2010

2004-06-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

Test.

2004-04-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

I thought you all might find this an interesting read. Apparently, NYU student Steve Stanzak found himself homeless and living in the library. Read it here. (free, but registration required)

2004-04-26T06:47:00.000-07:00

We'll be in the library all week this week. Room 138.

2004-04-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

I neglected to post the publication information on the handouts for you all (although you can easily find it all in the library databases).

The Lauren Slater essay:

Slater, Lauren. Harper's Magazine, Jul2001, Vol. 303 Issue 1814. You have the page numbers.

The Wil Hylton essay:

Esquire, Jun2001, Vol. 135 Issue 6. You have the page numbers.

The Tom Junod essay:

Esquire, Oct2002, Vol. 138 Issue 4. You have the page numbers.

2004-04-23T14:53:00.000-07:00

Essays for Final

Don't forget that the essays for the final exam are available on the handouts section of the course web site. Make sure you take some time over the weekend to look through them all and pick one to work on next week.

2004-04-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

Finals Schedule

My 9:00 class -- your final is Tuesday, May 4, from 9:30 to 11:30

My 11:00 class -- your final is Monday, May 3, from 9:30 to 11:30

***

Check back here for information on whether or not we'll be in the library next week. Even though I haven't heard back from them yet regarding scheduling, plan on us being there.

2004-04-18T16:42:00.000-07:00

FYI: We'll be meeting back in our normal classroom on Monday.

2004-04-15T11:17:00.000-07:00

Friday, 4/16

As I said in class Wednesday, I will be out of town on Friday. Go to the library as normal. Fran Zedney (a head honcho librarian) will be there to answer any of your questions. I encourage you to take advantage of her skills and use her to help you with your research.

For Monday, come to the regular classroom with 2 solid pages. Your topic may still be sorting itself out, but come in with a solid introduction, at the very least.

See you Monday.

***

Adam asks that you all check out the riddles he's placed on his blog and promises candy to anyone who can solve them.

2004-04-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

I thought you all might find this NY Times piece about a college student expelled for writing a gruesome short story.

***

We're in a space in the class now where you all know more or less where you stand with your essays. While we'll be in the Library for the rest of the week, should you wish to do some peer editing, you may. I assume that you all are writing in the background anyway, so do not hesitate to bring drafts to the library this week.

2004-04-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

Notice:

1) Don't forget that we meet in the library, room 138 on Monday.

2) My office has changed. I have escaped from the dark room at the end of the long, dark hallway in the basement of a house, and I'm now in Social Sciences room 318 A.

2004-04-08T18:28:00.000-07:00

I know most of you are too busy with end of the semester chaos, but this is just too bizarre not to pass along: Easter Bunny whipped at church show; some families upset. Feel free to respond to it on your blogs. At the very least, it'll be a chance for you all to blow off some steam.

2004-04-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

2010 Essay #3 Topic

As I said in class, in this essay I am taking the muzzle off. Your task in this assignment is to write me an essay. It must be researched, argumentative, documented, and use sources both to further and support whatever you're claiming. With all of that said, and despite this apparent freedom, this is not an opportunity for you to go and recycle some essay from high school about gun control, abortion, plastic surgery, pornography, or any of the other "hot button" issues that are so frequently the subject of these kinds of argumentative essays. I'd also like you to stay away from "politics" (i.e. Iraq, 9/11, Bush, Kerry, you name it). These are usually not even research essays, since the conclusion is predetermined and the research is only there because it is required to be.

Think about how, for the past couple of weeks, I've been asking you about questions. I've been doing this for a very specific reason: good research papers come out of good questions. I want to see you come up with a good, difficult question, and then go about finding an answer to it. This is what we'll be doing in the library.

I require that you use one text from the course (i.e. something from either the textbook or one of the handouts), which means that your essay/argument should be in some way related to the course. In addition, you should find two sources from outside the textbook. (We will spend time in the library next week working on this). The essay should be 5 pages long, typed, double-spaced, with all sources cited using MLA format. You should also include a works cited page at the end (and, while I know it pains you all, the works cited does not count as a page).

