Week 8
Good afternoon. Hope you are happy and well!
Today we'll review a bit and leave most of class time to drafting the short essay report. I will check whatever draft homework you've completed and give credit for it. Last night and this morning I spent some time putting together a short essay with the required 3-5 primary and secondary sources, use of direct quotation, and in-text references and citations. I am not requiring a Works Cited list as the MLA format usually does. You must have multiple source examples to support and flesh out your observations, experiences, and opinions. Expert testimonials, case examples, documentary evidence–all these may come into play. Ideally, you can write the skeleton and then put more meat on it through sustained consideration and accumulated sources that speak to your point. Below is the draft of my work, not quite 1200 words, which is at the lower limit (1250-1500 words required) of what is needed, but I have not yet even put a conclusion to the piece. Remember, it's always good to let a work rest a while, as your mind will continue to process it and before lone you will see it in fresh ways and see clear to where it may need improvements or tweaks. Jump to the bottom of today's post for a thorough description of primary and secondary sources and other research guidelines with an example essay.
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All Health Is Local
At 8 p.m. this past Sunday, August
26, 2018, a large group of yoga practitioners, 60 or so individuals, gathered in
the dark at Atlantic Boulevard where it dead ends at the sea in Pompano Beach,
Fl. The full moon session, hosted by a
local entrepreneur whose studio is eponymously named Juliana’s Yoga, is a
monthly event and free of charge. I’d
had it in mind to go, and the clear and breezy weather settled it. No matter the yoga, I would stand in awe as
the moon rose over the vast, dark expanse of the sea, casting brilliant,
sparkling moonbeams from horizon to shore. So I put some air in my bicycle tires and rode
the little distance there, a spot where recent improvements by the city had
made such gatherings doable, even comfortable. I found a place to lay my towel
at the outer edge of the artificial lawn, but the sea and moonrise were
obscured by a stand of sea grape trees, so I would later rise from time to
time, leaving whatever posture, not wanting to miss the last full moon of the
summer.
The instructor began by dutifully reminding the
crowd to let go their single-most limiting belief and see themselves anew,
whole and strong. It was a point she would reiterate at the end when all lay in
corpse pose, relaxed and refreshed by the air, the gentle exercise, and local
fellowship (though to be sure, some were on their phones already, albeit on
their backs). I had come alone but most were in pairs or small groups, sharing
in the excitement and serenity of the event’s unusual character: guided yoga
under a full moon in front of the sea, laced with the intention and effort to
feel more connected and strong in nature and among others.
I like to think Juliana’s class brings real benefit
to the community and credit to her; she and all the people here and around the
world who bring people together to empower and heal individuals and communities
deserve thanks. Yoga under a full moon
is no hardship, of course, while there are legions of unpaid or poorly paid or
simply overworked family members, caregivers, nurses, and doctors tending to
the ill, the elderly, the addicted, depressed, the suicidal. Still, I think what can unite people, no
matter our individual situation, is the common sense of shared humanity and
purpose, some compassion for our collective suffering, and a willingness to touch
and be touched by the lives around us. So I read and listen with interest to accounts
of the entrepreneurs, chefs, artists, teachers, lawyers, bankers, and
philanthropists investing in communities to solve the problems of child neglect
and abuse, gun violence, lack of affordable housing, education and job
training, exercise, recreation, healthy food and nature deficits. The better we become at taking care of each
other, in whatever ways we can, the better off we will all be. As the research of the eminent primatologist
and neurobiologist Robert Sapolksy has shown, the quality of our interpersonal
relationships is the number one indicator of human health. Widening disparities
of income tend to separate communities, creating an us and them mentality, with
the rich invested in growing and protecting their riches (the upper 10 percent
in the U.S.) the poor be damned. In “The 9.9 Percent Is the New Aristocracy,”
Mathew Stewart reports the following:
The Institute for Policy Studies calculated that,
setting aside money invested in “durable goods” such as furniture and a family
car, the median black family had net wealth of $1,700 in 2013, and the median
Latino family had $2,000, compared with $116,800 for the median white family. A
2015 study in Boston found that the wealth of the median white family there was
$247,500, while the wealth of the median African American family was $8. That
is not a typo. That’s two grande cappuccinos. That and another 300,000 cups of
coffee will get you into the 9.9 percent. (theatlantic.com June 2018)
In spite
of the widening income gap in the U.S., which makes it seem inevitable that the
rich will continue to get richer at the expense of a growing underclass, people
are finding ways to build real sources of community security, wealth, and
health. The 2018 summer AspenIdeas forum
in Aspen, CO, hosted a presentation called "Deep
Dive: Portrait of a Healthy Community" at which the guest speakers showed
how change for the better happens. I
watched on youtube as Garth Graham, an African American man with the Aetna
Foundation, described being galvanized as a teenager into an awareness of social
injustice when he was knocked unconscious by a police officer during a game of
street ball. He never saw it coming and
never got an explanation. His mother’s
advice, “Don’t let them take your power away,” continues to motivate his work
with the poor in Boston. He identifies healthy food, safe outdoor spaces,
biking and walking access, and education as keys to community health.
