Class Update for November 5 (Class 6)

Bring to class:
Moustafa Bayoumi text "How Does it Feel to Be A Problem?"
TWO COPIES of Paper 3 on Bayoumi text
FINAL DRAFT for a grade on Paper 2 (Angels)

Our class agenda:
Peer editing activity (warm/cool feedback) on Paper 3
Class discussion on Bayoumi text continues

Please come prepared with the following:

 On page 9, Bayoumi writes:

“Brooklyn is the concentrated, unedited, twenty – first century answer to who we , as Americans , are as a people."

• What does the story of each of the individuals in the first three chapters contribute to Bayoumi’s argument about racism and the Arab and Muslim community of the United States?
  
• What are the problems of what “we, as Americans, are as a people”?
  
• What do you propose as a solution to the problem or problems?

On page 214, Bayoumi writes:

“To my ears these young men were living uneasily in an unresolved contradiction."

•  Define “unresolved contradiction”
  
•  How does the idea relate to the individuals introduced in the last three chapters of the text?
  
• Cite text for support
  
•  How do you think they can resolve this "unresolved contradiction"?

Looking ahead to Class on November 12:

Bring Toni Morrison's novel A Mercy

In-class writing for Paper 4 on A Mercy

Bring Final draft for a grade of Paper 3 (Bayoumi)

Update on Paper 3 on Bayoumi Text

On October 22, we responded to the following In-Class Writing prompt:

 

        If you're Muslim or Arab American, you are in the news every day. Since 9/11, these two groups appear daily represented as Al Qaeda, Taliban, terrorists or sometimes in derogatory terms such as "towelhead" and "immigrant."

       Much like those of Japanese descent in the 1940s faced discrimination and slurs, now America has undertaken a new kind of conditioning of our national attitudes. This is a powerful and convincing political fiction that drives all activities and the related attitudes.

       How are Americans being conditioned to think, fundamentally, about FELLOW Americans and how does this impact the experience of Arab and Muslim Americans?
       Draw on your reading of Moustafa Bayoumi's How Does It Feel To Be A Problem? to identify examples of this new American conditioning, explain how this conditioning is happening and a specific experience from one or more of those interviewed in the book.

 

Your next draft for Paper 3 will include the writing you completed in class and developed further:

• Identify and develop reasons (all carefully explained in the text) why any of the seven portrait subjects faces a negative experience as fellow Americans (this is the conditioning from the larger American society)
• Idenitfy THREE of the portraits and their experiences to illustrate your ideas about the impact of conditioning
• Be sure to explain how this conditioning is happening:  the sources, the purveyors, the supporters, the actions and attitudes that get spread outward into American society

For advanced students (you know who you are):  Frame the entire paper in terms of how the treatment of Muslims and Arab Americans in America today is itself a "political fiction" (with real consequences). 

 

Reminders:
No class on October 29.
DUE ON NOVEMBER 5:  Final draft of Paper 2 (Angels) and TWO COPIES of draft of Paper 3.

 

Thank you to those students who come prepared for class.  When a student attends class having read the assigned pages, is ready to hand in TWO copies of the draft of the paper, and makes the effort to be really engaged in our discussion, it makes it a more menaingful class for everyone.

Film in this week's class features a Sikh family

SHEDDING LIGHT ON SIKHISM 

Sikhism originated in India in 1469. Although Sikhs are a minority in largely Hindu India, the country elected its first Sikh Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. J.J. Singh, the Indian Army Chief, also is a Sikh.


Sikhs believe in absolute equality for all people without regard to gender, race, caste or religion. They believe in one God common to all. They do not believe in war based on religion, proselytism or fasting. 


Men wear turbans to cover long, uncut hair. It is a mandatory part of the Sikh faith and not a social custom. It is not a hat and should never be removed in public.

Due to the turbans Sikhs wear and the relative scarcity of Sikhs, there have been incidents of mistaking Sikhs in Western countries for Middle Eastern men and/or Muslims. This has negatively affected Sikhs living in the west especially with respect to the 9/11 terrorist attack and recent Iraq War conflict.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, some people associated Sikhs with terrorists or members of the Taliban. A few days after the attack Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh man, was gunned down by Frank Roque, who thought that the victim had ties to Al-Qaeda.

CNN suggests that there has been an increase in hate-crimes against Sikh men in the United States and the UK.

Class Update for October 22 (Class 5)

Class Agenda:

1. Warm / cool feedback of Paper 2 on Angels in America - Bring TWO copies of next draft for review by classmates
2. In-class Writing #2 on Moustafa Bayoumi's How Does it Feel to Be A Problem?
3. Watch short film on theme "perceptions of terrorists after 9/11" related to Bayoumi text
4. Begin discussion of some of the political fictions related to the Bayoumi text
   

• Reminder:  No class on October 29
• Final draft of Paper 2 due in TWO WEEKS on November 5 - Be sure to staple ICW #1 from October 8 on the original writing prompt for Angels in America to the BACK of the final draft
  
• Draft of Paper 3 on Muslims and Arab-Americans / Bayoumi text due on November 5
  

Paper 2 Update

Paper 2 on Tony Kushner's Angels in America


In-Class Writing:


America was founded as a haven, not only a land of opportunity, but also a land of compassion whose citizens, regardless of personal political beliefs, have a historic right to the pursuit of happiness and a moral responsibility to care for each other despite cultural and political differences.

