HW for 4/1

Read "Latino/a Youth Intentions to Smoke Cigarettes: Exploring the Roles of Culture and Gender" on Unit 3 of Blackboard.

• What are other immigration groups upon which ideas in the article may be relevant? 
• What are 3-5 key terms used in the essay that you can use to connect other sample cultures/groups?
• Record 2-3 important quotes that help you understand the article.
• What are the paper's conclusions?

Practicing Synthesis and Critical Thinking

Essay 3 main prompt:

What are ways we can apply the knowledge of the cause and effects in one of the articles from this lesson to larger humanity? In other words, how may the knowledge gained in your chosen article benefit our understanding of how people communicate in cultures and relationships outside of those in the study?

Word Bank

whereas, but, yet, on the other hand, however, nevertheless, on the contrary, by comparison, compared to, although, conversely, meanwhile, after all, in contrast

Charting Similarities  (Extracting points by lining up similar evidence)

• What is another type of character that may have the same types of issues to study in terms of cultural representation?

• Who are example characters who fit this type of character?

"Wicked" Women	Your Example Illustration Culture/Relationship	Connective point
"Cameron (2006: 8) argues that: “It is less threatening for the female voice to be heard in public if the setting, subject matter and form of speech is ‘profane’ – considered by the community to be trivial, or vulgar, or in conflict with its ‘real’ values” (447)"
"There is no overt moralizing in these shows, whether about bad language use or other behavior" (447)
"It may well be a conscious strategy of scriptwriters with the aim of making us care and engage, and ultimately of ensuring that we keep watching. The possible exception to this is Saving" (448)

Critical Thinking about "Wicked Women"

"There is an epistemological problem here: as each woman is presented as a complex character it is difficult to tell which character traits the audience is set up to disapprove of and what counts as “bad” behavior."

So, what do we do with some of the authorial conclusions? Let's start with "questioning" as a pre-writing strategy: Socrates asks, 

• What should we ask if we were to figure out cause and effect of "wicked" women representations?

HW for 3/30

Read from Unit 3 on Blackboard, Monika Bednarek's "'Wicked' women in contemporary pop culture: 'bad' language and gender in Weeds, Nurse Jackie, and Saving Grace."

• What key terminology exists in the essay? (Write down and seek definitions to vocabulary.)

• For starters, "cultural representation" and "cultural constructs of gender" are to early words.  Plus, "dominant gender norms and ideologies" from later. 

Critical Thinking and Pre-writing

      Critical Thinking Question from Reading: what are the four ways of responding, and how does knowing which is the kindest response style help us understand where else such knowledge can be pertinent in other types of life?

o   Exercise in “far transfer”: draft a scenario in which we can apply the four ways of responding to another type of relationship (not marriage).

1.     Who is the relationship between?

2.     What is the scenario news given by one of the people?

3.     What are example reactions of each type of response?

1. What are similarities that you can define/classify between a marital relationship and the one you chose to create responses for?

• Purpose
• Benefits/gains
• role of communication
• hierarchy / positions of authority
• cultural value / cultural beliefs
• importance of kindness
• psychological considerations
• ...

2. To further connections, what terminology from original source can you apply to your comparison relationship? 

• Masters and disasters
• "kindness as a muscle" 
• kindness as a learned trait
• bids
• "joy-killing"

HW for 3/28 (with added note on Midterm grades)

***Midterm grades were due to the administration today, so I had to have them sent in prior to grading Essay 2. For a handful of students, not doing Blackboard assignments and/or attendance issues caused your grades to drop. For the last month and a half of class, please make sure to do all homework assignments and turn in work, or it will continue to impact final grades.***

Read The Atlantic article, "Masters of Love" by Emily Esfahani Smith,  for the start of Unit 3 readings.

Critical Thinking Question based on this first article for the unit:

What are the actions (causes) and results (effects) for Masters that can be used to predict marital success?

Critical Reading and Thinking:

 Review and record some of the what the author analyzes about kindness and its role in a successful marriage? Basic Critical Reading Skills Used:

o   Look for organizational words used

o   Look for transitional words/phrases/sentences, and other relationship words

o   Look at paragraph breaks

Unit 3: Far Transfer

Essay 3 main prompt:

What are ways we can apply the knowledge of the "cause and effects* "in one of the articles from this lesson to larger humanity? In other words, how may the knowledge gained in your chosen article benefit our understanding of how people communicate and/or act in cultures and relationships outside of those in the study?

Considerations:

This is a really challenging prompt, because you must do two major critical reading and thinking things: 

1) Understand the article’s "cause and effects"* and its conclusions, and

2) You must transfer that author’s conclusions to making your own hypothetical connections to another culture or relationship that you will select.



