Read Dunn & Norton’s “Hello, Stranger” (the last reading in Packet II), including the essay prompts (this is a sample final exam to prepare you to take the actual final exam). Continue to write, re-write, and revise Essays 1, 2, and 3. Prepare to present if you haven’t yet.
Author: Monroe Street
HW for Mon 5/6
HW: 1. Ensure you are ready to present your group’s Essay 2.
2. Read Gloria Naylor’s essay in Packet 2.
3. A reminder that your revised Essay 1s are due at the final. Grades will be based on how significantly you have revised (simply correcting small typos and grammar mistakes is not an example of significant revision; rewriting and reorganizing paragraphs IS an example of significant revision).
HW for Wed, 5/1
HW: If you haven’t already presented, make sure your Essay 2 presentation is ready to go live on Wed.
Also: Read the sample student Essay 2 on pp. 25-32 of Packet 2. This essay didn’t receive an A; so what I want you to do is make notes on how this essay could be improved to receive a higher grade. Pay special attention to transitions: the connections between paragraphs. Also highlight any boring or repeating information that you think could be removed or rewritten.
HW for Mon 4/15
Reading & Research: Finish reading Imp Kerr’s “Feasts Under the Bridge.” With your Essay 2 group, find one more article you will look for quotes on your Essay 2 word in. Arrive in class next week prepared to discuss quotes from this article.
HW for Wed (4/10)
HW: Finish reading Caraminica’s text on Drake and memes. Read the first half of Imp Kerr’s “Feasts Under the Bridge” (on trolling), pp. 58-68.
HW for Monday 4/8
HW: Finish reading Crawford’s “The Anxieties of Big Data.” Read Caraminica’s “Drake: Rapper, Actor, Meme.”
With your Essay 2 group: search for new articles on your Essay 2 word, make a list of them, decide on 1 of them to read. Read this article and arrive in class next week prepared to write about 2+ quotations from it that feature your Essay 2 word.
FYI
A follow-up to our conversation on ideology and social media:
HW for Mon (4/1)
HW: Finish typing your midterm summary into your group’s Google Doc. Read “Youth Mode” by K-Hole as well as Michelle Nijhuis’ “The Pocket Guide to Bullshit Prevention” (both in Packet 2).
Signal Verbs for Introducing Quotes
HW for Mon 3/25
READING
Read the first part of Geert Lovink’s “The Social Media Ideology” (pp. 15-29 in Packet II). Skim “EXAMPLE ESSAY 2” (pp. 25-32) and “Explaining Quotations” (pp. 32-4).
HW for Mon 3/18
HW: Work with your Essay 2 group to choose a word or phrase to focus your research on. (You can change your mind later if you’re not pleased with your research results.) Working individually: search for, find, and print a text dealing with your word/phrase that you want to read. Bring this in next class. In Packet 2, read “Intro to Summary Writing” and “MLA Citation Quick Guide.” Reminder: a revised Essay 1 is due at the Midterm exam next Wed.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor
Is this photograph of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (by Richard Avedon) a selfie?
How would you describe the look on the faces of these two subjects? What might have happened (in the “backstory” of this image) to make them look the way they do? (You can use your imagination here.)
Richard Avedon (the photographer) is famous for talking to his subjects as he takes their photo. What might he have be talking to the Duke and Duchess about at the moment this photo was taken?
HW for Wed (3/13)
HW for Wed: Read Lauren Duca’s “The Viral Virus.” If you haven’t yet, finish reading Graf’s “Yes, No, OK, But…” Disregard the “Grammar Test” on the schedule. (We’ll do something else instead.) Essay 1 final due next Wed!
Online Research Resource Quick Links
Publication titles to add to your Google search: E-flux, The New Inquiry, N+1.
Below are some Databases to Play With (for most of these, you need an activated City Tech ID/library card)
POPULAR/RECENTLY USED RESOURCES
Gale Virtual Reference Library (encyclopedia/tertiary sources)
Academic Search Complete (a spectrum of news & scholarly sources)
MLA Bibliography (literary sources)
CUNY OneSearch (search everything in CUNY’s library system)
Google Scholar (general array of scholarly texts; not discipline specific)
Google Trends (search usage of key terms in Google searches, from 2004–present)
Google Books Ngram Viewer (search usage of key terms in books, from 1500-2008)
OTHER POSSIBLY HELPFUL & INTERESTING RESOURCES
Kanopy (full-length films and documentaries)
Underground & Independent Comics (comics and graphic novels)
JSTOR (literary criticism & theory)
Project Muse (humanities and social science articles; theory)
Opposing Viewpoints (tertiary source on debates; especially good for topics in politics and news)
Academic OneFile (general academic articles; not discipline specific)
Applied Science & Tech Database (science & tech sources)
NexisUni (LexusNexus) (general)
Library & HW for Mon (3/11)
Hi everyone,
We meet at the entrance to the library today, on the 4th floor of the Atrium; please don’t go to our regular classroom!
