Friday, April 04, 2003

 
re: Fight Club, I'm using it this quarter to talk about tendencies and expectations in gender roles, and as a sort of follow-up on consumerism. We are going to watch a clip, and they will read an article called "IKEA boy and the Politics of Male Bonding" (en-route from an old professor of mine, you can take a look at it when it arrives if you like) along with another article in the reader Kelly and I are using (Fields of Reading) called "Nonverbal Courtship Patterns in Women." I used FC last quarter just as a wrap-up to our Public Discourse unit, but they just watched it and we talked about it, nothing elaborate. But that first 1/2 hour of the film is perfect for the topic of consumerism. "the stuff you own starts to own you."
posted by betsy 2:10 PM

Thursday, April 03, 2003

 
Elizabeth--re: cultural materialism--Fight Club!
posted by Kelly 11:17 AM

Wednesday, April 02, 2003

 
and just a quick note on this whole "don't talk about the war in the classroom" B.S....to completely ban this conversation from the classroom is totally ridiculous. i think it all comes down to fear in the academy, the same fear that Edmundson talks about in his essay on liberal education: the administration puts fear the instructors, fear of losing their jobs or getting bad evaluations because they "offended" one of their students. i surveyed my students last quarter as to whether they felt cheated or sensored by what the general rule for "acceptable" topics of class discussion were. the choir sang "yes, we do!"
posted by betsy 6:03 PM

 
thinking about looking for a more updated version of "how t.v. covers war" in WL?...ask and you shall receive! in the newest new yorker (the one with the many saddams on it) there is an article by Nancy Franklin called "News Under Fire" and i think it is pretty good. she focuses on the weird and twisted rhetorical strategies and the varying "types" of text that tv news uses to portray a very one-sided argument. i can make copies for people.
posted by betsy 5:55 PM

Sunday, March 30, 2003

 
i came across this site on the writing process by accident. some good recources for in-class writing workshops.
posted by betsy 9:01 PM