*We are using "cause and effects," generically. These articles each discuss social behaviors and identity markers (causes) have an impact (effects) on people.

**Furthermore, classifying social behaviors will be important, for you will be allowed to make indirect comparison.

• Direct belief comparison example:  One article will explore reasons the author believes American Latinos smoke more, so you may take that authors reasons to claim why American Ethiopians may smoke more (or less) than non-American Ethiopians.

• Indirect belief comparison example: You may choose to connect same article to a different kind of behavior that is like smoking, such as drinking or drugs. Perhaps there is more drinking in American Pakistani youth than in those who never comes to the US. 

HW for 3/25

Essay 2 is due. Wooooohoo. Print it, bring it, don't be late. Also, bring Rules for Writers.

Synthesis: comparing (or contrasting) multiple texts together

The following are some samples of how to synthesize ideas seen in two texts.

We have discussed these ideas in theory, peripherally, but here are some simple ways of seeing the ideas in action:

1. "The danger of this subject-by-subject organization is that your paper will simply be a list of points: a certain number of points (in my example, three) about one subject, then a certain number of points about another. This is usually not what college instructors are looking for in a paper—generally they want you to compare or contrast two or more things very directly, rather than just listing the traits the things have and leaving it up to the reader to reflect on how those traits are similar or different and why those similarities or differences matter. Thus, if you use the subject-by-subject form, you will probably want to have a very strong, analytical thesis and at least one body paragraph that ties all of your different points together."    -- University of North Carolina's Writing Center website


2. "Alice Walker and Maya Angelou are two contemporary African-American writers.  Although almost a generation apart in age, both women display a remarkable similarity in their lives.  Each has written about her experiences growing up in the rural South, Ms. Walker through her essays and Ms. Angelou in her autobiographies.  Though they share similar backgrounds, each has a unique style which gives to us, the readers, the gift of their exquisite humanity, with all of its frailties and strengths, joys and sorrows." -- Student Example, Roan State CC 

3. Here is a great link on funneling down to thesis: http://www.columbiasc.edu/files/pdf/ComparisonContrastIntroSample.pdf

Critical Thinking About Source Integration

1. Why did you choose the quote (or the passage to summarize or paraphrase)?

2. What language in the quote is biggest key to you for your topic sentence's point?

3. What synonyms of words in quote and words in the topic sentence can you use to in the leading in to the quote?

4. What do you want to be the subject and verb of the sentence?  What kind of context and transitional act are you making?

HW for 3/23

Post to Blackboard, Unit 2: a three-sentence draft of PRE for your essay, following these steps:

P:  Make the P(oint) a topic sentence that makes a larger claim about both of your subject texts. The subject of your sentence should be either 1) the texts' names, 2) the authors' names, 3) a pronoun phrase that refers to both, such as "Each author" or "Both poets" or "Both poems" or 4) one of the focus topics (either point of view or imagery) with modifiers that make your claim more arguable and specific

• Examples:

• Both "Evolution of My Block" and "Dinosaurs in the Hood" critique racial stereotypes using non-violent imagery that make-up minority neighborhoods.

• Saenz and Smith critique racial stereotypes using non-violent imagery that make-up minority neighborhoods.

• Each poet subverts racial stereotypes using non-violent imagery that make-up minority neighborhoods.

• Non-violent imagery that exists in minority neighborhoods populates both poems, which helps break racial stereotypes.

R:  Provide a reason why the P(oint)'s claim is valid. You can provide a reason that either 1) includes one text/author, or 2) both texts/authors.  Which choice you make dictates that transitional language you use in your E. 

• Example:

• The repetition of non-violent imagery illustrates how minority communities are made up of people who respect life and each other, which contradicts stereotypes that such neighborhoods are simply "full of thugs."

E:  Use a transitional phrase (see Rules for Writers) that identifies one of the texts as an example and leads in to one of your quotes that fits the P and R.

• Example: 

• Although Saenz includes a lot of gang imagery in his poem, his speaker ultimately challenges the idea that every Latino kid wants to live that life: "But I preferred games to gangs, / books to crooks wearing hats" (lines 23-24). 

