The purpose of a writing class is to develop a meaningful thesis, direct or implied, that will generate a compelling essay. Most importantly, a meaningful thesis will have a strong emotional connection between you and the material. In fact, if you don’t have a “fire in your belly” to write the paper, your essay will be nothing more than a limp document, a perfunctory exercise in futility. A successful thesis will also be intellectually challenging and afford a complexity worthy of college-level writing. Thirdly, the successful thesis will be demonstrable, which means it can be supported by examples and illustrations in a recognizable organizational design.
Other Website: http://herculodge.typepad.com/
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate Kristof's argument in "Prudence Or Cruelty?" that in spite of the food stamp abuses cited by opponents of the food stamp program, providing food stamps for the poor is moral and economic imperative over the long-term. Be sure to have a counterargument and rebuttal section at the end of your essay.
Thesis Example
Providing food stamps is both an economic and moral imperative because _____________, ____________, ___________, and _______________.
Option 2
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that eating meat is morally defensible in the context of evolution and biology and that ethical objections to meat eating are not born of eating meat but the abuses that result in the factory farming of animals. Be sure to have a counterargument-refutation section.
Eating meat is form of economic and moral bankruptcy evidenced by _______________, _____________, _____________, and ________________.
Being a vegetarian is a fool's errand that can not stand up to the empirical evidence, which includes ______________, ________________, ______________, and __________________.
Option 3
Addressing Francine Prose's "The Wages of Sin," write a 5-page essay with 3 sources that supports, refutes, or complicates the notion that overeating is not an illness but a moral flaw and a vice.
Sample Thesis
Treating overeating as if it were a moral flaw evidences, ironically enough, a huge moral flaw in the person castigating the overeaters because such judges fail to see ____________, _______________, ____________, and ______________.
Option 4
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that addresses the claim that Francine Prose and Caroline Knapp are criticizing cultural norms about eating that in truth are not normal at all but pathological and that these norms create a toxic eating environment in our culture.
Sample Thesis
The cultural norms that dictate that women should be thin are deeply toxic and pathological evidenced by _____________, ____________, ____________, and _______________.
Option 5
Both McMillan and Kristof (172) use their examinations of public attitudes toward food as a platform to argue for specific changes in our official food policy. In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that explains how these recommendations compare. Can you imagine Kristof citing points McMillan raises here as evidence or support for the argument he makes about food stamps? If so, how specifically?
Sample Thesis
Kristof and McMillan both agree that we need to help the poor who are victimized by unfair policies proving deleterious to their health evidenced by _____________, ______________, _____________, and ______________.
Option 6
Both Dolnick and Francine Prose address the mythical narrative of obesity and overeating by deconstructing the myth. In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that analyzes how Dolnick and Prose deconstruct the myth of fatness.
Sample Thesis
Both Prose and Dolnick point steer us away from the canard of moral causes and point us toward economic causes for fatness evidenced by ___________, ____________, ____________, and ______________.
Option 7
Essay Prompt from page 175
Create a proposal that outlines what you believe should be the proper government policy concerning food stamps. How much support for this program should the government provide? What particular needs should it address? What limits should it establish? Then write a quick assessment of the ways your proposal compares to Kristof’s. What are the key similarities and differences?
Or you can look at the assignment this way:
In a 5-page essay, support, refute, or complicate Kristof's argument that in spite of the food stamp abuses cited by opponents of the food stamp program, providing food stamps for the poor is moral and economic imperative over the long-term. Be sure to have a counterargument and rebuttal section at the end of your essay.
Thesis
Those who would cut food stamps because of the waste and fraud involved would be causing more harm than good evidenced by ____________, _____________, ___________, and _____________.
Option 8
Essay Writing Prompt from Page 180
Here is how Schwennesen resolves the moral questions posed by raising and slaughtering animals for a living: “I’ve saved the lives of calves and butchered their mothers in the same afternoon. I thank each for the age-old sacrifice of prey to predator and I swear they understand. I neither rejoice in the blood nor shy from it. This is life. This is ethics” (178). Write a [5-page] essay in which you describe and evaluate the model of “ethics” Schwennesen presents here. Does the relationship he sketches between humans and animals (“predator and prey”) seem like a moral one? In your view, is he able to reconcile the contradiction between “saving” animals on the one hand and “butchering” them on the other? If not, what are the flaws or gaps in his argument?
Or you can look at the essay assignment choice this way:
In a 5-page essay, support, refute, or complicate the notion that eating meat is morally defensible in the context of evolution and biology and that ethical objections to meat eating are not born of eating meat but the abuses that result in the factory farming of animals. Be sure to have a counterargument-refutation section.
Sample Thesis
While I concede that factory farming of animals is morally abhorrent, the eating of animals in a humane manner can be defended when we consider ___________, _____________, _____________, and _____________.
Option 9
Writing Prompt from Page 187
One of the hallmarks of our contemporary culture, according to Prose, is that overeating is no longer viewed as a vice or sin but as an illness. Do you agree? What are some of the ways this change in thinking is communicated in popular culture or in the media? Write an essay in which you argue for or against gluttony as a moral issue.
Or put it this way:
Addressing Francine Prose's "The Wages of Sin," write a 5-page essay with 5 sources that supports, refutes, or complicates the notion that overeating is not an illness but a moral flaw and a vice.
Sample Thesis
To attribute obesity to gluttony may be partly true, but it ignores the more complicated causes of obesity, which include _________, ___________, __________, and ___________.
For Knapp, cultural attitudes about food formed “a low-level thrumming of should and shouldn’ts and can’ts and wants,” or what the author calls a kind of “feminine Muzak" (189). In your view, does this analogy do a good or bad job of capturing the ways we learn to absorb or internalize cultural norms around eating? Write an essay in which you compare these messages and this process of internalization to what Francine Prose (181) has to say in her piece on gluttony. Does Prose seem to share Knapp’s view of where our norms vis-à-vis food typically come from and the ways they come to feel so normal? How or how not?
What is being internalized?
Obsession with unrealistic images of beauty that result in obsession with self-control
Obsessive link between being thin, or not, with one's identity
Obsessive link between being thin, or not, with one's self-worth
Sample Thesis
Society's messages that pressure women to be thin have twisted women's minds by making them internalize ___________, ____________, ____________, and ____________.
Option 11
n a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that compares the way Louis Uchitelle (342) and Matthew Crawford (368) explore the emotional life of work and how work affects our happiness, contentment, and self-esteem. To what extent does Uchitelle's argument about the psychological damage wrought by unemployment recall or help reinforce Crawford's claims about the emotional satisfactions afforded by working with your hands?
Sample Thesis
Reading Crawford and Uchitelle, we must face the terrifying fact that our sense of self is so inextricably linked to our job that failure to choose a job compatible with our personality can result in alienation, self-loathing, crippling depression, and even death.
Option 12
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, write a review of DePalma's essay that you think Uchitelle might offer. To what extent would Uchitelle's review find parallels in the social and economic hardships profiled here and his argument regarding the emotional costs of unemployment?
Sample Thesis
Uchitelle's tragic view of unemployment would compel him to see DePalma's essay as a complement to his own as DePalma's essay reinforces the learned helplessness, depression, stagnation, and family dysfunction rendered by low-income work and unemployment.
Option 13
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, write an assessment of how the messages in Catherine Rampell's essay (388) and Matthew Crawford's (368) compare with one another. Does Rampell's attempt to explode the myth of the "slacker generation" remind you in any way of Crawford's desire to rewrite the boundary between white-collar and manual labor? Do these writers challenge such stereotypes in order to say similar or different things about the meaning and value of work?
Option 14
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that compares the way DePalma (353) profiles immigrant workers with the way Ehrenreich (380) explores the working poor. Based on the argument she makes here, which specific aspects of DePalma's essay do you think Ehrenreich would find most persuasive? Why?
Sample Thesis
Both essays show that immigrant workers and the poor working class often fail to climb the economic ladder, not because of moral failings, but because of a system that preys upon them by __________, ____________, _____________, and ____________.
Option 15
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, show how McClelland's examination of the psychological pressures she experienced on the job (394) compare to the portrait of the unemployed Louis Uchitelle (342) presents? Do you find any similarities or parallels in the ways each essay explores this issue?
Both essays show that unfair brutality of the modern workplace makes it necessary for major reform evidenced by ___________, ___________, __________, and ___________.
Option 16
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses whether it is appropriate, or not, to use the business model described in Hochschild's essay (418) as a way of making the "mutually beneficial transaction" between parents and a surrogate mother. Consider Barbara Ehrenreich's essay (380) about how the experience of being poor complicates this business model.
Option 17
Essay Prompt from Page 367
How much of DePalma's discussion here reminds you of what Louis Uchitelle says about the kinds of psychic harm job-related struggles can inflict? Write a review of DePalma's essay that you think Uchitelle might offer. To what extent would Uchitelle's review find parallels in the social and economic hardships profiled here and his argument regarding the emotional costs of unemployment?
When you're beaten down by unemployment and poverty, you succumb to a provisional, short-term existence with no long-term vision for a happy, meaningful future.
Both essays show there needs to be major labor reform evidenced by ___________, ___________, ___________, and _____________.
Option 18
Essay Assignment Based on Prompt #6 from page 410.
McClelland not only chronicles the physical toll warehouse work can exact; she examines the psychological toll as well. How does her account of the psychological pressures she experienced on the job compare to the portrait of the unemployed Louis Uchitelle (342) presents? Do you find any similarities or parallels in the ways each essay explores this issue?
Sample Thesis
McClelland, Uchitelle, and Vice News show that the modern day business model has become more and more predatory toward the workers, exploiting them in new ways that result in new kinds of humanitarian crises that are morally bankrupt and contrary to the American Dream.
Triangular relationship between temp agency, employer and worker strips workers of their rights and conceals discrimination practices.
The New Economy has created desperation, a condition that the new employers are eager to take advantage of.
The labor and wage practices are analogous in many ways to a form of slavery.
The New Economy doesn’t give workers viable alternatives to these exploitive conditions and in fact traps them in a cycle not unlike that between an abusive boyfriend and his girlfriend.
Option 19
Essay Topic:
Defend, refute, or complicate the assertion that universal preschool is necessary to bring economic justice to working mothers.
Sample Thesis
Universal preschool is an economic and moral imperative evidenced by ______________, ______________, _________, and ______________.
Comma splices are two complete sentences joined with a comma when they should be separated by a period.
Comma Splice
Football is America’s number one sport, however parents are discouraging their children from playing it.
Corrected
Football is America’s number one sport. However, parents are discouraging their children from playing it.
Run-On (joining two sentences without appropriate punctuation)
Because football causes head trauma, parents don’t want their children to play this sport instead they want their children to go into martial arts, wrestling, and other “tough” sports that don’t result in as many concussive events.
Corrected
Because football causes head trauma, parents don’t want their children to play this sport. Instead, they want their children to go into martial arts, wrestling, and other “tough” sports that don’t result in as many concussive events.
Comma Splice
Football is an inherently violent sport that demands brutal collisions, in contrast, basketball focuses more on finesse and agility.
Corrected
Football is an inherently violent sport that demands brutal collisions. In contrast, basketball focuses more on finesse and agility.
Comma Splice
On the one hand, I have fond memories of watching football with my father, on the other hand I wince with the guilt of deriving entertainment from a sport that leads to the players’ brain damage.
Corrected
On the one hand, I have fond memories of watching football with my father. On the other hand, I wince with the guilt of deriving entertainment from a sport that leads to the players’ brain damage.
