Breakthrough Writer

1C Results of the Technology-Sleep Deprivation Survey

Twenty-four students in McMahon's 2:00 P.M. 1C class completed the survey with the following results:

1. How many hours do you spend a day on facebook, myspace, twitter, or some similar venue? Range: 0-6 hours; Total minutes a day: 1,255; Average minutes a day: 52.3
2. How many hours a day do you spend text-messaging? Range: 0-12 hours; Total: 2,100 minutes a day; Average: 88 minutes a day
3. How many hours a day do you spend on your cell phone with text-messaging and talking combined? Range: 30 minutes - 15 hours a day; Total: 4,045 minutes a day; Average: 169 minutes a day
4. How many hours a day do you spend on the Internet? Range: 30 minutes-15 hours a day; Total: 4,870 minutes a day; Average: 203 minutes a day.
5. How many hours a day do you spend reading and writing emails? Range: 5-300 minutes a day; Total: 1,140 minutes a day; Average: 48 minutes a day.
6. How many hours a day do you spend playing computer games? About 90% of the students play no computer games at all. Range: 0-3 hours a day; Total: 420 minutes a day; Average: 18 minutes a day. 
7. How many hours a day do you spend watching television? Range: 0-2.5 hours a day; Total: 1,110 minutes a day; Average: 46 minutes a day. 
8. Do you think the time you spend on the above activities harms your schoolwork and sleep time? 18 students answered Yes. 6 students answered No. In other words, 75% of students area admitting to spending too much time on their technology as it regards their school performance and sleep. In truth, though, the amount of students whose technology dependence is hurting their school and sleep is probably closer to 90%. Perhaps the most disturbing conclusion is that students average 8 hours of "tech time" a day if you add Internet, cell phone, and TV use. 

 

McMahon 1C Summer 2009 Syllabus

 

Classroom: H 312

e-mail: jmcmahon@elcamino.edu; Office: PE4; extension 3673

Website for students: http://herculodge.typepad.com/breakthrough_writer/ 

 

Required Texts, a total of 3 books: Signs of Life in the USA, Sixth Edition; The Night in Question by Tobias Wolff; Rules for Writers by Diana Hacker 

 

Student Learning Outcomes:

This course focuses on the development of critical thinking skills and on the application of these skills to written argumentation. Students will examine logical reasoning and apply its principles when reading and writing analytic and evaluative essays about argumentative, persuasive, narrative and expressive works and topics. At the end of English 1C, students should be able to:

 

1. Employ proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling in writing.

2. Employ standard MLA guidelines for formatting assignments and citation.

3. Identify the major components of an effective argument.

4. Write with clarity to communicate effectively.

5. Adapt writing for different styles or forms, including argumentative essays, web pages, and blogs, to name a few.

6. Respond critically to course material, using synthesis and analysis

7. Create effective argumentative texts using a variety of models such as refutation, concession, and critique.

8. Develop methods and strategies for analyzing and interpreting texts.

9. Utilize proper MLA citation and bibliographic form.

10. Identify and locate a variety of sources relevant to a research topic.

11. Utilize research materials to make and present an analytical argument.

12. Compose an argumentative essay supporting a claim about issues, argumentative prose, or literary interpretation.  The essay will show the student’s ability to support a thesis using analysis, elements of argumentation, and integration of materials and ideas.  The essay will be well organized, will follow proper MLA format, and will be technically correct in paragraph composition, sentence structure, grammar, spelling, and usage. 

 

Grading (based on mandatory 24 pages):

Four Research 5-Page Research Papers: 220 for 880 subtotal

Four Surprise Closed-Book Reading Exams that are a 1-page paragraph, 30 each, 120 subtotal

Grand Total: 1,000 points.

 

Policies:

 

You can’t make-up reading exams. Points are irretrievably lost.

 

Late Papers: Reduce one full grade ; no late papers accepted once new set of essays is due.

Research Papers should be approximately 1,200 words, 12 font, Times New Roman, page numbers, name, and essay title in upper right hand corner (headers in Microsoft View) and Works Cited should have minimum 3 sources and spacing using MLA format.

 

Revisions: You may revise ONE paper for 10-30 pts. depending on the quality of the rewrite. Revision must be turned in ONE WEEK after original due date.

 

Plagiarism Policy: If you plagiarize, steal previously written material and attempt to make it appear as if you wrote it, you will get ZERO points on the essay. For a rewrite, the HIGHEST POSSIBLE GRADE WILL BE A C MINUS, based on an A-level paper. A B paper will be a D, a C paper an F.

 

(20 points deducted for not having headers (your last name and page number in the upper right corner of every page and 40 points deducted for not having a correct Works Cited page)

 

Attendance Policy: For 16-week semesters, students may be dropped after missing 6 classes for ANY REASON, including medical. For Summer and Winter sessions, students may be dropped after missing 4 classes for whatever reason, including medical.