Davita Davison, another of the presenters, is
the executive director of a for-profit group called Food Lab Detroit that is
helping to transform the food wasteland of Detroit, MI, into a unique place of
thriving food gardens and farms and related businesses and projects. She spoke
with moving passion and pride of what the group’s members have accomplished in
a city hard hit by industrial decline, long-standing racial divisions and poor
administration. She calls Detroit a “powerhouse of urban agriculture” whose
food sources will “one day be entirely community based”; fostering community
through food is her aim and commitment. She describes the motivation of
Detroit’s 700,000 people (down from 2 million in the 1950s, 84 percent of whom
are African American), many of whom had been virtually abandoned, with basic
services such as electricity and garbage collection halted, as the city
declined over the decades following the restructure of the automotive industry
(Detroit was home to Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler). The city became a
food desert when all the large supermarket chains pulled out, leaving only fast
food and convenience store outlets. (Deep Dive: Portrait of a Healthy Community youtube.com)
Political corruption, high property taxes, racial divisions, and falling
revenues led in 2013 to the city’s bankruptcy. Today the Motor City, home to
Motown Records, remains in a state of decline with here and there progress and
revitalization owing, in part, to people like her who have worked to transform vacant
lots into farms and gardens, growing and distributing produce and fostering the
careers of self-taught chefs and bakers and restaurateurs. The mission
statement on the homepage of one of Detroit’s non-profit urban farming
initiatives reads as follows: “We hope to empower urban
communities by using agriculture as a platform to promote education,
sustainability, and community while simultaneously reducing socioeconomic
disparity”
(Michigan Urban Farming Initiative
mufi.org).
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Field Trip and Report: Today I'll have you sign release forms and talk logistics of week 10 and 11, providing you all want to do the field trip to the NSU Museum. If you do not, I will have to provide an alternate in-class experience. We must also discuss the matter of food or potluck provisions (healthy ones!) for week 11, after which you will discuss with the class your research "discoveries" or insights into matters of health and wellbeing.
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Research begins with a subject focus and proceeds by study of the sources that shed light on the subject. Research sources are typically categorized as primary or secondary. The following URL provides a description of the distinctions made between the two: http://primarysources.yale.edu/find-discover
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Research
and Short Reports
Research begins with a subject focus and proceeds by study of the sources that shed light on the subject. Research sources are typically categorized as primary or secondary. The following URL provides a description of the distinctions made between the two: http://primarysources.yale.edu/find-discover
Those sources that help the
writer to "prove" or advance the thesis point are essential.
You as author must become something of an expert in your particular line
of inquiry by studying your sources. Whatever the purpose and scope of your
essay or report, you will draw upon the "truths" of your sources to
help you make your point(s).
In looking at any composition, ask:
Why was it written? In what context(s) must it be understood?
To what issues does it speak, what human interests and concerns?
What further research might the work invite? We will discuss in
class the context of publication and topical links. Essay
assignment #4 is to be a short essay that synthesizes material from several
different source articles or artifacts that are topically linked.
