Hi Everyone,

I’m glad you all enjoyed listening to the Freakonomics podcast about handwriting today (for those who missed class, click here or here to listen). I’m going to read over your essays promptly and get them back to you by no later than this weekend so  you can immediately get to work planning out/beginning to research your third essay.

For Thursday, please:

1) Research one topic/idea/controversy/pencil store or whatever else that came up in the Freakonomics podcast and write a brief (about one paragraph) summary of what you learned in your research. You’ll informally present your research to a small group on Thursday.

2) Read “What is Academic Writing?” by L. Lennie Irvin (available here) and write short (2-3 sentence) responses to these three questions/prompts: A) According to Irvin, what is the “Academic Writing Situation”? B) Summarize Irvin’s advice about how to “pick and limit” a writing topic. C) Write a one-sentence “translation” (i.e. voice the idea in your own words) of each of Irvin’s “three characteristics of academic writing” (14).

Turn in your essays by 9AM!

Hi Everyone!

For Thursday:

1) Bring, preferably as a print-out, an article, essay, op-ed, or some other interesting piece of writing you have read since class ended yesterday. Be prepared to talk about why this piece of writing interested you with the class.

2) Bring your work-in-progress (printed out). This means you have to make some progress on your essay between now and tomorrow afternoon!

That’s it. See you then.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for a great discussion yesterday.

Remember that we will not have a formal meeting tomorrow. Instead we’ll be doing conferences. Make sure to come to your conference with at least a general idea about what you want to do for your second essay and also please bring any other questions at all you want to ask about writing.

For Tuesday, please write a one-page (again, about 200-250 words) very rough draft of your second essay. One great way to get started is to pick a quote from whatever reading you’re writing about and just analyze as much as you can. This should get your creative juices flowing and will also give you the confidence to get started on your essay. You’ll trade your draft with a partner for feedback so please make sure it is typed.

I’ll hand out hard copies of the second assignment in our conferences but click here to see it now.

That’s it. See you all soon!

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for a spirited, engaging discussion today!

For Tuesday:

1) Read Kevin Williamson’s “The Case Against Reparations” and Coates’s response, “The Case for History,” both of which you can find here.
2) Write a brief summary of Williamson’s argument and of Coates’s response (no more than 2 sentences).
3) Continuing what you began in class today, write a one-page (200-250 words) position paper on the issue of reparations (you’ll be turning it in to me but not for a grade). Remember, a position is a “rationalized mental attitude.” This means you do not have to be for or against reparations but rather might want to be somewhere in between. A valid position could be, “I’m only for reparations if the money can be given out as educational vouchers (i.e. the reparations money has to be spent on education).” This position is “for” reparations but with an exception. Any position is acceptable as long as you do your best to rationalize it.

Also, here is a good video of Coates discussing the article if you want to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB1S9-GsBW8.

Hi Everyone,

For Thursday, please read sections I, II, IV, V, IX, and X from Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “The Case for Reparations,” which you can find here and complete the response letter assignment, which you can find here.

I am going to ask these questions about Coates’s essay so make sure to be prepared to respond (at least write down brief responses to these questions and identify evidence to support your responses): 1) What is his “case” for reparations? 2) What are reparations? 3) Why does he think reparations are necessary? 4) How does he make his case? 5) Does he convince you?

As I mentioned today, since the article is 60 pages long you are not required to print it out and are allowed to bring your tablet/laptop to class on Thursday.

Finally, I am going to be observed on Thursday’s class. Professor Entes, who is observing me, is only observing me NOT YOU. So just be yourselves!

Our reading for Tuesday, “Enter Feelings” by Antonio Damasio is now posted here. Take as many notes as you can. And ask yourself this question as you are reading: what does feeling have to do with caring? And also, what the heck does Spinoza have to do with any of this?

Also, if you want to learn a bit more about Damasio, take a look at this conversation he had with David Brooks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IifXMd26gWE.

See you on Tuesday.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for a great discussion today. Looking forward to reading your essays. By the way here is a link to the Vivian Maier site and here is a link to the trailer for the documentary about her (just added to Netflix Instant). Check it out if you can. Its worth your time.

Here are the groups for Questions 4 and 5 on the response sheet for our reading for Thursday (for those who missed class, click here for the Joan Tronto reading and here for the response sheet). Each group will get together on Thursday, discuss their responses, and then share their findings with the class.

Group 1
Talia
Jing
Joe
Khubaib
Warren
Kevin
John
Vickie
Domenica
Maheen
Chanel
Melissa

Group 2
Brieanne
Gary
Nicholas
Henry
Matthew
Tarikk
Vanessa
Eileen
Gisselle
Tosha
Joyce
Michelle