 

Riding Policy: You cannot “ride” my class. A “rider” is a student who does nothing and tries to turn in papers all at once during the end of the semester. If by the third essay due date, you have turned in only one essay or none, I will drop you. I will be dropping “riders” on November 12 of this semester.

 

Etiquette Policy: If you’re text-messaging, receiving phone calls, privately conversing or studying for other courses during my class, you will be asked to leave the class.

 

Reading and Writing Schedule

 

June 22 Introduction: Essay 1: Draw from no fewer than 3 Tobias Wolff short stories to write an extended definition of narcissism. You should have a single-sentence definition, your thesis, followed by about 4 distinguishing characteristics, your mapping components or mapping statements. Your essay should be 4 pages long plus a Works Cited page

 

June 23 “The Chain” 131 from The Night in Question

 

June 24 “The Other Miller 86 from The Night in Question

 

June 25 “Life of the Body” 38 from The Night in Question

 

June 29 “Mortals” 3 and “Bullet in the Brain” 200 from The Night in Question

 

June 30 Essay 1 due in my office

 

July 1 Essay 1 due in my office

 

July 2 Holiday: Reading assignments from Signs of Life in the USA Sixth Edition

 

July 6 The More Factor 86-92: Essay 2 Option: Apply the moral degradation described in “The More Factor” by comparing the Faustian Bargains made in A Simple Plan and Goodfellas and Wall Street. You can use one, two, or all three films.

 

July 7 The Signs of Shopping 101-107: Essay 2 Option: Reading the Signs Number 3 on page 107.

 

July 8 Mixed Messages 502-522

 

July 9 The Parable of the Democracy of Goods 182-190. Essay 2 Option: Analyze three ad campaigns (or TV or magazine ads) that draw from the myths described in “The Parable of the Democracy of Goods” and “The More Factor.”

 

July 13 Essay 2 due in my office

 

July 14 Essay 2 due in my office

 

July 15 “Men’s Men and Women’s Women 202-213 and Metrosexuals Come Out 217-221. Essay 3 Option: Reading the Signs Number 4 on page 213. (Troglodyte against the hipster. SUV vs. Mini Cooper)

 

July 16 The Simpsons, Hyper-Irony and the Meaning of Life 283-295 and South Park and the Open Society 296-302. Reading the Signs Number 6 on page 295.

 

July 20 Essay 3 due in my office

 

July 21  Essay 3 due in my office

 

July 22 Voting Democracy off the Island: Reality TV and the Republican Ethos 265-271. Essay 4 Option: Show how Prose’s essay illuminates the principles of Darwinian capitalism and/or Machiavellianism. 

 

July 23 Superhero Worship 351-354 and Creating the Myth 356-364 and Move Fantasy vs. Classroom Reality 402-405. Essay 4 Option: Reading the Signs Number 4 on page 355.

 

July 27 One Nation, Slightly Divisible 487-494

 

July 28 Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising 524-534. Essay 4 Option: Reading the Signs Number 2 on page 534.

 

July 29 Essay 4 due in my office

 

July 30 Essay 4 due in my office

 

 

 

 

 

 

1C Spring 2009 Research Paper #2 Thesis, Research Methods, and Structure Based on Chapter 8: To Sleep

Part One. McMahon Defines the Problem in Chapter 8

The Problem: With the exception of Paul Martin’s “A Third of Life,” a very intriguing, well written essay, the other selections are written in dry scientific speak, suffer from redundancy, and lack the personal dimension to give the very urgent subject the vitality it needs

Part Two. We need to give this subject a human dimension. What we need to focus on is not sleep so much but time management.

For research source in your Research Paper #2, we will conduct a class survey to see how much time students spend on the following: Their cell phone, text-messaging, facebook, MySpace,  the Internet, computer games, television and show how these addictions contribute to that person’s sleep deprivation, which in turn may or may not affect that person’s emotional life, physical health, and college success. Your interview questions will include:

1. How many hours do you spend a day on facebook, myspace, twitter, or some similar venue?
2. How many hours a day do you spend text-messaging?
3. How many hours a day do you spend on your cell phone with text-messaging and talking combined?
4. How many hours a day do you spend on the Internet?
5. How many hours a day do you spend reading and writing emails?
6. How many hours a day do you spend playing computer games?
7. How many hours a day do you spend watching television?
8. Do you think the time you spend on the above activities harms your schoolwork and sleep time?
9. Do you wish you could cut down on the above activities? Why or why not?
10. Could you cut down on the above activities or do you feel that would prove difficult? Explain.