***

Between now and Monday, I'd like you all to use your blogs to chew on ideas for this essay. Post ideas on them. Look at what other people are thinking about writing about--perhaps even leave some comments on some blogs. I'll keep a close eye on everyone's blogs and will offer some comments where needed, as well. In addition, I'm going to see if I might enlist some help from another composition class--in Little Rock, Arkansas.

***

I noted in class a few magazines/web sites to get you started. Here they are again:

The New Yorker (the source of the Gladwell essay on SUVs from early this semester)

Harper's (the source of Slater's essay on Joe Rosen)

Esquire (the source of the Junod piece on bullies)

The Atlantic Monthly (unused this semester, but the entire content of the magazine is available online for free).

I have promised this on a number of occasions this semester, but many of you might find the Library of Congress web site interesting--particularly the American Memory section. Here, for instance, is a picture of downtown Ogden from the 1920s. (My favorite is this panoramic photo of Ogden from 1914.

2004-04-02T20:27:00.000-08:00

Syllabus Revision

Sorry for the delay with getting the handouts online for you all. The weather has presented a series of obstacles. (The power has gone out ~~twice~~ three times since I started writing this blog post)

The handouts for next week are online in the handouts section of the course website. I have removed everything that is currently on the syllabus and replaced it with a handouts. You should like them, I think.

As for a second blog assignment, my 11:00 2010 came up with an interesting idea in light of our discussion of the Engle essay. Two things: 1) I have been really happy with the posts on Barbie; 2) I would like to see what you all can do in terms of what's called "cooperative research." That is, I'm interested in what kind of interesting things you all might dig up if you all worked at once on the same question.

Blame the 11:00 2010 for this question: Since the second half of Engle's essay hinges on a reading of the name "Kal-el," when does that name first appear in the comic book? Is it from the beginning? Does it appear later? Does this affect Engle's reading?

Have fun.

2004-03-30T22:23:00.000-08:00

It's Time For A Little Source Evaluation

Since we're covering Barbie this week, and since we've now read essays offering conflicting descriptions of Barbie's origins, here's your task:

Find a few web sites that tell us who "invented" Barbie. You may also find web sites that tell us who invented G.I. Joe. Provide links and discuss your findings on your blog.

2004-03-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

Blog Assignment #2

Rather than talk specifically about Dyson's argument, I'd like to see you all do a little bit of application. What's important, I think, is that you be able to think about these subjects as features of our culture rather than as people. In other words, Michael Jordan exists on one level as an individual human being who we can watch play, perhaps meet, and even more, get an autograph from. On another level, however, he exists as a cultural icon, as a commodity, as a product to be marketed.

What I'd like to see you all do, then, is to identify another cultural icon--someone who exists both as a person and as a feature of American culture--and to make an argument about what function(s) that individual performs. I would also like to see you find an article/discussion on a web site about this figure and provide a link to it. You should also quote from the article.

(We need to make a turn here in the next few weeks toward evaluating sources, and I'm going to ask you increasingly to find web sites related to specific topics. This process of evaluation will be interesting, though, because I'm going to ask you to find bad sources of information. But you should use this assignment to get your feet wet).

As always, email me if you have any problems or questions.

2004-03-23T16:37:00.000-08:00

Blogging From San Antonio

Hi folks. I just wanted to let you know that I do have regular internet access here in San Antonio. I'll be checking my email a few times a day, so if you have questions feel free to email me. I should be able to get back to you in a reasonable amount of time.

2004-03-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

Blog Assignment #1: Seger

I described for you all on Friday the way that Seger is applying Campbellian myth structures to contemporary American film. I'd like to see you use your blog this week to take her ideas and apply them to some other film (something neither she nor I have talked about). You should use quotes from Seger to help you out. Where can you see these structures she describes? Where can you see archetypes at work? Most important, so what? Why is all of this important?

Have fun. I'll leave another blog assignment later this week.

2004-03-22T13:34:00.000-08:00

Instructions for my 2010 classes this week:

1) As I said in class on Monday, on Wednesday, meet in room 138 in the library for an orientation session. I cannot emphasize enough how important this meeting is for you all, since you'll be using these databases quite a bit for the rest of the semester.

2) You have Friday off. You need not come to class.

3) If you choose to write a reading response to the essays for this week, you may turn them in on Monday when we meet again.

4) I will post 2 blog assignments (based on the readings) soon. You should respond to each of the questions in detail.

