Due WED (5/2) before 11:59pm. You should have TWO clear response text boxes. Answer the first question about Gorsht in one, then answer the second set of questions about Sadasivam in a second response "Reply" text box. Note that there are far more questions to answer about the second article than the first, so be sure to number your questions in the second response as well. In Forbes , a website well-known for its business savvy, Reuven Gorsht writes a quick blurb of optimism about the power of the consumer in his article "The Power of the Individual" (published May 22, 2014). What is Gorsht's main argument about the power of the individual that is surprising? Do you agree or disagree with his point? Why? For full credit, be sure to include at least one direct quote (properly formatted) from the article into your response with the proper source introduction necessary to legitimate your reference. [Hint: there's an example of how to do it correctly somewhere around here....]
In a text box AFTER your response on Gorsht, respond to the questions below about the Texas Observer article "Too Big To Fine, Too Small To Fight Back," by Naveena Sadasivam that was published on February 21, 2018.
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Due TUE (4/24) before 11:59pmOkay enough talk about how much power Facebook and the NRA have.
Let's talk about how much power you have. The FD4 prompt is going to be: Choose one form of power that the NRA or Facebook seems to have a monopoly on. Then analyze what forms of power we, as a society, can counterbalance that power with. The ODT15 prompt is: Choose one form of power that you mentioned in ODT14 that seems to be the biggest form of power over you, then analyze what forms of power you, as an individual, can counterbalance that power with. For example: My boss has the power of authority over me because they have the power to fire me if they do not agree with my actions. However, I have the power of the U.S. constitution ensuring my freedom such that I can walk out of a place of employment as well. I have the power to leave that place if I do not agree with my employer's actions. The U.S. constitution ensures that I have the freedom to act as an independent body rather than be enslaved against my will and forcibly be subjected to my employer's power of authority over me anymore. I also have the power of information through technology in that I can access legal knowledge so that I can sue my employers if they are abusing me in any way according to the law. With proper knowledge about what is legal and not legal in contracts of employment, I can protect myself from abused powers of authority with my own power of information. I also have the power of influence in that I can get on social media as well as contact corporate media outlets if the abuse is significant enough to grab public attention. I have the power if influence over my employers (particularly if they are a commercial business that interacts with the public) in that I can hurt their reputation (decrease their power of influence) as well as hurt their financial status (decrease their power of money). Ultimately then, not only does my power of influence counterbalance my employer's power of authority over me, it keeps in check their power of influence and their power of money as well. ...You will need two more to make FIVE solid forms of power that you can counterbalance the excess of your boss's power of authority over you. Another example: As my dad always says (this is just an example, my dad has actually never said such a thing in his life): "I brought you into this world; I have the power to take you out of this world." My parents have the power of ultimate control over my life because they can literally kick me out of the house and leave me penniless, homeless, and destitute if I refuse to comply to their life values. However, I have the power of love over my parents because in order for them to receive my love, they need to prove to me that I can feel safe with them. If they threaten my very existence, even though there will always be a sort of love because they brought me into this world, I will not be able to be vulnerable and reciprocate love with my parents. I actually have this power because my parents assumably love me and desire my love in return. Therefore, the power of my love counterbalances the power of their control. I also have the power of U.S. constitutional freedom in that if I run away from them and provide evidence in the eyes of the law that they were unfit parents, I can be granted my independence from them and be legally free from their power of control. Also, because of Professor Song's English 1302 class, I have the power of rhetoric in which I can use my skills of persuasion to change my parents' minds and ultimately counterbalance their power of control over me by sometimes convincing them to see my perspective and agree with me. ...You will need two more to make FIVE solid forms of power that you can counterbalance the excess of your boss's power of authority over you. Extended to TUE (04/17) before 11:59pmChoose five types of "packets" of power and write a paragraph on each of them about how each "packet of power" is exchanged back and forth between two parties that exist in YOUR WORLD. Avoid broad terms of power like "universities", "social media", "corporations" and use 5 terms that are very specific like: education, influence, reputation, etc. Add to each of those terms the word "of" or "from". For example:
Forms of power:
Talk about your five forms of power (made more specific with the prepositions "of" or "from") in terms of your own everyday interactions. Your two parties should be like: significant others, parent/child, lovers, boss/employee, co-workers, student peers, older sibling/younger sibling, online daters, teacher/student, neighbors, grocery cashier/you, McDonald's server/you, you/your best friend, etc. In a nutshell, come up with FIVE forms of power you see moving back and forth in your own everyday life interactions. They can be the forms of power you see your parents jockey back and forth, the forms of power that get negotiated between you and your siblings or your significant other, forms of power you see in play between you and your friends, or your two of your friends (you may want to use "anonymous" names here LOL), etc. Write a paragraph for each of those FIVE forms of power. Be creative; think outside the box. Hunt out forms of power you never may have considered to analyze power before. What about the power dynamics between you and the employee at Target? If you're not sure, go to Target and interact with an employee; carefully observe your behavior and her/his behavior. What are the forms of power there? Who has more? Who has less? (This answer will be different for everyone since everyone negotiates power in society differently.) WHY??? Due FRI(04/13) before 11:59pm.THOUGHT QUESTIONS: Read the questions below before you post anything in response to the official prompt below. Discuss these questions with your friends and family and quote your friends and family in your responses to prove that you've picked other brains on this line of thought in preparation for our next essay project "What is power?". What is power? There's the abstract answer and the concrete answer. Let's start with the concrete answer: what are forms of power? The most obvious one in U.S. capitalist democracy is: money. However, if we're going to talk about Facebook and the NRA, as well as negative and positive forms of power, where's the money? Show me the money. We've already discussed the negative forms of power both Facebook and the NRA exert with their monies (although we've hardly touched all of these forms - these forms, as we dig deeper into power, will be what your essays will be about). Negative forms of power in the exchange of money is that Facebook gets billions of dollars from companies like Cambridge Analytica to buy our online data for marketing purposes. NRA money goes into the pockets of our politicians so that the laws that NRA wants to protect stay protected. So what power (in the form of money) do "we" as a society have on the flip side of the Facebook coin and/or the NRA coin? What kind of "money power" do we have with Facebook and the NRA? Where and how do we exercise our power with these two entities? What is the meaning of "FREE STUFF" (since "free" is the opposite of money?). How is there power in the absence of money? What is the power of something being "free"? Is it really "free"? Why do we like free stuff? The product that Facebook is offering us for free is obvious: "the power to connect the world". What abou the NRA? What free product is the NRA offering us? Why are we so okay with the NRA exerting its power on Congress? What "free product" are we getting in exchange? In other words, what form of power are we getting with these two entities in exchange for the power we are giving? What are these two particular forms of power? * There is no hard "right" answer to these questions Everyone. It is YOUR OPINION that I'm looking for here. Right now we're brainstorming and your analysis could be technically dead "wrong". But what we're trying to discover is an INFORMED OPINION that your friends, family and/or yourself will formulate and develop into a rhetorically powerful essay. The only thing I'm going to label as "wrong" is an answer that is not sufficiently and persuasively backed up. Okay go forth and discover. PROMPT QUESTION: Read the articles in RDG10-11 and choose two NRA articles and two Facebook articles in which you discuss various forms of power found in them. You should have four paragraphs in your response below. Each paragraph should be on one of the articles give in RDG10-11 (two about the NRA and two about the Facebook). Each paragraph should include a direct quote from the article that supports your reason for identifying a certain form of power that either the NRA, Facebook or "WE" are engaging in. By Tuesday (04/17) you should have read all 8 articles and be ready to talk about your thoughts on power and how the NRA and the Facebook are not the only entities with power. Be ready to talk about how WE also engage in power. What are we getting return for all this power we're just handing over to the Facebook and the NRA? Due FRI (03/30) before 11:59pm.Knowing your stats and facts regarding your proposal is vital. List at least TEN stats (hard numbers, percentages, rates, frequencies, dates that can be verified through a reliable source) about your proposal concerning its JUSTIFICATION and/or SOLUTIONS and cite the source as an authoritative source. Now, oftentimes, stats will be found on dot-org, dot-edu, dot-gov sites that have no immediate person's name attached to the given number. These are still very important numbers. What helps to boost the legitimacy of these "authorless" sources, then, is to clearly mention in your essay who the director of this program found on dot-org, dot-edu, dot-gov site. Always include a full name and reputation of a human being we can go back to verify any information you offer.
EXAMPLE: Say I'm a student who wants COM to promote better student school spirit and am proposing funding for a Spring campus colleges and jobs fair. I'd need to argue that there's a need for students to get this kind of extravaganza, that there would be a huge benefit for COM, and most of all, that it'd be safe. Important stats would be:
Due WED (03/21) before 11:59pm.Read the three paragraphs below and the links that each refers to. Respond by writing three paragraphs of your own as to how each source will be used to supplement your own proposal project. Be specific as to how it will serve YOUR project's objectives. Be sure to include at least one direct quote from each website for each paragraph!
