Discussion n. 16: "GODFATHER" due July 12

COMMENT

Don Corleone is a thug, a brutal bloody murderer, a power-hungry monster. Sure, he is smooth, slick and seductive. But he is not fooling me. He is like an embodiment of Satan trying to convince me that evil is in my interest.

Discussion n. 15: "CHRIST" due July 12

COMMENT:

Paul's losing faith is the logical and necessary conclusion of his journey toward liberation. It could not have ended any other way.

Discussion 14: "CHRIST" due July 1st

I haven't finished grading all your June 28 assignments yet, therefore there may still be a brighter gem than this shiny work, but so far this is the best example I have found.

This shows Francesca's real ability to connect with the text despite its complexity.

It is clear, easy to read, honest and direct, with a transparent movement back-and-forth from the text to the subjective emotions and thoughts of the writer.

COMMENT:  refer to this work specifically and identify the aspect of her technique that allows her to create this outcome. What can you do to achieve the same clarity and terseness?

TASK 2: Pages 1-17

-Geremio is working with concrete, surrounded by many men.

-Geremio is married to Annunziata. He has children and they recently bought their own house.

-Annunziata notices he doesn’t speak about his job often, she assumes it is dangerous. (She is right).   GREAT OBSERVATION; FORESHADOWING

-It is good Friday, 1 hour before they are free for the weekend to celebrate Easter.

-The building collapses and he is crushed. He seems to be dying.

-His friend is faceless and dead above him.

-Geremio screams for help but it does not do much for him.

-Geremio eventually dies after many screams for Jesus, the blessed mother, etc.

TASK 3: There must be a reason we were assigned only 17 pages. The reason must be because the book opens on a crucial scene filled with a ton of information. We meet a character, his family, what he does for a living, the guys he is surrounded with and we even read his death. This book is also a tough read, if we take it slowly at first we can develop a technique when reading the rest. THAT IS THE REAL POINT OF THE SHORT ASSIGNMENT, TO GIVE YOU TIME TO FIND YOUR OWN RHYTHM Reading too much right away could cause us to rush and miss important information.

 

TASK 4:

 

1) I believe there is enough material in this chapter to write a whole page on feelings and reactions. If pictures are worth a thousand words, then a chapter is worth a billion words. NICELY SAID

 In regards to chapter 1 of Christ in Concrete, we are introduced to a vast amount of information almost right away. We learn about Geremio, his family, where he works and whom he works with. We also learn that his job is pretty dangerous, he is hard working and that he is looking forward to going home for the holiday weekend to spend time with his kids. Not to mention that he is a father with a new home. We can speak about the irony that just before he dies his wife asks about the danger of his job. We can also speak about how he dies on Good Friday, the same day Jesus Christ dies. As he dies he is calling out to his creator. SYMBOLISM This can foreshadow the title of the book; a worker dying in concrete on Good Friday.

 

2) Like I spoke about earlier in this assignment, the character of Geremio made me feel like I was reading about my father. I am sure that this reminds many people of their fathers.

THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF "MULTIPLE PLANE" WRITING:  I

N TWO BRIEF SENTENCES:

THE TEXT,

THE CONNECTION TEXT-WRITER,

THE CONNECTION OF THE WRITER TO HER INNER WORLD (FATHER);

THE WRITER'S CONNECTION TO THE WIDER WORLD.

 

(HOW DO I FEEL IS THE WAY THE REST OF THE WORLD  ALSO FEELS, BECAUSE WE BELONG TO THE SAME MORAL UNIVERSE)

 

 

 

These pages made me feel a bit heartbroken. Geremio is a young man who died too soon. As I was reading the book I almost wanted to say out loud, “Wait, that’s not fair!”

