Nathan Arnold
WRA135:2-S05
Last Updated:11/29/05
EARLY ESSAYS
Self Description
Strengths/Weaknesses of the Rubric
For this assignment I read the class rubric and picked out my three most and least problematic areas.
Nacirema Essay
My first paper in WRA135. The Nacirema are a mysterious group of people who thrive on daily rituals to survive. I wrote about the ritual of waxing in this assignment.
Pop Quizzes
Library Tour
In this self-guided Library Tour, my group had to fill out a quiz on the back of the packet. After completing this quiz, we made a group quiz, following the same guidelines.
Sentence-Combining Exercise #1Our first sentence-combining exercise, in which we were to take several short sentences and combine them to make a descriptive paragraph.
Sentence-Combining Exercise #2
This assignment consisted of eight paragraphs, each with several chopped up sentences which we were to combine and make shorter and more concise.
EXAM ESSAYSMidterm Exam #1
Midterm exam #1 consisted of two parts, one to be taken in class, and a take home test. For the take home test, we were to update our SLWP and WRA webfolios.
Midterm Exam #2
Exam #2 also consisted of an inclass and take home test. I chose to watch the movie Shane, and write a paper on it, depicting the path of the hero as explained by Joseph Campbell.
Final Exam
Our final once again consisted of an inclass and take home test. For this assigment, we were to write a letter to someone based on their bumper sticker claiming, "I wasn't using my civil liberties anyway" or respond to two critics who created reviews for Bowling for Columbine. I chose the bumper sticker option. My response can be viewed here.
ABSTRACTS OF SELECTED CLASS READINGSHorace Miner's "Body Ritual among the Nacirema"
Miner's essay explores the bizarre rituals of a people known as the Nacirema. These are a people highly dependent on the use of magic in their daily rituals. The point of these rituals is to attain overall beauty and perfection. These strange rituals include women baking their heads in ovens, men cutting their faces on a daily basis, and the mouth rights, just to name a few. Miner explains the places where these rituals take place as a temple. These temples are typically run by the "holy-mouth-men," or the "witch doctors" of the Nacirema.
Jimmy Carter's "Crisis of Confidence: Energy and National Goals"
Jimmy Carter's speech, known as the "Malaise Speech" exhibited Jimmy Carter's perceived crisis of confidence in 1979. Jimmy Carter expressed his growing concern of the lack of confidence American people have in themselves, each other, and the American government. Attributing to this lack of confidence was assassinations of RFK, JFK, and MLK Jr., as well as the Watergate Scandal, and the loss in Vietnam. The OPEC oil embargoes created a national energy crisis. To overcome these situations, Jimmy Carter called for a set of national goals. Goal one was to show Americans they had two paths they could take. One was a path of self-interest. The other way a path of American values, the true path to freedom. Carter assured Americans if they united together with confidence, they could not fail in the rebirth of the American Spirit.
Katherine Newman's "American Nightmares"
In "American Nightmares," anthropologist Katherine Newman explains what's known as downward mobility in the American society. This is a downward spiral on the socio-economic ladder of American people. According to Newman, "about one in every five American men skid down the occupational hierarchy in their working lives." However, the media focuses only on the success among Americans and anything on a downward spiral in American society. An example of this is stated by Newman when she says, "No one ever talks about the pilgrims that gave up and headed back."
Charles Derber's "The Good Man Fills His Own Stomach"
In "The Good Man Fills His Own Stomach," Derber brings up what's known as wilding in the American Society. Derber says the American dream has become so unattainable, people resort to savage acts to try to attain the dream. An example of this in the story is of a man who killed his wife and shot himself in the stomach so he could get insurance money and open up a restaurant. This attack led Americans to believe they too were turning into a wilding society, caring more about their possessions and wealth than those around them.
P.J. O'Rourke's "Slamming and Jamming"P.J. O'Rourke acts as a tour guide in "Slamming and Jamming." This is a story about a group of vigilantes known as the Guardian Angels. The Guardian Angels patrol the streets of the South Bronx beating up crack users, tearing up their money, and destroying their drugs and drug paraphernalia. The Guardian Angels are heroes among many locals because they are the only ones doing anything about the drug problem in the area. The locals have given up on the government for help, and instead resorted to a group of vigilantes for safety.
Paul Recer's "Use of Guns Likened to Disease"
In this writing, Recer studied gun violence and homicides in the United States. This short paper includes facts from different criminologists about gun violence. For example, Professor of Criminology, Richard Rosenfeld states removing people from the streets would cause a 25% decrease in the rate of homicides. Another point brought up was if 670 prisoners were added a year, it would result in one less homicide a year. However, at the end, Rosenfeld quotes, " When you multiply 670 by $20,000 it costs to house the average prisoner, you get $13.4 million ... is that too much to avert one homicide?"
John Grisham's "Somewhere for Everyone"
"Somewhere for Everyone," by John Grisham is a paper about the effects on inner city homelessness. Grisham travels to big cities such as D.C. Once there, he volunteers to work with many other social workers with the homeless in soup kitchens and homeless shelters. He also walks the city streets talking to homeless people on park benches and asking them questions. Grisham is amazed when he discovers the United States government was trying to put a ban on the homeless.
Jo Goodwin Parker's "What is Poverty?"