Part Three. Incorporating the Survey, a personal interview, and Walter Kirn’s “The Autumn of the Multitaskers” into Your Research Paper

Your research paper will have a minimum of 4 sources to be listed on your Works Cited page:

1. The class survey (use Works Cited Rule for website on page 447 in Rules for Writers; you use the same rule for any website essay such as "Autumn of the Multitaskers")
2. A personal interview with someone who spends too much time on the above activities (use Works Cited Rule for personal interview on page 459 in Rules for Writers)
3. Walter Kirn’s essay “The Autumn of the Multitaskers”
4. Any selection from Chapter 8 (use anthology book rule on page s 439 and 440 in Rules for Writers)

Part Four. Your Thesis

Your thesis will be something like this: In this age of technology we have morphed into an Anti-Sleeper ADD Multi-Tasking Personality, which can be characterized by ___________________________, ________________________, _______________________________, __________________________, and _________________________________.

Part Five. Your Essay Structure

Paragraph 1 You will describe the sleep deprivation crisis as it is laid out in Chapter 8, drawing from relevant passages.

Paragraph 2 You will writing your thesis and mapping components

Supporting Paragraphs will illuminate the Anti-Sleeper ADD Multi-Tasking Personality with examples from your interview, the class survey, and Walter Kirn’s essay. 

Some points to consider for your body paragraphs:

1. We are, as Anti-Sleeper Man, ignorant and/or in denial about the importance of sleep as well described in Paul Martin's essay.

2. We have, as Anti-Sleeper Man, a perverted notion of freedom based on technology, as well described in Walter Kirn's essay.

3. We suffer from brains that cannot evolve quickly enough with our quickly advancing technology. See Walter Kirn's essay.

4. We suffer mental imbalance, as described in Walter Kirn's essay.

5. As Anti-Sleeper Man, we find out multitasking wastes time and money. Specifically, studies show that multitasking costs businesses 650 billion dollars a year. See Walter Kirn's essay.

1C New Writing Option for Spring Semester 2009: You Will Need to Rent the DVD Being John Malkovich

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Using no fewer than 4 reviews from Movie Review Query Engine, write a research paper on Being John Malkovich in which you develop a thesis that addresses the film's theme of how we are never content to be ourselves but live vicariously, and obsessively, through the Cult of a Celebrity. 

1C Writing Alternative: Contrast Essay on Education Between US and China and India

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1C Lesson Plan for “America’s Sleep-Deprived Teens Nodding Off at School, Behind the Wheel” (356)

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Part One. Important Figures

1. 20% of adolescents get recommended 9 hours sleep a night.
2. 90% of parents believe their children are getting adequate sleep.
3. 28% of students fall asleep in class
4. 14% of students miss class or come to class late because they overslept.
5. 51% of teen drivers are drowsy while driving.
6. 28% adolescents are too tired to exercise.
7. 12^th graders average 6.9 hours sleep a night.
8. “Phase delay” is being alert at night, a condition that hits teens. Sleeping before 11 P.M. can be impossible. See paragraph 10.
9. 31% of adolescents take naps regularly.
10. 75% of teens drink caffeinated beverages.
11. 97% of adolescents have a close relationship with an electronic gadget, which may impede sleep. See 358, 359.
12. There is an awareness gap between parents and teens about sleep (357).
13. Teens experience a shift in their internal clocks, called Phase Delay (357).
14. Teens tend to drink more caffeine than is good for them and their sleep (358).
15. Television, Internet, computer games, and phone result in a teen’s loss of sleep (358).
16.  For many teens, their bedroom is not a relaxing environment but a “technological playground.”
17. Raves and all-nighters can set a teen back several hours of sleep.
18. Tips: Education, consistency, relax before bed, avoid caffeine after lunch, get into bright light in the morning but avoid bright light at night.

Part Two:

In a well-developed paragraph, explain several causes of teen sleep deprivation as provided by the National Sleep Foundation and provide some “tips” so that teens can improve their sleep.

Part Three: Writing Option for Essay #2

Develop an essay from a thesis such as this one: We live in a hyper, frenzied, “caffeinated,” techno-crazed culture that is in constant conflict with the goals of healthy sleep habits. 

Part Four: Research Links

National Geographic

10 Tips to a Good Night's Sleep

In the Dark

Star Tribune

Sleep Deprivation Is a Myth

An Interview

Cornell Daily Sun

Forbes

Early Bedtimes Work

National Sleep Foundation

NPR

Understanding the Appetites

What is Caroline Knapp's obsession and how does her obsession destroy her humanity?

1A McMahon Commentary on the Prevalence of BS

One. What is BS?

BS is false sincerity masquerading as something that should be highly prized. Its fakery is disguised by ornate fraudulence, clever exaggeration, subtle cunning, polished style, bold extravagance. All of these qualities are designed for the BS artist to look like he is working in your best interests but in reality he is taking advantage of you.