2004-03-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

Considering we spent so much time earlier in the semester talking about the media and censorship, I thought you all might enjoy this piece on the FCC's recent crackdown on "indecency": Seeing less sex on TV lately? Thank -- or blame -- the FCC

2004-03-09T18:05:00.000-08:00

Blog Assignment

I thought you all might find this interesting. This is a sample math quiz for 12 year-old Japanese children. Most of the questions allow you one or two minutes to provide an answer. Have fun.

I'd like to see what you all have to say about this.

2004-03-09T00:13:00.000-08:00

Blog Assignment #1

Since we're drafting this week, I'd like to see you all use your blogs to vent a little (venting is always good, isn't it?).

What is it about this assignment that is so difficult? What kinds of problems are you having writing the essay? Why do you think you're having these problems?

2004-03-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

Steve pointed out this morning that I neglected to provide a link to the 32 episodes of Frontline available for free online. Now I have.

2004-03-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

Blog Assignment #2

Your second assignment for this week is easy:

1) I'd like you to read through some of the other students' blogs and leave some comments (more than two). Please take this seriously. Pose new ideas. Challenge them to push their thinking. Try to start a discussion. You might even respond to what others have commented.

2) On your blogs, I'd like you to tell me a story. But not just any story. I'd like for you to write about an object from your childhood. However, I don't want to see you write some kind of nostalgic piece about some childhood toy. I want you to write about why you wanted it in the first place. You might consider this in light of the texts we've been reading lately.

2004-03-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

I thought you all might like this: Would Shakespeare Get Into Swarthmore? How several well-known writers (and the Unabomber) would fare on the new SAT.

Blog assignment #2 forthcoming.

2004-03-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

Since we're talking young people and marketing this week, I thought you all might like the excellent Frontline documentary Merchants of Cool. For those of you who don't know, Frontline is the flagship documentary series on PBS. Last year, they made thirty-two episodes available for viewing online. This particular episode discusses the ways that "cool" is itself a commodity that is marketed and sold. You might also find it interesting that, at one point, it is revealed that the reason MTV stopped airing videos was because their market research found that the viewers no longer had the attention span to sit through a four-minute video.

You'll need Real Player to watch the video (it's about an hour long).

I highly recommend the documentaries in the "classics" series--especially "The Farmer's Wife" and the very, very famous "A Class Divided."

2004-03-02T09:35:00.000-08:00

Blog Assignment:

This week, I'd like to see you find an article on the web related to some of the issues we've been talking about lately and use your blog as a space to comment on it. You will need to make a link to the piece, and, preferably, even quote from it.

2004-02-29T15:46:00.000-08:00

Suggested Reading

As I have remarked in class, many of you feel like you're trying to nail jello to the wall with all of this blogging business, and I suppose that's to be expected. I have described it to you all as a kind of class-related journaling, but you do not have to limit yourself to that particular model. In the end, it's not until you begin to get some feedback from readers that you get a sense of how all of this works. However, I thought you all might find it interesting if I listed a few blogs for you to take a look at so you can see how a few other people are using their blogs and what it is they have to say. These are, of course, only a handful of examples. There are literally thousands of blogs out there covering seemingly all possible topics.

Anil Dash writes mostly about technology and the internet, but will sometimes comment on American culture and life in New York.

Boing Boing is a collective weblog that lists interesting material from all over the web.

Random Walks is the British equivalent of Boing Boing, although it tends to lean towards the literary.

asmallvictory is the blog devoted mostly to discussions of politics, although there is a healthy dose of bad music from the 80s. (There is occasionally foul language)

Ftrain is the weblog of Paul Ford, which I've linked to before. He posts fiction, essays, poetry, and photographs.

Textism is the website of Dean Allen, who writes exceedingly well, but who is at the moment struggling to finish up a piece of software he's developing. Several years ago, Allen sold everything he owned and moved from Canada to the south of France to live with his girlfriend. You can read his commentary on the process by looking at the category of posts called "the move."

Katespot is the blog of a mother of two in New Jersey.

Jerry Kindall posts links to web sites he thinks are interesting. Although his site is technology-heavy, he's usually right about what's interesting and what's not.

Instapundit is the blog of Glenn Reynolds, and is devoted to discussions of politics.