SMOOTH SWING BETWEEN EMOTION AND REACTION

 

I am not sure why his death resonated with me so much.  LOOKING INSIDE

Especially since I only knew him for 17 pages. I have a special place in my heart for fathers. DEEPER INSIDE

I am the textbook definition of a “daddy’s girl” (being the only daughter in my family). LOOKING AT THE BIGGER PICTURE

I have never experienced a death such as this first hand, but my mother has. EVEN BIGGER

A train crushed my grandfather (a German immigrant) when my mother was very young. I can only imagine that his death was similar to Geremio’s. EVEN BIGGER: MEMORIES RECEIVED FROM OTHERS THAT DEFINE THE DEEP LAYERS OF PERSONALITY

Besides sad, the book made me a very intrigued. BACK TO THE BRAIN

Despite the level of difficulty, it is extremely interesting. BRAIN POWER I have no problem reading it. I can only predict that it will improve my reading abilities and help my writing while telling me an incredible story.  EXPECTATION (because, no matter what, we are all yearning for the future.)

 

Discussion n. 14 IS THIS "ART?" Due July 1st

OK OK, I can handle Van Gogh's Starry Night: I get it. All I have to do is squint while I am looking at the stars and there you have it. (Alternatively, eye drops by your eye doctor or hallucinatory substances can produce the same effect.)

Picasso? Next time you kiss someone, open your eyes and you will see your personal Picasso painting.

Mossolov: isn't this what DiDonato does with his clanging prose describing the workplace?

But, but, but, but John Cage?  No way: this is not art. This is not music. This is a joke.

Or maybe not.


COMMENTS

DISCUSSION n. 13: "CHRIST" Due July 1st

COMMENTS:   What is the single most intense emotion LEFT in you after reading the initial 3 parts?

Do not comment at how you felt at the time you were reading (too many of you seem hindered by the difficulty of style to the point you cannot even generate a 'reader's response' that goes beyond the prose itself.)

USE A QUOTATION from the book if it helps you clarify your messages to your classmates.

Another good example of good note-taking DUE JULY 1st

This is from a student of mine from a previous semester.

COMMENTS: is it similar to what you do? Does it contain useful suggestions?

On cheating etc. Comments welcome but not required.

In ITALY (this does not apply to ItAms, as I cannot make definite statements about a culture that has so little amount of SELF REPRESENTATION and therefore has not been able to SELF REVEAL)..

in ITALY -- I was saying --- men, and more recently women as well, see cheating as harmless, particularly among married people.

 Until very recently, married people saw themselves as LOYAL and FAITHFUL to their marriage even when they were cheating. Both men and women always tried to avoid "discovering" the betrayal. They sort of knew something was going on, but they pretended to be in the dark. That was the norm: The ultimate goal was always to save and preserve marriage. All the rest was secondary.

They would not seek divorce because of a sexual infatuation. Marriage was the house where they lived, build on rocks. An affair was like rented second house at the beach. Usually, both people involved in an affair were fully aware of the circumstances and cultural boundaries of their relationship.

In that perspective, the issue of HONESTY and SINCERITY was seen as secondary to that of AUTHENTICITY: authenticity allows people to harbor conflicting feelings and emotions at the same time. Instead, sincerity and honesty seem based on a binary system: yes-no, either 0 or 1 (computer logic.)

Of course, if the cuckhold in the couple discovered the betrayal the reaction was rather "passionate." This is what lots and lots of Italian comedy is based on. However, in real life, the outcome was seldom divorce.

I am not trying to depict this as an ideal situation or a model to be pursued. These are ONLY personal observations of behaviors --not "moral judgments"-- from which I derived personal opinions and hypotheses (i.e. my explanations of those behaviors.)

Moonstruck seems to me a credible representation of Italian culture by Italians who speak English. I do not have sufficient knowledge to conclude that this is also acceptable as representation of Italian Americans.

For the curious: David Foster Wallace on language and rules

Comments NOT required (but if you want to comment here or send me your opinions via email, I will be happy to read what you have to say. Actually, I am eager to hear your voices.)

 

 

I plead guilty of a bunch of these sins.

 

LINK   DAVID FOSTER WALLACE ON LANGUAGE

Discussion n. 12: good writing example (due June 28)

Here is the essay by Amanda from last assignment:

Read it over and COMMENT on how she interpreted the assignment, and the analysis she performed on the text.

  TASK 4:   Essay for grade

These films make it look like it's easy for Italians and ItAms to get in touch with their feelings  -- good or bad.

Is this what non-Italians have in mind when they say that Italians of all stripes are "passionate?"

Do these films offer a key to understanding what kind of psychic mechanism are at play? 