Why Is BS so common?

1.    BS is common because the stalwarts of success, who brandish their trophies in the media, are usually BS artists supreme. As such they are our role models and influence us to follow their BS-ing ways.
2.    BSers enjoy reproductive and financial success so we emulate them.
3.    There is a market for BS, a huge pool of people who are willing believers.
4.    BS is easier than authenticity.

One. What is BS?

BS is false sincerity masquerading as something that should be highly prized. Its fakery is disguised by ornate fraudulence, clever exaggeration, subtle cunning, polished style, bold extravagance. All of these qualities are designed for the BS artist to look like he is working in your best interests but in reality he is taking advantage of you.

Why Is BS so common?

1.    BS is common because the stalwarts of success, who brandish their trophies in the media, are usually BS artists supreme. As such they are our role models and influence us to follow their BS-ing ways.
2.    BSers enjoy reproductive and financial success so we emulate them.
3.    There is a market for BS, a huge pool of people who are willing believers.
4.    BS is easier than authenticity.

1A Lesson Plan for “Finding a Coach in the Land of Oz” (278)

 

Part One. Why is BS so difficult to detect and repel?

1. It is everywhere so we forget about it. It’s like background noise.
2. We take it for granted and are numb to it.
3. We accept it because often we are guilty of it.
4. Because we don’t have a firm definition of it.
5. Like I said before, for some people BS is all they know.  
6. We don't know what it is specifically.  

Part Two. What is BS?

BS is false sincerity masquerading as something that should be highly prized. Its fakery is disguised by ornate fraudulence, clever exaggeration, subtle cunning, polished style, bold extravagance. All of these qualities are designed for the BS artist to look like he is working in your best interests but in reality he is taking advantage of you.

Frankfurt is the author of BS. He adds that the BSer is different from the liar. The liar lies knowing the difference between truth and lies; the BSer on the other hand is indifferent to any difference between truth and lies. For the BSer there is no difference. 


Part Three. Why Is BS so common?

 

1. BS is common because the stalwarts of success, who brandish their trophies in the media, are usually BS artists supreme. As such they are our role models and influence us to follow their BS-ing ways.

2. BSers enjoy reproductive and financial success so we emulate them.


3.  There is a market for BS, a huge pool of people who are willing believers.

4.  BS is easier than authenticity. 

5. When your whole life is BS, you know nothing else so you can't identify it and put a stop to it. 

Part Four. The so-called “career coach” is in truth a BS artist. The essay teaches us the distinguishing characteristics of BS.

1. BS is not lying; rather, it is blowing smoke, an attempt to impress and razzle-dazzle your audience with ornate fakery, clever exaggeration, extravagant style, and worn-out gimmicks.
2. The BSer uses creative euphemisms:  a garbage man is a garbologist or a sanitation engineer. You don't break up with someone; you "take a breather." You're fired is a "severance package"; When you haven't even started your essay, you say you're "working on it." The restaurant food is crap, but you call it pedestrian, insipid, and jejune.  You're worthless is translated "Needs improvement." You're a narcissistic nut job is "a piece of work."     
3. BS is ubiquitous, which means it is so prevalent that we take it for granted and are numb to it. Sadly, we accept BS more than we should.
4. BS extraordinaire Morton gives us a clinic in BS, which commonly is a hustle to bilk money from the innocent, the gullible, and the unsuspecting. In this case, vulnerable people, people with families who have lost their jobs and are desperate.

 

Part Five. Morton unwittingly teaches us the BS Trade:

1. Morton blames the victim by telling the victim she needs to transform her personality, which is obviously inadequate. Lucky for her, Morton has the tools to help her achieve her transformation. Morton grades her personality and focuses on her self, which is irrelevant to helping her find a job. See page 284.
2. The BS artists uses cheap sound bites that any punk can find on the Internet to establish his “expertise.” In Morton’s case, it’s the “Four Competencies”—Mobilizing Innovation, managing People and Tasks, Communicating, and Managing Self. See page 280.
3. These cheap slogans are a distraction from the painful and essential fact: Morton is worthless in his ability to help the job seeker find a job. If he can distract the job seeker with cheap slogans, he can bilk her for some cash.
4. The BS artist borrows from the wisdom of the ancients to present a pseudo-spiritual aura, which the BS artist uses to create the illusion of expertise: He presents a transparency that reads “Clear mind, skillful driver; Sound spirit, strong horse, etc.” See page 280. Again, this is a distraction from his essential worthlessness. The real question is CAN YOU MAKE ME MONEY! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR “CLEAR MIND SKILLFUL DRIVER” SPEIL; I’VE GOT KIDS TO FEED, MORON!
5. The BS artist relies on gimmicks like dolls to act-out his psychological principles. See page 280. The scarecrow represents “The Mental,” etc. Also see page 284 in which Morton uses an Elvis doll to make some asinine point.
6. The BS artist relies on the human potential language from self-help psychology to appear valuable to his customer. See page 280 at the bottom as he discusses “personality types,” “motivation,” etc. Also see page 283 top with the intersecting circles. Complete BS.
7. The BS artist uses phony language that his customer does not understand. This phony language creates the illusion of mastery. See page 181.
8. The BS artist bilks (extracts money from) his customer by creating needs and services that are not necessary. See page 281 bottom and 282 top. See 283 top, the need for more coaching for a mere $1,200.
9. The BS artist performs an air of conviction about his opinions when he lacks the scientific data to support his positions.
10. The essence of the BS artist is the performance of sincerity when in fact the BSer is heartless and believes in nothing more than his own ability to cheat people.
11. The bull artist has no interest in the difference between falsity and truth; his only interest is in getting away with his BS.
12. The BS artist knows he is BS-ing in the beginning but there is a point where he believes in his own BS and becomes in a way insane and morally depraved. (example of a coach I used to know)

