Essay Options & Strategies for Essay #2, Deadline of April 7, 2020 (Includes Bonus Options for Fans of Black Panther Movie)
Essay #2 (1,000 words)
Minimum of 2 sources for your MLA Works Cited page.
Choice A
Watch Netflix documentary Ronnie Coleman: The King. Considered to be the greatest bodybuilder of all time, Coleman is now on crutches, faces a lifetime of excruciating pain, must take opioid pain medication, may have to be consigned to a wheelchair, and by most accounts the abuse he took to become a champion bodybuilder is the reason for his condition. The film celebrates Coleman’s life principle to persist in doing what he loves, but doing what he loves comes with a price: excruciating, life-altering injuries. Is doing what we love worth it? In this context, develop an argumentative thesis that addresses the notion that in order to achieve exceptional success, we are justified to make sacrifices of our body, minds, and souls. Is Coleman’s current condition justified by his success and his heroic drive to do what he loves? Answer this question and be sure to have a counterargument section.
Three Sources:
You need to cite two sources, the Ronnie Coleman documentary and Bourree Lam’s Atlantic article “Why ‘Do You What You Love’ Is Pernicious Advice.” This is based on essay, "In the Name of Love" by Miya Tokumitsu.
Johann Hari: "Are Junk Values Making Us Depressed?"
From The Passion Paradox by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness:
When Passion Goes Bad:
One. You become a slave to external results and validation.
Two. You become blind to everything but your passion.
Three. You burn out.
Four. You lose joy.
Five. Everyone tells you how find your passion but no one tells you how to find it, or how to live with it.
When Passion Helps You Thrive and Be Your Best
One. You use passion to achieve self-determination, which means you are not dependent on external validation or external rewards like money and fame, but for the intrinsic joy of your passion.
Two. Your passion is accompanied by competency and mastery of your craft. In other words, passion without the discipline and focus to make the passion become actualized is worthless.
Three. Your passion is accompanied by autonomy and freedom to live your most authentic self, not a terrified shadow of yourself seeking outside approval.
Four. Your passion gives you a sense of relatedness: your passion connects you to something larger than yourself.
Developing a Thesis for Option A:
One. Of course, we should have some passion for anything we do. It is too self-evident to make a claim that we should have passion or not when making a career choice.
Two. To achieve critical thinking in this topic, we have to talk about passion in terms of specific definition, a specific context, and a specific application.
Definition
Your essay should discern between intrinsic and extrinsic passion.
Not all passion is equal. Some passion is deeply-seated in the core of one's soul. Other passions are superficial and transitory or short-lived.
Specific Context
Your essay should discern between the passion of a noble pursuit, like recycling or saving the planet or developing renewable energy technologies or being passionate about something based on greed or hate or racism or some other despicable impulse.
Passion is not absolute. Life often requires that we make compromises with our passion for our self-interests. For example, I might be a great artist, but I can't make a living doing studio art, so I have to compromise by using my artistic skills as a graphic designer for Honda or Lexus or the computer gaming industry.
The idea that we must "live our passion" without restraint and in some absolute form is often unrealistic, absurd, childish, asinine, and self-destructive.
Application
Your essay should frame passion as only one tool in your career toolbox. For example, passion that is not harnessed by discipline, structure, consistency, and common sense is not only worthless; it's dangerous.
McMahon's "Hot Take" Thesis
To advise people to "follow their passion and do what they love" is an empty, even dangerous bromide unless we attach that advice to important caveats or conditions: People should follow their passion and do what they love if the love comes from an intrinsic place, if people have the discipline and guidance to develop competence and mastery of the thing they love, if people are willing to make compromises when the thing they love can't make them a living as they originally intended, and if people have calculated the net liability of doing the thing they love with its net benefits.
In the case of Ronnie Coleman, the latter calculation is his individual choice. Personally, I would not subject myself to a lifetime of major surgeries, crippling injuries, and pain medications in order to be the world's best bodybuilder; however, unlike Ronnie Coleman, I am not a rare muscle freak who has the potential to reach the level of muscle freakishness that Ronnie Coleman was able to obtain.