In Moonstruck this "being in touch with one's feelings" leads to cheating, emotional betrayal, complications, etc. So, is it all good?

Pick a topic along those lines, look at your reactions inside yourself and explain to yourself what you feel-think. Are you conflicted?

 

            In the three films watched throughout this class thus far, The Italian, L’emigrante, and Moonstruck, Italians and Italian Americans seem to always be in touch with their feelings and never fail to express them. The Italians in these films have portrayed a long list of emotions. What these characters are going through in each film directly affects the emotion they express. In the movie The Italian, for example, Beppo went from happy, to angry, to sad. The character’s demeanor changed from happiness due to the birth of his son to severe sadness with the death of his son. Every emotion felt by these characters was never hidden and only always expressed in their actions.

            A common theme in each of these three films is the aggressive nature of Italians. The psychic mechanism used by Italians is one that involves action. Instead of acting out in a rational way, the characters act out with aggression. They let their emotions get the best of them and it caused irrational decisions to be made. The character Beppo in The Italian, believed a man Bill Corrigan was the cause of his son’s death. Beppo felt nothing but anger and this anger caused him to change from a man to an animal. He wanted nothing but revenge and he set out to kill Corrigan’s sick child. The main character Peppino in L’emigrante receives news on his family in Italy. He automatically feels nothing but anger and as a result he wants to kill the leader of the Italian gang. These two characters, Beppo and Peppino, are quick to raise a hand when something does not go their way. In the movie Moonstruck, the character Ronnie is a very aggressive man. When first meeting him, he threatens to kill himself because his brother ruined his life. Then when talking to Loretta he throws the kitchen table because she is saying something he does not want to hear. Instead of rationally dealing with their emotions, these three characters take action in an aggressive way.

            Non-Italians describe Italians as being very passionate. Being passionate is defined as being compelled by intense emotions or strong feelings, good or bad. The characters in these three movies are all very passionate which is evident in the way they express their emotions. The passionate nature of Italians is seen most evident in the movie Moonstruck. The Italian characters in this movie are very emotional and most passionate towards love. To them love is more than just a feeling of tender affection towards someone. The passionate personalities of the characters causes them to basically be a mess. The movie is filled with cheating, betrayal and family complications. This can lead one to question whether or not having such passion is always a good thing. When looking at the struggle these characters face throughout the movie, one can say having such passion is overall not a good thing. However, at the end of the movie every character is happy with their life and what it has come to. Loretta believed that she did not have good luck and she believed that getting married the right way would make her happy and satisfied. She did not love Johnny, but she knew she had to get married and could not wait any longer. When her feelings for Ronny made her overwhelmed she said, “I can take hold of myself. I can say yes to somethings and no to other things that are going to ruin everything.” Loretta thought she was ruining everything by cheating on Johnny, but in the end she was doing what was best for herself. She finally found love and it was her passion for Ronny that allowed her to do so. Being passionate, like the characters in this movie, can cause many small disasters. However, in the end it is their passion that allows them to feel happy and fulfilled.

            Cheating is a very questionable topic. I do not in any case think cheating is a good thing. It is usually the result of not being satisfied or happy. This causes me to question if cheating is all around bad and if one does it because they want to be happy, then how can one see it as being bad? Loretta’s father Cosmo, was cheating on his wife because he wanted to feel young again. He knew this was not the right thing to do and he did it anyway. In the end, cheating on his wife allowed him to realize that he is never going to be young again and he will only truly love his wife. In Cosmo’s case was cheating on his wife ultimately a bad thing if he learned the truth? Loretta cheated on Johnny because this was not the man she loved. She had no feelings for Johnny and only said yes to marrying him because of her age. She cheated on him and found the love of her life. Although I believe cheating is never a good thing, I do think it helps people realize and learn things about themselves they have never knew before.

Not to belabor the point, but this too is an opinion...

or isn't it?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/rick-tyler-make-america-white-again

Do you care to comment?

Immediately after Argentina-Venezuela  (final score 4-1) in the soccer COPA AMERICA

 

The Argentine team....

 

 

Discussion n. 11: "CHRIST" Due June 24

You read the first page.

Your raw reactions.