Sentence Fragments
Sentence fragments are phrases or clauses that writers confuse with complete sentences.
Fragment
I am eager to watch the new NFL season. Although, I am weary of my own participation in a sport that is brutally violent.
Corrected
Corrected
I am eager to watch the new NFL season although I am weary of my own participation in a sport that is brutally violent.
Corrected
I am eager to watch the new NFL season. However, I am weary of my own participation in a sport that is brutally violent.
Fragment
Because my conscience dictates that I find other entertainments that don’t involve the brutality of grown men who are doomed to die on average between the ages of 55 and 59 and live a life of dotage and senility.
Corrected
Because my conscience dictates that I find other entertainments that don’t involve the brutality of grown men who are doomed to die on average between the ages of 55 and 59 and live a life of dotage and senility, I have decided that I will no longer watch football.
Fragment
Because my conscience dictates that I find other entertainments that don’t involve the brutality of grown men who are doomed to die on average between the ages of 55 and 59 and live a life of dotage and senility, I have decided that I will no longer watch football. Unless I'm at my father-in-law's house.
Corrected
Because my conscience dictates that I find other entertainments that don’t involve the brutality of grown men who are doomed to die on average between the ages of 55 and 59 and live a life of dotage and senility, I have decided that I will no longer watch football, unless I'm at my father-in-law's house.
Fragment
If I continue to watch a sport that brutalizes its athletes, treating them like fighting dogs in an illegal fighting pit and are doomed to suffer permanent injury, pain, and general misery.
Corrected
If I continue to watch a sport that brutalizes its athletes, treating them like fighting dogs in an illegal fighting pit and are doomed to a life of crippling misery, my conscience will plague me to my dying days.
"Why Do We Read and Write Essays? They're Just Someone's Opinions. Aren't All Opinions Alike? "
Some people say after reading an essay, “Well, it’s just an opinion.” But are all opinions alike?
Robert Atwan in his American Now textbook writes six major types of opinions.
As you will see, some are more appropriate for the kind of critical thinking an essay deserves than others.
One. Inherited opinions: These are opinions that are imprinted on us during our childhood. They come from “family, culture, traditions, customs, regions, social institutions, or religion.”
People’s views on religion, race, education, and humanity come from their family.
Inherited opinions come from cultural and social norms.
In some cultures, it's okay to tell others your income. It's a taboo in America.
We are averse to eating dogs in America because eating dogs is contrary to America’s cultural and social norms. However, other countries eat dogs without any stigma.
We are also averse to eating insects in America when in some countries grubs are a delicacy.
We think it's normal to slaughter trees every year as part of our celebration of Christmas.
We eat until we're so stuffed we cannot walk in America; in contrast, in Japan they follow the rule of hara hachi bu, which means they stop at 80% fullness.
Peanut butter in America represents Mom's Love; in France and Brazil, however, peanut butter is trash and an insult to place in front of someone.
In America, we put dry cereal into a bowl and then pour milk over it. That is not practiced in a lot of other countries.
In America when a woman says yes to a man's date proposal, the man, Louis C.K. tells us, will shake his fist like a tennis champion and scream, "Yeah!" We admire this behavior because we grow up seeing it.
We soak up these types of opinions through a sort of osmosis and a lot of these beliefs are unconscious.
Two. Involuntary opinions: These are the opinions that result from direct indoctrination and inculcation (learning through repetition). If we grow up in a family that teaches us that eating pork is evil, then we won’t eat at other people’s homes that serve that porcine dish.
Or we may, as a result if our religious training, abjure rated R movies.
Or we may have strong feelings, one way or another, regarding gay marriage based on the doctrines we’ve learned over time.
We may have strong feelings about immigration policy based on what we learn from our family, friends, and institutions.
We may have strong feelings about the police and the prison system based on what we learn from family, friends, and institutions.
Three. Adaptive opinions: We adapt opinions to help us conform to groups we wish to belong to. We are often so eager to belong to this or that group that we sacrifice our critical thinking skills and engage in Groupthink to please the majority.
A student from China back in the 1940s or 1950s was raised in the country. He went to a city school and the richest boy made a sculpture of a butterfly. Everyone loved the butterfly but my student. He explained that a butterfly had 4 wings, not 2. He was sent to the "dunce corner" for the whole day.
He should have kept his mouth shut or pretended that butterflies have 2 wings. That's an example of Groupthink.
Atwan writes that “Adaptive opinions are often weakly held and readily changed . . . But over time they can become habitual and turn into convictions.”
For example, it’s easy for one to be against guns in Santa Monica. However, those views might be less “adaptive” in rural parts of Kentucky or Tennessee.
It's easy to be a vegan in Southern California, but you'll have more challenges being a vegan in certain parts of Texas, Kansas, and the Carolinas where barbecue is king.
Four. Concealed opinions. Sometimes we have strong opinions that are contrary to the group we belong to so we keep our mouths shut to avoid persecution. You might not want to proclaim your atheism, for example, if you were attending a Christian college.
Five. Linked opinions. Atwan writes, “Unlike adaptive opinions, which are usually stimulated by convenience and an incentive to conform, these are opinions we derived from an enthusiastic and dedicated affiliation with certain groups, institutions, or parties.”
For example, the modern “Tea Party” people or self-proclaimed Patriots embrace a series of linked opinions: Obama is not American. Obama is a socialist. Obama is helping terrorists get across the boarder. Terrorists helped elect Obama. Obama wants to strip Americans of their right to own guns so that the government and/or terrorists can move in and take Americans’ freedoms.
As you can see, all these opinions are linked to each other. Believing in one of the above opinions encourages belief in the other.
Six. Considered opinions. Atwan writes, “These are opinions we have formed as a result of firsthand experience, reading, discussion and debate, or independent thinking and reasoning. These opinions are formed from direct knowledge and often from exposure and considering other opinions.”
Often considered opinions result in examining mythologies or fake narratives that are drilled down our throats and we deconstruct these false narratives so that we can see the truth behind them.
There are many fake narratives:
Columbus “discovering” America.
The European pilgrims “sharing” with the American Indians.
White slave owners “blessing” Africans with Christianity.
The pharmaceutical industry making our health job one.
Mexican workers in America "stealing" jobs from Americans.
Poor people "choose" to be poor.
Poor people deserve to be poor because they're bad, morally flawed human beings.
Obese people got fat from being morally flawed such as being selfish and gluttonous.
Developing critical thinking skills means being able to pick apart a false narrative and examine the true narrative behind it.
Some would define literacy as developing critical thinking skills and that failure to do so is to remain a mindless consumer, an obedient child to the parental authorities of market trends and advertising.
It's your choice: You can either swallow the blue pill (blissful ignorance) or the red pill (uncomfortable, often painful truth).
One. What kind of outrage does the author’s son express in the first paragraph?
“Don’t you love the earth?” becomes a way of making two statements: One’s allegiance to a cause or a special tribe and self-righteous scolding of someone whose behavior doesn’t conform to the tribe.
These scoldings or admonishments reinforce group cohesion and tribal identity.
Two. What does our need for guilt say about us?
We seem to have some neurosis that makes us feel empty unless we’re on a “guilt trip.”
Guilt seems to be the glue that tells people we’re “fighting on the same team” and if you deviate from the game plan you’re a reprobate, a sinner, an outcast, or even a pariah.
We also love to shame others as we feel elevated, intoxicated, and aggrandized by our self-righteous posturing.
Three. The author writes that behind our guilt is a pervading sense of worthlessness and shame? What is behind these feelings?
He writes that “internalized self-loathing” is a mechanism designed to help us be more civilized. Otherwise we’d live in a Hobbesian nightmare (anarchy).
Self-loathing helps us repress our Id (raw, uncontrollable desire) or our tendencies for self-abandonment and indulgence. By repressing our desires collectively, we protect the interest of the many.
How big of a blanket do I spread out on the beach? How loud do I play my boombox while I'm slopping coconut tanning butter on my tanned torso. How reckless do I fling the Frisbee to my beach buddy, allowing the Frisbee to hit nearby beach visitors? Do I pick up my dog's mess at the dog beach? Do I control my dog's incessant barking? How loud do I laugh at the movie theater? How loud is my eating and slurping while watching the movie?
Self-loathing also represses our aggression.
For example, I loathe myself when I’m driving and I lose my temper. Self-loathing represses my road rage temper tantrums. But that repression requires energy, so that when I’m a “nice and courteous drive” I come home exhausted; after all, for a guy like me being nice requires enormous amounts of energy (repression requires energy after all).
Not eating all the food I want—burgers, pizzas, cakes, pies, etc.—requires even more self-loathing that results in repression and of course the end effect is exhaustion.
“Being me is a full-time job.”
Adding to our neurosis, when we suppress our aggression, as evidenced in the road rage example above, we turn our aggression inward, Asma writes, and this results in “self-cruelty."
Rather than hate the world, we hate ourselves. And this self-hatred serves civilization, that is, until some of us blow up, as we read about all too often in the news.
Four. According to Asma, how did our psychology create a guilt-infused religion?
Asma writes we have always used guilt, repression, and self-loathing as ways to live and cooperate in a civilized society. Rather than psychoanalyze ourselves, we poured out our unconscious guilt and other toxic emotions into religious doctrines that would externalize that guilt and shame by calling us “sinners.” Religion, according to Nietzsche, allows us to be cruel to ourselves.
We can infer from this essay that according to Asma religion is a whip that we use to exact cruelty upon ourselves.
Five. Do guilt and self-loathing exist in secular, urban hipster cultures?
Yes, they do, but they take another form of religion: environmentalism: Asma writes that now “we have the transgressions of leaving the water running, leaving the lights on, failing to recycle, and using plastic grocery bags instead of paper.”
Asma adds, brilliantly I might say, that we have other secular avenues for self-inflicted cruelty and guilt: We punish our indulgent eating habits with crazy diets and cleanses and running on treadmills for hours upon hours until we want to die.
Writing Assignment modified from #5 Writing in our text Acting Out Culture:
"Instead of religious sins plaguing our conscience," Asma declares," we now have the transgressions of leaving the water running, leaving the lights on, failing to recycle, and using plastic grocery bags instead of paper" (27). Write a longer essay (1,000 words) in which you identify and evaluate the comparison Asma is making here. According to Asma, what are the key differences between the "religious sins"of the past and the "transgressions" that characterize everyday life today? And what larger point is he trying to make here about the way our understanding of "sin" has changed? Then take a closer look at each of the "transgressions" he lists here. To what extent, in your view, is it valid to feel "guilty" about each? Is it helpful, necessary, and/or right for these oversights to "plague our conscience"? Why or why not?
Breaking Down the Essay Assignment Into Its Parts
"Instead of religious sins plaguing our conscience," Asma declares," we now have the transgressions of leaving the water running, leaving the lights on, failing to recycle, and using plastic grocery bags instead of paper" (27). Write a longer essay (1,000 words) in which you identify and evaluate the comparison Asma is making here.
It appears Asma is comparing religious and secular "sin" as mechanisms that allow selfish creatures, a.k.a. human beings, to co-exist and create societies without mutilating and killing each other.
He may be wrong. Perhaps a tribe's notion of sin empowers it with the belief that it is entitled to kill other tribes who have different religious codes. People kill "Los Otros" in the name of their faith.
Or maybe the sense of sin and repression cause BOTH peace and war depending on the circumstances.