Jo Goodwin Parker's "What is Poverty" was a very depressing story. Parker states this question can be answered by someone suffering from poverty, or someone looking at poverty from the outside in. Parker relates her personal experiences of poverty throughout the story. Soap, food, medicine and electricity could not even be provided for Parker's children, she was so deep in poverty. However, she is not asking for sympathy in the story, she is simply asking for the American people take action against poverty in our nation.
Studs Terkle's interview, "Mike LeFevre: Who Built the Pyramids?"
This article is an interview with steel mill worker Mike LeFevre. LeFevre is an average working man, trying to provide for his wife and children. He feels unmotivated by his job, and takes his aggression out by fighting at taverns. LeFevre refers back to a quote by Bertolt Brecht who talks of the Towers of Thebes, saying they were built by working men, but only the kings name will be remembered. These builders, much like LeFevre, are referred to as the 'unknowns', people no one will ever remember.
Peter Marin's "Helping and Hating the Homeless"
In this article, Marin says homelessness needs to be recognized. Homeless people are homeless because of two conditions: they either chose to be, feeling homelessness would involve greater freedom or they have no other choice. Many people tend to ignore the homeless, forgetting most homeless people were once just like the average citizen, until trauma struck, and they were left with nothing. Marin raises this point: we have all chosen to be structured and abide by the rules, so what do we owe the homeless? This brings about the idea showing there will always be a dispute among the homeless and everyone else. Marin feels only by mediating between the two systems will we be able to control what's to come in the future.
Jonathan Alter's "Bridging the Digital Divide"
Alter's "Bridging the Digital Divide" is an article about advancing technology. Technology is advancing so rapidly, it is splitting Americans into two different groups: those who can afford to keep up with the latest and greatest technology, and those who cannot. This has caused a gap between the rich and poor larger than the gap which occurred during the Great Depression. Many people know how to use computers to play games, but nothing else. Mitchell Resnick of the MIT Media Lab puts it well when he states, "The access gap will close, but the gap in being able to use the technology in meaningful ways will get even larger."
Kate Santich's "Life's a bummer, but whatever"
In "Life's a bummer, but whatever," Kate Santich brings about the reality of the Age of Cynicism occurring in the US right now. People no longer care about voting, and do not trust the government anymore. Americans try to find signs of hope day to day but instead find our economy is worse off than it has ever been. Santich states this decline in the American economy is due to scandal after scandal among authoritative figures. This article is summed up at the end with a quote by author Mirvis saying, "[b]ut I must say, with all that's going on, this is not our shining hour."
Jay Shaft's "US Homelessness and Poverty Rates Skyrocket"
Jay Shaft brings about the reality of the increase in homelessness and poverty in this article. Over the last two years, there has been a 35%-45% increase in homelessness rates. 30% of Americans are either in, or on the verge of poverty. Shaft is enraged in Americas inability to afford teachers, or build new schools. He blames this on the large number of illiterate and uneducated children in America. He also says people find it easier to tolerate the homeless and those in poverty than to reach out a helping hand.
Anna Quindlen's "Life of the Closed Mind"
Quindlen's post 9-11 essay, created for the graduating class of 2005 at Columbia University addresses terrorism in the U.S. Quindlen says people believe they beat terrorism by staying where they were, and not moving to different schools, or cities. However, Quindlen feels the terrorists did win. Since the attacks on 9-11, the American people have changed. Quindlen states, "no one believes in mistakes anymore...But today, human error in so many arenas has been supplanted by the ubiquitous suggestion of sinister forces." Another change Quindlen points out is people have become polar, it is now "it is either black or white, there is no grey area." What she means by this is people have become so close minded, they refuse to hear other peoples opinions, feeling only they are correct.Robert Reich's "An American Morality Tale"
In this essay created by Reich, four examples of parables in the American Dream are explained. The American hero starts with nothing and through hard work and discipline earns his/her respect. This hero will do what's right in all circumstances and defends those who cannot defend themselves.The Mob at the Gates consists of a journey through the cruelty of corruption and overcoming this corruption for the good of man. The Triumphant Individual is the story of the underdog, someone who works nonstop and risks everything to earn respect. The Benevolent Community shows the uniting of neighbors and friends to help those in need. The fourth parable, The Rot at the Top is distinguished by tyrannous leaders full of corruption, caring only about themselves and stopping at nothing to attain their goals. The goal of the underdog, with the help of the benevolent community is to stop these leaders. These parables all show sacrifices for the common good, which is the theme in the American hero's journey.
PRESENTATION MATERIALS ON CHAPTER TWO OF CIVIL LIBERTIES: OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS.
My group, the Freedom Fighters, will be presenting information based on Chapter One of Civil Liberties: Opposing Viewpoints, 2005 edition, Auriana Ojeda, ed. Chapter One is all about different topics under Freedom of Speech and the different stands taken on these points. We created a handout outlining the topics covered in the project, as well as a pop quiz for our classmates to take before our presentation. Along with the presentation, we constructed a group paper and I wrote an individual paper detailing the topics I dealt with.
Here is a link to my critical annotations for our final presentation.
AMERICAN THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE SERVICE-LEARNING WEBFOLIO
My Service-Learning Writing Project is for an organization known as YouVote. YouVote is dedicated to informing college age people on the process of voting, as well as registering such people to vote. We were to complete assignments for this organization. You can see these assignments by going to my SLWP webfolio. In this webfolio I kept journals to keep track of the progress made on my SLWP project.