What will be of the most benefit to you all is simply to look at the sites to which people link in their sidebar. Look for the long list of links (like the one on the right of this page) on other people's blogs and just follow some links around.

2004-02-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

Some people have expressed an interest in putting a tracker or counter on their blogs so they could see how many visitors they're getting. I recommend eXTReMe Tracking, which will tell you both how many hits you're getting and, more interestingly, where they're coming from.

2004-02-26T11:17:00.000-08:00

Blog Assignment #2:

I'd like to see you use a couple of the texts we've read in this unit to respond to this New York Times article from last year about high school kids getting ready for the new school year.

2004-02-25T18:41:00.000-08:00

Talk about the more factor... I thought you all might like this NY Times piece on DVD "mega-collectors"--people with 1,000 DVDs or more. Read it here: Collectibles: DVD’s? I Don’t Rent. I Own.

Keep your eyes open for another blogging assignment coming soon.

2004-02-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

Using exactly 162 words--no more, no less--describe the ways one text we have read in this unit of the class can be used to help explain some aspect of another text. For example, you might write about how Tad Friend's arguments about censorship can help us understand Stark's arguments about the Establishment’s attack on the talk show. You might, alternately, talk about how how Parenti and Steinem might be connected. The point here is for you to use two texts in combination to comment on one another. Note, however, that I am not asking you to compare or contrast the two texts. I’m asking you to discuss how one can help us understand some element of the other. This is a skill that is crucial to your next major essay assignment, and so it is imperative that we spend time (as we have been in class) getting comfortable with the task.

Note, also, that this entry is exactly 162 words.

2004-02-22T20:50:00.000-08:00

I thought you all might like to see a broader view of women's magazines and advertising than Steinem presents in her essay. Take a look at Through The Looking Glass, which is in many ways directly in line with much of what we've talked about this semester.

2004-02-22T00:02:00.000-08:00

Interesting piece in the Saturday Tribune on religion and hiring practices in Utah universities. The crux of the question is whether universities in Utah, given the state's unique demographic makeup, ought to be considerate of the potential professor's religious views when hiring. Ought universities make an effort to hire people who are either members of the LDS church or, at the very least, knowledgeable of the church and its history.

You can read the story here.

2004-02-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

For Your Consideration

While I'm busy hunting down a few links for you all (most notably, to the NY Times piece on young girls having plastic surgery over their summer vacations), I thought some of you might enjoy Paul Ford's Game for Small Sounds. Ford is a writer, web programmer and newly-frequent commentator on NPR's daily news program All Things Considered. The gist of the piece is this: Ford and his father used to play a game requiring them to speak only in words of one syllable. Ford has an MP3 version of the last part of the essay available on this page, as well (note, also, that the entire piece is written following the rules of the game).

Should you be inspired, try it yourself. It's harder than you might think.

For instance, here's another version of this entry written following the rules of the game:

While I look for links for you all (the best, a New York Times piece on young girls who change their looks for good while not in school during the hot time of the year), I thought some of you might like Paul Ford's "A Game For Small Sounds." Ford writes prose and web code, and he reads his work on the air from time to time for NPR. The gist of the piece is this: Ford and his Dad used to play a game where they spoke in words with small sounds--"one wag of the chin," as Ford puts it. You can hear the last part of it out loud if you can hear sound on your P. C. Note, too, that it's not just the last part of his piece that plays the game; it's the ~~entire~~ whole thing. The rules. The name of the piece. And the name of the game, too.

Have fun.

2004-02-18T22:46:00.000-08:00

It turns out that the story about covering up the magazines wasn't from the Tribune; it was from the Weber Sentinel (about which I know next to nothing). You can read the story here. All I can find at the moment is this one piece (which is an editorial), but I'll keep digging.

You might want to chew on this in response to the arguments we've read this week about profanity, violence, and public media censorship.

2004-02-13T20:15:00.000-08:00

A couple of people have expressed interest in reading the original Grimm brothers' version of Cinderella. You can read it here.

