Thursday, 31 March 2011

Essay: Symbolism in The Matrix

You will start this essay in class but you will be allowed to continue editing and revising until midnight today 3/31. The essay should be your own product. If you use any sources about the myths, the sources must take up only a very short part ( no more than 2-3 sentences or about 30-40 words) and you must provide full links to your sources at the end of the essay. Do not present material as your own which you did not write. Give credit to ideas and sentences you found elsewhere.

Directions:

Focus on one set of mythological and/or cultural allusions in  The Matrix from the many sets available (Greek mythology, Hebrew mythology, Alice in Wonderland references, Plato, etc.) and make an argument for the way in which the set of allusions you chose contributes/clarifies/complicates the plot and the movie's theme. You should make clear and explicit connections between the set of allusions you chose and the movie elements you see them in, and you should provide a basic explication of the mythological set of references on which you focus. This will be an essay you will post, not a blog. There should be 1) an engaging introduction, 2) body paragraphs with topic sentences, each body paragraph fully developing one topic sentence and sticking to that,  3) specific examples and evidence to support each topic sentence ,4) good transitions between paragraphs, and 5)an ending paragraph that provides closure. Avoid cliches (such as "in today's society," "in conclusion" for the last paragraph etc).  There is a 600 word minimum. This essay will be the culmination of the first set of blogs evaluated this round.

Tuesday, 29 March 2011

Interaction with ENG 101: Masculinities

DUE TODAY. YOU WILL NOT LEAVE THE LAB BEFORE YOU SHOW ME YOUR POSTED COMMENT ON THE WRITER'S BLOG

Last week we interacted and reviewed work by an ENG 99 class. Today we will review work by another ENG 101 class. The assignment involves analyzing a photo.
It is the following:

In this first formal assignment for this course, you’ll analyze a photograph of a male by reading specific gender markers in order to show how masculinity is, as Lorber puts it, socially constructed.

Analysis involves close examination of the parts to better understand the whole. Any assignment, which asks the writer to explain, interpret, describe, explore why, show how, explicate or discuss, essentially involves an analysis.
Task
Just like we practiced reading a photograph in class, you’ll read and interpret, or analyze, a photograph of a male (yourself/friend/relative) in a focused, well-organized essay of 600 words The objective of the analysis is to determine why or how when looking at your photograph you, and everyone else for that matter, are able to pronounce the person in the photograph to be a male.


 The instructor for the class would like us to address these questions for each paper. Some papers are posted as links, others are on the blog themselves. Nonetheless, the comments should go on each person's blog. Please remember you are being graded for this. As before, introduce yourself and also remember to be courteous.

A.) Is the introduction clear and appropriate for the assignment? Is it engaging? Does it have a thesis?
B.) For each body paragraph, comment on whether or not the writer focuses on ONE aspect of the photo. Also, provide feedback regarding how effective is the analysis of each aspect.
C.) Is the conclusion, which should not introduce any new observations about the photo nor a repeat what was stated in the introduction, satisfying?
D.) What is the paper’s biggest strength?
E.) In your professional opinion, what do you think the writer should improve/add/change in the final draft?


Chris and Melvin will review: Deshawn Coy  http://shawnbiggs.blogspot.com/ 
Carlos will review: Jonanthan Gomes  http://theuniversalmen.blogspot.com/ 


Magaly will review: Alysia McDowell  http://masculinityandmen.blogspot.com 
Okorie will review: Masiel Lora  http://masiel-allmale.blogspot.com 


Jayleen will review: Angela Ovcharik http://angela0764.blogspot.com
Josh will review: Steven Pappas  http://supermansculinitys.blogspot.com



Shannon will review: Glenda Corzantes http://thoughtsofglenda.blogspot.com
Elena and Lismilda will review: Anthony Gomes  http://bdmangomes.blogspot.com/



Anna will review:  Harlin Kaur  http://masculinesupremacy.blogspot.com   
David R will review: Claudia Gomez http://claudiagee.blogspot.com



Victor will review:  Natalie Torres  http://sir-mannies.blogspot.com
Eddy will review: Sandro Navarro  http://navarrostheory.blogspot.com


David S will review:  YingYing Jiang  http://bluesky-manshat.blogspot.com

Chasidy will review: Butovens Mede http://manonfireup.blogspot.com



Shannon will review: Nataly Camargo http://thewondrousmanlymind.blogspot.com/
Luisa will review: Natalia Manhertz  http://amansworld101.blogspot.com



Marlita will review:  Richard Granados http://richgranados.blogspot.com/;
Jared and Jhani will review:  Latanya Daley http://latanyadaley.blogspot.com  