Part Six. Write a research paper in which you first define BS and provide its distinguishing characteristics. Then show how these BS traits apply to three figures in a comparison essay. After your definition of BS, you will profile a BSer you know in about 1.5 pages, showing how this person exemplifies the BSer template or model. Then you will interview someone who was duped or manipulated by a BSer and profile this BSer in another 1.5 pages, showing how this BSer, too, illustrates your BS characteristics. Finally, you will use the "life coach" in today's essay as your final example of the BSer. 

Your research sources for your Works Cited Page will include the following:

1. My blog.

2. Today's essay from Acting Out Culture

3. Your interview. 

A sample thesis might look like this:

Barbara Ehrenreich's chronicle of spending money on "career coaches" not only shows them to be a sham and a fraud but highlights the toxicity of living in a culture suffused by BS as described by Harry Frankfurt's masterpiece essay. The most salient BS ingredients found in Ehrenrich's infuriating personal narrative include _______________________________, ____________________________, ________________________________, and ______________________________. We see these characteristics exemplified in _______________, _______________, and ______________________. 

 

 

Part One. Why is BS so difficult to detect and repel?

1. It is everywhere so we forget about it. It’s like background noise.
2. We take it for granted and are numb to it.
3. We accept it because often we are guilty of it.
4. Because we don’t have a firm definition of it.
5. Like I said before, for some people BS is all they know.  
6. We don't know what it is specifically.  

Part Two. What is BS?

BS is false sincerity masquerading as something that should be highly prized. Its fakery is disguised by ornate fraudulence, clever exaggeration, subtle cunning, polished style, bold extravagance. All of these qualities are designed for the BS artist to look like he is working in your best interests but in reality he is taking advantage of you.

Frankfurt is the author of BS. He adds that the BSer is different from the liar. The liar lies knowing the difference between truth and lies; the BSer on the other hand is indifferent to any difference between truth and lies. For the BSer there is no difference. 


Part Three. Why Is BS so common?

 

1. BS is common because the stalwarts of success, who brandish their trophies in the media, are usually BS artists supreme. As such they are our role models and influence us to follow their BS-ing ways.

2. BSers enjoy reproductive and financial success so we emulate them.


3.  There is a market for BS, a huge pool of people who are willing believers.

4.  BS is easier than authenticity. 

5. When your whole life is BS, you know nothing else so you can't identify it and put a stop to it. 

Part Four. The so-called “career coach” is in truth a BS artist. The essay teaches us the distinguishing characteristics of BS.

1. BS is not lying; rather, it is blowing smoke, an attempt to impress and razzle-dazzle your audience with ornate fakery, clever exaggeration, extravagant style, and worn-out gimmicks.
2. The BSer uses creative euphemisms:  a garbage man is a garbologist or a sanitation engineer. You don't break up with someone; you "take a breather." You're fired is a "severance package"; When you haven't even started your essay, you say you're "working on it." The restaurant food is crap, but you call it pedestrian, insipid, and jejune.  You're worthless is translated "Needs improvement." You're a narcissistic nut job is "a piece of work."     
3. BS is ubiquitous, which means it is so prevalent that we take it for granted and are numb to it. Sadly, we accept BS more than we should.
4. BS extraordinaire Morton gives us a clinic in BS, which commonly is a hustle to bilk money from the innocent, the gullible, and the unsuspecting. In this case, vulnerable people, people with families who have lost their jobs and are desperate.