Discussion n. 10: "MOONSTRUCK" Due June 24

Who is the most reprehensible character in the film?

And who is the most ....... (you find an adjective that suits your POSITIVE choice.?

COMMENTS

Discussion n. 9: "L'EMIGRANTE" due June 24

How does this fit with the other texts we have analyzed?

Better yet:

SON and EMIGRANTE are SELF-REPRESENTATIONS.

Cartoons, shorts and ITALIAN are REPRESENTATIONS OF ITALIANS BY other people.

Do you begin to see a pattern?

If you don't (and it's OK if you don't), is it because there are too many new factors, aspects, pieces of information that create too much background noise, making it difficult to focus (please, skip the "not enough time" alibi.)

COMMENTS and lots and lots of replies.

ON WRITING. Due June 23

Click the LINK and screen the short video.

 

Address your comment to the following propositions:

 

1) This is pedantic: As long as it is clear what the intention of the writer is, who cares if some obscure grammar rule is being violated?

 

2) OK, but if we tolerate all sorts of errors soon it will be total chaos and we won't know if what we write makes sense to others anymore.

 

(If you are into funambulic writing, I can point you to a spectacular essay on language by David Foster Wallace.)

 

 

COMMENTS and replies, arguments, disagreements etc.

SELECTED QUOTE on "SON" and "ITALIAN" Comments required

Anonymous:

"Profound moments of seemingly avoidable suffering are shared in both narratives. There was more at play here than just the struggles of men in America. There was a comment on the spiritual essence of America and humanity. Both men journey in hope of some new and better opportunity and both men instead find incomparable suffering at the hands of those who came before them. Many of the foremen and bosses who demanded the suffering and the toil were immigrants long since turned by American hardness. As the lecture mentioned, they had adopted a new “American Identity”. This land made up of immigrants, who had once been as Beppo or Pascal are, is unforgiving in both stories. The America painted in these stories is not a free land, but it is a new land where people have the freedom to test themselves and their luck.

I chose this quote because it contains some strong intuitions and insights. I am comfortable with the style as well, although this is an example of a text that requires "deep reading" or, at least, slow reading.

Read it slowly and let us know what you 'like' and 'dislike' about it (that's why I left it anonymous: I am inviting criticism and I don't want the author to feel it is about him/her. I could have chosen an infinite number of other passages for the same purpose.)

SELECTED QOTES FROM YOUR WORK Comments required

Khadjiah Johnson about taking notes:

"Bullet points make me think I am switching ideas, whereas putting certain ideas in a paragraph form makes me think about the flow of the story. It gives me a chance to think about a recap rather than think about ideas separately. I believe that everything in books subconsciously domino effects each other therefore, I push my note taking to relate to the writing style."

Devin:
"the American Dream: to find great personal success and a sense of purpose in America."

(I focused on 'sense of purpose' rather than the overused and worn out  "success.")

Francesca:
"Throughout reading this book I just felt a sense of lonesomeness and isolation. " 

Not LONELINESS or SOLITUDE. Excellent word choice, and acute perception both of the character and the self.

Austin:
"After being essentially robbed for his labor and stranded in West Virginia, rather than cry and lament, Pascal took a different approach. As he said, “But first, while most of the men were cursing eloquently, a few of us had to sit down and laugh at one another.” This moment signifies two things in my mind. Firstly, Pascal has been completely broken. Secondly, Pascal has learned that there are elements to life that are simply out of his control. This loss of control charges him to reconfigure his values."

Unpredictable and original choice, and with a strong argument and insight.


ANONYMOUS (some personal details that the author may not want to make public):
"As much as I admired Pascal’s perseverance and determination, I realized that I am very jealous of his character. With each decision he made whether it was deciding to go to America, stay in America, or chase his dream, he was able to see past all the bad. This is something I struggle with. Pascal met every hardship with an eager eye to succeed. He was left with nothing but a stale piece of bread and still he saw a glimmer of hope that his dream was going to be achieved. When I am faced with a struggle, minuscule compared to those Pascal faced, I let it bring me down and allow it to take me off the track of achieving my goal."

A smooth mixture of representation and self-representation.

