In class, we created a Venn diagram version of the essay "Why I Ride." We identified three ways the author shows a reader who she is--and who she is is sort of complicated, both good and bad, brave and scared, happy and sad, etc. (I will make the Venn diagram slide available on the syllabus once class is over for those folks who weren't in class--which is most of you). 

FIRST: So, for your 250 words, summarize the three big things that Richman writes about as her way of telling us about who she is.

And, then: do some analysis (as always), which would tell me the thesis of this essay. And that thesis is, as you might expect, is the answer to this question: Who is Jana Richman? Connect the summary you write about for the first part with the analysis you are doing here. 

THEN: As a way to start the final project for our class, identify who you are prior to showing up here in college--what are the things that made you you before landing at BSU? You can consult some of the question from the We Are Bridgewater assignment to help you to answer this part. 

AND REMEMBER: Cookie deal is still in play, people, still in play. 

In today's listening assignment, the host, Nadia Bolz-Weber, opens the show talking about how her own perspective, as a white, middle-class woman, to seeing a cop car on the street is probably pretty different from the Black woman whose house the cop was sitting outside of. 

Her point is to say that when we learn the perspectives of others, we have to rethink our own ideas, our own perspectives. Her interview with Wilhelm Verwoerd, the grandson of a chief architect of the policy of Apartheid (read more about that here), is a further exploration of that idea. 

For this discussion board post, you have two jobs. First: give a summary and analysis of the podcast assigned for homework. We will have worked on this in class in our google doc/group format. Second: Respond to the prompt above: What did talking to your alum make you think about your own self? Did it make you think about how you are approaching college? Did it make you think about your own student habits or personality traits and what that might mean for a future? Did it make you think about the time we are living in (going to school during 9/11 or going to school during a pandemic or election year)? 

By answering the second part of this, you will potentially have a thesis and a way to shape and organize the information that your alums have given you. 

FOR THIS IN-CLASS DISCUSSION BOARD POST: Everyone should have at least some information from their alum at this point. Even if you haven't completed your interviews or have more questions for them, you at least have the information they've shared with you so far. In a series of in-class writings that you will post to this space, I hope you will start to do the work of ANALYSIS. This involves summarizing information and then analyzing it for what is important and significant. That analysis will turn into your thesis for this paper. Your evidence will be the information that your alum has given you. 

This is a good place to see what you've got to work with so far. This paper is due to me at the end of next week. So it's good to know where you are at and what more you need to do. Remember what I keep saying: the more information you have from your alum, the easier it is to write this paper. And, two, you can't--cannot, cannot--just put a bunch of answers to a bunch of questions.

1. What are the top three most interesting things you've learned about your alum? Why are they interesting to you? 
2. In what ways, if any, do you feel like your alum and you have something in common? What are those things? 
3. Do you notice a difference in how your alums think about their time at BSU from how you think about it? Has talking with them made you reconsider how you approach your college career at all? Why or Why not? 
4. What things do you want to know more about from your alum? 
5. Are there things from the in-class alums that you see your alum has in common with them? What are they? 
6. Finally, what could a tentative thesis be for your profile of your alum be based on the information you have so far. Write down what that thesis sentence could be and what evidence you feel proves it--also include what other questions you might ask to get information that could help you prove that point. 
​

PART I: Using the material that you and your group mates produced in class on the shared google.doc, produce your 250 word summary of  Ngozi Adiche's Danger of A Single Story (here is that link). You should feel free to edit or change what got written in your 250 words on the google.doc in anyway that makes sense to you--you might include parts of your group's writing. You might include parts from other group's writing that makes sense to use. 

PART II: As we discussed in class, one single story can deeply affect how you are understood in the world and how the world understands you. So, for the last part of your post, in at least 100 words, what is the dangerous single story of your alum? What is the story that could be told about your alum that would limit who they can be in the world--or what story could have limited how they saw themselves but they made decisions to NOT let it determine who they are and what is possible in their world? Answering this question, even just using the info you got from them in the initial greeting email, will help you think about how to shape your essay around a thesis. 

HOW TO POST

1. Click on the "comments" button at the top right of your screen or click on "reply" on the bottom left of your screen. 
2. Fill in the information they ask from you (name and email address)
3. Use the dialogue box to post your response. I suggest writing your post in word or a google doc and cutting and pasting into the blog post dialogue box so you don't lose anything and, also, so you have the chance to read and revise what you've written before it goes live.
4. Click the "send" button and you are done. 

