Monday, November 26, 2007

Blog 22: LAST BLOG ENTRY

I designed this course to revolve around work because I discovered that so many of my students hadn't thought about work in any meaningful way. How has this course affected the way you see work and your future? Which aspects of work do you think about differently?

DUE Wednesday, Decemeber 5

Blog 21: Reflection

Looking back on this semester, what is your favorite memory?

DUE Wednesday, December 5

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Blog 20: On My Vacation, I . . .

What are your plans for the Thanksgiving break? Will you be spending time with your family? Meeting the family of a boyfriend or girlfriend? What are your Thanksgiving traditions like?

DUE Sunday, November 18

Blog 19: On Strike

The current writers and stagehands' strikes got me thinking about the nature of protest in America. I always feel that, nowadays, we never quite protest as well as other countries.

Have you ever protested something? Maybe you walked out of school or refused to clean your room or marched about a political issue. What did you protest? Why? How did it make you feel? What was the end result of your efforts?

If you've never protested anything, why not? What would it take to make you speak out against something?

DUE Sunday, November 18

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Blog 18: Dear Abby, or Bob, or Suzie, or Mike

Salon.com, an online magazine, runs an advice column called "Since You Asked" by Cary Tennis. While I don't always agree with his advice, I always like how he says it. I thought his Halloween-related column was particularly poetic:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/col/tenn/2007/10/31/halloween/index.html

Choose one of the questions asked of and answered by him. You can see more questions towards the bottom of the page by clicking on "Read more Cary Tennis at the 'Since You Asked' directory." Copy and paste the question into your response (the question does not count towards your one-page count) and then answer the question.

Happy advicing!

DUE Sunday, November 11

Blog 17: Weak-ipedia

Go to Wikipedia.com (yes, I'm serious) and check out a few random entries to get a feel for their style.

Now, create a Wikipedia entry for yourself, complete with important dates and references (what "references" means I leave up to you).

DUE Sunday, November 11

Friday, November 2, 2007

Article on Plagiarism

Some of you may have heard the recent flap over a cookbook written by Jessica Seinfeld, wife of Jerry. Her book bears striking similarity to a book published earlier this year by another author. Both cookbooks are about hiding veggies in children's food.

The article's author includes a great description of plagiarism and the differences between plagiarism and copyright infringement.


http://www.slate.com/id/2176563/fr/flyout

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Blog 16: M-P-Wheeee!

As we close in on writing a critique, take a look at your MP3 player or CD collection. Name the top ten songs in your collection. Why are these songs your favorites? Be specific and give us a few sentences about each.

DUE Sunday, November 4

Blog 15: The Outsourced Brain

I discovered an interesting op-ed piece in The New York Times today that really got me thinking about the implications of our dependence upon technology.

Read the article and respond:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/opinion/26brooks.html?_r=1&n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/David%20Brooks&oref=slogin

What do you think about what Brooks has to say?

DUE Sunday, November 4
(Don't forget to turn your clocks back!)

Friday, October 26, 2007

Article To Check Out

I'm in my office during office hours, but none of you come to see me, so I scour the Internet, trying to stave off boredom. I found the following article while perusing Freakonomics, a blog run off of The New York Times.

Steven Levitt, who has been dubbed a “rogue economist,” uses facts and stats to promulgate some rather controversial assertions. One of the most well-known was that crime rates dropped in the 1990s because it was about 15 years after Roe v. Wade. (Less unwanted children = less criminals.)

The following article isn't from Freakonomics, but from a link on the site. It's a blog entry about the effects of privilege on college admissions. It could be useful for several of the groups in the class, so I thought I'd share it.