A Ray of Hope

Strangers on a train: “Diverse group” of bystanders stop ranting racist from harassing Muslim women on New York City train

LINK

Just an hypothesis YOUR COMMENTS, PLEASE

THIS IS PURELY HYPOTHETICAL, I don't want you to think that someone in our class justified lynching...

I was thinking: let's suppose that a student does indeed make arguments in favor or lynching. That is obviously 'an opinion.'

Should a teacher's comments argue with it, or be limited to the quality of expression?

(BE MINDFUL, I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT the grade. A GRADE IS SACRED.
I AM TALKING ABOUT THE COMMENTS.)

"Lynching apologist" could be replaced with 'Holocaust denier', or "advocate of incarceration for LGBT," racial Apartheid, etc.

MODEL OF GOOD WRITING comments required

I chose Devin's essay to give you an idea of 'standards'.
Notice that Devin engages in a conversation with himself: he starts out with identifying his emotional state after accumulating information about the treatment of ItAm immigrants.

Our internal mental process is (linearly, but nobody lives in a psychic linear environment):
-immediate emotional reaction;
-initial thoughts;
-more thoughts lead to ideas (an attempt to explain);
-arguments (the explanation);
-moral or aesthetic judgment;
-emotional state caused by the sequence of the previous steps.

In some cases (see Orlando, FL), the process is so fantastically fast we don't even have the time to realize what is going on inside.

In other cases, film watching, book reading, NBA finals, the process is ongoing and gives us plenty of time to think and verify the process at each stage.

COMMENT: avoid expressing a judgment about Devin's work (it's an excellent job, we know it): how aware are you of your internal processes?
How quickly can you distinguish between EMOTIONS and THOUGHTS (the line that separates children from adults);
How clear are you about YOUR OWN THOUGHTS and ARGUMENTS as opposed to ARGUMENTS you absorbed from others (talking, media exposure etc.)

A MODEL OF GOOD NOTE TAKING comments expected

I chose Devin Dougherty's work as an example of efficient and well organized note-taking.

COMMENTS: how do your notes compare? Is this a good example, or do you find your method better suited for your own learning style?

Rope and Soap

Lynching of Italians in the U.S. basically unknown (or unfamiliar) to scholars.

“[Scholars] have, though, widely underestimated, both in terms of quantity and quality, the lynchings of other non-black ethnic groups and in particular of Italians”

“Under the guise of a calm normality, this was the history of a wave of collective assassinations which reached the peak at the turn of the century.”[1880s-1920s, primarily]

“first was mob violence that culminated in the capture of suspects of certain crimes, followed by the observance of a ceremonial ritual in front of the mob”

Often, the victims were kidnapped from jail.

The aggressors often felt they needed to enforce frontier justice if they decided that justice wasn’t being or wouldn’t be properly doled out to the victim.

Mob mentality often takes over (often, often, often)

The most important newspapers did not condemn the lynchings of three Italians accused of murder; seemingly justifying it by saying it was a warning against the mob.

After a Black man was found guilty of one murder (that the Italians who were lynched paid for), he was silenced by the court for fear of Italian backlash.

Tallulah: doctor was non-lethally shot by an Italian and he and 2 others were arrested. 2 more went into hiding. A mob broke into prison and lynched the 3, then found and lynched the hiding 2. The lynchers went unpunished. The press was again ambivalent.

Evening Post was the only major paper to say that there was no reason for the mob killing.

Reasoning: “first, racial hatred; second, the jealousy of the towns merchants who didn’t like the fact that the few Tallulah Italians were doing pretty well in their business to the detriment of the locals’ interests; third, the opposition to allowing Italians to vote.”

“At the end it was decided that they should expect the same kind of justice reserved to black people who assault or shoot or kill a white man in Madison: no trial, lynching. The white people who govern and administer Madison are not willing to let Italians join their own ranks.”

When a conspiracy was being thrown around that Italians were going to be killed in Erwin, a young man tried alerting people over the phone, but the Italians at the telephone office threw him out.

The family of a lynching victim could obtain reparation from the government. The Erwin case was disputed as to whether or not it was a lynching.