Perhaps as we read in The Emptiness blog, "sin" is an invention of those in power to keep the rest of us in control, to make us powerless slaves:
Asma goes wrong however when he attempts to explain why people in Western civilization have this “need” as he sees it to flagellate themselves with guilt. In fact, his argument itself is a form of self-attack. Its almost as if he is apologizing to his left/liberal friends for breaking orthodoxy in his next argument.
All this internalized self-loathing is the cost we pay for being civilized.
Asma’s idea is that people need guilt in order to restrain themselves from attacking others. He claims that without his own residual “self-loathing” he would not hesitate to attack people at Starbucks that annoy him by ordering pretentious sounding drinks. This reveals far more about Asma’s personal psychology than it does about the tendency of people in western cultures to be violent and anti-social. Internally western countries are remarkably peaceful and orderly by global standards.
So why do people cling to these guilt based moral systems? Well, how are people raised? If almost everyone in a culture exhibits a certain trait in common, is it because that trait is “natural”? Is it “natural” to be a Muslim, and that is why everyone in Muslim countries grows up to be a Muslim? Or is it that children in these countries learn very young that they must conform to the beliefs and prejudices of the adults that control society? The same principle is at work in our culture. Even if we think the modern West is secular and progressive, it is still built on a foundation of shared Judeo-Christian slave morality that persists even as the modern man can no longer bring himself to believe in invisible men in the clouds. Environmentalism is just Christianity 2.0.
Slave morality has always been a power strategy for the priestly class. But the old priestly class has been ebbing in power for centuries now, and the field is open for new players to enter the game. Environmentalists, Climate scientists, diet puritans and other lifestyle scolds are all vying to take their place and be the ones to save your soul by selling you indulgences in the form of carbon credits and raw food shakes. As long as our society is built on a foundation of slave morals people will continue to go for it.
According to Asma, what are the key differences between the "religious sins"of the past and the "transgressions" that characterize everyday life today?
And what larger point is he trying to make here about the way our understanding of "sin" has changed?
He seems to be saying that now that we have a psychological understanding of sin, we are less reliant on religion to provide guilt, shame, and repression; however, because we still depend on these forms of self-cruelty to cooperate in a society we create secular religions to do shame's bidding.
Then take a closer look at each of the "transgressions" he lists here. To what extent, in your view, is it valid to feel "guilty" about each?
You're either arguing that guilt is a helpful behavior tool or a slave tool for the "power priests," secular or otherwise.
Or to complicate the matter, you might argue that guilt is both good and bad as a behavior tool.
Is it helpful, necessary, and/or right for these oversights to "plague our conscience"? Why or why not?
Sample Thesis Statements
"Green Guilt" makes a powerful argument that we must accept the afflictions of guilt and sin, whether that sin be religious or secular, in order that we get along in a cooperative society.
We must conclude after reading Stephen Asma's brilliant "Green Guilt" that human happiness must be compromised in the service of guilt and self-induced "sin" in order that we suppress our selfish drives, cooperate with one another, and hone our conscience in a constantly Darwinian universe.
Stephen Asma's cogent and insightful "Green Guilt" delivers a bombshell to the human race: Absolute happiness is a farce that must take back seat to guilt and misery in order to promote a cooperative society.
Even though it appears Stephen Asma is not religious in any orthodox sense, it is of note that his secular explanation of sin does not conflict at all with my religious sense of it. In fact, my religious sense of sin is compatible with Stephen Asma's secular version when we consider __________, _____________, ____________, and _____________.
"Green Guilt" is just a pathetic excuse for the "slave morality" that allows the power brokers or One Percent to exact control upon the rest of us.
Stephen Asma's attempt to universalize sin as a secular affliction collapses when we consider the affliction he refers to is not universal at all but rather confined to privileged liberals who have created a code of behavior that requires shaming in order to make others conform to their ways.
Developing PEEL Paragraphs (PEEL equals Point, Evidence or Example, Elaboration or Explanation, and Links)
When writing a research paper, it’s very important in the evidence or example section to use a quote from the text.
Paragraph Example (I've underlined the links or transitions)
"Green Guilt" makes a powerful argument that we must accept the afflictions of guilt and sin, whether that guilt be caused by religious or secular forces, in order that we survive and thrive in a cooperative society. As we read in Asma’s essay, “All this internalized self-loathing is the cost we pay for being civilized. In a very well organized society that protects the interests of many, we have to refrain from our natural instincts.” Indeed, our natural instincts, if left unchecked, would create a barbaric world where no kind of viable or even pleasing society could flourish. A second curse of selfish desires unbridled by a sense of guilt and sin would be the moral dissolution that would ensue as hordes of people would become numb to pleasures resulting in frustration and increased violence. We see evidence of such mayhem and grand displays of nihilism in hedonistic societies right before they crumble such as the Fall of Rome. Finally, let us not neglect to point out that a sense of sin can prompt us to be more disciplined so that we maximize the success of our personal goals rather than squandering our life on the foolish errands prompted by our unharnessed desires. To conclude, Asma convincingly shows us that it is in our best interests to repress our base passions by swallowing the Sin Pill in order to fulfill our potential as individuals and as a society.
“The Faces in the Mirror”
One. Why do we want to hype the stars and make them gods who would defy the banal existence that might accurately define them?
Time investment justification:
We need to justify all the money and attention we spend on them so we don’t feel like idiots. We have to believe they’re special and exist on a higher plane than we do.
Celebrities are like Greek gods who entertain us:
We’re also bored and we assuage our boredom by believing in "the magic of celebrity" even though a deep part of us knows this magic is not true. Behind the celebrities' clown masks are aged faces wrinkled with emptiness and despair.
Emotional children crave celebrity hype:
Perhaps this need to believe in magic is evidence that we’re still tiny children emotionally.
We live vicariously through the stars.
Bored with our banal existence, we live vicariously through the stars. We wish our own lives were full of grand moments but in truth as The Wire's Lester Freamon tells his friend McNulty: "There are no grand moments. Life is the ____that happens to you while you wait for the [grand] moments that never come."
Two. What is problematic about the “relationship between persona and person”?
As we see in the Robin Williams example in which he knows someone sees the celebrity but not the real man, the persona always kills our connection to person.
The persona is the fake tyrant that consumes us.
The persona is the hype that dehumanizes us.
The persona is the glitter that diminishes us.
The persona is the fantasy that degrades us.
Why?
Because celebrity, money, power, and beauty are all drugs: The fanboy (or fangirl) who gawks over celebrity, money, power, or beauty becomes drugged by this false god and the false god becomes drugged by being perceived as a false god. As a result, both parties go insane.
I knew a guy who was so good looking, girls used to look at him and start crying. He moved to Tahiti where he became worshipped as a god complete with velvet paintings and statues in front of restaurants.
This insanity is rendered in the 2014 film Birdman.
Robin Williams is sick of being looked at as a false god.
Having experienced the degradation many times, Robin Williams’ eyes went dead and he could not connect with the author Ty Burr.
Another problem is our paradoxical relationship with the stars. On one hand, we worship them as gods; on the other, we resent them for “their presumption to set themselves up as gods when our egos told us we were the ones deserving of attention.”
The dark side of worshipping false gods is that deep down we resent idols that loom over us as superior beings:
Fanboys and fangirls hunger for tabloids and celebrity gossip to see their gods fall into drug rehab and scandal.
Mobs tear their clothing “as if to simultaneously absorb and obliterate the object of affection.”
Essay Topic for a Cause and Effect Analysis Thesis:
Develop a thesis that answers the following question: What are the causes behind the pathological relationship between celebrities and their admirers?
Sample Thesis
As "Faces in the Mirror" shows us, celebrity worship is a sick symbiotic relationship between celebrity and fanboy characterized by ____________, ____________, ___________, and _____________.
Thesis that disagrees with the above:
While there may be some fanboys who take their celebrity worship too far, celebrity culture is good for us since celebrities give us necessary distractions from our boring lives, they gives us beauty and fashion for which we can aspire, they give us glamour which points to a higher reality than the plain reality society tells us we have to live in, and they give us a shared interest which allows us "normal folk" to bond with one another.
Essay Option:
Compare the themes in "The Faces in the Mirror" with the themes of celebrity in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's masterpiece film Birdman (2014).
“Markets and Morals” by Michael Sandel
One. Why does Sandel give us a litany of things we can buy?
Here’s the list: prison cell upgrade, car pool lane fast track, surrogate mother, citizenship, killing endangered animals, doctor’s cell phone.
Here’s the list of things we can sell: forehead ad space, body for experiments, mercenary in war-torn country, read a book, not watch TV, lose fourteen pounds in 4 months, life insurance of the near dead so you can collect their policy.
Sandel’s point is that market creep has wrapped its tentacles around us so that we don’t even know that buying and selling—consumerism—is the dominant feature of our lives.
If we grew up wrapped in the consumer cocoon, then we think it’s our normal. It is our normal, but it’s crazy. Why? Because in such a world there are no boundaries. Buying and selling becomes our religion. It is the only religion. It is the “Era of Market Triumphalism.”
In Market Triumphalism, we equate greed with "strong moral character." We say to the most ruthless successful person, "You are a hard worker. You must be mature, disciplined, focused, and strong. You are the kind of person I want to be."
In Market Triumphalism, we're just worshipping money and power for their own sake.
Two. What were the forces that led to Market Triumphalism?
The early 1980s ushered Reagan and Margaret Thatcher’s conviction of free markets with no regulation. Bill Clinton and Tony Blair continued the legacy.
But in 2008 the Great Recession hit us and now Market Triumphalism has been replaced with doubt.
Three. What more than greed fueled Market Triumphalism?
Growing markets obliterated boundaries between moral and sacred spheres on one hand and market spheres on the other. When the spheres intersected, we entered into a protracted moral crisis.
We mixed the Sacred with the Profane:
Having a baby is a sacred act. Turing it into a business is a human degradation.
Proposing to your girlfriend is a sacred act. Having her post it on Twitter and Facebook for the ad revenue before you’ve even put the ring on her finger is a human degradation.
Putting people into prison is a form of societal punishment. Letting business run prison takes the moral component out of it and makes profit motive the thing that drives the agenda. That is a compromise of a society’s morality.
Pharmaceutical companies want to make money and this incentive clashes with promoting good health.
Health care is a business in our country when other countries say it should not be.
This expansion of the market into all parts of our lives is harmful for two reasons:
It fosters inequality and corruption.
Money buys political influence, medical care, education, safe neighborhoods, and healthy food, to name some.
Markets are also corrupt. For example, if prison and policing are a profit-incentive businesses, then there is incentive to arrest and imprison a quota of people regardless of crime rates.
College is too much of a business in this country and it's geared to the rich as we read here.
Support, refute, or complicate the argument that Ty Burr's "Faces in the Mirror" and Michael Sandel's "Markets and Morals" complement the theme of human degradation and "moral vacancy" in an age of excessive marketing and pathological self-promotion.
Sample Thesis
Reading “Faces in the Mirror” by Ty Burr and “Markets and Morals” by Michael Sandel, it is apparent that we live in an age of unchecked marketing that is to society’s detriment evidenced by a free market untethered by ethical concerns______________, ________________, _____________, and _________________.
“Understanding Black Patriotism” by Michael Eric Dyson
One. What is the difference between black patriotism and “lapel-pin nationalism”?
The history of black people is the history of struggle, to fight against slavery, Jim Crow, unfair incarceration laws, unequal income distribution, to name some, and this struggle for a better country through the struggle is far more in-depth and arduous than people spewing easy slogans and clichés.
