Assignment for Tuesday, Dec. 20

Finish the exploratory essay; it is due in class on Tuesday.

Assignment for Wednesday, Dec. 14

Read Chapter 2 of Matt Taibbi's Griftopia (pp. 35-77),

If you missed class, we introduced the exploratory essay for the research paper, which is due Tuesday, Dec. 20. A description of the assignment is posted to the right; see me for the related handouts that were distributed in class.

Also, in class we began viewing the documentary The Flaw, which covers the 2008 financial crisis.

Assignment for Thursday, Dec. 8

Read Ch. 1 of Matt Taibbi's Griftopia. Pay attention to the big picture; don't get lost in the details. Also, pay attention to Taibbi's writing style. Some readers believe Taibbi is biased; while reading, think about whether he is biased about or has a perspective on the financial crisis.

Assignment for Friday, December 2

Finish revising the research prospectus. It is due in class. Then, finish reading Matt Yglesias explanation of income inequality. Lastly, read this excerpt from Felix Martin's 2013 book, Money: The Unauthorized Biography.

Reading for Class

http://www.vox.com/cards/income-inequality/what-is-income-inequality

Assignment for Tuesday, Nov. 17

Complete the writing piece that responds to Between the World and Me. As we discussed in class, be sure to include a sentence that imitates a sentence written by Coates. Set that sentence in bold or underline it, and include a footnote with the original sentence. Be sure to include the page number of the original sentence.

Assignment for Tuesday, Nov. 15

Write as much as you need to to complete your writing piece on Between the World and Me. The final version is due on Thursday, Nov. 17. Also, develop a tentative version of your research question for the research prospectus. The research prospectus will be due on Wednesday, Nov. 30.

Assignment for Thursday, Nov. 10

Write one more page of your writing piece that responds to or is inspired by Between the World and Me. Given the work that you did in class, you should come to class with about three written pages.

Assignment for Tuesday, Nov. 8

Come to class with one and a half pages written for your writing pieces that responds to or is inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me. These pages should be printed. Also, read something interesting or informative about the election, and bring it to class. You can print it out, photocopy it, or have it available to you on a digital device (including your phone). Lastly, be sure to bring Approaching Great Ideas (the white book that we started the year with) to class.

Assignment for Friday, Nov. 4

Decide on your topic for a writing piece in response to or inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me. The writing piece itself will be due on Tuesday, Nov. 15. (If you'll be away at the MUN conference, it will due on Thursday, Nov. 17.) Below are the kernels of ideas suggested by both AP Lang classes:

A "letter" to a younger generation
A "letter" to the "older" generation
A "letter" to Coates in reaction to the book
A personal essay (possibly about the motif of physical vulnerabiliy or the illusion of race)
Is Between the World and Me pessimistic or realistic in its outlook?
Coates vis à vis Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Subjugation
About Coates having a process, but no answer, e.g., the open-ended struggle
Research on contemporary segregation
Coates in relation to his literary predecessors
Between the World and Me in relation to Coates's other writings
The illusion/social construct of race
The influence of black opinion makers on perceptions of race
How Coates's views influenced his parenting styles
The effectiveness of Coates's writing strategies
 Rhetorical analysis of a passage

Assignment for Monday, Oct. 31

Complete the annotated bibliography. Make sure it has a proper heading (name, class, assignment, date turned in), and be consistent in formatting the citation of sources.

Assignment for Thursday, Oct. 27

For Thursday, read two op-ed pieces from The New York Times. First, read this piece about Georgetown University's involvement in the American slave trade. Then, read this piece by a woman whose family was enslaved by Georgetown.

If you have time and interest, you could also watch this video from The New Yorker magazine (it's about 12 minutes long) about a Louisiana museum that tries tell the story of slavery, and read this essay from The New York Times Magazine titled "The Condition of Black Life Is One of Mourning."

Assignment for Tuesday, Oct. 25

Finish reading Between the World and Me (pp.108-152). If you get through it quickly (say, forty-five minutes or so), also work on the annotated bibliography at home.

Here is the question you'll write about in class. Feel free to respond to it at home, but you will have time to write it in class. If you do this at home, you shouldn't spend more than twenty minutes working on it: 

In several respects, Between the World and Me charts Coates individual development in relation to the ways race works in the United States. How does Coates's perspective change over the course of the book? What remains the same? What does he most want his son (or the reader) to take away from his reflections on race? (Keep in mind, given the length of the response and the time limits imposed on it, you should only devote a few sentences--including quotes--to each question.)

Election Stuff:

This piece was published a few weeks ago, but it's a good explanation of the factors that lead people to vote or stay home.

This article identifies and explains the major revelations in the Clinton campaigns hacked emails.

This article from last Saturday's Boston Globe describes the reaction of Donald Trump's supporters to his claims that the election is rigged.

This article from today's New York Times discusses the implications of Donald Trump's decision to "wait and see" whether he will accept the election's results.