2004-02-13T15:47:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine, commenting on the recent spate of "let's laugh at the rich people" reality television shows, describes the way these shows delude the viewers by reinforcing beliefs about money and power and happiness by allowing viewers to feel superior to morons like Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, and Ally Hilfiger. He writes

However, this superior feeling is deceptive. It hides the traces of how power operates in this country. By making the real world dolts feel superior to Ally Hilfiger, the cliche that money doesn't buy everything anesthetizes the audience to the real condtions of their existence and hides that fact that money DOES buy everything in this country. Money allows you to situate yourself above the fray and keeps you isolated from the muckety-muck of the rest of the world. In other words, intelligence and happiness are great, but if you truly want to experience the world in a way that is rare, exclusive, and authentic, you better get your hands on some cash.

I think he's absolutely correct here.

But something struck me last night, as I was thinking about the ways that these shows are crafted to make us feel superior to the "stars." It occurred to me that while a show like The Simple Life seems to be designed to allow us to feel superior to Paris and Nicole, we cannot ignore the simple fact that these are highly fictive endeavors that are specifically designed to create this sensation. As a number of people have pointed out, Paris and Nicole are hardly stranded in Nowhere, Arkansas. Like The Osbournes, the show is really little more than a series of carefully designed skits: watch them screw up working at the dairy, watch them screw up pumping gas, watch them screw up working at the Sonic.

The artificial nature of these skits, to my mind, removes any sense that the show is exposing the stars' flaws. Indeed, how could we expect a comedy skit to do this in any real or meaningful way? Paris and Nicole are, in the end, acting the part of the spoiled rich kids, and are therefore merely giving us what we want to see in situations designed to heighten the effect.

And so it occurred to me that comedy of the shows isn't so much focused on who we assume are the stars; the comedy is in the reactions of the yokels. The comedy, in other words, lies not so much in Paris and Nicole apparently not knowing what a Wal-Mart is as it does in the stunned looks of the yokels to their apparent lack of knowledge about this. The comedy lies not in Paris and Nicole screwing up their job at the dairy as it does in the look on the face of their boss for the day. Or the manager at Sonic.

There is a temptation to understand this simply in terms of Candid Camera, but I don't think that this is applicable, since Candid Camera was blatant in its focus on the reactions of normal people to bizarre situations. These shows do no such thing.

There is, I think, an inside joke here to which we, as plain-folk viewers, are not privy. By focusing on the reactions of the good folks of Altus, Arkansas (or whatever town in middle America we might choose), the show effectively renders as comedy their perfectly normal reactions to what the show purports, and what we apparently desire to be, the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Normal, in other words, has become comedic, and those who behave normally, the show suggests, are yokels and clowns.

2004-02-11T12:36:00.000-08:00

Interesting NY Times piece on the fashion industry: What’s in a Word? Ask de la Renta.

2004-02-08T21:59:00.000-08:00

A Few Thoughts About Writing Conclusions

Like introductions, conclusions can be one of the more difficult sections of an essay to write. As with introductions, conclusions are a limited space in which you have to pack a great deal of information. And so you have to make choices about what you need to say--and many of these choices are tough ones.

Conclusions are called that for a reason. They're the place in the essay where you conclude your discussion. This can take a number of forms. Your conclusion might be the place where you explain to us, one last time (in case we haven't been paying attention), what we're supposed to come away from the essay with. You conclusion might be the place where you walk us through a compressed form of your argument (this is the "tell me what you told me" school of essay writing). Your conclusion might be the place where you tell us why what you've been arguing is important. Your conclusion might simply be the place were you "wrap everything up."

Generally, I'd like to see you use your conclusions to accomplish two very important things:

1) talk about the significance of whatever it is you are arguing, and
2) give the reader a sense of what he or she is supposed to take away from you argument

In other words, your conclusion should address what I often call the "so what factor." Why is this important? Why should I care about this? What it is that you're trying to tell me?

This is only the roughest outline, of course.

One caveat: Don't begin your conclusion with "in conclusion." Find a less heavy-handed way to signal that you're wrapping up.

2004-02-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

The essay #1 checklist is now available. Keep in mind that these are seven of the common issues I see every semester. This checklist is by no means meant to be exhaustive.

2004-02-07T13:40:00.000-08:00

Writing Effective Introductions

Introductions can be one of the most frustrating sections of an essay to write. There are a number of reasons for this. Often, we feel compelled to write them first, since they come, well, first. The problem with this approach, for writers of any level (including me) is that sometimes we simply don’t quite know what we want to say. This is OK. This is normal.

