Homework for Tuesday, May 8

Begin reading Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It would be great if you could get to page 34. Pay attention to Oskar's narration and how his language reflects or expresses his persona.

You may want to practice in your black and yellow exam prep book.

On Tuesday, we will first review your recent in-class essays, and then we'll discuss the rhetoric of Foer's novel.

Homework for Monday, April 30, and other dates

Write a draft for a short piece that responds to one of the following prompts:

1. Look at the last paragraph of Didion's "On Morality" (it's a long paragraph) and write a (long) paragraph about morality in the post-9/11 world. Like Didion, start your paragraph with a sentence that begins,"You see I want to be quite obstinate about insisting that we..."

2. As Ericsson categorizes and defines lies in "The Ways We Lie," categorize and define at least three kinds of facts.These facts and their definitions must have some bearing on 9/11. Your examples don't have to come directly from something related to 9/11, but you should make connections between your examples and 9/11. You may open and close your piece with two or three sentences that provide a context for understanding the nature of facts after 9/11.

If you have any uncertainties about either topic, don't hesitate to get in touch with me.

The final version of this piece will be due on Wednesday, May 2.

In class on Monday, April 30 (day 1; last block) you will write a synthesis essay on 9/11. There is nothing you can do to prepare for it except to put yourself in the right frame of mind for writing it. You will have fifteen minutes to read the sources and forty minutes to write the essay. During the reading period, you may take notes and organize the essay, but you may not begin writing the essay. After the essay, we will discuss the argumentative essay on Thomas Paine and America.

On Wednesday, May 2 (day 3; second block), you will write both a rhetorical analysis essay and an argumentative essay. Be sure to arrive early for class so you have the benefit of the full eighty minutes.

On Friday, May 4 (day 5, first block), you will complete another hour-long set of multiple-choice questions.

Additional Resources for 9/11 and Loose Change

If you're trying to sort through the various issues raised by reading The 9/11 Commission Report and viewing Loose Change, the resources below may be of some help to you.

New York Times Interactive Feature: Inside the Towers
New York Times Interactive Feature: How the Towers Stood and Fell (heavy on engineering and design)
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Final Report on the Collapses of the World Trade Center Towers 
Screw Loose Change (a blog whose title describes its raison d'etre)

Homework for Tuesday, April 24

In "On Dumpster Diving," Lars Eighner takes a term that has certain connotations and explains what it really is. In light of your reading of The 9/11 Commission Report and viewing of Loose Change, write a short essay (two to three pages) that explains what terrorism is. Like Eighner, try to use a variety of strategies (personal, ethical, analytical, and so on) to make your point. The final version of this essay will be due Thursday, April 26.

In class on Tuesday, you will finish viewing Loose Change and we will review your first drafts of the Eighner-like essay.

Homework for April 18 and April 20

For April 18, begin working on a two-page Swiftian response to 9/11. After completing The 9/11 Commission Report, you may feel some outrage and dismay. Consider Swift's approach to expressing outrage and dismay about poverty in Ireland, and write a satirical piece about a solution to the anxieties generated by 9/11. Keep in mind how Swift remains serious despite the extremity of his proposal, and only injects his actual view on the topic toward the end of "A Modest Proposal." A rough (but typed) paragraph or page is sufficient.

For April 20, complete the Swiftian essay described above.

During Wednesday's class, you will write an essay asking you to analyze a passage; after writing the essay, we will discuss The 9/11 Commission Report and your Swiftian response to it.

During Friday's class, you will write an essay asking you to formulate an argument; after writing the essay, we will begin viewing a documentary about 9/11.

In-Class Work on Monday, April 2

Since many of you don't have much information about 9/11, I thought it would be a good idea for you to acquire more background on that day and it's aftermath prior to reading the narrative presented in The 9/11 Commission Report. The Report was published in 2004, almost three years after the attacks, so its early readers experienced the report with the events fresh in their minds. While you cannot recreate that state of mind, I thought it might be helpful to read accounts of those days and months of the early post-9/11 world.