In research reports, each source must
be clearly referenced in text by title and author or publication site if no
author is named. The Modern Language Association publishes guidelines for
writing in the humanities which we will follow. These include what are called
in-text citations and a Works Cited list. We will look at the format
further in weeks to come, but for now let me make a few points about the
business of gathering information, which, naturally, is how we become informed.
Whatever the topic– literary,
political, environmental, economic–our first understandings often arise through
personal experience and/or casual exposure. We may have learned
something of WWII from our grandparents, who lived through it and have told us
stories, for example. We may have served in the military and thus have
direct insight into the impact of war on individuals and society. We may
have read novels, histories, watched documentary films, or listened to the
testimonials of those who have born witness to war. We may read the daily
news reports of wars near and far. We may have visited the great battlefields
of Gettysburg or elsewhere. And we may have formed certain conclusions,
however tentative, about the nature of war and its historical use by
governments in pursuit of whatever aims. So we may have a store of experience
and information that informs our attitudes. Yet we may never have put
together an essay that provides the telling examples, personal voices, eye
witness accounts, and expert opinions that provide the persuasive account of
why we feel as we do. In fact we may never have gathered it all together for synthesis
and analysis. But that's what we do when we research a matter or issue.
We may use dictionaries to help us
define words and terms that may be unfamiliar, encyclopedias to get concise
facts and history, and the news media to learn of events large and small and
the range of popular and expert opinion on a given matter. We may
include the artists whose works give us imaginative insight, and the personal
stories that come to us by so many means. What have the many who have
weighed in on any subject had to say? Expository essays are built on
writing that is informative, based on the most credible and recent information,
with the express purpose of conveying to readers a clear understanding of the
issue or matter. There may be a personal story or basis to the writing, but
reference to the work or ideas of others is necessary, in the form of
description, summary, paraphrase and direct quotation, synthesis, and logical
analysis. You as author control the material and remain the dominant voice
throughout. It is your thesis idea, your conclusion that unifies and
drives the development and choice of sources used in support.
An essay on some aspect of culture and society today, for
example, would necessarily be informed by the writer's particular knowledge of
the subject, which comes from familiarity with the literature and artifacts of
that aspect of culture and society. You might, for example, watch a film
(a primary source), and then record your responses, questions that arise,
evaluations of the actors, the plot, script, cinematography, etcetera.
You read everything you can find about the making of this film.
You review what has been written or broadcast by others about the film
(secondary sources). Finally, you write a piece that incorporates
important aspects of the film's creation, aspects of its cultural
importance, the critical responses of film experts or credible reviewers,
and of course your own thoughts and conclusions on whatever you have deemed the
most important focus in writing about the film.
Addressing current events and topics in the media allows you to tap the
interest of readers who want to stay current and well-informed, and allows you
to enter and shape the discussion as one who is well-informed and has something
to add to the discussion, be it only your opinion. It is critical that you
identify the various sources you have used for content by author and/or title
of work and that the source information be tied to the content borrowed.
Below is an
example short report assignment. It begins with a story about a cat that made a
200-mile journey home after getting lost, and proceeds to integrate other cat
news/reports then current. The report did not require use of an anchoring
image, though there were many that might have served, if only to embellish,
including the one of my cat Ruby, posted below.
You will want to indicate where the image has been published and the
various sources that allow you to put it into context or explain its history
and significance.
Sample Short Report:
Cats on the Loose: A
Problem in Need of a Solution
For all the cat lovers who read the
article by Pam Belluck titled “A Cat’s 200-Mile Trek Leaves Scientists
Guessing” (nytimes.com, January 19, 2013) it is perhaps comforting to learn
that domestic cats have an as yet little-understood ability to navigate home
over long distances. Holly, a
four-year-old house cat, got lost on a family outing to Daytona Beach, Fla.,
and over the next two months walked to within a mile of her owner’s home in
West Palm Beach, Fla. Fortunately, she
was wearing a microchip that allowed rescuers to reunite her with her
owners. Holly’s thinness and bleeding
paws attested to the hardships of her journey and that she was lucky to
survive. Scientists do not know how cats navigate over long distances. Writes Belluck, “There is in fact little
scientific dogma on cat navigation. Migratory animals like birds, turtles and
insects have been studied more closely, and use magnetic fields, olfactory
cues, or orientation by the sun.”