If one is angry toward one’s country, then one has hope for change. True abandonment of one’s country is not expressed anger or outrage but apathy, and the percentage of people of all colors who stay at home on election days speaks to apathy.
In contrast, there is “My country, right or wrong,” which is a dogmatic credo of the ignorant peasant who subscribes, not to patriotism, but to jingoism, the act of cheerleading or being a fanboy for one’s country without doing the research or hard work concerning the relevant issues.
A jingoist is a Kool-Aid drinker or fanboy who blindly embraces all things that pertain to one’s country.
A true patriot, according to Dyson, is a critical thinker who wants an accurate diagnosis of America's ills in order to make a better America.
Two. What examples does Dyson provide regarding hypocrisy of patriotism?
Dyson points at the five deferments of Dick Cheney, hawkish on terrorism, who may have been hawkish when he was calling the shots, but when it came to him fighting he stayed home from the war five times. He really used those deferments but was eager to make others fight his war.
In contrast, African American critic of American racism Jeremiah Wright surrendered his student deferment and volunteered to join the Marines.
Essay Option
Defend, refute, or complicate the assertion that critical patriotism, the kind that Dyson attributes to great African American thinkers, is a superior variety of patriotism to the white jingoism described in the essay.
Sample Thesis
Pro Dyson Thesis
Those who attempt to dismiss the criticisms of great African American thinkers as being anti-American are engaging in the most vile form of tribalism and jingoism, and they would be well served to embrace these African American thinkers’ authentic patriotism, which is evidenced by __________, ___________, ___________, and ____________.
Pro Dyson Thesis
Attempts to label the great African American thinkers who have criticized US policy as anti-American collapse when we consider that these thinkers are the truest kind of patriot. This is evidenced by _____________, _______________, ________________, and ____________________.
Against Dyson Thesis
While I concede to Dyson’s point that we can criticize US policy and still be patriotic, Dyson’s examples are too extreme evidenced by _________________, _________________, ________________, and _______________________.
In the following video, we see Michael Eric Dyson make his point about true patriotism as he contrasts it with false patriotism:
False patriots apologize for abusers of civil rights.
False patriots white-wash the real narratives that define racism in America.
False patriots get defensive when truthful criticisms are put on the table.
McMahon Grammar Exercise: Essential and Nonessential Clauses
Circle the relative clause and indicate if it’s essential with a capital E or nonessential with a capital N. Then use commas where necessary.
One. I’m looking for a sugar substitute that doesn’t have dangerous side effects.
Two. Sugar substitutes which often contain additives can wreak havoc on the digestive and nervous system.
Three. The man who trains in the gym every day for five hours is setting himself up for a serious muscle injury.
Four. Cars that operate on small turbo engines don’t last as long as non-turbo automobiles.
Five. Tuna which contains high amounts of mercury should only be eaten once or twice a week.
Six. The store manager who took your order has been arrested for fraud.
Seven. The store manager Ron Cousins who is now seventy-five years old is contemplating retirement.
Eight. Magnus Mills’ Restraint of Beasts which is my favorite novel was runner up for the Booker Prize.
Nine. Parenthood which is a sort of priesthood for which there is no pay or appreciation raises stress and cortisol levels.
Ten. I need to find a college that specializes in my actuarial math major.
Eleven. UCLA which has a strong actuarial math program is my first choice.
Twelve. My first choice of car is the Lexus which was awarded top overall quality honors from Consumer Reports.
Thirteen. Mangoes which sometimes cause a rash on my lips and chin area are my favorite fruit.
Fourteen. A strange man whom I’ve never known came up to me and offered to give me his brand new Mercedes.
Fifteen. My girlfriend who was showing off her brand new red dress arrived two hours late to the birthday party.
Sixteen. Students who meticulously follow the MLA format rules have a greater chance at success.
Seventeen. The student who tormented himself with the thesis lesson for six hours found himself more confused than before he started.
Eighteen. There are several distinctions between an analytical and argumentative thesis which we need to familiarize ourselves with before we embark on the essay assignment.
Nineteen. The peach that has a worm burrowing through its rotted skin should probably be tossed in the garbage.
Twenty. Peaches, which I love to eat by the bucketful are on sale at the farmer’s market.
Twenty-one. Baseball which used to be America’s pastime is declining in popularity.
Subordination and Coordination (Complex and Compound Sentences)
Complex Sentence
A complex sentence has two clauses. One clause is dependent or subordinate; the other clause is independent, that is to say, the independent clause is the complete sentence.
Examples:
While I was tanning in Hermosa Beach, I noticed the clouds were playing hide and seek.
Because I have a tendency to eat entire pizzas, inhaling them within seconds, I must avoid that fattening food.
Whenever I’m driving my car and I see people texting while driving, I stop my car on the side of the road.
I have to workout every day because I am addicted to exercise-induced dopamine.
I feel overcome with a combination of romantic melancholy and giddy excitement whenever there is a thunderstorm.
We use subordination to show cause and effect. To create subordinate clauses, we must use a subordinate conjunction:
The essential ingredient in a complex sentence is the subordinate conjunction:
after although as because before even if even though if in order that
once provided that rather than since so that than that though unless
until when whenever where whereas wherever whether while why
I workout too much. I have tenderness in my elbow.
Because I workout too much, I suffer tenderness in my elbow.
My elbow hurts. I’m working out.
Even though my elbow hurts, I’m working out.
We use coordination to show equal rank of ideas. To combine sentences with coordination we use FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
The calculus class has been cancelled. We will have to do something else.
The calculus class has been cancelled, so we will have to do something else.
I want more pecan pie. They only have apple pie.
I want more pecan pie, but they only have apple pie.
Using FANBOYS creates compound sentences
Angelo loves to buy a new radio every week, but his wife doesn’t like it.
You have high cholesterol, so you have to take statins.
I am tempted to eat all the rocky road ice cream, yet I will force myself to nibble on carrots and celery.
I want to go to the Middle Eastern restaurant today, and I want to see a movie afterwards.
I really like the comfort of elastic-waist pants, but wearing them makes me feel like an old man.
Both subordination and coordination combine sentences into smoother, clearer sentences.
The following four sentences are made smoother and clearer with the help of subordination:
McMahon felt gluttonous. He inhaled five pizzas. He felt his waist press against his denim waistband in a cruel, unforgiving fashion. He felt an acute ache in his stomach.
Because McMahon felt gluttonous, he inhaled five pizzas upon which he felt his waist press against his denim waistband resulting in an acute stomachache.
Another Example
Joe ate too much heavily salted popcorn. The saltiness made him thirsty. He consumed several gallons of water before bedtime. He was up going to the bathroom all night. He got a bad night’s sleep. He performed terribly during his job interview.
Due to his foolish consumption of salted popcorn, Joe was so thirsty he drank several gallons of water before bedtime, which caused him to go to the bathroom all night, interfering with his night’s sleep and causing him to do terribly on his job interview.
Another Example
Bob dropped his peanut butter sandwich in the tiger’s enclosure. He leaned over the fence to reach for his sandwich. He fell over the fence. A tiger approached Bob. The zookeeper ran between the stupid zoo customer and the wild beast. The zookeeper tore his rotator cuff.
After Bob dropped his peanut butter sandwich in the tiger’s enclosure, he leaned over the fence to recover his sandwich and fell into the enclosure during which time he was approached by a hungry tiger, forcing the nearby zookeeper to run between Bob and wild beast. During the struggle, the zookeeper tore his rotator cuff.
Don’t Do Subordination Overkill
After Bob dropped his peanut butter sandwich in the tiger’s enclosure, he leaned over the fence to recover his sandwich and fell into the enclosure during which time he was approached by a hungry tiger forcing the nearby zookeeper to run between Bob and the wild beast in such a manner that the zookeeper tore his rotator cuff, which resulted in a prolonged disability leave and the loss of his job, a crisis that compelled the zookeeper to file a lawsuit against Bob for financial damages.
Grammar: Dangling Modifiers
Rewrite the following sentences to correct the dangling modifiers:
1. Larded with greasy fries, the waiter served me a burnt steak.
2. Mr. McMahon returned her essay with a wide grin.
3. To finish by the 4 P.M. deadline, the computer keyboard blazed with the student's fast typing fingers.
4. Chocolate frosted with caramel sauce, John devoured the cupcakes.
5. Tapping the desk with his fingers, the school clock's hands moved too slowly before recess.
6. Showering the onion rings with garlic salt, his sodium count spiked.
7. The girl walked her poodle in high heels.
8. Struggling with the tight jeans, the fabric ripped and made an embarrassing sound.
9. Turning off the bedroom lights, the long, hard day finally came to an end.
10. Piled high above the wash machine, I decided I had better do a load of laundry.
11. Standing on the hotel balcony, the ocean view was stunning.
12. Running across the floor, the rug slipped and I collapsed.
13. Writing anxiously, the essay looked littered with errors.
14. Mortified by my loss to my opponents, my baseball uniform sagged.
15. Hungry after a day of football, the stack of peanut butter sandwiches on the table quickly disappeared.
In an argumentative essay, explain how Tirado's claim that the poor mismanage their money stands up to Anuj Shah's essay.
A
“I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave”
One. Describe the dystopia of the warehouse wage slave job.
A barrage of tests, invasive questions, and videos create the sense that the job applicant is a prisoner doing prison work. This sense of self-abasement is further reinforced by the dystopian inner city landscape of the interview office.
You’re ordered to do stretching exercises to counteract the abuse of overtime work shifts. There is an implicit message that the work you're doing is brutalizing your body, so stretch in order that we may exploit you all the more.
Inevitably, the repetitive work will do lifelong damage: arthritis, carpal tunnel, scoliosis, herniated disc, plantar fasciitis, shin splints, hernias, PTSD, etc.
One package distribution error (putting two of the same packages on the conveyor belt when the scanner says only one package) results in a disciplinary notice, which in short paints you like a criminal. "A package distribution error has rendered you a liability to the operation."
Your work is dehumanizing and defines you as a cog in a machine: You stand still at a conveyor line for a 10-hour shift while walking on concrete or metal stairs. Depression and madness are the natural results of this kind of work. In fact, to not go mad in this environment is to evidence another form of madness.
You want more?
Workers walk 12 miles a day on concrete.
You have to show up an hour early and wait for being sorted out and trained and this hour goes unpaid. Again, the implicit message is that you're worthless and we have you in our control.
The employees are warned “there is no room for inefficiencies” and directed toward Brian, a husband with children, who lost two weeks of pay because he screwed up on his job application. Brian is used as a warning and an example to the others. This sounds like a prisoner-of-war camp.
Bathroom breaks are discouraged because they diminish productivity.
There are penalties for “butt crack violations” when you're squatting or bending down, so you have to wear the appropriate belt and pants.
If you cry, you’re fired “because there’s sixteen people waiting for your job.” Crying is a sign of being critical and disrespectful toward your employers.
You feel like you’re an employee from an episode of Black Mirror. I can't show it to you because of its graphic nature, but it's very compelling.
This work hell is so bad that one abroad friend says on Skype, “Is this America?”
Essay Assignment Based on Prompt #6 from page 410.
McClelland not only chronicles the physical toll warehouse work can exact; she examines the psychological toll as well. How does her account of the psychological pressures she experienced on the job compare to the portrait of the unemployed Louis Uchitelle (342) presents? Do you find any similarities or parallels in the ways each essay explores this issue?
