Thursday, November 29, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Friday, November 9, 2007
Extra Credit & Make-up Assignments
Below are four assignments that provide you with an opportunity to make up points lost or to gain extra-credit points. You may choose more than one assignment.
Assignment One:
This interview assignment is the most valuable in terms of extra-credit points because I can provide no leads. The task here is to find a teen-aged Latino girl who has been involved in migrant work. Because of the nature of Hispanic family dynamics, the family will have to be a part of the interview process. This means that you will need to talk to the teen in front of an adult family member. Make clear to whomever you talk to that the family can be part of the interview process.
I need such an interview for the book I’m currently working on. I am particularly interested in African-American and Hispanic relations. How does a Latino teen view a teenage African American? And what is life like as a migrant worker?
A good place to pick up a lead would be at an English as Second Language Lab (ESL). Start at this university first, then call others. The city may run an ESL program as well.
Use a tape recorder. Make sure it’s working periodically during your interview. Don’t rely exclusively on the recorder; also take notes—jotting down key phrases, describing facial expressions, etc. Transcribe the interview word for word. Do not paraphrase.
1. Introduce yourself.
2. Tell your initial contact that you need to conduct an interview for a class you’re taking at USA . Ask for help, leads. Mention my name and the project goal: to provide a positive view of immigrants.
3. Set up an interview time.
The goal here is not to get a list of facts but to get people to tell stories and to provide details about their lives that most people don’t know about, to that end, you would need to ask personal questions that force the respondent to tell a story. Your questions would be something like the following:
1. Tell me about the first thing you remember.
2. Tell me about the time you were beaten up by a bully.
3. Have you ever been dancing? Tell me about that time?
4. Have you been baptized? What happened that day?
5. Tell me about a time when you were embarrassed?
6. Have you ever seen a monster or a ghost? Tell me that story.
7. Tell me about the time you caught a fish.
I suggest you come up with your own list of about 20 questions or prompts. Once the interview starts, go with the flow. Don’t interrupt the respondent if she is talking. Remember your goal is to get the respondent talking.
I will accept at least 1000 words of transcription.
This assignment is worth 550 points.
Assignment Two:
Create a list of at least 30 proverbs/old wives' tales that would be considered Southern (beliefs originating in the southern united states or those beliefs greatly held in the southern U.S. ) Please cite your sources.
Set up your list in the following format:
Eating carrots improves your night vision
Half-truth
Carrots do contain Beta-carotene, which is converted to vitamin A in the small intestine. Vitamin A is a precursor to the protein Rhodopsin, a component of the rods (a photoreceptor cell) in the Retina that is very sensitive to light. Vitamin A helps to maintain healthy bones, but the carrots do not contain enough calcium to make any significant difference. This tale started in the Second World War when the British spread a rumor that their plane spotters were eating carrots to give them improved vision, concealing the truth about the invention of radar. Also the night fighter ace John Cunningham (21 kills) who was an early proponent of airborne radar in his Bristol Beaufighter, was nicknamed "Cat's Eyes" and alluded to have exceptional night vision because of his carrot eating (citation goes here).
Having sex standing up is a contraceptive
False
This is an example of an old wives' tale in peer sex education. Sperm cells are capable of swimming up the vaginal canal, through the uterus to the fallopian tubes, where they may fertilize an egg, (which also actively pulls the sperm towards it), regardless of the body's position during or after sexual intercourse. It is also believed that certain muscular actions during intercourse draw the spermatozoa upward, as well
The tale is believed to have originated as a misunderstanding of advice by fertility specialists not to be standing up during coitus, if one is attempting to become pregnant. While it is true that some positions encourage pregnancy, the converse idea that some positions prevent it is false (citation goes here).
Chocolate causes acne
False
Chocolate does not cause acne in healthy individuals, but can have an extreme effect if one is sensitive to a specific ingredient in certain confections, such as pasteurized milk or hydrogenated oil. Caffeine contained in many chocolate products can, however, cause increased stress which may temporarily increase the manifestations to individuals already affected with acne (citation goes here).
The following are examples of “Southern” proverbs, superstitions and old wives’ tales:
1. Never step over a sleeping baby because you will shorten its life.
2. Never step over a sleeping child you will stunt her growth.
3. Never leave an ax or a broom in the house overnight because the broom will beat you and the ax will chop you.
This assignment is worth 100 points.
Assignment Three:
Create a list of at least 10 wild plants that grow in the southeastern United Sates that could be used for medicinal purposes. Include at least 2 recipes for preparing these plants. (You may substitute up to half of list with a listing of non-traditional healing methods, i.e. putting chewing tobacco on a wasp sting to bring down swelling.)
In addition to looking through publications, please conduct at least two interviews: talk to the elderly (particularly African-Americans) or to an ethnobotonist. Cite your sources.
Here is a sample entry:
1. Blackberry, raspberry, and dewberry
Rubus species
Description: These plants have prickly stems (canes) that grow upward, arching back toward the ground. They have alternate, usually compound leaves. Their fruits may be red, black, yellow, or orange.
Habitat and Distribution: These plants grow in open, sunny areas at the margin of woods, lakes, streams, and roads throughout temperate regions. There is also an arctic raspberry.
Edible Parts: The fruits and peeled young shoots are edible. Flavor varies greatly.
Medicinal Use: Use the leaves to make tea. To treat diarrhea, drink a tea made by brewing the dried root bark of the blackberry bush. (citation goes here).
Interview Transcription: “Dew berries can be very bitter,” says Dr. Maria Lombardi, a biologist at the
This assignment is worth 210 points.
Assignment Four:
Create a list of at least 15 wild, edible plants that grow in the southeastern United Sates. Include at least 3 recipes for preparing or cooking these plants.
