UNIT TWO: Food as Culture (Cultural Analysis, Arguing from Evidence)
Essay Assignment: Write a 4-5 page paper on the cultural significance of a dish that is important to you. Your finished argument should engage with multiple sources—written and oral—and should combine personal experience with research. Please include a recipe as an appendix.
9/23 Discuss Kozol
HW: Exercise 2.1
Malcolm Gladwell, “Java Man” NR 248; Charles Lamb, “A Dissertation upon Roast Pig” NR 266. Write a paragraph about the main claim of each essay. (That is, this exercise consists of two {2} separate paragraphs.) Your paragraph should identify that claim and the main evidence each author uses to support that claim; then, you must assess the strengths and weaknesses of the claim (maybe its powerful or weak evidence, maybe persuasive or faulty reasoning, etc.). Please post your responses by Thursday, 9/25 at noon. Then, over the weekend, read through the threads, and comment on at least two paragraphs.
Handout #3 (the one I passed out in class): Please submit this paragraph to DropBox by Monday, September 29th at 3PM.
9/26 – NO CLASS Rosh Hashanah
HW: Based on my comments and the comments of your peers, return to your two page paper and restructure the essay by making your argument more explicit. These new essays should begin with an introductory paragraph that states your thesis and should be followed by a literacy narrative in which you both tell your story and explain how the key moments in your story support your main claim (in other words, give reasons why your evidence supports your main claim). Due in class on Friday, 10/3 (hard copy); a digital copy is due in DropBox.
9/30 Intro: Food as Culture; discuss Gladwell and Lamb
HW: Exercise 2.2
M.F.K. Fisher, “Young Hunger” NR206; Chang-Rae Lee, “Coming Home Again” NR 3; Think about how Fisher and Lee make us care about both them and the food they describe. Following their example, write a one-page paper (no more) describing a dish that matters a lot to you. (This might be the dish you focus on, but it’s o.k. if you change your mind along the way.) Your description should include both information on how to make the dish and why it’s important to you (perhaps its importance is cultural, personal, or perhaps it has some other significance: part of the choice and challenge of this paper is figuring out how to make that cultural significance relevant to us.)
Post your exercise AND a recipe for your dish. This will be your thread throughout the unit. Comment on other posts as the unit develops—paying special attention to asking those questions that might help develop the exercise into a draft.
Post your one–pager by Thursday, 10/2 at NOON.
Remember, your revised personal narrative is due next class, Friday, 10/3...
10/3 Discuss Fisher and Lee
HW: 1) Read David Foster Wallace, “Consider the Lobster” NR635; Exercise 2.3: Following Foster Wallace’s lead in researching his dish, do a little research on the dish you want to focus on. Find at least five sources, from a wide range of places, and write an annotated bibliography. Due in class
10/7 Discuss Wallace
HW: Exercise 2.4
Read Sandra Steingraber, “Tune of the Tuna Fish” NR540; Michael Pollan, “An Animal’s Place” NR619. Identify the main claim in each essay. (Just do this in your notes so that you’re prepared for discussion.) Look back at your notes for this paper and write a paragraph in which you address the ethical dimension of your dish. What larger issues (e.g. of diet, consumption, health, the environment, or faith) does your dish raise? How does your dish connect to larger cultural phenomena?
10/10 Discuss Steingraber, Pollan, and Wallace
HW:
Read Joey Franklin, “Working at Wendy’s” NR 25 Henry Louis Gates, Jr. “In the Kitchen” NR 260. Write a paragraph about the main claim of each essay. (That is, this exercise consists of two {2} separate paragraphs.) Your paragraph should identify that claim and the main evidence each author uses to support that claim; then, you must assess the strengths and weaknesses of the claim (maybe its powerful or weak evidence, maybe persuasive or faulty reasoning, etc.). Please post your responses by Sunday, 10/12 at 3PM. Then between Sunday and class, read through the threads, and comment on at least two paragraphs.
10/14 Discuss Franklin and Gates
HW:
The rough draft is due on 10/17. Please bring in two copies – one for me and one for our writing workshop. You must include substantial engagement with at least one quotation. Your source must be cited using MLA format. Please double space with 1” margins and a legible 12–point font in black ink. We will workshop your drafts in class that day.
A note on your rough draft: Full papers will not be accepted. I expect that you will use this opportunity to write one–half to two–thirds of your paper. During our writing workshop, your classmates and myself will keep in mind the following: what kinds of evidence are you using?; are you making logical connections between evidence and analysis?; are there logical gaps in your argument?; are you making too many generalizations that cannot stand on the evidence you have provided? Naturally, we are most concerned with the clarity of your main claim – does it work with the evidence you have provided? We will also suggest ways in which you could expand your essay.