You don't need to label each sentence, you simply just need to follow the guidelines above and post just the three sentences, in PRE order:

Non-violent imagery that exists in minority neighborhoods populates both poems, which helps break racial stereotypes. The repetition of non-violent imagery illustrates how minority communities are made up of people who respect life and each other, which contradicts stereotypes that such neighborhoods are simply "full of thugs." Although Saenz includes a lot of gang imagery in his poem, his speaker ultimately challenges the idea that every Latino kid wants to live that life: "But I preferred games to gangs, / books to crooks wearing hats" (lines 23-24).  [explain the quote and/or transition to a supporting quote from the second text]

Special In-text Citation things to consider with this essay

Today, we cover in-text citation and integration ideas. We will cover the Work Cited page in a class later.

1. Read and follow the guidelines laid out in Rules for Writers
• What type of source are you using? The handbook will give you the special considerations.
2. Be formal. You are not on a first name basis with the authors, so you use either their whole name or only their last name when citing their name. 
3. Don't start body paragraphs with evidence--don't start with a quote from the source. You've immediately put the thought in your reader's head that you lack a clear point. PRE. PRE. PRE. 
4. Start sentences with source material with your own views on the evidence (leading in). 

• Use a powerful verb (go back to the handout/list linked on blog). 

• The subject of sentences should like be a) the author,  b)the narrator  (fiction) or speaker (poetry), c) the same subject or object from the topic sentence, or d) the same subject or object from the thesis.

Poetry

• Use a  /   (forward slash) to indicate a line break.

• example:  The landay "You sold me to an old man, father./ May God destroy your home, I was your daughter," illustrates...

• When dealing with verse poem like "Rape Joke," your in-text citation parentheses should include either author plus lines, or lines, depending on whether you identify the author in the sentences.

• example:  Patric Lockwood's speaker ridicules the idea when she writes, " ... / .../ ..." (lines 44-46). 

• Use quotation marks for the poem title. It's that easy. 

Film

• Your in-text citation should refer to the producer of the film, either in your sentence or in the parentheses.

• Italicize the film title. It's that easy!

HW for your Rise from Spring Break Slumbers, 3/21:

1. If you haven't, read the handout in Unit 2, Integration and Citation Notes.

2.  Bring in a Set List of Quotes for Essay 2

• 5-8 for each text you essay is comparing

• Annotate each quote:
• key words
• defined words
• point that quote supports

3. As noted, Essay 2 will be due on Wednesday, 3/23, printed. We will review your Set List and Integrating Quotes on Monday.  

Concisely, Dr. Watson!

Let's start 3/11 with a little 311:

Hemingway’s Rules

1.     Use short sentences.   

• For sale: baby shoes, never used.

2.     Use short first paragraphs.  That's for short stories! For essays, short, no; concise, yes.

3.     Use vigorous language. 

a.     Precision

b.     Concision

c.     Connotative value

4.     Use positive syntax

a.     Say what a person/thing is…instead of what it is not.

• She aced the test. Not: She didn’t do too bad.

Wordy Sentences Need Your Brain To Identify Them; Need Your Fingers To Sculpt Pots Out of Clay Like Your Name Is Patrick Swayze and Your Essay Is Demi Moore And This is Ghost:

• That was an intentionally overthought, overwrought title. 

1. Prepositional phrases ( ____ of ______) that imply ownership can be turned to possessives (_______’s ______). Common Ownership Prepositions: of, at, by

2. Redundant phrases/ sentences: Are you saying the same thing twice two different ways?  (ex: for some reason unknown)

• Repeated words/phrases à especially verbs and verb phrases in one sentence! 

3. Extra modifiers that really don’t modify! You are really, truly amazing.

4.  Use active voice construction. (check our Rules for Writers)

• passive voice:   ____ was versed by _____

5. 5 to 1 phrases:  (at some point and time= later | at this moment=now)

• Use one precise word instead of a phrase
• Don't use big words just to use big words
• Don't get flowery with adjectives and adverbs. (See #3)
• Don't overcomplicate the image, the action:
• "You're acting like little children playing basketball who've fallen behind by several two-pointer buckets so you just take your basket home, and now no one else can play."

HW for 3/11

• Upload your introduction and one body paragraph with a comparison point to Blackboard, Unit 2
  

Making Comparisons

When writing a piece, you have to be logical in your approach on relationships. How would you connect letters M to N or A to E? 

If you were talking to a friend, how do you outline your ideas about the best from a list? Essentially, you use "organizing relationship" words like "both" or "none" or "either" or "although" to distinguish texts.  

Somewhere in your claims, when you are talking about large-scale ideas that relate to you and other authors, you have to use these types of words within your speech--and hence, within your writing claims.  

The length, the depth, of which you make relationship claim is up to your purposes: both the thesis purpose and your subtopic purpose. In other words, if an idea is really, really, really, really, really, really important--you are going to expand on that relationship claim with lots of reasons and evidence. 

