born" and post a response describing one thing that makes you feel displaced.
For instance:
I have lived here for three years, but I am still not used to the weather. The difference between Vermont and Georgia is most jarring in the mornings when I run (I took up jogging recently, and it does not show yet). I wake up pretty early. Lately, the temperature has been below 40 when I set out. I wear a sweatshirt and tuck my fists inside the sleeves until my hands warm up. The route is one mile out and one mile back. When I make the turn, I'm so warm I have to take off the sweatshirt. The air is still cold, so the sweat suddenly feels chilly. In Atlanta at this time of year, the morning temperatures are in the 60s or lower 70s. You have to run in the morning or risk heat stroke.
For instance:
I have lived here for three years, but I am still not used to the weather. The difference between Vermont and Georgia is most jarring in the mornings when I run (I took up jogging recently, and it does not show yet). I wake up pretty early. Lately, the temperature has been below 40 when I set out. I wear a sweatshirt and tuck my fists inside the sleeves until my hands warm up. The route is one mile out and one mile back. When I make the turn, I'm so warm I have to take off the sweatshirt. The air is still cold, so the sweat suddenly feels chilly. In Atlanta at this time of year, the morning temperatures are in the 60s or lower 70s. You have to run in the morning or risk heat stroke.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Gummi Color Groups
Here are the groups* you'll divide into when we review each other's writing and commit other nefarious acts:
Black Raspberry
Emily Abbott
Ethan Mitchell
Justin Sousa
Jeremy Feldstein
Watermelon
Jack Grumm
Peter Thompson
Katelyn Thomas
Kristin Bell
Green Apple
Brett Glantz
Ross Lincoln
Matt Rice
Felicia Staib
Cherry
Ashley Gonier
Ellen Head
Shayne Kirby
Katie Mears
Damon Parker
Black Raspberry
Emily Abbott
Ethan Mitchell
Justin Sousa
Jeremy Feldstein
Watermelon
Jack Grumm
Peter Thompson
Katelyn Thomas
Kristin Bell
Green Apple
Brett Glantz
Ross Lincoln
Matt Rice
Felicia Staib
Cherry
Ashley Gonier
Ellen Head
Shayne Kirby
Katie Mears
Damon Parker
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
McBride prompt
We'll talk about the James McBride book "The Color of Water" on Thursday.
Ruth McBride refused to reveal her past to her children.
How has your knowledge -- or lack thereof -- about your family background shaped your own self-image?
Write a paragraph. Grammar, spelling and punctuation don't count.
Ruth McBride refused to reveal her past to her children.
How has your knowledge -- or lack thereof -- about your family background shaped your own self-image?
Write a paragraph. Grammar, spelling and punctuation don't count.
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