For Kushner, the ability to feel compassion and love for others is a required element in living up to the ideal of American justice (liberty for all, all men are created equal, life, liberty and...).  Without compassion there is no social justice.

Will loved ones abandon us in our hour of need?  Has God, who religious faiths suggest loves all of humanity, abandoned his creations?  At one point Louis says, "There are no angels in America, no spiritual past, no racial past, there's only the political."

Assignment:  Identify a PAIR of characters and describe how their relationship shows a conflict due to a lack of compassion.  How does this lack of compassion cause injustice on a personal level?

BRING TWO COPIES OF THE DRAFT, STAPLED


DRAFT DUE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2009 to include the following additional development:

Develop your first response with details from the text of the play.


Show the relationship between the characters - say more than "they are husband and wife" or "mother and son" or "gay lovers."  What is the nature of their relationship?  How do they relate?  If were asked to describe this "couple" to someone else who doesn't know them, what would you say?


Comment on the compassion.  How does the couple show compassion toward one another?  Is is loving and supportive?  Combative and resentful?

Explain how an injustice - lack of justice - is created from the lack of compassion, lack of connection, disrespect and refusal to "see the light" or to accept the truth of their circumstances.

Share you own connection or disconnection with this couple.  What do they have to teach you, if anything, about being more compassionate toward someone you love or to other people in general?  If you have no connection - then it is a disconnection - what aspects of the couple, their conflict or their relationship are un-relatable to you?

Draft a paper using the ideas and "prompts" above - you may want to keep it organized and logical by addressing each one in order.  Paper length is not nearly as important as INTELLIGENT THINGS TO SAY, SUPPORTED WITH TEXT  FROM THE PLAY and GENUINE INTEREST IN WRITING A SMART PAPER (it will show in your writing!).

Whitney Shares More on Segregated Proms

ALL students are welcome to forward links and resources they think most relevant to our course work.

Whitney has passed along this link and I want to share her note about it, too:

After our discussion in class last night, I thought it would be appropriate to send you a link about a story that you may or may not have read. It was a story that came out in the NY Times earlier this year about segregated proms in Montgomery County, GA. I did not live in Montgomery County, and the segregated prom in my area stopped almost 10 years ago, but this story, from May of this year, shows that it is still going on in some parts with the only explanation being "tradition". I wanted to pass this along because I heard alot of people in class respond with shock and disbelief that segregation still exists, so I thought this would be something to supplement our discussion about the way that the issues from the past we have read about are still relevant today.

Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24prom-t.html?_r=1

FREE! FREE! FREE! First Saturdays Party at Brooklyn Museum THIS WEEKEND!

I always enjoy a free party and this monthly event never disappoints. Brooklyn Museum is free after 5pm and all kinds of activities are planned for early evening folks with families (small children) to late evening dance party with a DJ on the upper floor.  Cafe and bar with drinks and snacks for sale.  ADMISSION IS FREE...you know, in case you were looking for something that is completely new and fresh and different and not the same old playlist!

The photo is a scene of the dance floor and it is packed with twenty-somethings!

Easy to reach: 2/3 train to Eastern Parkway - museum is right upstairs when you exit the station.

While at the museum be sure to check out the exhibit EXTENDED FAMILY, look for the paintings by Kehinde Wiley and check out the incredible gold and silver jewelry made by Art Smith from the 1940s through the 1970s.

TARGET FIRST SATURDAYS

Saturday, October 3 5pm-11pm - FREE

Agenda for Class 3 (October 8, 2009)

We will begin class with a review of the warm/cool feedback protocol for peer editing.

Bring TWO stapled copies of the draft of Paper 1.

In-Class Writing (ICW) on Angels in America for Paper 2.

You will have read/watched AT LEAST Part One of Kushner's Angels in America.

We will watch a portion of the film version of Angels for discussion.

Go ahead and read Roy Cohn's obituary (link on right side).

Topic for Paper 1

Write a paper on this topic:

One aspect of my family and family history may be viewed as a "political fiction."  My family has been deeply impacted by this PF and it has created (positive / negative) conditions for our lives.

• Tell a story about one example of the political fiction
  
• Describe the conditions that ENGENDERED or brought about the creation of the political fiction
  
• Explain how the political fiction impacts the family
  
• Comment on the overall use, manipulation and perpetuation of this political fiction

If you are writing about the Baldwin story, one approach would be to write a kind of sociological report on how this Sheriff became the racist, agitated, impotent hard-headed man he has become.

Minimum / maximum is FOUR (4) pages

You will bring TWO (2) stapled copies

12 pt. times roman font or its equivalent

1 inch margins on all sides

white paper

Remember Orwell's tips for all our writing!

Heading on top left:

Your name

Paper 1 - Political Fictions

ENG 201-W. Gagnon

October 8, 2009

Graphic Images of Lynching

Some students are not familair with the American past of lynching.  While it is graphically described in James Baldwin's short story "Going to Meet the Man," it may be useful - although disturbing - to see what these lynchings looked like to those who attended and for the victims.

This being America - and everythingh being a commercial enterprise - some entrpreneurs made photo postcards of the lynchings and sold them as souvenirs.

Here for link from Without Sanctuary