Some of the general actions you can take, as topic sentence claims:

1. Claim a point that more than one author has, and attribute that point to each author.

• ex:  Both _______ and ________ .... |  All ______(three, four, five, ...) authors....

2. Claim one point of disagreement, and clarify each author's stance.

• ex.:  Although __________ believes _________, ________ believes ___________.
• ex.: _______ and ______ find state __________, yet ________ argues ________.

3. Claim a point agreed upon and one part of that point where two or more authors disagree.

• ex.:  Both support _____________; however, _________ believes ________ and _______ counters that ___________.

4. What other relationships do you find between your sources/examples?  

Writing a Synthesis paragraph

• What purpose do I want this paragraph to have?  (This is key: you are the writer, and you must realize that you control what type of point you want to make, especially in research.)

• What relationship words do I need to use in my topic sentence claim and in my reasoning sentences?  

• What is the best evidence to use from each source material? (Yes, cite a clear quote or provide a concise summary of the idea from each author. Again, the length of the evidence is dictated by purpose--your purpose.)

• Organize your ideas before you write the paragraph*. Use a column chart, pull out a quote from each source that discusses the same subject matter.
• Active Reading
• Pre-writing 
• Outline

[Some] Analytical Considerations

• Similar theme? 
• Similar thematic statement?
• Similar theme but contrasting statement? 

• Similar tone?
• Similar illusion? 
• Similar effects?
• Similar characters
• Similar diction? 

Writing Comparison [or Contrasting] Claims:

• Use sentence combining techniques, including transitional/introductory phrases.

• X and Y [analytical verb: symbolize /denote/connote/ satirize/ imply]  ____________

• While X ________________, y ________________. 

• There are _________________ similarities in the [images] of ____________ and ___________. 

• ...and an infinite amount more

Decoding Visual Images

• As part of the homework for Wednesday, write a 6-8 paragraph description of one the photographs below. Give detail that allows an outside reader to "see" what you see are the key images, AND make sure to, within your description, make inferences to what the image connotes about life Afghanistan. Type these up so that we can check them out on the board.  
• 
  
• If you have not yet read the prompt for Essay 2, make sure to download it from Blackboard Unit 2 and read it.

E-mail me with any questions, and I will do my best to get back to you today or early tomorrow.

Decoding Visual Images: basic steps in integrating visuals into essays

Sensory language – allow reader to taste, smell, hear, feel, and see the place through images that radiate those senses!

Naming things. Be scientific; show your knowledge. (A bird? No, a cerulean warbler! Clear images come from focused word choice.)

Context – place and time (setting), and its impact on those in the image. When and where does the photo's action take place? 

Other Elements to Consider Describing:

• Describe physical actions. 
• Describe clothes worn. 
• Describe any text/speech: quote it! 
• Describe the spatial orientation of objects

• What is the main image? Where is the main image?
• What is in the background?
• What are size differences in images?
• etc.

HW for 3/7:

1.  Read through Essay 2's handout (the process due dates have changed, of course)

2. Watch and take notes about the short film, Oppressed Majority, below, to decide if it is one of the two texts you'd like to compare for Essay 2:

2. Upload to Blackboard in one file (Save your work as a .doc or .docx file), under Essay 2 Thesis & Conclusion Paragraph: 

• A very rough draft thesis statement, followed by one space, and then:

• Your Essay 2 draft conclusion of at least 6-8 solid sentences that discusses larger ideas about the marginalization issues that you see in your two chosen comparison texts.

Writing Scholarly Conclusions: analysis essays

The last paragraph (or sometimes paragraphs, when writing much longer essays) should reflect upon the thesis statement and its subtopics that you have addressed in your essay. 

However, there are other ways to view your conclusions, and viewing a conclusion in these different ways will help guide you in what else you can say beyond being repetitive. 

Another way of looking at just conclusions and the above general conclusion definition, according to the University of Iowa's Writing center: "The conclusion is a good place to not only sum up the points made in the paper but to suggest the further implications of your argument.  You do not want to simply reiterate the points you have made in your introduction, thesis, or body paragraphs.  Instead, use the analyses that you have already presented to ask questions, or suggest the possible next logical step in the argument.  You can use the conclusion to draw connections between your chosen text and its genre and historical or cultural contexts.  You want to make sure that the claims you make in the conclusion are not too far-fetched or wildly out of step with the rest of your paper.  The conclusion should be the final step in the progression of your argument."