Sample Thesis
McClelland, Uchitelle, and Vice News show that the modern day business model has become more and more predatory toward the workers, exploiting them in new ways that result in new kinds of humanitarian crises that are morally bankrupt and contrary to the American Dream.
Mapping Components for Body Paragraph Topic Sentences
Triangular relationship between temp agency, employer and worker strips workers of their rights and conceals discrimination practices.
The New Economy has created desperation, a condition that the new employers are eager to take advantage of.
The labor and wage practices are analogous in many ways to a form of slavery.
The New Economy doesn’t give workers viable alternatives to these exploitive conditions and in fact traps them in a cycle not unlike that between an abusive boyfriend and his girlfriend.
Sample Thesis from Vice News Video
Intro: I would describe the acid that fell over a worker and how his employers did not dial 9/11.
Worksite conditions paint America as a dystopia evidenced by __________________________, _________________, ________________, _________________, and ____________________.
no accountability in a triangulated system among workers, temp agencies, and companies
human rights violations
de-investment labor model in face of globalization
stolen wages
enabling raiteros
abundance of desperate labor market in New Economy
Profits, sales, and stock value are up in these companies even as labor conditions decline.
“Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom” by Ashley Nelson
One. Ashley Nelson feels under attack by a barrage of books that call her a loser for quitting her job after her baby is born. When people write books about “what mothers should do,” why should our feathers get ruffled?
It’s loathsome to assign a one-size-fits-all lifestyle choice on anyone. And it’s stupid. And it contradicts empirical evidence. How are these books, based on generalities, even published?
Two. How does Nelson’s life become a broken script?
Her script was to work at home with freelance writing jobs, but they never materialized as she followed her husband from city to city to help his career ambitions.
Then they were in divorce proceedings with two kids.
Her story is not uncommon. A third of women cut back on their work significantly after being mothers.
The problem is that these career breaks “have dire economic consequences.”
We read that “over a lifetime, women lose 18 percent of their earning power by leaving the workforce for only two years.”
We further read that nonmothers are usually hired over mothers. And nonmothers get promotions. Mothers are less likely to get them.
I’ve had personal talks with a top manager in aerospace who says hates hiring mothers “with all their baby drama.”
The real wage gap isn’t between men and women. It’s between nonmothers—both men and women—and mothers. It’s a “mommy gap.”
Two. What is FRD?
Family Responsibilities Discrimination shuns mothers from employment and promotion. Mothers are looked at as liabilities.
Since I’ve become a parent 5 years ago, I call in sick three times as much as I did before, so in my own experience there is a liability of sorts.
Three. What should the real debate focus on?
As a developed country, we should have universal preschool.
Essay Topic:
Defend, refute, or complicate the assertion that universal preschool is necessary to bring economic justice to working mothers.
"A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much" by Catherine Rampell
One. Why should we pity or at least sympathize with the young generation?
Unemployment is close to 18% for 16-24 age bracket.
And yet Millennials or Generation Y are dismissed as lazy fops, slackers, Facebook zombies, texting ghouls, loafers, idlers, reprobates, pariahs, ne'er-do-wells, wastrels, and other pejoratives.
Rampell points out that older generations have always demonized the younger ones, calling them indolent narcissists.
The author goes on to point out that today's young generation does double the volunteer work from 2006 to 1989.
Today's generation works better in groups.
Today's generation is more adaptable to technology and must often teach older people how to fix their gadgets.
Defend or refute Rampell's defense of Generation Y. Consider changing norms (social media and multi-tasking, outsourced jobs), inflated college costs, unforgivable student loans, hideous environment inheritance, lousy service jobs, widening economic gap between haves and have-nots, new skills emerging from changing environment, increased altruism, and anything else you may find in your research.
For research, you can include the essay "Against Generations" by Rebecca Onion in which she argues labeling people one generation or another is a lame generality and stereotype.
Sample Thesis
The tirade against the so-called Millennial Generation is a canard fraught with stereotypes, misunderstandings, over generalizations, and ignorance to the cultural zeitgeist that today's generation faces.
"Our Baby, Her Womb" by Arlie Russell Hoschild
One. What is a typical surrogate mom situation?
A woman hits about 40 because she's worked during that time, she has a lot of financial resources, and she realizes she's too old to bear a child, so she seeks a younger, less financially endowed woman.
The dynamic of power is someone with money buying someone's body and that body belongs to a someone of modest financial means.
An aside: Just like the documentary we saw on temporary work, whenever we're short on financial resources we find ourselves vulnerable to sacrificing our bodies to survive.
I'd rather be a surrogate mother than work in a chicken farm.
The total cost is $80,000, and this includes psychological evaluations. However, in India, the total cost is $10,000.
Two. What are the typical steps at attempting pregnancy?
First, the husband and wife have a doctor implant their embryo in a surrogate's womb.
If step one doesn't work, step two is combining the husband's sperm with a surrogate's egg (a donor egg) and implanting into another surrogate's womb.
In the case of Dr. Patel, she increases the chances of success by implanting "about five embryos at at time, aborting fetuses if they numbered more than two."
Essay Prompt:
Support, refute, or complicate the argument that renting a womb or surrogate mother is unethical, exploitive, and anti-humanitarian.
Sample Thesis:
The payment of women to borrow their bodies during a pregnancy is morally bankrupt when we consider ______________, _______________, ________________, and ___________________.
Sample Refutation of the Above Thesis
While in an ideal world I would be opposed to the surrogate womb business, in the real world surrogate motherhood is the lesser of two evils for poor women because ____________, ___________, ______________, and _______________.
Possible Supports for the Above
Paternalistic do-gooders shouldn't be able to tell the poor what they can and can not do with their bodies.
Payment for a womb rental may help a woman feed her starving family.
Payment for a womb rental may help a woman get an education and break free from her cycle of poverty.
McMahon Grammar Exercises: Comma Splices and Run-Ons
After each sentence, put a “C” for Correct or a “CS” for Comma Splice. If the sentence is a comma splice, rewrite it so that it is correct.
One. Bailey used to eat ten pizzas a day, now he eats a spinach salad for lunch and dinner.
Two. Marco no longer runs on the treadmill, instead he opts for the less injury-causing elliptical trainer.
Three. Running can cause shin splints, which can cause excruciating pain.
Four. Running in the incorrect form can wreak havoc on the knees, slowing down can
often correct the problem.
Five. While we live in a society where 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers are on the rise, the reading of books, sad to say, is on the decline.
Six. Facebook is a haven for narcissists, it encourages showing off with selfies and other mundane activities that are ways of showing how great and amazing our lives our, what a sham.
Seven. We live in a society where more and more Americans are consuming 1,500-calorie cheeseburgers, however, those same Americans are reading less and less books.
Eight. Love is a virus from outer space, it tends to become most contagious during April and May.
Nine. The tarantula causes horror in many people, moreover there is a species of tarantula in Brazil, the wandering banana spider, that is the most venomous spider in the world.
Ten. Even though spiders cause many people to recoil with horror, most species are harmless.
Eleven. The high repair costs of European luxury vehicles repelled Amanda from buying such a car, instead she opted for a Japanese-made Lexus.
Twelve. Amanda got a job at the Lexus dealership, now she’s trying to get me a job in the same office.
Thirteen. While consuming several cinnamon buns, a twelve-egg cheese omelet, ten slices of French toast slathered in maple syrup, and a tray of Swedish loganberry crepes topped with a dollop of blueberry jam, I contemplated the very grave possibility that I might be eating my way to a heart attack.
Fourteen. Even though I rank marijuana far less dangerous than most pharmaceutical drugs, alcohol, and other commonly used intoxicants, I find marijuana unappealing for a host of reasons, not the least of which is its potential for radically degrading brain cells, its enormous effect on stimulating the appetite, resulting in obesity, and its capacity for over-relaxing many people so that they lose significant motivation to achieve their primary goals, opting instead for a life of sloth and intractable indolence.
This course is designed to strengthen the students’ ability to read with understanding and discernment, to discuss assigned readings intelligently, and to write clearly. Emphasis will be on writing essays in which each paragraph relates to a controlling idea, has an introduction and a conclusion, and contains primary and secondary support. College-level reading material will be assigned to provide the stimulus for class discussion and writing assignments, including a required research paper.
Course Objectives:
1. Recognize and revise sentence-level grammar and usage errors.
2. Read and apply critical-thinking skills to numerous published articles and to college-level, book-length works for the purpose of writing and discussion.
3. Apply appropriate strategies in the writing process including prewriting, composing, revising, and editing techniques.
4. Compose multi-paragraph, thesis-driven essays with logical and appropriate supporting ideas, and with unity and coherence.
5. Demonstrate ability to locate and utilize a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites.
6. Utilize MLA guidelines to format essays, cite sources in the texts of essays, and compile Works Cited lists.
Student Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, students will:
1. Complete a research-based essay that has been written out of class and undergone revision. It should demonstrate the student’s ability to thoughtfully support a single thesis using analysis and synthesis.
2. Integrate multiple sources, including a book-length work and a variety of academic databases, peer-reviewed journals, and scholarly websites. Citations must be in MLA format and include a Works Cited page.
3. Demonstrate logical paragraph composition and sentence structure. The essay should have correct grammar, spelling, and word use.
Students with Disabilities:
It is the policy of the El Camino Community College District to encourage full inclusion of people with disabilities in all programs and services. Students with disabilities who believe they may need accommodations in this class should contact the campus Special Resource Center (310) 660-3295, as soon as possible. This will ensure that students are able to fully participate.
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism:
El Camino College places a high value on the integrity of its student scholars. When an instructor determines that there is evidence of dishonesty in any academic work (including, but not limited to cheating, plagiarism, or theft of exam materials), disciplinary action appropriate to the misconduct as defined in BP 5500 may be taken. A failing grade on an assignment in which academic dishonesty has occurred and suspension from class are among the disciplinary actions for academic dishonesty (AP 5520). Students with any questions about the Academic Honesty or discipline policies are encouraged to speak with their instructor in advance.
Attendance Policy: Students are expected to attend their classes regularly. Students who miss the first class meeting or who are not in regular attendance during the add period for the class may be dropped by the instructor. Students whose absences from a class exceed 10% of the scheduled class meeting times may be dropped by the instructor. However, students are responsible for dropping a class within the deadlines published in the class schedule. Students who stop attending but do not drop may receive a failing grade.
Student Resources:
Reading Success Center (East Library Basement E-36) Software and tutors are available for vocabulary development & reading comprehension.
Library Media Technology Center - LMTC (East Library Basement) Computers are available for free use. Bring your student ID # & flash drive. There’s a charge for printing.
Writing Center (H122) Computers are available for free use. Free tutoring is available for writing assignments, grammar, and vocabulary. Bring your student ID & flash drive to save work. Printing is NOT available.
Learning Resource Center - LRC (West Wing of the Library, 2nd floor) The LRC Tutorial Program offers free drop-in tutoring. For the tutoring schedule, go to www.elcamino.edu/library/lrc/tutoring .The LRC also offers individualized computer adaptive programs to help build your reading comprehension skills.
Student Health Center (Next to the Pool) The Health Center offers free medical and psychological services as well as free workshops on topics like “test anxiety.” Low cost medical testing is also available.
Special Resource Center – SRC (Southwest Wing of Student Services Building)
The SRC provides free disability services, including interpreters, testing accommodations, counseling, and adaptive computer technology.