First, spend five-to-ten minutes writing down your memories of September 11, 2001. I want you to do this so you don't confuse your memories with the words and images you are about to read and view. Next, go through as much of the material below as you can in forty-five minutes to an hour.  Then spend ten-to-twenty minutes putting together a response that tries to make sense of that time, a little more than ten years ago. Whatever you don't finish writing in class, you can finish before starting the homework for Wednesday, which is described in the post below.

Don DeLillo: The Terror of September 11
The Onion Responds to 9/11
9/11 and Language
The 9/11 Decade--Oral History
9/11's "Most Controversial" Photo
10 Events "More Important" than 9/11
9/11 Found Objects
Where Was I: An Interactive Map of 9/11
James Nachtwey's 9/11 Photographs
The 9/11 Decade--Artists Respond

Homework for Monday, April 2, and Wednesday April 4

For Monday, April 2, read and annotate pp. 1-26 in your abridged edition of The 9/11 Commission Report. Keep in mind that the footnotes for this section are on p. 26. Also, remember to use the Cast of Characters (pp. 27-31) and the Glossary of Acronyms (pp. 32-33) to identify any persons or agencies that are unfamiliar to you.

For Wednesday, April 4, read and annotate pp. 35-65 of The 9/11 Commission Report. Keeping in mind the strategies used by E. B. White in "Once More to the Lake," write at least one page (but not more than two) that describes the events of that day using both your memories and the details you have learned so far from the Report and the links above.

Over the April break, you should finish reading The 9/11 Commission Report. If you don't, you will have to both read it and write several assignments about it at the same time.

Click here for the unabridged 9/11 Commission Report. This link is also posted to the right under Syllabus and Assignments.

Homework for March 29

In 50 Essays, Read and annotate Stephanie Ericsson's "The Ways We Lie," and write one page in response to question 4 at the end of the essay.

No homework this weekend

New quarter, no homework. Enjoy the weekend.

Homework for March 19-23

March 19: In 50 Essays, read and annotate Henry David Thoreau's "Where I Have Lived, and What I Have Lived For." Respond to questions 2 and 4 at the end of the essay; write a paragraph for each. In responding to question 4, write it as though you want it published--use humor, indignation, sarcasm, provide telling details, refer to personal experience, and the like.

March 21: In 50 Essays, read and annotate Joan Didion, "On Morality." Respond to questions 2 and 4 at the end of the essay; write a paragraph for each. Be careful with question 4--when a question is posed in a straightforward, even uninteresting, way, the challenge is to find interesting ways to respond to the question. Since question 4 asks for an argumentative response, try to make it an interesting argumentative response.

March 23: In 50 Essays, read and annotate E. B. White, "Once More to the Lake." Respond to questions 2 and 4 at the end of the essay; write a paragraph for each. For question 2, select three, not five, descriptive moments.

Homework for Thursday, March 15

In 50 Essays, read and annotate Lars Eighner, "On Dumpster Diving." Respond to the following prompt in two well-written paragraphs:  Describe Eighner's attitude toward his subject, and explain its rhetorical effect. You may focus on specific sections of the essay (e.g., paragraphs 25-27 and 64-65), and you should consider Eighner's tone, selection of detail, irony, and so on.      

Homework for Tuesday, March 13

In 50 Essays, read and annotate Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," and type your responses to the four questions that follow the essay. I strongly recommend that you read the essay twice, pay close attention to what you don't follow in it, and identify the point at which you realize what the essay is really about.

Homework for Monday, March 5, and Wednesday, March 7

For Monday, March 5: In 50 Essays, read and annotate Thomas Jefferson, "The Declaration of Independence," and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions." Respond to the following prompt: Write the introductory paragraph for an essay (strictly hypothetical; you won't write this essay) that accounts for the rhetorical effect of Stanton's revisions to the Jefferson's "Declaration." You may limit your observations to the first two paragraphs of each document.

For Wednesday, March 7: Write 2-3 pages in response to the following prompt:

Given your commitment to being well-educated and working hard, what do you think is fair for you to expect from American society in the future, once you've completed your education and are either established, or trying to be established, in your career or vocation? You can approach this essay as either an argument that draws on points made by John Lanchester's I.O.U. and Judith Shklar's American Citizenship, or an analysis of those books' central points. Regardless of the method you choose, you must make use of both Lanchester's and Shklar's books.