You can use this to your advantage. But in this instance, the trouble with writing an introduction is simply that you're sitting there staring at a blank page.

And that's never fun.

There are other reasons that introductions can be difficult, the most important of which, I believe, is that they are the place in the essay where you have to make the most decisions about what you're going to include, what you're not, how to best compress all the basic information needed to set up the remainder of the essay into a paragraph or two.

Sometimes it's best to save them until you're done.

Let's begin with the word itself: "introduction." It means, literally, to drag or lead into (or inside) something. This makes sense. The introduction leads (or drags) us into something. When you are introduced to someone, you are led into a relationship with them. When you are introduced to a new food, you are led into a position where you might like it or not. The first few minutes of a television drama like The X-Files or Law & Order introduce you to what that particular show is going to be about.

The introduction to an essay is, in the end, no different. The introduction to an essay is the place where, perhaps, the stakes are the highest. It's the only time you have in the essay to set the stage for your reader. It's the place where you give them a sense of whether or not what you're going to be writing about is worth their time. It's the only place where you give them a sense of whether or not what you're going to be writing about is something they might be interested in at all. It's the place where you let them know whether or not what you're discussing is what they're looking for.

In other words, it's the place where you give the reader a clear sense of what you're going to be talking about.

Many of you were taught a few things in high school: begin your essays with a pithy quotation to "grab the reader's attention"; end your introductory paragraph with a thesis statement; make your thesis statement a question.

I want to take a minute to discuss the problems with these three tactics. When every essay a teacher reads begins with a quotation, the quotations have little or no effect--especially if the quotations have little or nothing to do with the subject. Grabbing the reader's attention is a useful thing to consider if you are writing for a magazine or a newspaper. But with an essay like this, the odds are that you already have the reader's attention and need not worry about shocking him into submission.

The essay is a fluid form, capable of taking many shapes. Because of this there is little need to adhere to some arbitrary, cookie-cutter formula, which will run the risk of unnecessarily limiting the directions you can take your initial argument. Thus, it is entirely possible that your introduction might need to be more than one paragraph. Similarly, it is possible that your thesis statement might come in the middle of the second, rather than at the end of the first.

Finally, questions. I want you to avoid asking questions. This is not an arbitrary crack of the whip. There is a fundamental difference between asking a question and making a statement. Asking questions, whether they are rhetorical or not, requires the reader to do a certain amount of work for the author. Even worse, however, is this: asking questions allows the author to avoid the more difficult task of making claims and clear statements about what he or she is going to be arguing. Because we are in the business of making arguments, I want you to avoid relying on questions as a means of advancing your argument. Don't ask your reader to do work that you should've already done.

So then, what, exactly, goes in the introduction? The answer is simple: whatever your argument requires in order to set the stage for what is going to follow. This does not mean that your introduction is a place for a massive biography of some author, nor does it mean that your reader requires a history lesson. Your introduction should simply give the reader a clear sense of what's going to happen in the essay, and provide them enough information to follow along with the rest of the argument.

For instance, if you're writing about Welty's photograph "Dolls," you might, in an introduction, give us a sentence about Welty, who she was, and why she's important. You might give us a sentence about race relations and class in the South in the 1930s. You might give us a sentence about the photograph itself, describing it in enough detail so that if the reader has never seen it, he or she will know what you're talking about. You might, finally, give us a sense of what it is you are going to be saying about the picture.

That's one way you might do it. But there are, of course, many other ways. What I am trying to impress upon you here is that there is no formula for this. There is not cookie-cutter. There is no "right way." There is only what is effective at introducing the topic and what is not.

Here are a few tricks for writing introductions:

1) Try to get something down on paper as an introduction--even if you know it will change. It is always better to know where the problem spots are than to ignore them.
2) When writing your introduction, consider what your reader needs to know if he or she is to follow your discussion. You know how to do this. You've done it every time someone has asked you to explain something and you've thought "Where do I start?!"
3) When you get done with the essay, take a look at your conclusion. There's a good chance that it will work as an introduction. Why is that? Because by the time you've gone all the way through the process of writing this argument, you've finally figured out what, precisely, you want to say. Very often, you can simply move the conclusion up to the beginning of the essay. You'll have to re-tool various pieces of the essay, but in general, the argument will hold together a little better than it would, otherwise.