Thursday, 24 March 2011

Blog 6: The idea of the prison house of language

Due: Tuesday by 9:00 AM

In the allegory of the cave Socrates refers to the "prison-house of sight." More recent philosophers and thinkers have talked about the prison-house of language (most notably Jacques Lacan and Fredric Jameson). This week you did some preliminary research on the concept. Write a short essay explaining the concept in your own words and give some examples for your readers. Possible audiences would be your classmates and students in other LaGuardia classes (for example my ENG 99 students)

Special Project: Interaction with ENG 099

First, find from the following list the ENG 99 students you will be giving feedback to in this interaction (you each have two). ENG 99 names are on the left of the list, the ENG 101 editors are on the right of the list.

ENG 99 student and ENG 101 Editors


Akbarova Feruza : Josh and Jared

Almonte Gabriel : Samantha and Anna

Casimir Tina : Chris and Jayleen

Cruz Stephany: Carlos and Chasidy

Delgado Cindy : Magaly and Melvin

Flores Ana Karen:  Jhani and Elena

Hernandez Diana : Shannon and David R

Hossain Lipi: Okorie and Marlita

Ibrahim Hanan: Jared and Lismilda

Jiang Boyang : Anna and Luisa

Karim Stephan : Victor and David S

Lai, Siu Ming : Eddy and Victor

Lopez Felix: David S and Marlita

Martinez Franklin:  Jayleen and Okorie

Mauricio Richelle : Chasidy and Shannon

MD Mohammed: Melvin and Jhanu


Patel Harsh : Elena and Magaly

Ramirez Elvin:  Carlos and Eddy

Vargas Maria : David R and Chris

Yoo Joon Kil : Lismilda and Samantha

Zhang Ting Shi : Luisa and Josh

Then go to http://heroicchoices.blogspot.com and from the "blog roll" to the right click on the student for whom you are an editor.  The assignment you are looking at is blog #4. They had to write a summary of the allegory of the cave using the following guidelines:


State the main idea (thesis) of the text accurately and clearly
State the supporting ideas accurately and clearly
Omit secondary details (all or almost all)
Follow the order of the original
Be written in your own words--no plagiarism but without opinion
Written in Standard Edited English

Write a couple of paragraphs giving your feedback to the other student. Introduce yourself, tell them what you think works in their essay, and then make suggestions for editing. Talk about content first, then grammar. Finish by inviting them to look at your blog, and give them your blog address as a link. Post the paragraphs as a comment to their blog post, and you are done. Please remember to be courteous to the other students.

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Change of room today

ENG 103 will meet in E-238 today. We will have an orientation to the archives from the LaGuardia Wagner staff.

Tuesday, 22 March 2011

Prison-house Metaphor

In the allegory of the cave Socrates refers to the "prison-house of sight." More recent philosophers and thinkers have talked about the prison-house of language (most notably Jacques Lacan and Fredric Jameson). Do some preliminary research on these two and the ideas they have expressed on this concept. We will use this research in a later post. To get you thinking on the concept, after the research consider this example: someone asks you "are you religious?" You reply. What are all the possible replies, and is there a reply you will give that will not have been defined by the question you were asked?

Sunday, 20 March 2011

Blog 4: The Allegory of the Cave through History

(in-class on Tuesday)
Plato uses the allegory of the cave to discuss the situations in life where people live in an illusion or refuse to accept the truth. Discuss such a situation from human history and explain what the illusion was; you can use internet resources but do not simply copy/paste them. Also, do include the full website where you found your information.

Thursday, 17 March 2011

Blog 3: “How do we know what is real?”

For the third blog, we will explore how we have come to form the reality in which we believe. First, make a list of ideas and facts you thought were true at some point in the past but you no longer do; account for the change in your beliefs. Once you do that we will proceed to the next step in this exploration.

Blog 2: Response to “The Allegory of The Cave.”

For your second blog respond to the ideas of  "The Allegory of The Cave.” Discuss your reaction to them, and what implications you think they have as well as to what they refer. Post by 3/17

Tuesday, 8 March 2011

As a comment post your blog

copy the web address of your blog and post it as a comment to this blog entry along with your name


Add a link on your blog back to this one by clicking "design" on your blog and then "Add a gadget" and then "Blog List" then "Add". Copy and paste http://medialives.blogspot.com/”into the window and save

Diagnostic (Blog 1)

For your first essay, post to your blog an essay developing the following prompt (we will discuss it in class self and brainstorm about it):

Discuss the differences between your private self and your public self (or selves), account for the differences explaining why they exist, and argue as to whether you consider the differences problematic or not.

Survey for networked classroom

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HJPJ958