Blog #10: Final Blog - The Eye is Watching You

For the final article, I present a buffet of stuff with one connection: intrusion.

Last year I ran across this article HERE on Slate.com. I thought it was pretty interesting from a collegiate standpoint.

Here's the second portion: Techno Buffalo is reporting a town in Leon, Mexico is taking security about 12 steps farther than anyone else. Read about it HERE.

Next, Part 3: Those iPhones and iPads you love are storing a crapload of data about you. Read about it HERE and why they do it HERE.

(Side question: does a liberal media, who loves Apple, have the stones to get tough with Apple over the issue of personal freedoms? Just a thought...)

Increasingly, we are left with less and less privacy. Throw in the TSA keeping scans of our bodies -- and finding them on Google -- and Facebook tracking our every move as well, and what do we have to look forward to in the 21st Century? Do you feel comfortable being watched over? Is this a real concern? Or is the old professor trying to scare you?

Your responses, in 300-500 words, please.

This is the last blog...enjoy your summers, and take care.

-- MP


-- MP

Blog #9: When Boys Get Toenails Painted

There's two interesting points you can talk about on this one.

First, watch the video HERE. It runs a few minutes.

So, a mom -- who happens to be the #2 person at J.Crew -- is coloring her boys toenails pink. Is this right, or wrong, in your opinion?

The video, around the 1:23 mark, mentions a counter response blog from Dr. David Ablow, a sometime contributor to Fox News. It's linked to in the story, but you can read it HERE.

Two things struck me about this article. One was the story itself. Is this pushing the edge of gender identity too far? Do you think we should leave things well enough alone, or have we not gone far enough? Does this even matter at all, or is this a tempest-in-a-teacup (much ado about nothing)?

The second thing that hit me was the angle of reporting itself. Did The Lookout even bother to take an even view of the situation, or did they completely cherry pick their interviews (and resultant points of view) in this article? And something else of note: at the end of the interview, Robin Roberts actually makes a comment stating that she knows the J.Crew executive featured in the ad, and vouches for her. Is this something a journalist should do (despite the fluff-show format, Roberts has won awards for her journalism and is considered a quality reporter)? Which leads me to the second point: should we accept journalistic bias in the reporting we consume? Regardless of point of view, does this "positioning" of the story hurt or harm the discussion of the points? (shades of Gerard Alexander here -- does this relate?)

Discuss either point at the usual length -- 300-500 words.

Blog #8: Twixters

As part of the readings for this mysterious fourth essay, I ran across this little gem from Lev Grossman.

Some of you may have already read it in the book. Some may have not (it is in Chapter 14). Either way, I think it's worthy of discussion.

You can read the article HERE.

300-400 words on your honest responses to this article. I think this is a topic that all of you should be able to weigh in on. Is this your generation? Is this you? Or is some other agenda at work here? In the new post-depression American economy, do we have the luxury of never growing up?

-- MP

Blog #7 - Multiculturalism Wars: A Little Punishment, Harshly Delayed

So, you recall when I conveyed that little extra assignment as we started this fourth paper? The one that I said had to be posted on the blog, only I didn't give you a blog to post it on?

Well, here it is.

For those of you who don't remember, or weren't there, I realized that people weren't reading their work. And I posted this assignment and made people aware of it.

The assignment particulars are as follows, pulled directly from the assignment in question (listed as "Assignment", in the folder "Other Assignments" on Vista:

Assignment: Discuss, in detail, Bharati Mukherjee’s mediatory essay “Beyond Multiculturalism: A Two-Way Transformation”.

Format: Responsive Essay
Since I’ve discovered that many of the class did not fully read Ms. Mukherjee’s essay which was to be the topic of Friday’s discussion, I think it is time to put our studies where our mouths weren’t.

YOUR TASK:
Critically analyze Ms. Mukherjee’s essay. Refer to our process of critical analysis that we discussed earlier in the semester. Identify the writer’s position, her background, and her ideas.

We are considering Mukherjee’s essay a mediation of the previous two essays, Roger Kimball’s “Institutionalizing Our Demise: America vs. Multiculturalism” and Elizabeth Martinez’ “Reinventing America: Call for a New National Identity”. (You’ll want to refer to these essays as well.) Whose ideas do you identify with, Kimball’s, Martinez’, or Mukherjee’s? Why or why not? Does Mukherjee have the authenticity to discuss immigration and multiculturalism for America? Who has the right to discuss this topic? Do you have to be born here to be an authority on things American? You may touch on some of these questions, or others that come to your mind, in discussing these three essays.

Your essay will be at least 900 words long. You will also POST it on the blog (under Blog #7 – Multiculturalism Wars) no later than FRIDAY, 4/15 at 11:59 pm.

Bottom Line: I want to know that you understood the reading that so few of us have (apparently) done.


This should be an easy blog to post, since you should already have done the assignment.

I will now return you to your regularly scheduled programming...

-- MP

Blog #6 - No More Teachers, No More Books

So I finally found an interesting article that didn't have to do with Libya, politics, or what's going on with Charlie Sheen.

The article is from the Akron Beacon Journal's Eric Gorski, and it concerns, well...you.

Read it HERE.

What does this mean? Are you actually getting something out of your college education? Or is this merely a trampoline for you to bounce on for four (or five or six) years until you're ready to feed yourselves?

You know what I want...300-400 words, on this topic. Be thoughtful about your experiences. I want to know if this guy is right, and if so, why.

-- MP