Inaugural Blog: Six Word Memoir
January 17, 2013Blog 3: DUE Monday, Oct. 29, 7:00 p.m.
October 26, 2012Read the first quote that helps define analysis, then “analyze” the second quote by Elie Wiesel. Minimum length is one substantial paragraph (5-7sentences) though I think you will end up writing more.
According to David Rosenwasser and Jill Stephen in Writing Analytically, analysis is:
“More than just a set of skills, analysis is a frame of mind, an attitude toward experience. It is a form of detective work that typically pursues something puzzling, something you are seeking to understand rather than something you are already sure you have the answers to. Analysis finds questions where there seemed not to be any, and makes connections that might not have been evident at first” (3-4).
Analyze the quote below, referring to Night as well as any other connections you make. Work on sentence variety, per our class discussion last week.
“I would say that an idea becomes fanatical the moment it minimizes or excludes all the ideas that confront or oppose it. In religion, it is dogmatism; in politics, totalitarianism. The fanatic deforms and pollutes reality. He never sees things and people as they are; his hatred makes him fabricate idols and images so ugly that he can become indignant about them. In his eyes he, and only he, has the right to put his ideas into action, which he will do at the first opportunity. One can encounter fanaticism in the framework of all monotheistic religions—Christian, Jewish, Moslem—and extremism in any form revolts me. I turn away from persons who declare that they know better than anyone else the only true road to God. If they try to force me to follow their road, I fight them. Whatever the fanatic’s religion, I wish to be his adversary, his opponent … Yes, the fanatic is passionate. But his passions can be dangerous. In religion, love is neither the problem nor the solution. The problem is exaggerated love, fanatical love, which turns religion into a personal battlefield that is dangerous to others and demeaning to the very faith it professes to cherish. If religious fanaticism hides the face of God, so does political fanaticism destroy human liberty. In fact, there are some who, seeking to combat religious fanaticism, battle it with another kind of fanaticism that is equally evil. We cannot yield to fanaticism of any type. Fanaticism is a basic element of every dictatorship. In science, it serves death; in literature, it twists truth; in history, it tells lies; in art, it creates ugliness. The fanatic never rests and never quits; the more he conquers, the more he seeks new conquests. For him to feel free, he must put everyone else into prison—if not physically, at least mentally. In doing so, he never realizes that he himself is in jail, as a guard if not as a prisoner. A fanatic has answers, not questions; certainties, not hesitations. In dictatorial regimes, doubts were considered crimes against the state. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche expressed it this way: Madness is the result not of uncertainty but certainty. Substitute the word fanaticism for madness, and the equation holds.”
—Elie Wiesel, from “When Passion Is Dangerous”
Blog 4, Due W, 2/10
February 8, 2010“What have you lost?” Write it down.
BLOG 6: Post Your Digital Story Here! Be sure it has a title. DUE by Nov.25
November 15, 2009Part I: Please post your story link here. Deadline for posting here and on youtube is Nov.25, but please post earlier if possible so we can all share in seeing these videos. Even if you are still revising, don’t hesitate to post the “rough” version now.
Pas Deux: Choose one of the digital stories and using the “comment” function, leave your classmate a note about his or her story. This doesn’t have to be long, but is required though you don’t have to comment at the same time you post your own story.
Blog 5: Due Wednesday, Nov. 11, 11:00 p.m., “The Culture of Fear”
November 8, 2009Define the word “terrorism,” in your own words. Don’t refer to the dictionary or any other source though you may refer to the film, Bowling for Columbine, in your response. Next cite three types of terrorism Moore addresses in the film providing a brief example of each.
Blog 4: Revised and Shortened Digital Story Narrative Based on Your Portfolio One Family Photo Narrative, Due Sat., 10/17 by 11:00 p.m.
October 16, 2009Please cut your family narratives to 500-600 words and post it here. This will be the written text you will record for your digital story/movie. As you rewrite this, focus on what you want to capture, the purpose, when you merge the written text with your photos. If your first portfolio lacked concrete details, you will need to provide more concrete description as the story transfers to a visual medium. This post is your “rough” narrative; the hard copy is not due until Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Review the handout, “Seven Elements of Digital Storytelling,” that provides a template and framework around which to write the narrative. Also, be sure to visit UR’s digital story link (on digital schedule) to get a sense of what the final products look and sound like.
Blog 3, Due Sunday, Oct. 4 BEFORE Midnight/Jesse Owens vs. Hitler
October 2, 2009Blog 2, Due Sunday, Sept.27
September 25, 2009
After reading Mark Edmundson’s “On the Uses of a Liberal Education: As Lite Entertainment For Bored College Students” (essay link is below), consider his opinion on the commodification of the university with Liza Featherstone’s views on colleges’ relationship with consumerism in “Student Activists Versus th Corporate University.” You must find one quote from each text and type it into your comment and then explain the similarities between the two authors’ points. Give page no. for the quotes in an MLA parenthetical note. What similarities do Edmundson and Featherstone share in making arguments about universities as corporations? Your response must include the 2 quotes and a solid paragraph of analysis of the similarities. Using the tools from WA we have learned, look for patterns and strands of related ideas.
Edmundson essay:
http://www.student.virginia.edu/~decweb/lite/
(print this for class)
BLOG 1: Notice and Focus and 10 on 1 With a Spoof Ad/In-Class 9/21
September 20, 2009Choose, from one of the websites below, a spoof ad and then analyze that ad using Notice and Focus(ranking) and 10 on 1 strategies from WA, pp.35-39 & pp.127-131.
103-02 Members Only, Blogging Our Way to Meaning
September 17, 2009We’ll use this collaborative space, as soon as we all figure it out, to engage with our class readings, to respond to our own and each others’ texts, and to answer posted questions (some required, some optional) by Prof. P. The goal–a lengthy history of posts that bounce off of each other, question and argue with each other, sorting through initial thoughts and wading into that writing chaos to transform ideas (brilliant and not-so brilliant ones) into the foundation of lucid and compelling persuasive prose. You will develop strategies here such as authenticity and analysis which will infuse your “real” papers. So, embrace the immediacy of this forum and the potential for rhetorical camaraderie it offers. One further goal– to have fun. Informal and inspired writing is welcome, sloppy writing is not. Seeking one intrepid 103 to be the first 103 blogger….
103logophiles02's Blog 