These cases are so drawn out seemingly in order to have people move on from them

Italians were afraid to testify for fear of their lives

“Here, just like in every other place, Italian workers are eagerly sought after because for the same salary they are much more productive than the ever-complaining drunkard Irish or lazy blacks.”

Son of Italy

Images of poverty (wood fire for cooking)

Violent characters surrounding nonviolent protagonist

Romantic imagery of Italy

Village seemingly filled with mystics and seers

Racially identifies as Samnite

Reminds me of Things Fall Apart- isolated society with their own culture, trying to make it seem “civilized” from out perspective.

Children loved to climb trees to reach birds’ nests and to share the stories of these adventures

Work often got in the way of proper education (though the protagonist claims he was scholastically more adept than his classmates)

“By the time I was twelve I stopped going to school entirely and began my life of continuous toil.”

(I just realized at this point that this is a memoir; so forgive any assumptions of mine that came through that this was a novel)

The poor residents of the village give generously to beggars, even though they can’t afford much themselves.

The villagers believe in witchcraft and the existence of a witch in their town.

“A big black cat – probably astray – had been seen prowling near the baby’s cradle. Everyone swore that it was the witch, which was conclusive evidence.”

“the boundless Americas out of which at times people returned with fabulous tales and thousands of liras – riches unheard of before among peasants.”

America was the place people went to and rarely returned from.

The American Dream separated families

The departure was a celebratory affair, despite the sadness

The author was examined several times before boarding the ship

The trip was not described as difficult as other writings on immigration describe

Discussion n. 8: Italian American Stereotypes. Due June 17

From your assignments:

mafia related

-rich or wealthy

-they live in Staten Island or Corona, Queens

-they a lot of pasta 

-Sopranos

-Gambling

==========================\

Tradition

Big family

Pasta

Mafia

Fashionable

Romantic

Loud

Poor

Talks with a lot hand gestures

==============

A pasta dinner at 2pm on Sunday’s

Roman Catholic

Large Christmas-eve

Many children

Large crucifix

Dark hair

Loud talking

Hand gestures

==============

Big family

Eat only Italian food

Talk loud

Family oriented

Good cooks

Italian accent

===============

Exaggerated speech
Speaking with hands

The Godfather

Hirsute (Sorry!)

===============

First generation- a close relative was from Italy

Guidos- from Jersey, fake tan, spiked hair, lots of drinking

Food is the center of the family and there is lots of pasta

Loud

Mafia relations

================

Italians are associated with the mafia

Italians are associated with being loud

Italians are associated with having large families

==================

Born in America, with Italian Parents

New Orleans migration

“Cartoon clumsiness” portrayal across media

 Super Mario Video Game Franchise

============

Big families (family is very important)

Hard working

Good food (food is very important)

The Sopranos

Loud

Many traditions: tomato sauce, wine, and salami

Using hand gestures while speaking

==================

Rich in culture
Food
Knowledge of original Italian culture

Strong family ties

Continually trying to stand independent form existing stereotypes

Mental assumptions of course go hand in hand with stereotypes

==========

Overly romantic

Loves spaghetti

Smooth criminals

Protective/Family

Bad drivers

===============
Great pizza sauce
-Masculine
-Mafia
-Speak English with accent.
-Immigrant
=======================

White

Certain accents

Italian cuisine

Came in from Italy/not born in America

===========

A very large family.

A fondness for family meals.

Tough guys.

Loud and exuberant socially.

Has cooking skills

Let me explain the Amazon-Hachette cartoon

1) Nobody is born Amazon or Hachette. Some people (many millions) are born It Am or woman.

2) If you are born It Am, you are sick and tired or being REPRESENTED as mafia.

3) Or, if you are It Am, you are sick and tired of representations of ORGANIZED VIOLENCE as being peculiarly IT AM.

4) If you are a woman, you are sick and tired or being represented as a receptionist (aren't there any male receptionists?)

5) If you are a woman, you are sick and tired of being represented as an anonymous, non-descript, low power entity with no agency. Pay attention to the utterance: she passes the message along with no input of her own.

COMMENTS?

Realize that this is not your usual 24/7 facebook hangout. This is a place where you are supposed to elevate your alertness and your critical acumen.