Total Words Written in Semester: 8,100
Four In-Class Essays, 500 words, 75 points each, 300 points total
Three Typed essays 1,200 words each (approx. 4 pages), 100, 300 total points
Tentative outline (approx. 2 pages) and 5-source annotated bibliography (approx. 2 pages) for Final Research Paper 75 points (1,000 words)
Final 1,500-word research paper (approx. 5 pages) 150 points
Attendance based on absences (no more than 2) tardies (no more than 2), participation, reading preparedness, staying off smartphones, not doing homework from other classes: Violation of attendance and class participation policy can result in the loss of 50-100 points.
Grand Point Total: 825
Late papers reduced a full grade. No late papers accepted a week past due date.
You must use turnitin to submit essay and bring hard copy on due date
Each essay must be submitted to www.turnitin.com where it will be checked for illegal copying/plagiarism. I cannot give credit for an essay that is not submitted to this site by the deadline.
The process is very simple; if you need help, detailed instructions are available at http://turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-training/student-quickstart-guide
You will need two pieces of information to use the site:
Class ID and Enrollment Password, which I will give you first week of class
Classroom Decorum: No smart phones can be used in class. If you’re on your smart phone and I catch you, you get a warning the first time. Second time, you must leave the class and lose 25 points. Third time, you must leave the class and lose 50 points. The above also applies to talking and doing homework from other classes.
Books You Need to Buy for This Class, Writing Assignments and Grading
Book One: Acting Out Culture, third edition, James S. Miller
Book Two: Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
Book Three: Rules for Writers, Seventh Edition, by Diana Hacker
For all options for Typed Essay 1, your essay must have a minimum of three legitimate sources for your Works Cited page and you must use MLA format.
For Essay 1, Choose One from Chapter 4: How We Learn
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate Kohn's argument that grading is inimical to effective teaching.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that Rizga's essay provides evidence to support the argument that standardized testing is a canard that hurts students' education.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate John Taylor Gatto's argument that school is not about education but rather about indoctrinating students into being malleable sheep, non-thinkers, and childish consumers who are sorted into "their rightful place" in the social and economic hierarchy.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that explains how Gatto and Rose are attempting to rewrite the conventional norms regarding class, learning, and intelligence. In making your thesis, consider how the two essays complement the other.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that supports, refutes, or complicates the notion that the triumph we learn of in Bell Hooks' essay "Learning in the Shadow of Race and Class" is that Hooks overcame Alexander Inglis's six basic functions (mentioned in John Taylor Gatto's essay) and instead of becoming indoctrinated became truly enlightened. Is it possible that she was both indoctrinated and enlightened? Explain.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that analyzes, in the context of Rachel Toor's 'Unconscious Plagiarism," the difference between legitimate modeling that is a form of healthy plagiarism and immoral plagiarism.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that explains how Kozol's essay "Preparing Minds for Markets" supports John Gatto's main argument in his essay "Against School."
For Essay 2, Choose One from Chapter 3: How We Eat
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate Kristof's argument in "Prudence Or Cruelty?" that in spite of the food stamp abuses cited by opponents of the food stamp program, providing food stamps for the poor is moral and economic imperative over the long-term. Be sure to have a counterargument and rebuttal section at the end of your essay.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that eating meat is morally defensible in the context of evolution and biology and that ethical objections to meat eating are not born of eating meat but the abuses that result in the factory farming of animals. Be sure to have a counterargument-refutation section.
Addressing Francine Prose's "The Wages of Sin," write a 4-page essay with 3 sources that supports, refutes, or complicates the notion that overeating is not an illness but a moral flaw and a vice.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that addresses the claim that Francine Prose and Caroline Knapp are criticizing cultural norms about eating that in truth are not normal at all but pathological and that these norms create a toxic eating environment in our culture.
Both McMillan and Kristof (172) use their examinations of public attitudes toward food as a platform to argue for specific changes in our official food policy. In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that explains how these recommendations compare. Can you imagine Kristof citing points McMillan raises here as evidence or support for the argument he makes about food stamps? If so, how specifically?
Both Dolnick and Francine Prose address the mythical narrative of obesity and overeating by deconstructing the myth. In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that analyzes how Dolnick and Prose deconstruct the myth of fatness.
For Essay 3, Choose One from Chapter 5, 1, or 2
Chapter 5: How We Work
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that compares the way Louis Uchitelle (342) and Matthew Crawford (368) explore the emotional life of work and how work affects our happiness, contentment, and self-esteem. To what extent does Uchitelle's argument about the psychological damage wrought by unemployment recall or help reinforce Crawford's claims about the emotional satisfactions afforded by working with your hands?
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, write a review of DePalma's essay that you think Uchitelle might offer. To what extent would Uchitelle's review find parallels in the social and economic hardships profiled here and his argument regarding the emotional costs of unemployment?
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, write an assessment of how the messages in Catherine Rampell's essay (388) and Matthew Crawford's (368) compare with one another. Does Rampell's attempt to explode the myth of the "slacker generation" remind you in any way of Crawford's desire to rewrite the boundary between white-collar and manual labor? Do these writers challenge such stereotypes in order to say similar or different things about the meaning and value of work?
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that compares the way DePalma (353) profiles immigrant workers with the way Ehrenreich (380) explores the working poor. Based on the argument she makes here, which specific aspects of DePalma's essay do you think Ehrenreich would find most persuasive? Why?
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, show how McClelland's examination of the psychological pressures she experienced on the job (394) compare to the portrait of the unemployed Louis Uchitelle (342) presents? Do you find any similarities or parallels in the ways each essay explores this issue?
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses whether it is appropriate, or not, to use the business model described in Hochschild's essay (418) as a way of making the "mutually beneficial transaction" between parents and a surrogate mother. Consider Barbara Ehrenreich's essay (380) about how the experience of being poor complicates this business model.
Chapter 1 How We Believe
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that Stephen Asma's "Green Guilt" and Michael Eric Dyson's "Understanding Black Patriotism" provide a convincing indictment of "isms" evidenced by their dogmatic zeal, myopia, tribalism, and Groupthink. If you want, you can include Schwennesen's "The Ethics of Eating," which addresses vegetarianism.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the argument that Ty Burr's "Faces in the Mirror" and Michael Sandel's "Markets and Morals" complement the theme of human degradation and "moral vacancy" in an age of excessive marketing and pathological self-promotion.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that Michael Eric Dyson has written an convincing argument about the crucial differences between nationalism and patriotism.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that addresses the cultural stereotypes discussed in Michael Eric Dyson's essay and Katie Roiphe's "In Defense of Single Motherhood."
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that addresses the tribalism discussed in David Brooks' essay "People Like Us" and the "scientific racism" discussed in Debra J. Dickerson's "The Great White Way."
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, defend, refute, or complicate Debra J. Dickerson's argument that race is not an objective reality but rather a social fantasy.
Chapter 2: How We Watch
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, defend, refute, or complicate the argument that Jessica Bennett's "The Flip Side of Internet Fame" evidences a need to make new freedom of speech restrictions in the age of social media.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that analyzes the causes of cultural stereotypes evidenced in Harriet McBryde Johnson's "Unspeakable Conversations" and Heather Havrilesky's "Some 'Girls' Are Better Than Others."
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the argument made by Virginia Heffernan's "The Attention-Span Myth" and Don Tapscott's "Should We Ditch the Idea of Privacy?" that the digital age has, rightly, abolished certain cultural norms and values.
In a 4-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the argument that Charles Duhigg's "How Companies Learn Your Secrets" affirms Virginia Heffernan's examination of the attention-span myth.
Final Essay Is 1,500 words, about 5 pages, and Based on Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
In a 5-page essay with 5 sources, support, refute or complicate the notion that Sherry Turkle's Alone Together is a technophobic screed that exaggerates and twists information to create an unfair nightmare portrait of social media.
Your guidelines for your Final Research Paper are as follows:
This research paper should present a thesis that is specific, manageable, provable, and contestable—in other words, the thesis should offer a clear position, stand, or opinion that will be proven with research.
You should analyze and prove your thesis using examples and quotes from a variety of sources.
You need to research and cite from at least five sources. You must use at least 3 different types of sources.
At least one source must be from an ECC library database.
At least one source must be a book, anthology or textbook.
At least one source must be from a credible website, appropriate for academic use.
The paper should not over-rely on one main source for most of the information. Rather, it should use multiple sources and synthesize the information found in them.
This paper will be approximately 5-7 pages in length, not including the Works Cited page, which is also required. This means at least 5 full pages of text. The Works Cited page does NOT count towards length requirement.
You must use MLA format for the document, in-text citations, and Works Cited page.
You must integrate quotations and paraphrases using signal phrases and analysis or commentary.
You must sustain your argument, use transitions effectively, and use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Your paper must be logically organized and focused.
Reading and Writing Schedule Summer 2015
May 26 Introduction and John Taylor Gatto read in class from 271-279
May 27 Acting Out Culture 238-270 Kohn and Rizga
May 28 Acting Out Culture 280-314 Rose, Hooks, Toor, Kozol
June 1 In-Class Essay 1 for 75 points
June 2 Typed Essay 1 due for 100 points; Acting Out Culture 172-180 Kristof, Schwennesen
June 3 Acting Out Culture 181-202 Prose and Knapp
June 4 Acting Out Culture 203-222 Buhler, Kendall, McMillan, Dolnick
June 8 In-Class Essay 2 for 75 points
June 9 Typed Essay 2 Due for 100 points; Acting Out Culture 342-367 Uchitelle, DePalma
June 10 Acting Out Culture 368-385 Crawford and Ehrenreich
June 11 Acting Out Culture 388-410 Rampell and McClelland; 418-430 Hochschild
June 15 Acting Out Culture 31-49 Burr, Sandel; 52-55 Dyson
June 16 Acting Out Culture 58-71 Roiphe, Brooks, Dickerson
June 17 Acting Out Culture 90-112 Bennet and Johnson
June 18 Acting Out Culture 113-121 Heffernan and Tapscott; 134-149 Duhigg
June 22 In-Class Essay for 75 points
June 23 Essay 3 due for 100 points; Alone Together 1-22
June 24 Alone Together 151-170
June 25 Alone Together 171-end
June 29 Review Alone Together; Outlining and Annotated Bibliography
June 30 In-Class Essay 4 for 75 points
July 1 In-class consultation with outline and annotated bibliography due for 75 points
Thesis statement is single sentence that states your position or claim and can be demonstrated with mapping components, which will be the topic sentences in your body paragraphs.
You can argue FOR something, that is to advance a thesis:
Students should be forgiven for their loans in certain circumstances.
Rehab addresses drug abuse better than incarceration.
Texting while driving can often be more dangerous than driving above the legal alcohol limit.
You can argue AGAINST something, that is refute a popular argument:
We must get rid of the D grade because it's not clear if it's a passing or failing grade.
We must refute the notion that college athletes are amateurs when in fact they bring so much revenue to a university that should they be paid like professionals.
Evidence (usually about 75% of your body paragraphs)
Refutation of opposing arguments or objections to your claim (usually about 25% of your body paragraphs)
Concluding statement (dramatic restatement of your thesis, which often also shows the broader implications of your important message).
Thesis
Thesis is one sentence that states your position about an issue.
Thesis example:
Increasing the minimum wage to eighteen dollars an hour, contrary to “expert” economists, will boost the economy.
The above assertion is an effective thesis because it is debatable; it has at least two sides.
Thesis: We should increase the minimum wage to boost the economy.
