READ THIS: PRESENTATIONS

PRESENTATIONS: please take these seriously: they are an important part of your participation in the class. Your job when you present is to lead the discussion on the reading for that day. You may bring in some research, but most of all, you should be very well-prepared with insights, interpretations, and questions about the reading at hand. You may want to begin by summarizing the progress of the plot represented by the excerpt assigned on that day. Then you should have passages picked out for the class to discuss. You may want to be ready, also, with the posts for the day (you can copy and paste them and print them out). The purpose of the presentation is to give more responsibility to the classmembers and de-center the discussion a little bit (although I will still chime in). Here are your assignments, mostly random. 1. Wed. 3/30 Small Things, 84-147, Eidia. 2. 4/4 Small Things, 148-225, Hannah. 3. 4/6 Small Things, ending, Anna. 4. 4/11 Ondaatje, Dan. 5. 4/13 Mukherjee, Michael. 6. 4/18 Poppies, 3-87, Karol. 7. 4/20 Poppies, 88-156, Jason. 8. 4/25 Poppies, 157-226, Joe. 9. 4/27, Poppies, 227-342, Will. 10. 5/2 Poppies, 343-446, Rachel. 11. 5/4 Poppies, finish, Jane.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Karol - Roy -04/05

"Fiction and nonfiction are only different techniques of story telling." Roy's talk is very broad on the system's of oppression in the world  but I have a hard time seeing it in the book. Perhaps it shows in the character's lack of agency. I can definitely see her interests in power dynamics but since everything is on the subjective level the state level (as her theme here represents) is not visible. There is an anarchic tone to her rhetoric which she represents in her book.
"I believe that the accumulation of vast unfettered power by a State or a country, a corporation or an institution - or even an individual, a spouse, a friend, a sibling -regardless of ideology..." I agree what she says about the branding of anti-Americans but that is not representative of the whole or even the majority.
"The term "anti-American" is usually used by the American establishment to discredit and, not falsely - but shall we say inaccurately - define its critics. Once someone is branded anti-American, the chances are that he or she will be judged before they are heard, and the argument will be lost in the welter of bruised national pride...is not just racist, it's a failure of the imagination." Saying that calling someone racist for calling you anti-American is just tit for tat. Overall, I found her speech is very interesting but the pessimistic approach is what I find unattractive about her work. Not to say that she is wrong but she offers no solutions (it's easy to point out the problems).


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