090-01: Identifying with Hamlet

To go along with your current paper assignment, please listen to the following program and write a one-page reaction in your journal--one that includes enough details that it helps you remember it and talk about it in class on Monday, please!

http://thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=218

your dream come true. . .

class is canceled today, monday, november 9, because my daughter is sick. but there are assignments for all classes, and here they are:

101-06 and 101-08: please write an open letter that is also a proposal for wednesday. it should be one page long, typed, double spaced, 12 pt. times new roman etc., all that standard stuff. in saying that it should be a proposal, what i mean is that it should suggest something, like, that there should be more slices of cheese per velveeta package or whatever.

please feel free to have fun, but don't be disrespectful or crazy offensive. i'm not talking political correctness here, just basic humanity, k? these will be shared in class, and i'm looking forward to having a good time with them.

here's the mcsweeneys's site for inspiration:
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/openletters/
you can scroll down for all past open letters.


090-01: please write a response to the reading you had over the weekend in your journals (just one page is fine) and then read the following for wednesday:

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/bl_sanger_1924.htm

which is a very different essay on the same topic. . . sort of. i look forward to talking about it with you on wednesday!

have a good day off everyone! email me with any questions you have: lena.rosenfield@sunyit.edu.

090-01: reading for monday

please read Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" at the following link: http://grammar.about.com/od/60essays/a/modpropoessay.htm for monday's class and be prepared to discuss it.

have a good weekend!

Good grief.

for some reason, when you paste the link below (or any Salon link), you go to the Salon home page instead of going to the article. So when you get there, put "retarded" in the search box, and the first article is the one i want you to read for wednesday. read both pages. thank you.

Everyone, please read this for Wednesday

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/09/18/lynn_harris/index.html

This American Life site is working again, so. . .

if you were not able to do your assignment last week, please do it this weekend and hand it in Monday. Thank you!

Week of 10/5 for 101-06 and 101-08

Today, we're doing peer review.

On Wednesday, your final drafts are due. What that means:

Staple together your first draft, peer reviewed drafts, and outline, and bring to class AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS on Wednesday. I will not be here. Someone else will be here for exactly 5 minutes to collect the essays. If you're not here with your essay, you are out of luck. (Yes, that is a cliché, and it means that your grade will suffer.)

Here are your assignments for the remainder of the week:

1. Listen to the following This American Life program online:

http://thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=360

click on full episode at the left side to listen to it. It's an hour long.

2. Find a partner in class. Exchange email addresses. Decide right now which one of you will write 100 words (slightly less than half a page, double-spaced) about why the approach taken in the story was morally right, and which person will write 100 words about why the approach was morally wrong. Once you have listened to the story, write your 100 words to each other in your emails. Then, if you like, have an email conversation in which you agree or disagree about your points and positions.

3. Now switch positions. Whoever wrote about it being morally right, write about why it was morally wrong. Whoever wrote about it being morally wrong, write about why it was morally right. You can write more than 100 words, but not less. It doesn't really matter what you REALLY believe; what I want you to do is try to think of what the arguments are for and against, no matter what you believe. We'll talk about this story more in class.

4. Once you've both written 100 words on both positions, print out the email or compile it into a Word file and print it out so that you can hand it in to me when we have class again on Wednesday, 14 October. (12 October is a school holiday.)

5. Reading that is also due that day:
Transitions, chapter 6 (this is a good one—read carefully)
Axelrod, chapter 5 (read carefully as well)

Have a good week!