The harder you push, the more authentic you are going to be.,

Discussion n. 8: CRITICAL THINKING: WHAT"S THAT? Due June 13

Undoubtedly you must have heard the expression "critical thinking" a half million dozen times since you started college. In theory, this is what WE (the teachers) are striving for: providing you with the tools to engage in critical thinking.

1) Do you have a clear understanding of what the expression mean?

-- My way to explain is that critical thinking is "knowledge."  And the way I define knowledge is: "the meaning of information."

One cannot have knowledge without information. If I don't know anything about building damns, if I don' t know how they are put together, I will never be able to possess knowledge about the finished product, nor to express my opinion on whether the finished product is a good job or a bad job.

2) Do you have "knowledge" of a subject? For instance (seriously): computer games, hip hop music, shooting film, shooting hoops, judging special effects in a movie, writing poetry, playing an instrument, the best ice cream or pizza in town, making brownies (funny or boring), fashion, dogs, singing.

When you are "into something" you normally have knowledge of it (not just "about it.")

COMMENT (respond) in separate paragraphs to 1) and 2). And REPLY to the best comment.

Discussion n. 7: SON OF ITALY. Due June 13

COMMENT

Start by reading ALL the comments posted before yours. Don't repeat the aspects already mentioned.

TWO SEPARATE PARAGRAPHS:

1) Mention a small, small detail that most likely only YOU picked up on.

Describe it briefly and explain why it made an impression on YOU. Also explain why this detail contributed to YOUR personal understanding of a bigger aspect of the book: ex. the conditions of poverty, the individual psychology, the relation rich-poor, superstition, beliefs etc.

2) What RELEVANT facts, data, information did you learn from reading the first part of the book? Mention something concrete, not vague like "the poverty of share croppers in Italy."

Discussion n. 6: WHY TRIBES MATTER. Due June 13

Read this column from the NYTIMES by Nobel laureate (Economics) Paul Krugman: don't worry, there are no complicated calculations.

 

LINK opens in a new window.

 

Stay away from purely POLITICAL comments.

 

FOCUS on the articulate discussion PK starts on the relevance of  "belonging" to socio-ethnic tribes in this very contemporary America. You should also read some of the readers' comments (I choose Readers' Picks - very smart and acute remarks: they are a lesson on how to read, interpret and comment.)

 

COMMENT: did this article add anything to your understanding of social dynamics in our nation? Were the political implication of TRIBE part of your perspective before reading this article?

 

 

STEREOTYPES of your TRIBE

These are all the lists I received, minus those from ITAM students (for the reason that I will publish them after I receive the new lists of stereotypes targeting ITAMs).

COMMENT: are there items that you are not familiar with? Add, with the appropriate tone, other stereotypes you are familiar with, either about your or someone else's tribe.  For instance, abt Mexicans (not necessarily in NY, but in the rest of the country two of the biggest are "pick up trucks" and "tequila." At the same time.)

African American

-crime

-lack of education

-image/presentation

-living situations

-employment

-former slaves

-no chance of being successful

 

==================

 

 

•          (Mexican)

•          We eat tacos everyday

•          We all hoped the border

•          Lazy

•          We are all illegal

•          All hispanics are Mexican

•          Cinco de Mayo is our independence

 

•          We are all drunks

•          We have many lovers

•          We don't speak english

•          We have a lot of children

 

================

 

IRISH

 

·         Heavy drinkers/Tolerance for alcohol

·         Caucasian European heritage: My ancestors (and I, depending on your perspective) have been (continue to be) oppressors and ride on privileges.

·         Many children (I am actually one of 9, so I fit the bill here.)

=================

 

LGBT

·        Liberal

·        Anti-conservative/republican

·        Butch

·        Ultra-feminine

·        Preying on small children

·        Dangerous in alternate bathroom

·        Weak

·        Confused

·        Illegitimate

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Caribbean Folk

·        Broken English

·        Talk very loudly

·        Poor/Abusive

·        The oxymoron of being helpless and independent

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Arabs

·         Terrorists

·         Extremists

·         Uneducated

·         Not liberal

·         Thick accents

·         Owning a bodega

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African American

-Poor

-Violent

-Ignorant

-“Thugs”

-Uneducated

-Loves Fried Chicken
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