Before leaving the library, remember to see the librarian at the front desk to activate your ID/library card. You need an activated card to do research on Essay 2 from home/off-campus.
For Monday: Read Graf, “Yes, No, OK, but…” If you haven’t yet, read Griffiths’ and Martin’s texts that were assigned for this week. Continue revising Essay 1.
See you,
M
HW for Mon (3/4)
HW for Mon: Begin revising your Essay 1 and complete any missing blog posts. Read Dawn Lundry Martin’s “When a Person Goes Missing” (available online here).
HW for Wed (2/27)
Hi all,
Please remember to bring 2 print copies of Essay 1 to Wednesday’s class. In addition, please submit your draft online as a Google Doc.
Lastly, please complete a brief blog post on the film, following the prompt below.
Watch Kriegman and Steinberg’s Weiner (2016). ( <– This is a download link that will only work for 7 days; the film can be streamed—for a fee—here.) Make notes during the film and, at the end, write a paragraph about something in it that connects to something you’re writing about in your Essay 1.
On Wed, I will continue checking in with students wanting help with essays or other work assigned this semester.
Thanks,
Monroe
HW for Mon
1. Inverse outlining an essay to see connections within its many ideas. Re-read Adrian Chen’s “Don’t Be a Stranger” (pp. 61-66). Make a numbered list of notes describing the main idea in each of the essay’s 29 paragraphs. Each of your notes needn’t be longer than a phrase.
When finished, look over your list. What do you notice about the overall form of this essay? What is the main topic it seems to be about? Where and how is the main topic introduced? Where and how does the essay meander away from this main idea?
Post your list and a couple sentences responding to 1 or more of these questions.
2. Finish a rough draft of Essay 1 and bring in 2 hard copies of it next week. By Monday night, please turn in a digital copy of your draft as a Google Doc (instructions for how to do so are here).
HW for Wed (no class next Mon)
- In the packet, read Chen’s “Don’t Be a Stranger.”
- Revise your “Media Analysis” post so that you are asking two specific questions about an enigma or conflict in the media you have shared.
Essay 1 Assignment Posted…
Direct link to assignment sheet.
Also, check the “Essays” page and click on “Essay Assignments” to watch for updates on this and other assignments.
Another Media Test Post
Discussion Questions
Why is Kim Kardashian hiding the left side of the background while she is exposing her body to us?
What even is the background of this image? Where might she be? What is she trying to show us or tell us through this image?
Media Analysis Lab Agenda & Resources
–Use phones/PCs to find media (images, sound, etc.) to share on the blog.
–Show how to post content using the “Media Analysis” category.
—In addition to posting media, identify a contradiction, conflict, or enigma in this media and develop a series of discussion questions (2 or more) connecting to it. No “Yes-No” questions or questions you already know the answer to.
–Discuss 1 person’s post.
–Write brief responses to that person’s post.
A model piece of writing for this assignment is Jerry Salz’ description of a selfie by Kim Kardashian:
The bizarre side of the mirror is Kim Kardashian’s now-famous picture of her ass and side-boob [7]. The pose is utterly banal; she’s like millions of others admiring themselves in mirrors, trying to show some part of their body to best advantage. Kardashian goes a step further. As she gets everything to show just right while admiring her own image in the phone, the third meaning that pops out is not her body. It’s how weirdly stage-managed the scene is. Her body is blatantly visible while her décor is carefully blocked off by Japanese screens. Her ass-crack is intentionally outlined, but she doesn’t want us to see her sofa. Kim has even authored four rules for the perfect selfie: “Hold your phone high [as you shoot]; know your angle; know your lighting; and no duckface!”
Equally idiotic winds of third meaning blow through other recent celebrity selfies. Seventy-year-old Geraldo Rivera’s selfie shows him gazing at his own stomach muscles in a bathroom mirror [8], naked but for a low-slung towel.
Escher, Drawing Hands (1948)
HW for Mon
HW: Finish reading Salz (1-10). Read “Planting a Naysayer” (p. 27 onward).