Antithesis: Increasing the minimum wage will slow down the economy.
Evidence
Evidence is the material you use to make your thesis persuasive: facts, observations, expert opinion, examples, statistics, reasons, logic, and refutation.
Refutation
Your argument is only as strong as your understanding of your opponents and your ability to refute your opponents’ objections.
If while examining your opponents’ objections, you find their side is more compelling, you have to CHANGE YOUR SIDE AND YOUR THESIS because you must have integrity when you write. There is no shame in this. Changing your position through research and studying both sides is natural.
Conclusion
Your concluding statement reinforces your thesis and emphasizes the emotional appeal of your argument.
You should never begin your conclusion with "In conclusion . . ."
To read critically, we have to do the following:
One. Comprehend the author's purpose and meaning, which is expressed in the claim or thesis
Two. Examine the evidence, if any, that is used
Three. Find emotional appeals, if any, that are used
Four. Identify analogies and comparisons and analyze their legitimacy
Five. Look at the topic sentences to see how the author is building his or her claim
Six. Look for the appeals the author uses be they logic (logos), emotions (pathos), or authority (ethos).
Eight. Do you recognize any bias in the essay that diminishes the author's argument?
Nine. Do we bring any prejudice or hidden agenda that may compromise our ability to evaluate the argument fairly? For example, is a writer or organization that backs the writer funded by a special-interest group?
Ten. Write in the margins of your text; don't highlight.
Difference Between Primary and Secondary Research
Primary Research
interviews
first-person account (of obesity or eating disorder for example)
statistics
Secondary Research
Commentary on and analysis of your topic from credible sources
“The Case for Working with Your Hands” by Matthew Crawford
Study Questions
One. Why do office workers hunger for “confrontations with material reality” that have become “exotically unfamiliar”?
Too often in a big workforce, we feel like a cog in a machine or a mouse on a treadmill.
"Cubicle life" eats you from the inside until you're a hollow cipher, a zero.
We feel so alienated in our offices, sensing no “tangible result” of our work, that we crave the kind of connection that comes from getting our hands dirty.
High school has becoming a training center for turning human beings into alienated cubicle workers who are powerless and disconnected from life.
Crawford observes that “It is a rare person, male or female, who is naturally inclined to sit still for 17 years in school, and then indefinitely at work.”
Sitting all the time, in fact, has proven bad for one’s health.
We are also envious of watching people who are useful in a way that is straightforward and direct such as painting a bedroom. The effect is immediate.
Because our worth is concrete, we prove our value at the workplace; in contrast, a cubicle job is often at the mercy of bureaucratic whim and arbitrary decisions by some confused manager who’s under pressure to downsize.
Two. Why does Crawford argue certain types of physical labor are growing in demand?
Because he points out, quoting Princeton economist Alan Blinder, that “the crucial distinction in the emerging labor market is not between those with more or less education, but between those whose services can be delivered over a wire and those who must do their work in person or on site.”
Yet we shun physical labor, Crawford writes, because it makes us dirty and we conflate dirt with stupidity.
Three. What kind of jobs give us the gratification from seeing the direct result?
20. national security operative (however, no one gives you credit when you do things right. You only take blame when one thing goes wrong)
21. actor
22. matchmaker
23. doctor
24. nurse
25. health care worker
26. Center for Disease Control operative
27. journalist
28. special ops fighter
29. charity fund raiser operative
30. life coach (99% of life coaches are frauds and mountebanks but there should be a few good ones out there)
31. movie critic
32. book critic
Writing Option
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that compares the way Louis Uchitelle (342) and Matthew Crawford (368) explore the emotional life of work and how work affects our happiness, contentment, and self-esteem. To what extent does Uchitelle's argument about the psychological damage wrought by unemployment recall or help reinforce Crawford's claims about the emotional satisfactions afforded by working with your hands?
You might look at these mapping points that are in common with Uchitelle's and Crawford's essay.
Consider the anxiety of being replaceable.
Consider how feeling powerless at work creates anxieties and a sense of disconnection and alienation at work.
Consider how there are jobs where you feed your sense of self-worth and other jobs that feed your sense of worthlessness.
Consider how there are jobs where you see your role in the overall product and overall jobs where you feel like a tiny cog in the machine.
Too many young people embark upon a career without a necessary grasp of how many jobs can, in spite of their healthy salary, become a threat to their mental health because of the jobs' tendency to _____________, ______________, ______________, and __________________.
Bonus Essay Prompt
In a 4-5-page essay, refute or support the argument that college debts should be forgiven. Be sure to include 3 credible sources for your Works Cited page.
“How the Poor Are Made to Pay for Their Poverty” by Barbara Ehrenreich
Study Questions
One. How are the poor robbed?
They are exploited and robbed in thousands of tiny cuts that leave them eviscerated, bereft, and hopeless.
They pay more for cars.
They pay higher interest rates on loans, up to 600%, which is legal in some states.
They pay in terms of stolen wages (employers can program computers to shave a few dollars off each paycheck).
They pay in terms of being preyed upon by police for civil forfeiture laws in which police can take money, cars, valuables of any kind, by saying it was money “seized in a drug deal” with no need for evidence, no need for arrest, and no need for any kind of trial.
They have to pay for family members’ incarceration or else be fined and subject to arrest and imprisonment themselves.
The sub-prime market preys upon the poor.
The poor can go to prison if they don’t show up to court to address a debt to a landlord or collections agency.
The government will confiscate the drivers’ licenses of the poor in the event they owe child support (which can’t be paid because they’re, well, poor) and now they can’t drive to work to earn their minimum wage.
If the poor cannot pay their overdue traffic fines in Las Cruces, New Mexico, they will be fined by having their water, gas, and sewage turned off.
Once the poor, who are more likely to get into trouble with the law, have a criminal record, they cannot find work for they now suffer a permanent stigma.
At this point, the poor are more likely to be homeless at which point they may “get busted for an offense like urinating in public or sleeping on a sidewalk.” (I keep thinking of the metaphor “squeezing blood from a turnip.)
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that compares the way DePalma (353) profiles immigrant workers with the way Ehrenreich (380) explores the working poor. Based on the argument she makes here, which specific aspects of DePalma's essay do you think Ehrenreich would find most persuasive? Why?
Sample Thesis
Ehrenreich and DePalma's essay refute the rhetoric that any person, no matter how poor, can lift herself out of poverty with strong character, determination, and hard work by showing that poverty is a self-reinforcing cycle evidenced by _______________, ______________, _______________, and _____________________.
Thesis That Disagrees with the Above
While Ehrenreich and DePalma do a good job of highlighting the risk factors for cycles of poverty, they do little to offer the poor strategies to free themselves from their impoverishment and as such their rigid liberal political agendas do more harm than good because their vision paints the poor as helpless victims who must rely on policy changes before they find relief from their interminable economic hell.
It Is Vile and Morally Bankrupt to Accuse the Poor of “Choosing” to be Poor
Thesis: Barbara Ehrenreich's essay and Anthony DePalma’s “Fifteen Years on the Bottom Rung” show that the sentiments against the poor are rooted in willful ignorance and selfish delusion.
I. The poor through no fault of their own suffer the consequences of sleep and rest deprivation.
II. The poor have no time, money or energy for self-improvement and job training.
III. The poor don’t have time or access for healthy food, which also compromises their general wellbeing.
IV. Helplessness reinforces bad financial decisions.
V. Poverty cuts off long-term goals.
Conclusion: Restate your thesis in more dramatic form and show the broader importance of your argument.
McMahon Grammar Exercise: Essential and Nonessential Clauses
Circle the relative clause and indicate if it’s essential with a capital E or nonessential with a capital N. Then use commas where necessary.
One. I’m looking for a sugar substitute that doesn’t have dangerous side effects.
Two. Sugar substitutes which often contain additives can wreak havoc on the digestive and nervous system.
Three. The man who trains in the gym every day for five hours is setting himself up for a serious muscle injury.
Four. Cars that operate on small turbo engines don’t last as long as non-turbo automobiles.
Five. Tuna which contains high amounts of mercury should only be eaten once or twice a week.
Six. The store manager who took your order has been arrested for fraud.
Seven. The store manager Ron Cousins who is now seventy-five years old is contemplating retirement.
Eight. Magnus Mills’ Restraint of Beasts which is my favorite novel was runner up for the Booker Prize.
Nine. Parenthood which is a sort of priesthood for which there is no pay or appreciation raises stress and cortisol levels.
Ten. I need to find a college that specializes in my actuarial math major.
Eleven. UCLA which has a strong actuarial math program is my first choice.
Twelve. My first choice of car is the Lexus which was awarded top overall quality honors from Consumer Reports.
Thirteen. Mangoes which sometimes cause a rash on my lips and chin area are my favorite fruit.
Fourteen. A strange man whom I’ve never known came up to me and offered to give me his brand new Mercedes.
Fifteen. My girlfriend who was showing off her brand new red dress arrived two hours late to the birthday party.
Sixteen. Students who meticulously follow the MLA format rules have a greater chance at success.
Seventeen. The student who tormented himself with the thesis lesson for six hours found himself more confused than before he started.
Eighteen. There are several distinctions between an analytical and argumentative thesis which we need to familiarize ourselves with before we embark on the essay assignment.
Nineteen. The peach that has a worm burrowing through its rotted skin should probably be tossed in the garbage.
Twenty. Peaches, which I love to eat by the bucketful are on sale at the farmer’s market.
Twenty-one. Baseball which used to be America’s pastime is declining in popularity.
Subordination and Coordination (Complex and Compound Sentences)
Complex Sentence
A complex sentence has two clauses. One clause is dependent or subordinate; the other clause is independent, that is to say, the independent clause is the complete sentence.
Examples:
While I was tanning in Hermosa Beach, I noticed the clouds were playing hide and seek.
Because I have a tendency to eat entire pizzas, inhaling them within seconds, I must avoid that fattening food.
Whenever I’m driving my car and I see people texting while driving, I stop my car on the side of the road.
I have to workout every day because I am addicted to exercise-induced dopamine.
I feel overcome with a combination of romantic melancholy and giddy excitement whenever there is a thunderstorm.
We use subordination to show cause and effect. To create subordinate clauses, we must use a subordinate conjunction:
The essential ingredient in a complex sentence is the subordinate conjunction:
after although as because before even if even though if in order that
once provided that rather than since so that than that though unless
until when whenever where whereas wherever whether while why
I workout too much. I have tenderness in my elbow.
Because I workout too much, I suffer tenderness in my elbow.
My elbow hurts. I’m working out.
Even though my elbow hurts, I’m working out.
We use coordination to show equal rank of ideas. To combine sentences with coordination we use FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so)
The calculus class has been cancelled. We will have to do something else.
The calculus class has been cancelled, so we will have to do something else.
I want more pecan pie. They only have apple pie.
I want more pecan pie, but they only have apple pie.
Using FANBOYS creates compound sentences
Angelo loves to buy a new radio every week, but his wife doesn’t like it.
You have high cholesterol, so you have to take statins.
I am tempted to eat all the rocky road ice cream, yet I will force myself to nibble on carrots and celery.
I want to go to the Middle Eastern restaurant today, and I want to see a movie afterwards.
I really like the comfort of elastic-waist pants, but wearing them makes me feel like an old man.
Both subordination and coordination combine sentences into smoother, clearer sentences.