 

Part Five. Morton unwittingly teaches us the BS Trade:

1. Morton blames the victim by telling the victim she needs to transform her personality, which is obviously inadequate. Lucky for her, Morton has the tools to help her achieve her transformation. Morton grades her personality and focuses on her self, which is irrelevant to helping her find a job. See page 284.
2. The BS artists uses cheap sound bites that any punk can find on the Internet to establish his “expertise.” In Morton’s case, it’s the “Four Competencies”—Mobilizing Innovation, managing People and Tasks, Communicating, and Managing Self. See page 280.
3. These cheap slogans are a distraction from the painful and essential fact: Morton is worthless in his ability to help the job seeker find a job. If he can distract the job seeker with cheap slogans, he can bilk her for some cash.
4. The BS artist borrows from the wisdom of the ancients to present a pseudo-spiritual aura, which the BS artist uses to create the illusion of expertise: He presents a transparency that reads “Clear mind, skillful driver; Sound spirit, strong horse, etc.” See page 280. Again, this is a distraction from his essential worthlessness. The real question is CAN YOU MAKE ME MONEY! I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR “CLEAR MIND SKILLFUL DRIVER” SPEIL; I’VE GOT KIDS TO FEED, MORON!
5. The BS artist relies on gimmicks like dolls to act-out his psychological principles. See page 280. The scarecrow represents “The Mental,” etc. Also see page 284 in which Morton uses an Elvis doll to make some asinine point.
6. The BS artist relies on the human potential language from self-help psychology to appear valuable to his customer. See page 280 at the bottom as he discusses “personality types,” “motivation,” etc. Also see page 283 top with the intersecting circles. Complete BS.
7. The BS artist uses phony language that his customer does not understand. This phony language creates the illusion of mastery. See page 181.
8. The BS artist bilks (extracts money from) his customer by creating needs and services that are not necessary. See page 281 bottom and 282 top. See 283 top, the need for more coaching for a mere $1,200.
9. The BS artist performs an air of conviction about his opinions when he lacks the scientific data to support his positions.
10. The essence of the BS artist is the performance of sincerity when in fact the BSer is heartless and believes in nothing more than his own ability to cheat people.
11. The bull artist has no interest in the difference between falsity and truth; his only interest is in getting away with his BS.
12. The BS artist knows he is BS-ing in the beginning but there is a point where he believes in his own BS and becomes in a way insane and morally depraved. (example of a coach I used to know)

Part Six. Write a research paper in which you first define BS and provide its distinguishing characteristics. Then show how these BS traits apply to three figures in a comparison essay. After your definition of BS, you will profile a BSer you know in about 1.5 pages, showing how this person exemplifies the BSer template or model. Then you will interview someone who was duped or manipulated by a BSer and profile this BSer in another 1.5 pages, showing how this BSer, too, illustrates your BS characteristics. Finally, you will use the "life coach" in today's essay as your final example of the BSer. 

Your research sources for your Works Cited Page will include the following:

1. My blog.

2. Today's essay from Acting Out Culture

3. Your interview. 

A sample thesis might look like this:

Barbara Ehrenreich's chronicle of spending money on "career coaches" not only shows them to be a sham and a fraud but highlights the toxicity of living in a culture suffused by BS as described by Harry Frankfurt's masterpiece essay. The most salient BS ingredients found in Ehrenrich's infuriating personal narrative include _______________________________, ____________________________, ________________________________, and ______________________________. We see these characteristics exemplified in _______________, _______________, and ______________________. 

 

1A Lesson Plan for Add Cake, Subtract Self-Esteem 217

 

One. Lexicon

 

1. Addiction to starvation 217 first paragraph; addicted to the feeling of safety and in fact this "safety" is a delusion. She is in danger for in fact she is in the process of losing her humanity. "The private kingdom of calm" is a velvet trap, a womb where she regresses and loses her power and humanity. Your comfort zone can become hell. 

2. Obsessive compulsive rituals second paragraph. When life becomes reduced to rituals and compulsions we lose our humanity.

3. Anorexia 217 bottom and 218 top: a woman strips away her "womanness" or femininity to protest being an image to others and herself. I'm not sure I buy this. I see anorexia as a misguided attempt at control and the person being controlled by the need to control. 

4. Silent protest 218 top; anorexia is a passive-aggressive response to cultural pressures to be a beautiful woman, or expression of silent anger 

5. Core cause of anorexia 218 middle and 221 second paragraph and 223 top paragraph and 225 middle paragraph: The sense of controlling or conquering hunger gives the anorexic a sense of mastery and control. Or put it another way: Anorexia stems from an irrational, incessant hatred of fat. 

6. Internalized caveats and rules 218 and 219 top 2 paragraphs and 221 middle paragraph

7. Female math 220 top; she spends her whole life "doing math," which is not living.

8. Dangerous form of hunger 222 top: hunger becomes disconnected from basic instincts and instead becomes part of your neuroses, a complex web of worries. 

