Attention!! Class

Who ever did not come to the party , Will get F's on their report card.

Rosewood

For those who are doing their essay on the characters in Rosewood  here is link where you can get information,quotes and sayings.

http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/reels/films/list/0_60_4

Rosewood

Post here if you find interesting or valuable information about the history of Rosewood.  It would be helpful to know for example what parts of the film were most accurate and which ones were created so that the drama would be more exciting!

>did the white woman accuse a black man of raping her?
>did citizens get a train to help women and children escape?
>were the lynching mobs ever punished?
>were there testimonies written that might be available

I would be most interested in your excellent research skills on this.  Also I would like to know if you thought the film was a valuable addition to our course and our discussion of heroism.

Dr Van

Please fill out this Survey

Hi Everyone--

The Common Reading Committee for LaGuardia would really appreciate it if you would fill out this short survey about Zeitoun.

Here is the link: 
https://lagccir.us2.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_2lcES6JE3RO1KW9

We need student feedback to keep the program going--along with the free books so please indicate that we used the book for our work and that we reviewed the website!

Thanks!
Dr Van

Our Schedule Next Week

Hi Everyone--

I jumped ahead in the calendar thinking next week was our last week, but we have next week in class.

Your homework is to think about the final I gave you in class which I will also post here--BELOW.  Monday we will discuss topics and also screen the film Rosewood, which will give us one more hero to include.

PLEASE SEND ME YOUR ZEITOUN ESSAY BY TOMORROW 3PM. THOSE WHO SEND WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO REVISE; OTHERWISE I CANNOT GRADE THEM IN TIME FOR TUESDAY LAB REVISION.

REMEMBER THAT YOUR RESEARCH PAPER GRADE DEPENDS ON BEING ABLE TO FIND, INTEGRATE AND CITE QUOTATIONS FROM SOURCES CORRECTLY.

FINAL EXAM TOPIC AND INSTRUCTIONS

Due in Class Tuesday December 18th

            For your final exam for this course, you will focus on the nature of the hero, and possibly the tragic hero, by comparing and contrasting any two heroes we have read about, discussed and written on this semester.  Options for comparison include Boxer, Snowball (Animal Farm), Electra, Orestes (Electra) Antigone, Creon, (Antigone) Senay or Okwe (Dirty Pretty Things) OR THE MAIN CHARACTER IN ROSEWOOD.

You will develop a clear thesis for this comparison-contrast essay by stating, in your introduction, the main similarities and differences between the two heroes you have chosen.  You may use Aristotle, but I would also like you to use Campbell’s stages of the hero’s journey—whichever steps apply to your hero.

Some Guide Questions:

1.     How is the hero (or heroine) called to adventure? (triggering event)

2.     When, how, why does he/she cross into the field of adventure?

3.     What are two important tests or trials he/she confronts?

4.     Where do you see him/her shifting from old world to new world (old self to new self)?  (evaluate changes, heroism)

5.     If the hero meets with a “goddess” (love that helps transformation), who/what is that goddess?

6.     Does the hero achieve the goal of his/her quest and have a kind of recognition?  Describe and discuss that moment in your conclusion

For your conclusion, you should also think of a creative and thoughtful way of describing what you have learned about the nature of the hero through your study of these two characters.

As always your essay should be 600-800 words.  It should include direct quotations from the texts, correctly documented using MLA style.  Please include Works Cited at end.  The essay will be due Tuesday, December 18 in our lab, and, yes, we will have time on Monday to brainstorm ideas about the topic.

Living Cadavers: how the poor are tricked into selling their organs

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/living-cadavers-how-the-poor-are-tricked-into-selling-their-organs/254570/

This article was published by the Atlantic newspaper. This article briefly explains how people are corruptly coerced in Europe to sell their organs for money. This is bigger than I expected this epidemic to be. We should look up more touching material on this subject.

Research on Zeitoun

Below I am summarizing the topics we generated in class last Thursday.  You should also use this space to share research information you are gathering about Zeitoun.  Credit will be given for each example of annotated research--a brief summary of the research you have found.

Mini-Research Essay on Zeitoun

Research Areas Discussed in Class:

      1.  Examine heroism and the (tragic) hero in the story: how is Zeitoun a hero? What qualities are necessary for such a hero and how does he fulfill them.  What are the various stages he goes through, the obstacles he overcomes, the qualities of character he has that you admire, that get him into trouble?

2    2.  Evaluate Kathy Zeitoun’s decision to become a Muslim.  How does this decision take place?  What is she looking for and what does she find.  What can you learn about Muslim culture, specifically for women, that helps you understand her decision and her comfort with it?
 

      3.  What is your opinion of other people’s insensitivity to Muslim culture in the novel? What specific behavior reveals this insensitivity?  How does this insensitivity, and eventual stereotyping, affect various characters?  Focus on specific scenes in the novel but also research stereotyping of Muslims in the United States.  Find out if what happens to Kathy and Zeitoun is unusual or not.

o   
       4.  Examine the role of various law enforcement agents in New Orleans after Katrina.  How were citizens like Zeitoun betrayed because of the imposition of martial law?  What rights that he assumed he had were violated?  What specific scenes and treatment seemed most unreasonable, cruel, painful to you? What was the short and long term effect of these violations on Zeitoun and his family?  Use the text as your primary source but also do some research, as Eggers did, on the legal situation at that time.
 

      5.  Several of you discovered that things have not gone well for the Zeitoun family since Eggers wrote his story about them.  Using evidence from the text, focus on incidents that reveal the stress both Kathy and Zeitoun were under during and after Katrina.  Do some research into this family’s situation since the book was published and describe what has happened.  See if you can identify causes of the marriage’s ultimate failure.