Other essays in the Norton Reader that might inspire you while writing this paper:
Tom Regan, “The Case for Animal Rights”
Mike Rose, “Blue-Collar Brilliance”
Essay Assignment: Write a 4-5 page paper on the cultural significance of a dish that is important to you. Your finished argument should engage with multiple sources—written and oral—and should combine personal experience with research. Please include a recipe as an appendix.
9/23 Discuss Kozol
HW: Exercise 2.1
Malcolm Gladwell, “Java Man” NR 248; Charles Lamb, “A Dissertation upon Roast Pig” NR 266. Write a paragraph about the main claim of each essay. (That is, this exercise consists of two {2} separate paragraphs.) Your paragraph should identify that claim and the main evidence each author uses to support that claim; then, you must assess the strengths and weaknesses of the claim (maybe its powerful or weak evidence, maybe persuasive or faulty reasoning, etc.). Please post your responses by Thursday, 9/25 at noon. Then, over the weekend, read through the threads, and comment on at least two paragraphs.
Handout #3 (the one I passed out in class): Please submit this paragraph to DropBox by Monday, September 29th at 3PM.
9/26 – NO CLASS Rosh Hashanah
HW: Based on my comments and the comments of your peers, return to your two page paper and restructure the essay by making your argument more explicit. These new essays should begin with an introductory paragraph that states your thesis and should be followed by a literacy narrative in which you both tell your story and explain how the key moments in your story support your main claim (in other words, give reasons why your evidence supports your main claim). Due in class on Friday, 10/3 (hard copy); a digital copy is due in DropBox.
9/30 Intro: Food as Culture; discuss Gladwell and Lamb
HW: Exercise 2.2
M.F.K. Fisher, “Young Hunger” NR206; Chang-Rae Lee, “Coming Home Again” NR 3; Think about how Fisher and Lee make us care about both them and the food they describe. Following their example, write a one-page paper (no more) describing a dish that matters a lot to you. (This might be the dish you focus on, but it’s o.k. if you change your mind along the way.) Your description should include both information on how to make the dish and why it’s important to you (perhaps its importance is cultural, personal, or perhaps it has some other significance: part of the choice and challenge of this paper is figuring out how to make that cultural significance relevant to us.)
Post your exercise AND a recipe for your dish. This will be your thread throughout the unit. Comment on other posts as the unit develops—paying special attention to asking those questions that might help develop the exercise into a draft.
Post your one–pager by Thursday, 10/2 at NOON.
Remember, your revised personal narrative is due next class, Friday, 10/3...
10/3 Discuss Fisher and Lee
HW: 1) Read David Foster Wallace, “Consider the Lobster” NR635; Exercise 2.3: Following Foster Wallace’s lead in researching his dish, do a little research on the dish you want to focus on. Find at least five sources, from a wide range of places, and write an annotated bibliography. Due in class
10/7 Discuss Wallace
HW: Exercise 2.4
Read Sandra Steingraber, “Tune of the Tuna Fish” NR540; Michael Pollan, “An Animal’s Place” NR619. Identify the main claim in each essay. (Just do this in your notes so that you’re prepared for discussion.) Look back at your notes for this paper and write a paragraph in which you address the ethical dimension of your dish. What larger issues (e.g. of diet, consumption, health, the environment, or faith) does your dish raise? How does your dish connect to larger cultural phenomena?
10/10 Discuss Steingraber, Pollan, and Wallace
HW:
Read Joey Franklin, “Working at Wendy’s” NR 25 Henry Louis Gates, Jr. “In the Kitchen” NR 260. Write a paragraph about the main claim of each essay. (That is, this exercise consists of two {2} separate paragraphs.) Your paragraph should identify that claim and the main evidence each author uses to support that claim; then, you must assess the strengths and weaknesses of the claim (maybe its powerful or weak evidence, maybe persuasive or faulty reasoning, etc.). Please post your responses by Sunday, 10/12 at 3PM. Then between Sunday and class, read through the threads, and comment on at least two paragraphs.
10/14 Discuss Franklin and Gates
HW:
The rough draft is due on 10/17. Please bring in two copies – one for me and one for our writing workshop. You must include substantial engagement with at least one quotation. Your source must be cited using MLA format. Please double space with 1” margins and a legible 12–point font in black ink. We will workshop your drafts in class that day.
A note on your rough draft: Full papers will not be accepted. I expect that you will use this opportunity to write one–half to two–thirds of your paper. During our writing workshop, your classmates and myself will keep in mind the following: what kinds of evidence are you using?; are you making logical connections between evidence and analysis?; are there logical gaps in your argument?; are you making too many generalizations that cannot stand on the evidence you have provided? Naturally, we are most concerned with the clarity of your main claim – does it work with the evidence you have provided? We will also suggest ways in which you could expand your essay.
Other essays in the Norton Reader that might inspire you while writing this paper:
Tom Regan, “The Case for Animal Rights”
Mike Rose, “Blue-Collar Brilliance”