9. Cardinal violation of appetite 222 bottom: the more you meddle and obsess with hunger, the more perverted your relationship with food becomes. To meddle with hunger at this obsessive degree requires a lot of "alone time." Anorexics spend too much time alone, which means they live too much inside their heads and they lose contact with reality. 

10. New female aesthetic 223 second and third paragraph; Marilyn Monroe trumped by Kate Moss

11. Backlash against feminine strength 223 bottom and 224 top

12. Visceral knee-jerk hostility to fat women and people in general 224 bottom and 225 top

13. Buffet hostility 225 bottom and 226 top: It represents freedom and choices and abundance. And she conflates these attributes with her enemy--fat. 

14. Buffet as metaphor or microcosm for Knapp's neurosis 230: She fears freedom. 

15. Anorexia reverses the three human instincts--survival, reproduction, curiosity (the hunger for learning, knowledge, creativity, and philosophy which asks, "Why are we here?") By reversing the 3 human instincts, anorexia effectively dehumanizes its victim. 

 

Two. Commentary

 

Whether they are bingeing or purging, irrational eaters are in a most damnable condition--the state of having no self-control and being helpless and fearful in the face of overwhelming appetites. These inflamed irrational passions are so devastating that binge eaters must tiptoe through life fearing that at any moment they will fall into the abyss of their avarice.

 

Most irrational eaters, especially the women described by Knapp, suffer shame for several reasons, including a sense of anxiety over the disparity of their new freedoms but limited power; their internalized "theme of vigilance and self-restraint" that often backfires and is counterbalanced by compulsive appetites that eradicate all the "gains" rendered from the meticulous adherence to eating rules; the state of hunger that "becomes divorced from the body" and becomes "loaded with alternative meanings" that have to do with unfulfilled emotional longings; and their knowledge that violating the slender female aesthetic will cause them to be held in tacit contempt by both men and women alike.  

 

 

This sense of shame and self-loathing becomes exacerbated when obesity is looked at through a religious prism which would have us condemn over-eaters as gluttons, sinners indulging their appetites, reprobates putting their desires before God, miscreants violating our space with their grotesque corpulence. 

 

Scapegoated by society for putting an undue strain on medical costs, despised for taking up our space, an unloved for not inciting the kind of desire that we associate with Kate-Moss slenderness, fat people represent the possibility of human failure and rejection that we fear in ourselves. Thus many of us, overreacting to our fears, develop a myriad of eating disorders so chronic that once ensnared in these irrational eating habits, it is nearly impossible for many of us to free ourselves from them and lead relatively normal lives. 

 

 

Three. Relevant Writing Options

 

Compare the shame of eating as it is analyzed in Knapp’s and Prose’s (197) essays. 5-page outline: Summarize both Knapp's and Prose's essays for a page each. Then write a thesis: Both essays show that the power of shame informs our eating obsessions by ___________________, _____________________, _____________________, and _______________________. Your last 3 pages would flesh out these mapping components.

In the context of Michael Pollan’s essay “Big Organic” (174), analyze the fraud and deception the food industry uses to market foods that are allegedly “organic” and “natural.” 5-page outline: In 2 pages, summarize Pollan's major points. Then write a thesis. As my research and Michael Pollan's essay show, the idea of "organic" is a marketing fraud evidenced by _________________, _____________________, ___________________, and ______________________. Your last 3 pages would flesh out these mapping components.

 

 

 

Caroline Knapp and Francine Prose effectively analyze the causes behind the downward spiral or vicious cycle of eating disorders, which include __________________________________, ________________________________, _________________________________, and __________________________________.

 

Mapping Components might include the following:

 

Shame and self-loathing create compulsive disorders, namely the impulse to escape feelings of decrepitude through the very habits that bring the self-hatred.

 

Ostracism results in isolation, which distorts the mind and makes one rely on food for companionship.

 

Being reduced to a slender object causes many women to silently rebel through bingeing and purging.

 

Anxiety over too much freedom on one hand and a lack of power on the other, overwhelm women who created internalized rules.

 

Hunger divorced from the body and connected to unfulfilled longings.

Research Links

The Hunger

The Hunger Artist

 

 

One. Lexicon

 

1. Addiction to starvation 217 first paragraph; addicted to the feeling of safety and in fact this "safety" is a delusion. She is in danger for in fact she is in the process of losing her humanity. "The private kingdom of calm" is a velvet trap, a womb where she regresses and loses her power and humanity. Your comfort zone can become hell. 

2. Obsessive compulsive rituals second paragraph. When life becomes reduced to rituals and compulsions we lose our humanity.

3. Anorexia 217 bottom and 218 top: a woman strips away her "womanness" or femininity to protest being an image to others and herself. I'm not sure I buy this. I see anorexia as a misguided attempt at control and the person being controlled by the need to control. 

