Hi everyone

This week we talked about the almighty thesis statement, a concept that may have already played a central role in your writing lives, and if it hasn’t yet, it surely will in the future. I want to remind you that I would like you to bring your working thesis statement to our meeting next week. I advise that you use the Sheridan Baker worksheet to create your thesis. Remember a thesis should have two components: an argument and a rationale.

I also want to remind you that we won’t be meeting as a class at all next week. Instead, you will meet with me individually to discuss your paper. If you haven’t done so, please sign up for a time slot. 

Additionally, I will grade blog #4 posts soon. Respondez!

What We’ve Done

As I say above, this week you embarked on your thesis journey. Keep the techniques and practices we talked about in mind.

Ways of Seeing, Episode 4: In this episode Berger discusses the ways advertising imagery seduces and convinces us into buying products by promising us fantasies of how our lives could be better. You might think about what Berger says here in terms of the advertisements you encounter around the city, on televisions, and online, in your daily lives.

Seeing Through Race, by Martin Berger (no relation to John, that I know of): Martin Berger lays out an alternative way of seeing photographs that document the Civil Rights era. He focuses on how they depict black suffering over black political activism in order to create sympathy for the movement. You might think about this in comparison to images of the protests that circulated in 2020.

What’s Coming Up

Next week you should focus on writing your paper.

You will also be meeting with me individually to discuss this paper.

Hello All,

Now that we are up and running with the site I will be posting these newsletters at the end of every week. In general I will divide these newsletters into two broad categories: what we’ve done and what is coming up. There are three items I want highlight this week.

First, I have graded for your introductions and your entries for blog post #1 and #2. (I will grade blog post #3 soon). If you don’t see your grade for a blog post in the Blackboard grade center it means that either I didn’t see it or you haven’t posted it. Please contact me if you would like a grade for these missing blog posts. Otherwise, I will be entering zeros soon.

Second, I have posted the prompt for Paper 1 on the course site. Read it, absorb it, and come to our meeting at the beginning of next week with questions.

Third, please check the course site regularly. In addition to posting links to course activities in the syllabus I also post items that come across the wire such as job and event postings in the “Events and Opportunities” section. For example, now there is a flyer for an upcoming SciFi event that includes details on a writing contest.

What we’ve done

They Say/I Say:

By now, you should have read the Introduction and the first two chapters of They Say/I Say. You can find a version of the presentation I gave the class about these chapter in the Screencasts section of the course site.

Ways of Seeing:

You should have watched Episodes 1, 2, and 4 at this point. It is essential for you to watch these videos in order to complete the blog posts and the Paper 1 assignment.

Blog posts:

Last week you wrote about Berger’s discussion of representations of women.Here are some things you might think about as you further consider this episode:

• Berger focuses on representations of women. Berger defines a distinction between the female nude and nakedness. According to him, the female nude is a constructed image of female sexuality meant to satisfy the desires of the male viewer; whereas, actual nakedness is not constructed. It occurs on the fly, when we are least conscious about it. Berger ties this distinction to the objectification of women.
• In thinking about this further you might ask yourselves if the same thing takes place with depictions of women nowadays. For instance, when Beyonce creates a sexualized image of herself does the same problem Berger identifies arise? Or, is something different going on? You might also think about the role of social media and the “selfie” in this regard. If an Instagram user creates a “sexy” post of herself is she objectifying herself or is she controlling her own image?

This week you completed Blog post #3, which asks you to consider Berger’s thoughts on advertising imagery. Do the same kinds of manipulations of images go on today? Or, is it different? If the situation is different, how so? We’ll talk about these questions and your posts next week.

What’s coming up?

Here, I’ve listed the items you will take up next week:

• Week 4 (10/05-10/07)
  • Tuesday (10/05)    Zoom Meeting link
    • Read:
      • They Say/I Say, “Chapter 4: ‘Yes/No/OK, But’: Three Ways to Respond”
      • Sheridan Baker Thesis Machine
    • Watch:
      • Screencast
• Thursday (10/07)
  • • Read:
      • Seeing Through Race: a Reinterpretation of Civil Rights Photography, “Introduction: The Iconic Photographs of Civil Rights” by Martin A. Berger
    • Respond:
      • Blog post #4