Hi Everyone!

Here are your discussion questions for this week. As always, please answer one of the following two questions on your own blog.

1. How did Kayla’s army experience influence her life? For example, before the war she was doing drugs and got kicked out of her fathers and mothers houses, after the war she looked deeply in the way woman were treated and how war affects people.
2. Williams states in the beginning that she is “one of the 15 percent of the U.S. Army that is female.” What is one reason why she enlisted in the army?

See you tomorrow!

Professor Hammer

The following questions need to be answered on your own blog by Sunday, October 25, noon. The questions can be answered in order as you read, so you don’t need to go hunting around for the answers.

In addition to these reading questions, please prepare a thesis statement and intro paragraph for Monday’s writing conferences. We will share this work during the conference for feedback.

Reading Questions:

1. Reflect on your own writing and decide which myth (under “myths about writing,” 4-5, apply to you? Use 3-4 sentences.
2. What does college-level research require, as opposed to high school-level research? What skills do you need to acquire to do good research? Use 3-4 sentences.
3. Define “argument”– what does it mean to argue in a college-level essay? What comparison does the author use? Use 3-4 sentences
4. What are the three kinds of academic writing assignments you might receive in college? Briefly define each kind. Use 4-5 sentences.
5. What are the three characteristics of effective writing, according to the research on professor expectations conducted by George Mason University? Use 3-4 sentences
6. Give two examples of when the author feels first person is more appropriate in a particular context. Use 3-4 sentences.
7. When is it clearly a bad idea to use “I”? Use 3-4 sentences.

Here are the discussion questions for tomorrow. As always, please answer the questions on your own blog, but this time by 11:00 am tomorrow (I’ve given you a little more time tomorrow because these are late getting up).

1. In Chapter One of Regarding the Pain of Others, how does Sontag link the perception of war to other concepts?
2. In the poem “Eastern War Time,” Adrienne Rich portrays a lot of vivid scenes about different people. Which one do you think is the best representation of the war images? And, how are these descriptions of other people, such as the driving woman of sixty, related to the main character, the Jewish girl?
3. How would you describe the war through the eyes of a school girl, and what does the author mean when she states, “memory says want to do it right? Don’t count on me.”

Please answer one of the following questions on your own blog by Tuesday, 5 pm. Have a great long weekend!

Professor Hammer

1: How does fear influence the characters actions? For example when all the Jews were called to go to the stadium in chapter 4 and they all went out of fear for what would happen if they didn’t go.

2:Vladek, at one point, begins doing under the counter work for a grocery shop. Do you think this was a smart idea considering that his friend Cohn and his son were hung for dealing goods without a coupon? Also do you think hiding the elders was a good idea considering what could have happened to Vladek and his family if the Germans found out.

3: How does the way the father narrates the story effect the way certain elements of the story are told? For example how he speaks in a very conversational manner does it feel more real?

Hi, Everyone!

Please answer one of these questions on your own blog by 9 am tomorrow morning.

1. How did going through World War Two firsthand influence Artie’s father on his personalities, values, and his perspectives on life?

2. The author wrote Maus in an unconventional way of a graphic novel, using animal characters instead of human ones.

3. Does this form effectively tell a Holocaust story? How does it differ from a conventional Holocaust story?

Please leave a short reflection (one paragraph) on the film we watched in class today, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). It can deal with one of the characters and the notes you took watching the film, or one of the themes in the film that most interested you. Then take a moment to read another student’s reflection and write 2-3 lines in response to their post.

Hi, Everyone,

Sorry for the delay in the posting of these questions. Here they are! Please respond before class tomorrow, by 11:00 am. And post to your brand new blog spot!

Thanks,

Professor Hammer

1. Woolf has strong beliefs of the role of women in her society. Why did she believe that “…woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction..” and what were the differences between women of her time and women of the past?

Hi Everyone!

Please blog one paragraph addressing one of the following questions. Use your own blog this time, and remember to post by Tuesday, 11:59 pm. Also, if you don’t see your blog listed under bookmarks on the main page of our course blog, please email me.

See you Wednesday!

Prof. Hammer

Questions:
1. How does the theme of home resonate throughout the excerpt?
2. How did Gertrude Stein’s personality and qualities get her favors and privileges from the soldiers?
3. How does the presence of family impact people during war (such Abel’s godmother and the Whiteheads)?

Freud’s short essay provides us with an excellent feeling for how the Great War affected a generation of men and women. Copy one line from the essay that particularly sparked your interest and write a few sentences about that line (what we would call a close read of that line), being attentive to specific words or phrases used.

For this round, I’d like you to answer the prompt here on our home page, but in the future I’d like everyone to have their own blogs@baruch site so you can customize your own space. Under bookmarks, see a link to create your blog.

This will be the place to go for all of our course needs, including readings, assignments, conversations, image sharing, etc.

I am really excited to get to know all of you and to share ideas on this very important topic!

Professor Hammer