4. Silent protest 218 top; anorexia is a passive-aggressive response to cultural pressures to be a beautiful woman, or expression of silent anger 

5. Core cause of anorexia 218 middle and 221 second paragraph and 223 top paragraph and 225 middle paragraph: The sense of controlling or conquering hunger gives the anorexic a sense of mastery and control. Or put it another way: Anorexia stems from an irrational, incessant hatred of fat. 

6. Internalized caveats and rules 218 and 219 top 2 paragraphs and 221 middle paragraph

7. Female math 220 top; she spends her whole life "doing math," which is not living.

8. Dangerous form of hunger 222 top: hunger becomes disconnected from basic instincts and instead becomes part of your neuroses, a complex web of worries. 

9. Cardinal violation of appetite 222 bottom: the more you meddle and obsess with hunger, the more perverted your relationship with food becomes. To meddle with hunger at this obsessive degree requires a lot of "alone time." Anorexics spend too much time alone, which means they live too much inside their heads and they lose contact with reality. 

10. New female aesthetic 223 second and third paragraph; Marilyn Monroe trumped by Kate Moss

11. Backlash against feminine strength 223 bottom and 224 top

12. Visceral knee-jerk hostility to fat women and people in general 224 bottom and 225 top

13. Buffet hostility 225 bottom and 226 top: It represents freedom and choices and abundance. And she conflates these attributes with her enemy--fat. 

14. Buffet as metaphor or microcosm for Knapp's neurosis 230: She fears freedom. 

15. Anorexia reverses the three human instincts--survival, reproduction, curiosity (the hunger for learning, knowledge, creativity, and philosophy which asks, "Why are we here?") By reversing the 3 human instincts, anorexia effectively dehumanizes its victim. 

 

Two. Commentary

 

Whether they are bingeing or purging, irrational eaters are in a most damnable condition--the state of having no self-control and being helpless and fearful in the face of overwhelming appetites. These inflamed irrational passions are so devastating that binge eaters must tiptoe through life fearing that at any moment they will fall into the abyss of their avarice.

 

Most irrational eaters, especially the women described by Knapp, suffer shame for several reasons, including a sense of anxiety over the disparity of their new freedoms but limited power; their internalized "theme of vigilance and self-restraint" that often backfires and is counterbalanced by compulsive appetites that eradicate all the "gains" rendered from the meticulous adherence to eating rules; the state of hunger that "becomes divorced from the body" and becomes "loaded with alternative meanings" that have to do with unfulfilled emotional longings; and their knowledge that violating the slender female aesthetic will cause them to be held in tacit contempt by both men and women alike.  

 

 

This sense of shame and self-loathing becomes exacerbated when obesity is looked at through a religious prism which would have us condemn over-eaters as gluttons, sinners indulging their appetites, reprobates putting their desires before God, miscreants violating our space with their grotesque corpulence. 

 

Scapegoated by society for putting an undue strain on medical costs, despised for taking up our space, an unloved for not inciting the kind of desire that we associate with Kate-Moss slenderness, fat people represent the possibility of human failure and rejection that we fear in ourselves. Thus many of us, overreacting to our fears, develop a myriad of eating disorders so chronic that once ensnared in these irrational eating habits, it is nearly impossible for many of us to free ourselves from them and lead relatively normal lives. 

 

 

Three. Relevant Writing Options

 

Compare the shame of eating as it is analyzed in Knapp’s and Prose’s (197) essays. 5-page outline: Summarize both Knapp's and Prose's essays for a page each. Then write a thesis: Both essays show that the power of shame informs our eating obsessions by ___________________, _____________________, _____________________, and _______________________. Your last 3 pages would flesh out these mapping components.

In the context of Michael Pollan’s essay “Big Organic” (174), analyze the fraud and deception the food industry uses to market foods that are allegedly “organic” and “natural.” 5-page outline: In 2 pages, summarize Pollan's major points. Then write a thesis. As my research and Michael Pollan's essay show, the idea of "organic" is a marketing fraud evidenced by _________________, _____________________, ___________________, and ______________________. Your last 3 pages would flesh out these mapping components.

 

 

 

Caroline Knapp and Francine Prose effectively analyze the causes behind the downward spiral or vicious cycle of eating disorders, which include __________________________________, ________________________________, _________________________________, and __________________________________.

 

Mapping Components might include the following:

 

Shame and self-loathing create compulsive disorders, namely the impulse to escape feelings of decrepitude through the very habits that bring the self-hatred.

 

Ostracism results in isolation, which distorts the mind and makes one rely on food for companionship.

 

Being reduced to a slender object causes many women to silently rebel through bingeing and purging.

 

Anxiety over too much freedom on one hand and a lack of power on the other, overwhelm women who created internalized rules.

 

Hunger divorced from the body and connected to unfulfilled longings.

Research Links

The Hunger

The Hunger Artist