NOTE: If you have trouble posting because it asks you to click on a bunch of pictures, please let me know. The only way to fix this is to contact Weebly directly on my end. ​​​

PLEASE NOTE, THE NEW POLICY FOR READER'S NOTES: For the rest of the semester, you will be responsible for reading, listening, watching whatever the assigned material is on your own time outside of class (this will take you anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour). You should take notes in your in-class writing google.doc to help you remember what you read/watch/listen to. 

Here is a sample of my notes from the Rosa Parks TED Talk: 

Then, in-class, you will write and post to the discussion board. I am making this work due in-class to improve your collective chances at learning how to write about what you are asked to read in a class--I want the focus to be on the learning and not on wether or not you do the assignment. I hope you will see this as the opportunity it is and take advantage of it. 

And, keep in mind, the cookie deal is still on the table, even with the new policy. 

FOR IN-CLASS ON WEDNESDAY, 14 OCTOBER 2020: Dr. Andy Holman continues as a Professor of History at BSU. For many years, he also served as coach to the BSU hockey team--which is a club sport at BSU. Make note of how Holman uses the history of the sport (the archival information), stories about the current (current at the time) team, and his own perspective on both to write his essay. This is essentially what you are being asked to do for your archival ethnography of BSU. 

For today's post, please write about 1) the archival material that Dr. Holman uses 2) the stories he tells about the current team experience and 3) what he learns from both about what it means to be a student/athlete at BSU. Finally, how does reading Dr Holman's experience help you to think about what to write about in your own paper? 

OVERVIEW: The point of doing our Reader's Notes in class today is twofold. 1) I want to show folks how to do them so they feel more confident when they do it on their own--including how much time it actually takes to do this work and what you have to do to prepare to do them well and 2) I want to make a connection between this TED talk on Rosa Parks and what we are doing with the BSU archives. 

DETAILS:  Remember that Reader's Notesare 250 words. For roughly 100-125 words, write a detailed summary of the TED TALK.Make sure that, as we've been saying, you've included the most important details and enough of them for use in your analysis. For roughly 100-125 words, try to answer this question: Why does the author, Dr. Ikard, want us to think about how Rosa Parks's story gets told incorrectly--why is the story we think we know about Parks so different from the real story? And why does it matter that we correct it? Remember that to answer these questions you must use the summary you've worked on to prove it--so you want to draw on the facts of the TED talk to prove your analysis of the talk. That's the relationship between thesis and evidence that we need to think about as a reader and as writer. 

If you can complete these two parts, you will have written a successful set of Reader's Notes

​But I have one more question:  connect this to the paper we are about to write about Bridgewater? What is the story you think you know about this school--it's reputation--and what is learning about the history telling you about the school? And why does it matter to perhaps correct the perception of Bridgewater. If you answer this part of the prompt, it will earn you one free set of Reader's Notes. That can help you if you have a lot to make up and it will give those of you who have posted all of them a day when you don't have to do an upcoming assignment. 

OVERVIEW: The reading for today's class, Mixed Blood Stew, is a memoir--nonfiction, a true story--of the author's search to understand who she is as a mixed-race person in white-dominant culture. She explores her relationship with her mother as well as with her grandmother in various memories she has of each of them (as well as other relatives). The way these memories are codified in the essay are by considering archival material.

DETAILS: For this set of Reader's Notes, first, please try to identify what those archives are. I'm using that term broadly, so don't freak out if can't immediately see all of them. Don't worry if you aren't sure. Take a guess. And 2) try to tell me what the author wants us to understand about race--in her own life and in her mother's and the other family in her life. Try to connect what the author is trying to make you understand (the thesis) through the evidence she gives us (the archives).

Don't worry if you aren't at 250 words. If you are struggling to get to 250 words, there are a lot of ideas for how to get to that number (which is really not a lot) in the Reader's Notes, assignment page.  But, no matter what, post what you come up with and we'll work together in class to get to the full 250 words.

REMEMBER: I can't help you get better at this if I don't see work to begin with. 

​Can't find the essay on the syllabus? Here is a copy: 

OVERVIEW: In 1890, two weeks before two students, Ryder and Howe, were set to graduate, a series of events unfolded that got them expelled from what was then called Bridgewater State Normal School. Included here and on the syllabus are a series of letters between faculty, the then president of the school (Boyden--called Principal Boyden at the time), community members who fought on behalf of the two young women, and a letter from one of the women themselves to a faculty member who voted for their expulsion. Also, included here are excerpts from images from the original letters as well. 

