Aria- Rodriguez

This is a different side of the story being told by a minority when it comes to assimilation. Rodriguez believes that its important for immigrants to join into the mainstream if they want to have a life here espeically when it comes to education. However, many the arguments today is that the minorites will lose some sense of their idenity because they will have lost some of their culture. Do you agree with Rodriguez that there shouldn't be bilingual education? He is also against affirmative action. He writes this essay in 1982 and this is still very much a huge issue within education and the work field....whats are your general thoughts?

"After Welfare" by Katherine Boo

In this essay, Elizabeth, a struggling mother of three, realizes that the "reformed" welfare system put in place to assist them may not be as helpful as it is supposed to be. Many of the middle class people in America think that welfare is providing too much, while the poor class, who are on welfare, believe that welfare is not doing enough. From Boo's essay, and from other experiences, do you think welfare is doing too much or not nearly enough? Are there flaws in the system that prevent it from providing any relief?
Also, do you think that children put in the situations that Elizabeth's kids find themselves are at a disadvantage as compared to kids growing up in middle class neighborhoods?

A Raisin in the Sun

Who do you think is the main character in the play? Why?

The Rich Brother

Do you think that Donald is right when he said that Pete doesn't have any purpose in life? Does this statement have any connection with Pete's attempts to kill his brother?

"And the Lord said to Cain: Where is thy brother Abel? And he answered: I know not: am I my brother's keeper?"-Genesis 4:9

"The Lesson" by Toni Cade Bambara

The way in which Bambara chooses to end her story leaves the reader wondering if the author learned anything from Miss Moore. Do you think Miss Moores teaching technique was effective in teaching the author? Why or why not?

E.M. Forster's "My Wood"

"If you own things, what's their effect on you?"

That's the question E.M. Forster poses in his essay "My Wood." He comes up with several answers based on his own experiences with owning property and material goods. Considering of your own experiences in this regard, how would you answer the question? Do your experiences exemplify some (or all) of the consequences Forster lists in his essay? Are there other consequences of ownership not mentioned by Forster that you can identify?

By the way, here's a web page where someone has annotated Forster's essay, explaining many of his allusions.

"Ethics" and "Lying in a Hammock..."

Each of the poems that we read discuss some sort of nature - be it the trees and the sun or the nature of getting old. Both speak of life and half-hearted responses and wasting life. So my questions are:
Which would you choose, the old lady or the Rembrandt (and you can't make the lady choose) and why? Furthermore, what can we, as readers, take from this question in relation to this unit's theme of "Getting By"?
What affect does the color imagery (bronze butterfly, black trunk, green shadow, golden stones) have on James Wright's poem?
Enjoy!

Throughout this story O'Brien discusses the things the men most often carried whether they were necessary or not. In your own opinion, what items do you feel would be necessary to survive something like this both physically and mentally?

O'Brien, as stated in the introduction, is "ambiguous about how his work incorporates his own Vietnam experiences. Do you feel that the detail he uses to describe the people and events helps make this work of fiction more believable, as if O'Brien actually experienced them first hand?

This excerpt comes from Tim O'Brien's book The Things They Carried. The book is wonderful; I highly recommend it. If anyone is interested in reading it I have a copy of the book in my room if you would like to borrow it.

Orientation

I am unsure if I am doing this right but here it goes. It seems that Orozco, like the other authers we have read, is describing how people have become more like "machines" in the work force. This particular story describes a job where workers can be fired for almost anything, such as asking too many questions. Is Orozco suggesting that these workers have no individual importance and are simply replacable? As well, this story discusses many of the workers personal lives and individual tendancies but states that none of them are to be acknowledge. For example, the workers do not acknowledge that they are working with a serial killer because he is one of their best workers. Is Orozo argueing that the work force today is solely concerned with making money and suggesting that morality, friendship, justice, and other virtures have less importance or no importance within the work force today?

Just The Facts!!

hey everyone!! sorry I'm posting so late. I've been at the doctors like all day for 2 days straight ugH! but anyway so here is what i got out of Campo's essay! i definitely think he points out how poeple today just fly through life and never take the time to really think about the effect they could have on someone else's life or even day! His patient just wanted someone there for him because he had been abandoned by his friends and didn't have anyone to talk to or smoke a good cigar with! Campo also identifies the importance that people put on labels and statistics. We all wait for the doctor's opinion because he has the final say in a diagnosis, yet they are only human. In today's world we look at statistics to tell us how life. Either its 4 out of 5 doctors recommend or 9 out of 10 people prefer, but when it comes down to it, they are just number without a story to tell. what do you think is the point Campo was trying to make in his essay!?

"What's so Bad About Being Poor?"

After reading and reflecting upon what Charles Murray has to say, how do you define poverty? Is poverty defined in terms of money or do you define poverty as being unable to live a modest but decent existence?

On Dumpster Diving

Lars Eighner is a writer known for his stories concerning his time spent homeless in the late eighties, and also for his weighty contributions to gay erotica.

After reading this essay I couldn't help but wonder if dumpster diving can be considered a job. How many in this class consider dumpster diving a job? How do each of you define "work" and what exactly is a "job"?

Just in case anyone was curious, Lizbeth died in 1998 at age 13.

Studs Terkel's narratives

Studs Terkel portrays two types of people in his two narratives. The steelworker, Mike Lefevre works because he loves his child while the mason, Carl Bates, works for the love of his job. I was curious which one everyone thought was a “higher” reason to work. Perhaps each approaches work from a different way and a synthesis is best. I would like to point out that Lefevre’s work centers on providing for others, and Bates’s love for his job could be applied to any job, including that of worshiping God which is the primary job that the Belmont Abbey monks perform. Have fun!

Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times

For your enjoyment -- and to illustrate some of the issues we'll be discussing over the next few classes -- here's a clip of a famous sequence from Charlie Chaplin's 1936 film Modern Times:

My Essay Topic

My paper topic is on the essay "Femininity" by Susan Brownmiller.

Topic

My paper will be about "The Common Life."

paper topic

I will be writing my paper on "The Androgynous Man".

I'll be writing mine on "The Common Life"

Patrick Kuhlman's Post

I plan on writing my paper on Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail."

Femininity

I will be writing my essay on Susan Brownmiller's "Femininity." In the essay, I will argue that Brownmiller is trying to convey to the reader that a woman who posseses a certain zeal which rebels against the traditional obligations for women actually forms the true definition of femininity. In other words, she is re-defining femininity.

Amy Graziano