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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.