Read through the letters and take a peak at these letters in all their 1890 glory. You may struggle a little with the language--because people spoke and wrote very differently then--but I think you'll get the gist of it. 

DETAILS ABOUT WHAT TO POST
In your Reader's Notes, try to identify ways that this situation, while seemingly feeling like something that would never happen today, feels familiar. What would be the 2020 version of this kind of scandal at BSU? Can you imagine anything like this happening on our campus today? And how would it go down? What does it say about how things have changed or not changed in terms of how the role and place of women in our society? 

Remember, you have 250-300 words. You can do this. If you are struggling to get to 250 words, there are a lot of ideas for how to get to that number (which is really not a lot) in the Reader's Notes,assignment page. 

HOW TO POST

1. Click on the "comments" button at the top right of your screen or click on "reply" on the bottom left of your screen. 
2. Fill in the information they ask from you (name and email address)
3. Use the dialogue box to post your response. I suggest writing your post in word or a google doc and cutting and pasting into the blog post dialogue box so you don't lose anything and, also, so you have the chance to read and revise what you've written before it goes live.
4. Click the "send" button and you are done. 

NOTE: If you have trouble posting because it asks you to click on a bunch of pictures, please let me know. The only way to fix this is to contact Weebly directly on my end. ​

OVERVIEW: Included here (and on the syllabus) is a pic of the 1924 Bridgewater Normal School (you know it as your very own BSU). 

DETAILS
1. READ THE CREED. It will take you all of five minutes. It's the lightest and easiest reading you'll have to do all semester. 

2. THINK: Once you've read the creed, consider what it seems to be saying about what was expected, in 1924, of Bridgewater students. Secondly, think about what you think you know about Bridgewater students today--or at the very least what you know about yourself as a new Bridgewater student. How do you measure up? 

3. POST:  What you thought about in #2. What did the school seem to value in student behavior in 1924?Do those values seem like good ones to have?  What do you think the school values in student behavior today? How do you think the student "code of conduct" would be different in 2020--nearly 100 years later? 

Remember, you have 250-300 words. You can do this. If you are struggling to get to 250 words, there are a lot of ideas for how to get to that number (which is really not a lot) in the Reader's Notes,assignment page. 

HOW TO POST

1. Click on the "comments" button at the top right of your screen or click on "reply" on the bottom left of your screen. 
2. Fill in the information they ask from you (name and email address)
3. Use the dialogue box to post your response. I suggest writing your post in word or a google doc and cutting and pasting into the blog post dialogue box so you don't lose anything and, also, so you have the chance to read and revise what you've written before it goes live.
4. Click the "send" button and you are done. 

NOTE: If you have trouble posting because it asks you to click on a bunch of pictures, please let me know. The only way to fix this is to contact Weebly directly on my end. 

The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar is a story told using archives. What the main characters in this (true) story learn about their own lives comes from looking at the past. The past is documented in letters, pictures, newspaper clippings, and oral histories. That's the kind of stuff that makes up an archive. 

For this set of Reader's Notes, I want you to tell me two things: 1) tell me all the different documents that the granddaughter uses to learn things about Bobby Dunbar, the kidnapping, and her family. She talks to actual people, but I'm interested right now in you telling me about all the things that aren't people. Be specific. Don't just say she uses papers. Point to specific moments and documents from the podcast. 

Then 2) tell me how searching around in the past affected the present lives of the people in the story. Here, again, try not to talk in a cliche. Try to look seriously as the effects of the past on the people still alive today. 

Remember, you have 250-300 words. You can do this. If you are struggling to get to 250 words, there are a lot of ideas for how to get to that number (which is really not a lot) in the Reader's Notes, assignment page. 

HOW TO POST

1. Click on the "comments" button at the top right of your screen or click on "reply" on the bottom left of your screen. 
2. Fill in the information they ask from you (name and email address)
3. Use the dialogue box to post your response. I suggest writing your post in word or a google doc and cutting and pasting into the blog post dialogue box so you don't lose anything and, also, so you have the chance to read and revise what you've written before it goes live.
4. Click the "send" button and you are done. 

NOTE: If you have trouble posting because it asks you to click on a bunch of pictures, please let me know. The only way to fix this is to contact Weebly directly on my end.