Great Observation

Ethan's acknowledgment page turned into more of a reflection, which was great. He made a great observation that "trying to fit my original thesis with the one that was forming as I was doing the research did not work. I decided from the point on to let the paper determine the thesis and I think my paper is better for it."

I think the idea of allowing your paper (ideas) to determine the thesis is brilliant. I think that too many students try to push the paper to fit the thesis, rather than allowing the thesis to be flexible.

Kat

Good Luck Brandon!

I think Brandon said he'd be running in the marathon tomorrow. Have fun!

kat

King of Twitter

I found this the other day on Optimum Online.  Thought it would be interesting for everyone to read/ watch.  And if you aren't following Ashton on twitter, everyone else is.  

http://www.optimum.net/News/AP/Article?articleId=551140

Reading: The Anti-Awkward

Hey everyone!  This is our literacy campaign! (Omri, Micaeli and Jeff)  Check it out on Facebook because Youtube won't let me upload it.  I do not know why.  Still working on it.

To Whom It May Concern...

If you have a twitter, we should be friends.
Find me, I'm sarahlynnw.
=)

Not To Alarm Anyone....

....but I found pretty much the perfect site for inspiration on our memoir project.

The site is all about memoirs, but at this link is a section devoted to mini-comics with the theme of stories about neighbors (anyone who is having a hard time thinking of a memoir topic should take notice). Enjoy!

The Demise of Jemima....

After Anne's presentation I decided to do a little casual research c/o everyone's dear friend, Google. It seems we aren't the only ones cognizant of the racial controversy surrounding Aunt Jemima's past. In fact, some people felt so vehemently about the issue that there's actually a petition that has been drafted for 'The Demise and Removal of the Aunt Jemima Icon", addressed to the President/CEO of Quaker Oats. 

Here's the link.

But, since we're on the topic of icons........Isn't the Quaker on the Quaker Oats logo a little bit offensive too? I mean, granted, it's not suggesting degrading societal roles, quite as blatantly as the old Aunt Jemima advertisements did. Yet, could it be considered offensive to modern-day Quakers that their religion and spiritual belief system is automatically linked to a jolly looking Puritan man? Or is that just how the 'prototypical Quaker' is considered to look? Admittedly, there are a lot of Quaker meeting houses and Quaker schools in the area that I grew up in, and I've never seen any practicing Quakers look quite like this guy. 

Am I reading too much into this? Or could both of these logos be considered a little bit controversial? 

Shades of Fairness and the Marketing of Prejudice

Today, I ran across this article from The Situationist: http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/05/30/the-shades-and-marketing-of-prejudice/. This article is about how skin-lightening creams are being marketed in Asian countries. I thought this kind of went along with our discussion Friday about race and images. The commercials they show are all about how people who use these creams to lighten their skin are more likely to get a job than those who don't.

Demi Moore Responds to Twitter suicide threat

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/03/moore.twitter.threat/index.html

FYWP Showcase Updates!

so, we're going to put in a proposal fro the fywp showcase. we need to get that in by april 15th. I agree with Jeff that we should do pre-existing work. We'll all be busy and stress-out. I like making a big letter (we can do that in class), but what should the letter be of? Someone's letter? If so, we'll have to figure out whose letter.

I think the proposal writing committee is Gina, Sarah, and Rob (let me know if I got that wrong). I don't think it will take you very long to write it. If want, we could work on it before or after class one day this week.

Jeff's the president and Ben is the VP. This means that they are in charge of making sure this thing happens. We'll all be on the First Year Writing Program Showcase Committee.

Questions, Comments, Concerns????