The following four sentences are made smoother and clearer with the help of subordination:
McMahon felt gluttonous. He inhaled five pizzas. He felt his waist press against his denim waistband in a cruel, unforgiving fashion. He felt an acute ache in his stomach.
Because McMahon felt gluttonous, he inhaled five pizzas upon which he felt his waist press against his denim waistband resulting in an acute stomachache.
Another Example
Joe ate too much heavily salted popcorn. The saltiness made him thirsty. He consumed several gallons of water before bedtime. He was up going to the bathroom all night. He got a bad night’s sleep. He performed terribly during his job interview.
Due to his foolish consumption of salted popcorn, Joe was so thirty he drank several gallons of water before bedtime, which caused him to go to the bathroom all night, interfering with his night’s sleep and causing him to do terribly on his job interview.
Another Example
Bob dropped his peanut butter sandwich in the tiger’s enclosure. He leaned over the fence to reach for his sandwich. He fell over the fence. A tiger approached Bob. The zookeeper ran between the stupid zoo customer and the wild beast. The zookeeper tore his rotator cuff.
After Bob dropped his peanut butter sandwich in the tiger’s enclosure, he leaned over the fence to recover his sandwich and fell into the enclosure during which time he was approached by a hungry tiger, forcing the nearby zookeeper to run between Bob and wild beast. During the struggle, the zookeeper tore his rotator cuff.
Don’t Do Subordination Overkill
After Bob dropped his peanut butter sandwich in the tiger’s enclosure, he leaned over the fence to recover his sandwich and fell into the enclosure during which time he was approached by a hungry tiger forcing the nearby zookeeper to run between Bob and the wild beast in such a manner that the zookeeper tore his rotator cuff, which resulted in a prolonged disability leave and the loss of his job, a crisis that compelled the zookeeper to file a lawsuit against Bob for financial damages.
Option 1
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate Kristof's argument in "Prudence Or Cruelty?" that in spite of the food stamp abuses cited by opponents of the food stamp program, providing food stamps for the poor is moral and economic imperative over the long-term. Be sure to have a counterargument and rebuttal section at the end of your essay.
Option 2
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, support, refute, or complicate the notion that eating meat is morally defensible in the context of evolution and biology and that ethical objections to meat eating are not born of eating meat but the abuses that result in the factory farming of animals. Be sure to have a counterargument-refutation section.
Option 3
Addressing Francine Prose's "The Wages of Sin," write a 5-page essay with 3 sources that supports, refutes, or complicates the notion that overeating is not an illness but a moral flaw and a vice.
Option 4
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that addresses the claim that Francine Prose and Caroline Knapp are criticizing cultural norms about eating that in truth are not normal at all but pathological and that these norms create a toxic eating environment in our culture.
Option 5
Both McMillan and Kristof (172) use their examinations of public attitudes toward food as a platform to argue for specific changes in our official food policy. In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that explains how these recommendations compare. Can you imagine Kristof citing points McMillan raises here as evidence or support for the argument he makes about food stamps? If so, how specifically?
Option 6
Both Dolnick and Francine Prose address the mythical narrative of obesity and overeating by deconstructing the myth. In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that analyzes how Dolnick and Prose deconstruct the myth of fatness.
Option 7
Essay Prompt from page 175
Create a proposal that outlines what you believe should be the proper government policy concerning food stamps. How much support for this program should the government provide? What particular needs should it address? What limits should it establish? Then write a quick assessment of the ways your proposal compares to Kristof’s. What are the key similarities and differences?
Or you can look at the assignment this way:
In a 5-page essay, support, refute, or complicate Kristof's argument that in spite of the food stamp abuses cited by opponents of the food stamp program, providing food stamps for the poor is moral and economic imperative over the long-term. Be sure to have a counterargument and rebuttal section at the end of your essay.
Option 8
Essay Writing Prompt from Page 180
Here is how Schwennesen resolves the moral questions posed by raising and slaughtering animals for a living: “I’ve saved the lives of calves and butchered their mothers in the same afternoon. I thank each for the age-old sacrifice of prey to predator and I swear they understand. I neither rejoice in the blood nor shy from it. This is life. This is ethics” (178). Write a [5-page] essay in which you describe and evaluate the model of “ethics” Schwennesen presents here. Does the relationship he sketches between humans and animals (“predator and prey”) seem like a moral one? In your view, is he able to reconcile the contradiction between “saving” animals on the one hand and “butchering” them on the other? If not, what are the flaws or gaps in his argument?
Or you can look at the essay assignment choice this way:
In a 5-page essay, support, refute, or complicate the notion that eating meat is morally defensible in the context of evolution and biology and that ethical objections to meat eating are not born of eating meat but the abuses that result in the factory farming of animals. Be sure to have a counterargument-refutation section.
Option 9
Writing Prompt from Page 187
One of the hallmarks of our contemporary culture, according to Prose, is that overeating is no longer viewed as a vice or sin but as an illness. Do you agree? What are some of the ways this change in thinking is communicated in popular culture or in the media? Write an essay in which you argue for or against gluttony as a moral issue.
Or put it this way:
Addressing Francine Prose's "The Wages of Sin," write a 5-page essay with 5 sources that supports, refutes, or complicates the notion that overeating is not an illness but a moral flaw and a vice.
For Knapp, cultural attitudes about food formed “a low-level thrumming of should and shouldn’ts and can’ts and wants,” or what the author calls a kind of “feminine Muzak" (189). In your view, does this analogy do a good or bad job of capturing the ways we learn to absorb or internalize cultural norms around eating? Write an essay in which you compare these messages and this process of internalization to what Francine Prose (181) has to say in her piece on gluttony. Does Prose seem to share Knapp’s view of where our norms vis-à-vis food typically come from and the ways they come to feel so normal? How or how not?
What is being internalized?
Obsession with unrealistic images of beauty that result in obsession with self-control
Obsessive link between being thin, or not, with one's identity
Obsessive link between being thin, or not, with one's self-worth
Option 11
n a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that compares the way Louis Uchitelle (342) and Matthew Crawford (368) explore the emotional life of work and how work affects our happiness, contentment, and self-esteem. To what extent does Uchitelle's argument about the psychological damage wrought by unemployment recall or help reinforce Crawford's claims about the emotional satisfactions afforded by working with your hands?
Sample Thesis
Reading Crawford and Uchitelle, we must face the terrifying fact that our sense of self is so inextricably linked to our job that failure to choose a job compatible with our personality can result in alienation, self-loathing, crippling depression, and even death.
Option 12
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, write a review of DePalma's essay that you think Uchitelle might offer. To what extent would Uchitelle's review find parallels in the social and economic hardships profiled here and his argument regarding the emotional costs of unemployment?
Sample Thesis
Uchitelle's tragic view of unemployment would compel him to see DePalma's essay as a complement to his own as DePalma's essay reinforces the learned helplessness, depression, stagnation, and family dysfunction rendered by low-income work and unemployment.
Option 13
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, write an assessment of how the messages in Catherine Rampell's essay (388) and Matthew Crawford's (368) compare with one another. Does Rampell's attempt to explode the myth of the "slacker generation" remind you in any way of Crawford's desire to rewrite the boundary between white-collar and manual labor? Do these writers challenge such stereotypes in order to say similar or different things about the meaning and value of work?
Option 14
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop a thesis that compares the way DePalma (353) profiles immigrant workers with the way Ehrenreich (380) explores the working poor. Based on the argument she makes here, which specific aspects of DePalma's essay do you think Ehrenreich would find most persuasive? Why?
Option 15
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, show how McClelland's examination of the psychological pressures she experienced on the job (394) compare to the portrait of the unemployed Louis Uchitelle (342) presents? Do you find any similarities or parallels in the ways each essay explores this issue?
Option 16
In a 5-page essay with 3 sources, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses whether it is appropriate, or not, to use the business model described in Hochschild's essay (418) as a way of making the "mutually beneficial transaction" between parents and a surrogate mother. Consider Barbara Ehrenreich's essay (380) about how the experience of being poor complicates this business model.
Option 17
Essay Prompt from Page 367
How much of DePalma's discussion here reminds you of what Louis Uchitelle says about the kinds of psychic harm job-related struggles can inflict? Write a review of DePalma's essay that you think Uchitelle might offer. To what extent would Uchitelle's review find parallels in the social and economic hardships profiled here and his argument regarding the emotional costs of unemployment?
When you're beaten down by unemployment and poverty, you succumb to a provisional, short-term existence with no long-term vision for a happy, meaningful future.
Essay Assignment Based on Prompt #6 from page 410.
McClelland not only chronicles the physical toll warehouse work can exact; she examines the psychological toll as well. How does her account of the psychological pressures she experienced on the job compare to the portrait of the unemployed Louis Uchitelle (342) presents? Do you find any similarities or parallels in the ways each essay explores this issue?
Sample Thesis
McClelland, Uchitelle, and Vice News show that the modern day business model has become more and more predatory toward the workers, exploiting them in new ways that result in new kinds of humanitarian crises that are morally bankrupt and contrary to the American Dream.
Triangular relationship between temp agency, employer and worker strips workers of their rights and conceals discrimination practices.
The New Economy has created desperation, a condition that the new employers are eager to take advantage of.
The labor and wage practices are analogous in many ways to a form of slavery.
The New Economy doesn’t give workers viable alternatives to these exploitive conditions and in fact traps them in a cycle not unlike that between an abusive boyfriend and his girlfriend.
Option 19
Essay Topic:
Defend, refute, or complicate the assertion that universal preschool is necessary to bring economic justice to working mothers.
McMahon Grammar Exercise: Essential and Nonessential Clauses
Circle the relative clause and indicate if it’s essential with a capital E or nonessential with a capital N. Then use commas where necessary.
One. I’m looking for a sugar substitute that doesn’t have dangerous side effects.
Two. Sugar substitutes which often contain additives can wreak havoc on the digestive and nervous system.
Three. The man who trains in the gym every day for five hours is setting himself up for a serious muscle injury.
Four. Cars that operate on small turbo engines don’t last as long as non-turbo automobiles.
Five. Tuna which contains high amounts of mercury should only be eaten once or twice a week.
Six. The store manager who took your order has been arrested for fraud.
Seven. The store manager Ron Cousins who is now seventy-five years old is contemplating retirement.
Eight. Magnus Mills’ Restraint of Beasts which is my favorite novel was runner up for the Booker Prize.
Nine. Parenthood which is a sort of priesthood for which there is no pay or appreciation raises stress and cortisol levels.
Ten. I need to find a college that specializes in my actuarial math major.
Eleven. UCLA which has a strong actuarial math program is my first choice.
Twelve. My first choice of car is the Lexus which was awarded top overall quality honors from Consumer Reports.
Thirteen. Mangoes which sometimes cause a rash on my lips and chin area are my favorite fruit.
Fourteen. A strange man whom I’ve never known came up to me and offered to give me his brand new Mercedes.
Fifteen. My girlfriend who was showing off her brand new red dress arrived two hours late to the birthday party.
Sixteen. Students who meticulously follow the MLA format rules have a greater chance at success.
Seventeen. The student who tormented himself with the thesis lesson for six hours found himself more confused than before he started.
Eighteen. There are several distinctions between an analytical and argumentative thesis which we need to familiarize ourselves with before we embark on the essay assignment.
Nineteen. The peach that has a worm burrowing through its rotted skin should probably be tossed in the garbage.
Twenty. Peaches, which I love to eat by the bucketful are on sale at the farmer’s market.
Twenty-one. Baseball which used to be America’s pastime is declining in popularity.