2004-02-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

Some of you have expressed interest in an easier way to read everyone's blogs. I use a free service called Bloglines, which checks all of your blogs every 30 seconds and notifies me when they have been updated. This service will work for just about any website you read that is frequently updated.

2004-02-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

Baring It All

Ok folks. Half of you wanted to talk about the "wardrobe malfunction" during the superbowl, while half of you were sick to death of hearing about it.

Here's a Miami Herald article about the incident and its fallout. One of the effects is that the FCC is threatening to lay down stricter rules governing what can and cannot be seen/shown/said on the public airwaves.

So. There it is. Why is this a big deal? How do we decide what can and can't be shown? Feel free to chew on this on your blogs.

Also: look for handouts over the weekend. They are forthcoming.

2004-02-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

As promised, my handout on Writing A Good Thesis Statement.

2004-02-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

What We Blog About During Drafting Week....

So we're drafting this week, and I'm interested in seeing you all use your blogs to help you out. Here's what I'd like to see from you this week:

Use your blog as a place to chew on ideas and work out bits and pieces of your essay. I do not want you to just cut and paste chunks of your essay. Instead, I'd like to see you blog about what it is you're writing about. Think of it is as space to think out loud about your topic and to work out rough spots. Think of it as thinking out loud.

Blogs are very useful this way, since they allow us a space to record notes for ourselves as we think, and yet they're not really a part of the essay proper. Think of your blog as your permanent internet notepad that you can access from anywhere you have an internet connection. You can store ideas in it. You can ramble and flail about.

And if you're lucky, you might get some comments from people who can help you out.

Think of it like a world-wide peer-editing session.

2004-02-01T17:09:00.000-08:00

While most of you are having no trouble getting comments set up on your blogs, there are still a few who are experiencing difficulty. Without further ado, here's a walkthrough:

Step One:

Go to http://www.haloscan.com and set up an account with them. It's free. They'll just ask for your email address, mostly. At the end of the registration process, haloscan will give you two snippits of code for you to paste into your blogger template.

The first piece of code looks like this:

< script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.haloscan.com/load.php?user=scottrogers" > < / script >

The second one looks like this:

< a href="javascript:HaloScan('<$BlogItemNumber$>');" > < script type="text/javascript" > postCount('< $BlogItemNumber$ >'); < /script >< /a >

Step Two:

Go to blogger.com and log in normally. When you get to the post window, click on the "template" button.

This will bring up a window with a bunch of matrix-looking code in it. Don't be afraid. You're only looking for two things. The first is this:

Paste the first bit of haloscan code right after the < head > tag.

That's it.

Step Three:

Scroll down in that matrix code a little bit until you see this:

Past the second bit of haloscan code right before the < /blogger > tag. If you're like me and you want everything to be nice and neat, you may have to move the code around a little. For instance, on the class blog, I pasted the code right before that first < /div > tag so that the fonts all look the same. But you don't have to do this.

Step Four:

Save your changes by clicking on the save changes button and then republish your blog.

That's it.

2004-01-30T13:37:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder: Over the weekend, I want you all to do the following things on your blogs:

1) Make a link to another web page.
2) Install comments
3) Set up your Atom feed.

Instructions for the first two are below. Follow the link in #3 for instructions directly from Blogger.com.

2004-01-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

For anyone who's interested, Malcom Gladwell's web site has archives of all his essays for The New Yorker.

Good reading.

2004-01-29T22:56:00.000-08:00

2010 Essay #1

Thus far this semester, we have covered a broad range of texts which, at least on the surface, concern themselves with issues related to advertising and consumer culture. In this essay, I want you to focus on one theme that has permeated our discussions: distinction. Many of these texts have explained--either overtly or through implication--the importance of distinction in American culture. We all want to distinguish ourselves somehow, and the advertisers make sure that we can find a way, regardless of our socio-economic position. You are to choose two texts we have read thus far and make an argument about what considering them together reveals to us about our desire for distinction.

Your essay should, of course, contain a clear and explicit thesis, and you should also rely upon quotations from the text to support any claims you make.

Essays should be typed, well-edited and generally free of error. Use 12-point Times New Roman font. Double-space. One-inch margins all around. 4 pages, minimum.