Counterargument
McMahon's rebuke of passion is nonsense. We are not mercenaries, robots, soulless android-like supporting our lifestyles with whatever jobs are available. We go to college in part to find a way to awaken passions within us that we can connect to the job market. Eliminating the passion component is foolish, cruel, and unwise because if we pursue careers solely based on financial interests, we will lose our soul, we will fall into depression, we will fizzle out, and we won't have the competitive edge against those who pursue the same fields we do and have authentic passion in what they do.
Choice B
Read LA Times editorial “Why not let homeless college students park in campus lots?” and develop and argumentative thesis that addresses the claim that community colleges are acting in students’ best interests by providing sleeping spaces in the parking lots.
Choice C
Read Yoni Appelbaum’s essay “How America Ends” and develop an argumentative thesis about the role of massive demographic shifts on American democracy.
Choice D
Read Derek Thompson’s essay “Workism Is Making Americans Miserable” and develop a thesis that supports or refutes Thompson’s claim that work has become a false religion that doesn’t deliver on its promises.
Choice E
Read "Should the Government Give Everyone $1,000 a Month?" by Spencer Bokat-Lindell in The New York Times and develop a thesis that argues for or against UBI as a viable solution to the crisis of mass unemployment.
Bonus Black Panther Essay Options for Essay #2
Option F
See the movie Black Panther and in an argumentative essay, with a counterargument-rebuttal section, address the question: Is Erik Killmonger a villain or a hero?
Resources for Works Cited:
See: Argument about Erik Killmonger
See: Boston Review
See:"Black Panther and the Invention of Africa
" by Jelani Cobb
See Guardian
See Washington Post
See Forbes
See The Ringer
Option G
Watch the movie Black Panther and address the argument that the mythical city of Wakanda is a metaphor for the need of African history that has been corrupted and "white-washed" over the centuries by racist, white historians who have painted an inaccurate history of Africa.
Sources:
"Black Panther and the Real Lost Wakandas
" by Clive Irving
"Black Panther and the Invention of Africa
" by Jelani Cobb
"Black Panther: A Conversation about Real African History
" by Melvin Lars
"Black Panther is a gorgeous, groundbreaking celebration of black culture
" by Tre Johnson
"The Real History Behind the Black Panther
" by Ryan Mattimore
"Searching for Wakanda: The African Roots of the Black Panther Story
" by Thomas F. McDrew
Option H
Watch the movie Black Panther and develop a thesis about how the film sheds light on the tensions between Africans and black Americans.
Sources:
"Black Panther: Why the relationship between Africans and black Americans is so messed up
" by Larry Madowo and Karen Attiah
"Black Panther and the Invention of Africa
" by Jelani Cobb
"Black Panther Forces Africans and Black Americans to Reconcile the Past
" by Kovie Biakolo
March 17 Essay 1 Due on turnitin; Ronnie Coleman; debate on providing sleepover parking lots: Read LA Times editorial “Why not let homeless college students park in campus lots?” and develop and argumentative thesis about the pros and cons of providing sleeping spaces for college students. Homework #6 for next class is to read Yoni Appelbaum’s essay “How America Ends” and in 200 words explain how massive demographic shifts threaten American democracy.
March 19 Go over Yoni Appelbaum’s essay “How America Ends.” Homework #7 for the next class. Read Derek Thompson’s essay “Workism Is Making Americans Miserable” and in 200 words explain the curse of “Workism.”
March 24 Go over Derek Thompson’s notion of “Workism.” Homework #8 is to read "Should the Government Give Everyone $1,000 a Month?" by Spencer Bokat-Lindell and in 200 words explain the pros and cons of UBI.
March 26 Go over the UBI debate. We will grade Portfolio #1, based on responses 1-8.
March 31 Chromebook In-Class Objective: Write first half of your essay.
April 2 Chromebook In-Class Objective: Write second half of your essay.
April 7 Essay 2 due on turnitin.
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