You likely will not address each question below each time, but here are some general ideas you may explore in your conclusion rather than simply "restating the thesis." (As a writer, you may find some of these thoughtful actions are useful for other parts of your essay...):

• What is important to the general audience/larger world about what you have argued/analyzed/defined. etc.? What knowledge do you provide us, and why is that important? 

• What is the impact of this knowledge I provide ? Who is affected, how? 

• Where does my idea fit in the larger discussion of the subject addressed in the essay? 

• Quickly state comparison or contrast with socially common views, stereotypes, and/or subjects.

• What recommendations can I make, and why, based on my thesis and other points made in the essay? Or, what recs do I have based on the source author's ideas?

• What is another major point or two about the subject that I did not have 'time' to include in this essay? 

• Pose questions that you haven't addressed that are relevant to what you have already written. 

• Pose questions that further help reader understand the subject's context.

• Suggest next possible step in the author's argument.

• Suggest different types of evidence that were not used in author's argument.

• In third person, briefly provide your own thoughts on any examples used from your source author that matter to you. 

• Example: Tamir Rice...

• Have you read other articles, books, etc., on the subject? Draw connections between your essay subject text and well-known texts in the genre or same time period or cultural perspective. 

Tennessee Vols head football coach called player a "traitor" for helping an alleged rape victim...

HW for 3/5

• Finish reading the essay and the landays.

• Complete the Read & Think Alouds handout of landays

Introduction to Landays: A Voice For Pashtun Women

Landay: two-line "folk poems" sung in Pashto. 

Pashto: one of the official languages spoken in Afghanistan, spoken by Pashtun peoples (Afghanistan and Pakistan). 

Taliban: Islamic fundamentalist political movement. Primary ethnic group of Taliban is Pashtun. Controlled Afghanistan's government from 1996-2001. 


(Photo: from "The New Face of Central Asia" by Ambassador (ret.) Michael W. Cotter)



Main Text

Eliza Griswold's  "Landays: Poetry of Afghan Women"  (PDF version on MyMC/in student e-mail)

"From the Aryan caravans that likely brought these poems to Afghanistan thousands of years ago to ongoing U.S. drone strikes, the subjects of landays are remixed like hip-hop, with old words swapped for newer, more relevant ones. A woman’s sleeve in a centuries-old landay becomes her bra strap today. A colonial British officer becomes a contemporary American soldier. A book becomes a gun. Each biting word change has much to teach about the social satire that ripples under the surface of a woman’s life." (Griswold)

Below is a video supplement directed by Seamus Murphy, the photographer, and produced with Eliza Griswold. The first landay from our handout is performed around the four-minute mark in Pashto, then translated into English.


Pashto Landay - Afghan Women Poets from Franco Pachtoune on Vimeo.

• Let's review the handout, which includes Eliza Griswold's definition of landays and provides examples of "the social satire that ripples under the surface of a woman's life" along with the poems spoken aloud in Pashto in the video. 

• I highly recommend watching this entire video as part of your work for the forthcoming essay.

Read & Think Alouds: Landays

ENGL 101

Read the landays and take notes as you make inferences while reading and thinking out loud:

“A landay has only a few formal properties. Each has twenty-two syllables: nine in the first line, thirteen in the second. The poem ends with the sound “ma” or “na.” Sometimes they rhyme, but more often not. In Pashto, they lilt internally from word to word in a kind of two-line lullaby that belies the sharpness of their content, which is distinctive not only for its beauty, bawdiness, and wit, but also for the piercing ability to articulate a common truth about war, separation, homeland, grief, or love. Within these five main tropes, the couplets express a collective fury, a lament, an earthy joke, a love of home, a longing for the end of separation, a call to arms, all of which frustrate any facile image of a Pashtun woman as nothing but a mute ghost beneath a blue burqa.” (Griswold)

Think Aloud: while reading, discuss the connection between images/actions in the first and second line of each landay. Also, pay attention to the relationship between men and women in each, especially when pronouns seem vague.

You sold me to an old man, father.

May God destroy your home, I was your daughter.

•

When sisters sit together, they always praise their brothers.

When brothers sit together, they sell their sisters to others.

•

Today I spilled the spinach on the floor.

Now the old goat stands in the corner swinging a two-by-four.

•

Widows take sweets to a saint’s shrine.

I’ll bring God popcorn and beg him to kill mine.

•

Send my salams to my lover.

If he’s a farter, I fart louder.

•

I dream I am the president.

When I awake, I am the beggar of the world.

In these last two, pay attention to the speaker’s relationship to war:

My Nabi was shot down by a drone.

May God destroy your sons, America, you murdered my own.

•

God kill the Taliban’s mothers and girls.

If they’re not fighting jihad, why do they oil their curls?