2004-01-28T06:41:00.000-08:00

Interesting story in the Times this morning about the conflict (at times legel, while at others merely a matter of marketing) between DaimlerChrysler's Jeep and GM's Hummer. Apparently they've developed a Jeep that rivals the H2's size.

2004-01-27T10:47:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are tired of going to Blogger.com to make your posts, there are several free applications for posting to your blog. I've not tried it, but w.bloggar looks good. If you're using a Mac using OS X (I think there's only one of you), you might try MacJournal, which is what I use.

Both are completely free.

2004-01-27T10:22:00.000-08:00

Another interesting piece in the New York Times today, this time about why we tend to buy new cars as often as we do. I think this piece nicely complements some of the essays we're goign to be reading in the next few days, since many of them are concerned with why we buy what we buy and what our purchases reveal about us. Read the story here: That Car Is Only 20. Why Give Up Now? (free, but requires one-time registration. But you all read the New York Times daily, right?)

2004-01-26T09:19:00.000-08:00

There was an interesting piece in the New York Times today about the marketing of the new LeBron James shoe from Nike. Apparently, the thing is based on the Hummer's tires. Here's a snippet:

The H3T has Nike Epic backpacks attached to the seats by bungee cord. The Epic has the same skeleton and fabric shape as the ACG shoes. Like most sport utility vehicles, ACG's usually remain on pavement but they must look all the tougher for this.

A truck like the H3T signals a growing vision: the vehicle as a piece of sporting equipment - like a shoe. As if to close the circle, Nike recently began advertising its Shox Turbos as "a supertuned blast of go-fast under the hood." Be ready, the company warned, "when you put your foot to the floor."

You can read the piece directly from the Times here. You'll need to register, but it's free. Or, if you choose, you can download a PDF of the article here.

2004-01-23T15:24:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems that nearly everyone has gotten their blogs up and running (and I must say that it was far easier than I had anticipated). As I remarked in class Friday, I'm going to use this space to show you how to do a few things. Several people asked me how to make a link, and so I thought I'd cover that first.

It couldn't be easier. Ok. Well, it could. It could be a great deal easier. But I'll walk you through it.

Here's how you make a link the easy way:

All web pages are constructed using HTML code, which, as I have explained, you really don't need to know anything about to use blogger to publish your writing on the internet. Imagine you're surfing the internet, and you find a site you'd like to link to in your blog. When you're at that site, in the address bar at the top of the web browser, you'll see something like "http://www.somewebaddress.com." That's the web address for that particular site. Now, when you see a link on a web page, all that is is a bit of HTML code that points a specific bit of text (the part that's blue and underlined, usually) to that web address.

Blogger will do this for you.

All you need to do is copy the web address of whatever site you'd like to link. You do this by clicking in the address somewhere, then clicking the "Edit" menu and then "select all." Then click "copy." This will copy the web address into the "clipboard," which is just a kind of invisible space where the computer stores things when you're cutting/copying and pasting. Once you've got it copied, go back to blogger. On the "Create New Post" page, you'll see this:

See that button where I have the red arrow pointing? That's the button that will make a link for you. All you have to do is type some text that you'd like to be linked, select that text with the mouse, and then click that link. A window will pop up, asking you for an address. That's where you paste the web address you copied earlier. Once you've done that, blogger will automagically make the link for you. It'll look something like this



{a href="http://www.blahblahblah.com/blahblah.index.html}some text with a link{/a}

That's the link (except the { and } will be replaced with < and >. And now you can just go on typing and not worry about anything.

You can also do this manually by simply making a link this way:



{a href="http://whatever.site.you.want.to.link.to.com"}Whatever text you want to be the link{/a}

That's how you do that (again, replacing the { and } with < and >). We can talk more about this.

***

Now for comments. Comments allow people who view your blog to leave comments on your posts. In other words, they allow people to respond to your writing. This is a good thing.

There are a number of ways to get comments on your blog. For this blog, I'm using Haloscan. Unfortunately, none of these are easy to install. There are instructions for how to do this on each of the comment providers. I can help you out, as well.

***
A few last things:

1) Please spell-check your posts
2) Please use proper punctuation. Use capital letters when they are appropriate. Use periods and commas.
3) Do not post IN ALL CAPS. On the internet, ALL CAPS means you are yelling.
4) Take a look at this; there's good stuff there.