In addition to looking through publications, please conduct at least two interviews: talk to the elderly (particularly African-Americans) or to an ethnobotonist. Please cite your sources.
Here is a sample entry:
1. GroundNut (Apios Tuberosa)
This plant most frequently occurs in marshy grounds and moist thickets throughout a large part of the
Interview: “It is very bitter,” says Dr. Maria Lombardi, a biologist at the
My father was always doing things like that—finding strange plants for us to take home. I think that’s why I became interested in biology (contact information goes Here).
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
Place Logic Assignment Here
Post the answers to the following questions here. Place your response or questions to Olympia above the answers. (You are not required to comment on your peers’ response for this assignment).
Discussion Questions
1. Setting: the story’s location in time and space.
What details about setting do you find in “Logic”? In what ways does the setting contribute to the story?
Consider the following:
a. Details indicating the time period of the story—season, era. (One such detail is in chapter 32.)
b. A change of terrain occurs in Chapter 32? How does this change affect the characters? What are the differences between one world and the other?
c. What do you know about the place? Is this factor relevant?
d. Gender roles indicate setting.
e. Do you see any inconsistencies or violations in setting?
f. What is the atmosphere? That is, what is the overall environment like, mentally as well as physically?
2. Plot: What happens in the story?
Briefly state the line of development. Is this story a rough-and-tumble thriller? Or is the development more subtle? Which scenes would you call most important and why?
3. Characterization.
Who are the characters? Are any of the characters flat or round? Static or developing?
Terms:
Flat – one-dimensional
Round – fully described
Static – a character that undergoes no essential change
Developing – experiences some substantial change in personal outlook or philosophy.
Is there an antagonist, someone definitely at odds with the central character?
Or there any stock characters (characters in stereotyped roles; for instance, the strong, silent sheriff; the innocent and helpless young person)?
4. Conflict
What is the struggle?
What are the 3 classic struggles we learned in high school?
5. Language
What symbols are used? How do we know they are symbols? What do they symbolize? Consider images in passages that contribute to the sense of the story.
Does the language, diction (word choice) remind you of a “kind” of writing?
What are examples of imagery (language that appeals to your senses)?
Choose two of your favorite phrases or sections, or respond to why you could not “see” things because of the language—were you indifferent?
How is language “misused” and to what effect?
One reviewer described Vernon’s novel “Logic” as a blues song. What do you think he meant? To really answer this correctly you should do an internet search on “the blues aesthetic,” and “Albert Murray + blues”
Vernon refers to a blues singer Robert Johnson on page 60. Below is a song by Johnson.
Kindhearted Woman Blues (take 1)
I got a kindhearted woman
do anything in this world for me
I got a kindhearted woman
do anything in this world for me
But these evil-hearted women
man, they will not let me be
I love my baby
my baby don't love me
I love my baby, ooh
my baby don't love me
But I really love that woman
can't stand to leave her be
Ain't but the one thing
makes Mister Johnson drink
I's worried about how you treat me, baby
I begin to think
Oh babe, my life don't feel the same Yo breaks my heart
When you call Mister So-and-So's name
(Break with guitar solo)
She's a kindhearted woman
she studies evil all the time
She's a kindhearted woman
she studies evil all the time
You well's to kill me
As to have it on your mind
6. What is the significance of the Anne Frank quote “Go outside, Laugh, and take a breath of fresh air,” a voice cries within me”?
Monday, October 8, 2007
Corona (Discussion)
On the first mention of Corona, I automatically pictured a cold beverage meant for partying and having a good time. Imagine my surprise to know that Corona in context is meant as a halo of light shining down to give peace. In this featured piece, we encounter a man and a little girl who find out that they can help each other. They gain peace and a sense of understanding of how to deal with their pain. Music helps them both to do that. It helps to cope with whatever is going on in their lives. Music has an undercurrent of subliminal messages that translate beauty, peace, and justice. It helps us release what burdens may hinder us from healing our innermost wounds.
The main characters in the reading face different aspects of pain and find their own way of handling it. Music gives them a window of escape to erase the pain at that moment. Buddy is in the hospital with an injury and the little girl wants to kill herself. They face the conflict of unburdening each other’s pain and to make it better. They both have heard a Bryan Faust song and the little girl gives a very descriptive thought of the song. I especially enjoyed when she said, “I think Faust’s music is so alive! But with life the way it should be. Not without pain, but with pain contained, ordered, given form and meaning, so that it’s almost all right again.” This made me realize that sometimes music can take us away when we need to release heavy labors.
My mother always said that I was a different type of child. I was always singing and dancing to all types of music. Growing up around my grandparents, I was able to hear different types of music and to broaden my horizons. While I attended school, I was picked on for listening to “White People” music. One day after school, I asked my mother why were people so mean and hateful. She told me that people fear the unknown and things that are different. My mother explained to me that people in society want to stay a certain way and constantly resist change. As I grew older, I understood what she was trying to tell me. She prepared me for ignorant people who believe that if you are a certain color, you must listen to one type of music. Well the world met its match with me! I love jazz, rhythm and blues, rock, soul, reggae, opera, and sometimes a little rap.
Researchers Rentfrow and Gosling addressed music influence as very important in everyday lives. They stated that people experience music in everyday life giving aspect of all human cultures, and has been associated with particular emotion regulation and coping. They emphasize the fact that music, in any of its widely different forms and contents, can evoke powerful emotional reactions in people. (British Journal of Psychology May 2007)
Reference: Can traits explain how people use music in everyday life?
British Journal of Psychology 98.2 (May 2007) Magazine/ Journal
Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Adrian Furnham