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Week of 5/14: Monday night, we talked a
bit about the first paper issue, watched Andy Rooney's
commentary on it from 60 Minutes, and talked at
length about what argument is. After the break, we
read into Chaffee's discussion of fallacies in chapter
twelve (if you need a good one, see Mike). I then
pitched our second paper and the proverbial batters are
watching the pitch tonight. Here it is: Choose a
word or phrase that has become politically charged over
the last decade or so and find an example of someone
misusing this word or defining it in a wrong way
(according to you). Argue for the proper definition
of the word by explaining how they use it wrong and
explaining how it should be used. Include an
example from a newspaper/magazine/website of
someone properly using this word to make an
argument. Examples we talked about:
"conservation" and "quality
education" in Bush and Lowey's Saturday
addresses to the nation. "Racist"
in Al-Assad's Syrian address, "begging the
question" in William Safire's article in Sunday's
newyorktimes, "life," "medical
marijuana," etc. Other paper requirements for
paper #2 are listed on the syllabus.
My 101 thought (afterthought I had on 101 as I drove
home): The idea with using shared texts and common topics
for these papers is that when we meet in our writing
groups, time will not be wasted in figuring out and
understanding the issues each writer is writing
about. Also, and unrelated to that first 101
thought: consider, as you draft, whom or what newspaper
would be a good audience for it.
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