LAYING YOUR FOUNDATION TO BE A LEGIT AUTHORITY ON COM:
Before you propose anything to the COM Board of Trustees [Go to: http://www.com.edu/bot.], you should probably know the project you're talking about. Just a person hates being criticized most by someone who doesn't even know them, you need to prove to your reader (the COM-BOT) that you have a deep understanding of the institution itself - otherwise, you just sound like you're a complainer rather than a scholar. Oh and look! There's a list of powerful people in charge of areas like: building and grounds, finances, human resources, and public policy/community relations. Although this wouldn't count as "authoritative sourcing" it is near required that you use it A LOT to make it clear that you know COM policy and regulations inside and out. Knowing COM's history is also important [Go to: http://www.com.edu/about/history.] It is also good to know about what kinds of monies are coming into COM. Look into grants, federal and state allocations for community colleges, etc. Are there any private foundations or alumni donors who contribute to the school? Do they specify certain ways the money must be spent? Check out the Title V Grant [Go to: http://www.com.edu/about/title-v-grant.] and ask yourself if your project could get funding from this grant, or if not, hunt down other sources of COM funding that might. Due SUN (03/18) by 11:59 pm.EXTRA CREDIT: For every post here, you will get 5% pointage increase in your ODT participation points. Great discussion this morning everyone! I'm pretty excited to hear your ideas as your classmates probably are too. Here are your ideas that I got. Remember, if you're interested in working with a classmate together on a proposal project, be sure to contact me asap so that we can start designing a multiple-pronged attack at the problem (this just means each student will be responsible for covering different areas of solution in their essay). If you want the particulars on the RD3 rubrics itself, it has been posted. Also remember though, that I will deliberately change the FD3 rubrics slightly so that we work on DEVELOPING our drafts as we progress through the project. Ideas (I've basically transcribed your notes, only sometimes paraphrasing): *Remember, you are not committed to these ideas! Post below any new ideas to bounce off of your classmates!
ADDITIONAL EXTRA CREDIT exercises for your final EP3 project grade: * You must email me first and let me know this is what you're going to do so that I can authorize it. I wouldn't want you to waste too much time on something I don't deem beneficial to the requirements of this assignment. Deadline for completion of all following projects: THU (03/22) before 11:59 pm.
Due FRI (03/02) before 11:59pm.Appointment Confirmation Schedule.... so far.
If you have not scheduled an appointment slot by Monday (03/05) before 11:59pm, you will be assigned whatever time is left. Regardless of your appointment time, please be sure to be in class at 8:00am sharp to participate in class. (See UPDATE below). UPDATE: Due to liability issues, I will not be able to have individual conferencing without simultaneously conducting class with everyone present for the entire duration of the class period. What I will have to do is have individual conferencing in the hallway while the rest of the class works on a separate project in the classroom. There will be an attendance sheet and instructions on the white board as to what you will be doing as a group project next week Tuesday and Thursday. Please do NOT just show up for your conference as I originally indicated would be the case. My sincere apologies for the mistake. Note: ODT8 (due MON) posting is right below this one. Due MON (03/05) before 11:59pm.ASSIGNMENT: Read my suggestions below as a jumpstart to offering your own ideas. This assignment will be in GAME format. RULE #1: In your response, offer FIVE (and only five) ways to get EXCITED about your research project. RULE #2: You may NOT post any method that has been mentioned before you by classmate who posted ahead of you. If you do, you will not get credit (both academic and "game" credit) for it. RULE #3: There will be prizes for the students with the top five scores for this assignment. Advice: The crazier the better, yet the more possible the better. WAYS to get EXCITED about your research project:
Suggestions for kickstart inspiration when your research project feels more like a burden than an opportunity and a privilege to speak your mind: * Do something outside of your comfort zone like go talk to someone who has experienced the above. If it's you, go talk to someone who was there when you were going through it; you may gain a new perspective on the whole experience. * Examine your sources, are they all from the same type of source? Change it up. Look into documentaries, go interview experts in the field, ask your parents, friends and family about their input; you may be surprised by what they have to offer and/or suggest. * Ask another professor about this idea. Doesn't even have to be one you're taking currently. Look up a particular department that is especially related to your research topic and email, visit or call that professor. If you want to find a nerd who has too much information on a topic, a professor is someone who is exactly that haha. Don't even limit yourself to COM. What about University of Houston? What about other community colleges around here? What about high school teachers? These are all people who are PAID to professionally know about the richness and complexity of sources out there. * Write a blog about it. Make it public. Nobody may see it. But you'll know it's out there. You never know.... * Write out what you have so far, all the most interesting things about it, on a piece of paper. Then just tack it up in a public place like a coffee shop, community board, somewhere on campus. Or even just your car. * Listen to NPR, catch a talk show discussing your research topic (you can check the NPR website for a schedule of the shows), and call in. I dare you. * Talk to an ER doc about any of the topics. Just be ready with a strong heart and stronger stomach if you find a particularly forthright practitioner. * Are any of the shooters currently in anything less than maximum-security prison? See if you can communicate with them. See if you can interview them. * What about family members, like Violet (Amy Bloom) who have survived the aftermath of these tragic phenomena? If you can have a conversation with a loved one who's gone through this and still not start to understand the power and significance of your research project, you may want to step back and examine your own life and see what is blocking you. Due MON (02/26) before 11:59pmRead the article above written by David Labaree titled "The Five-Paragraph Fetish" (click on the image above) then answer the questions below:
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ODT Rules
Online discussion threads are our virtual online classroom discussions. Your ODT participation will account for 10% of your class grade. However, ODT is not separate from our in-class discussions since your ODT comments will often be used as references just as often in-class. |