But in other, less heart-warming
reports, we have a joint study by the University of Georgia and National
Geographic Society called “Kitty Cams” that confirms that cats given the
freedom to roam often expose themselves to significant harm and pose
significant threats to small mammals, reptiles, and birds living in the
wild. The Kitty Cams study estimates
that domestic cats may kill as many as half a billion birds or more and several
billion small mammals each year. Another
report by scientists with the Smithsonian Conservation
Biology Institute raised alarms worldwide in contending that “un-owned and
owned free-ranging domestic cats kill between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds and
between 6.9 and 20.7 billion small mammals each year in the contiguous United
States” (“Feral and Free-Ranging Pet Cats Kill Far More Birds in the
Continental United States Than Previously Believed, Smithsonian Study
Finds”). The study indicates, moreover,
that “it is un-owned cats—such as farm and barn cats, strays, colony cats, and
feral cats—that cause the majority of the mortality, roughly 69 percent of bird
deaths and 89 percent of mammal deaths.”
Scientists have concluded that cats represent a greater mortality threat
to wild birds, whose numbers are declining, than other threats often cited such
as environmental toxins, bridges, skyscrapers, and towers.
The reports of cat predation are
being challenged by cat welfare advocates who see a threat to feral cat
populations (Alley Cat Allies “Tell the Smithsonian: Stop
Spreading Junk Science That Will Kill Cats!”).
Neuter and spay programs have been very effective at
reducing the number of stray and feral cats, and the number of cats being
euthanized, but the population problem persists. The large numbers of colonies of feral cats,
even those fed and cared for by volunteers, pose a risk to wildlife that many authorities
see as untenable. Debate centers on how
to effectively reduce the number of stray and feral cats and thus conserve and
protect important wildlife species (Mott “U.S. Faces Growing
Feral Cat Problem”).
As the owner of a cat that relishes
the hunt, and succeeds far too often, I have concluded that my Ruby, an
ordinary black short-haired domestic cat, will have to stay indoors far more
often than she would like, for her own safety and that of the wild creatures
that live in or visit my neighborhood.
Eye-Witness Reports/Field Reports
Reviews and descriptions of
cultural fare–of nature parks, historical attractions, art exhibits and fairs,
live music shows, restaurants, bars, and clubs old and new, sporting events,
lectures, book signings and discussions, community classes and workshops –serve
to inform people of what's going on about town and provide them incentive to
get out and experience some of what the area has to offer. In this assignment you are to report on a
local place or event from an eye-witness perspective–you must go there,
experience whatever is on offer, and write about it in such a way that readers
feel they have gotten to see and know the place through your first-hand
experience of it.
The
particular focus and perspective you bring to your subject, your knowledge and
ideas and observations of it, and the degree of interest and engagement with
the subject you show–these are central to the essay’s success. Whether
you visit a park, a beach, a museum, theater, restaurant, yoga studio, even a
cemetery (we have a delightful one nearby that is a birder's mecca),
etcetera–descriptions of the scene or environs, the activity, the individual
artworks, performances, ambiance, food, service, et cetera will bring the piece
to life and convey a you-are-there sensation to readers.
Your readers will be relying on your knowledge, powers of observation and
storytelling abilities. Your informed judgment, taste, and
opinions will be important elements of the work. The thesis idea will reflect
the material emphases of the work.
The eye-witness
report is primary research. You may find you want
background reading, secondary sources,
on whatever aspects of your subject require context to fully develop your
thesis or main ideas. To repeat, this essay will require you actually go
somewhere in person and record material facts and observations before putting
the piece together. Your thesis tells you what to include, to emphasize,
and what to ignore. The essay should run a minimum of 5oo-6oo words,
including introductory, body, and closing paragraphs, and title.
Remember the who, what, where, when, why roster of
specifics.
Read
the following article about a favorite getaway destination of Swedes and as you
do notice how the author includes specifics of place, his personal journey, and
the cultural context of Gotland. This is the form you want to model, however
near and familiar your focus destination. You will be a personal guide to
your readers, revealing a place in all its particular appeal:
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